Episode 742 - Renshi Matt Erolin

Renshi Matt Erolin is a Martial Arts Practitioner, instructor, and the founder, owner and chief instructor of Erolin 3D Martial Arts in California.

I needed to teach because, any of us who taught for any length of time know that, we don’t teach because we’re giving something away but we’re also getting something back. I’m not even talking about money but something that’s just different in our soul…

Renshi Matt Erolin - Episode 742

Renshi Matt Erolin is the founder, owner and chief instructor of Erolin 3D Martial Arts. He originally started martial arts at nine years old under the instruction of Fourth Dan (degree) Black Belt, Shihan Tony Kitson of Young Champions, and Sensei Fred Erolin (father, Tang Soo Do influence). Renshi Erolin rose through the ranks very quickly in a system that typically took students seven to eight years to achieve First Dan Black Belt. Renshi Erolin accomplished it in five-and-a-half years, achieving Second Dan Black Belt two years later. He did all of this while excelling in other activities such as baseball and music.

In this episode, Renshi Matt Erolin talks about his journey to the martial arts. Listen to learn more!

Show Notes

Know more about Renshi Matt Erolin’s school by visiting their website at Team3DMA.com or check the following social media platforms:
facebook.com
instagram.com

Show Transcript

You can read the transcript below.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You're tuned into whistlekick Martial Arts Radio episode 742. With today's guest Renshi Matt Erolin. I'm Jeremy Lesniak, I found a whistlekick because I love martial arts and I wanted to meet other martial artists and make some cool martial arts products. And that's what we did. And that's why we're here. And that's how you're listening to us right now. If you want to know all the things that we've got going on, because it's a long list, and you would get annoyed at the length of that intro, if I told you about all of them, just go to whistlekick.com and poke around, we update it constantly, we're adding new things all the time. So if you haven't been there a while, go check it out. And if you find something in the store that you want to pick up and support us, use the code PODCAST15, martial arts radio gets its very own website, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Because no one's ever accused me of naming things in a weird way. We keep it simple. 

The show comes out twice a week. And the whole reason we do this show is to connect, educate and entertain traditional martial artists worldwide, no matter what style, no matter how old, no matter what your political background, anything. Martial arts make people better. And that's why we do what we do. And that's why we invest so much of our time and energy and money into fostering the traditional martial arts. If you want to help the show, and our company, do those things, there are lots of ways you can help out, you could make a purchase, you can follow us on social media, we're @whistlekick everywhere, you could join our Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick in get in as little as two bucks a month, the more you're willing to contribute, the more we're gonna give back to you. And I know we're doing a great job with it because people very rarely stop their Patreon contributions. 

In fact, more often than someone stopping or people upping their contribution. So we're constantly looking at new ways as with everything, to make it better. And I'm proud of what we offer there, as well as everywhere. I'm proud of what we do. If you want that full list of everything that we do, from the free to the paid, and the ways that you can help us out. Go to the family page whistlekick.com/family, I had the pleasure to meet and train with and even teach today's guest back in April at our first ever all weekend. 

There are people who step into a room and very quietly shift the energy wrench. Carolyn is one of those people, I was so thankful to have him there. I learned as much working with him. As I think he learned from me, I had a great time. And I knew it was just a matter of time before we had him on the show. And here we are. And it was a great conversation. I was super excited. But I have to say it didn't go where I expected it to. You'll see what I mean shortly. So how are things?

Matt Erolin:

Oh, you know what things are? Well, life is good. Life is good. Obviously not without peaks and valleys. When my daughter, I have three I have three kids, my wife and I have three kids and our eldest is nine and a half our daughter is five and a half. And then our sorry, our Yeah, our eldest is nine, and then our five and a half year old daughter, and then our two and a half year old son. And a busy family. Well, this was about two weeks ago when my daughter had special needs and so she had to undergo a hip surgery. And yeah, and she did a full body cast. Yeah, full body cast for six weeks

Jeremy Lesniak:

Oh, man, I can't get a kid to that age to sit still under normal circumstances. I must be vibrating with frustration. 

Matt Erolin:

Well, what's interesting is actually because of her syndrome, that she's diagnosed with the rare chromosomal abnormality called Pallister Killian mosaic syndrome, PKS for short. And so with that she's at this age nonverbal and non mobile so she doesn't crawl she doesn't walk around. But what she would do is crazy. So what she was doing was popping her hips out of socket is what would happen. They usually easily slip out. She would laugh about it right so she can make certain sounds. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Such a kid thing. Consequences be damned. My body does this weird thing. I'm gonna do it.

Matt Erolin:

Yeah, totally. Right. And we're like, you know, my wife and I are like, Oh my gosh, right. And so like, here we are with an orthopedic surgeon during one of her appointments and we can he's like, Yep, I can I can pop it back in. I'm shifting it, and then it just seems to be coming out. And we're watching him do this. 

And we're like, oh my goodness. And she just likes giggling and laughing and we're like, okay, whatever, you know. But, you know, now since the surgery, it's been two weeks that she's been in that body cast, we've got, we've got our flow, mom and I, and as well as she, she's more comfortable with the cast. And, so she has, hopefully only four more weeks left in that cast. And then, and then hopefully she'll be out of that which unfolds at that point. 

Okay, transitioning out of the cast, it's gonna feel a little bit painful. So we don't know what that looks like. But then after that, we need to do the right hip, too. So, we're like, so life's good. Things are busy. Things are crazy. Like I said, not without ups and downs. But all in all, we counted all the joy.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And I'm curious, more, one of the things I like to say, as martial artists, you know, we have a more diverse toolbox to pull from when life throws things our way. Do you have anything in the toolbox for this?

Matt Erolin:

Well, yes. I'm a firm believer that God puts, and I'm a person of faith, right. So whether someone believes in God or not, is irrelevant, in this particular context, but I believe that people come into your life for a reason, a season and a lifetime. It's not by happenstance that, you know, we got connected up and whatnot, and in my opinion, and so a handful of years ago, it's not like I grew up with, you know, a brother or sister that had special needs or anything like that. However, you know, of course, I was aware of children and people with certain challenges. 

But when we started undergoing our situation, because we had no clue, no clue whatsoever that our daughter had any kind of challenge whatsoever. And it was a wild ride. I mean, we just thought we were having a premature baby. She was born at 35 weeks. So even then 35 weeks, it wasn't that early on. But then we just went through this, this craziness and 2016 when she was born, and and was in, she was in pretty much the hospital, which she was in, which is 70 miles one way away from where we live.

And so this when she was born, it was during the flu season. So her older brother was asking us questions on why he couldn't go see and meet his baby sister while she was in the hospital for eight weeks. And that's because during the flu season, right, they don't allow anybody under 12. In the NICU is where she was for a period of time. So, craziness, but I share all that. Because as we were going through our situation, as we still continue to go through a situation, there's just just this overwhelming sense of just peace and understanding, like, hey, this is what we do this, we just go through this, you make lemonade out of lemons. And then and I think, not only why we're able to do that, because of our personal faith, but also because a handful of years before that, one of our very best friends. He's a mentor of mine. And so he's 20 years older than me, but he went through a double lung transplant. 

Yeah, so he grew up with cystic fibrosis. And he grew up and because he's 20 years older than me, he's in his mid 50s. And so, at the time he was growing up, he was in and out of the hospital, a cold would turn into pneumonia, like that. Matter of fact, doctors would tell his mom, hey, don't get used to the kid. I mean, it's pretty cutthroat pretty hardcore. They wouldn't even call him by his name. It was harsh, and so this was a time when, you know, children who have cystic fibrosis typically wouldn't live past their 30s. 

But what was interesting was that he met somebody, a mentor, and he and the guy were in his 50s. And he and my friend, his name's Aaron, asked him, What did you do to have a long successful life? And so basically, he was given a playbook, a game plan. Anyhow, just through circumstances, events and the mortgage meltdown crisis back in 2010, or sorry, 2007-2008. He basically worked himself down. He didn't follow that game plan and then that's what caused him to get really ill and the longest just deteriorate. And so, but going through that double lung transplant, I saw, I watched him, I watched his wife go through that. And just their grit, their tenacity, their perseverance through that. And that was a real life example for me of how it is to push through and persevere. 

And so for me personally, and my wife as we were going through our situation, and we were like, okay, we have no reason to complain and cry, and why whine and say, God, why is this happening to me? Oh, woe is me. You know, we had no excuse to sit in, in our opinion, to sit in the corner. And in the fetal position and wet all over ourselves, you know. We said, you know, this is what we're going to do, because what was interesting enough, is, while we're at, you know, a well known Children's Hospital here in the Los Angeles area, while we were there, in the midst of our challenge in our struggle, we were always put around, God always put her us around other people, other parents, other children's that had it way worse than us. 

We had asked them like, hey, how long have you guys been here? We've been here for eight weeks. They're like, we've been here for eight months. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. So I mean, is there a playbook? But I guess, you know, going through martial arts and just understanding that, hey, you know what, you go into, like a sparring match with a game plan. But that game plan quickly changes.

Jeremy Lesniak:

What I'm hearing and the most concrete example for me, of this has nothing to do with martial arts. It's in running and the four minute mile. When Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile, everybody said, nobody can do this. And then he did it. And then all these other people did it. Because now they knew it was possible. And so you talk about the struggle of eight weeks. But you see that there are people who have been able to walk this path for eight months. That when we go to our black belt test, or competition, or whatever the difficult thing is, because we know other people have gone before us. It is possible. And if we know it's possible, and we believe in ourselves enough, we can do it. 

Matt Erolin:

Absolutely. I heard this quote a while back, and it just resonated with me. Maybe it's just my personality, or I don't know what it is, but maybe a combination of everything. But the quote is too tough for you. It's just right for me. Like, again, it's just this, like, this, this this. This is just this grit, right. This just just tenacity, this fire that's inside you that just says like, all right, like I can weather the storm. I'm gonna push through, right? Like, I don't know, for whatever that's worth.

Jeremy Lesniak:

What's the cliche cliche it gets from a poem or something that doesn't make for skilled sailors.

Matt Erolin:

In something similar, I once heard how tough times create strong people, strong people create Good times. Good times, create weak people, weak people create tough times.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I was just talking about this with somebody. Like in the last week? It's a cycle that I think we're probably all doomed to participate in. But it's so powerful. Oh, absolutely. Isn't it like, you know, we think about it in the context of martial arts. 

And there are if you've been part of a school, and it's probably easier to see as a participant than an instructor, but maybe not. But I think about periods of time that I watched in various schools when I was a student, and it's not always the same intensity. 

So there are ups and downs. And you see the students that join during the really difficult times. And you see the students that join during the easier times

Jeremy Lesniak:

And they're not the same student. 

Matt Erolin:

Right. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

You have a school, right? 

Matt Erolin:

Yes. Yeah. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

How did you go to school when your daughter was born? How did you manage those two things?

Matt Erolin:

I don't even know to be honest. Because, you know, so I have a school. My wife and I also own an online company, where we deal with basic commodities and multiple different areas, anyhow. And then I also worked a day job at that time, and my wife also worked full time. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

I'm laughing from both the recognition of the insanity as well as the understanding.

Matt Erolin:

I mean, and then, of course, we're already parents, right? So we had an our eldest, she was three and a half at the time. All in all, I honestly don't know how we did it. But somehow, somehow we did right. Now granted me with my school, like, I'm not a six day a week type of school. At the time, I didn't have nearly as many students as I have now. But I think if, I mean, regardless, you know, I just think that when you're, when you have, as I alluded to earlier, when you have the mindset of like, okay, I'm gonna do whatever it takes, and I'm confident in my ability to handle whatever it takes, then it increases your capacity. Right? 

You know, that's been always said before that, hey, you know what, grow your confidence and your confidence will increase your capacity. And so, I remember when I was working, I think one of the things that helped, like, as far as structurally, was where I worked for my day job, I had to be in by like, 6am. So and then luckily, you know, living in the great state of California, you have certain abilities to, you know, take time off, whatever. And so that's really what happened, I really leveraged, you just started to figure out where you can leverage, like, whether it's, paid time off, or FMLA, right, family medical leave of absence, all that kind of stuff. And luckily, with all the other irons in the fire, other streams of income, I was able to, you know, say okay, that's fine. 

You know, we're gonna, my wife and I, we're good with budgeting and being financially, being good with our money. So I was able to basically say, okay, yeah, we're going to take those, you know, three weeks off, I'm gonna take the three weeks off here, non paid or whatever, right. So, as far as structurally concerned, like, we were able to just navigate that way. But all in all, like, how do I keep consistent with teaching? I think for me, personally, because it could have been very easy for me to say, alright, guys, we're gonna, I'm not going to be here for a while. And because I'm the sole instructor, the main instructor at that time, we're just not going to have classes for a while. I could have easily said that, and no one would have faulted me for that, obviously. But I personally was not going to do that. 

That wasn't even an option on the table. Because, for me, one, I needed it for my own personal sanity. I needed to teach because, you know, any of us that have taught for any length of time, we know that, hey, we don't, we don't teach. I mean, yes, we're giving something away, but we're also getting something back. I'm not talking about monetary value, monetary gain. I'm talking about something that is just different in our soul, right? For those of us that love to teach that enjoy teaching, when we see that new student and they light up when they finally get a technique that they've been struggling on. Or, you know, a concept finally clicks for them, then that right there is what seeds are soul as seeds are spirit, at least for me personally. So I needed a sense of normalcy. 

During that time, I needed to take my eyes off myself and put on other people. So it was a little bit of a, quote unquote, selfish reason why I continued to teach and out, but that was purely for my own spirit and soul. I found myself because martial arts is a way of rejuvenating me even though it's something that you're very active in right now. I found that my wife and I were inspiring and actually trying to encourage my extended family members that were coming to us with worry about our situation. It's kind of funny, like, we're in our situation, but they're like, all and as you know, I'm half Korean-half Filipino. 

So my Korean style was coming up. All met you at you're all like, are you okay? Are you okay? I'm like, Yeah, we're fine. Are you okay? I was like, we're gonna be good. We're gonna be good. Like, it's good. Like, you're all we're all good.

Jeremy Lesniak:

That's funny. If I had a time machine, I could go back and talk to your students from that time. What would they say about how you were and how classes were? During those first few months, where you're splitting time at the hospital, and, you know, trying to figure it all out.

Matt Erolin:

Some of the some of the students might be many of the students that were missed with me at that time are still with me today. And I think one of the things they had they would say, is that one my instructor truly cares, right? Obviously, they call me Sensei, Matt. So they're like us in that they really care. Sensei is loyal. Sensei is committed. Sensei is intense.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Really more intense during that time.

Matt Erolin:

I wouldn't say I was more intense at that time. I think it's just an example of going through that. I would say they would, they would say that I was intense. Not that I'm intense with them, but just the sheer fact of like, going through that and then staying in it. Yeah, I think I think they would say that like, because that'd mean that it was a pretty big situation. And it's a pretty big situation to kind of go through. You know, you gotta be you gotta you gotta be crazy. Intense to just keep that guy. Especially when you in a way don't have to?

Jeremy Lesniak:

Does your wife train or did she?

Matt Erolin:

I laugh at that, because I think she did like, maybe a three month city league course. Right? And then she was like, yeah, no, this is not enough for me. And then I remember one time, I think this was before our first eldest was born. And I was just like, hey, look, look, there's times where you don't need to take a class, but I just need to show you some things. You need to know some things just in case. And so, you know, I had a little home gym and one of our bedrooms at that time. So it's like, Hey, let's go ahead and just work on some things, right? Some self defense techniques and some scenarios. And it got because I'm very much of a. I like to teach the real world as much as sport martial arts, right? Traditionally, I like to hybrid three concepts, right? We would do some self defense scenarios, you know, like a typical, like, hey, what happens if you get pinned against the wall, right? 

So you know, someone's choking you. So here I am, I'm intense. And, she was like, I can't do this.. This is not, this is a little too real. Right? When you think about it, her husband is pinning her against the wall, trying to quote unquote, show her some martial arts techniques. It can lead to other situations real fast. And so at that point, now, I've since gotten better, right? Since then I've gotten better with that. And we just were on two different wavelengths when it comes to training. And like, I'm the kind of guy that likes, Okay, I need to break a sweat, I need to like, I need to be intense, work hard and all that kind of stuff. She's like, I just want to go look at flowers. You know? 

And it's a funny dynamic that we have. It's great. And, we're highschool sweethearts. And so we've been together for 20 years now as of this point. And, but we've been married for 12 and so anyhow, but no, she doesn't train although She does know some things based on what she's seen me teaching class or what she's seen me work on and things like that. So yeah, she doesn't know karate, but she knows it's crazy.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I love it. How did you get started? You must have been someone like me, you just almost from the beginning?

Matt Erolin:

Yeah, well, so I got inspired with martial arts at seven years old. And I say inspired because I saw my father doing it. And he trained in punk pseudo, specifically. So I remember seeing him do that for the first time and I'm like, oh, dad, I want to do it. And he said, no, you're not ready. What do you mean? I'm not ready, right? Seven years old, right? No, I want to do it looks cool. Right? I assume that stuff that I said, and he's like, no, you're not ready. And so he made me wait for two years. And then I started my martial arts journey. I like nine and a half. But during that time block, he was training. And so he would go to the studio. And I would go with him. And I would sit there and I'd watch their classes. 

And watch him do something, I watched the instructor teach something. And then at the facility, the in the bathroom, they had a full length mirror. So I remember seeing a technique, and then as best I could, and then what I do is I go into the bathroom. And as best I could try looking in the mirror, duplicate that same technique. I mean, usually at you know, seven years old, you don't really remember too much. But for some reason, I remember that. And so finally at nine and a half, dad, you know, mom's dad can do martial arts. And he's like, all right, yes, you're Yeah, we'll go ahead and get your martial art. 

And I just started in the rec program, but not which, you know, my instructor had multiple black belts, one of which was in judo, but you know, kind of out there as well, I don't know what style or anything like that. He trained in Japan, of course, with the judo practitioners and all that kind of good stuff. But it was just, that was me. And that was it for me. Like, once I got in that first class, I'm like, Cool. 

My brother started with me. One of my best friends at that time started with me. But again, they started for different reasons. Mine was deeper. Because, yes, there's something fun for me to do. But I saw it as a way for me to also connect with my father. And so that's why I can play three to three different instruments. I had a band growing up. So that's also why I do music is because it was a way for me to connect with my father. Music and martial arts are my big things.

Jeremy Lesniak:

We'll come back to the music. Have you had a conversation with your father at any point about why he made you wait? Yeah.

Matt Erolin:

And he honestly doesn't remember. I think he said, I don't know, I just had it in my gut feeling is what he said. It was just something in my gut feeling. Which is interesting, because fast forward, my parents aren't together. And, you know, they're divorced. And my dad has since remarried. And, he has two young kids. And so I have siblings, and one of my kids siblings, I believe he's like, five and a half. Yeah, as of right now, we're about five and a half, almost six. Now that I think about it. He's almost six. 

And so I asked my father, like, and actually my dad's wife, right misstep on this is, talking to me when did you get your son started, right. When did I get my son started? And, just trying to get a gauge there. You know, I'm asking my dad, like, you know, when are you going to put Max, my kid brother when you're gonna put him in, in martial arts when he is getting started? Like, I'll show him something just not yet. Not yet. I don't know. Not yet. It just doesn't feel right. So I would assume based off of that experience, that that is similar to how he was with me. Is he still training? Your father? Well, not that I'm aware of. I mean, my stepmom will say that he probably throws his kicks here and there to walk around. They live in Oklahoma. And so I'm told that there's been times when I have been walking around the house and am in uniform. I'm like any dad.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Regardless of martial arts, right. We can all picture a day like putting on whatever the thing was from a while ago, you know, could have been like a retired police officer, firefighter, I just want to see if it still fits.

Matt Erolin:

No, absolutely. Oh, my goodness, yes. There was a period of time where I wasn't regularly training or active. And when you're 18-19 years old, everything until you think you're like, the fittest ever like that, you can eat cake and drink soda. And just shout out a whole bunch of burgers and fries loaded up. And you think that, you know, though it doesn't catch up to you. So, I remember being in probably, definitely early 20s, I think I was like 21-22, or 2021. And being at the heaviest I was ever, and trying to put on my uniform and my belt, and I was like, this is getting a little shorter.

Jeremy Lesniak:

When did my belt shrink?

Matt Erolin:

Exactly? Why did my belt shrink? Why did my uniform shrink? What is going on? And then? I said, yeah, no, this is not happening. And so there's a few things that led to inspiring me and motivating me to get back on track with my health. So that way, I can live a long, long, long life, you know.

Jeremy Lesniak:

The two most important questions that come up on the show are why did you start? And why have you continued? We talked about why you started. Why have you continued?

Matt Erolin:

I'm very much a lead by example type of person. And so I like my eldest, his name is Matthew as well. I continue to train because I'm a sensei. Because as we know, the word sensei means the one who has gone before. And because I'm a lead by example type of person, I am going to, if I expect my students to be active and train and practice, then I need a model that people, kids, adults, people, they don't hear what you say they watch what you do. And I don't want to be one of those instructors that say, “oh, back in the day, when I used to regularly train or back in the day, when I used to compete or anything like that, I get inspired by those that have gone before me, those that are older than me better continuing to train or just do what they do”. And maybe the training schedule doesn't look as rigorous as when they were younger. 

I was gonna say my mind doesn't look as rigorous. But that's not entirely true. I find myself that the older I get the more focused. Sorry, let me rephrase. The more mature I get in my martial arts journey, the more focused my training is. When I was younger, I didn't practice all too often because I let myself just kind of ride on talent. Because I was, you know, I'm like, “Oh, I got some natural skill in this”. 

And so I was always one of the top students in my class. So I'm like, Oh, cool. And then you of course, you get around as you know, being an adult blackbelt going to competitions, you realize everyone is just as good as you if not better. And so you're like you have this, like, you're eating a little bit of humble pie, you're realizing, oh, I gotta step up my game. And so again, I know this is a long answer to, you know, what's a good question actually. And so, I just know that seeing my son practice martial arts, which my wife and I never made him do. We were just going to expose it to him. And, if he wanted to grab a hold of it, fantastic, but we were going to support him in whatever sport or activity he wanted to do. 

And so martial arts has been a big one for him. And our youngest one Lucas, who's two and a half will I constantly come into class. And, he'll try to do some of the techniques. And I mean, he knows his front kick, I tell him punches, so those punches, I tell him, you know, show me your sidekick, right turn sideways body sideways, and he turns his body sideways, gets his leg up sideways, I'm like, This is really good for motor, his motor skills, and anyhow, but it's one of those situations again, like with our elders that we're not, we're not forcing him to do it, we're just exposing it to him. 

And, for that reason, especially if they're going to take hold of it, then I want to model what it looks like to work hard for what you want. And it's just that mindset of doing things even when you don't feel like doing it. There are days where I don't feel like training, like for my own personal self. There are days where I know, but there are days where you don't feel like doing the responsibilities of an adult. But we do, right, but we do it anyhow. Most of them, right. It's that phrase, right? Oh, I'm an adult today. I'm adulting. So it's just a way to inspire and motivate other people. It's just the best way that I know.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You've talked about a couple of mentors. That was the word you use folks who you looked up to? And what they've done for you, who do you look to look up to in the martial arts? 

Matt Erolin:

Oh, man. You know, one that has always come to mind. One that does come to mind are Jackie Chan and Jet Lake, right? You know, your big ones, of course. And this is why because I mean, like, it's for the way as far as the movies are concerned, the way they would do their martial arts in the movies. I just love the way they move. I mean, I was the kind of guy, let alone an adult, that during fight scenes in movies, I would actually, if I had the opportunity to pause and rewind and watch over again, I would do that. Because I was studying their movements and studying the way they moved. 

And just taking it from them and seeing okay, how can I incorporate that into my own martial arts style? My own self. But I love it. I've heard so many stories and chatted with people who have worked with people like Jackie Chan. Were there. Some of them were kind hearted, gracious, energetic, and attracted people. You've seen, like, gently in his movies, at least in the earlier days, he was always this kind of like, I looked at him as like the intense martial artist compared to Jackie Chan - which Jackie Chan, still intense, but just amazing with the scale and would just… But, there's a comedic aspect. And you know, and he got hit too. So I liked the realism behind that. But with Jet Li, intense in his movies, and then in the interviews. nicest guy ever. I'm like, that's cool. 

And then Donnie Yen is another one. I'm like, super cool. I don't know if maybe it's just because the man movies but I just always would see him be this stoic fighter. This emotionless right. He just had, like this peace and confidence about him. Now, whether that's just Hollywood, or that is who he is. You know, I guess it's irrelevant. I just, that was something that was really cool for me. I'm trying to think of other martial artists right now. But those are the three that come off the top of my head.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Those are three big names. Yeah, and people that I personally enjoy and look up to in various ways, Jackie Chan. I grew up in Maine. So friends, we would go to opening night, you know, Rumble in the Bronx. Yeah, and nobody else was there. So we are all over the place in the theater, jumping around and acting it out as it's coming up on the screen. And then, as I get older, gently and understanding the importance of his personal philosophy and spirituality, and how that made an impact on not only who he was, but his views on martial arts. 

And then Donnie Yen. In a sense, I don't want to overstate this, but I feel like I know him a little bit because I've been able to spend some time with his family and just get to know him through other people. And realizing that he, his upbringing, wasn't that far off from what so many of us had. He just took it, ran with it, and had a good roll of the dice. Wow, not to you know, understate his work ethic for sure. Right.

Matt Erolin:

So good choices. Another one that comes to mind is Superfoot the lawless because I love the fact that he's still active. I love, just for me, a humble spirit. And of course, you're familiar with. Yes, Mr. Hall has obviously.And, just in a general sense, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him just yet. But maybe someday, I will be able to, but just in the interviews I've seen in seminars, I've seen him, you know, teach or whatever. Just energetic, humble spirit.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And that's who he is. So cool. And, you know, I've only known him for six years. But when I talk to people, he hasn't really changed that much. Right. He's still built. And I don't call him by his first name in that way to disrespect him, you know, when I'm with him, and when it's appropriate, you know, titles, and all that. Absolutely. But if you know him, anybody who knows him knows exactly what it means, when I say, spill. 

The beans, as you were, as I asked you the question, and you were answering my question, I was thinking about it myself. And his name was the first one that I would, I would put on the list, because not of what he's accomplished, as remarkably impressive as it is, but who he has remained, being who he is, how he shows up, the fact that he still continues to do what he does, and inspire, and share. And something that a lot of people don't realize is the efforts that he goes through to continue to improve and to make himself and what he teaches better.

Matt Erolin:

If that's so awesome, in his seven hours. Yeah. I love that. That's awesome. And it's something that I think we can all aspire to.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Absolutely. Now, you mentioned earlier, and I know from the name of your school, that you value tradition, you value sport, you value real world applicability of martial arts, hence the name of your school. Has it always been that way?

Matt Erolin:

As long as I've had my school, yes. Growing up I think I was in a very sport mindset. You know, like, Alright, I'm gonna do this kick to score a point. Okay, I'm gonna do this punch to score points. You know, I practiced with some friends that had maybe a little bit of martial arts background, and it was like, boom, I scored a point. I win. Right? And I'm a very competitive person. I mean, even when I'm driving on the freeway here in California, people don't know I'm racing them. Right. 

Hey, you know what secret ways are secret races and I'm winning. But, I mean I grew up playing baseball, as well as doing martial arts. And yeah, but I remember having already been a second by this point, and having a little bit of self reflection, just really like asking myself, I was, I think in my late teens by this point, like, yeah, 18-19 years. or something like that, and ask myself, could I really defend myself and the wolves that I loved? And I did not like the fact that I was even questioning myself on that. And I did not like the answer that I was giving myself. I was like, I don't know if someone likes, if someone big and bad, or just, if someone came at me, like, I don't know if I could really protect myself and my family. 

And so that caused me to do that. And that that really motivated me to change the way I teach, to where I'm not teaching, serving a phrase that challenged me to change the way I execute my martial arts. So I started putting better, more context in something, you know, like, if I'm in a class and the instructor says, Alright, you know, execute, execute a roundhouse kick. Then now, when I'm throwing a high roundhouse kick, I'm thinking to myself, okay, I'm gonna throw this high roundhouse kick, because I'm working on the showmanship of it. Yes, I'm kicking the head, but I'm also really working on how it looks in a form, if I'm throwing a body level roundhouse kick. 

Okay, now I'm working on the sparring application in a controlled setting. But if I'm throwing a low roundhouse kick, okay, now I'm attacking the legs, I'm chopping down the tree, so to speak. Now, this is in a real world self defense application. Same with the psychic and all that kind of different stuff, right? So now, because I start, when I started putting it in that context, that helps me start to really communicate context to my students, so that they don't ever feel like that to say that it's not going to happen, but at least I set them up for a better chance of not feeling inadequate about their own martial arts skills and abilities. Especially if they're at a high rank, like black belts. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah, a lot of schools. I guess I'll say struggle, because the instructor has a mindset that is one or maybe two of those three angles. And if a student doesn't quite resonate with that, they often go elsewhere, you know, they come in if they're really focused on competition. And the schools maybe don't even discourage competition, but they're just like, that's cool. Have fun. doesn't click, do you think that you build better relationships with your students or have better retention or anything from having that more well rounded? 

Matt Erolin:

I think so. I mean, my students have been, obviously, you have students that come and go, right, as you know, but as far as retention with my students, I mean, I have some students that have been with me since 2013-2014. You know, they've been with me a long time. Yeah, absolutely. And, even the ones that are no longer with me. They, I'm sure they've honed in on and remembered some of the lessons that I've given them. But now, I'm forgetting the actual question.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Or the question was around retention. Because the way you thoughtfully talked about it, I suspect that if I was to hang out and train with you guys for a few months, I would see it in your curriculum. Oh, and we have a lot of school owners who pay attention to the show. And I'm wondering if for some of them embracing the water to have this trichotomy that they don't put time into would be better not only for them, but for their students.

Matt Erolin:

Sure, no, absolutely. You know, I think if you give people the whole picture, and you give it in like bite sized pieces, then it helps them appreciate what they're doing. So, again, like I'm just going to continue to use the psychic example right. As we know, any high level practitioner knows that the higher you bring a kick, the more vulnerable you are. And so but that is common sense to us now. But for a new student, a white belt, you know, the beginning ranks. That's not common sense. Those are epiphanies. And so I think oftentimes, when we are training in martial arts, like, especially for those of us that have done it for a long time, like, these are the things that are common sense to us, we forget that they were once epiphanies. And so we can't assume that. Our students know too, that even though they would throw a body sidekick, incompetent competition, or even just training in the dojo, we can't assume that they know self defense, kick low. At least that's how I teach things. 

On the rare occasion, May, you might kick higher but and I think part of it is because I think I think part of the reason why schools in general maybe have a hard time transitioning that methodology or that knowledge is because maybe they're so focused on the next tournament, and I'm a fan of tournaments. I'm a fan of competing, we compete. But we know that there are tournaments, practically every weekend. And we're not a school that participates in tournaments every weekend. 

We don't even do tournaments every month, we pick a handful, I pick a handful of tournaments. And I usually pick the tournaments that I have rapport with the promoter, you know, and, and they are, there's a good connection. In other words, I pick the tournaments that I feel like stand behind the promoter. Right? And yeah, but that's another topic. And so I am a proponent of training students for competition. But if we only teach them with a competition mindset, and not a self defense, application of self defense mindset, then we're doing a disservice to our students.

 Now, the benefit of them doing competition, of course, is it builds confidence. It builds teamwork, right? Even though martial arts, the individual sport, we all do it together. We're there as competition, we're enjoying each other's company, and we're getting to know each other more. That's a cool dynamic that happens. But just because a student is good at competition doesn't mean he's good at defending himself. So then on the flip side, though, there are other schools that's solely trained for self defense. 

And while that's great, if you remove the competition aspect from it, then I think we steal away that desire for us to win at something everybody wants to win at something, you know, and everybody wants to win at something. So if you don't allow students to even just have friendly, healthy controlled competition, then and you're only trained for self defense real world, that I think not only are you stealing that away, but you're also I think you're also taking out the peace aspect. That comes from martial arts.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah, yeah. The more you're talking about, the more I'm seeing the overlap, the synergy between them. For example, I've heard myself say a number of times, there's no better way to condition performance under pressure than competition. Right. And if you want to be able to perform under pressure, in a self defense situation, it's not a bad element to have worked with him. Because you're probably not going to get injured. It's hard to go intensely enough with friends that you've trained with for years, such that you are afraid in a safe way, right. Like it's when you step out in front of a bunch of strangers. Most of us feel a little bit of a butterfly sensation.

Matt Erolin:

I just competed in a tournament a couple of weeks ago. And I still compete. And that was one where, man, my heartbeats still, you know, still matters, right? I'm like, Man, when's this gonna end? Like, probably never existed. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

You care because you care about the outcome. absolutely want to put in your best effort and you recognize that it's up to you to put in your best effort.

Matt Erolin:

And you know what, honestly, like, so now, I mean, I enjoy that pitter patter. Even though I don't enjoy it, I do enjoy it right. I fell in love with hate really, really understand. Yeah, I do. Because when your heartbeat is doing that, first off, it's not nervousness. It's adrenaline that's pumped through your body. Right? A lot of people think, oh, I'm nervous. No, that's your mind. That's a mind line too, you know. 

But that feel, lets me know, I'm growing. I'm moving forward, I'm changing, right? Because everything happens, as growth happens outside of your comfort zone. If you're not feeling that pitter patter, you're in your comfort zone. And so you're gonna stay stagnant because we're never right. We're never staying status quo. You're either moving forward or you're regressing. You're going backwards in life. Simple as that.

Jeremy Lesniak:

So what's coming next? What's going on for you and your training and your school and everything over the next few years?

Matt Erolin:

Yeah, so in the recent years, the last couple of years. So, you know, I grew up doing this even though my students call me Sensei, and we do a lot of things like, Japanese will not speak English in class. We like we don't count in Japanese or anything like that. But like, my background is taekwondo. And, so I know a lot of the… 

Jeremy Lesniak:

One of those taekwondo stylists with Japanese terminology.

Matt Erolin:

Yeah. Right. And then within that, but what's funny is, I remember when I would take a taekwondo class being a taekwondo class, because, you know, my dad has a punk subtle background. So really, what that is, is that's just Korean. So I remember being in that taekwondo class, which was WT style, right. Taekwondo Federation style. And I remember the way I would do my forms, like boom, says, you know, it was, it was not to taekwondo standards, as they would call it, it was to cut off. And I'm like, okay, whatever. But so once I broke away from any kind of real Federation, like that, I mean, I am part of a federation now the United States Football Federation. 

And which is great. But I just was as I was growing up, okay, my kicks are like taekwondo base. And I love doing Taekwondo forms, with like, this karate element to it, where, you know, a little more intense and structured, but then I lately over the past couple of years, have been picking up more Japanese forms. And I just love to pivot like at a tournament. I'll do it if they have a Korean division and a Japanese division, I'll do both of those, I'll still do open forms for creative forms. I'm not, I'm not one of those triggers. I'm not going to do the extreme forms. I wish I had gotten into that earlier on in my journey. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

You could still do it. I've seen you, you could do it.

Matt Erolin:

My mind… While my heart says yes. My mind says, I don't know, you have a lot of responsibilities. And then I still like to spar and still like to fight when it comes to competition. Every now and then. I will do it in class as my students have sparred with them. And I like sparring them because it helps them grow. I like to challenge them. And I know that for certain students. I know they have a fear of sparring. And so I know my intent. And I know where I know my students. 

So I know how far I can push them without overwhelming them. But anyhow, now I'm just kind of going on a tangent, but to get back to your question of like, what's next? What am I doing? In addition to training still, I'm not really going to compete too much. I kind of take a little bit of a pause while competing, maybe one here and there. But I had done a lot of tournaments last year, because so many of them due to COVID were available virtually as well as in person, my son and I both did like 18 to 20 tournaments last year, which is a lot for us compared to doing like, two to three, typically. So it was a lot. 

I found myself, it was a fun experience. It was really cool. I enjoyed it and won some awards, that was great. And, but I found myself getting too lost in the results. You know, and so I'm like, Okay, I'm just gonna pull off from that for a little bit. And kind of go back to compete, like, when I compete, it's just gonna, because it's just going to be because it sounds fun. Right? I'm not going to the Olympics. 

So I don't need to go all crazy. I just need to set a good example of what it looks like to win humbly, as well as what it looks like to lose, humbly. And respectfully. And, as far as what's going on, in terms of training, I'm actually pivoting a little bit. And I'm training for a triathlon. Cool. So yeah, my first one. And because I'm crazy, I don't know.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Even if people have reasons for that.

Matt Erolin:

Yeah, yeah, no, honestly, it's because what actually started was I had alluded to earlier my three areas that I find I get rest and rejuvenation from. My fear, my spirit gets refueled is martial arts, music, and running. I take it I had taken a run over my adulthood. I'll be honest, this is, I'll be honest, when I was a kid, I would look at those that would run and I'd be like, you're running for fun, you're weird. And I just didn't relate. And that was part of my immaturity at that time. And then, you know, my health when I mentioned earlier, but my health journey began on this health journey, I started to run not because I liked it, but because I wanted the results that came from it. Because I knew that, hey, I would slim down. 

I would get at a more ideal fitness level for me personally. And so then I started to run there, well, then it became one of those things where I got that natural high, the endorphins kick in. And that's where I just found I could clear my head. And so I would now consider myself a runner, you know, but you don't say the J word around me, the J word jogging. You go for a jog? Don't say that? No, it's a run and any runner anybody that listens to this that also runs knows what I'm talking about with that distinction between runner and jogger. But recently, I bought a road bike, and had a mountain bike. I have a mountain bike and some that I'll ride with my son and whatnot. And I just wanted a road bike. I just wanted to get little, little low, a little aerodynamic and go fast, right? 

Like, like in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, I want to go fast. I want to go fast. So good, so good. So I bought a road bike, and they just kind of got me thinking, I'm like, you know, I could probably do a dual Athlon for your run and bike. And then I was just kind of looking that up and I'm like, You know what? I can swim. I'm not fast. I'm not a very strong swimmer, in my opinion. But hey, I can do that. Yeah, let me and then what really got me going was I got some promo email about a discount for a triathlon. And I'm like, oh, you're speaking to an Asian here. Fantastic. Let's go. Let's do it. So I started talking to my wife about it. And, and she goes, Why do you want to do that? And why do you want to do a triathlon? She goes, that doesn't sound fun at all. I'm like, “Yes, it does”. And she's like, “No, it doesn't”. I like it. She's like, “to me it doesn't”. I'm like, “okay, why do you want to do it?” And I'm like, “because I can”. That's really what it comes down to. 

And, I just want to know that I can't because it's something I've never done before. In 2015, I ran my first half marathon. And the reason why I did that was because I wanted to challenge myself in something that's different. And, I also gave myself at that time, I gave myself a time based off per mile. I said, okay, I'm gonna run a sub 145, right, run my half marathon in under an hour and 45 minutes. And I think my time, my first one, I was at an hour and 42 minutes, and some seconds or whatever. And so for this, there's obviously different distances with a triathlon, and I'm choosing to go with what's called a sprint. 

So it can be a swim, and in a lake, I believe. And then, you know, it's, I think, 300 meters. So I think that's what that is. So look at the distance again, and then basically a seven and a half mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run. And I'm like, all right, my goal? Yes, I want to finish, which is why I'm not going with some crazy distance, right? Someone's asking me, are you gonna do like Ironman? I'm like, I'm not going that distance. I think the swim alone is like 2.4 miles. And running is a full marathon and then biking, like 70 miles or something like that. It's crazy. It's insane. Yeah. And I'm like, and I don't have the training time for that. I'm mindful of that, which is one of the reasons why I didn't choose a longer distance. 

So I'm realistic about how much time I have to train. So not only do I want to finish, because that pivot from going that transition from going from bike right to running. I found out they call that the brick. And the reason why is because your legs feel like bricks, and they feel like they feel jello, you feel like you're going nowhere. It's a hard transition for the first couple of miles. And, and it said, You need about a mile and a half to two miles before things start to feel normal. When you're going and I'm like, “Okay, wow”. 

But I do have a time goal set based on it like I'm giving myself. I'm going to try and I'm gonna do my best to get this in under 70 minutes, probably 65 is what I'm going for. We'll see how it goes. It all really depends on how it really depends on my swim, and, whatnot. But that's my goal. So that happened. Yeah, that'll happen at the beginning of October.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I love it. I love the perpetual attitude of pushing yourself to do something new. You know, it's not martial arts, but it's still white belt mentality. Yeah, I really applaud that. 

Matt Erolin:

Absolutely. Thank you.

Jeremy Lesniak:

If people want to get a hold of you, they want to learn more about your school or your email, social media, websites, anything you're willing to share.

Matt Erolin:

Yeah, website. So my school is Erolin 3d martial arts right to 3d stands for: determined, dedicated and disciplined. And so they can visit Team3DMA.com. If they want to check out the website, social media on Facebook, It's Team 3dma, but on Instagram, it's @erolin3dma. So spelled as erolin, obviously, I train people, mostly here in Southern California. But I do have a student that I trained in Alaska as well as Texas pool and, and one that I every now and then will train that lives actually in the Connecticut area.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah, such a fun challenge, I'm sure. 

Matt Erolin:

Oh, yeah. You know it. Absolutely. But, you know, that's the beauty of technology. Right, you know, Zoom and things like that. You can, it has brought a global world as a world at your fingertips.

Jeremy Lesniak:

The world's gotten a lot smaller. Yeah, totally. What last words you want to leave the audience with.

Matt Erolin:

Well, At a certain point in time, you're gonna feel maybe you run down in your martial arts journey, you're gonna question like, alright, do I want to continue? And I just remember hearing this quote, that said, it's never too late to start. It's always too soon to quit. I've shared it with my students many times. I've done multiple, you know, activities and whatnot, but martial arts is the one sport or activity where those that practice it, or glad that they do. Those that used to practice it, wish they had continued, or they pull, they wish they continue to, therefore, they oftentimes get back into it. 

And those that never had an opportunity to do it. I wish they did. I've met hundreds of people when I've talked to them, and they said, oh, man, you teach martial arts. Oh, man, you do martial arts. I wish I had done that when I was younger. Or oh, man, I used to do that when I was younger. I wish I continued. I have never met one person once. In my years, 27 years plus doing martial arts. I've never met someone that said, oh, you do martial arts? I used to do that. I'm so glad I quit. Not once has anybody ever said that to me? And so I would say you know, it just continues on the journey, you may just need to find again, what inspires you, what motivates you, but at the end of the day, right, motivation comes from our tide. Inspiration comes from this, I'm sorry, inspiration comes from the outside. 

But at the end of the day, you have to motivate yourself. motivation comes internally. And so there's a saying that I always say motivates me. Now that's a double meaning because not only am I referring to you know, me motivating me, but my initials Matt Erolin. Still me. So the words I have for people? The audience would be yes. You save yourself. Motivates me as in you, you motivate yourself. But I'm telling you, Matt Erolin motivates you. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

What a great episode. I like Matt, if you can't tell, I think he is a wonderful martial artist. He's a kind person and getting to know him better, only reinforced that. Renshi, thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate you. Hope to see you again soon. 

Listeners, check out the show notes, look at the videos, look at the links, go check out his school, he does cool stuff. And even if you're not in the area, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware of what he's doing. If you want to stay aware of what we're doing, make sure you're on the newsletter list. You can sign up at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. We'll even throw you a one time discount for all the things that whistlekick.com, So check that out. 

Do you want to help us in other ways? Patreon reviews, sharing episodes, or inviting me to come to your school to teach a seminar. Let's do it. Let's do it. We'll have a ton of fun, I promise.   If you have topic or guest suggestions, general feedback, email me Jeremy@whistlekick.com and our social media at @whistlekick. That's all for now. Until next time, train hard, smile and have a great day