Episode 558 - Sensei Olivia Roney
Sensei Olivia Roney is a Martial Arts practitioner instructor at the Crouching Tigers school in Indiana.
I'm somebody who's very optimistic about the future. I feel like the young children that we're raising right now are going to have the ability to completely change the world in the future.
Sensei Olivia Roney- Episode 558
Growing up with 7 siblings and raised by a single mom, martial arts is remotely someone's priority. However, Sensei Olivia Roney showed up in the dojo with the will and determination to train, cleaned the dojo to be able to train for free. Today, Sensei Olivia Roney is passionate and optimistic about our children's future. When teaching young children is either loved or avoided by instructors, Sensei Roney built her school around teaching children. Interested? Listen to learn more!
Show Notes
You may find out more about Sensei Roney's school at www.crouchingtigers.com or reach them on Facebook
Sensei Olivia Roney
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's going on everybody? Welcome this is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio Episode 556 with today's guest sexy Olivia Roney. Who am I? I'm Jeremy Lesniak. I'm your host for the show, founder of whistle kick, where everything we do is in support of the traditional martial arts. What's that mean? Well, if you want to know if you wonder what that means, go to whistlekick.com that's our online home. And one of the things you're gonna find in our home is our store, and if you use the code podcast 15, that gets you 15% off all this stuff that we've got available there. Everything from apparel and training aids to training programs and more. Now, the show martial arts trader gets his own website and because I name all websites boring. whistlekickmartialartsradio.com we keep it easy, maybe boring isn't the right word, but the show, we give you two episodes each week and the whole purpose we do that is to connect and educate and entertain all of you, the traditional martial artists of the world. If you appreciate what we do and you want to support whistle kick, there are a few things you can do, like I said, you can go to the store you can buy something, but you've also got a number of other choices, you could follow us on social media, share an episode, buy a book on Amazon, leave a review somewhere, or support the patreon, patareon.com/whistlekick a place to go for that. You can support us monthly with as little as two bucks. And the more you throw our way. The more we get back. Yes, even if the $2 tier, we're giving you behind the scenes exclusive content, stuff you're not gonna find anywhere else. And at the higher tiers we give you more and more and more. You talk to someone who teaches martial arts. You will quickly find out that they have a particular style, which is the style of martial arts but a style of teaching. They like to teach certain things to certain people and the most polarizing group of people, to teach that I have out our very own children. And I don't mean just kids I mean, young kids like three to five year olds. In my time I have found that martial arts instructors either love that age group, or they avoid it. Well, today's guest. Not only doesn't avoid it, but built an entire business around teaching this age group. And we have a great talk we talked about how she does it because it's different than the way just about anybody else does. And we talk about why it's a great conversation and I hope you enjoy. Sensei Roney, welcome to whistle kick Martial Arts Radio.
Olivia Roney:
Thank you so much for having me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey thanks for being here. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your willingness to come on and chat about whatever it is we're gonna chat about. You know we just talked about it listeners know we don't you know we don't we don't often have an agenda, when we bring a guest on it's just hey let's, let's talk to a martial artist let's see what comes out of it and sometimes we have some, some intense conversation sometimes we have funny conversation and I guess I don’t have a beat on you yet. I'm not sure what kind of conversation we're gonna have.
Olivia Roney:
By now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It was a little bit foreboding. Cool. Well, here on the show, you know, it's the thread that we have running through everything that people that listen and you and I and the people work on the show. It's all about martial arts so let's roll back what's your martial arts origin story if
you will.
Olivia Roney:
Sure, so I got started with 03:36 karate, and many, many years ago, and a full story about how I got started. I'm the oldest of seven kids and raised by a single mom, and my cousin's gotten involved in martial arts program, close to where I grew up, which is in 03:55 Indiana. And upon hearing about it I just became obsessed with this idea of martial arts I had never heard of it before, we didn't watch too many movies growing up, so I had no idea that there was there is this awesome thing called martial arts out there. And my cousins got started and I talked them t take me with them for like three classes, and just became so extremely obsessed with this idea of becoming a martial artist. So ran home told my mom about who I need to join this program I want to get my black belt. She laughed because your second oldest of seven kids raised by single moms like there's no way we can afford that absolutely no way you're gonna be able to take these lessons. And I was pretty determined little 11 year old, and was able to go back to that studio and talk to the Sensei in there and to letting me take classes for free in exchange for cleaning school. So I was there five nights a week scrubbing floors cleaning mirrors, and really gotten started that way and then eventually ended up taking your kids program, and end up running the whole dojo. Getting my black belt there and then starting the company from there so 05:02 huge impact on my life overall and it's just really been part of become part of who I am as a person.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How old were you that first class?
Olivia Roney:
Eleven.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Eleven. Okay, so I'm trying to wrap my mind around an 11 year old who is so determined and creative with getting things to happen that you go back and you say I will trade you my time for classes I will clean now. Plenty people have clean schools in exchange for classes, that's not foreign we've heard about that on this show, but I don't think we've heard about a kid doing it, let alone it being the kids’ idea. So what do you what would you chalk that up to where'd that idea come from.
Olivia Roney:
So, I was homeschooled growing up. And that was something that I was like, What am I really good at, no homeschool kids are really good at cleaning, definitely use for chores like that and so like this is what I have to offer 06:08 younger siblings so I can help in one of those classes I don't know anything right now but I don't play games with them or whatever, and took me up on that offer almost immediately, and that's where my, my real passion came into play was I love teaching kids martial arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
This is creative problem solving, you know, did that did that come through was that the way you were raised? Was that something that came out of homeschooling? It reminds me very much of the mindset in the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, you know, you had a target there was something you wanted and it wasn't, you know, your mother said we can't do that. And you instead heard. We can't spend money on that. And you found a solution. So, we're that that creative problem solving, I've got a feeling so this is me foreshadowing now. I've got a feeling we're gonna hear about that as we talk about other things. But I'm curious where the root of that ability to think outside the box came from.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, I do think that it has a lot to do with being homeschooled, and there are a lot of pros and cons of homeschooling. I feel like I'm definitely behind in a lot of ways. And getting into college, but the creative abilities that I gained through homeschooling, I don't think that I would have anywhere close to the creativity that I have, if I would have gone to a traditional school. And so yeah, I think, problem solving, as a whole is something that I learned a lot of homeschooling potentially with born with some of that as well. But in the company that I have function 07:50 we use a really creative approach to a lot of different problems and so we look at problems that children are having in their schools problems that children are having in homes, and we come up with really creative ways to get solutions to those problems through children through our curriculum. There are characters. There are stories. And so that's a really big part of really everything that I do as a person and everything 08:15 as well.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. All right. So the other things I want to pull out a little bit. Thread wise. Is this instant passion for martial arts? Did you have any idea? You know, quite often on this show we hear about, oh I you know I watched a lot of Bruce Lee movies as a kid or, you know, there was something else that contributed to this desire to train. I didn't hear any of that from you I heard this instant. The switch that seemed to go off to say this is where I need to spend my life.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah it was pretty interesting that I'd never heard of martial arts. I have never seen a movie or a television show or anything until I was 11. It's pretty rare. And I remember going to the library and checking out every book about martial arts that I can find. Jeff and my cousins told me about it. That was like, what is this thing that I've never heard anything about when you dig into it and learn everything that I can so by the time I showed up for my first lesson, I knew some stances I knew how to count to 10 in Japanese. I knew how to tight belts, you know I have really research it but it might be just sort of an obsessive kind of personality that I had as a child a baby still have now as an adult. This ability to hear about something and become so engrossed in it and obsessed with learning everything that I could possibly learn about it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
All right. So you started in it, you didn't stop. You didn't step away. You didn't quit. You just kept finding new, I guess roles within this school. Is that right?
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, yeah so it was, you know, cleaning school at first and then he was helping kids classes and that was helping marketing, to the point where I was fine, which is really running a type of school, my instructor was able to take a step back and work on some things that he hadn't wanted to work on. In high school I was managing the entire school by myself, which was a really great experience for me to gain before starting my own company.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When did the idea of starting your own business around martial arts start?
Olivia Roney:
So I actually started this company Crouching Tigers when I was 20. I was in college at the time, I have moved away from a grown up in Northwest Indiana, a couple of hours south to Indianapolis, Indiana and I was working for a martial arts school at the time you know got a 10:56 job that would really help me support myself through college, and the company that I was working for at the time, I can realize this going into it but they were very quickly going under and became very obvious when they started bouncing my paychecks never pay your way through college. And so I knew that there were some companies. 11:19 growing up that did a mobile program. So they took a bus or whatever to local childcare centers and after school programs and they offered classes on site to these kids. And it just seemed so simple to me you know why not do this for martial arts. Martial arts is an activity that isn't typically available to this very young age group and it's usually a lot more expensive than how I will be able to price classes because I'm mobile so I don't have that overhead. And yet got that started and I was 20 years old and it just started with knocking on doors. Hey, my name is Olivia. I teach karate and the kids like it. Can I come into free class? And it really grew from there. And it's been an awesome visit to be in. Like I mentioned earlier, low overhead is really an amazing aspect to it, but this ability to reach younger children than to reach children whose parents typically wouldn't have the time or money to invest in a martial arts program. It's just reaching the entire 12:22 children too often.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Most people that talk about teaching martial arts, either love teaching children, or do not love teaching children. Usually it's either you know, this is my passion I love working with the kids, I like teaching the adults too, but you know the kids are where my focus is or the kids are what keep the school afloat so I can afford to teach the adults because there aren't as many adults interested in martial arts. Generally, she was pretty clear that that you know kids are what resonates for you kids are your passion you know that this doesn't sound like there are a lot of variations on the business model that you considered before jumping in. So the question is, even at 20. You're still pretty young I think a lot of people would say you're still a kid yourself. What was it about teaching kids that excited you because it's you sound excited as you're telling the history of this.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, I there's something about teaching very young age groups that is just really inspire me. Not only are these children like little sponges, you know where you teach them something and you just notice how quickly they retain that information. And then you know you can even become part of their personality, you know, teaching them new skills and teaching them competence and things, and really shoot them as a person. I'm somebody who's very optimistic about the future I feel like young children that we are raising right now are going to have the abilities to completely change the world, in the future, I feel like the way that science and technology are aligned so well for this age group that we're teaching right now that they are going to solve the world's problems, I know that sounds, probably innocuously optimistic. But I really have a very positive outlook on the future and I think the more that we can do to reach kids at these very young ages, and to teach them, you know, by putting positive instructors in front of them and teaching them positive lessons their stories and things that they're going to that are really going to help them as people, the better chance they're going to have of making those big world changes that I just mentioned.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I want to unpack that a little bit. It's incredibly optimistic. It's positive. It really speaks to your passion I suspect for children when I think about the people I know who deal with. I assume we're talking about, you know, three to five year olds.
Olivia Roney:
Three to five is really my favorite age group and goes up to eight years old, and it can be a big difference you can make in that entire age group but I would say those three to five year olds are little sponges that are just soaking up all that information, especially when you have a black belt on and you're teaching them through martial arts, it's really how you inspire them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I don't know that prior to me asking you, it's said three to five but that was just kind of what was coming through the way you were talking about these kids when I think about the people I know, with a passion for early childhood education, you know, whether it's you know kindergarten, pre-kindergarten, preschool, anything like that I'm just kind of running through the folks I know who've been involved in those programs. And they all tend to have an insane amount of optimism. Just so fundamentally believing that these kids will transform not just grow up and be functional adults but they will transform the world. And here we're hearing you saying something similar. Where did that idea start for you?
Olivia Roney:
I think it's probably just from observing the children that I've worked with in the past and observing the children within our program who my instructors have taught in the past and just watching their ability to change. You know I think as adults, it's so difficult to change yourself and then even think about trying to change somebody else, just take they're possible. But with young children I think that they're so adaptable and. So, able to make such changes by learning, very simple lessons and through our program, we tell a lot of stories, every single week there's a new story. We have these seven tiger characters that are the crouching tigers are all named after natural disasters and they're modeled after members of my family, which that tells me anything about my family, natural disaster, definitely makes sense for us.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You said you had six siblings.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah. So, each had a tighter character and, like, they were named after natural disasters because they were all kind of a hot mess. My family loves it, that I have a story about that. But every week there's a story about these tigers learning any lesson so it might be something simple like competence you know they are trying to do something over and over again and they're gaining competence along the way. It might be something that's more safety related where they're learning, not to open the door unless they know who's knocking on it and what to do in those cases. But it's really interesting to me to see how quickly children, pick up on these stories, and how quickly they're able to relate them to their own lives. And I think that's why the children's books are so important, and so prevalent today for children is because they really truly do make a difference in the way that children function after we've learned those lessons. I feel like it's so easy for them to relate to them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So I've got to ask are one of these characters modeled after you.
Olivia Roney:
Of course, yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How was that when can you tell us which one can pass a bit about your cats who probably don't want to go through all seven. Actually we can unpack the one that you identify with.
Olivia Roney:
19:02 Yeah. I'm Tornado the Tiger. She is the second oldest representing the tigers, kind of the leader of the family. She's into meditation and of course martial arts and she's sort of the one that leads her family, all of the tigers on fun tiger adventures. She kind of helps them put things together. So learning lessons as a family, and dashing child critical tiger.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Were the ideas for the tigers come from?
Olivia Roney:
So I named company Crouching Tigers. And I can't say that I never heard of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon because of course I did. But I do own the trademark 19:44 tigers. It took a long time to get there but I finally got there thanks 19:50. So I I had this mascot tiger to begin with, and I just before when I would teach stories to kids, I would take different kids in my class and say, Okay, well let's pretend that Johnny and Billy, which Johnny's funny, talk about that later how we always use Johnny martial arts terms. But, Johnny and Billy are having an argument and then this happens I take him through an entire story of how to meet conflict. And that was working really well for our class and I found the kids were sharing it and they were remembering it talking to the friends, teachers about and going over talking to their families about it, because your parents would email me and say oh I heard that there is a story about Jonathan Dillion study of conflict. And that was an easy way to teach these lessons to them, but I saw an opportunity to have some illustrated characters that would be more exciting to those kids. And so I created these seven tigers I didn't illustrate them that's not my strong suit whatsoever. But Gotham illustrated, and they really just came to life through our instructors telling stories to each other, pose and their own martial arts technique to go along with them. And kids just became obsessed with these tigers as if they were like superheroes in stories that they were hearing about you, they would go home and talk about them, and they wanted, they constantly want more even now that I have own illustrations and things out there for them they want more. What's their favorite color? How old are they? What's their favorite move? What’s their favorite movie? You know, and it's, it was just a really interesting way to get kids, even more invested in our lessons and reach meaning or information in our story even better by having these tiger characters.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It sounds like they're identifying with them.
Olivia Roney:
Definitely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
With seven choices I would suspect every kid's gonna find at least some of themselves and probably multiple.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, that’s definitely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Tigers, yeah. Interesting. Well it's I think it's a good time to kind of take a hard left and talk about you and your training. We're gonna come back we're gonna talk more about what these classes look like and the kids and all that. But I want to get a little bit more context for you and your training because from the beginning. Martial Arts were something you were passionate about. But all the ways that you've talked about that have been in relation to a role or someone else. So let's talk about how martial arts started to impact if it did, I guess I'm making an assumption here that martial arts started to make an impact on who you are. Is that is that fair to say? Because you kept going and from the hundreds of people that we've had on the show. They all seem to have a few things in common. One of them is that martial arts tends to fill some gaps, plug holes, create some personal growth, you know, however you want to term it. And I'm wondering what that looked like for you.
Olivia Roney:
Sure. So as the little 11 year old me is like gold as I was with this ability to go and talk in school owner into me take classes for free. I was really lacking confidence, and I mean she was raised by single mom. It was right before that time that I started martial arts that my dad just got up and left, you know all sudden his kids and his wife, and was just a really tough time for me mentally it kind of a daddy's girl growing up what just happened completely thrown away from the family. I was really lacking confidence. And I was really afraid for some reason at that age in my life, everything made me really nervous, I was constantly fearful. For some reason that I was going to be kidnapped and to the point where I got a mission of helping beacons for my birthday one year and I used to sleep with it under my pillow so has a really afraid, little girl. Another, I call it a funny story now looking back; I'm sure at that time I was just so fearful. But it's something that we joke about in my office today. And when we will get packages in the mail when I was a kid, there was this little silicon packets if they do not eat on them. And in my kid brain, I thought, this means that it's poison and if you eat it you will die immediately. And so when we would get these packages in the mail I would take these little silica packets and put them in my pocket. Because my idea was that I was probably going to get kidnapped and you were probably going to take me to a house, and they were probably going to be like make me some coffee. And then I would just dump the silica package in their coffee and stir it up and give it to them and then they would die. 24:51 Ridiculous. But then, you can see sort of where my creativity started. So I was really fearful child, always thinking that something terrible like being kidnapped was going to happen to me. And when I found martial arts I found this inner strength, and this confidence that I was really lacking and that was just so helpful for me to understand that no bad things like this do happen but there are ways that you can prevent them. And, you know, having confidence is a huge way for us to teach kidnap prevention for children. But martial arts, as a whole, gave you that that inner strength, and that confidence to overcome these insane fears that I had growing up, I think a lot of them were because my mom has always been very good at teaching us prevention, maybe to rooted at some times where she will do it in a, in a threatening way. And so when I started to develop the curriculum for crouching tigers, a lot of it is based on how we teach really important lesson to kids without scaring them. And so that we've had to put a lot of creativity in those tiger characters are very helpful. But that's a really big part of the program because I don't want kids to live with that same fear that I had growing up I don't want them hiding so at the packets in their pockets, and I don't want them sleeping with I can't help you because under their pillow.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I had the same fear around those silica packets, but my solution was more to, you know, treat them like hazardous materials and throw them in the trash. I had even considered using them as a weapon.
Olivia Roney:
Yes. Well, now you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now I know it's a terrible option. What did you study in college to do lineup at all was what you're doing now?
Olivia Roney:
I studied communication, and it's a liberal arts degree so I've always had a gift for writing and public speaking so it was, it was more, what can I do in college, while running this business that's going to end with me getting a degree. And it was, it was more at least that the easier choice for me but I was definitely working like 60 hours a week while I was in college so it was the right choice for me to be able to balance both those things.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I'm gonna guess that there were points where you said man college is getting in the way of my job.
Olivia Roney:
For sure, well I started actually studying pre-physical therapy with communication studies as my degree. You know, thinking that I become a physical therapist and when I started my company you know we started out with like 20 students and then that growing from there. And it wasn't until the end of my senior year that I had a choice to make. Do I want to spend the next four years of my life spending a lot of money and a lot of time working really hard or do I want some next four years of my life, building a company and making money, secure a good future, and I'm very happy with the choice that I made.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Tell us a bit more about those early days you talked about knocking on doors, talking about even free lessons, and you've got a good chunk of martial art school owners, listening, and we've got another I can't say how many but a good chunk of people who are training and are probably thinking, maybe at some point I'd like to have a school I don't know yet. But this idea of teaching the way that you are isn't terribly common maybe it is in your area but I can speak for the northeast and the areas that I've traveled in martial arts wise there aren't a whole lot of people doing it your way. So I'd love to hear a bit more about how you got that started with whatever you're willing to share. And I don't want you give away the secret sauce.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah. So I think one of the biggest differences between what I do and what a martial arts school owner does. Is that what I do is an introductory program. I want 29:12 students and I know that so many really great martial artists that then become instructors and school owners will love to see that progression in their students they love to see people grow up in their program, go through the ranks and really become proficient martial artists as awesome as that sounds, that's not my passion. I love that I have introductory program that's going to introduce students to the beauty of martial arts, and get them excited enough to then go and join the dojo, and hopefully get their black belts in there and we have so many awesome success stories of children that were able to do that through martial arts programs outside of offers, and I'm only happy to refer them to schools in our area. My passion is getting that door open for them and making martial arts stuff, accessible for them. Because, as I mentioned before, the martial arts tends to be a pretty time consuming and expensive activity, and if I can bring that passion of martial arts to a young age get excited enough to choose that over other sports in the beginning that I'm doing my job. So it's, there's a really big difference I think in the two different ways to bring martial arts to kids and I totally understand why a lot of really proficient amazing martial artists choose to open schools, instead of do what I do because we are in the kind of business that I have I don't want to see kids become proficient in martial arts I don't get to see them. You know, every week, getting closer to their black belt, I see them in those really sloppy first stages where they can't make a fist, and their front kick is more of a swing kick in hands. You know, all the, all the sloppiness that comes with a three year old trying to practice martial arts for sure. Yeah, definitely, definitely a very big difference between, between those two types of programs, and it definitely takes somebody I think that some more interested in working with children then in martial arts to do what I do. I think if you're more interested in martial arts you're getting straighter over the fact that you're constantly having new kids come into the program, constantly teaching them how to make a fist, you're constantly teaching them how to change their life. So it definitely, definitely takes us a special personality and not so big every martial art is 31:32 for.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, what do you kind of hang your hat on? If it's not proficiency of technique, if it's not rank and watching them, you know, grew up for years which is you know what we hear from a lot of martial arts instructors saying, you know, this is why I do this. Why? What is it you go home at night and say, you know, I feel satisfied with my work today because of x.
Olivia Roney:
It’s for me a lot of it is the sheer numbers of children that we’ve had go through our program. Even if they've only been in for one period of curriculum which we have three every year, even if they're just in it for one unit of curriculum, I know that they have learned some very important life lessons. We have life skills that they're learning, you know, they're about to start learning integrity and leadership and learn. Definition based on those things and in stories, and then they break a board at the conclusion of each of our units. And so I knew that, even if the kid just goes through one unit they just bring one board with us, they're going to be learning so some very important lessons, including confidence, you know, the ability to do that in front of a crowd and break the board is huge for me it's confidence, I take boards to some corporate businesses around the city they'll have me come they do portraits for them. And these adults are so amazed with themselves after they've breached a little piece of balsa wood. And then like watching a three year old, they're on top of the world they feel like they can accomplish anything after they do something like that. So that number of children that we get involved in the program, knowing that they're going to have specific life lessons that they're learning. And then, overcoming fears and breaking boards and earning that confidence.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can see that. Is there any feedback from, let's say the conventional martial arts programs in the area, about how these students do when they start there.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, definitely. So, the school that I studied at right now they get a ton of referrals from me, because, obviously. Part of both the program, and it's gonna be different for every child. I want them to have a strong foundation, at least have like those simple things like this from chambers. I want them to have that respect, knowing to bow to instructors, 33:57 attention stances. But more than anything I feel that they need to have that so he's going into the next program. So focus is a really big part of everything that we do in Crouching Tiger as he started meditation and we're constantly working on we call our tiger focus. So I think that the kids that go from my program into any martial arts, you know, whether that be Karate, Ju-Jitsu, Taekwondo, anything that they're going to get involved in. They are going to have better focus and ability to pay attention to instructors better than somebody that's brand new.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What does meditation for three year old look like?
Olivia Roney:
Oh. It’s so awesome. So, a few years ago, I started noticing a really big decrease in my student's ability to pay attention in class. And it wasn't just me that was noticing it was all my instructors complaining to me, we've got at our height, with COVID, of course, about 1300 students so we're out there teaching kids throughout the week, my instructors are going back to me and saying your kids aren't learning anything like they're not focusing that right here on your class and talking to their friends and I just started realizing that there has been this really serious decrease in children focus. So what can what can we do about it. And I was in a yoga teacher training at the time you know just always trying to learn new skills and figure out how to implement them into my program and started getting pretty serious about meditation, and having a daily practice and this ability to clear my mind before turning to trying to learn something new. And so I started trying all different things in my classes, different meditation, teach them where they're taking them on a little journey with their eyes closed, story, and little games that you could play. And I learned about sound meditation, and we started using something that's traditionally called a 35:53 where we strike this 35:56 one time and the sound lasts for about 14 seconds. Since I started using that in class with this idea, let's keep our eyes closed while we can hear the sound of this and when the sound is gone. We can open our eyes. And it was an immediate change in mind student's ability to pay attention, even these no three year olds would sit there with their eyes closed, I would strike this thing rolling to keep their eyes closed until the sound was gone, like I said just 14 seconds, and they would they would open their eyes he would be like a new kid. And I was really amazed I know it probably it sounds too good to be true and it does for a lot of parents but seeing this thing in action is really exciting. So right now we call it our tiger chime. I wrote a children's book on it it's called 36:43 chime and it's available on our website. It comes with the singing bowl as a way for parents to practice at home, or martial artists to use within our classes, and it's been really a way to get our kids to focus. We also talk about this term monkey mind and monkey mind is what happens when you can't focus and all you have to do is use this time. And you can get tiger focus from, and get rid of your monkey mind. And it's so amazing to see these kids just really understand this concept, and for it to really work for them, and it's only 14 seconds but I'm telling you it's a huge difference for them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I believe it. It makes a lot of sense. It checks a lot of the boxes; it's a demarcation and time. It's a transition point between when they were doing what they were doing and now what they're going to be doing. And it's something for them to focus on the sound. And what I'm guessing and, you know, I'm far from, you know, any kind of psychologist, but my guess is that because they can hear the sound peter out. They, it's more tangible. It's something that they can focus on for that time because they can tell that it's coming to an end. As opposed to most of us that were raised in or participate now in a traditional martial arts class that may lead in with some meditation. How long do you meditate, until the instructor tells you to stop? Yeah, which can be a little difficult and if you're a kid I remember growing up with that going. How are women sitting here for a while I don't know maybe Sensei’s got some stuff that she's trying to work out I don't know but I'm still here and I'm ready to be done. And my mind wanders of course but as you hears that sound fade out of the chime. That makes that makes a lot of sense. I like it. And what else did you try what did you try that didn't work?
Olivia Roney:
The guided meditations, I think it reminds a little bit too busy. So when I'd be like okay let's pretend that you're on a beach, like I'm gonna go swimming. Let's focus on the waves; are they cold? I think a lot of question, a guided meditation. So those weren't as successful for me. I do a little game that I would play that works very well for them. But it's the sound and I think their ability to focus on just one thing. During this much small period of time, which is kind of rare for kids these days I think there are so many things that over stimulate them in their lives that even 14 seconds where they're just focused on one sound and waiting for that sound to end that really makes a big difference for them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We can all wrap our minds around what you've learned as a martial artist. We can wrap our minds around what these children have learned from you. But let's flip that, what have you learned from them? You know, we just kind of talked about a good example about how you know certain things that seem simplistic to us as adults may be incredibly effective for them. But I can't imagine you've been doing this for as long as you have and not continue to feel like you're getting something out of it like you're being nourished from this time with these children so what else are they taught you?
Olivia Roney:
I think one of the biggest things that I've learned throughout running this program is that you can get through to children so much faster by making things exciting for them. And that's why I think martial art is just such an awesome way to teach important life lessons. If I were to stand in front of kids like okay I'm going to teach you, meditation, and I'm going to teach you about integrity and leadership, I don't think that I would have anywhere near the impact on kids as I've had by kicking and punching to go along with it. So we've sort of used martial arts as a vehicle to teach important lessons to that and so it's like, we call it the spin edge, and the ice cream. So we've got to have we've got our stage in there, we have to have our life skills we have to have our safety lessons and confidence building and things that a kid isn't going to think is that much fun just by itself, but the ice cream. That's the punching and kicking and the games and the key eyes and all of that makes this a very well rounded program. So I think, adding that level of excitement for them you're able to teach them just so much more.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Makes sense, now tell us about a point where it just weren't didn't go well, or someone completely off the rails maybe it's a particular child or a particular class or you say you know we're gonna start doing things in this way in that way was horrible and you had to walk it back. And we've talked a lot about a lot of positive things so far today let's talk about a learning opportunity.
Olivia Roney:
Oh yeah, I have so many stories. I mean, if you think about it like the sheer number of classes that I've taught. I think that I'm fully up there with, which some of these like 50, 60 year old instructors that have been doing it their whole lives. Because I, you know, building this company and up until you know somewhat recently I was teaching, you know, eight classes a day. And that's something that is pretty rare for 42:09 artists. I have tons and tons of stories about failures for sure. But I think as a program one really big failure for me was five years ago, I have this idea that I needed to add something to our program and martial arts just very wasn't enough I wanted something broader. And so I 42:32 it as a children's wellness program that offered martial arts and yoga to kids. And it was a huge barrier for us not only because the kids weren't getting a good amount of martial arts so their skills were pretty terrible, but from a branding standpoint, parents, I think really like to quickly summarize what their kids are involved in, you know, my kid is in karate and in gymnastics and say oh my kids in this wellness program just really didn't work. So for me I was trying to combat now that I realized it small number of parents that was anti-martial arts by adding yoga to it and calling it a wellness program so that that was just a big, huge mistake on my part, very expensive and very time, because I haven't really rebranded my entire company really to just kind of apologize to my families and my centers and say, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done this; we're going back to being a martial arts party. Were you aware that 43:35 martial arts very proudly/ At the time there were a lot of parents as hearing from that were just saying, I would never get my kid in martial arts you know it's violence. And you're teaching and this and that and they're already punching, kicking my brother and sister so much at home I don't want to do it more proficiency, you know. And so looking back at that though, I recognize that it's a small group of families, and one that we have to be okay just saying okay well we're never going to be able to teach your kids. We're never going to be able to deliver these awesome life lessons to them because of your disinterest in martial arts. So, that was probably my biggest failure over the years, with that rebrand and trying to almost stray away from martial arts as a whole and rebrand is as well as programs, and you know martial arts now is something that we very proudly wear in our title.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How did you? I want to unpack that a little bit, because what I'm hearing as a fellow business owner is. Whoa I was really wrong. And I know how emotional that can be, but you're either doing a really good job of playing it off like it wasn't that big of a deal or I'm guessing more so that you learned a lot from it. So, how did you adjust come back out of that?
Olivia Roney:
It was actually, it was much easier to get out of it and then let's get into it, because getting into it was telling my families, hey I thought you signed up for martial arts, but guess what we're different now we're wellness, we're wellness program. And we're gonna be teaching yoga in every class. And I guess what I didn't recognize at that time was that there are just as many people against yoga as to are against martial arts and a lot of them have their kids in martial arts, or against yoga. So that was that was a big learning curve there for me. I'm sorry, what was your question again?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Just around the psychology of hitting a stumbling block with a business and, you know, one that was kind of big I mean you were trying to make a big shift. And that shift didn't work and so coming back out and I guess it's the process of iterating of learning from those. I don't want to say failure because failure means you stop, but I guess mistake or misreading of the tea leaves. You didn't just willy-nilly say oh we're gonna work in it, add yoga and become wellness you had a concerted reason there was an intent. There you were trying to solve a problem. And it didn't work out the way you wanted it to so that I just maybe I'm applying too much of my own experience in asking those question.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, I think. I'm not somebody that takes criticism, all that well, especially when it's from a group of people whose children I want to have an impact on. Hearing them say no I will never enroll my children in the martial arts program because I find it to be violent, really tough on me and just sent me searching for answers, what am I going to do so that I'm not missing out on this demographic of kids because I know that every foot benefits from this program. What can I do to reach the kids? Instead of recognizing hey there's gonna be a solid percentage of families who won't enroll in the program because they don't think martial arts is good for kids, and you just have to be okay with that and you have to focus on the families that you do have in your program and make it the very best program that you have for those kids. I think that's where the real failure came in was my inability to accept that there are families whose kids are never going to benefit from our program. But that took some time for me to really become okay with it. And it took honestly for us and losing a lot of families who said, no, I didn't sign up the wellness program, yoga and martial arts. Learning introductory merchandise because they might want to go on and go to school to get their black belt at that school after that I think that was the big failure for me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And have you reconciled with that? Are you okay with that? But not everyone's gonna want to put their kid in the martial arts program.
Olivia Roney:
Yeah, yeah. Most definitely. I have a yoga program and started functioning right now. After COVID related purposes or 48:17. But it's a yoga program that is run more by schools, it's called animal skills yoga and I'm still able to get some of those important lessons that we teach in Crouching Tigers through this yoga program. Let me feel a little bit better about it. There are some families that are super against martial arts and the label on their kids in my yoga program though.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, excellent. So what else, tell us about a day for you. How much time are you spending let's say on the mats teaching matter. In this case I think is figured if more than literal. How much time are you spending, working on the business? You know, this is our teaching a lot. I mean maybe not right now but in general, you've got more classes as you said, then I think the average martial arts instructor so I'm kind of wondering when you have time to do the other things.
Olivia Roney:
And two, Covid happens 49:29 things are happening, which isn't actually a terrible thing for those things to happen together. So, before having my daughter. In March, I was slowing down on the teaching. And as much as I was able to teach, you know, being nine months pregnant. It was just kind of getting more and more difficult to get around quickly changed after all these three year olds. So I have a really awesome team in place that I've really been able to kind of promote over the years. And so people that started out with me as instructors I was able to promote to like assistant program directors and program directors so I have a couple of levels now, which is really nice that gives me the ability to 50:16 in watch classes, be a guest teacher in those classes, but focus more on the curriculum and I'm building business. So unfortunately in our crazy coping times that we're in right now I'm not able to do as much of the building the business or promoting and expanding into new areas. It's just a difficult time, specifically for this industry to really grow. So the focus is more on the curriculum side of things. So I get to do my favorite things which are, you know, writing the stories that go into the curriculum coming up with self-defense techniques that are accessible for very young children. I'm filming some videos for our children to watch virtually for them to be played in classes and also for instructor training, and just really working on making it the best well rounded program that I can. A lot of that comes down to of course instructor training, I could teach you know the most amazing class ever but if somebody on my team is out, teaching it's not up to par, you're only as strong as your weakest link. So really focusing on what our instructor training looks like and ensuring that they have proper technique and that proper technique is getting executed in class and resulting in children having good techniques as well.
Jeremy Lesniak:
This is probably a good time to let you tell people where they might find this stuff; you know website, social media, we'll come back but good time for a commercial.
Olivia Roney:
Sure, yeah, crouchingtigers.com. Is there you can find information about our program. Right now we are working out of the Indianapolis area, Central Indiana, as a 52:06. So you can find the crouchingtigers.com, facebook.com/crouchingtigers. You can find me personally on Instagram; Tornado Roney is my name on Instagram. Do you know my that Tiger 52:21 name is Tornado.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I love it. All right. And let's talk about your goals. We've talked about the now; we've talked about then, what about going forward. You know, is Crouching Tigers is that is that your life's pursuit to grow it, and expand it as much as you can. Or maybe, are there other things are thinking about.
Olivia Roney:
That's a really great question. I think that will always be something that plays a big role in my life and in my career. I am very interested in children's books right now and so I have this meditation book that's out with your chime and trying to really expand my library here. Getting those important life lessons to children through stories are, you know, always been really my biggest passion. So if I can do that outside a martial arts program. I'm able to impact a lot more kids and as I mentioned earlier there's a group of kids that won't ever be impacted by a personalized program that they find able to put out windows really great life lessons in it that I impact on a larger group of children so I think more of those is in my future and then really expanding Crouching Tigers hopefully to new areas as well as on life to a virtual program. We have a goal. And when I say have this was like pre-covid goal, but within the next five years, we wanted to reach a million boards broken through our program. Very far from that goal right now, but really trying to work on expanding different ways that kids can break boards within our program to count towards that goal. Because as I mentioned earlier kids breaking boards is just such an awesome way to build their confidence up that is going to be useful for them and so many other areas, and just martial arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I completely agree. Oh, this has been a good talk I appreciate you coming on thanks for your time and for sharing and everything. And one last thing, what are your final words? What parting, whatever would you like to leave the listeners with?
Olivia Roney:
So I guess I'll just reiterate how important and how big of a role martial arts can be in a young child's life. And as much as it might not be as fun to watch somebody get really proficient and skills, know that as an adult with black belts on in front of them. We have this amazing ability to really make a huge impact on a young child's life.
Jeremy Lesniak:
One of the things that I enjoy about the show. Is it when we ask these very simple, straightforward questions, the way people answer them tells us so much about who they are and why they do what they do. And today, was no different. Sensei Roney clearly loves kids, but I think it's pretty obvious that so much of her passion for teaching children comes from a value she received as a child, martial arts is such a transformational experience for so many people. And of course, here we have yet another person saying the same thing, and taking it even a step further, to make sure probably the most underserved demographic of people very young children get the chance to experience the benefit of martial arts and I applaud that I wish we had more programs like this. And for those of you interested, you should probably go check out the website. At the very least, I hope we got some wheels turning and I appreciate that. So, thank you Sensei for coming on the show I appreciate your time. If you want to see more about this episode or any other episode we've done, go to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com for links and show notes and transcripts and so much more. And if you're up for supporting us and all that we do have lots of options you can make a purchase at whistlekick.com. Don't forget the code podcast 15. You can also leave a review, buy a book on Amazon or help out with the Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekicks where you want to go for that. Remember; if you see somebody out there wearing someone whistle kick on it. Say hello. And if you've got feedback, email me at jeremy@whistlekick.com. Until next time train hard smile, and have a great day.