Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: A lifetime martial artist who didn't get a first place until 16.
Let's talk about what made the difference.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Sir. I will live with perseverance in the spirit of taekwondo, courtesy for fellow students, integrity within myself, and to become a black belt leader.
Welcome to the ATA Nation Podcast.
[00:00:30] Speaker C: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to episode number 114 of the ATA Nation podcast. My name is senior Master Zach Hayden, and I am your host today.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning in. Please take this moment to subscribe rate review share with a friend we're working.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: On growing the ATA Nation podcast, and.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: After today's interview, I'll give you maybe a couple sneak peeks of what might be coming. But before that, as I mentioned in the intro, I learned something really cool.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: About one of ATA Team USA's team.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Captains in an interview that I did today. And I want to get right to that interview now.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Special guest interview.
[00:01:22] Speaker C: Ata Nation. We're back with you with another great interview. We have Mister Joe Rowan.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: How are you today, sir?
[00:01:28] Speaker D: Great. How we doing, sir?
[00:01:30] Speaker C: We are awesome here in Ata nation. So before we get to some stuff, I see, for those of you who are watching the video, maybe you got a nice logo on there. It looks like Team USA stuff.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: Is that right?
[00:01:44] Speaker E: That it is always repping Team USA.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Very nice.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Okay, we're going to get to some Team USA information today, but before that, can you give us a little history? How did you get involved in martial arts?
[00:01:56] Speaker F: Great question.
[00:01:57] Speaker E: So, actually, I have three older sisters that are a bit older than me.
[00:02:03] Speaker F: They started doing martial arts and Ata.
[00:02:04] Speaker E: Before I was even born, so I was really, actually born into it.
[00:02:09] Speaker F: My instructor, chief master McAderney, was actually.
[00:02:12] Speaker E: At the hospital when I was born, so he was holding me right away. It's a pretty cool story.
[00:02:18] Speaker F: So Ata has really been more than.
[00:02:20] Speaker E: Just a job or, you know, a sport. It's really been a family to me, for real.
[00:02:25] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: So.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: So basically, from birth, are your. Are your sisters still involved, or have they stepped away?
[00:02:33] Speaker F: So one of my sisters is.
[00:02:34] Speaker E: So I actually have four.
Three of them, you know, were in.
[00:02:39] Speaker F: The ATA through their whole childhood, all the way up into their adulthood. One of them is a world champion in Xma. They were instructors. Most of them were actually instructors at. At the school that I'm at now. So they got to teach me when I was younger. And now my younger sister, Anna, she's still in it, and she's also on.
[00:02:56] Speaker E: Team USA with me as well.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: Now, with your train, you've done it forever.
That always makes me think about people who start. And they go through these phases where they're like, oh, I don't know if I want to do this anymore, or whatnot. Obviously, you were in this the whole time. What do you do when there are.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Times when you're just a little less motivated?
[00:03:16] Speaker F: Well, you know, for me, that question actually rings really true because I was never really, really talented, naturally, when it.
[00:03:24] Speaker E: Came to martial arts.
[00:03:26] Speaker F: You know, I was a first degree black belt for, like, five, six years.
[00:03:29] Speaker E: Before they let me test for second degree.
[00:03:31] Speaker F: I've been competing at tournaments my whole life, but I actually never won a.
[00:03:35] Speaker E: First place medal at a tournament until I was 16 years old.
[00:03:39] Speaker F: So, you know, from four or five years old, competing all the way up to 16.
[00:03:44] Speaker E: Okay, wait, now we got.
[00:03:45] Speaker C: We got to stay there for a second.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: So you're on Team USA.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: Um, if I'm not mistaken, uh, you might be. Aren't you a captain on Team USA?
[00:03:53] Speaker D: I am, yeah.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: Okay, so now, uh, you started martial arts, like, basically from birth. Your instructor was there at the hospital. Uh, but you didn't place a first place until you were 16. Um, I think that is so important for people to hear because so many people think that it's got to be this instant success.
[00:04:11] Speaker D: How did you deal with that?
[00:04:13] Speaker F: You know, it was tough, especially when, you know, my older sisters were always competing in top ten in the world. One of my sisters was a world champion.
[00:04:20] Speaker E: And, you know, it always kind of.
[00:04:22] Speaker F: Seemed like I was trying to be.
[00:04:23] Speaker E: In their shadow, and it was always tough trying to get out of that.
And so, you know, it was a really tough journey. And what really catalyzed my rise into.
[00:04:37] Speaker F: Competition was I actually attended one of the first team USA camps in Dallas, Texas, back in 2016 with Master Isaacs.
[00:04:46] Speaker E: And a bunch of guys were there, and we went there and we trained.
[00:04:51] Speaker F: Like crazy for a week straight. And Master Isaacs, you know, really was pushing me to. To be better and to kind of.
[00:04:58] Speaker E: Help me to see what it takes to train and to compete at that, at that really high level. And that is.
[00:05:04] Speaker F: That's what really pushed me. And after that, that camp, that following season is when I won my first.
[00:05:08] Speaker E: State title and ended up winning my first state title, sorry, district title in competition.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: So what changed in your. Obviously, your attitude changed a little bit. You're going through the training, but what, training wise, was it just.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: You leveled up.
[00:05:27] Speaker C: Your effort put some serious work into it.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: What changed there?
[00:05:32] Speaker E: So there was a couple of things.
[00:05:33] Speaker F: One was definitely that effort. One was also just kind of understanding how to train, not just like a martial artist, but also like an athlete. So to train to make myself stronger and faster.
Another thing that was huge in my rise up was the people that I trained with, master Isaacs.
[00:05:53] Speaker E: And one of my favorite quotes is iron sharpens iron.
[00:05:56] Speaker F: And so I had people in my area, like mister Jason Lewis, who's a ten time world champion, and mister Kevin walls, who are also both on team USA.
[00:06:06] Speaker E: You know, when we were 1617, we.
[00:06:08] Speaker F: Started training together a whole lot. And, you know, even though we're from separate schools, getting together, working out together.
[00:06:14] Speaker E: Uh, and that brought us all up, uh, to that higher level together.
[00:06:17] Speaker C: I love that, that as well. You know, iron sharpens iron, and you're. You're mentioning these, uh, friends from other schools, um, and. And getting to work together. That's cool.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Was.
[00:06:27] Speaker C: Was sparring always the, like, the thing you wanted to go towards, or did.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: That change over the years?
[00:06:36] Speaker F: Sparring was definitely one of my favorites. To be completely honest, I am terrible at memorizing and practicing forms.
It's just always been something that's been difficult for me.
[00:06:46] Speaker E: I can remember some of my black.
[00:06:48] Speaker F: Belt midterms following people through the gumdo.
[00:06:50] Speaker E: And Osangdo forms and never really cracking.
[00:06:54] Speaker F: Down on memorizing that. But sparring was always something that I.
[00:06:56] Speaker E: Wanted to be better at, and that's.
[00:06:58] Speaker F: Definitely been one of my main focuses.
[00:07:01] Speaker D: In the last few years, for sure.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: So now you've gone from just, you know, not placing a first place until you were 16.
You changed your training, changed your attitude a little bit, worked super hard, got.
[00:07:15] Speaker C: Your state title, district title. Now you are on Team USA. How has that changed?
[00:07:22] Speaker A: Or what have you done to make that come true?
[00:07:29] Speaker E: Yeah, so, I mean, it's just been.
[00:07:31] Speaker F: A lot of hard work for me. I'm a very goal oriented person, so.
[00:07:36] Speaker E: Having a goal in front of me.
[00:07:37] Speaker F: Is something that really motivates me to be better and push myself.
[00:07:40] Speaker E: So when I started finding out about.
[00:07:42] Speaker F: Team USA and went to the world.
[00:07:44] Speaker E: Championships and saw some of these guys.
[00:07:47] Speaker F: On Team USA, I said, wow, I.
[00:07:48] Speaker E: Want that to be me.
[00:07:50] Speaker F: So I looked up and asked around what it takes to get on that team. I tried out, and the first year that I tried out, I squeaked onto.
[00:07:57] Speaker E: The team, got one of those last spots, and just being a part of that team was one of the biggest.
[00:08:03] Speaker F: Reasons, like I said, that, that iron sharpens, iron people coming together and pushing.
[00:08:08] Speaker E: You to be better.
[00:08:09] Speaker F: And for the first two years that I was on Team USA, I didn't.
[00:08:13] Speaker E: Even make the starting roster. I was there I was there for.
[00:08:17] Speaker F: Some of those great athletes like Master Haynes and guys to beat up on and practice on.
[00:08:22] Speaker E: And as I started to get better and better, I was able to.
[00:08:26] Speaker F: To make that roster and then this.
[00:08:28] Speaker E: Year, be able to become a captain of the team.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Now, what.
[00:08:34] Speaker C: How did you become a captain? I mean, we look at this, you know, for a lot of people who look at competitors at tournaments, they look at people on Team USA, and they just naturally think it's our bias that we look and go, that person is just naturally talented. They just are awesome. That's how they got there. Um, and this story shows that, like, it's.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: It's not that.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: That's not the case. Um, why were you picked for team captain? What have you done?
[00:09:00] Speaker D: Um, to.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: To make that a reality?
[00:09:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:09:05] Speaker F: I mean, I can definitely say that as far as some of those guys.
[00:09:08] Speaker E: On the team, I am not the.
[00:09:09] Speaker F: Most naturally gifted, for sure.
[00:09:11] Speaker E: Uh, I.
[00:09:12] Speaker F: Not one of the, you know, most explosive guys like, you know, Anthony Rosa or, you know, skilled guys like AJ Smith.
[00:09:21] Speaker E: But some of these. What.
[00:09:22] Speaker F: What I think brings me up to that captain level is just my ability.
[00:09:26] Speaker E: To, number one, I work really hard.
[00:09:28] Speaker F: And number two, I push the people.
[00:09:29] Speaker E: Around me to work really hard as well.
[00:09:32] Speaker F: So, you know, I just try to.
[00:09:33] Speaker E: Elevate everybody that I'm training with or.
[00:09:37] Speaker F: That I'm working with.
[00:09:38] Speaker E: And that's what, you know, has really brought. Brought me up to that level.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: I think that is super key.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: I think right there, you hit on a reason that you make a great captain is bringing others up. I think sometimes, you know, I was having this thought last night when I was just getting ready for interview and talking to people about black belt training and whatnot.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: And we can get into this habit.
[00:10:07] Speaker C: Of getting our martial arts training, especially competition, to be like every other sport and, you know, chasing medals and chasing titles and chasing things and forget that.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: We'Re black belts, also that there's something.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Different about what we're doing.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Can you talk to that a little bit?
[00:10:28] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:10:29] Speaker E: And, you know, for so long, I.
[00:10:31] Speaker F: Feel like taekwondo, especially in the ETA, was a very individual sport.
[00:10:36] Speaker E: Right. You had to be good by yourself.
[00:10:39] Speaker F: And every title you won was by yourself.
[00:10:42] Speaker E: And recently, with the team sparring and.
[00:10:45] Speaker F: The Team USA especially, we start to.
[00:10:47] Speaker E: Realize that we are a team and we can make each other better and we can use. Or we could win together, which is an amazing thing.
[00:10:56] Speaker F: And one of my favorite quotes, again, Master Isaacs has one of the great quotes, but this has stuck with me.
[00:11:00] Speaker E: For years, is alone we might go faster, but together we go further.
[00:11:06] Speaker F: And that's just been something that has motivated me and pushed me to bring the people around me together. Work with those guys that you're training.
[00:11:15] Speaker E: With, you're working with, you're competing with, but you train together and you make each other better.
[00:11:21] Speaker D: That's great.
[00:11:22] Speaker C: I've got kind of a side question. I assume you're an instructor, you're teaching at a martial arts school, correct?
[00:11:31] Speaker D: Correct. Yeah.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: So what happens when you see a.
[00:11:35] Speaker C: Competitor that is wanting to level up a little bit, but they're very focused.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: On making themselves better and there's not.
[00:11:48] Speaker C: That, look at the other people around me or my instructor when he started.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: His school, he's six foot eight, had.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: A bunch of kids, you know, and his instructor was, was two, 3 hours away. How's how somebody get better? How do we iron? Sharpen iron. When you're around people that maybe aren't.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Aren'T necessarily your level?
[00:12:09] Speaker E: Yeah, that's a great question. And I mean, for me, you know.
[00:12:13] Speaker F: During COVID was, was one of the best examples I can think of that.
[00:12:16] Speaker E: Where you, you're trying to get better.
[00:12:18] Speaker F: And you're trying to stay in great.
[00:12:19] Speaker E: Shape, but there's really no one that you can train with or spar.
[00:12:24] Speaker F: And I reached out to a bunch of different people, Master Isaacs, Master Habaducci, some different instructors, and just asked, hey.
[00:12:33] Speaker E: What are some drills that I could.
[00:12:34] Speaker F: Do to bring myself to this next level or where are some opportunities that I can go to work out with some people or to train with some people?
[00:12:43] Speaker E: And thats been something that pushed me through.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Excellent. Yeah, cool.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: That's, that's great.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Really important.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: Now, speaking of training opportunities, Team USA has set up some training opportunities for those people who are looking to level.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Up their game, get ready for world championships. What are those opportunities coming up?
[00:13:06] Speaker E: Yeah, great question. So these are some of my favorite.
[00:13:08] Speaker F: Events every year and this is something that Team USA has been doing for.
[00:13:11] Speaker E: A couple years now, and it's going.
[00:13:13] Speaker F: To be after every, everyone's district championship.
[00:13:16] Speaker E: So, you know, if you're a competitor.
[00:13:17] Speaker F: And you want to, you know, be getting better, which hopefully if you're going and competing at districts, everybody wants to get better. Team USA is hosting a seminar the.
[00:13:26] Speaker E: Sunday after every district. It's going to be in close proximity to where that competition is held, so it should be pretty easy to attend.
[00:13:34] Speaker F: And in every district, they're sending Team USA coaches or captains to go and teach those seminars.
[00:13:41] Speaker E: It's going to be, I believe 4.
[00:13:43] Speaker F: Hours of sparring for 2 hours, combat sparring for 2 hours with some of.
[00:13:48] Speaker E: The best competitors, coaches, captains in the world. So it's going to be a really, really awesome event.
And just all I could say is, do everything you can to get there. Those events are what have pushed me.
[00:14:00] Speaker F: To that higher level.
[00:14:01] Speaker E: So that's definitely something that everyone should.
[00:14:04] Speaker D: Look to get to.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: And of course, I need to be an amazing spar. Already placed a bunch of things to go to those events. Or is this for maybe a 16.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: Year old kid who hasn't placed yet?
[00:14:16] Speaker E: Absolutely, it is for anybody.
[00:14:20] Speaker F: I know the last time that I taught this event, I had everybody from last year, I was in Colorado actually.
[00:14:26] Speaker E: Teaching it in the Rockies district, and I had everybody from ten year old first degrees up to 6th degree 7th.
[00:14:34] Speaker F: Degree masters in that class.
[00:14:37] Speaker E: So it is really, really for anybody.
[00:14:40] Speaker F: Just an awesome opportunity to train with.
[00:14:42] Speaker E: Everybody at all different levels and get.
[00:14:45] Speaker F: Out there, learn some. I mentioned earlier, you know, training like an athlete. That's what a lot of these seminars are as well, are ways to train yourself. Not just to spar for 2 hours or combat sparrow, but also to make yourself faster and stronger and more flexible.
[00:15:01] Speaker E: Be able to perform at that high level.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: And these. Do I need to pre register? Is there a place online I can go and find this information?
[00:15:11] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:15:12] Speaker F: So you can pre register right now. If you go to teamata USA.com or find us on Instagram, we have a Facebook page.
[00:15:20] Speaker E: You guys can hop on there, you can find your district and you could.
[00:15:24] Speaker F: Register ahead of time. I think there's a discount if you sign up for both the combat and the sparring together. So it's a great, great way to.
[00:15:32] Speaker E: Get in there and compete.
[00:15:34] Speaker F: And a lot of those proceeds for those events are actually going right back.
[00:15:38] Speaker E: Towards Team USA to allow us to.
[00:15:40] Speaker F: Continue to travel and compete, not only in the USA, but also in the pan american championships in South America and.
[00:15:49] Speaker E: Really all over, wherever we can.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: I saw that there. I don't think there's a Team USA. Is there a team competing this coming week or so in Europe?
[00:15:57] Speaker A: Or is that not this year?
[00:16:01] Speaker E: I believe so.
[00:16:02] Speaker F: So I think that the. Some of the older teams, like the.
[00:16:08] Speaker E: Legends team is competing up there.
[00:16:10] Speaker F: So that's going to be an awesome, awesome competition that legends team is stacked.
[00:16:14] Speaker E: With, with awesome martial artists, masters.
[00:16:16] Speaker D: So that's.
[00:16:17] Speaker F: That would be super exciting to watch, for.
[00:16:18] Speaker D: Sure. Definitely.
[00:16:19] Speaker E: Awesome.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: So people can go to Ata or Team USA? Ata. Team Ata USA.
[00:16:27] Speaker D: What was.
I think it's Team Ata USA.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: And check those out. There'll be stuff on social media, of course, as well. And then you guys are getting ready to compete, I assume. The song on cup again this year. If I. If I'm not mistaken, you guys didn't.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Take home the cup last year.
[00:16:49] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:16:49] Speaker F: So we, the Team USA won every gold medal except for elite sparring. So that one, we. We lost a close matchup to Argentina.
[00:17:00] Speaker E: They had a great team last season.
[00:17:02] Speaker F: So I'm excited to get back and try to try to take that.
[00:17:05] Speaker E: Take that gold back from that.
[00:17:06] Speaker C: USA needs gotta have a clean sweep. Uh, but we'll see. I don't know.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Those other countries are working hard.
[00:17:14] Speaker D: That.
[00:17:15] Speaker F: They are, but I think that we're working harder. So I'm excited to. To get right back to it and get back on that stage and see.
[00:17:21] Speaker C: How we do it this year at world championships in July. And make sure everybody gets out there and registers for those trainings after districts. Mister Rowan, we really appreciate your time and your leadership on Team USA.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Thank you for your time today.
[00:17:39] Speaker D: Of course.
[00:17:39] Speaker E: It was a pleasure, sir.
[00:17:40] Speaker F: I hope to see you guys soon at those trainings as well.
[00:17:43] Speaker E: And I'll see you guys at district in the worlds.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: Listener feedback.
[00:17:52] Speaker C: Well, I hope you enjoyed that interview as much as I did. Super neat to learn more about one of our Team USA coaches. And I was just blown away about the information.
[00:18:04] Speaker D: He didn't.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: He didn't place and get a first place until 16.
[00:18:10] Speaker D: I mean, that's. That's crazy.
[00:18:12] Speaker A: I love that story.
[00:18:14] Speaker D: That's fantastic.
[00:18:15] Speaker C: Now, ladies and gentlemen, I want to do an instructor shout out. I asked the other day on our.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: ATA Nation fan page on Facebook for people to recognize their instructors or an.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: Instructor they wanted to mention.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: So here are two I wanted to shout out. This one is one for Mister Mark Lasset, we're going to say from Ata Murraysville.
[00:18:41] Speaker C: It says his dedication to his students transcends ATA standards. He has also been diligently working towards.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: His mastership, inspiring students with new content.
[00:18:51] Speaker D: That is awesome.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: We love to hear about these awesome students and their instructors all across ATa nationwide. One more. Miss Barboza is an outstanding instructor. She leads by example, trains hard, and is always working on improving her craft. She's a world champion competitor, inspiring her students to follow in her footsteps. This individual says they're an older student and she tailors their training and goals based on the fact that this individual is a little bit older. I love that. Love to hear these shout outs.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: If you've got an instructor you'd like.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: To shout out, let us know. We would love to include it on the podcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's going to wrap.
[00:19:35] Speaker D: It up for us today.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: We've got a lot of things going on behind the scenes, getting ready for districts, world championships, all kinds of other.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Things coming up, so make sure you hit the subscribe button. We need to make sure you get every new episode when it comes out. Until next time, get out there and take action.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to another episode of the ATA Nation podcast. Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Sorry for the delay in episodes, ladies and gentlemen. We had some errors in the recording and it took some time to figure.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: Out what the deal was and then I had to do some nor editing with it and whatnot, but we got it fixed.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: Insiders, you guys who stick around to.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: The very end, I really appreciate you.
[00:20:29] Speaker D: Big shout out to you guys for.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Being just awesome sticking around.
[00:20:34] Speaker D: Be subscribed, share it with a friend. Thanks guys. Take care. Bye.
