Episode 226 - Kyoshi Brent Crisci
Kyoshi Brent Crisci is a karate practitioner and teacher from Maine. He is the founder of United Martial Art Academies.
To me, that's what sport karate does. It builds that type of integrity and it builds that kind of pride.
Kyoshi Brent Crisci - Episode 226
Elite Martial Arts Magazine
In this episode, we talk with Kyoshi Brent Crisci who is also known as “Kicks” in the martial arts world. A very seasoned martial arts practitioner and instructor, he worked with some of the greats in the martial arts during his younger years. It was during those experiences he learned not only the material, but the importance of passing on to the younger generation. Kyoshi Crisci is a fighter and a survivor of one of life’s most challenging battles, which is why we’re so honored to have him today. Listen to Kyoshi Brent Crisci as he tells his very inspiring story.
Show Notes
Kyoshi Brent Crisci
Past episodes mentioned during this one:Robb Buckland, Master Ken and Matt Page, Bill Wallace, Dave Kovar, Bruce JuchnikWebsite - uniteddojos.com[gallery type="slideshow" size="full" ids="3928,3932,3931,3930,3929,3927" orderby="rand"]
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.
Hey what's going on everybody it's episode 226 of whistlekickMartialArtsRadio. My name is Jeremy Lesniak I'm your host, and the founder of whistlekick sparring gear and apparel and I'm the guy who's lucky enough to talk to all of our guests, including today's guest who pretty sure is the guest we've had on that I have known the longest, that's fun. Stick around for that. In the meantime, have you checked out martialartscalendar.com? It's a website we've put together because there's really no great spot to pull these events together. I mean there are you know if you go to event, events that have a circuit you know like a tour, you can go to that site to see all of those competition and you know maybe you can see the events that are going locally via Facebook or something but what if you're traveling or what if you want to follow something specific like a particular presenter around we've heard some of our guests talk about how they would basically follow Bill Wallace or Joe Lewis around the country and train with them quite a few weekends out of the year. How do you know about that? Or unfortunately there wasn't a great site to do all that so you know what like everything else in my life I said alright let's make one. So, we put together martial arts calendar, martialartscalendar.com which you know it's free, it's free to post to. It's free all over the place, we ate all the money in development, we eat the monthly fees on it, we don't advertise on it you know just check it out, contribute to it you know if you know events that aren't there or people that put together events just help us grow it because look I believe that the more people we have attending these events and building these bonds, the more retention we’ll have in the martial arts, the more enjoyable martial arts will be and that's really the goal. We put together this stuff, I put together this stuff, for you all because I believe that a good number of you are like me. If you want to check out the other stuff that we do, other than martialartscalendar.com you can go to whistlekick.com you can find the show notes for all of the podcast episodes at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com yeah that's it. So, let's talk about today's guest. You know just when you thought you're living easy and you've got life bent to your will, something can change, something big and this is what happened to Kyoshi Brent Crisci who survived a condition that technically took his life. Kyoshi Crisci is a decorated practitioner and instructor who's worked with some of the absolute greats, throughout the martial arts history. He has a very very interesting life, he's an incredibly entertaining man and he's got a story that we can all take inspiration from even those of us who might not me in the martial arts. Without further ado let's welcome him to the show. Kyoshi Crisci welcome to whistlekickMartialArtsRadio.
Brent Crisci:
Hey thank you for having me Jeremy it's been a long-time overdue in coming.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It is, it is and you know as I do episodes to this show I start to think back about how long I've known certain people and I maybe wrong but I may have known you the longest of anyone that's yet been on the show.
Brent Crisci:
That is possible and I, that's why I thought this is a great idea and I remember when you called and when you were launching whistlekick and had the idea and yeah but yeah that goes way back I mean my days in the Vermont New Hampshire early in sport karate go back to you know the 80s.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right, well I remember you from my early days and you may have forgotten I grow up in Maine you know not terribly far from you and yeah just all the names
Brent Crisci:
Oh, I have been in Maine a long time, I don't the only guy that I've tracked, that I found again was Master Ken. Master Ken used to come to my tournament in the 90s when he was a Rich Pelletier student
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yup
Brent Crisci:
Before he was Master Ken and it took me a few episodes to figure out some of his inspiration and where he, who he was mocking from the seminars in the 90s
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are you claiming to be some of the inspiration for the character of Master Ken?
Brent Crisci:
Oh, I absolutely am and I know it because one of the interviews. Some of the first 3 things that he focused on bashing arts and one was ninjutsu which is the first art I did in the 80s and early 90s in Maine and I thought well that's a fairly obscure art to bash. But okay a lot of people do ninjutsu. And then he bashed kempo and I thought that's a little more specific and dangerous but kind of hey that' my art too. That's been my claim to fame and then I knew when he bashed yoshi sono jujitsu cause there's a very small specific line under the DePasquale family that does yoshi sono jujitsu and I'm one of them and I thought well that's a trifecta I'm taking this personal now and then when he came out with his black belt magazine he mentioned attending seminars in his home state and tournaments and I thought hmm cheesy mustache, loud aggressive guy, hey that could be. So, I'm very happy for him and obviously it's one of the few people that's taken off that can make fun all of us and get away with it without causing a stir so it’s kind of cool.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Because of course he has deep roots and anybody that's listening out maybe didn't listen back at I'm going to say this is somewhere in the 40s and we'll link to it in the show notes at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com if you're new but the episode with Master Ken and the man behind Master Ken, Mr. Matt Paige was an absolutely wonderful episode. Hopefully it's not going to come through the town has decided to grayed the road outside the office at this very moment.
Brent Crisci:
Okay well that's timing is everything, I was doing the documentary, they decided to air out the main rooms of the dojo with large fans on Tuesday which apparently kicked up the sound who knew. Well we'll just blame my gruff voice.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure, sure so you know the beauty of that brief conversation we just had. I think anyone that doesn't know you and I'm not going to say to any one that, we could even say anyone that hasn't met you, because anyone that has met you has likely left with an impression a strong impression because you, that is what you do.
Brent Crisci:
That is very, very well put.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Brent Crisci:
And very, very tactfully put as well, they do, they always leave us an impression not always a good impression but to make an impression, I like that
Jeremy Lesniak:
People don't forget about you, that is for sure, but of course there is a time maybe before people are getting to know you as a martial artist and I kind of want to roll back because I don't know this story, I don't you know you just mentioned you know you started with some ninjutsu and I know a lot of the lines of influence that lead to where you're at now but how did you become a martial artist?
Brent Crisci:
Okay, I guess my first, I grew up in New Haven Connecticut. I was an originally what they call a flatlander up here and one of my best friends in kindergarten and elementary school's brother had a judo black belt and so it intrigued me because he would throw us around and he did the same things that Captain Kirk had been doing on Star Trek which was really cool. It wasn't the traditional battalion fighting you know it's just grabbing and throwing stuff and that fascinated me right there and we became 08:14 dummies and I really fell in love and then the ninja craze launched in the media and Shoku Sagi and that's just the weapons just fascinated me. I've always been weapon's 08:25 and so that's really probably I'd love to say I got in for all the right reasons and the reasons that I profess to teach but that would be untrue. I get in for probably all the wrong reasons, I was a punk and a fighter and I thought this will be a cool way to win more and to be able to use weapons. So, the, it might not be the most noble intention, it did lead to some awesome stuff down the road. But that's what happened, my mother was vehemently opposed to martial arts training, violence. I was already getting in fights, I was supposed to be a good catholic boy, I was never to become a priest if that kept happening so she was against it and I actually, I got her this birthday present 1 year. Stephen Hayes was kind of the first American Ninja, well known. He was doing a New England seminar and he had a student that taught out of USM in Portland Maine. He actually ran security for USM down in Portland. Jim 09:29 was his name and so that occurred and they bought me the thing to attend and I went and I loved it and I started training in the bunjinkan dojo in Portland with Jim *** and 09:41 Stephen Hayes in ninjitsu and to condense the story cause you know it's a long one we're going back that was in the early 80s, 82, 83. A man names Robert Howe had come to visit me and one of my friends whose father was in the military and he's in he was stationed with Robert Howe when he was in the military. So, he came to visit that gentleman and this friend of mine had told Robert Howe that well I was a ninja and Robert Howe was a kempo master born and raised in Hawaii. He would be interested in ninjutsu so she told them oh my friend's a ninja so he can teach you that stuff and me having the giant ego I did as a teenager went yeah sure. So that's how I met Grandmaster Howe originally was we were going to exchange kempo for ninjutsu and within a couple of sessions I immediately realized that I was in way over my head that my knowledge level is not in the same realm. So I actually bought Grandmaster Howe, Sensei Howe at the time Master Howe to meet Stephen Hayes and introduce him to him to learn some ninjutsu and Master Howe stayed, it was supposed to be 2-week vacation he ended up staying for 3 months and we worked out together for 3 months, had a great time and I studied more and more about Kempo and found out more about the 11:01 line from Hawaii and he said well you know what I've decided on not leaving, I'm going to move hear and I want to teach, he actually has a masters in American History and a physical education major so he started teaching at 11:16 and we continued training and that's when I had to make the choice at the time the bunjinkan ninjutsu dojo was by invitation only and you could not be ranking in any other styles so it was a closed system which is not uncommon in the 80s that most styles and masters. If you got caught training somewhere else, you 11:36 or you’re expelled at worst. So, I continue studying ninjutsu for a little while longer and then Master Howe made me the karate kid offer before the karate kid movie came out. He said look you I will teach you become my number one student and you will in exchange your kempo with as many people as you can that's your mission. And I've taken that mission seriously for the last 3+ decades and I eventually left ninjutsu and went just with him we started doing 12:08 programs in kempo and ninjutsu and at that time I also traveled to some seminars and that's when I met Soaki and Michael DePasquale was I went to New Jersey do seminar with Moses Powell and I met DePasquale family and I just really fell in love. He's an Italian guy doing really traditional jujitsu and also street lethal stuff. And he invited me down to Virginia to the karate college, that's when I, the same year I met Joe Lewis. The first time I think superfoot Wallace ever came to me, a guy named Dave Howard hosted him in '83 or '84 the Taekwondo dojo and I showed up in my black gi the only guy in the building in a black gi by the way. So, it's a sea of white gis and superfoot Wallace who obviously I knew who he was, he’s been on television and magazine covers and I also knew that back then he would do a round with anybody who wanted to a round with him. After the seminar if you want to do a round with superfoot and I thought well what, that'd be so great if I get to do that. So, I waited till the end of the seminar 2 and a half hours and then he said look does anybody want to do a little you know do a sparring round and I thought it would be a fight Jeremy to the front. I thought this was going to be you know the kind of a tough man contest to get a round with superfoot so I just both hands up leaped forward because I was I don’t know 18 or 19 years old at that time and then I looked around and every else took a step back. It was like a volunteering in the military. No one else wanted to do a round with him, I didn't get why till I put the gloves on and I got a couple of seconds into the and someone came and hit me in the back of the head. So, I whipped around to look who it was and there was nobody near me. I thought well that's odd, I thought somebody is being funny so I turn around and I'm throwing all my good stuff that's not landing on Bill and then somebody hit me in hit me in the back of the head again and I turned around again to see who's doing it and I turned back around I know you seem to smile by it now. That evil boyish grin, the sheepest, I've done a naughty thing and I've never been kicked by the superfoot, foot kick that just comes around behind you and can't possibly hit you from that angle but does. So, it's him hitting me in the back of the head from the front and I've fell in love from then I've chased him around the country trying to learn kicking better and so that was kind of the launch of everything. Cause in those few years I was lucky enough and this is what I just count my blessings. I didn't have to go through any less than awesome people or any bad ill intended instructors. Every instructor I found happen to be the head of the system or one of the best in the world at what they did and I hooked up with them. So that for me just saved me a lot of time and I was willing to take a beating. I actually preferred it, I didn't learn as well from listening or watching and I was a real skeptic. So, I would always offer to do punching or do to spar to find out, that's how I found out Joe Lewis's hook punch. The drop hook that threw god rest his should. I just was amazed by the power he had but I thought maybe these guys aren't rolling with it. So, when I went to Virginia to Karate College I asked him about it and his response was; do you have some gloves, and I went yeah why, out them on and then he knocked me out with a drop hook punch. I'm assuming did. I remember starting to fight and then I remember a lot of drool in my mouth and looking at lights while I was laying on the floor and the people around me like Robb Buckland and Michael D. 15:58 that I had been immediately dropped and again I fell in love with that and I chased him around for when I was doing the kick boxing stuff. So yeah, I mean I know, there's so many great people that I immediately connected with that I just count my blessings everyday because I was able to train with them at their peak and then follow them around and they were very open and Grandmaster Howe at the time was also very open minded so when I went back to him and said hey I'm going to be doing jujitsu with this guy or I'm going to be doing kickboxing with that guy, he's like great bring back what you learn and share it. It was a little different than a lot of the other instructors of that ear that kind of got you know protected. They didn't want to have their system betrayed and they also some of them just didn't want their students seeing that other people knew more in certain areas and my gosh you know there's a lot more people that know a lot more in areas than I do and if my students can hook up with them and learn from them, that's awesome because I can't do it all, I can't teach it all, I've tried. It will kill you literally I found out last year, was that too soon to joke about that?
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's okay, it's your joke to tell.
Brent Crisci:
Okay, that's quite a year yet so I know some of my friends and family don't like it when I do it but I like I said so those were you know in the early days I started with ninjutsu I then when to kosho ryu kempo with Bob Howe and within a year I met Bill Wallace and Michael D and they were doing a lot of seminar circuits back then well bill still does but they were on the road every weekend. So, I started chasing them around, North America training and just been loving it ever since. I really didn't get into sport karate early, like I said ninjutsu. Master Howe was vehemently opposed, his instructor 17:58 in Hawaii sports karate will kill martial arts and you're not allowed to do it. So, I had to argue with him for about 2 years, and then after 2 years he gave me the permission to go to a tournament but I'll tell him about it. Then after 4 years he said okay I want to see what's going on and take me to a tournament and then I won them over to it and then in 1999 he actually competed for the first time in his life. He'd been studying the martial arts for 40 years at that point but he'd been coaching my 18:28 formed in '92. Team United 18:32 and he was of course a coach for the teams and he said I can't he came into my office one day, I'll never forget it. He said I can't coach the team anymore with you, why not sir you know you don't like it and our businesses will know. It's not right I mean I'm a hypocrite. I'm young 18:52 what they need to do in a tournament and I've never been in a tournament a karate tournament. I mean he was a college wrestler you know national buddies and I can't do that nice and well. Seems to be the solution isn't not to coach then it's to compete and he said okay I'll compete but under one condition you'd be my coach you'd be my teacher and I said I can't be your teacher you're my teacher it's not going to work and he argued with me 19:16 as he often did and so I actually said why don't we start with a local tournament, we've got some great tournaments in Maine. He went no I want to be on the US team with you, I want to go to the world cup, the next one next year and that's what we did I called Dr. Mill may God rest his soul the head of the world congress 19:34 my instructor we'd like to be involved in the tournament he said well I'll appoint him. I gave him his resume and he came and he went to Mexico and he competed in the Grand Master's Division and he won a bronze medal in the weapons in his first tournament in the national level and I'll never forget it because I had won, there were a lot of divisions back then so I had won 4 or 5 gold medals that week and we had that was on ESPN2 actually they filmed that. They had the stage, they played the national anthem when you got your medal and I was excited, I was in the front row because I got a coaching slot by then. But then it was the term for the Grandmaster’s division awards because no one knew who won till the awards ceremonies you got to list if you medaled but you didn't know in what. So, I got down front with my camera cause my teacher was up and I was very excited and I was at the front row anyways as with my coaching warm ups. So, I'd leave my seat in the front row and I go right to the edge of the stage and they call his name, they called the bronze first and they played the US national anthem and I like a teenage girl jumped on to the stage now because I want to get a better picture with my cheap camera. So, I'm in the middle of the stage in front of 2000 audience members in front getting in the way to get ESPN cameras, while Dr. Mill he is yelling at me from the sidelines to get off to the stage. Taking pictures of my instructor because I was just kidding, it was one of the, people ask me what was one of the highlights in sport karate you know winning this or winning that and honestly it was when Master Howe won that first bronze medal. I was so proud and so moved that he had the integrity that he had to get up and do it himself well into, he was in his 50s by then already. So that to me, that's what sport karate does. It builds that type of integrity and it builds that kind of pride in my teacher. So yeah, I was very proud to represent the United States around the world and win all sorts of wonderful things. But to me that was one of my highlights because that was my teacher who didn't have to do it by then. He didn't have to step up, he didn't have to prove anything and he did and that's what a real master is all about. They don't do the minimum, they don't do what they have to they do what they should, they do what needs to be done and that's something that I unfortunately see fading in the martial arts world so I guess that's one of my missions, is to do whatever I can to be that type of instructor to live up to the people I've mentioned. Those are huge shoes to fill and I'm never going to be any of those people but if I keep what they did alive and if I could represent them well then, I'll feel it's a life well spent. Does that answer your question?
Jeremy Lesniak:
That answers a few questions, but it invites quite a few more and the first one that I want to glom onto is why do you think that's fading. What is changing about, is it the world or the way martial arts is presented or whatever?
Brent Crisci:
Okay, I'm on a positive mission now so I'll try to spin this as best I can.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I appreciate that.
Brent Crisci:
I think there's already enough people critiquing and putting down what's wrong and you got to identify the problem and that should be 10% of your energy and then 90% should be on the solution and what we can do about it. I think one of the things that is a double edge sword is martial arts for profit. Martial arts as a livelihood wasn't something that existed 30 years ago very much and then the Fred Villari's chain came a long turned it into a franchise business and it gave us the ability to not have to work at the factory for 50 hrs. a week and then try to teach at night. It gave me the ability to do what I love full time to devote all my energy and time to it and that's awesome. The other edge of the sword is that what it became something people could make a profit from greed became involved and I know you've seen the cookie cutter dojos or the Mcdojos as they call them that really it's about getting money and keeping students and the integrity of the art to the knowledge of the student falls second third or fourth place and that unfortunately has led to a lot of paper tigers and a lot of an and that's why master Ken's funny because you know he's making fun of people that really exist out there unfortunately these 11th degree black belts that just have kind of self-strived to whatever and so that I think that's one of the factors is that you have people that are in it for greed and that have watered down everything so that people in this society can succeed in it versus let them earn it, let them be worthy of being part of it not water it down for them and I think the other thing is wait I got to come up with a new word cause I know you're going to have to bleep me if I say this one. The kiddiefication, can I substitute kiddie for the word I was going to say.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I know where you were going.
Brent Crisci:
And I think the people who know me will know where I was going. The kiddiefication of use of America that we bubble wrap them and I mean I’m all about modernization and better safety and that's great you know I existed without sparring equipment. I never wear a helmet in a fight until secondary black belt and I was at internationals at Massachusetts and they said you have to wear a helmet and I said I don't wear a helmet no you have to it's the insurance, it's the rules and I put on the full helmet they gave me and I put on backwards cause I never worn one and I was a secondary black belt already which explain why I am the way I am now maybe. But I think that we've gone so far in the other direction with bubble wrapping these kids and being so sensitive that we're losing the drive, we're losing what made the martial arts great that desire to overcome, that desire to push back that gets the instructor and to may sometimes blindly out of respect just do what they say. Not have to have a 10-minute argument or explanation to convince you to do it. You do it because you became my student and that's the relationship, I say you do, you trust that I know best and you learn and you grow and you get stronger and you become a leader and unfortunately that's, I like I said I think that's lost I think the litigious state of our society. I know I actually taught public school for 4 or 5 years, my in college my, mine was a special ed minor in physical education major. So when I first left my shaolin kempo system and I wanted to make a living and I formed the academies, I had to have insurance and money so I took a job at 26:43 academy and I taught there as a regular teacher and worked with the students and I got fired a lot and I got called in the principal's office a lot and I didn't care cause it wasn't my career but I realized those people who are lifetime teachers and who need to have their job and their pension they can't afford to discipline these kids, they can't afford to risk being sued or being fired because the society's become so litigious that they also water everything down and they, it's unfortunate you know I because it's not creating a better group of generations that may well hear about these millennials and I don't hear anything good. Every time I hear the term millennial used it's followed by some, some horrific falsification of what's coming or some lack of what we have now and so it doesn't give me a warm fussy feeling. I can't change that, all I can do is change my corner of the world or take that Mother Teresa approach. Don't look at the world and be depressed and be sad that you can't feed all these people. Look at the person in front of you and feed them and then do it again, and then do it again and that's kind of the approach I've taken is you know I'm going to change a lot of people's life for the better through martial arts training and some of them are going to do the same thing and it becomes that commercial that no one will get from 28:13. You tell 2 friends and so on and so on and the power of amplification. So that's kind of, that's like I said I don't want to be negative about it I do think it's a negative thing, I do think we're definitely losing those dedicated Grandmaster’s aren't being replaced by as many because they're not allowed to be because they can't make a living and do that anymore because the next generation just won't tolerate that instruction. The other thing is the average age of the student. When I started teaching was an adult and then a teenager and then 10 years old and now the average age of my students is 8 years old. Meaning that half of my students are less than 8 years old. They can't do the systems I learned, no matter how I teach them because they are not physically or mentally or spiritually capable of completing those martial arts requirements. It doesn't mean they shouldn't do martial arts. Thank God for people like Melodie Schuman who is has just helped me so much and since I joined 29:20 in '88, '89. Started a little ninja's program because she so knows they can't do that but they can do parts of martial arts and they can benefit from martial arts training and if we keep them and teach them with that stuff then when they get older, they will be able to be there and learn your more traditional arts. So, I've kind of done a little bit of a U-turn on that where a lot of my older friends they just said well we can't do it cause the kids can't learn it. Well that is true, maybe they can't do what you were doing when you were learning martial arts but if they don't do anything then they're going to be in gymnastics, dance, baseball, basketball whatever and they're not going to do martial arts ever. Whereas if we can them when they're 2 or 3 and get them into an active program that benefits them with life skills and basic martial arts training then as the age they'll be more ready to digest maybe some of the awesome traditions that were handed down to me and you by people like Michael DePasquale senior and junior and Superfoot Wallace and Grandmaster Lewis and so many others that you know so anybody I left out that's why I told you at the beginning we did a pre-interview. I'm going to piss off a few Grandmaster’s either with what I say or what I don't say so anybody I didn't list, I'm going to blame the head injuries and the lack of element, my apologies.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now you hinted at something and once you put it on the table I figured it's a fair game. You referenced something that happened to you not quite a year ago, something that was traumatic might be a good word and I know that that's had an impact on you and I'm hoping you might talk about it.
Brent Crisci:
It has, I well you know I'm still in the process of being audited by the IRS and it's a horrible experience Jeremy and I don't wish on anybody. It's really scary and that's what, is that not? Oh no, I know I'm sorry that isn't what you were talking about.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's not.
Brent Crisci:
The other thing, yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
But we can talk about that too.
Brent Crisci:
Yeah, it's been, yeah, it's self-employment. No, I just kind of died for a very short period of time last September. I wasn't planning on it I had a, I keep calling it a little heart attack and everybody keeps correcting me cause they're like no 100% blockage 31:35 opposite of little. So, without going into the gory details I was doing what I love I was teaching privates and I actually came out of retirement to a little girl kung Fu because I occasionally teach kung Fu former to kemps and she did so well and she's a competitive figure skater and I said you know I retired in 2000 from doing 7-star mantis while in kung Fu. I did it for close to 25 years but I loved it and so I was teaching her and she was late for a private. So, I decided to run through some of my other patterns from Sifu Yao li was my Sifu he used to run the Boston Kung Fu Tai Chi institute for many many years. He taught great people like Professor Nick Cerio, Christine Bannon-Rodrigues, taught them all, Cynthia Rothrock. Yao was the man. So, I was lucky enough I used to drive to Boston on Friday's and train with him, but I decided that I and I was when I was asleep so I was on my second energy drink and I ran through I put my CDC, CDN and I went about half an hour and then I start the private and I couldn't catch my breath and then I finished the private I still couldn't catch my breath and I wasn't feeling good. So, I thought another private cause that's what you do when you're dizzy and you can't catch your breath and I noticed, I was having trouble when I sat down I tried to stand up, I started to pass out. So, I had a beginner's class come in, I have 2 black belts to teach with me so I kept giving them instructions. Tell them that I had to make a phone call and I snuck back into my back office and I sit down for 5 minutes then I get up and passed out and then I wake up get out and I tell them a few more things to go. So, I did that for another class and by the way none of these things are smart so this is a cautionary tale for anybody listening. When you have those symptoms, you immediately go to the hospital or you call an ambulance. You don't drink water and sit down for 5 minutes but I did and thank God one of my black belts wife came in, she’s a nurse and I was sitting out in the front at that point when they started the next class and she being not tactful at all comes up and says Sensei you look like ish and I said yeah, I feel really bad, I don't feel good something's wrong. She says I'm going to go get my kit and she took me in my front office and my vitals said bottomed out. My blood pressure had dropped to half that what it normally is, my pulse was half less than half than what it normally was. So, she got her eyes got really big and she said, were going to the hospital and I said alright I'll get my keys and she said no no you're having a heart attack and you need to go to the hospital and I'm only about 4 minutes from the new hospital they built in the capital. So, she said I'm just going to drive you, I think if we call an ambulance wait for it to bring you it's going to be worse. So, she actually drove me to the emergency room which was kind of nice as a nurse and I got in there and they did some preliminary work and they give me a bunch of nitro and it didn't do anything and they have to do a blood test and I forget the name of the hormone but there's a special hormone that's only released when your heart is been damaged or from a heart attack. So, it's a very easy test, know if you're, so they did that and when the results came back, I’ll never forget it cause the ER doc was on the phone with the cardiologist in the hospital on the speaker phone and the cardiologist literally said get him the hell out of here. They called the life light which is the emergency helicopter to fly me to Portland, central Maine medical center which has one of the best cardiac units at New England. So, they rushed me down to CICU in Portland which is about probably at midnight then and when I got there they had to call the emergency team and to do surgery because they had discovered that I have, I was an EMT in my younger days to make money and you have a major artery on the right and 2 major ones on the left and my right artery was 100% blocked which I later questioned because I'm like well that's the major artery and 35:39 blocked. How do you get any blood? and the doctor said well you don't that's the problem. So, I had 100% blockage so they did emergency surgery and they were able to do 35:51 with a sent a balloon up in through my arteries and blow up that vessel to break up the blockage and then they put in stents, through a coded stents which were like little tubes or pipes to keep it open and they worry for about 3 days. I was in the CICU critical care because more than 50% people with 100% blockage have another episode or another heart attach within 3 days so luckily, I just listened to them and they lied to me about everything which was great. They told me everything's fine and you're going to be able to do everything and they were awesome in there in CICU and I didn't have another heart attack and then they did an Echo Cardiogram and after 5 days I go to the Critical Care Unit and I went to the Cardiac Unit and at the end of the week they let me go. And I started rehab and I everybody I talked to said you know how lucky you are, several students were nurses and a couple of doctors and they said well when I told them what had happened they said well usually with 100% blockage to the right artery unless that occurs in a nursing home or in the hospital the patient dies and I'm like well I didn't know that so I didn't die. Well I did that's the other thing that I joke about when they were reading the surgical notes back to me to release me from the CICU they have to read everything to you and have you sign it and she got to the point in the surgery where they don't put you out so I don't recommend it. You don't get but you can't be put unconscious. They just give you a little Valium and strap you down, when they do this stuff so that's kind of awesome and she got to the word coded and like I said I've been in EMT for a few years when I was young and I was working for the shares department because you need to make a living and the word coded usually meant your heart stopped so I stopped there and I said excuse me, that term coded does that mean my 37:43 yeah did not somebody not tell you this? I'm like no they don't anything in here they want you to stay calm so she explained that yeah you did code for a while and it's not uncommon because we put a balloon into the major artery going into your heart and then we blew it up for a while and that stops all the blood flow so it's not uncommon for the heart to arrest at that point she said and then if the it doesn't rupture they balloon, doesn't rupture the artery when we pull it back out we restart the heart and that's what happened with you and so but you're fine now and you got a good rhythm and I'm like well that's good I just was curious that no one mentioned that I had died there for a second or 2 or a minute or 2 whatever. So that's why I've been telling people, people asking my age as they always do and I tell them I'm one because if you die for more than a minute that's your birthday then so now September 21st I'll turn 2. I'm pretty excited I'm going to have a party so that yeah, so that definitely that like any near-death experience or whatever you want to call it, it causes you to do a little evaluation and I've always lived life to the fullest. I've always you know I don't have bucket list, I have list of things to do and I do them. But it did cause me to seriously reflect on and what I'd done so far what I wanted to get done before I am not that lucky the next time so I the other thing that I want to share with you because I have to that was the negative part obviously that you know I had a 100% blockage and I had a major heart attack and I had emergency surgery and ended up you know in the CICU. The outpouring of love and support from not just family and immediate friends but from the martial arts community was amazing. It was one of the reasons I do what I do and one of the reasons I believe that in better living through martial arts in martial arts sport and community. Literally in the CICU the next day I was allowed to have calls or phone or anything I was triple IVd and wired and drugged and the head charge nurse comes in with a portable phone and she told me my sister was on the phone. I have a sister that lives in Boston and I thought well okay my dad snuck a cellphone in so I could talk my other sister and my kid. But I take the phone and it's not my sister, it's a very concerned and 40:13 Denise Rouleau, Grandmaster Rouleau had called until she got through to the CICU and got a phone bought into my room in critical care because she wanted to hear my voice and make sure that if I needed anything she said look do you need me to come up and run your dojo? I can leave today, I'll be up there this afternoon and I thought this woman isn't even a part of my organization or my style and she's ready to drop her own organization and her own dojo to come up and run my business for me. That's the type of friendships we build in the martial arts. I mean we've known each other since we were teenagers, we competed in the PKL together but that's the type of love and then I actually do something I've never done I don't you know I like Facebook for sharing photos or whatever or promoting my business but I was told by my dad and my immediate family that I need to let every know what happened. That they were already questioning because I called my head black belts, I had my father call my head black belts when I got sent down to Portland and so I had my father helped me and he did a Facebook post the next day on just kind of the recap. Here's what happened I did heart attack, I did end up in the Critical Care Unit I had emergency surgery and I'm alive and I'm going to be well and it just went nuts. I mean the amount of calls and messages and text and emails went on day after day after day. It didn't stop in a day and that moved I mean I know I love a lot of people and I know I've got a lot of people that love me I'm very fortunate but to see it all numerically recorded and to just continue to get that love and support for weeks and months later I just I you know I can't thank everybody enough. So, the only thing I thought I could do is try to not die again, I figured that's the only way to pay everybody back. I also in making the list lying in the CICU bit of things that I still want to do and want to see. I had to make some changes in my lifestyle and I can't work out the way I did when I was in my 20s or 30s and I can't eat the way I did and I can't run my organization the way I did working 80 hours and running you know 40 kids classes a week. So, I immediately hired an office manager and I hired someone to run the lower aged kids’ groups and I delegated, I cut down on my travel and I made some definite changes. I ate everything the way I was supposed to, I did my 3 months rehab and in 3 months my numbers were perfect, my blood pressure, my blood sugars, everything was great and I've continue to follow that, it will be a year next month because I get a lot to do and a lot of people count on me to do it, it's not just me. So yeah it was you know like I said initially a negative experience, I wouldn't wish that on anybody but everything happens for a reason and even if it wasn't good, there's always good to be had from it. There's always something to be learned from it and that's my take away for it is it's smarting me up in certain areas and it made me, it reminded me. We all need reminders, everyday is a good day, that you're above 43:44 and every day is an opportunity no matter what's happening this bad you know we all have bad things happen and it's okay to be upset with them but we've only got so much time. So I guess the take away was Tom Callos said this to me years ago, I think he stole it from Jhun Rhee actually but he said champions don't need to be taught what to do but they need to be reminded often and that's what that did for me is I knew how to live and I knew what was important but I forgot a little bit and that episode reminded me and it's helped me to remind other people and I've seen people in my own organization that have made steps preemptively now to go I don't want to let things go that far, I don't want to end up there so I'm going to make some changes and so yeah it's, it definitely was a major life event and I'm like I said I'm doing awesome now and I feel great and I'm just trying to continue to remember that I don't want forget what happened cause those people who forget the past are doomed or 44:48 to somebody wants that. SO I keep it in my mind, I keep on my mirror cause I worked with 44:55 in my whole life that opportunity to meet him when I was 17 and I followed him until he passed and just a great motivational, just an incredible giving man and he believes in reminders stick ems on your mirror affirmations on your bed room mirror so what I did was I took the recipe and I had from the emergency room and the CICU and I take them up to my mirror so every day when I get ready to leave my home I have to see them and I'm reminded of what happened, what could've happened that day, very easily it could've been the end of the story and if I'm lucky enough to get it on a chapter then I'm going to make sure it's awesome. I'm going to make sure I write it and that I make it full and exciting so I put that up and that'll stay up because I do need that reminder and from all my friends out there whom I call them generational teachers where we're teaching generation after generation now or up there in years. We're not 21 anymore, we feel like we are in the inside but we all have to adapt and adjust. Dave Kovar who I've been fortunate enough to work with for a lot of years. He actually was one of my instructors my Grandmaster of cultural kempo. Hanshi Bruce Juchnik who I know you met and interviewed.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes
Brent Crisci:
Dave Kovar was with Hanshi as a teenager and I have some really cool black belt pictures of Dave with his 46:22 hairdo and he ran the Hanshi school and when he's about 17. So, he understands where I'm coming from traditionally with the traditional demands on my martial arts systems but he also has modernized and he is the one who tells me, you can't focus on what you can't do anymore you know I used I was called kicks for a reason that's what I did in kickboxing in sport karate in the dojo I love kicking, I love flying around, I had my feet in everybody's face all the time. It's a wonder I had any friends. But he said you know you got to focus on what you could still do and the amazing abilities that you required because you can't kick this one anymore you also can do magical things that nobody else can do and some of those are physical and you know little ninja style movements and some of them either you can walk into a room and you can turn a child's life around. You can get a person to listen to you that would not listen to somebody else, because of your reputation because of the knowledge of the past, your accomplishments, you have a credibility and that's power and that came with the age you've acquired so no you lose in some categories yes. You focus on the categories, you gained and so I'm very appreciative to Dave because I continue to work with them because he sets me straight he has a great way of looking at things, his dad is still training, my dad still trains he's 75, he's still in the dojo training. Dave's age I think he's 93 now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I believe you're right.
Brent Crisci:
And he did rounds for his birthday, ah what an inspiration. So, if I think I got a few problems because of the heart attack and the things I can't eat or the things I can't do, I just put on a video of Dave's dad and go shut up dude you got a great, you got nothing to worry about. You got awesome, you got and awesome so yeah, those people if you can surround yourself with people like that and you can continue to look forward then you don't have a bad day. You have challenges, you have opportunities but there's never a bad day. There's no bad days above ground.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I would agree.
Brent Crisci:
So that's what happened last fall.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Man okay, so we're going to dig into that in a second. I just want to let folks know that you may now have the record for mentioning the most past guests. So, which maybe
Brent Crisci:
Well I felt I need like you've been giving me a hard time since day one we have this idea and I said yeah, I'll do it and then literally I kept being busy and anyhow we can use the heart attack as part of these but before that I was just really busy and I've watched you literally interview every one of my teacher and some of students that trained with me and I thought yeah, I got to get this done so, but I do like I said in the beginning. I'm lucky
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's only been two and a half years. I mean we only, we started recording in March of 2015..
.Brent Crisci:
And in my lifetime two and a half years is a blink of the eye Jeremy, it's blink of the eye, but 49:24 there I don't want to leave anybody out because each one of them has a profound impact on my journey and they've all been a piece of a pie that make me the impressionable individual as you out it that I am today.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, you know there's a lot there and folks if you're you know we get people coming in to the show all the time if you're new I'm going to link to all these other folks you know Kyoshi Dave Kovar and Superfoot Wallace and just all these other people that we've talked about you know as well as other stuff you know we'll get photos and I'm sure we can dig up some more wonderful old photos of you competing and everything so those will be at the show notes at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com
Brent Crisci:
Oh my god sure you could, I have some nice ones on my wall of gratitude that are flattering that I like. I have a wall of gratitude in my office something 50:16 taught me to do and I'm looking at it right now actually.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool.
Brent Crisci:
And you know the names I mentioned their all on that wall. Superfoot, Joe Lewis God rest his soul, Michael D Jr and Sr, Professor 50:31 was my first 50:33 weapons instructor, Grandmaster Remy Presas, my stick instructor who passed on, Hanshi Bruce Juchnik, 50:41 who we lost a couple of years ago now 50:43 but they're all people that are all part of a story and they are amazing individuals that have influenced so many people that yeah, we should give props. But in all those pictures I'm young and skinny because they're old old pictures so I really like those. I'll see if I can get you some of those for the website.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That would be great, that'll be great. You know this whole near death experience if I can call it that or death experience.
Brent Crisci:
I'm not sure what you actually call it when you actually died.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Brent Crisci:
You know my, if you say death experience it sounds weird cause I'm still here but yeah visiting. I call, that when I tell it I died for a very short time. The rumors of my death were slightly exaggerated.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, if we look at that I mean the number of people that have talked about what that's like and how it changes their lives we don't need to go there but where I want to go is a very small subset of that and that is how has it changed your view on martial arts and I don't mean your view on martial arts as an instructor as someone who passes on wisdom as someone who shows up to the dojo to teach. But martial arts is a pretty all-encompassing thing you mentioned the physical and the mental and the spiritual aspects when you were talking about teaching children and anyone that's been training more than you know I would expect just a few years sees those connections to those different pieces in their lives. How has your martial arts shift?
Brent Crisci:
Well, honestly Jeremy I don't think I would be talking to you if I hadn't been a martial arts master prior to that episode, I really don't. When I get out of there and they did the evaluations and everything my blood sugars were out of control, well into diabetes range, type 2 diabetes. My blood pressure was 30 points higher than it was supposed to be. So, they gave me a list of both cardiac and diabetic restrictions with appropriate medications. I hate to take medicines any kind, just avoiding meds all my life. I told them, you tell me what I need to do I met with a dietician I met with a nutritionist. I did 3 months of Cardiac rehab. I said alright 3 months I'm in the physical rehab where I have to go to the hospital every other day and do the stuff and I said 3 months this is all going to be fixed and they're like well no this is a lifetime to build up and you know we just want to get your numbers better I said no. I said you tell me what needs to happen, carbohydrates need to be gone, carbohydrates are gone, ok what do I need to, I need to do this exercise and not my martial arts stuff great I'll do that and the discipline to do that and I did it in 3 months I finished my cardiac rehab, got my certification, my A1C was 6.1, my blood pressure was perfect, everything was exactly where it should be or better in 3 months and that was because of the years of martial arts training. The what the martial arts had taught me to do, the discipline it gave me, the focus, the lack of not to make excuses or the crying you know I got to deal with this oh I can't eat that, oh no suck it up buttercup was our catch phrase on my team. So that came from martial arts, so really believe that the martial arts both like you said, physically, mentally, spiritually the skills and tools I learned that maybe weren't intended to be used for that you know we always think of it in terms of physical self-defense and stuff but that's not what kills most people is not not getting beat up by a mugger. Okay, most of us are going to succumb to you know another ailment, long before we get attacked by a guy in ski mask, fight all 5 guys in a Bruce Lee movie. So that's real self-defense, like Tom Callos talks about another great mentor. Tom is constantly talking about the modernization of the use of martial arts we're not at war and even in war it's not physical anymore. So, we don't do hand to hand is not as relevant as the compassion as the discipline as the community mindset so yeah, I think that it changed my view in the martial arts in that. Again, it reminded me of the real values of what I do and what I teach and what the benefits all my students get are a lot more than kicking and punching or a lot more than weight loss. There's a lot of subtext, there's a lot of stuff that we're getting that we're going to use in ways we never even thought of. So yeah, I think that changed it. The refocusing of what I have to teach, I have accumulated the leadership 55:45 the inheritorship of three traditional arts that's on my shoulders and that's a big responsibility. I've earned black belts in 13 arts, I say earned because I went from white to black through the ranks in 13 systems. I've gotten a lot of other ranks that were awarded to me or bestowed on and that's great I'm honored but there were 13 where I wanted to learn them and earn my black belt in them and I can't teach them all anymore. There's just not enough time in the day to run my organization and coach and do all the things I want to do so that was the other thing that that episode, it forced me to do something ironically Zig Ziglar taught me to do when I was 18. You make a priority list everyday, you color it A, B and C or you know red, blue and yellow and you put stuff on the list of what needs to be done. What really needs to be done today, what you like to get done today and what you could put now or forever and if it doesn't get done it doesn't get done. So, I've done a much better job this last year because of that episode categorizing where I'm putting my focus and energy and where I'm putting I don't let, I let people take my time and that's on, I let them it's my fault. You can't let people do that as much anymore because I got too much to do so I've changed my prioritization I've changed some of my style focused because I also have an incredible amount of medical bills. If you've never experienced a major blow out like this even with some fair health insurance I had, I had the medical bills have just mounded and I'm very certain ones that are going to have forever, certain drugs I need to take for the rest of my life, certain things checkups and test I have to have done every 6 months now. So, I need to look at it from a businessman perspective as well and I say well I need to do whatever I need to do martially that's financially, professionally productive and you know I'm not going to do anything that doesn't allow me to sleep at night but I a lot of the stuff I do as my Dave Kovar's good for guiding me with this. I love to teach my hobbies, they're not good careers, they're not good money makers but I love them, they're fun arts you know and I like to teach them but there's not, it’s the law of supply and demand. So, I've been forced to pass some of those on to some of my students and say look you're going to run that once a week or whatever I'm not going to do it and I need to put my time in other areas and I'll come and play with you when I can. So, it's a, like I said it's not the traditional, I wasn't reborn or anything I've always done what I wanted to do and lived how I wanted to live but it did refocus and remind me of certain things and it did remind me that martial arts you may never know until you know what you've gotten from your training. Whether it saves your life physically, whether it saves your life emotionally, whether it saves your job or your marriage or makes you a better dad or mother or brother or sister, it's doing all those things onto the surface. Even if you don't know it, it's doing it. Get martial arts training and I firmly would say my whole life everybody can benefit from being involved in the martial arts, you just got to find the right system for you but everybody could benefit from being in the martial arts and my pledge to my students and my organization is that better living through martial arts. My students have a better life because of their involvement. They have a good life and if they left the dojo they'd still have a good life but they have a better life because of their involvement and then I have to make sure that is true. I have to make sure that what I'm teaching and how I'm teaching it, it doesn't just blow smoke. It's not just an affirmation, Zig used to say that it's not just attitude, you can tell people I'm great, I'm great, I'm awesome but attitude without aptitude has no value. So, you have to make sure that there's something Tony Fournier another lifelong friend that you said you've known me since the beginning probably the longest, Tony's one of the guy's I met when I was just a kid in the AU fighting and he gave a 1:00:08 example about self-worth versus self-esteem in our society it's a catch phrase a money phrase is we build self-esteem. He says I don't build, I build self-worth, self-esteem is just telling somebody they're awesome and making them believe it but there might not be a foundation, it's like telling somebody oh you can fly and you pump them up and you chant I can fly and you have them flap their wings in the dojo and you get them really excited and we light a flight candle and we do our flight 1:00:34 and then we get up on the roof and we jump off and we die, cause we can't fly no matter how much you believe it, you're not jumping off that roof and fly. Now however if you want to fly maybe you can do take the tools, you know learn how to skydive or paraglide or learn how to fly a plane. There are it'll give you the ability to fly, you can make that but you need the aptitude, you need the skill set to back up that attitude and that's what Tony, he used a chocolate bunny and I like that because I don't eat chocolate but I do crave it now even because I can't have it. He said you know what, 1:01:13 he was in the generation where all bunnies were solid you got your easter1:01:19 with solid chocolate weighed a pound and a half and then when he was a kid they introduced something called the hollow bunny and I'm sure we've all gotten one or two in our lives now and you get that bunny and it's empty so as soon as you pick it up you realize that's really light and then you bite the ear off cause that's where we all start unless we're weird and bite the butt. You people know who you are, that was a reference for 1:01:42. You get that empty bunny so it's disappointing it's not what it professed to be, you saw a bunny that was 12 inches tall and should be a pound of chocolate and it turned out to be about 4 ounces of chocolate because it was hollow and that's the difference between just self esteem believing something and self worth having the insides to back it up the solid bunny. So that's been kind of one of the affirmations from that experience I want to make sure that everything I say and do and then everything that's done and said in my name because I got a lot of people represent me now awesome great people, I want to make sure they all have self-worth not just self-esteem, that they have the abilities and the aptitudes to back up their awesome attitudes. What was the question?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't even remember and that's ok.
Brent Crisci:
Good, good then I've done my job.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You have, you know this has been a great episode. You just kind of took it and ran and all of the things that I try to do on my end as an interviewer with the structure with the questions you know the attempt here is really to lead people through in sort of an organic on their life through the martial arts and you did that without any prompting so I thank you for that because it allowed me to step back and just kind of let you go.
Brent Crisci:
I'm happy to do it, I felt like I needed to really make up for the delay and
Jeremy Lesniak:
Don't worry about it
Brent Crisci:
for 2 and a half years a whole 1:03:09
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well you are not the only person so
Brent Crisci:
Oh, I'm sure, well you know what the reason you want to interview these people is because they've got something to say and they've done something which means they're busy they're doers. So, doers we keep you know it's tough to find time but we make time for what is important and this was important especially after last year's episode I if nothing else like you said to edify and to show gratitude for the mentors that I've been lucky enough to have. The instructors I've been lucky enough to call teacher and still do, they deserve props and then many of them are still here. So, when we have event like the martial arts symposium where the gathering in California or the Maine gathering we just have, I implore students stop making excuses and make it happen. Everybody is not going to be here forever, no one is going to be here forever and I've always taken advantage and I've flown and driven and because these things that exist a lot of them when I was training early on. I had to drive everywhere to go to these guys and now we bring them together so students have to go in their back yard essentially and spend the weekend with Superfoot Wallace or Hanshi Juchnik, or Michael DePasquale you know an endless list to these awesome Grandmaster’s that are part of history that they could see all in one place so you know I know martial arts university too, I got to mention that, that's coming up Columbus Day weekend this year out in New Jersey so Soki DePasquale always running that. there are masters that go to these events that don't go to anything else you know so that's the opportunity so students don't wait for the right time, that's another thing that near death experiences will give you is I've always lived that way luckily, I've had good parent’s good teachers that told me carpe diem. So, I didn't lay there and have regrets about all the things I didn't do. I only had a few thoughts on what wasn't I going to get to do now. What you know that I had plans so yeah, I hope that I like I said I've opened up or edified those people and again if I missed anybody I'll punch in at the next event, you can beat me up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
This has been great, if anybody out there if they want to get a hold a view or you know just
Brent Crisci:
Why would they be want to do that, I'm really more, I'm a lot more obnoxious in real life here on the radio.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There's probably one person so for that one person that might want to talk to you that hasn't already.
Brent Crisci:
That one friend I have left Grandmaster Pete 1:05:44 that actually likes me they could no. We have a website that's pretty informative UnitedDojos.com that's our United martial arts academy's website. I have an email, I have multiple emails, they all forward to my original AOL email. Yes, I said AOL for those of you who don't know what that is, it's called America On Line, it was the first internet email really that was used and it's kicksusa, k i c k s u s a @AOL.com so all of the other current emails cause me and Michael d started their martial arts a worldwide network was the first internet based martial arts thing which kind of exciting that Soki started. They did it with AOL so I used to host the chat room for AOL back when the internet started, oh god I felt I sound ancient there don't I? But anyways kicksusa@AOL.com. If you want to give me a call to the office I'll never answer the phone but you can, it's 207 621 0770 some nice people will talk to you and they'll leave me a message. Of course, now I'm pretty good with my social media so Melody Schuman again props to her and Dave Kovar making me get on there and do stuff so I'm on Facebook and I have a kid's account and then an adult one. So, the kids I have a kid friendly ones so you know that's just kid orientated and any kids can be on there and they're never going to see anything bad. I have an Instagram account kicksusa on Instagram and a bunch other stuff I don't know the words for and Melody I'm doing my 1:07:21 like you told me once a week now on Facebook so I hope you're proud.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well she may hear this.
Brent Crisci:
They're making other people laugh if it's doing nothing else, there's a lot of amusement on Facebook when I go live because I don't know what I'm doing with my cheap phone but yeah there's all sorts of way that you could hunt me down or if you go to any of those awesome events, martial arts symposium, gathering in California, the Maine gathering, Martial Arts University. I'm doing a pretty bad job in reducing my travel schedule so I'll be in all of the tournaments I'll be down in Vermont, you're a way it's the Vermont National's in September and at tournaments you know I always love to help so if anybody has a question or a comment you know I got pretty thick skin come tell me what you think and I tell you what I think.
Jeremy Lesniak:
1:08:14 alright well Kyoshi I thank you for being here and one last thing we always go out in the highest of notes, what parting advice would you give to the folks listening?
Brent Crisci:
You know what I'm going to borrow from a teacher I didn't talk about a lot because I knew I would get the clamp and I would get choked up is my Professor Nick Cerio he did more for me than I can ever repay he took me as his private student. He put me on his board of directors for Nick Cerio's 1:08:45 martial arts and he said something when Hanshi interviewed him for like a magazine he said he wishes that the martial arts would unite that the leaders and the instructors would unite together as martial arts not as styles so that we would have more power than everybody else and that's my advice is it stop worrying about who's style is better and who's system is legitimate and who's got this rank. Start knowing where all martial arts, and if we all are together, we have massive power and we have massive ability to change the world. So, my advice is learn from anybody you can, put your ego down put it down, put it get it out in the way. It's only getting in your way, put your, take your belt off if you need to and get on the mat and learn something. I don't care what you know, I don't care what you are I get on the mat everyday and I learn something I learn from white belts and I learn from masters, I don't care what style it is. So that's my advice is unite and get to work, get on the mat train there's nothing more important than that, not you know unite and that's what Professor said it was his wish he passed not long after that and so I'm grateful to him and I still teach for him and I still represent him and so that's my parting, not my epitaph I guess cause I'm still here again rumors slightly exaggerated but yeah let's get together. Let's not worry about the styles we're all martial arts that means we're all in the martial arts we're all the same so let's train, let's edify, let's support.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Talk about a spirited martial artist and someone who's weathered a pretty strong storm in their life. A storm which he wouldn't have survived without his martial arts. It made him physically able to face life's greatest challenge head on and he managed to survive. Through all he's maintained his trademark sense of humor and I'm grateful that this episode took place and I'm really grateful we could share it with you. Thank you Kyoshi Crisci for coming on the show. If you want to find the show notes those are at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Don't forget martial artscalendar.com and you can find all of our social media @whistlekick. If you want to email me directly that's jeremy@whistlekick.com. I want to thank you for tuning in thank you for spending time with us today and until next time train hard smile and have a great day.