Episode 1002- Master Audrey Hussey
In this episode, Jeremy sits down and talk with Master Audrey Hussey about various aspects of martial arts, including the importance of community, learning from mistakes, and the balance between structure and fun in training.
Master Audrey Hussey - Episode 1002
SUMMARY
In this episode, Master Audrey Hussey discusses various aspects of martial arts, including the importance of community, learning from mistakes, and the balance between structure and fun in training. She emphasizes creating a welcoming environment for students and the significance of humor in martial arts. The conversation also touches on the nuances of correctness in martial arts training and the idea of layering knowledge rather than replacing it. She also focuses on the importance of lineage, teaching styles, and the balance between rank progression and personal growth. The conversation shifts to the significance of understanding techniques over mere memorization, the creation of a supportive training environment, and the implementation of innovative teaching methods to engage students. The conversation emphasizes a holistic approach to black belt standards and the flexibility of curriculum to cater to individual student needs. Master Hussey emphasizes the importance of empowerment, adaptation, and community. She discusses her unique experiences as a martial artist and instructor, particularly focusing on the challenges faced during the pandemic and her determination to open a school despite those obstacles. The conversation highlights the holistic approach to martial arts, the significance of personal growth, and the mission to empower others, especially women and children, through martial arts training.
TAKEAWAYS
Community is essential in martial arts.
Learning from mistakes is a key part of growth.
Humor can enhance the training experience.
Creating a welcoming environment encourages participation.
Structure in training should not stifle fun.
Correctness in martial arts can be subjective.
Layering knowledge allows for personal growth in martial arts.
Students should feel comfortable approaching instructors.
Martial arts can be a lifelong journey.
The culture of martial arts should be inclusive and supportive.
Lineage in martial arts can be important but should not be restrictive.
Teaching should adapt to the maturity and skill level of students.
Not all students will progress at the same rate; individual needs must be recognized.
Rank should not be the sole focus; personal growth is essential.
Promoting understanding of techniques is more valuable than rote memorization.
Creating a supportive environment encourages students to thrive.
Flexibility in curriculum allows for dynamic and engaging classes.
A holistic approach to black belt standards acknowledges individual strengths and weaknesses.
Innovative training techniques can enhance student engagement and learning.
It's important to recognize that not every student will excel in every area. Your story as a martial artist is more than just facts.
Empowerment is a key mission in martial arts.
Adapting to challenges is crucial for success.
Opening a school during a pandemic requires resilience.
Martial arts can provide confidence and skills to children.
Community support is vital for overcoming obstacles.
Teaching martial arts is about more than just fighting.
Patience is essential in the journey of growth.
Every child deserves the opportunity to learn self-defense.
Listening to intuition can lead to positive outcomes in teaching.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Importance of Community in Martial Arts
03:05 Learning from Mistakes in Martial Arts
05:59 The Role of Humor in Training
9:03 Creating a Welcoming Environment in Martial Arts
12:04 Balancing Structure and Fun in Training
15:01 Understanding Correctness in Martial Arts
18:04 Layering Knowledge in Martial Arts Training
20:28 The Importance of Lineage in Martial Arts
22:03 Teaching Styles and Student Development
24:37 Balancing Rank and Personal Growth
27:14 Promoting Understanding Over Memorization
29:44 Creating a Supportive Training Environment
32:08 Dynamic Teaching Methods and Curriculum Flexibility
36:52 A Holistic Approach to Black Belt Standards
38:55 Innovative Training Techniques for Engagement
45:47 The Holistic Approach to Martial Arts
48:01 Empowerment Through Martial Arts
51:39 Overcoming Challenges and Adapting
55:06 Opening a School During a Pandemic
58:00 The Importance of Adaptation
01:03:18 The Mission of Empowerment
This episode is sponsored by Kataaro. Please check out their site at www.kataaro.com and use the code WK10 to save 10% off your first order. And be sure to ask them about a wholesale account for school owners!
All orders for Autism Awareness belts in March and April will see 50% of the PROFITS donated to the International Society for Autism Research!
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
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Show Transcript
Jeremy Lesniak (02:51.448)
What's going on everybody? Welcome back. It's another episode of WhistleKick martial arts radio and today I'm joined by my friend Audrey Hussey. Audrey, glad you're here. don't this this one took a while. I don't know why. I don't know why we could have done this a while ago, but you're here now. So I'm glad we're doing this. And if you're new to the show, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go over to whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com and I want you to sign up for the newsletter. We are completely retooling. We have a separate martial arts radio newsletter. It's coming out. We're going to email you.
Audrey Hussey (03:03.554)
Yeah, it was.
Jeremy Lesniak (03:20.1)
Every time an episode comes out and say, hey, here it is. You want the video? Here it is. You want the audio? Here it is. We're going to make it as easy as possible. But wait, there's more. We're going to give you behind the scenes stuff and it's going to grow. It's free. You can unsubscribe any time. If you want the best martial arts radio experience, that's what you want to do. Whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com. Hit the subscribe tab at the top. Now, this episode is sponsored by Kotaro. They've been helping us out for a while. Kotaro does some great stuff. K-A-T-A-A-R-O.com.
And what do I have for you from Kataro today? So they've got this really cool autism awareness belt. And what's super funny about this is even though this is what they want me to read today, what was that a month and a half ago, I was at an event, I was refereeing an event. And a young lady came up wearing this belt that they wanted me to talk about. And I knew instantly what was going on, right? She had autism.
And it allowed me to see what was happening here and make sure she had the support she needed and she didn't have to say a word. And I just thought that was absolutely wonderful. Talked to her instructor about it. She's like, yeah, this has been a great thing. And so that's one of the things they're doing. Autism awareness. So these belts through March and April, is donating half of the profits to the International Society for Autism Research. And I will have a belt for you soon. There's one on the way.
I'm gonna take the blame for that. It's not Kataro's fault. Use your code WK10 to save 10 % on your first order, which can include that belt. Wholesale discounts are available for this belt. And like everything else Kataro does, all made in the USA to order. So there we go. Thank you to Kataro. And thank you to Audrey for being here. You're here. I'm so excited. Yeah.
Audrey Hussey (05:09.741)
Thank you for having me. And it was me. You asked me quite some time ago and then I saw you up in New Hampshire and that reminded me. And then it took me a few weeks to reach out to Andrew and I'm glad I did. Honestly, I was a little reluctant. I'm like, why do they want to talk to me anyway? What do I have to say? Probably too much.
Jeremy Lesniak (05:17.136)
you
Jeremy Lesniak (05:25.286)
Me too.
Jeremy Lesniak (05:31.65)
Anybody have to say.
But put two martial artists together and they just talk. don't know about I'm thinking of someone now, someone I know a bit through martial arts. She got married and there were two token martial artists invited. It was myself. I lived locally and her instructor. wasn't training anymore and. I don't think I think I'd seen this person once at a competition at that point and we spent the entire wedding having a couple drinks and talking about martial arts like in a corner by ourselves.
And because that's just that's what happens, right? Like, I'm sure you've had that kind of experience.
Audrey Hussey (06:07.502)
I'm, you know, I don't know if, you know, soccer players and, you know, volleyball players have the same thing, but I think when you're in a sport like martial arts, the difference is you can start at four years old and train till you're 94 years old. You got a lot to talk about and you have so many different experiences because hardly anyone stays in the same place their entire life. So you're off to a different city and you're doing different styles and
So there is a lot to talk about and then you have people in common and then there's more to talk about. So really never ends.
Jeremy Lesniak (06:45.232)
doesn't, it never ends. And you know, the drama that exists in martial arts is not my favorite aspect. I know it's not yours either. We've talked about that. But I think the good thing about the drama is it gives you plenty of stories, plenty to talk about. Yeah, sometimes. Yeah.
Audrey Hussey (06:52.174)
Thank
Audrey Hussey (07:02.474)
Good comedy too, really. Anecdotes and life lessons and things you can pass on to your students of what to do and what not to do.
Jeremy Lesniak (07:08.774)
Mmm.
what not to do. I think the what not to do is is often easier to see.
Audrey Hussey (07:16.246)
and how you don't want to be.
Jeremy Lesniak (07:19.856)
Which is kind of my whole theory about growing up is that as human beings we learn by making mistakes and as you get older you've got a whole bunch of stuff not to do and that leaves you less stuff to do and you could apply the same thing to martial arts. When you're sparring don't do these dumb things, do these things that are maybe less dumb at least or you haven't figured out if they're dumb yet.
Audrey Hussey (07:43.822)
because I did them.
Thank
Jeremy Lesniak (07:48.112)
and they might work.
Audrey Hussey (07:49.816)
I have actual saying when I tell students, you're going to kick off your back leg, this is where you're going to put your, and this is where your face is going to land and ask me how I know. And they all laugh and I'm like, ask me how I know. So when I say ask me how I know, they know it's because I've done it and, or don't put your hand right here in front of your face. Ask me how I know. And they'll all laugh because,
Jeremy Lesniak (08:15.554)
Go on a T sounds like a T shirt.
Audrey Hussey (08:17.902)
My co-instructor over there kicked me and I punched myself in the face just the other day. So, real talk, real talk. Drop it in the air though.
Jeremy Lesniak (08:27.676)
Why are you hitting yourself? I can just see that.
Audrey Hussey (08:37.134)
god, sorry.
Jeremy Lesniak (08:38.198)
One of the things that I think you and I have kind of connected on when it comes to martial arts is as much as we enjoy it, and even though it's our jobs, right? Like you have a school, I have a school, whistle kick, right? Like all these things that are professional. I don't see you as someone who takes martial arts too seriously. And I think that that's part of where you and I, like, were you raised that way or?
Audrey Hussey (08:59.053)
No.
Jeremy Lesniak (09:06.481)
Is this your martial arts upbringing that gives you that perspective or your non martial arts upbringing like what is plenty of people around us take this stuff way too seriously.
Audrey Hussey (09:18.51)
Mm-hmm. I wasn't raised in any sports at all. So I grew up watching my dad work and work and work and work. He is a master. He's a master at what he does. I call him a Renaissance man. So he started out as a design painter. He's a designer. He's an engineer, but not like, he doesn't have a degree.
Jeremy Lesniak (09:29.83)
Hmm. What did he do?
Audrey Hussey (09:45.154)
but what he did, owned a sign company for many, years, which is not something a lot of people really ever hear of, but he wanted better for his family. So he worked every day, he worked every night. And that's what I watched. And that's not to say, well, I don't wanna be like that and work myself to death. I'll work 12, 14 hours straight on something that I wanna do. But as far as, you
Jeremy Lesniak (09:52.348)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak (09:58.95)
Mmm.
Audrey Hussey (10:15.128)
getting, I was 33 before I started training. I had already raised, yeah, I had three kids already. I was carrying my infant in a car seat carrier, bringing my then five-year-old to class when the adult class would come in, they'd be like, you should come in, you should come in. I'm like, finally I did. I put my baby in the corner. I put baby in the corner. In his car seat carrier and did class.
Jeremy Lesniak (10:18.96)
Really? Okay.
Audrey Hussey (10:44.758)
And when he would cry, was three months old. When he would cry, I would bow out, nurse him, jump back in class. This was it. I'm going to, I'm going to give a shout out to martial arts training Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's actually in Huntersville. And my first, sensei, Scotty Hartzell was very accommodating. There was another instructor for a few months before that, but, they're very accommodating and they, know, it's family school and
Them doing that gave me a whole perspective on the whole training thing. You want me in there, you have to make it easy enough for me to be in there. People come in and they're like, I have a toddler. And I'm like, bring him in. I'll put him in the corner and we can play. I don't care. I mean, I want you in here. I want your family in here. I want your kids to see you training. And that's what, you know, that was that. And maybe that's where I didn't take it so seriously.
So it wasn't like a super hardcore formal school, but it was great training and I've been to several other schools since then but I think it's from watching the things that made people sour on the whole culture that I didn't want in my school. Just this whole hierarchy, I'm better than you because I'm wearing this
Jeremy Lesniak (12:03.931)
Like what?
Audrey Hussey (12:10.434)
belt when in reality, yeah, I'm watching you. I see. I see. So let's be a little more humble. Let's say, you know, I don't know if I don't know. Let's let the students see that we are not icons. We are not, you know, the word master belt doesn't mean you're a master of anybody. You've mastered the basics and I make sure my students know that.
You've mastered the basics and then some, because, know. But they see us screw up. And then they talk about it when we're not there. Did you see what she did? And she was saying this other thing. Well, I lived that coming up through the ranks. I lived that watching people say things and do other things. And I'm like, I'm not going to take myself that seriously.
Jeremy Lesniak (12:43.196)
Master of technique, not master of people.
Jeremy Lesniak (12:48.048)
They should. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak (13:05.595)
So you had a contrast. Your first school was very open and accommodating. It showed you lot of what you wanted. Then you were able to see what you didn't want at other places. And it helped you dial in what was important to you.
Audrey Hussey (13:17.934)
So I have this little ritual I do at the end of class and I don't know why I started doing it, but as I bow everybody out, I say show and we all say tung su like that and then I dance.
But now my students are yeah, I go like this we all go Tung Tzu and then we all do our little dance and the other day I was asking my students because these are you know six and seven year olds eight year olds and I'm like alright so does anybody know what these words mean and I'm going through the you know the bowing the attention stance and the ready stance and then and I said show show means relax right and I said but what does this mean Tung Tzu and they all go
Jeremy Lesniak (13:36.368)
I love it. Do the others dance with you?
Audrey Hussey (14:05.408)
It means dance. I'm like, oops. So I'm like, well, no. If you know, so I had to explain them to them what Hang Su means. And I said the dancing is because I'm happy. The dancing is because we just had fun and I want you to walk out the door with a smile on your face. And that's why I dance at the end of class, because I'm happy.
And so I'm hoping from they take that away, what they take away from that is, you know, dancing is for when you're happy, you know, dancing is for anytime. And we're not so serious. We're not, you know, I don't like, I don't connect with the whole, you know, dour master stand up in the room and never connects with any students walks out of the room as soon as class is over and doesn't talk to anybody. mean,
I never connected with that. And I think students should be able to come up and give me a hug after class, and they do. And I feel like that makes, I want this to be their home, their second home. I want this to be their happy place. I don't want them to ever be afraid to talk to me about anything.
And I've seen that even with my own kids with other instructors. I don't want to talk. I'm not saying nothing because, you we'll talk to him. It's scary. Why? Why is that person scary? What are they going to do? So that puts them out in the public, afraid to talk to authority figures, afraid to stand up for themselves. That's not what we're about. it shouldn't be. So that's why that energy.
Jeremy Lesniak (15:51.036)
Didn't mean anyway.
Audrey Hussey (15:57.57)
That's why I feel that energy should be that way for me, for my students. If they want somebody more serious, if they want to get yelled at, somewhere else. Because I've never yelled at a student and I'm never going to.
Jeremy Lesniak (16:12.004)
Yeah, I just had someone that. I'm going to do my best to sanitize this, so even if they listen, they won't know I'm talking about them. I wouldn't imagine they would for former students. Two members of a family and they came in and.
They wanted what they had, which was not us.
Audrey Hussey (16:35.724)
I thought that happened.
Jeremy Lesniak (16:37.384)
And that happens, right? And I get that. And part of what they were used to was this extreme regimenting and formality. know, we operate a formal class. But I work really hard to find where's the line between structure and fun, because to me, that's the sweet spot where people are going to learn the most.
Audrey Hussey (17:09.582)
Agreed.
Jeremy Lesniak (17:09.916)
And the last thing I ever want to do is disparage someone.
But I saw...
lot of opportunity for rapid progress in these two people that came to my school that was not realized because of the way they had been training because of the hyper focus on that regimented structure because Everybody's individual right everybody needs a little bit of their own flavor in there because our bodies are different the way we process information stuff and
They stepped away and I reached out to them a couple times and they're like, you know, we kind of we don't like this couple of these things that you do and I'm like interesting, you know.
Audrey Hussey (18:01.038)
Interesting. I love when people say interesting.
Jeremy Lesniak (18:02.758)
Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for thanks for giving it a shot. You're always welcome. Right? You know, whereas people that had started from scratch alongside them leapfrocked them and they didn't notice. Or at least they didn't acknowledge.
Audrey Hussey (18:18.766)
Were they used to being held back because of some sort of structured?
Jeremy Lesniak (18:26.044)
don't know if it was being held back. think it was. So I have this theory that the first martial art you learn is kind like the first language you learn becomes the letters, the words, et cetera. And, you know, I've done a number of other things, but they all look like karate. When I did Taekwondo, it was, know, my Taekwondo forms were a karate guy doing Taekwondo forms. And I worked really hard to pull it back as much as I could, but it was my understanding of my own body and how to move it.
Audrey Hussey (18:35.854)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (18:55.598)
in these ways. And I think it was some of that is that this is what they started with and they went on to something else and there was a voice in the back of their head for right or for wrong telling them this isn't the way to do it.
Audrey Hussey (19:09.422)
Mm, they're stuck in a track of. It's interesting that you say that because I have, I have a couple of students who came in from other styles. One is a Taekwondo as a kid. He's an adult now and he's, he's not, not so much struggles only when I'm fussing at him about making it tangsudo way, but it's, and it's just little details. Otherwise he's, you know, intense.
Jeremy Lesniak (19:11.708)
They're kind of, yeah.
Audrey Hussey (19:39.256)
He's sharp and why am I fussing about one stupid little thing that he does different than the traditional tang-sudo way? When in doing so, the rest of his technique suffers. So I don't care if his back foot's sticking out. I mean, it pulls him off of that straightforward tang-sudo kind of, you know, front stance way, but...
He looks great doing his forms and he's more powerful doing it the way he was trained up. And now we have a little girl, same thing, only seven. She's so intense and she came from a different style, like I said, and my brain's going through it again. Do I correct, correct, correct until she's so discouraged thinking she's not doing it right when she is doing it right. She's just not doing it the tang-su-do way.
but she looks fantastic. So I'm kind of letting her like evolve into it. And I'm seeing some really like fast progress because her mind is not stuck in, oh, I have to change it. And when I started,
Jeremy Lesniak (20:51.036)
So how do you reconcile that, right? Because this was something and the irony here is you and I talked before we started that this was about you and I could go on a 20 minute rant about this subject, so I'm not going to. But the idea that what is, we'll use the word correct in the school is a certain way, but there are other correct ways to do it depending on the context.
Audrey Hussey (21:04.621)
That's it.
Jeremy Lesniak (21:17.882)
Right you might have an even even within school within your curriculum the correct way to do a form. Versus well maybe you want to change these things for competition if you support that right so that could be correct out there versus maybe different instructors in your in you know higher up lineage want to see that form in a slightly different way so correct is still subjective how do you handle that. Like that situation that little girl.
Audrey Hussey (21:45.356)
Okay, so I was just about to talk about one of my first Tengshutou instructors and two things he said to me that stand out and I still, we're still close. He was at my master belt grading, which was very cool because he was my first Tengshutou instructor, but at a different school he's at now. He said to me, we are not, cause I already had a black belt in Kempo.
And I was very concerned that people would treat me like I was new. That's an ego thing. That was an ego thing. A lot of them still did, even though I had been training longer than them and knew more, but just a different style. I'm like, I had to, so I had to humble myself and I had to, that was a life lesson for me. But he said, we're not replacing what you know, we're layering on top of it. So if I'm going to say that to my students, I need to mean it. All right. So, and.
He said.
What is correct and what is right are two different things. You can, you know, you can be correct and not be right. You can be right and not be correct. Right. So, and I'm sure we can come up with a million examples of that. So what I do now in my school and, and I still, try to, I met a really great Kenpo instructors, different. was in Kenpo. This is Kenpo, but it's very similar.
And when you say one, everybody just thinks the other anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Jeremy Lesniak (23:23.156)
Hey, because because there are people watching if Craig if you're watching, right? I, I don't think there is a more ridiculous thing to argue about in martial arts than whether Kempo has an or an N, considering it's translated from a language that doesn't even use the same letters. I think it is the silliest thing to argue about that I've ever heard in martial arts. There are so many like there are dumb things are about that's the dumbest.
Audrey Hussey (23:28.16)
Yeah
Audrey Hussey (23:45.966)
I just say it fast. I say it fast. Well, is only in that, you know, if you're, if that lineage thing is so important. I mean, I trained in Shorinji Kenpo, but you know what? I'm going to say it fast and you can just fill in the blanks. How about that karate world?
Jeremy Lesniak (24:07.3)
It let me and I want to clarify because I'm realizing that there's a part of my my thought process here that I left off the table if your school is Sure NG Kempo and you spell it with an and that's important you that's great It's when you go to other people and you're like no you need to spell it with an You're spelling it with an N or they're coming to you and they're like, no, you can't put it in there. That's got to be an N That that's where I think it's
Audrey Hussey (24:28.353)
You don't fit this in.
Audrey Hussey (24:33.272)
Well, the great part is, is I can teach it in my school along with my Teng Tzu Do and nobody cares. The parents don't care. My students don't care. And I tell them, this is from Kenpo. And if you ever want to try, you know, a different style and learn some of this to add to what you're doing, find a Kenpo school, find a Kenpo school. Don't care which one, but it's going to teach you more self-defense oriented.
fast striking and this is good stuff. This is really good stuff. It's what I came up doing. And so I use it when I'm training with my tangsut I use it when I'm training my kids. And I don't even remember where my story was going. Master Kavar talking about layering on top of what you're layering. And he said, you know, right and correct.
Jeremy Lesniak (25:16.124)
Hmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (25:27.462)
Yeah.
Audrey Hussey (25:33.042)
are two different things. So if I'm training this student and she's not pointing her foot the right direction or she's not chambering high enough for times to know people, what would I rather she take away from that class? That I'm nitpicking and not seeing how really talented she is? Because I see her. I see you kid, you know, I see what you're doing and I see what you know already.
Jeremy Lesniak (25:41.468)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (26:01.646)
I'm not going to hold you back. maybe when she's a red belt, an apprentice, I'm going to start, because now she'll be in better control of her body, which she's not right now. They are not. Then I'll tweak. I'll worry about that later. That's one great thing I learned, you know, coming up in the ranks and then starting to teach is you can't correct everything at white belt. You can't correct it. You have to slowly.
mold them as they get more mature in this art, which I'm starting to see. It's taken me a while, but I've been teaching almost like I've been teaching for like 10 years, but they weren't my students before. They're mine now. I'm responsible for them. So I, know, it's like being a parent, you know, you only have so long to, to teach your kids everything you want to know. And I hope I don't screw it up. Well, a mother of 10.
Jeremy Lesniak (26:56.208)
and you can't teach them everything at once.
Audrey Hussey (26:58.39)
Right, and a mother of 10 once told me, you're going to screw it up. A mother of 10 once told me, you're going to screw it up. Some of these kids are going to be real messed up. Some are going to be great. That's the same thing. Right? But it's true. Some students are just never going to click. They're never going to get it. They don't want to get it. They just want something to do.
Jeremy Lesniak (27:11.685)
Is that why she had ten? She was rolling the dice? I'm gonna get a couple good ones out of this. One of them's gonna take care of me when I'm old.
Audrey Hussey (27:27.01)
You have to recognize that. Give them what they need. And the others who want to, you know, be competitive or whatever, give them what they need.
Jeremy Lesniak (27:27.409)
right.
Jeremy Lesniak (27:37.404)
One of the things that we do, and I think more schools could benefit from doing this, is we've found a way in our culture to not make rank progress the be all end all, which allows people to, if they want to come in and train, and if they come in with prior experience, they're like, you know, I really don't want to change this. I don't want to do it your way. Cool. We've got some people, I've had multiple people with black belts and other styles.
Audrey Hussey (28:06.737)
Thank
Jeremy Lesniak (28:07.612)
who they didn't really want to change. They wanted to come for a workout. Awesome. So I back off on my corrections because I know that that's how they feel. 98. Hmm? Nope.
Audrey Hussey (28:17.644)
Do you rank them? Do you grade them up? They don't want to. They just want to do what they're doing.
Jeremy Lesniak (28:24.794)
Yeah, they just they just wanted to come in train and get a good workout and and everything and that was and that's really cool and you know where it becomes even more cool is when my students bar because now they're learning from each other. You know so we've got our curriculum but everybody else is bringing in their own context for training and they're learning from each other and they're doing weird stuff that's great.
Audrey Hussey (28:38.968)
Mm-hmm.
Audrey Hussey (28:43.532)
Cool.
Audrey Hussey (28:49.09)
I've always kind of in the back of my head dreamed about opening a karate school for people who don't want to do karate. I guess, you know, there's, there are schools like that, you see them and they, you know, there's no uniforms. There's no, just wear whatever you want, come in. There's no ranks, but I'm going to teach you all this stuff. And guess what? They're going to be just the skilled as the kids coming out with.
Jeremy Lesniak (28:56.54)
Mmm.
Hahaha!
Jeremy Lesniak (29:05.567)
I see what you're saying.
Audrey Hussey (29:18.198)
you know, their first degree or whatever, they're gonna know just as much. Do I have to break them?
Jeremy Lesniak (29:22.276)
It's a different culture. Most of my students don't have uniforms.
Audrey Hussey (29:25.804)
Yeah. see, you're doing it.
Jeremy Lesniak (29:28.496)
I've even got, because having a uniform is not a prerequisite to rank. have a yellow belt who has never worn a gi.
Audrey Hussey (29:37.816)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (29:39.004)
She has a belt.
She doesn't wear it on her street clothes. That's a rule. But she still lines up as a yellow belt.
Audrey Hussey (29:46.638)
Right, she just doesn't wear the belt. I mean, why do we care? I mean, I like the tradition. Don't get me wrong. I love the tradition of tangsudo. I love the uniform. I love the belts. I love the ranking system because it gives you a goal. I used to stand in line and I started, I walked in a school as a black belt, the different style and they let me wear my black belt until I graded. And then I was a blue belt and then I was in the back row and I had to work my way along.
Jeremy Lesniak (29:54.883)
Absolutely.
Audrey Hussey (30:14.604)
And you know, for me as an adult, was, it was kind of a challenge. It was a personal challenge. And I'm like, I'm going to get to that spot, that last spot. And I did. I was at that last spot for quite some time. but that doesn't work for everybody. That's not everybody's motivation. Some people said just want to train and they don't care. And when I, you know, I get the guilt because you know, somebody's child just isn't putting in the effort or they're just.
Jeremy Lesniak (30:34.14)
Mm-hmm.
Audrey Hussey (30:44.526)
They're not there enough or whatever. I say, I cannot grade you because you don't know the material. And they're like, okay.
Jeremy Lesniak (30:53.337)
And are you okay with that? Because I had to learn to become okay with that. That was probably the biggest transition for me.
Audrey Hussey (30:59.086)
That's tough. That's tough because I take it, I don't take it personally, but I used to feel like it was a failure on my part. But maybe some way I'm teaching isn't reaching them. It's not motivating them, but I don't think that's it at all. They're just... Right, and you can't figure out everybody's motivation. And I don't sit there and say, you're not gonna grade if you don't... I never say that.
Jeremy Lesniak (31:14.768)
or maybe their motivations are just different.
Audrey Hussey (31:28.256)
I say, want you guys to, I want to be able to, you know, to promote you, but I don't want to send you out there in the world thinking you're at some level when you're not there yet. Because there's nothing more embarrassing than seeing a black belt, you know, compete or whatever. And they don't, they clearly have not been, you know, trained.
to the best of somebody's ability, or maybe they just won't get better, I don't know. But it's kind of embarrassing though when you see it. And I don't want my students to go out there in the world thinking that they're skilled in areas they're not, just because they're wearing a black belt.
Jeremy Lesniak (32:18.594)
One of the things that we did that I think has been so important to our culture, because we did an episode on this, and I'm not going to turn this into a repeat of that, but I spent two years planning out how I wanted to run my school before it actually happened. And one of the things we settled on was I didn't want to be the one pushing people to advance in rank.
So how do we solve that? so we have a pre-test that they have to initiate. Now we might encourage it. We might say, have you thought about doing your evaluation? It is a one-on-one with an instructor, zero consequence checklist. you're missing these things. Here, take your sheet. Go work on those things. And until they have all of those things checked, they're not eligible to test. And it's allowed some people to come in and they're like, I have no interest in rank. I just want to come train.
Audrey Hussey (32:57.944)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (33:14.01)
And then there are other people who are super motivated and that belt means a lot to them and it allows them to drive and I don't have to sweat it and they train together and it takes me out of it. And I haven't witnessed any jealousy, no jealousy. In fact, I've seen the opposite. I have had students tell me, well, I don't want to test because I don't want to distance myself from this other person over here that I really.
And I'm like, hold up, no, no, no. I'll tell you what, you go tell them that and they're gonna yell at you because they want to support you in your individual progress. And I suspect schools could implement that pretty simply. Hey, before you can test, you've got to do a pre-test, it's up to you. You let me know that you want to do that, here's the structure, we'll do it after class, it takes 10 minutes, know, whatever.
Audrey Hussey (34:10.626)
I do, you know, and I tell my students because my, my gradings are not tests. It's a, it's a promotion. And I mean, I'm watching them. I don't have that many students that I cannot watch each individual child, person, whatever, every single day. I can tell you, I can point at any student and tell you exactly, you know, what they're to do and how they're going to move and why they're moving that way and how they can improve themselves and
Jeremy Lesniak (34:16.22)
Mmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (34:32.186)
You know if they're ready.
Audrey Hussey (34:39.63)
if they're not doing it, you know, that's on them. But I only grade every four months. I hate, this is personal. I know every school is different and they're very successful. Fine, whatever. This is for me. I hate having to constantly remind the students there's a grading coming up and you're not going to grade if you don't blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So if I want to, you know, spend an entire class lifting weights so that my students know.
Jeremy Lesniak (34:46.492)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (35:08.75)
how to lift weights and why. And this is what we're doing. And this is how you work your hip flexors so you have better, stronger sidekicks and you won't hurt yourself. And so I can work on the mechanics, the mechanics of how we get stronger doing the things. I can do a whole class on weapons and whether it's in my curriculum or not, which I'm starting to put it more into my curriculum. But I can spend...
a whole class just diving over things and rolling or just having fun, at the same time they are learning something and then we'll, yeah, I'm not teaching to the test. And so I can have classes that are really dynamic and fun and then other times, we're gonna, today we're gonna focus on Forbes. We're focus on Forbes, we'll pull.
Jeremy Lesniak (35:48.486)
You're not locked to the test is what I'm hearing.
Audrey Hussey (36:05.656)
So we'll pull a technique or two out of a form and just use that as the take down drill or whatever. And I can be more structured. I'm not a big fan of structuring curriculum. I know what they need to know and I get around to it. I probably should be more curriculum oriented. No, no.
Jeremy Lesniak (36:25.052)
Here's a question, because I suspect there are people watching and listening that would say the same thing about them. But here's a question, because I spend a lot of time thinking about this. When you look at your school and your students, as they progress, are they progressing at the rate that you want them to? And do they know at those intervals what you want them to know?
And if both of those things are true, think you're good.
Audrey Hussey (36:53.282)
No, what I'm starting to see is, again, I've only been doing this, my own school for four years. And I saw it in my, I had a homeschool class at my other school where I was responsible for their training up to apprentice black belt. And I would always, you know, at gradings and things, I would look at them and I would look at the rest of the school and I would see that they were not all of them. You know, y'all have your standouts, right? And they were in line with what everybody else was.
was doing. They were fine. They made me proud. And so I'm like, OK, I can do this. can get them from point A to point Z. And with my students, I'm starting to relax a little because there's a certain level they get at where they just start to click. And before that, you can't push them because they're going to get frustrated. And they're going to...
sucking the fun out of it. You're sucking the air out of the room when you're constantly, know, fix your foot, your hand, fix your foot, fix your hand. So I just kind of throw it out there as a, you know, as suggestion. And then one day they just start doing it. If they're not going to do it, they're never going to do it. It's a, their, their autonomous creatures. can't make them do it. Am I going to hold them back from having a black belt because his foot sticks out a little bit?
when that's, you know, he's so focused on that beautiful striking power. Isn't that what we're looking for? So, you know, are all the pieces ever gonna fit together? Maybe, maybe not. But at some point, green, upper green, red belt, they start to turn that little corner and then they start to be aware of what they're doing. So I came up with a phrase and I just, I say, tighten up.
If by that time they don't know what that means, then I'm not doing it right. So I say tighten up and all of a sudden everybody just kind of nails it down. Even the kids who never nail it down, they nail it down. And then I don't have to sit there and go, you know, Troy.
Jeremy Lesniak (39:07.388)
What I think I'm hearing, you've brought this up a couple of times with how you see a black belt. I think in a lot of schools, a black belt is you have met these minimum criteria of all of these things. And what I think I'm hearing from you is you're looking at an average that, okay, maybe the foot's turned out, but they really excel over here. And so I wanna make sure a black belt is
Audrey Hussey (39:32.622)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (39:36.73)
they average out to be at this level. And if they've got one or two things that are off, I'm not going to hold them back for that. You've got a more holistic approach to what rank means.
Audrey Hussey (39:52.047)
I feel like I do and I feel like it's a healthy, it's a healthy approach. And if you go from school to school to school and look at everybody, look at all their black belts, you know, and again, tangsudo is certain specific things that kind of define it. So you know you're looking at tangsudo as opposed to karate or, know, even taekwondo. But it's important to me, I'm gonna do it this way because
Jeremy Lesniak (39:54.94)
Mmm.
Audrey Hussey (40:19.862)
I like the way it looks, like the way it feels, I feel more balanced, I feel more powerful, whatever. Excuse me, I'm sorry. So, he got me off my track.
Jeremy Lesniak (40:34.18)
anyone listening I believe that's a dog that you're talking to and now there's a dog in frame and if you're not watching the show you've you've missed out
Audrey Hussey (40:43.15)
He's the big scary doberman. He's a whining little baby and he wants attention. So anyway, that holistic approach I think is working for me because it acknowledges what they have done and what they are able to do without dragging them down because of little details.
Jeremy Lesniak (40:46.716)
he's terrifying.
What?
Audrey Hussey (41:13.068)
You know, you go out and you eat a fantastic meal, but all you do is piss and moan about the salad. mean, you know, calm down.
Jeremy Lesniak (41:23.377)
Don't eat just don't eat the salad. You can still go back to the restaurant even if you don't like the salad
Audrey Hussey (41:28.354)
Well, and what if, you know, you've got a great fighter, but they stick at forms because maybe they don't understand the connection forms has to fighting or the connection forms has to self-defense or the connection it has to. And you can explain it to them a thousand times. Why? That's possible too. I do the forms with them. I mean, they can't really, they can't really mess up.
Jeremy Lesniak (41:44.762)
Or maybe they struggle with memorizing sequences.
Audrey Hussey (41:55.166)
Is it so important that they memorize the forms for the sake of memorizing the forms? Or is it important that they understand what's inside the forms and what they're doing? I wasn't given that. So for me, the technique of perfecting every little speck of it, but I wasn't, no clue what I was doing or why I was doing it, that doesn't make any sense to me. So now my approach is more, you know,
This is what you do and grab the guy and punch him, grab his shoulders, slam down into your knee. And I say it like that as we're doing it so they understand why they're doing what they're doing. And it makes it more fun for them. So instead of, you know, make them move like an airplane just to get them to look at it. You've heard that one.
Jeremy Lesniak (42:45.124)
I'm gonna use it. you're giving me flashbacks to WBlock.
Audrey Hussey (42:51.456)
Okay, W-blank. Okay, scoop the ice cream.
Jeremy Lesniak (42:52.198)
Shout out to my Taekwondo friends. We universally hated.
Jeremy Lesniak (43:00.442)
We bought sand shovels. We bought sand shovels to teach scoop blocks. We put shovels in their hands. It's amazing. It's so much fun.
Audrey Hussey (43:06.929)
gosh.
Audrey Hussey (43:12.664)
But what does it look like when they're black belt? Are they sick?
Jeremy Lesniak (43:15.74)
I don't know, we haven't gotten there yet. Although we found that the adults have a much harder time orienting how to hold a sand shovel. They come up here and the shovel's like in these weird angles. Have you been to a beach? Do you know how to dig in the sand? The kids get it. They're like, yeah.
Audrey Hussey (43:32.942)
Like you said, it doesn't work for everybody. But I mean, when I teach blocks, I'm like, shields, ugh. Like just, so, and I do it like that so they see the intensity they need. So I start, don't let me boop your nose. Don't let me boop your nose. And they start smacking my hand real hard. So they get the block because nobody wants their nose booped. But they're laughing as they're doing it.
Jeremy Lesniak (43:35.343)
Right.
Jeremy Lesniak (43:44.902)
Yeah.
Audrey Hussey (44:00.876)
because that's what they connect to. And I love hearing other people's ways of training these things because I might steal something. I'm not sure about the sand shovel thing, I'll give it to some, or I'll say, you know, do a windshield wiper or, you know, make it look like, you know, an elephant trunk, which I still haven't figured out the low block thing, but if
If it works, use it, right?
Jeremy Lesniak (44:33.3)
The I'll share this with you, because I don't know that we've talked about this on the show. The number one tool that I stumbled on developing. I had some old pool noodle pool. Pool noodles. I don't know why that's hard to say right now, and and some old PVC. And I just cut the noodles and made foam like really chintzy swords, foam swords. And we found that. Especially kids respond completely differently.
Audrey Hussey (44:42.414)
I can't say it either.
Audrey Hussey (44:54.328)
Unblock.
Jeremy Lesniak (45:02.662)
to swinging one of these foam swords at them for blocking practice than a hand or a foot.
Audrey Hussey (45:08.59)
Do you think better or is it a great?
Jeremy Lesniak (45:10.23)
significantly better, much less intimidated, especially early on.
Audrey Hussey (45:15.182)
That's funny because when I use, you know, those buffer things they have, or just the foam, ischromistics, which is basically what that is, you know, they're doing this where I say, don't let me boop your nose, or whatever, I come in slow, where I say, here comes the slow poke, then they're not intimidated at all. And then as they smack it out of the way and they're like, bam, I use, so,
Jeremy Lesniak (45:33.136)
Hmm, interesting.
Audrey Hussey (45:45.472)
And poon-o's are good. I don't use them because it makes the kids think it's play time for me. So I use pipe insulation. then I have this like eight foot long pole, maybe seven, I don't know, whatever. And I use it to play jump the stick. And I swing it around on the floor in a circle and they have to jump over the stick. If I hit your foot, you're out.
Jeremy Lesniak (45:51.708)
Mmm.
Audrey Hussey (46:13.048)
And then I pick it up and then they have the duck. So I do duck, duck, jump. I call it duck, duck, jump. And these kids, like, they made it into this violent thing where they, when I hit them, they'll jump up and down, land on the thing and fall and they all knock each other over. that's fine. That's on them. I don't want them to be afraid to fall down. We're on a mat. But the pool noodle, like the...
Jeremy Lesniak (46:30.032)
will always turn into violence.
Audrey Hussey (46:42.508)
The insulation foam is thinner, obviously, so it's easier to handle for us. And then they don't look at it and go, a toy. I just got to make sure the ends are longer than the pipe. And I duct tape it really well around it because that's another problem. That little tape glue doesn't work. But if I look at one of my black belts, which I've only ever
promoted one person that I trained from white belt all the way to black belt. So I've promoted one second on to third, actually two second on to third dons, but they were already second dons. And I've trained one, you know, I've trained kids up to apprentice at my other school that I was at. And then they got taken over by.
someone higher than me because I was good enough to train them all the way to apprentice, but not good enough to train them. That one next grading. But looking at the one I did and he was very sharp. I was really proud of that. Now, was it just that kid or was it me? Or was it a combination of both? We'll never know. We like to think it's us.
Jeremy Lesniak (47:59.452)
Mm.
Audrey Hussey (48:10.358)
and maybe we had a lot to do with it. We just gave them what they needed. But what they do with it is an entirely different story. Excuse me. I'm gonna go let him out if you don't. Come on, Watch out.
Jeremy Lesniak (48:21.476)
Yeah, go for it. I'll be right here. Take your time.
Jeremy Lesniak (48:44.166)
Hi Andrew. Hello. Hello Andrew.
Audrey Hussey (48:46.574)
Sorry, Lindsey boy wanted his chicken. He won't go outside, too cold. All right, so sorry.
Jeremy Lesniak (48:48.944)
No, don't apologize, no need.
Jeremy Lesniak (49:00.09)
No, no, it's okay. So we're...
What were we talking about? You're talking about promoting people up and, you know, mostly, yeah. It's kind of been the theme of what we've been talking about today.
Audrey Hussey (49:05.87)
We were talking about the holistic approach. Yeah, which is strange. I didn't think it was going to go there.
Jeremy Lesniak (49:16.196)
It rarely does. When I sit down with someone, we generally don't get into any of the stuff that they think we're going to talk about because most of the time people, they sit down and they're thinking about it like a resume because that's how a lot of martial arts podcasts go. Where did you train? Who did you train with? What is your rank? What are your competitive successes? And sometimes that's relevant to the story.
Audrey Hussey (49:25.166)
Mm-hmm.
Audrey Hussey (49:35.502)
It's lonely. Yeah. No one cares.
Nobody.
Jeremy Lesniak (49:44.912)
But your story as a martial artist, I think, is so much more than those facts. It's about what you've done with those factual things. And I think what's cool is even if someone doesn't train, you might have some of your friends that don't train that watch or listen to this. And it gives them insight into who you are. And I think that that's so much more interesting than you verbalizing a list of dates and times and places.
Audrey Hussey (50:08.398)
Yeah, well, I mean, my story is a little different because it jumps from state to state and it spans, you know, it does span 26 years, but that's nothing in comparison to people who've been training for 60 years or whatever. But the fact that
Jeremy Lesniak (50:18.0)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (50:28.102)
But it dwarfs people who've been training for four years. It's all relative.
Audrey Hussey (50:32.408)
Well, it's not just that. you know, how many, how many, and I, you know, I try to encourage women especially. And maybe that's, you know, where my story kind of touches people a little deeper as females is because, you know, we're home with babies. We're home with babies. Can we start karate? Sure. Yeah, you can bring a baby. If somebody made it accommodating and then, okay, well, we got to move halfway across the country. You got to start over now. So.
Jeremy Lesniak (50:38.844)
Mmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (50:47.868)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (51:01.826)
you know, struggle to get that, to get at that first black belt level was, was real. And most people would have quit and never gone back. But that was something I wanted to do for me. And I wanted to get my kids into it. And now I've got three kids and now I've got four kids and now I've got five. So I put them all into a little Gojiru school and I trained there a little bit. I trained there for a year or so, and it was really cool. Gojiru was an eye-opening experience.
Jeremy Lesniak (51:20.476)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (51:31.502)
It's just very hardcore. It's very old school. So I've trained in every possible way where you go in there and by halfway through class, you are ready to vomit.
Jeremy Lesniak (51:32.028)
How so?
Jeremy Lesniak (51:35.952)
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak (51:46.927)
That is a rugged old school class.
Audrey Hussey (51:49.376)
And when my kids, when I say my kids had to, you know, run uphill in the snow both ways, they did. They asked their warmups were running up and down this guy's gravel, dirt driveway 25 times every morning. And, and, and I let them, they were, they were homeschooled. So was, you know, it's like, you got nothing else to do. Let's just go do this. And I think it did a lot for my, you know, my older, my oldest two. and then we settled on the Tang Soodoh school, but
Jeremy Lesniak (51:55.516)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (52:19.702)
The other, bringing my kids to, I had all my kids in these schools at one point anyway. Two of my daughters got to second degree. Two of my sons got to apprentice black belt. My youngest son actually helped me open my school. He was still in school. I opened right in the beginning of the pandemic. Well, in the middle of the pandemic.
Jeremy Lesniak (52:39.565)
cool, I didn't know that.
Audrey Hussey (52:46.158)
I opened. Before that I did an after school program. He would come with me because he was homeschooled and he would help me teach the kids there. Then when we closed, we worked out in the park with the school I was attending at the time. We ran classes in the park. And then when I opened the school, he was there with me. He was like, you know, 14. No, he's 18 now. So he was 14.
And I graded him up to apprentice, but then he wanted to go to high school. think the loneliness of the pandemic really got to my youngest two and they wanted to my second to the youngest was already in high school, but he decided he wanted to go to high school. And I'm like, I'm going to lose him. I'm going to lose him. He's not going to be in high school anymore, but that's okay. It's his journey. So I put him in high school. And of course I lost him as an instructor and he was a good instructor too.
Jeremy Lesniak (53:33.04)
Mm-hmm.
Audrey Hussey (53:40.056)
but he joined football and he had a great high school experience as someone who had never walked into a school before. His first day of school was freshman year of high school, but he did great. And I attribute that to the fact that he had confidence. He had that confidence from, you know, six, what eight years of martial arts before that. So when I opened that school, excuse me, in the middle of a pandemic,
as a newly divorced middle-aged woman in the middle of a pandemic, if I can do that, then anybody out there who has a dream, who has a goal or whatever, or who thinks my life is over because X, Y, Z, no, it's not. There's things you can do and you can succeed. I'm not getting wealthy off of a karate school or anything, but...
Jeremy Lesniak (54:23.964)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (54:39.786)
It allows me to fulfill my mission and my mission has not changed since I stepped foot in the first karate school I went to. And it isn't going to change ever. It's the same mission I've had since I started raising my kids. And I can, you know, I can do this until the day I die, which is it's to be empowered. It's to be empowered to, to stand up for yourself.
Jeremy Lesniak (55:01.856)
What is that mission?
Audrey Hussey (55:08.694)
I mean, literally. And yeah, everybody has the I was bullied story, but it changes who you are. Being bullied changes who you are and who you would have been. So you need to get that back and you need to fight for yourself whenever you need to. And this has manifested itself in my life so many times, right down to being fined by the state for traveling during the pandemic.
They fined me $2,000 for, I went to New Orleans at the beginning of the pandemic when I got separated. I'm like, I always wanted to go to New Orleans. I think I'll go to New Orleans cause nobody's there. So I did. And apparently the governor had signed some executive order, mandating that we register our trip and do all this stuff and, know, what do you call it? Isolate, quarantine yourself.
and test and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. Well, I didn't know. mean, I'm like, I flew out of Providence. I had no idea what was going on. So I got back and one of my former neighbors and friends turned me in. yeah, they had the 1-800 numbers. She turned me in like I was killing puppies or something. And, you know, when I got back, I tested because I wanted to know if I was sick, whatever. But I got two kids and now I'm single.
Jeremy Lesniak (56:17.692)
no.
Audrey Hussey (56:32.758)
And they have to go places and they have to do things and I need groceries. I didn't, you know, it came back negative. So I just went and did what I was going to do. Seemed sensible to me, but apparently not. they, they find me. They plastered me on the news. I got hate mail, like DMs hate mail saying I, you know, I was killing grandmas. I, so I, I fought it.
Jeremy Lesniak (56:54.044)
Not fun.
Audrey Hussey (56:59.798)
Long story short, I fought it using one of the Republican senators. One of our representatives actually represented me and I sued the governor. I filed a countersuit because they found me guilty. And so this was through the Department of Public Health, which is like a little banana court where some clerk gets to be an investigator and doesn't have a clue what they're doing. These people were so
backwards.
Jeremy Lesniak (57:30.608)
I want to want to I want to fast forward the political stuff. Right, because this is right. I know this story. I do. I know I know this story in detail. But I want to I want to how did you go from that to wanting to open a school? That that's
Audrey Hussey (57:36.428)
Well, I won, so.
Yes, you do, not everybody.
Audrey Hussey (57:50.99)
Well, I was already teaching. I already had my Parks and Rec program. I was already teaching in my other school. It had been, I've been planning this school in my head for several years.
Jeremy Lesniak (57:59.11)
But at a time when most people pulled back, you went, eh, and you charged forward. And I think that's an important part to talk about.
Audrey Hussey (58:06.744)
Well, think about it. Kids didn't have anything to do. They had nothing to do. And I was watching my own kids sitting home with nothing to do, right? So the worst thing you can do during a time of sickness is sit on your butt and do nothing. And I was angry. I was angry for the fact that we had to pull back in so many areas of our lives and I needed a job.
I needed a job and this is what I know how to do. Yes, I am a graphic designer. I'm an artist. I can make money, but this is more fun. It gets me out there and I want, I wanted to teach other people's kids how to stand up for themselves. And this isn't just about fighting. This is about, you know, not allowing other people to define you, to put you where they want you, to tell you what you, you have to do.
I've never been a big fan of that. Somebody tells me I have to do something, then I have to not do it. And that's how I got to that point. And during the pandemic, I was already running my program and I'm like, well, wait a second. These people cannot shut me down. There's no way. This is ridiculous. I opened the school in November of 2020. So, we were all masked up and whatever and...
This was in a little town, little tiny town in Rhode Island. And, you know, I had, when I opened my doors, I think I had like 11 students walk, you know, that I already had in the park. But I got a few more and like within a month, the secretary of state of Rhode Island shut us down. So I'm like, okay, so I tried the private lesson thing.
Jeremy Lesniak (59:50.737)
Mmm.
Audrey Hussey (59:55.822)
because I can't do group classes, so we'll all do private lessons. So I scheduled them all and then they caught wind of that and they shut that down. So for seven weeks, I was like, okay, this is it. I guess it's not gonna work. But somehow I managed, don't even, they kept paying me. They kept paying me because they wanted their kid to go there. And I said, well, you can have unlimited make-ups and if y'all want a private lesson here and there, that's fine.
I returned the favor by being available to their kids, spending the extra time with them. we opened back up and I just kept going. I just kept going. I know a lot of karate schools closed. And I think, well, it's most likely because when you lose half of your customers, if you have 150 customers, students,
and a hundred of them stop paying you but you're in a 2500 square foot building, you're in trouble.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:01:00.326)
But why did they stop paying, right? that's, then you said something and you kind of skipped over it. We've talked about this on the show a number of times. You kept looking for a way. The, from what I have seen, the majority of the schools that closed during that time closed because they didn't adapt. They didn't look for a new way. They said, we can't do what we're normally doing. And they panicked and they tried to hold on to what they had without, without adapting.
And I find that approach so ironic coming from a martial artist because it is one of the things that is most commonly instilled at the schools that I've trained at. If something's not working, you got to try something else.
Audrey Hussey (01:01:45.952)
Right. Isn't it funny? but a lot of people are stuck in the, is the way we've always done it. This is the way, I mean, when I was at a different school, the pandemic hit, classes shut down. I got on Facebook live and I talked to whoever wanted to watch, but I was the only one there doing it. My two other black belts friends of mine, it would come down and my son, that same kid I was talking about.
Where was everybody else? They weren't there, right? We were masked up, we were doing our thing, but it was fun for me because I was used to teaching by myself anyway. So I just ran a class doing whatever inspired me that day. And then when it got nice out, we went out in the park and I spent half the summer teaching in the park and people showed up. So I didn't get into the continual zoom thing that a lot of people get into because
I tried it and it was just weird watching kids playing with their puppies and doing cartwheels while I'm trying to do these. Well, the Facebook live, the other Facebook allowed me to do the class and I don't have to see what they're doing. You can do whatever you want. If you want to eat potato chips while I'm doing class, that's fine. That's on you. But I think that was part of why
Jeremy Lesniak (01:02:51.644)
But the key is you tried it, right? You kept trying different things to find what worked for you. And I think that that's so important.
Audrey Hussey (01:03:12.364)
maybe that school didn't close down. think, you know, and a lot of people kept paying too in that school, but I mean, they're still open and they're doing well as far as I know. But I gave them people an opportunities to hear, can train, you can train if you want to, so you have no excuse. And then here we are at the park and you know, I would get a good, at least most of my students showed up, my homeschool students, they all showed up.
so yeah, and then, and then I switched over to Burrillville in the park because they shut down my inside the school program. And I just, again, I called the parks and rec, I'm like, give me a place. I need a place. And they're like, well, I ended up at a pavilion, like a concrete pavilion with a grassy field. And we had fun. We had fun. And then it started getting cold and I'm like, uh-oh, you know, what am I going to do now? I don't have a place to go.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:04:00.038)
Mm-hmm.
Audrey Hussey (01:04:12.27)
I can't go back in the Parks and Rec Community Center because now they're using it to feed people because of the pandemic. So I'm driving down the street and I see there's a gas station and it's got like a little storefront next to it and it says, for rent. And I pulled in and I grabbed the sign. I walked in and I said, where's the guy, know, where's the owner? And I literally signed the lease.
right there on the spot. Well, it was also cheap. It was cheap. It was like 900 bucks a month for 1200 square feet, 1100 square feet. I was living for years and then they sold the building and unceremoniously booted me. I have parents who are amazing and they were DMing me places in town that were available. Well, one of them was a realtor and he's like,
Jeremy Lesniak (01:04:52.368)
And you were there for a bit, right? You were there for... Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:04:59.398)
Yeah, but you found another spot.
Audrey Hussey (01:05:12.142)
I found this spot and I grabbed that really fast. It was a dance studio, so it was very well outfitted. I just had to knock two walls down and I have a really nice little space now. My students like it, parents like it. It's close to where I was. It's a little bit more expensive, but I am never gonna live beyond my means and it's not gonna happen because I'm too paranoid.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:05:20.278)
Perfect.
Audrey Hussey (01:05:42.304)
So, I mean how much does it really cost to open a karate school?
Jeremy Lesniak (01:05:47.514)
It doesn't have to cost much.
Audrey Hussey (01:05:49.676)
No, right? I got, you know, like five used wave masters on the marketplace. Some of them were free. Granted, they leaked, but you know, can't have everything burned. Well, eventually you get money and you buy new ones and sell. But it goes back to that, keep adapting and keep finding ways and keep fighting. And that's my mission. Don't stop just because something's standing in your way or someone.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:05:59.612)
Swap them out for sand.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:06:04.272)
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Audrey Hussey (01:06:18.742)
is standing in your way. You know, that old adage, you know, if you have a bully, you got to take them out right away. And I don't mean that literally, but take them down right away. I'm not the one. I practice these statements with my students. Nope, I'm not the one. Sorry. And that's it. So that's where I am now. I seeing the fruits of my labor. And as anybody else who's
Jeremy Lesniak (01:06:24.38)
you
Audrey Hussey (01:06:48.5)
open to school, including yourself. It takes time. It takes time and you have to be patient. But you do.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:06:55.932)
It takes more time than people realize. It always takes more time than you realize. Everything takes more time than we want it to.
Audrey Hussey (01:07:03.842)
But you know, at the end of the day, I do my little dance and my students walk out of the door with a smile on their face and that's all I care about. That's literally all I care about. Can they kick? Yeah, they can kick. They can spar. Are their forms perfect? Sometimes when they want to, it's on them. Can they defend themselves? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they can.
in a related, you know, way. I mean, if a 200 pound man wants to attack an eight year old, there's not much you can do about it. But if a 10 year old picks on an eight year old from my school, and I've seen, I've seen some of the fruits of that, and then I see others, you know, they choke and they freeze and they get, you know, they get bullied, but I'm giving them the tools.
I don't know what else anyone can do.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:07:59.292)
You're doing it. We're gonna start to wrap here. I'm gonna throw it back to you in a minute to close up, you final words. You know the show, you know how we do this. Before we do, how do people get a hold of you? Website, social media?
Audrey Hussey (01:08:00.682)
Hahaha
Audrey Hussey (01:08:04.398)
Okay.
Audrey Hussey (01:08:18.734)
I'm on Facebook. I don't even, it's just Village Martial Arts on Facebook. My website is villagetsd.com. I'm trying, you know, it's funny because I don't even know all of my social media. That's kind of sad. I'm gonna find my Instagram here.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:08:41.66)
That's okay.
Audrey Hussey (01:08:45.87)
It's Village Martial Arts with an underscore between each word. But if they go on my website or find me on Facebook, that's pretty much everything they need to know. People can call or text 401-575-8477. I'm always available.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:09:11.804)
Awesome, awesome, yeah. I'm gonna have you close in, man. I really appreciate you being here. But to the audience, thank you for being here. Thanks for spending some time with Audrey and I today. And I hope you will check out her social media. I hope you'll check out Kotaro and whether you're interested in the autism awareness belt promotion that they're doing or any of the other amazing things. I have several Kotaro belts. They make the best belts, hands down. Great stuff. WK10 saves you 10%.
on your first order, they have a wholesale account, they do a bunch of other cool stuff, check them out. And if you have not signed up for the martial arts radio email list, you are missing out. Whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com, hit the subscribe tab at the top. Audrey, how are we gonna end today? What are your final words or thoughts for the audience?
Audrey Hussey (01:10:01.646)
I really appreciate you having me on and I'm so sorry that I took so long to get here. Isn't it true though that maybe it's not for everybody but sometimes I look at some of your other guests and they, I think to myself, well, they're really much better than me or they're really important or they're really successful.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:10:04.933)
Thank you.
It took the time it needed to take.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:10:28.859)
Move them.
Audrey Hussey (01:10:29.58)
Who wants to hear what I have to say? But then I've met other school owners who have only been in business a couple of years and they're struggling and they need that encouragement that, you can do this. This is not brain surgery yet. But I don't know. If you have a child, put them in martial arts. There is no downside. And that was a direct quote from a parent who couldn't stand any of it.
and she put her daughters in my class and within a few weeks she's like, there really is no downside. And I'm like, no, there isn't, not for your whole life. If it wasn't for karate, I would be in constant pain. I would probably be walking on a cane right now. And that's a whole nother, a whole nother episode of what martial arts has done for me personally. But Your kids deserve the opportunity and the skills.
to stand up for themselves and not be victims and not be insecure and learn that empowerment that martial arts gives everybody, everybody. There is, like I said, no downside. So thank you for having me on.
Audrey Hussey (01:11:59.968)
All right, so I have a quick I have a quick story. You can edit this out if want or you can leave it in I have this one little student. She's a little girl. She's like seven and her demeanor is very All the time and and she doesn't make a peep Sometimes I see her come out and she'll spar or whatever but most of the time she's like it's like super super self-conscious anxiety all of it and
Jeremy Lesniak (01:12:11.665)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (01:12:29.324)
I had her in beginner class up to, cause when you go to purple belt, you go to intermediate class. And I kept telling her that and I felt her slipping away from me because I just, she was down the end, highest ranking of the beginner class. But I had a whole bunch of new white belts who kind of demand more attention. Then I'm trying to keep my eye on her and make sure, you know, she's tightening up and doing whatever. But I felt like she was.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:12:39.388)
Mmm.
Audrey Hussey (01:12:58.622)
not feeling it anymore. So I finally, right after she got her purple belt, I had her dad bring her to intermediate class. Kids are bigger, they're older, they're more skilled. And he thought, well, this might be intimidating for her. And I'm like, no, she needs to see where she's going, not be annoyed by a bunch of six year old little boys. So, and that's what I feel like it was. It was annoying to have all those...
Jeremy Lesniak (01:13:16.924)
Mmm.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:13:23.452)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (01:13:26.092)
little, little, little, little, know, little kids are all excited, whatever. I bring her in there, her first class, the older girls kind of like, she's so cute. And, you know, we're kind of mentoring her. Everybody was encouraging her. And by the end of class, I saw that kid smiling, laughing, and actually talking, which I hadn't heard a peep out of her. And...
So I'm like, okay, you know that decision you make and you're like, I hope this doesn't backfire on me and I lose her because she's too scared or whatever. It went the right way. Went the way I thought it was going to go. it kind kind of, you know, it shored me up as far as my confidence level of my intuition was correct. So that I need to listen to it more. And as instructors, we need to do that.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:14:13.574)
Hmm.
Audrey Hussey (01:14:18.604)
I don't know if it's a mom thing, a parent thing or a karate instructor thing, but my intuition was correct. And she walked out of there, a happy kid with her head up. She was saying, you know, she was keying, she was doing all of it. I know it was so exciting. That to me, worth it. One class, one class with the right students in the right atmosphere. They talk, they talk more intelligently. They're not just being silly. They're having fun.
Jeremy Lesniak (01:14:33.113)
I love it. I love it. In one class.
Audrey Hussey (01:14:48.482)
They're helping her. It was perfect. It was absolutely perfect. So that's my inspiring story of the day. You can keep that on there if you want. Good. All right. Thank you, Jeremy. I appreciate