Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Continuing the Ata legacy with senior Master Taekwon Lee. Let's get started, sir.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: 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.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Instructors, students, parents, siblings of Ata Nation, whoever you are out there, welcome back to the Ata Nation podcast. This is episode number 97. We are three away from the big 100 episodes. We're going to get to 100 episodes before we wrap up for the year. It's going to be a great time. Now, today, I am privileged to have an interview with ATA's new CEO member since birth, senior Master Taekwon Lee. If you don't know, senior Master Taekwon Lee is Eternal Grandmaster's Son, and he has recently taken on the role as the CEO at Ata International.
This was just a great opportunity to talk to him.
One of the things I wanted to get into was a little bit more about Founders Month and some of the things going on during Founders Month. And we just got going on the vision of Eternal Grandmaster talking about all the things going on that I kind of missed that, and I apologize. We are going to make sure at the end of the episode, I'll mention a little bit about the scholarship foundation, and then we will also I'm working on getting an interview with somebody from the scholarship foundation that we can do during Founders Month as well. But make sure you're out there checking out what's going on with Founders Month.
But for now, let's go to our interview with Senior Master Taekwon Lee.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Special guest interview.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: Ata Nation, we are back with you today, and I am super excited to have with us Senior Master Taekwon Lee, the CEO of Ata International. How are you doing today, sir?
[00:02:19] Speaker D: I'm doing fantastic. And thank you, Senior Master Hayden, for having me on the podcast. I've been listening and very excited to be on the podcast itself.
[00:02:31] Speaker C: We're excited to have you. And I didn't want to hit much like CEO things. I think in the future, we'll have you on in the past, just an Ata member, not a licensee or whatever. I don't care what the CEO is doing. I want to know what Taekwondo is happening. But nowadays, with Eternal Grandmaster's Son as a CEO, I think there's a little more interest in the general public of what's going on, what's happening. But before that, a lot of people might not know you. They haven't met you or interacted with you. And so I wanted to kind of get a little bit of history from you. And there was a great press piece that went out just the other day, and I think I'll include it in the show notes.
And I personally, as a guy whose daughter just started Taekwondo, and it's been kind of a disaster, I was very heartened to see a little bit about your interaction with those first couple of classes. Can you tell us, just like, as the son of Eternal Grandmaster, what it was like walking into those first classes?
[00:03:38] Speaker D: Oh, my. So you want to go there? Okay, I do.
[00:03:42] Speaker C: Only because my daughter just started, and I'm telling you, as an instructor, it has been a rough it's been a rough time.
[00:03:49] Speaker D: Yes, sir. Okay, so I'll give you a little backstory of my childhood and growing up under the growth of the Ata as well.
So my parents were gone a lot, as you can imagine, during the late 70s, early 80s, when the Ata was really starting to take the reins and go into regional areas and international to South America and development into know. My father was gone almost every weekend and a lot during the weeks, and my mother would travel with him at times, too. So growing up, I had sort of a separation anxiety of them being gone. And my grandparents, who didn't speak English, were there a lot to take care of me or grandmaster Inholi's wife was, you know, I'd stay at their so as a child, for me, there was a lot of that separation anxiety, and I kind of grew up with not this level of confidence that I have today.
And I still struggle with some of that today. Right. But thank goodness for Ata martial arts. I really do appreciate what has done for me.
So, at the age of four, being away from my mother at any moment would always conjure up just separation issues. And so I cried. I cried a lot, and I was that kid on your floor to the point where my mom had to stay and watch, because at that time, headquarters was in the school was in headquarters building. So I think she wanted to maybe go spend some time with my dad in the back at his office and have some time to discuss with him the daily events, but yes, sir, I would turn around to look to make sure that she was there. And if she wasn't there, I cried a lot.
And it got to the point where the instructor said, I don't think this is going to work out at this moment. He's not ready. And I can't imagine what that was like for them to go to the Grandmaster's family and say, your son's not ready for this anyways at any given rate. My mother then made an agreement with me to say, when you're five years old, we're going to bring you back in, so we'll take you out for now. And of course, at four years old, you say that's a great deal.
Well, then at five years old, I went back, and that continued.
What I appreciate was their relentless desire to keep me going in it between the instructor, my mother, my father, they somehow kept me inside of it.
And then persistence definitely helped in that process. And as you know, too kids like me at that age, if you don't give up, when the parents don't give up, the instructor doesn't give up, the kid has no choice but not to give up, continue to grow. And 9.9 times out of ten, that kid overcomes that hump. It's when one of us gives up, right? Either the parent or the instructor, but the kid is just going to do what the kid thinks he's going to do. So luckily for me and my life and my family and my dad's legacy, I was in that 99.9 percentile.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: Yes, sir. Yeah, it seems to have turned out pretty well for you in the end.
I remember world Championships one year, and I was probably 1618 something in there. My dad took me to Worlds, and I remember you were competing in a ring. I don't know if it was regular competition, top ten or whatever, and I just remember being like that's. Taekwon Lee. That's eternal grandmaster's son.
And it was just this cool thing.
I can imagine that the pressure as you got older, teenage years, 20s, you were Eternal Grandmaster son. I imagine that could be a really challenging thing. How was it dealing with that?
[00:08:18] Speaker D: It was tough. It was tough.
Obviously, name tech one in the bloodline that I have, people just assume you've got to be fantastic. And when I look at my uncles and what they've accomplished and how fierce they were in the ring, you're looking up and saying, how do I compete with that? And it was challenging. And my instructor, when I was in my young adult life, grandmaster MK. Would be at the tournaments and I would lose my match, and I would come to him with my head hanging down, and he was there to really pet my shoulder and help me to lift myself up off the ground, because I did feel like a failure at times like that.
There's a lot of pressure in that arena with that last name lee and Grandmaster MK was one that really connected with me. And he says, I understand how you feel, and it really did help me tremendously to have my uncle. And he's probably the one that I connected with the most in my younger years.
And currently he's my instructor, too. So it was tough. I'll tell you, it was tough. It was really hard. The flip side to that was as a child growing up in Arkansas, I had almost like a double personality, right? So Lucas, at school, I was the only Asian non Caucasian student there.
And there was definitely discrimination.
They just didn't know anything about Korea. They didn't even know what Korea was.
And so I was at the butt end of that. However, my mom was so fantastic, she says, you need to go and do a demonstration in your class.
And that was in third grade. So I did it and I broke some boards. I did my form. I had a buddy who was training with me in Taekwondo at the time at um. So I did it in front of my class, and then that turned into the next year. They said, we want you to do it, but let's do it for the entire oh. And I said, Are you serious? But it turned into a schoolwide demonstration.
And that was in fourth grade. My mother came and she did a full report about Korea and the history of Korea. And then we followed through with a demonstration. And that's when people started to know there's there's something cool about this kid.
And then people started to respect me a little bit more. That helped me come out of my shell. So it's a two sided coin.
I would not be who I am today without that journey, without growing through the different pains, growing through the pressure of being Eternal Grandmaster's Son, which I feel that every day today.
[00:11:35] Speaker C: Yes, sir.
[00:11:37] Speaker D: It's been a wonderful journey, and I wouldn't have asked for it any other way. Many people asked me as a kid, what's it like to be the Grandmaster's son. I said, I don't know any different.
I really don't know any different what's it like to be you. I mean, I feel fortunate to be who I am, and there are good things and there are bad things, just like everyone's life. But I feel very fortunate to have walked the shoes that I'm in today and have the opportunities that I have today. But I'll tell you that the desire inside the heart to fulfill his vision is the strongest that I've ever felt.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: Well, and so that's kind of where I wanted to go next a little was you've had a lot of different journeys as you've come up through getting older, going through college. You were out in California for a while, worked for Ata headquarters for a while, and then you went and were a school owner until just recently.
A lot of us licensees have got to hear a little bit about that story just through some thrives and things like that.
We don't have to go through the whole thing, but I think it would be interesting for people to know kind of what were your big takeaways? What was it like for you as Eternal Grandmaster son who've gone through and kind of seen Ata from inside out and whatnot to go and then open a school?
[00:13:08] Speaker D: Yeah.
One of my biggest takeaways was getting to know my father even better.
And I did this video during the 20th anniversary of his memorial. And I shared with everyone in that video how much I've learned about my father since he passed away. I learned more about him today than I have when he was alive.
It continues on with the seniors that I respect.
Chief Master Sandoval, when I talk with him, just the love in his eyes and his connection. And I experienced their connection as a teenager and as a young adult. But talking to Grandmaster Caruso and all of so many seniors that have that relationship with him, I learned more about him during my journey as a school owner. And that's to say that I learned about all the other school owners and the instructors.
He worked tirelessly and selflessly to fulfill his vision with the school owners. I mean, when I say this is his legacy, if you look at our museum wall at the very end, and I wrote the piece there about the Ata legacy, it's the legacy wall. And at the very end, it says that our vision and mission is to fulfill Eternal Grandmaster's legacy. And then at the very end, it says, you are the Ata legacy. It's because we do this together. And it's beyond just the vision of eternal Grand Master. It's the vision of the know. We all say that that's his legacy, but it's our legacy. We work hard to do this together. And I know that that was his vision. And his belief is that we, as the instructors, we're going to continue this on.
He knew that it was going to live beyond his time here on Earth. And he was.
I I learned so much about who you Master Hayden, who you are as an instructor and as a black belt and a Master, and the sacrifices that you make. And then I understood the sacrifices that my father made because that was his life.
[00:15:46] Speaker C: Yes, sir.
[00:15:47] Speaker D: You all are, and I should say we are, the reasons why he sacrificed so much in his life to fulfill what he believed was the legacy of the Ata.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Yes, sir. Well, I was at our region, 102 East Camp this weekend, and it's right after Founders Day. And so we did song on one, four different directions. Chief Master Sandoval always gives us a little talk about his time and his connection with Eternal Grandmaster. And he was talking about how one of the last conversations they know, chief Master Sandoval was like, sir, how's this going to this? You are the at, how are you? And he told Chief Master Sandoval, it'll continue because of people like you. It's the people in the Ata that make the difference. And that can be difficult for a lot of people because the Ata, it's a brand, it's a group of people. And then there's something we all know that there's something a special sauce in there that we feel when we go to Worlds or we go to Nationals, we go to these events, we go to a camp and hang out with each other.
So there's so much that is a part of being Ata and carry on that legacy. But I think it's important for us to realize that that legacy is Ata and it's not martial arts in general. Martial arts is a great thing.
We think people are better for being martial artists. But continuing Eternal Grandmaster's legacy is a little more than that. It's something specific in Song am, wouldn't you?
[00:17:35] Speaker D: Yes. Just let me hit on the community aspect. I think what you're hitting on is the Ata or Songam family, or you can call it community. I actually was having a discussion about what are some of the positive aspects that we embrace here at the Ata. And one of the biggest ones that was being challenged in this conversation was the fact that we are a community, we're a family. And many people travel to Ata events on their vacation time so that they can meet up with their Ata family and friends. They may not even be competing or they just come to judge, but they spend the evenings with their friends and family and Song'an brothers and sisters. And I think that is so important. That is who we are. Who we are. And yes, we are a business, and yes, we must be trailblazers in this business. And we must continue that vision and that legacy that started with so much evolution in Taekwondo that became Songam Taekwondo.
However, we must embrace the fact that we are a community. And that's one of the biggest backbones of who we are. And I embrace that 100%. I love going to Ata tournaments and seeing my brothers and sisters, my tongue on brothers and sisters and who I call my uncles, and seeing Chief Master Sandoval there and just hugging him and just talking about stories of eternal grand master or even juniors like yourself.
That is what I believe makes us separates us from so many others.
And I embrace that 100% because there's a place for everyone in Ata, whether you love the family aspects, the community, or if you want to continue to be on the cutting edge of martial arts. And anywhere in between, we have that. We provide that. And Eternal Grandmaster, was that the guardian of that? Right.
I take it upon myself as the CEO of the organization at this moment in time, is to continue that. And why would I change that? That's who we are. It's the power of who we are.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: Yes, sir. Yeah.
Continuing his legacy.
There's a lot of talk about that in all different areas.
For me, I always look at you guys, I look at Grandmaster MK.
And go, this is the guy I'm going to follow if I'm continuing Eternal Grandmaster's legacy.
Back in the day, there was huge discussions about block stuff. And I've learned over the years, and I'm not really great at it, but I need to get better at tempering my voice. We used to have these bulletin boards on ATAonline.com or whatever like that, and I'd get on and be like, block is the devil. Everything you do is horrible if you do block teaching. Yeah, block teaching. And then I'd meet with Grandmaster MK. And he was like, no, this is how and why you would do this. And this is why it might be a better solution or whatnot? And then I'd be like, okay, that guy kind of was around for the whole thing and was with Eternal Grandmaster and knows the thing. So I should shut my mouth and make sure I just follow the guys who know what's going on.
And that's where I am now with you as CEO.
If there's people who are going to understand Eternal Grandmaster's legacy, it's you guys. And one of the things that we do, juniors to seniors is and it's one of our leadership life skills we talk about trust is in one of those. And I got to trust that you guys know what you're doing.
Yeah, go ahead.
[00:21:51] Speaker D: Yeah, touch on that.
Grandmaster MK. Lee is if I can just expand on my relationship with him.
I grew up, he used to have a Prelude, a Honda Red Prelude. It was a five speed back when the Preludes were really cool and the old school ones. And I remember he moved here from California, and he would stay with us at our home here in Litterock. And so when my parents traveled, I would get to ride with him a lot. And he had a lot of fun. He's a very light hearted person. You've probably heard him with his humor, but he's a serious martial artist, too.
And what I would say the time that we are in today, I accepted this position knowing that he is our presiding Grandmaster.
That was a point where I said, this opportunity presented itself. And I said, Grandmaster MK. Lee is the presiding Grandmaster that presents so many opportunities to work hand in hand with the martial arts leadership and the corporate leadership so that we can work together. Because the Grandmaster MK Lee, understands martial arts and he understands our business.
[00:23:17] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:23:18] Speaker D: He could tell you what is right and wrong for the legacy program, why it's not working, or he may have the wrong idea about something. What is also fantastic about working with him is he and I can get into an argument and walk out and go to lunch.
And if he was wrong, he'll back down. If I was wrong, I back down. And we have the capability of communicating like that and still showing that mutual respect. And that is where I believe that we have so much synergy moving forward from the business and the martial arts. And I'm not going to pretend like we're going to be perfect, we're going to make mistakes, but we're going to hold each other accountable towards that direction and grow from our mistakes. And that's the biggest thing, right? Learn as you go. Learn as you grow.
Be willing to take chances. What if they said block system is the system to go with, and it worked for a certain amount of schools, but then we did it on the organizational level and it didn't work out?
[00:24:23] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:24:24] Speaker D: That's a shift, right? But they took that chance and look at it. That's just the way we do it now, sir.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: Yeah. No, I think the family that is Ata, as long as we continue to act like a family, we're families get into arguments sometimes.
[00:24:42] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: But you make up, say stupid things every now and then, usually online.
But you love each other, you know each other are coming from the best place to help each other and to help the organization and whatnot. So I am just super excited. I think we are in for an amazing continuation of Ata.
I talked to at this camp this weekend, and I say a lot of times, they say the growth of an organization or the health of an organization is measured by whether the members think the best days are ahead of us or the best days behind us. And I will say that I think a lot of people I think that you talk to the Ata licensees right now, you talk to the Ata people, they're like, we're in for some really great times. It's going to be an amazing future.
[00:25:36] Speaker D: I'm excited.
I just wish there was 26 hours in the day.
Yeah. Yes. I agree with you 110%.
This is my life. Everything that I know, any decisions that we make here is going to impact not just my life for the rest of my life, but the people that I care for, which is the ACA family.
So having that kind of responsibility in this position, in this chair, gives the decision making process a little bit easier decisions. Right.
It's not just profit driven. We're looking at the longevity of the Ata and what it's going to look like in 30 years from now versus three years from now. It's a completely different outlook. The time is right.
My predecessors did a fantastic job.
The current environment, the culture of the Ata is fantastic.
The tournaments are great.
There's so many positive things going on right now, and I'm grateful. I stand on the shoulders of giants before me.
I'm grateful for all of them. And it's time to keep moving forward and growing and innovating and embracing the family.
I love it. I love where we are and where we're going.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: It's exciting times. I want to thank you. I've already taken up more time of yours than I said I would, so I really appreciate you. I know you've got a ton of things to do, so thank you very much, sir. Any last words for Ata nation out know?
[00:27:24] Speaker D: I would just say I appreciate all of know and thank you for embracing me. I got to see many of you at World Championships. I'm looking forward to seeing you at fall nationals and spring nationals.
Some of you have been very vocal about different concerns. I welcome that. If I don't know the answer or if I disagree with you, just be open to that, right? Because that's what mutual respect is. But I will respect your opinion, and I will respect the fact that you have the ability to share with me, and we can have that proper discourse moving forward and come to common grounds and move forward with great things. If you have any concerns, I welcome you to bring it to me. I'd rather hear it directly from you rather than in a chat room, sir. And so but at the end of the day, Ata Nation, you're fantastic. I want to guarantee you that I'm here to protect you, protect your future moving forward, do everything that we can to make it the best future for you, your families, and protect who we are as the Ata. And I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for the opportunity.
[00:28:42] Speaker C: Thank you, sir. We greatly appreciate it. We'll see you at nationals.
[00:28:46] Speaker D: Yes, sir.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Here's. What's going on in Ata Nation?
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Super cool to hear from Senior Master Lee. Great information about carrying on the legacy. Eternal Grandmaster. Really appreciate his time today. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as you all know, the biggest thing going on in Ata Nation is next week we have fall Nationals out in Pittsburgh. So you can definitely see me there. I'll be out there with a bunch of couple of thousand of my closest Ata friends. But some other things going on in Ata Nation. And the big other thing is that it is Founders Month. This month we celebrate Eternal Grand Master, and we do some awesome fundraisers. So in the past, we've talked on this podcast about the Pink Belt Revolution, and your school may be participating in that. Make sure you're talking to your instructors about that. And then obviously fundraisers for the Hule Scholarship Foundation. And you probably saw Chief Master Tammy Stubber online doing an awesome board break, encouraging other people to kind of do their own board break to raise money.
Different kinds of fundraisers going on this month. I know for my school, we're doing what's called a jar wars against two other schools. Right now, my school is getting its butt kicked, which is not my favorite thing. So we're going to pick up our game for the next part of the month to make sure that we can win. But we want you guys out there to make sure you're participating in the Scholarship Foundation and wishing for Mommy all the great things going on for Founders Month. So make sure you're checking that out. Head over to the Hule Foundation website. Make sure that you are following Ata International on all of the social medias. So make sure you take part in that. Now, I know last week I was supposed to have an episode that was going to be the Ask Me Anything episode, but then I realized it was Founders Day, and I wanted to make sure that we recognized that. So we did a rebroadcast last week. We are going to still have that ask me anything and it might actually turn into an interview with my daughter and ask kind of a tiger interview thing. So stay tuned for that. That may be next week, that might be the week after that. We'll see a couple of episodes left before we hit that big 100, so make sure you guys are out there taking action.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to another episode of the Ata Nation podcast. Be sure to subscribe and share with your Ata family.
[00:31:46] Speaker A: Hey, guys, you know, if you want to help me out with this Jar Wars thing, I'd really appreciate it.
It's myself at Excellence Martial Arts, going against Mr. AJ. Smith over there at Unity Martial Arts, and Mr. Mason Franks going over at Impact Martial Arts. And right now, we're about $400 behind Mr. AJ. Smith at Unity Martial Arts. So if anyone wants to send over some coinage for us to win, I'd really appreciate that. Just a thought. If you want to help the scholarship foundation, it's going to be a good time, and I don't like to lose. We'll see how it goes. Take care, guys. Bye.
