Episode 910- Kyoshi Marcus Traynor
In today's episode Jeremy sits down in person and chats with Kyoshi Marcus Traynor, a Uechi Ryu practitioner from New Hampshire.Kyoshi Marcus Traynor - Episode 910
SUMMARY
In this episode, Kyoshi Marcus Traynor discusses with Jeremy the culture of hard training and the unique environment of his martial arts school. He emphasizes the importance of creating a welcoming and encouraging culture where students of all ages and abilities can thrive. Kyoshi Traynor shares personal stories of how martial arts training helped him overcome challenges and build confidence. He highlights the enduring nature of traditional martial arts and the impact it can have on individuals' lives. He also discusses the value of tangible achievements in martial arts and the role of teaching in his own martial arts journey. He shares how he discovered his passion for martial arts and the challenges he faced in pursuing it as a career, highlighting the importance of confidence and discipline gained from martial arts training and how it can transform lives. He emphasizes the need for martial artists to support and collaborate with each other, creating opportunities for cross-training and growth. Overall, he encourages individuals to never stop learning and improving, as there is always room for growth.
TAKEAWAYS
* Creating a welcoming and encouraging culture is essential for the success and growth of a martial arts school.
* Martial arts training can help individuals overcome challenges, build confidence, and develop a sense of belonging.
* The enduring nature of traditional martial arts provides a strong foundation for personal growth and development.
* Tangible achievements in martial arts, such as earning a black belt, can have a profound impact on individuals' self-esteem and sense of accomplishment. Martial arts can be a fulfilling career path, despite societal perceptions.
* The economic realities of college education should be carefully considered, as alternative paths may lead to greater success.
* Martial arts training can have a profound impact on students' lives, instilling confidence and discipline.
* Martial arts is not limited to athletes and can benefit individuals of all backgrounds.
* Confidence gained from martial arts can extend beyond the training mat and positively impact various aspects of life.
* Overcoming fear and pushing through challenges is a key aspect of martial arts training.
* Imposter syndrome and insecurities are common, but martial arts can help individuals overcome them.
* Creating opportunities for cross-training and collaboration can foster a sense of community and growth within the martial arts world.
* Breaking down barriers and fostering inclusivity in martial arts can lead to a stronger and more supportive community.
* Never stop learning and improving, as there is always room for growth in martial arts and in life.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Mission
01:22 The Culture of Hard Training
04:17 The Unique Environment of the School
05:24 Encouraging Individuality in Training
06:38 The Influence of Farming on Training
07:37 Balancing Competitiveness and Personal Growth
08:02 Training Across Different Age Groups
08:55 Creating a Welcoming and Encouraging Culture
09:16 Including Younger Students in Adult Classes
09:43 Feeling Safe to Fail
11:29 The Importance of Inclusion and Family
12:31 The Impact of Martial Arts on Adolescence
13:57 Feeling Accepted and Valued in the Martial Arts Community
19:29 Feeling Safe to Fail and the Supportive Environment
22:34 The Importance of Building a Martial Arts Family
25:22 The Influence of Long-Term Martial Arts Training
26:29 The Impact of Martial Arts Culture on Individuals
28:04 The Tangible Outcomes of Martial Arts Training
29:46 The Value of Martial Arts Achievements
31:31 The Confidence and Strength Gained from Martial Arts
32:29 The Role of Martial Arts in Personal Growth and Development
36:29 Teaching Martial Arts as a Career
37:22 Discovering a Passion
38:23 Changing Perceptions of Martial Arts as a Career
39:21 The Economic Realities of College Education
40:24 The Impact of Martial Arts on Students' Lives
41:53 The Perception of Martial Arts as a Pursuit for Non-Athletes
42:21 The Unique Benefits of Martial Arts Training
44:18 The Confidence and Discipline Gained from Martial Arts
45:49 Overcoming Fear and Pushing Through Challenges
48:49 Dealing with Insecurities and Imposter Syndrome
53:20 The Importance of Confidence in Martial Arts
56:29 Creating Opportunities for Cross-Training and Collaboration
01:08:02 Breaking Down Barriers and Fostering a Sense of Community
01:14:08 Final Words of Encouragement
Show Notes
Connect with Kyoshi Marcus Traynor through his school web page:
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Show Transcript
Jeremy (00:12.726)
Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome to another episode of whistle kick martial arts radio And I'm here today with Marcus trainer. Thanks for being here We will talk more in a moment But just a reminder to all of you out there If you like what we do if you resonate with our mission to connect educate and entertain the traditional martial artists of the world If you believe like we do that getting everybody to train for six months would change the world Help us out join the patreon patreon .com slash whistle cake if you're a
Check out Alliance, Whistlekick Alliance, you can have a domain for that now WKAlliance .com brings you right to that right page or any of the other things that we do.
here and the events and all of that good stuff and a shout out and thank you today to Karate International and Exeter New Hampshire for hosting us. Thanks for being here. My pleasure, Shana. I've been on the floor with you once. It was a little while ago. Yeah, yeah, a few years ago, Tear Down Symposium and that, my most memorable, I think from that whole weekend, my strongest memory is.
strong to these forms are yes yes she is legend legendary
Jeremy (01:40.014)
just banging the forearms going.
Jeremy (01:55.022)
stage.
her a lot because you know how we do things on the stage you do things in training you know you do things for the sake of showmanship and everything like that she has no concept of that whatsoever she she believes that if we're going to do something on display we're going to beat each other to a purple and the thing is it's not a it's not a challenge well maybe for her it is but it's it's not a challenge like that she likes doing that and she really enjoys the training part of it when getting
Jeremy (02:36.846)
towards that and she was favoring.
Jeremy (02:44.11)
Okay, I said yeah, but maybe we'll focus in on what she goes no no hit the other one. It's fine I said no Judy I appreciate that but let's not break the album and they're all doing that and but she meant it Let's let's go. I'm not gonna do this and do this halfway. She doesn't do anything halfway So yes, she is an inspiration and a terror to all of us at the same time But that seems to be a bit of the culture and I don't mean that in a negative way with with your school you all you train hard and you
Here we are, it's 2024, and a lot of what I remember growing up in the early to mid 80s, you're still -
Jeremy (03:28.046)
Yes.
Jeremy (03:33.132)
you know, every...
Jeremy (03:37.006)
like doing things. So if you have a person who's very flexible, of course, naturally all the students are going to really emphasize their stretch because that's their stuff. If person likes doing cardio workouts and things like one school owner who's a good friend of ours.
he said he openly says i really like the physical fitness part of the martial arts so he does a lot of great martial arts, kimbo and jiu jitsu mixed and he goes but he said i really do like the physical fitness as a sort of tilt so we all have a tilt in that direction the one i hesitate to say unique but certainly unusual setup with what we have at our school is that it's been around for such a long period of time and we have a core of
12 seniors people who've been there 30 plus years. So there's a couple of cultures kind of going into there all influenced by Mr. Dirkmafuss, but a couple of cultures. We have a couple of people who really like the flexibility, really like the conditioning, really like that. But so, which makes it a neat environment because the different classes will have a different lineups in it. And if someone's going into a one person class, they go, oh good, oh good, we're gonna really, really gonna work our arms today. This is gonna be fun. But they kind of almost go out of their way to make sure they go to that class because they want to work on that.
there's enough going on and it's not, instructors aren't, except what I'm hearing, prevented from kind of putting their own spin. It's encouraged. Quite so. I mean, I was told years ago watching an interview about SWAT officers and they were talking.
and the guy made a neat comment on saying that if the people are trained enough, you don't tell them what equipment to bring, they will know.
Jeremy (05:24.11)
So if you have a 10 year student.
Jeremy (05:31.052)
Exactly, but if you have a 30 year student, you know that they have the basics really well down and they're not gonna push, they're not gonna encourage students to go in the wrong direction, they're gonna go in their direction plus this. And so Mr. Durkin unleashes them a little bit. I mean, he still pulls them in and says, hey, don't do that. Those conversations still happen, don't get me wrong. And we all come in with our heads down. Okay, yeah, right, I know, I know, that was really stupid.
Jeremy (06:05.422)
a lot, which is.
Jeremy (06:09.166)
stop training with their teacher years ago because of school goals or whatever and they come over to this area and they come in and it's an unusual culture but it's just you know that teacher told me to do this one this teacher told me to do it that way and it's a minor change and I'm trying not to tell them it's really minor change really get over I said I have to explain what that type of culture is so it benefits in that regard so but yes as far as the hard training goes Oak and Allen styles have a propensity of being a little bit more hard I think part of it is due
uh... to the fact that they were there was no other weapons of activities in their forms of their what's what i think a lot has to do with them uh... they all were farmers to in this a lot of uh... if you look at most of the communities of the usually relatively strong people is that a notable route of the region that will have a lot of the exercises that came from areas all -farm type exercise so if anybody spent time on a farm knows the work is done when the work is done dot at a certain time right
Yeah, and they have forums like vice grips. So I think that might have a little bit to do with it. So it created a culture of that. And the other part of it is too is that our style in particular is not a particular, there's lot of people who do competitions, but it's not a particularly competitive culture. So in our school definitely is not. And there's plenty of people who do competitions, so we don't push them. But overall, you don't see us.
gearing up towards the next competition and so the people go in there specifically for the mentality of what I can do to push myself, my own self to my own next level which is nice because you'll have a class full of, we'll have a class full of all black belts but full of class full of 16 year olds and 85 year olds in the same class. Now obviously the 85 year olds don't train the same way as the 16 year olds do.
but they all get to work with each other and they all get to intermingle with each other and socially they get to connect with each other which is really a cool concept as well. But for health wise I think it's, I've seen fantastic results from older people who, you know, bone thinning issues and things like that and this helps bring them out of that and make them give a little more vitality which makes them feel like they can walk among other ones which is really cool too. So it helps the younger ones because they're mixing with people who are.
Jeremy (08:32.206)
older, more experienced. And it helps the older ones because they feel more youthful and lively. So it makes a neat culture coming into it. So, yeah. So, yeah. Yes.
Jeremy (08:55.342)
And it is, we enjoy it. We have a good time. We have a good time. It's been a long time since I banged forearms, but I grew up with that. And you're talking about these age differences. I was in the adult class starting at maybe 11? Yeah, me too. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And.
It was expected not that I was given just...
If I was partnered with an adult and we were doing conditioning, it was expected that I'm providing enough that that adult is receiving a benefit. And yeah, maybe they're softening up on me a little bit because I'm 11, but not so much that I'm not getting out of it. I wasn't a kid just.
Jeremy (09:43.694)
Yeah, and in the game.
Jeremy (09:52.622)
Yeah, so, but yes, absolutely, we have kids classes, teen classes, adult classes, but the teens that go into the adult class, they work hard, and they're expected to work hard in there. But you'll find with most scenarios, people, if you provide a...
welcoming culture and no matter how hard the welcoming culture is, the fact that it's welcoming and encouraging, people step up to the plate really good. And again, I find that just as well on the younger side of that question as well as I do on the older.
And we will have people in love. Judy Durkin is a classic, not hugely framed woman. We'll see how this is framed. We have people just like that coming in. And some of the guys.
I'm crucially nervous of working with them as they don't...
female we young.
Jeremy (10:59.982)
which is something that we've been able to luckily keep that going for a while, which is nice. Now you mentioned, I think you said, a dozen black belts in your school, 30 years or more of training. And this is the 50th anniversary of the school. And of course, Mr. Durkin's been on, Judy's been on, so you can go back to those episodes if you want to go a little deeper.
you really don't last eleven suggest you started before that no i started right off in the adult state they they said okay right this is the as fast as you can work it i had a uh... someone who was training that was a was a friend of my father's and a friend of ours and uh... recommended the school the school and i guess i was told that what we want that he said open the system of the hospital over there and i was like the other one that
but it took me five minutes to realize how much I enjoyed. I enjoyed this and I was hooked in. I always find that, right, that transition, because this is a piece that I think, there are only a few categories, right? We get people that start and they float, and they're probably kids, and they're doing it because their parents are bringing them, and maybe at some point, it becomes their choice. Right. Yep.
But you said kind of the opposite. You said five minutes. What was it about the first bits of training that you said, this is my thing?
Jeremy (12:43.566)
I think it was really, I walked in, was working out in the class, because Mr. Durkin taught my first class. Judy Durkin taught my second class. And then went into a white ball class, and there was like 25 white balls in there.
and I was definitively the youngest one in the class by a couple of years. There were some teenagers in there, but they were like 16 year old teenagers and they don't want to talk to me. But the adults across the board, not only the teachers who you'd expect to always be universally comforting and encouraging, that doesn't always happen with the teaching experience. You'd expect that they should be doing that, and they were.
the other adults in the class didn't look at me twice as being a teenager. They treated you as a peer. I was just one of them. And even that wasn't just when I was working out. When I was working out with them, that was even when we were warming up and talking with each other. It was just like, oh, what are you doing today? Oh, I do that. Just like a bunch of guys at a bar together. It was just that type of experience. So it was like, uh.
any other social awkwardnesses and like that just didn't exist in that in that squad. You're here to work? Great. Wonderful. You're one of us. Like it doesn't matter what level you are at. You're here to work. Great. And at that age, that's not common. There are a lot of times. It It threw me. And of course, I wanted it. I mean, went in hoping for that. But I didn't fully expect that part to happen.
and every person that worked with me i mean don't get me in every school there's martial arts that are real sweet hats and the ones that are little more rough are on the edges, don't get me wrong and we have our fair share as much as anyone else does but to a person, no one treated me like I didn't belong there and that happened relatively quick now maybe it just happened to be a really sweet group of people that I had to work with but I had people who were ex -army that were in there so I mean
Jeremy (14:54.83)
fit guys who one guy was a parachuter that I trained with and he told me about all the stuff that he did he deployed to Alaska and everything like that you know so people who've been there done other things like that another guy was a mechanic for for tanks so it was all
Jeremy (15:14.862)
What forms I was this big. I remember.
Jeremy (15:21.518)
uh
Jeremy (15:25.154)
Why not? Okay, you're right.
Jeremy (15:31.886)
maybe what I needed at that time. It's such a rough age, right? You know that, that I don't love the term, but adolescence is such a rough time for so many and you're being, you know, physically you have adult characteristics. Yeah.
But culturally, you're treated like a child. And that conflict, I think, is so strong. And it can be so confusing because you want to go, you want to do, you want to be included, but you're being excluded. In fact, sometimes it's even worse because parents are trying to keep their kids safe. They know, okay, well, bones and energy and - Which of course is all understandable. Sure, absolutely. But you're talking about a rare environment where you're being included. And I think there's another piece, and this is one of -
get back what we put in. You only get back what you put in. And if you've got a hard -working kid, somebody who's willing to recognize, okay, I have a lot more control in this than I do elsewhere. Then it can really resonate. It sounds like maybe that was your story. And for the most part, that was what got me there. And other things that, like any other specific, there's other things that kept you going, but that was what got me.
through the door and maybe realize that I was going to stay there. At least to try to go for the duration. This wasn't going to be like a five week thing I was going to try out or something like that. This was going to be something I was going to stick my teeth into and see how far I can make this work. Bear in mind, I had no illusion. I remember going in and saying, maybe in about 10 years I might be able to be a black belt. I mean, had no self -confidence in any way, shape, or form with that at all. It was not going. I was assuming I was going to fail every test going into it. Had that been your experience in school? No, for the most part I...
did good as well as it is not very low confidence self -esteem and uh... and actual starting problem which was
Jeremy (17:27.982)
family inherited my father's the same way so he used to joke about it all the time and it was so things like that but uh... uh... remember specifically going for my green belt test and i don't know what it was like anyone said oh don't worry it's gonna be so hard you know if you first three or four people fail the first time don't worry about it it was nothing like that everyone was saying good luck good luck go for it and everything like that it wasn't like a major test it was just a test right after school i mean it was a and i remember going into it my mother was driving and i was firmly convinced and i don't know what put this in my head i was firmly convinced i was not gonna pass the test
and I don't know what put that thought process in my mind. It was nobody there, at least as far as I can recall. I remember my father trying to be very encouraging about it and saying, good luck, good luck, I look forward to seeing your belt on at all. I thought to myself, great, I'm have to tell my father that I failed the test and he's gonna look forward to the belt that I'm not gonna have. And I remember being just all negative going into the whole thing. And I found a photo of me doing the test, someone found a photo of me doing the test.
Jeremy (18:24.494)
and uh... it's cd all shaking in the photo in the focus but i think it was just like many people you see something you see it
Jeremy (19:01.614)
cool, in spite of how scared I was, that was a cool experience that you had something that you really wanted to drive for and you were fighting for something the whole time. There's another piece in there that I'm hearing, you're not quite saying it, but it sounds like you felt safe to fail. You talked about disappointing your father. You didn't talk about disappointing your instructors or your peers. That
You know, okay, I'm gonna do this. You don't believe it's gonna work out, but you're still willing to do it. That says a lot about the environment. It did, it did. And not that I was negative about it, and certainly he was training with the Marines and stuff like that. So look, failure.
Jeremy (19:59.97)
The guy like raced after me to track me down.
Jeremy (20:09.25)
I said, I won't dismiss, so I walked out and said, I guess I'll have go back to work on it. He goes, well, you still don't have to work on it, but we're giving you your retina X -ray. I forget what my rank was. It was below black belt, so it wasn't anything particularly significant. But I remember him being there. He was a kind of new teacher at the time, so I think he was nervous running the test. Sure. In retrospect, I said, oh, he was scared of his mind. I thought I was scared. He was nervous. Everybody's terrified all the time. I think we forget this.
everybody's afraid of disappointing people. Absolutely. And you know, I've got my own stuff that I deal with. I'm sure you do. Everybody does. Absolutely. And.
I don't remember when I realized this. It wasn't that long ago. I grew up, as I think most kids do, thinking that you reach some certain age and you feel like an adult and you feel like you have things figured out. And I realized, wait a second, that never happens. You just get better at hiding it or what you're worried about changes. And so once I realized that, I was like, okay. And that's that, what's the cliche?
you know because everybody's fighting a battle you know that right but yeah and and i think you know it for for folks that know this school uh... you don't want to go back and check out
drawn a really strong connection between this culture that you're talking about and the fact that in a tiny town some of you think when I say tiny town I'm talking about oh a city of 50 ,000 people not even close and the population has more deer in it than it has people in it. I mean we're talking single thousands yeah and I think at the peak your school had something like four or five hundred students yeah yeah and if you think about that as a percentage of the people in a
Jeremy (22:05.666)
driving radius, I'm gonna guess there are very few schools in this country that have a higher percentage of people coming in. And it's gotta be things like that. So when you talk about this guy chasing you down, you're building a family. Yeah. And that's what the deculture is. And I mentioned the seniors that Mr. Jerkin has accumulated, and we have a group of people who - You're counted in that group though, aren't Yeah, I'm the young one in that group. Okay. But yeah, I'm not -
and uh... uh... some people that have been studying for over fifty years some people have been really put their literally put their whole lives into the practice of and some of long distance relationships
always been involved in uh... one of them particularly he lived in new jersey for a long time and he was taught my
brown ball classes so i had an early relationship with him and he talks about how even when he was down in new jersey he would come up for certain occasions like black ball testing and things like that and i remember one time in particular and this really sank it home for me not that i needed it sank home but it was like it was like oh that was really neat you know one of those types of scenarios like geez he didn't have to do that and no one would have held it against him if he did do it and like that and we were doing a black ball test
And back before we realized that maybe doing a black hole test right in the middle of a snowstorm was a bad idea. But we were... Well, yeah, but come on, we live in northern New England.
Jeremy (23:30.242)
going to train do big things during snow then that comes out at least six months a year. So we're hot martial arts. We can drive through snow squalls and get to the black belt test before the heck of it. So we were there, we did the test and everything. I think it was my third degree black belt. So we're doing this. So for some reason I ended up being in the front row, which is a rare occurrence for me. I ended up being in the front row and it was like 830 at night. We had just finished everything like that. Everyone passed. Everyone did a great job.
great job with an airplane.
We're lining up, we're ready to bow out, and Len walks through the door. He had drove all the way from New Jersey in the snowstorm to be there for that. And the running joke was, ah, Lenzy, we gotta start all over again. And we're gonna start laughing like this. But the fact that someone like that would, it's like coming to a family reunion. And there's no reason why, there's no way, you know when you have a family reunion that's been awful, you haven't seen your grandmother in a long time, and it's like, there's no way you're going to miss this because of that. And that's the feeling that we all got. And. It wasn't just obligation. It was a genuine desire.
desire. Absolutely not because obviously by the by by the writer what I just said I mean physically he was not needed for the test because we did it anyway and you know it made us all feel like we were worthy of something because he come into this is Mr. Durkin's highest rankings highest ranking student but just that type of mentality of of course I'll be there so why
what i don't think that every time he can't make it so he apologize i'm sorry i have two of these things you don't have to apologize that's fine but he means it though he would not be a little bit of an important person he wants to know that this is a high obligation this is what he wants to be a part of the family that he wants to be a part of and um... you know for his own struggles and stuff like that but these are the people who helped him get through those struggles and then we all
Jeremy (25:22.752)
In one way or another, all martial artists, I feel, have that type of culture, whether it's their own school or people that helped them out in outside schools. There is a culture in there of all people who...
Jeremy (25:35.122)
challenges whether it's their own and I would call my challenge my own made -up challenges I was unconfident myself not that people went around beating me to get unconfident but or other challenges that come in this this was what helped them get through that and there were people there who had no reason to reach their hand out but they did and that that resonates with with people really well.
me who I honestly took me half a second remember who the person's name was because I've been around teaching for a while and and they say it's a challenge I think a lot of it is you did so much for me right right and they call this it you really helped me at a time I did not need to I'm like oh good I'm glad I'm like John yeah good to see you again it's admittedly okay right but they'll tell something and sometimes you don't
appreciate how much that means to somebody but in a world where everyone said nothing you were the one person who said hi and that was it you know in some ways you don't realize what what that can do and I hate to be I hate to be a cliche like you know you know show kindness at all times because you don't know who means it the most or anything like that but I mean it's a cliche for a reason but this is this is what that type of culture is and for a week
person who maybe only be weak, you know, I think they're a weak person.
Jeremy (27:06.466)
strong that's a big thing for people and I think there's very few things you can do with that. There's something really poignant with that. Yeah, I think I've shared this on the show before. So much of what we do in our modern lives we don't get to point to outcomes. But with martial arts training it's not just I learned this form. And there are a lot of schools that that...
inadvertently becomes a carrot because now I know this thing. Now I know this technique. Now I can do this difficult thing. Now, you know, I come away, oh, I'm bruised, but I'm not hurt. Right. Right. Like there are so many things that can come through from training. And I think even more that can come from really challenging training. Yeah. Because you can point to them and say, I did that. And the...
The quick story that I've shared has nothing to do with martial arts. I had an IT company and my staff would fight to build the cheap bookcase because they could put in an eight hour shift fixing computers and...
They knew it was different, but there's something about tangibly getting stronger, faster, knowing something.
Jeremy (28:36.098)
one of these famous lines that you go up to and then it says, you know, people can take away your knife away from you, they can take away your gun away from you, they can, they says, but give me your karate, you can't take the karate away from you. And while he uses it as a running joke in class, you know, this is what we're doing, I think it's, and he appreciates the super, he's just using it, he often uses it as a joke. You can defend yourself.
Jeremy (28:59.554)
This is what martial arts can do for you. I think an achievement like getting your first black belt First black belt an achievement like that is something that
Thank you.
they get to the black belt fine, they check that box off, they're going on to other things, you know, or whatever. And I don't hold that against people. I mean, everyone wants to, I mean, if you're in the college environment, everyone wants you to, all the professors want you to get your master's degree. But it doesn't mean that the bachelor's degree is bad. It's just that the bachelor's degree is better. depends on why you're training, what you set out for, what your goals are. Right, But no one can take that achievement away from you.
Jeremy (29:46.146)
This is not a state run environment where you have to do martial arts. Not that I don't think that that would be a bad thing. If everyone did martial arts.
This is something that the person walks through the door every day and if anyone who has kids knows that dragging a eight -year -old into doing something
Jeremy (30:24.13)
and many times they bled about it and got injured with it but they didn't stop anyway. And that's one of the speeches we're doing a big blackball test in next week. One of the things I'm going to be saying to them is that, you know, regardless of what happens today and they have other chances to make up the test and everything like that and some people will pass this and some people won't go out. I said, bear in mind, no one can take away from the fact that you're standing right here. I said, you put yourself in.
is just what we need to do to tweak it to make sure that you can actually get the next rank. But don't tell, you put yourself here right here today. I mean, the instructors helped you, of course. You had your classmates in there, but you walked through the door.
Jeremy (31:02.146)
you stepped up to the challenge and all of you have gotten better. And we'll have 150 people testing. Oh wow, but different ranks next Saturday. And it's gonna be one of those new things. We're like, no, you all walked in, you all are here for that reason. So congratulations, you already are this right now. We just gotta get the details down. And that's what people can take away from. And I'm talking about, we have awkward teenage boys going up and giving their instructors hugs because it means, when they get the belt, it means.
not the belt that matters.
Jeremy (31:36.834)
being an equal and that's just wow that's just cool so yeah I think that goes on I think in a culture where we're dealing with and everyone says nowadays things are different if you look go through every ten years always something that throws people through a but we're dealing with a lot of people with uncertainty we're dealing with a lot of people who are nervous about who they are underneath and everything like that and it's really
for confidence, this would, there was not a time for confidence, but whoever was one, this is one that is what they need the most. And whatever decisions people make for themselves, that's their own decision, but they have to be strong enough to make the decision. I see life kind of as, you know, a series of puzzle pieces. Yeah. Right. And it doesn't matter what pieces are missing, martial arts can plug in. Right. And that, and I don't know anything else that does that. Dave Kovar.
I'm assuming you've heard the name. Says that regularly. And he said, uh, took it. Maybe I took it from, from, uh, maybe I didn't realize. I've stolen a lot of things from myself. He's got good stuff. He's been on the show. Mr. Cobra and I are more or less on a first name basis now. I'm happy to know that he knows me. He knows me in a room, which I'll, I'll, I'll take as a blessing. That weird guy in the corner. Uh, but hey, it's, it's, it's, it's something. He said before that, uh, we got obesity.
We got bullying. We have health issues. We have stamina. All these different issues.
has popped up on the news.
Jeremy (33:14.53)
them as good as my shallas does he says so be proud of what it is that you teach me you teach
It was a cool way to start a seminar, which of course he does a great job. There are a handful of people that without trying had tremendous influence on what we do with Whistlekick. He knows that. I've told him that story. I don't know if he'll be there, but he'll be around in just over a month. See him again and get to train with him again. He's a good guy. I kind of want to go back.
So you started 11 and this becomes your thing. And we've heard a lot about why it kept you in, you know, this environment that really resonated for you. Where along your path might the next kind of chapter be? Because, you know, I'm not going to ask you how old you are, but you're clearly older than 11. As my kids would say, considerably older. You said it, not me. Well, they say it all the time. Right, right, right.
It's one
Jeremy (34:30.004)
years, there are a near infinite number of reasons to stop doing something. And some of those were probably pretty big. And I tell that to people all the time when they've been training for a decent like the time, especially if Blackwell says, you all had reasons why to not train. And I'll name a couple of them right now, but in a group of 50, I'm not going name all of them. I said, but I mean, injuries, job changes, school changes, mood changes. You can list a hundred different things that you probably have gotten on all of them.
Yet you're still here anyway, it says that is that is the difference between you know a white belt someone who Dabbled in the martial arts Forbid and you know whether you do it today do it tomorrow do it next week It's really inevitable and that's the that's the cool part about it You should look at this confidently like that. So I know you're all scanning minds, but you look at this conflict with me Teaching was a big thing with me. This helped me with my confidence a lot the teacher
was 16 and Mr. Durkin started running a storm program and I was one of his first ones in there and I started helping out. It helped me a lot so it would be cool to help. And like I said before, presenting in front of people was not my thing. I always had a very vivid imagination. I remember you in school.
Jeremy (36:00.194)
this whole long story with all these different twists and everything like that and to get up there I couldn't open my mouth. Luckily a friend of mine from class would grab the thing for me, he'd read it and I would write it. So we worked together with a good team but I would lock up, I couldn't talk and everything like that. So even just standing up in front of other people was a challenge that I saw other people do good at and that kind of intrigued me and I okay that would be neat if I could pull that off. Never really looked at it as a career until later on. It was more like oh this would be a fun challenge to help get around that. It would be one of those things like you know.
love to teach a couple classes a week and things like that, you know, while mixing with my dad. So 16, you're starting to have conversations with your parents around next steps, whether that's college or grade school or getting a job. Was martial arts part of that conversation? No, in spite of himself, my father wasn't 100 % on board with when I decided to go in that direction, but believe it or not, it was him that actually gave me the first inkling. I said, would you think of this as a career? And at that time, it was like, the answer was no.
For all the challenges of the reason why I do it now is it sounds like a lot of responsibility with a lot of people looking at you and everything like that in a lot of ways that you could go wrong with it. And the last thing I want to do is be the person responsible for messing up someone's life. I'd like to help them. And it was loads of reasons. And my first answer was no. I remember saying, and I'm we haven't luncheon.
Jeremy (37:22.242)
this. I remember being not insulted by the thought process of it, but it was him, he fought me later on, but it was him that actually gave me the first inkling that maybe I should start thinking along that line. And like everything else, it's a matter of motivation and opportunity and opportunities present itself. And I said, okay, I'll give this a shot this time and see how far this goes and give us a shot this time. And then one thing led to another. I kind of went into there. I will say the thing that made it really click that this was what
going to do for the rest of my life and there was no really other way around it. I never admitted it to anybody. It was like, well, thank you. Walk in.
teach karate for living and stay in my pajamas all day. That's really not a plan you tell people with confidence when people are going off to become dentists and doctors and things like that. It is. We still haven't reached a point where even in most martial arts schools, telling your instructor, I want to have a school as my job is well received, well respected. It's usually pretty short. Right. At that's that.
is well received, well respected, it's usually pretty short. At least that's my experience of talking to people. It's a lot of experience for a lot of people. I think from what I'm seeing, I think that's changing a little bit. I think it's about to. I think we're right on the cusp. It's kind of like how, you know...
Jeremy (38:51.7)
I think we're in there, but if you asked 10 years ago, it says, oh, you do that? Yeah, right. Yeah, like this. But what's your real job? I think we're right on the cusp of what it was like 10 years ago for that. It's slowly starting to say you could actually look at this as a career moving forward. It's become more acceptable to follow your passion, which I think is great. And on the other side, I'm 44. And when I look at the numbers, I was pretty much right at the end of it being a no -
Right, yes. Right, yeah. If you want to go...
I'm not saying anybody shouldn't go to college, but you gotta do the math. Because there are people getting themselves in trouble and if you plot out, okay, yes, I can get a degree and I can start here in this company, a lot of times you're gonna get further economically starting at the bottom and not having that debt. And so when you look at those two things together, it becomes, oh, what do we do? And I work with some martial arts schools, we've had plenty of school owners on the show, and they talk about...
students up is kind of that next path okay so first second third whatever whatever it is and now it's okay now I'm gonna help you go off on your own because that's a whole different skill set it is yeah yeah because teaching is one thing managing people is another thing and and no matter how good and I was teasing a good friend of mine who's been
Similarly to me, Sadah as a teenager, worked his way up to head instructor and now runs a big school in Hollis, very successful school in Hollis and we were joking about how the best teachers have the worst students and that's like the joke. And it's like, it's not, no, you have fantastic students as well, but because you're a good teacher, you're able to hold on to the students who are naturally very hard at pulling this off. And that's a wonderful thing. That's wonderful because you're giving them an opportunity to do something that almost in any other environment they would not have even dreamed that they could actually.
Jeremy (40:54.324)
You pick them up. You've seen people before like that. You pick them up. This person never thought he would ever be a strong person He's it looks at himself as an overweight kid who's Who you know who gets mediocre grades at school, you know, if you look at his family background They kind of use themselves similarly and this kid Loves it but doesn't think he's going to succeed in it, but just loves it and which is which is great We're gonna help them learn that no you can't succeed in it and that's a neat that's a neat transfer transformation
to see that happen in there. But, you know, the best teachers have a puddle of the worst students in there. I mean, just the physical combinations and everything like that. These people are not natural athletes. It doesn't make sense to them. And they'll come up and tell you, I've had adults in the same predicaments, this does not come. This is not martial wrestling. But tends to attract people of that nature. It And whether or not this is changing, I can't say. But I think throughout my lifetime in martial arts...
Martial arts was the physical thing that non -athletes did.
changing a little bit.
Jeremy (42:02.836)
people are looking at what should have been obvious to everyone, but the obvious benefits of martial arts training and they really want to be a part of that. It's one of the few places that you can...
engaging in a physical pursuit that
Our standards are our own. Yes, right most of us engage in in in physical stuff through school and What is permissible in school sports is not the same now as it was right when we were kids, right? I I wasn't on the football team I was on the soccer team, but I watched what the football kids were doing. Yeah, I can't imagine that that's even legal now. Yeah Right and here we are we come in and you know, go back to the beginning of our conversation. We are
banging the tar out of each other, leaving with Bruce, thanking people for it, even paying for it, in an environment that doesn't really exist in very many other places. There's some other things that are similar, but very, very few. I don't know how much you follow Maya, but they gave a lifetime achievement award to Marcus Luttrell, who's known as the lone survivor from the week. And a lot of people don't realize that he's a black belt in jujitsu. Judo, sorry.
And he talks about achievement And he is a strapping guy He's huge He says to this day
Jeremy (43:49.492)
things he puts on his wall are his seal trident and his black belt. It says in his world that's the only thing he's earned, everything else was luck. And there's a neat perspective of that. It says that I earned. It says and that I keep on my wall. That's something that my seal trident of course, you know, is a big thing with him too. And he said that I earned. I could have failed that and I didn't, I passed that. And that was a neat perspective of it. He was talking about don't be afraid of, you that you earned this and this is some.
yours and there's no one else as well as any. There's a similarity in there, right? I didn't go through Bud's, Seal Dining Camp. No, no, neither did I. But I have heard in Red Things, I have heard some accounts from folks who have. And it reminds me of my first black belt test. My first black belt test was the most difficult one I went through. I was 16. And it is a point in time that I can look back on and say, I got through that. I can get through this. And I...
My understanding is that's why Buds is so hard as well, is that they're trying to show you, you really don't have limits. If you're willing to say, I've got half a percent more, and keep saying that, there's always more. Right. If you look at...
Jeremy (45:17.716)
of it. And if you look at what Marshall Lattes is, it's, you know, and I've heard this phrase before, you know, a black bull is a white bull who doesn't give up. And that's all it is. You have to just keep on plugging away at it. And, but if you look at most things in life, everything's that way. If you keep on plugging away at it, you will get, you'll get somewhere with it. It may not, you may not be the next Chuck Norris, but you're going to get good at it. You know, you're going to get an accomplishment with it in there. And I, that seems to be the resounding.
Jeremy (45:49.02)
Overweight kid.
Jeremy (45:55.636)
But he's a nice kid and nicer like that and if he can feel with this journey to he that whatever he puts his mind to he has the ability to accomplish it and it doesn't become a can I do a type of scenario it becomes a What do I want to do scenario? That's a huge paradigm shift in and I find to be a paradigm shift as you've seen people who You know whether it's job related, you know relationship or marriage
you know you can see that they've given up and it's just uh... and you see the you feel bad for them like really you could have you could have pushed yourself more just not even much it was really like right around the corner it was just the next door you had to it was right there it's always closer than you think right and if you have the mentality of i can do anything i want to as long as i'm willing to put the effort into it and everyone intellectually understands that but they don't believe in it and martial arts is one of those things
Jeremy (46:59.38)
But the parents mostly. So what this does is it makes them climb a high mountain. And when you get to the top of this mountain, you look at other mountains and say, they're all the same height as this one. Yeah. So if you do the same thing you did for this, you're going to get to the top of that one. So now just pick the mountain you want to go to next. It really is just as simple as that. It says it's not going to be easy, but it's not impossible.
Jeremy (47:26.452)
and someone thinks they talk about in Delta Force or something like that.
And they said right after that, all they do is go into training afterwards. So what was all that for? They said, was it just to see if you would quit? And one guy I read, he said the lessons he learned from Bud.
Jeremy (47:46.758)
the book like twice, I trying to figure out, all he was talking about was the confidence level. He says, well, we're gonna be doing this next drill. He knew he could do it because he could do that. He knew he could do it because he could do that. So therefore he could do this. And says every single thing was just like that. It was, wow, quite, that's exactly what we're talking about. There's a discipline that comes with that, that I'm seeing less and less outside of martial arts. Most of the people in my life do martial arts, but the ones that do not,
they watch the things that I do, the things that I've done.
gave you the confidence? What do you mean you didn't quit? You took on that much debt to try to move that ball forward. Yeah. Because I might stop doing something. I don't quit things. If it's still worth doing, it's still worth doing. And where does that discipline come from? It comes from martial arts. And because of that, I know I'm always going to find a way to land on my feet no matter what is going on, no matter what the situation is, professional, personal, romantic, you know.
Something's going on. The money's not there. The this is broken.
regroups of people that are trying to make happy.
Jeremy (49:02.356)
way to make that work as best I can. And the funny thing is people are attracted to that too and that always seems to surprise me. People are attracted to that. They're often thrown off about it. Because it's so foreign to most It is and the one thing that still probably puzzles me is not correct because I understand why now but always threw me off is that if someone finds out that you're a martial artist and that you've been practicing martial arts.
for really anything north of two years would make the same criteria, but you've been practicing martial arts your whole life, and I've been practicing martial arts my whole life, you know? And different intensity levels, things like that, but this is a lifetime venture going into it. And I know you would look at yourself as a middle and martial artist, and I look at myself the same way, because there are people well above us, but you meet someone who's not in that field at all, and how defensive they get immediately. Like the last...
I mean, I mean, I mean, you know, the right joke is that gynecologists, you know, they say they don't, they just say they're their doctors. I said, I I know how you feel because when we bring it up, it's like the last thing we want to bring up. And if you're in an environment where like you're in a crowd, you can move away from them, you don't mind it so much, but sometimes you're stuck in an airplane. Oh God. And so what do you do? Oh, I have business consult. I mean, you make, you don't lie.
Jeremy (50:35.476)
Oh cool, that's a, I'm a teacher. Oh that's good, you know, you dance around every single thing. And then you have to own up to it because it's a three hour flight and the guy has asked like the five other questions and it's like, okay, I'm a martial arts instructor. I'm just waiting for it to come. And every once in it's positive, but most of the time it's like, Wi -Fi dirty, like, okay. Like this, great, wonderful, awesome, like this. Why are you so?
Jeremy (50:59.092)
It dawned you after a while is that in spite of the fact that people won't necessarily won't own up to it verbally there's a lack of confidence out there a severe lack of confidence and It's they're not responding I Don't ever read the book Musashi they did a pot in this with when he jumps back from somebody from this master and he sprints back and later on he runs it he meets the guy again said how'd you do that because how did I do what he goes you made me jump back without moving
and says, you're just getting your own shadow. And he was a neat person. He says, that was all you. I was just standing there like this. And of course, the master was very confident, which is what Musashi read right away. But people read that in martial artists. They read a level of confidence. And it's not like we go around smashing walls to prove that we're martial artists. We just literally just say that we practice martial arts. And that's the whole length of the whole sentence. It's their own confidence that they're bouncing off of, which once my head
and I'm Irish so I'm slow. So it took a while. Once I had wrapped around that, it made me feel really sad for other people because there's no reason why you should.
Jeremy (52:18.74)
I mean there's no reason why you shouldn't be confident in being a mechanic. I mean my truck would be in the yard and I'd be walking to work all the time. It wasn't for you guys. I mean I know what my skill set is. So I mean. But there is something about fighting. It's the only thing. We know martial arts isn't fighting but a lot of people think that that's the beginning and the end. And fighting is the only thing and generally it's among men that people with no experience think they can do at a high level. Right. There is enough. If you ask someone, hey could you get on stage.
Jeremy (52:53.748)
you know, Chris Angel.
Jeremy (53:03.476)
Oh, I could take that.
I don't even think I can do that. It's not the same thing. I do fine watching with popcorn off on the side. That's why I do great with that. I do fine. Yeah, you do fine.
It's amazing.
Jeremy (53:25.396)
what people gained from too much of a lot. It's that part that...
being scared of my own shadow. And like everyone, there's no such thing as it going away completely. I mean, that's nervous kids still inside me and raring it's ugly.
every project that I work on and things like that. And I run a...
producing and running and organizing a big martial arts event every year that we have hundreds of people come down to from all over the world. Is it the Rui Chi Kong? That's the one, yeah. That's a big operation. It is. I put on events that I know Every single time I'm going at it looking at it like, they're not realizing I'm a fraud. And that's still in my head. As I'm sitting here right now, I'm thinking, I'm a fraud. I really am. It says, I know some things and not a lot of things. So that nervous kid is still inside you. Because it never goes away. But I don't know.
your experience with me it never has gone away. I have said a few times on the show and the core team knows that I'm really by nature an introvert. I put on a mask. I put on a role. I am and it's helped me grow and I've changed in who I am in doing this show.
Jeremy (54:44.404)
still put on a bit of an act. Right? The idea that there's a camera there and that we're talking and you know we've exchanged maybe a hundred words before. I mean before this show or even out of the context of this, that terrifies me. I don't want to disappoint you. I don't want to do a bad job. I don't want to disappoint the audience. That's a lot of pressure. Same thing when you're putting on a big event. Yeah and so they're not realizing I'm a fraud. And that's what goes in my head every single time I pull a white face.
leading up to it all the time. That's she has to kick me out of the house just for that reason alone. Can you go in the other room?
Jeremy (55:25.684)
You know, it's...
But the other part is these are people who I like, whether it's the high ranking people who I have all the respect for, of course, whether it's the people that work with me, my team, who have a fantastic team of people, just very, very hardworking individuals and people who don't mind putting their thoughts forward enough to make sure that everything changes, which is great. I don't want to disappoint them. My job was to make sure everything went correctly.
And I don't want to disappoint them, obviously. And of course, then you got the 10 -year -old kids coming in who are seeing martial arts at a grand venture at this scale, which is like, to me, it's like Charlie Bucket walking into the, we're walking into the chocolate factory, because that's what I felt like when I first sat and go into these things. My first EFC convention, I it was, it was 21. I was 21 when I went to my first one. And it was like, oh my God. That was back when EFC was huge. Right, exactly.
1800 1800 martial artists there and every person down the line every person was just as nice and just as I'd work as the next guy going into there and believe it or not I sat at a table with Dave with Dave Kofi David Tim Kofi and they say oh Dave Tim how you doing and I was like oh my god it's you guys and literally you know shaking them shaking in my pants the whole time and so you know running a big event like that and you know I don't want to disappoint them this is their experience I don't want to disappoint that.
So I'm scared out of my mind. And I'm literally shaking. A couple of scenes go to this, relax, you're fine. Like this, but I'm scared out of my mind and that nervous kid is still inside of me. But it doesn't paralyze me to stop from putting the extra 20 grand into the project to make it one step better so that those kids go home and say, yes, absolutely, this is the people I wanna attach myself to. And I gained some.
Jeremy (57:28.692)
being there and just, I mean obviously you go to a seminar, you don't learn life changing skills necessarily, but you get inspired to work on life changing skills and you know, so it's worth it, it's absolutely.
Jeremy (57:43.508)
but to see people without the confidence to take a small step forward, that's, as I get older, that's becoming more and more painful to watch. What do you do to help them? Especially since we've talked about thinking that when you are early on in that journey, when you are younger, that it's just you. And knowing that as you age, as you gain experience, it's not just you, it's everybody. How does that help you maybe work?
Jeremy (58:15.956)
that younger, less experienced person? Well, we're dealing with a, and you could bring me on, you could ask me at any point, I could tell you we're dealing with a couple of interesting scenarios at the Dojo. I mean, the Dojo's been around for a long time, and as a result, as a result, we have people coming from all different aches and woes, so, and because we have a good success record, of course, naturally, more people come with bigger challenges as a result. So.
It's a neat...
Jeremy (58:50.868)
and some people are just your... And some people legitimately just are. But a lot of it, most of the time, is them fighting their own struggles. And if you can find out what that struggle is, or find out, not necessarily the struggle itself, what the struggle is itself, but like, key into what...
She's really going through and you can twist that and throw that in a different direction and try to give the person confidence. We have a young lady who's all her kids trained with us at one point or another and a nice woman, everything like that, but never really did anything sports related, martial arts, physical, everything like that. Yeah, and she had a whole bunch of kids.
Jeremy (59:38.036)
excuse in the planet
Jeremy (59:46.548)
and even
the light in her face when she comes in. She's still not the highest performing martial artist in there. But my God, is she getting good? She's getting really good. And she is really coming out of her shell. She really is looking like, like you can see the click in her head. I can actually do this. And that was a neat transformation. And I would say that if anything, you know how you say that, you following your passion is not necessarily a bad thing. If anything makes long hours, the phone calls at night and everything.
It was certainly, in my case, the complete insecurity. Worth its while that you can turn a light on like that. But as you know, with that light, you can do anything. And that's the cool part about that. And when you read stories about buds or stories about lights like that, it was just that. That light was just turned on. And I mean, of course, the guys there will joke, it had to be beaten into me, but the light was turned on.
And with me, the light had to be beaten into me and I appreciated that. And certainly would have been like we needed to have happen, but that was, uh, that was what did it. So that, that goes a long way with that. And that helps you look towards the next challenge. And instead of looking at the person as being, oh, he's a jerk. You look at, okay, okay, what's going on with this person? Because obviously he walked through the door for a reason. And that you should look at that substantially because they took themselves out of their world and put themselves into your.
and in their own way they're crying for help even though they're not verbally saying that to you they're gonna object to you they're gonna say well I don't see why this I don't see why this I don't see why that they are begging you to help them and they are screaming on the inside and if you can help relieve that and you'll see it comes in the next time like just really you see that's what happens they just come and relieved and having fun and training and getting stronger and every time they they come down we had a gentleman who
Jeremy (01:01:45.812)
I would say rough around the edges, but he grew up in a very athletic environment. So very competitive athletic environment. And his mother just passed away. And he, mother -in -law passed away. And he was, I guess, he was pacing in the hallways. He told me I could say the story, so that's fine. He was pacing in the hallways. I guess his wife kicked him out because he was pacing so much in the hallways because he at the hospice. He said, doesn't Buster can have a class at this point you can go to? Get out of here. And he did, came to class, grabbed some food, kind of went back, and you know, and of course, his.
And he said, I know I always thank you guys, but thank you for being there, because I needed that workout that day. I needed to be around people who were just positive. And no one knew him going in what was, I mean, we all knew that she was getting towards that point, because he had told us before. But no one knew that that's what was going on at that point. He just came to class, worked out, and like that. I needed that that day. But just have the confidence to walk into a place where you could be very vulnerable. And I hate to be.
gender bias but you get a strong guy they don't want to say that they're vulnerable. It is socially less acceptable for men to be vulnerable and emotional and a lot of that's changing but it's still there. It's still very much there and this person would be for the generation that that was definitive you know and that was cool that was a cool story and it's neat to see that family again. Yeah we've got that threat of family. You brought up challenges what's your next challenge what do you?
Jeremy (01:03:25.844)
I think that there's a lot of diverse ways of practicing martial arts. Of course, Wei Chu is the best. Of course. I just had put that out there. And I think for the most part, this is stripping away. But I would love to see more people training with each other or going to like, I think you went, you were at Terry Dallas' Symposium.
training events like that just for the sake of mixing it up with other people. And even if you there just as a spectator and talking to people, I mean, that counts. I mean, training, I love training. I love doing something different for the sake of doing something different. I may never touch it again, but it was fun. So I would love to see more people shed away the fear of losing their students to a better instructor.
and uh... we have a very sturdy organization it took us a lot of work to get to this point but when we do a black belt training they're all independently run schools we actually uh... make it required that the students have to rotate among the schools and of course from a sensei it's a very very sensitive subject we took us a while to get to that point that this was an okay thing even down to the point with how we're supposed to talk to them in the classroom to sure it was on the same page so it was a lot of work to get that but it had a fantastic concept because
because you go over to your uncle's house and he has this huge beautiful mansion and everything like that. He doesn't have kids, so he works the stock market and everything like that. He's away for most of the time, but the house is beautiful. Who wouldn't want to live in a house like that? And you go home with your mom and dad, because that's your home.
and I would love to see people treat their first teacher as their home. So yeah, you live, you don't, I mean, Mr. Durkin has a beautiful standalone 8 ,000 square foot building and everything like that. But so what? It was the other guy that put that spark into you. That's your home. You go to the other ones, great, wonderful, enjoy it. But you come back and talk to the same person, because this is the person who unlocked.
Jeremy (01:05:36.724)
who put that spark in you, you be that person's advisor. That person knows you. And I would like to see people from the student's perspective, but I also like to see the teachers, we teach confidence.
Close many folks don't don't have as much as we want and conflict no good go to that train It'd be a great it'd be a great great time. I know this guy knows that I have a ball tell me tell me how was like when you come back the same way that your father would send you off to a To you know to camp it's only gonna live there. No, it was a fun camp came back. What'd you learn? I thought I worked out to actually say well, that was me good I do that show me I don't you you go back and tell your parents like all the things you worked on and not like you're gonna go run away go go with them for life knows is a and people I would love to see people treat
martial arts that way and you know things are trying to get going with which you can is mix as many styles into there as Really have high quality instructors so they come in and every person is a good instructor and They they do that and Terry Dallas trying to do that with this and I'm just putting those two up with those Yeah, there's a lot of other ones really dry so much more summit right exactly lots of lots of other ones that that try to do the exact same thing try to get on into there and I think
and pool resources because
we're all trying to get the same thing done, regardless of what style you're working on. And I mean, Okinawa had people on trees with knives in their mouths attacking people when they're on the way home. And in Korea, it was different. In China, it was different. And in Japan, it was different. But they all work on the same thing. They were trying to walk comfortably from where they lived to where they work, and they would come back in one piece, or a school yard or anything like that. So the same, we're after the same thing. And I think I will
Jeremy (01:07:21.174)
love to see that more and I'm not the only one there's a lot of other people who are trying to get the mix to happen I don't say that you should keep on changing styles I think you should stay true to your current style and add other things into it because that's your core you know if someone's attacking another person stay attacking another person you know add Weishi into it whenever you want to you know add Jiu Jitsu whenever you want to it you know add Krav Maga whenever you want to it fine if you size Krav Maga guys same thing you know should stick to your core but and stick to your home but
That doesn't mean that you should not venture. Go on vacation. Go on camps. Go on camps with Lashlos. And that's, so I would love to see the senseis being more open to that.
And I understand how hot it is. I mean, when you send your kid to the camp for the first time, I mean, you're on the phone, okay, is he okay? Is he okay? You know, someone picking on me, I'll let you know. You know, it's funny, I've never liked the term McDojo, but the way you're described, you're talking about this. I think I finally have a definition that works for me. McDojo is a school that's operated out of fear. Yeah. Well, what you're talking about is that difference between love and fear. If dad's calling up the camp, is the kid okay?
They love the kid. If they're not letting the kid go, even though the kid's ready and wants to go, that's fear. It's an important distinction. And I get the fear. Trust me, I absolutely get the fear. And the last thing you want to do is have anything bad happen to someone you've been working on for such a long period of time. I get all that. But we really should, I really like to see...
actively and next 10 years pursuit of mine would be to and I'm not the only one doing it with this stuff is to try to get that to open up more because let's face it if let's say someone from our school goes to your event and they come back fired up they're fired up everybody wins you know they learn something new from you guys you probably get a little bit of something out of him they come back he's fired up he's training harder the next time because oh my god and then what are they doing?
Jeremy (01:09:27.254)
You know the kid doesn't come from camp saying he hates being around the father. He comes back from the camp saying dad Thank you for letting me go and for the most part that's why I see most much less come back They said thank you for the recommendation. That was it. I loved I had a great time doing that It's not like I'm gonna go back up go work with him. No, they don't do that They say thank you because you're the one who pointed me in the right direction. You're still my guidance going into there So I would love to see More of that
And I think all that does is fire people up more and make them feel like they're not alone. I mean, we have a good sized school. So it may not affect us as much. But there's lots of schools that are 50 people. And that's great. Nice intimate little crowd and everything like that. I'd actually say 50 is bigger than average. Yeah. It's an average of all the martial arts schools. Yeah, right. But a 50 person school is a nice sized school that teachers has a real good connection with everything. But I like that size. I think that's a great size. I'd like to see more small schools.
with opportunities to train other places because you get the intimacy of the one -on -one and you got the benefit of seeing it. But the challenge is, and I'm sure you being one of the few teens in Europe,
You really do feel like you're the only person who does this. In spite of the fact how everyone's going. You walk into a room like that and you realize you see 50 other teens all doing different things. Oh my god.
Jeremy (01:10:50.548)
you've seen conventions that as a martial arts instructor, no one else but martial arts instructors knows what it's like to deal with students like that all the time. And you're in the elevator with six other martial artists going down and all of a sudden, everyone knows today, what a pain in the back, seriously. It's very simple. You do this and do this and not talking about the kid. They're talking about the parent that they have to try to set. Look, okay, no, it does cost us. That's what it has to cost. Sorry, this is what it is. Like, no, I'm not gonna change 15 like this. And yeah, no, not.
Not mad, just grabbing, just grabbing. But it's like, good, someone else understands, I'm not the only one who deals with it. That's great, good, I'm not a loser. No, you're among everyone else. We all deal with that, you know, like that. And of course, again, like I said, intellectually, everyone gets that. But to be in a room full of people who are all like that is kinda nice, and it helps make you feel like, helps take the anxiety away.
you're the only idiot in the world who can't figure this out. No, you're among 50 other idiots who can't figure this out. And welcome to the club. And the same thing too, like we have a middle rank Brown Bell student.
Everyone's not as strong as everyone else and that's why we're all here. Yeah, so you're gonna trip and fall good congratulations Just like we trip and fall don't worry about it, you know, and you have that is If I were to say anything that would be the thing I would like to see more and then if I were to pursue in any direction and I am with a lot of other people help helping and just enthusiastic I Would like to see that more my slides like camp style not necessarily camps with camp style cross -training opportunities and not people to worry about
to steal my student and to this day we still get that. Well I don't want, I'm not sure I don't want my students, but I said okay we're not gonna steal any of students so. And that's a whole other conversation that we get in. Correct and that has to be brought up on the other side of the set that the other places won't steal the other students. They'll say no go back to your teacher he's the person who helped you or she's the person who helped you get to where you are now and that's the person that's gonna you're welcome to come here anytime you want to and train and so yeah. Well said we're gonna wind down here.
Jeremy (01:12:52.5)
back to you in a moment to close up your final words in a minute but actually before we do that how could people get a hold of you? You do social media, email...
Jeremy (01:13:06.836)
write to our emails and just make sure you
So if people want to get a hold of you, they can do that.
Thank everybody for being here.
Jeremy (01:13:23.028)
Okay, I'm better off with it.
Jeremy (01:13:28.372)
us with the shot.
Jeremy (01:13:43.828)
If you want to support us, go to whistlekick .com and pick something. Pick any of the many things. Come to our...
Jeremy (01:14:04.468)
words.
Jeremy (01:14:08.284)
Do's.
that uh... you know in in order for you to uh... to exist all takes us to do if if if if if you're a teacher if you're a student uh... and all teachers and students as well you're you're you're fighting something and evil if you don't believe it was a good deal is just lack of confidence or whatever that was uh... you know if you have to
Beat yourself up with it, but don't give up on the fight. Because the fight is worth fighting all the time. If you consistently are working the problem, the problem doesn't become a problem. And I'm a big fan of just never, never stopping. And I think that it doesn't have to be giant steps, it can be small steps, but don't ever stop. And that's, don't stop teaching, don't stop trying to inspire people, don't stop trying to inspire yourself, don't stop trying to get yourself better, because you always can be a little bit better.
and you're worth being better.