Episode 847 - Youth Topics in Martial Arts

In this episode, Craig Wharem is joined by three youth assistant instructors as they discuss many topics that concern youth today.

Youth Topics in Martial Artist - Episode 847

Craig sits down to talk to Katahdin “Kat” Gould and Noah Weisberg from Mark Warners’ Professional Martial Arts Academy as well as Sam Van-Gils from Karate International.

Together they discuss how they each got involved in the martial arts, what keeps them training, and instruction.

Join in as we discuss our thoughts and after listening to the episode, let us know your thoughts about it. Don’t forget to drop them in the comment section down below!

Show Transcript

Craig:

Hello and welcome to Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. I am neither Jeremy nor Andrew. I've hijacked the show. This is Craig Wareham. I'm the co-founder of MADC with Jeremy and frequent special guest on the show. And today I'm joined by a few teenagers who have trained before. And we're just gonna talk a little bit about experience as a teenager. A lot of times we find in the show that where it's adults who have established their time and they're reminiscing, as opposed to just thinking about, you know, a younger generation now and what it means to train currently in martial arts. So how you guys doing? I'm doing fantastic. Pretty good. Feeling good. Good. Okay, real quick, let's go right down and start closest to me. Your name and how long you've been training. My name's Noah. I've been here for 11 years training. 11 years, okay, cool. I'm Kat. I've been here six years. Okay. I'm Sam. I've been training for about nine years. Awesome. Okay, cool. So, um, no pressure. Just know that this is the first episode without Jeremy or Andrew. So no pressure. Um, but we wanted, we want to just kind of flesh out what the experience is like for you all, because as adults, uh, we know what we went through, but how many times have you heard an adult say back in my day? Too many times. All right, cool. So Noah, why'd you get started in training? How's a little spaz? I was a spastic kid. I was switching from sport to sport because my mom needed me to do movement. If I wasn't, I was in the house and I was bouncing around off the walls. I had no structure. Not from her, just because I needed something to do. I had ADHD and I just needed movement. So eventually after going like gymnastics, swimming, YMCA, we found Mark Warner's. We're like, you know what? Do you want to do this? Sure, try it out. And just never stopped. Cool. That's awesome. What about you, Kat? So I'm homeschooled and I grew up like... ironically shy, extreme social anxiety, no confidence. And my mom figured, let's knock out two in one. Let's work on your confidence and get you a PE so that you don't have to go to school. Fair enough, okay. All right, cool. That's actually a surprise, because I've known you for a while and I have never known you to be shy. So that's interesting, all right. My dad thought I was lazy and I didn't do any sports. So he made me sign up for one and I thought karate was cool, Power Rangers. So I decided to do karate. Cool, okay. So we know that if you guys think back to when you started, the kids who you started with for the most part probably aren't still training with you. There's probably a bunch of those faces that have left at this point. So what made you kind of want to stick around? Well, maybe you want, well, I just love doing it. And I found that if I had the path of the martial arts, especially when I'm going like around 13 every once, I can do this professionally. I can continue to do this and that's for me, I was like, college might not be the right path for me. And I found that I couldn't work in an office. If I worked in an office, I'm gonna lose my mind. So I need to do something active. I need to be out doing something and especially what I'm doing with people. And I was like, I'm already doing that. I'm already actively in that kind of situation. So just decide this is something I love. Might as well continue doing it. So, okay, so it sounds like this is like it for you. This is your deal. Yeah. That's pretty cool. How does it feel to make that kind of decision? It's big. And it consumes a lot of my current social life, but it's also something I know is going to pay off. Yeah, OK. So what kind of sacrifices do you feel like you've made to make that happen? Because social and the way things work now, when I was a teenager, a little bit different. I'm not that much older than you, but a little bit. Hanging with friends has become a little bit more difficult just to have it. I'm not only training here, I'm working here. I know right after school I have to be here, and then I'm here until six. And at that point, I'm just exhausted. Sure. Okay. All right. What about you, Kat? Why'd you stick around? It wasn't easy. I've lost a lot of friends here to college. So sad. I'm gonna miss them forever. But a lot of it is as crazy as it sounds, or as like cheesy as it sounds, the people. Like, this really is a family. The amount of times I've embarrassed myself by accidentally calling Toshi dad is a larger amount than I'd like to admit. Me too. It's more, it's not so much as why didn't I leave as much as I didn't have a reason to, why not stay? Okay. I got a one there. All right. What about you, Sam? I didn't want to stay. I would never want to come to class. You know, I would cry in the shoe area, not wanting to get on the mat. But my parents made me every day come to class. And then you made me start teaching to get out of my shell and out of my comfort zone. And then. I started teaching and I kept teaching and I kept doing classes and eventually I stopped crying and I just kept going and then I was a part of the family and then I just kept going. So what's really interesting, now at this point I think the cat's out of the bag, right? I'm Sam's instructor but also I feel like a martial arts uncle to you two. I've watched you two grow up for a while now. So it's interesting that when Kat said family, you both started nodding your head. It's also something worth noting that I've know you three because you've done the MADEC courses and things like that. How does it feel to start giving back and teaching a generation of kids and being a part of that community? It feels awesome. It's seeing what I saw, like the older kids start teaching and now I'm in that position and I know I'm able to give a whole bunch of knowledge that was given to me and pass it down and have that cycle continue to repeat. Okay, all right. It feels amazing and it's so sad at the same time. I'm starting to get to the point where some kids that I've known since they were toddlers, they're getting their black belt in September. I am going to be a mess. You remind me of that. Right? But it's so exciting and I love to see, take my experience and take the good from that and pass that on to them. Especially someone who did have, just like Sam, I had a very hard time at the beginning. It was panic attacks. for every class, I wouldn't say a single word the whole time. So to come here with that experience and then being able to help other kids who have had that, not like issue, but struggled with that, it feels amazing. So let's unpack the word sad for a minute. Kids get in their black belts, it makes you, is sad the right word or just emotional? They're growing up too fast. One volume maybe? They're growing up way too fast. Yes. Okay. All right. So it can be tough. I can't be tough. Now just think about how your instructors feel watching you all go from not being able to sit still or being painfully shy or crying before coming into class. And now you're on a podcast talking about martial arts. It's pretty cool thing. And so do you guys ever recognize that impact that, you know, and feel that way? Yeah, yeah, all the time. Tell me more. But like the impact. Yeah, about how that when it hits you that a student maybe that you've helped with and you recognize yourself a little bit in that. Because that's an insight I would say. And I'm kind of generalizing. I don't think a lot of teenagers realize the impact that they can have on younger siblings or younger kids in general. So it seems like all three of you have that consensus that you realize that you've been a part of this. So when that hits you, Sam, like, how does that feel? It's like it's rewarding. I've been teaching for this long and I see that there's been progress made in these kids and I was a part of that progress that was made to make them a better person or better martial artist. Noah, Kat, anything to add? I think that it's not only rewarding, it's sort of like you take a second to think and remember every action I do, they're going to not only follow, they're going to repeat to other people. And it takes that moment for you to not only appreciate that but put yourself back in check. It's a way to recognize how much responsibility you do have, especially as an instructor. And it's also a good way to gain a lot of those skills that I wouldn't normally have. It's very encouraging as well. When you see that you made progress, it's like, wow, I did this. I was part of this. I want to keep doing this, keep making change. As soon as you forget that you're here to help people, help people learn. It's just a nice reminder. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so let's shift gears a little bit. Is there a time where maybe martial arts has helped you through something, maybe at school or with friends or something, where like something maybe you've learned at the dojo or training room has helped you in a way, or that you've been able to pull from your experience in the martial arts out into your regular teenage lives? For me, for a little bit, I had a little bit of a rough home life, so coming here was not only... It gave me an outlet, but it gave me deep building to go. I can deal with this. I can power it through. And it just gave me a place to be. Not only that, just give me the strength to continue. For me, it's not maybe that as much specific as like just in general, almost all the confidence and the social skills you're seeing now are from martial arts, from being here. And I can't think of how to word it, but just like it taught me a lot about. Yeah, how to be a person and how to show that person how to be more okay and comfortable in my skin. Sam, do you have anything you wanna add? Very similar to Kat. I was very, very shy. And I never spoke in class until you made me start teaching. And then I was kind of able to learn how to be more social and more outgoing and more vocal through martial arts. What do you guys wish more teenagers would understand or appreciate about martial arts? Maybe ones who have never trained before or haven't been a part of it. I know, again, just pulling from experience, Sam has quite a track record of making his non-martial arts friends become martial arts friends. But what do you wish kind of more teenagers would understand about being a martial artist? meaning like they've never experienced it before and have been a part of it, what would you tell them? It's not all combat and it's not all traditional. It's multiple facets of stuff that takes time and you might think it's weird at first and that's okay, everybody thinks something's weird at first but it takes time to get into it and you gotta be there to understand it. And if you were not willing to try it, then you're not willing to grow. All right. Exactly, a lot of. A lot of people, when they find out that I'm martial arts, they're very surprised that, because I'm not all raw, raw. A lot of people view it like the, not like the bad guy, but the villain from Karate Kid. A lot of people see it that way, where it's very much not. Especially if you find the right place. It's not all tough. Yeah, there's just, like they said, there's more than the physical. And I don't think a lot of people realize it. It's mostly not. I got the look that it's about time, but I have another question or two for you guys. That's not what that was. That was just me checking in and saying you're doing a good job. I would love to hear Sam talk the same way. Okay. What did I just say? It's not all physical. Yeah, when people learn to do karate, like, well, show me a punch and kick. That's cool, but I don't know how to do that much cool stuff. To be honest, if I show someone a form that I think is cool, they're not going to find it very cool, because it's more than just doing cool stuff. It's the details in it. It's the details in it, and it's the nuance, and it's, you know. Is it safe to say that maybe you feel like the form's a cool part of what you do because of how hard you had to work at it, and how much extra it took for you to really make it your own? Definitely. I think you can't really. appreciate forums like trying to learn a forum. Yeah, I think that's interesting because like right now we're in Massachusetts and one of the best analogies we can use, right, is everyone talks about Tom Brady and how great Tom Brady is, but they never think about how many times he threw the football and missed before he got good, right? So that's interesting that we can kind of draw that corollary there. What do you wish more? adults, adult martial artists, maybe instructors, maybe just more advanced martial artists or, you know, adults that you've encountered. What do you wish that they would understand about being a teenage martial artist that maybe they've forgotten, or maybe they started as an adult and they don't know? Is there anything in particular that kind of stands out that you would think that you want them to know or communicate in a way? We still have valuable things to add. We might not have been going as long as you, but even if that's so, we can still notice things, still comment on things without it being innately disrespectful, and you can still listen to us and take our feedback. Tell me more about that. I've noticed some martial artists and some that I've worked with, they don't listen to you unless you're a higher rank or you go toe to toe. And it's that level of, well then you don't. have respect for me as who I am as a martial artist in general. you're nodding your head. Yeah, a lot of times it's, we have a lot more experience and a lot of insight than you often think we do. There's more to us than just a teen in martial arts. We've still, we've changed and grown a lot. And a lot of times we're still looked at as, oh, you're a child still, which I mean, yes, I am still child. But I still have. value and good opinions. Not all the time, not all the time. Most the time I might sometimes have a good idea. Fair enough. Anything got it? Mostly? I don't know anything. You don't have anything to add there? So. I'll do better. part of being a martial artist and experiencing those things is kind of going out of your sphere, right? Like, so in a martial arts school where you guys have said it's family, right, the dojo kind of feels like a second home is kind of what I pulled from that. You've gone out into other facets. I've seen you at events, right? Talk to me about what that experience is like. What is it like to kind of be a teen who... A, I mean, again, we talked about earlier, all three of you have gone to the level one Matic and there were adults in there learning with you for the most part, or you've gone to tournaments and maybe had to compete against adults. Like what is that experience like? Because when I was a team training, it wasn't like that at all. So what is that like for you? I'm the inverse. I love it. I love going and seeing new people, seeing new things. And it allows me to broaden my view and perspective of things and see how people do things differently. and just interact with the greater martial arts community, which is valuable. Sure. You're such an extrovert. It's intimidating and terrifying, but I mean, like, I get you out of it. That's a pretty good deal. I'll take being a little shaky and a little nervous at first if I get to make friends and have people who like, even though, yeah, we're very different in age. our skill level might be similar or we might have similar views on how to teach or how ranks are and whether they should still exist. But I don't know, I lost my train of thought halfway through. Yeah, it's just kind of intimidating, you know, working being the youngest in a group of older people. It's just kind of like, you know, and you just don't feel as important or as like high up as everyone else in the room. As kind of, you know. It's just intimidating, but everyone has, you can learn from everyone, everyone has something to add. So working with older or younger or any people really improves you in martial arts. It's intimidating and exciting and insightful and helpful. Yeah. Kat gave us a door to walk through, so we're gonna walk through it. How do you feel, or you said whether or not ranks are important, what did you mean by that? is the best way to form that question. Think of it like how he was saying with age, where sometimes people will only see you for your rank. And that can be, if they're, even they're like higher or lower ranks, it's not always great. They'll either assume you have all the answers or they'll assume you know nothing. Ranks in general, I'm not the biggest fan of, I'm not fully thinking these thoughts through. So this might not be articulated well at all, but I don't think we should define ranks as much as we as a community tend to. Like, yeah, everyone's gonna be at different levels and at different times, but having it so like visual with a belt, it's not always, it doesn't always create the healthiest environments. A lot of times people will be idolized and put on pedestals that they shouldn't or don't want to be on. Yeah, or other times you're looked down upon even though you do have insightful knowledge. I'm going to take just as much from what a low belt has to say about a drill, or if they have some new ideas if we're like working off of that drill than I am from someone who's almost at their black belt. anything you want to add? I think it's time and place because ranks are sometimes very good for finding where the benchmark is for certain people but at the same time it does create that it can't have that level of I'm better than you or you're putting this person down or not inherently putting them down but having that kind of mentality because they are a lower rank. Sometimes as a higher rank, in my classes, there'll be lower ranked people who are more scared to work with me because I'm a higher rank. And I really like, like it'd be like we could be sparring. I'm not very good at sparring. And they could very much be better than sparring me, but they'd be still terrified to spar with me because I'm a higher rank. So I'm sitting here kind of smiling to myself because when I was a teenager, I didn't think these thoughts. I just thought, wow, I wanted to learn the next shiny thing. So I'm sitting here pretty proud as a martial artist to hear younger martial artists thinking about these things and very clearly having an opinion because it wasn't something that was on the list of things to talk about today, but we let the conversation steer us, right? So I'm curious if you don't have an answer yet, that's fine, because you can form an opinion over time. What would you rather have in place? And if you don't have an answer, that's okay. something more general and maybe less like visual. We're still, if I'm still in the same class with you, I'm still in the same class as you. Sure, I have a black belt around my waist, but that's not that different. But I can't really think of a definitive answer. It's a very tricky question because yes, people are gonna be at different levels. People have been here longer. They are going to know more or things are going to come easier to them, especially like your basics, but it doesn't need to be. Flaunted is the word I want to use sure I think just the attitude about it needs to change like It doesn't define where your skill level. It doesn't really define What you bring to the table it it's really just kind of a marker of how long you've been doing it sometimes Do you need to have something in place of it when in reality we should be as a martial arts community be able to adapt Because and if we can't adapt if we're such in this rigid system, then what are we doing? These are good questions. These are complex and difficult questions that a lot of instructors deal with every day. And so it's really interesting that a lot of you have heard an episode or two where we've talked about this, either Jeremy and I or Tashi Mark and Andrew. about do we need delineation. So it's really fascinating to me to get your insight and opinions because when you're in something for so long, it's really hard to see the forest through the trees, right? And so, you know, when you start to think about it, I think that that's a fascinating thing. Let's switch to something less complex. What's your favorite part of training? What's the most fun thing you like to do? Other than stomp on the floor and shout, Noah. That's what I was gonna say. I get to beat up people. No, no, no. I get to have physical activity with people that I enjoy being around, and you get that diversity of it's not just one thing. You're not running the same set of drills every time. You're in a constantly changing set of skills that you need to learn and adapt, and do your best to remember. Sure. I guess Sam's gotta go catch short circuiting. Yeah, I like traditional stuff, mainly. Okay, but like what do you like doing? Forms, weapons, not really the MMA kind of guy. I like, this is the technical term, the flowy stuff. Flowy stuff. I can't do, or I can. Tosh doesn't like when we say can't. hoping it's not listening too well. He's gonna listen to this episode. You're in it. You heard nothing. But I don't, I'm not the biggest fan of like the sharp movement strikes. I like using my opponent's, you know, abilities against them. I like manipulating them and not manipulating, I'm not toxic, physically manipulating their emotions against them. Nope. I'm laughing because last time I saw you, you threatened to kick me in the head. I did. I got that. Okay. So I know when I was a teen, one of my favorite things to do with my martial arts friends was watch martial arts movies. Is that something that still happens? No. What do you mean no? It died out. Tashi pushes for it all the time. We have, what are you talking about? We have martial arts movie nights all the time. We've already railed. How many of those have I been to recently? Well, since COVID there's been less, but Tashi pushes for it. Okay, so I guess I can't ask what your favorite martial arts movie is. The best of the best. No. Okay. Experiencing technical difficulties. No. I guess we also should now inform you that I didn't completely take the show without anyone knowing. Jeremy's in the background and is getting upset. Why don't you guys? Just for me, it's not very appealing. And it's not anything like particularly about them. It's just not something I'm particularly interested in watching a movie with people doing martial arts. I'll watch it. I'll enjoy it, but it's just not something that immediately strikes my. Like really catches my eye. There's don't like a reason. They're not as many made or like well known now. There's like, there's the old stuff and Tashi shows us a lot of the older classics. But I'm making faces at McAfee. I've never seen Best of the Best. Neither have I. I'm throwing that out there, Jeremy. I've never said this on an episode. I've teamed Jeremy on this. Best of the Best is not. Just to despite Craig, Best of the Best is the best. It's in the name. Clearly it must be the best. What about Best of the Best? You need $20 to watch this the whole way through. And enjoy it. Oh. You know what we're doing? We, in our spare time, watch really bad romcoms, so that's easy for us. Let me know. I will. Really bad romcoms? Like Hallmark. Hallmark, or like, if you go to Prime Video and you just scroll down really far. Okay, we're getting off track. We're getting off track. All right, so we're going to start to wrap up here. But what is... What is... the future hold for you, you hope? Because as teenagers, you get that question a lot, right? What are you gonna be when you grow up? What plan are you gonna, where are you gonna be? What kind of car are you gonna drive? What kind of house you wanna live in? And I'm not asking you to have a plan. I'm asking you right now in your martial arts future, where do you hope to go? I hope to one day take over the school, continue teaching, and continuing on the lineage of martial arts that I'm learning. I'm going into my senior year, so I'm leaving for college next year, which is so sad. But I'm hoping to, I might have to pause for college. I'll try and be in whenever. But I'm hoping to come back, hopefully, when I'm done. Who knows? What makes you come back? Don't worry about it. Yeah, there you go. That's really reassuring. Love that. I'm going to keep training and keep teaching and just roll it. What piece of advice would you give to other teenagers who might listen to this? That's a difficult one. You guys can go before I do. I'm going to think about this. I was actually banking on you having something to say. Me too. You can go first for a reason, though. All right. I'm trying to think of advice I'd give myself like a year ago, so. It could be people listening that maybe they found this on YouTube or on Spotify where they don't necessarily train yet. Or it could be people who have trained for awhile. Experience new things, whether that be going into a new school and seeing, Hey, can I try this out? Scheduling a class or. if you haven't trained before trying it out or doing something new that you don't normally do with a form. Just experience new things, continue to challenge yourself mentally, don't get stuck in that one place of you stopped here, this is where you're capped off at. Okay. I think it goes specifically for like the teens going into it because most of our teens that do come in are like 11, 12 newly teens. We don't get a lot of older teens because it feels like a weird time to start. and you might stand out a little bit, but it's worth it. I say like, just stick at it, try it. New people come in all the time. You're not gonna be the first new person. You might be the first new person of your age, but so what? Can I expand on cats? When I ask my friends to come in or say, hey, come and do this, try it out, what are their biggest complaints is it's too late to start. It's never too late to start. Any age is a good age. As long as you can think, it's good to come in and start. Don't be afraid, do you. I want to thank you three because this was a lot of fun for me. I had a good time listening to you and Being able to take the reins today and have a good conversation. It was a lot of fun and I want you three to know that I'm proud of you. Thank you Hearing your thoughts seeing how you clearly articulate them and you're not afraid to keep learning and developing your opinions is important So I think that the future is bright. I've said for a long time that the future of martial arts is in the next generation. And I think that the future is pretty bright looking at this table. So keep up the good work. If you're listening to this, please talk to some teenagers that you may train with, see in school, ask their opinions on things and take from this what you will that. the next generation of martial artists is up and coming, and it's on us to help empower them to bring us further than the current generation will be able to. Until then. Train hard. Smile. Have a great time. First take. Yeah! I had to remind him. He doesn't know what the whispering was. Shh.