Episode 914- Mr. Rob Leone

In today's episode Jeremy sits down in person and chats with Mr. Rob Leone about his martial journey and mentoring today's youth.

Mr. Rob Leone - Episode 914

SUMMARY
In this episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, Rob Leone shares his martial arts journey and the impact it has had on his life. He discusses his entry into the world of martial arts as a young kid and the lessons he learned about discipline and respect. Rob also talks about his time in the army and how it provided structure and mentorship. He highlights the importance of mentorship in martial arts and the positive environment it creates. Rob shares his experience with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the cultural elements that make it unique. He emphasizes the value of progress and belonging in martial arts. He also discusses the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters, which is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. He explains the connection between martial arts and mentoring, highlighting the skills and values that martial artists can bring to mentoring relationships. He emphasizes the impact of mentoring on at-risk youth, including improved behavior, academic performance, and social skills. He also discusses the opportunities and support available for mentors and mentees through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Lastly, he shares his vision of expanding the martial arts for mentoring initiative nationwide and encourages listeners to get involved and support the program.

TAKEAWAYS
* Martial arts provides structure, discipline, and mentorship, which can be especially valuable for those growing up in challenging environments.
* The martial arts community is a positive and supportive environment where individuals can learn, grow, and share their experiences.
* Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu offers a unique cultural experience and teaches valuable self-defense skills.
* Martial arts training fosters progress and a sense of belonging, creating a fulfilling and transformative journey. Big Brothers Big Sisters aims to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships for at-risk youth.
* Martial artists can bring valuable skills and values to mentoring relationships.
* Mentoring has a significant impact on the behavior, academic performance, and social skills of at-risk youth.
* Big Brothers Big Sisters provides opportunities and support for mentors and mentees.
* The martial arts for mentoring initiative aims to expand nationwide, and everyone can get involved and support the program.

CAHPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Martial Arts Radio
01:29 Entry into the World of Martial Arts
05:29 Joining the Army
09:04 Transition to the Workforce
12:45 Importance of Mentorship in Martial Arts
13:07 Discovering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
24:40 The Importance of Mentorship and Progress
25:06 Introduction to Big Brothers Big Sisters
26:26 The Connection Between Martial Arts and Mentoring
27:30 The Impact of Mentoring
28:27 Opportunities for Bigs and Littles
29:08 The Benefits of Mentoring
30:02 The Lifelong Impact of Mentoring
31:15 The Commitment of Mentoring
33:08 Martial Arts for Mentoring Initiative
34:01 Expanding the Initiative Nationwide
36:37 Getting Involved from Afar
41:28 Sharing the Mission and Making a Difference
45:31 Contact Information and Call to Action

Show Notes

Reach out to Rob Leone directly: rleone@bbbsnh.org

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Show Transcript

Jeremy (00:03.386)

What's happening everybody? It's another episode of Whistlekick martial arts radio and today Joined by Rob Leon. Thanks for being here Rob Make sure you visit whistlekick martial arts radio.com for everything we talk about today the show notes transcript links All that good jazz whistlekick.com is where you're going to find everything for all the other stuff that we do for our events For our training programs for our offerings for martial arts schools for links to the patreon

Blog hunt, tons of stuff over there. If you haven't been there in a while, make sure you go there. And a special shout out to Karate International here in Exeter, New Hampshire for hosting today's recordings. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. I'm glad you're here. You've got a great energy about you. You walked in the door and you're just like, you hit the ground running, man. Fired up. Yeah, yeah, I like it. I'm a high energy person, so it's- It shows.

I'm self aware too. So it's like sometimes, you know, high energy is a great thing, but sometimes you can be one of those accidental diminishes where you kind of like, sometimes the energy might be a little too much, but I tend to really, I can, you know, I feel when I've spoken a little too much and then I know when to draw back a little bit. I'm psyched to be here. Sure. Yeah. We're here to talk about you and your martial arts journey, how martial arts has changed your life, how you're changing the world through martial arts, all that stuff.

So let's roll tape back to the beginning. Okay. What's your entry into the world of martial arts look like? My entry into the world of martial arts is pretty much, I guess, like every young kid at some point in their age, you know? The first martial arts school I set foot in was a Fred Valari studio on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts back in the...

back in the late 70s. And they taught the Kenpo karate there and they served a lot of the city kids. So I came from a tough, rough and tumble neighborhood with a similar mom and they had a very robust sort of scholarship program there. It was like, look, we're here. If your kid continues to show up and follow the curriculum and put the effort in, there'll always be a place here for them. But keep in mind, there's a lot of kids knocking on the door.

Jeremy (02:26.634)

Yeah. Was it her idea or yours? It was probably mine. There were some kids in the neighborhood that showed up one afternoon with their uniforms on and I was just like, whoa, karate uniform, Bruce Lee, what's happening here?

It's like, oh, well, you know, we belong to this karate school down the street. Kids training in the late seventies was not a common thing. I don't think so. No, no, no. No, I started a few years after that and it was still in common. Yeah, it really was. Yeah, for sure. It was just I think there was a time, you know, when I was a kid growing up, Kung Fu theater was the biggest thing on earth, you know, and whoa, you know, the dust would fly every time there was a kick. And every Saturday morning, you just line up to watch these dubbed, you know, foreign movies, Kung Fu theater.

and I was like, poosley, whoa, you know? So to be able to actually put that gi on and start to learn at the very beginning was just, it was kind of, I felt like it was every kid's dream at that point, you know? Wanted to wear that uniform, wanted to have that first collared belt around there.

Did it keep you under trouble? Yeah, I mean to be honest with you, that was one of the things that was really important on the floor was the idea that, you know, is what we're building here is strong social constructions. You know, what we're helping you do is navigate the real world.

in real time. And so ideally, the curriculum was obviously at the front of everything, but it was really the lessons that you learned during the chats on the mat about things, everything from stranger danger to respecting the elders and being able to identify the people in your neighborhood and also teaching you how to use your mind and your words and your feet to walk away and, you know, and basically giving you all the tools to navigate all the headwinds as a kid. But at the same time, if God forbid you ever in a situation where you have to stand in the

Jeremy (04:16.292)

deliver, you'd have those tools too. How long did you stay at that school? Very long, less than a few years. Really? Yeah, the city is one of those places where one day you're just enamored by karate and the next day you want to be on the basketball court and the next day you want to ride your BMX to the other side of the city and back before lunchtime. That's a very 80s thing to say. That was more like, if it's 80s for me, it was 80, 81, 82. Yeah. So yeah, it was kind of, you know.

And then of course then, you know, there was that reconnection. I reconnected with martial arts later as a teenager at a place called Tony Cogliandros. And then. What prompted that?

other friends doing it and being like, hey man, you used to be karate and you were a little kid, you know, now you're a teenager, you should come do some real karate, you know, and it's like, what does that mean? Well, come and find out. And it's sort of like similar curriculum, but the introduction of sparring and, and that sort of thing. So it's usually friends and family members that are usually the ones that always kind of bring you back to the, to the center of focus. So, um, yeah. Um, and then I was off to the army.

Jeremy (05:29.924)

Can I ask why? Well, again, when you're- That's a big decision. Can I tell you, you know, again, I grew up in a single parent household and my mom did her hardest to, you know, she had four kids in the family. As you can imagine growing up in the city, it's rough and tumble. And, you know, she's doing her very best punch in the clock as a single mom trying to put food on the table and teach her right from wrong. And even though when you're in the confinement of the four walls of that household, the minute you walk outside the door, it's a whole new world. It's a different world.

and that sort of, those headwinds follow you everywhere you go, make it difficult for you. And then I had my first mentor was a man named Joe Sullivan. He was the vice principal of high school and he was, he had a nickname of Warden.

And we called him that because he was the former warden of Whirlpool Prison. And on top of that, he was a colonel in the United States Army Reserves. So one day I was outside and I was probably 17 years old. And he said, hey, Rob, come on over, I want to talk to you. And he says, hop in the car, let's go for a ride uptown. And I says, okay, well, we were driving uptown. He says to me, Rob, I've done my best that I can with you, but you're not going to college.

and I don't want to see you standing in front of the 7-Eleven with a cigarette in your mouth and nowhere to go. So I'm going to take you to a place and we're going to get you working on your future." And by the time this conversation ended, we were sitting in front of the recruitment station. Yeah, yeah. And I embraced it with open arms. I was like, hey, I saw Rambo. This is the coolest. I'm going to be a military guy like Mr. Sullivan. He's a colonel. I'm going to be a colonel.

and it was funny i went home and i'm like hey mom you gotta sign these papers and she's like well i'm not signing those papers and i'm like well yeah you are and she did and then i was off the boot camp and fought back in georgia that was it man that was it so you you're your will were you willing to do this because you were willing to do anything or because you had put that much stock in this mr solomon i had no willingness to do anything to be quite honest with you know i had

Jeremy (07:29.654)

I had no idea how to navigate the real world. I had no idea what a mentor was and wasn't. I had no idea what it was like to go out and fill out job applications. I had no idea what it was like to have a checking book or check account. I was completely unprepared for the real world. It didn't come from a nuclear household. I didn't have some of the...

things in place, you know, where you have these privileges in a way where, you know, it helps you navigate those obstacles. I never had those. So for me, it seemed like perfect. Like somebody held me by the hand and took me somewhere and said, this is going to change your life for the better. Trust me. And I was like, okay, this is, this is what I'm going to do. What was it like?

It was everything I thought it would be. It was, you know, you get there, you get the shock treatment, you know, your head shaved, you've got your gear, you're learning drill and ceremony, and you're running, and you're learning how to read maps and navigate courses, and that's just bootcamp, you know? And you've got friends sending you letters, and you're reading them, and you're feeling like, wow, I do have friends, I do have family, and I'm not alone, and I can't wait to go home and share this experience with everybody, and I can't wait for bootcamp to be over.

to get to my next job training and find my way to a duty station and continue like on this. It was great. It really was. How long were you in? Six years. And then?

Then I came home and four of those years were Army Reserves. And I went to Bunker Hill Community College, not very long, and I went to work for a gentleman named Nick Scatoro. He was really my first serious mentor. He had a specialty shop in Lakefield, Mass. It was called the Skate and Sport Shack. And he taught me everything about ski equipment, how to...

Jeremy (09:30.754)

prepare skis and do binding checks and mount bindings and top rep nautic skis and how to engage with people and sell products and do quick math in my head and everything there was to know about specialty retail man this guy just he was always there for me all the time he was like Rob we're going to do this we're going to do that this is what we're going to do and it was I loved it was great it was like I loved it was awesome.

So we're kind of seeing an arc through here. You're appreciating structure.

Yeah. Maybe even more so than a lot of young people would possibly because of, I don't want to say a lack of structure, but you know, single parent household for children, that structure is going to be at least a little diluted. Yeah, for sure. There's only so much attention one parent can give to four kids. So totally correct. Yeah. It's funny because I'm circling back to Tony Cogliandro's school is that Nick's son, Anthony was heavily into that.

night it's not coming to sparring with us at Tony C's and I was like yeah let's go and again it's kind of like that reintegration again into the martial arts world it's kind of like you sometimes you might leave for a little bit but that call is always calling you back because it's a feeling you get when you're in the school when you're in an academy when you're in a place that's a true martial arts academy there's just when you get inside there there's a

Jeremy (11:06.17)

It's hard to actually come up with the correct words for what it is, but it's a, it's, you feel when you leave like you're on top of the world, your head's held high, like you're, everybody around you when you're in that martial arts community is all about advancement, learning more, sharing with one another. It's positive. It's a positive environment. It's the best environment on earth. It's a good, healthy martial arts school.

everybody's bettering themselves and contributing to the betterment of everyone else around them. And there are very few places in the world where that is true. You might get environments where half of the people think that way or three quarters of the people think that way. I'm going to guess that while you were even active

most of your fellow soldiers were like that but there were still plenty of them like I don't want to be here it's funny that you say that because there's a little bit of that but actually not so much and the funny part about it is that some of the combat training was hand to hand so you got to enjoy some striking, the peel sticks were big so it's almost kind of like okay it's almost you have staff training at traditional kung fu schools at karate schools it's almost like hey it's a staff

big pads on the end of it, which is like, I can hit people really hard with this and it's totally okay, you know, where generally most of your work with staff or three sectional staff when you're in traditional martial arts is generally a form. You're not going at it with one another with those things, yeah. Good stuff. So you keep bouncing back.

martial arts yes and so where where's our next point on the timeline I gotta tell you um where it became obvious to me that I was on this journey forever is when I found jiu-jitsu um over 15 years ago uh a friend of mine's brother decided he wanted to do an MMA fight

Jeremy (13:07.982)

And because his brother, who's my best friend, who's also a black belt in jujitsu, he, uh, and has graced the cage a few times. This was prior to this ever happening. He said to us, Hey, you know, I'm doing this MMA fight and you know, you guys gonna get me ready. And the two of us looked at each other like, yeah, like Rob's taking karate. And he advanced, you know, through all the schools he went through. But

you know, like, are you sure you want to do this? Like, you know, most of these guys are collegiate wrestlers. Most of these guys are high-ranking Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. Most of these guys have a striking acumen. Like, you're just a rough and tumble kid who's, you know, throwing a few kicks and punches, and what are you doing here, you know? But we acquiesced and said, sure, man, we'll join your cause. And then Rich, my best friend, he looked at me and he said...

We get a slot to watch some jujitsu, man. We signed up for jujitsu and then we never stopped. Never stopped. As an aside, I showed up at a fight to support a friend once, found out I was cornering. So I get it. It's like, OK, give me a bucket, give me some ice. I have a towel. I'll walk you out there, man. I'll get you breathing. But it's um.

He won but they both had concussions. Yeah, those walks there are incredible walks. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, they're incredible walks. And what did you think of getting him ready? What was that experience like for you? It was an interesting experience. So Rich reached out to a friend who was a professional MMA fighter who spiked locally and had quite a few fights up at this time. And he laughed. He says, I know you and Rob are really tough. You know?

and but there's a big difference between being tough on the streets and the cage work. He's like, so why don't you jump in the car, come on up to my school and we'll try to work through some basics. If gosh forbid this ends up on the ground, which it probably will, he's going to need some tools to understand how to move and where to go so this doesn't end very quickly.

Jeremy (15:07.89)

so we were fortunate enough to be able to go spend a little time with him up in his school in Maine and he welcomed us with open arms. Can I ask you that once? It was Bill Jones. He's one of my favorite people. So Bill Jones is a local guy and the thing that I love about Bill and I've always loved about him is that he's a full-time dad and he was fighting for the fun of it. You know, he really loved to fight. He'd fight anybody, anywhere.

got a very, very respectable record. And he was fighting at a time when Jiu-Jitsu wasn't full blown ahead. It was still in MMA was still in gestation. You know what I mean? It wasn't producing the type of talent that's out there now. You know, I'm talking from birth, you know, so Bill, great guy, love him a lot, went to all his fights, loved watching him fight. He always opened up his doors to us. That wasn't where we ended up, you know, planting our seeds and deciding to stay but it was a was a geographical thing, sure than anything.

The thing that we loved about him the most was that he was a full-time dad, full-time worker on the roof every single solid day, but then he still found time to help out these young people that wanted to do what he was doing. They had a great little thing. His school eventually was sold to Devin Powell. Devin Powell took it over. Right now Devin Powell's nose toast is just like...

I mean what he's doing over there is just it's something that's incredible and magical I mean, how so well he's taken all these young people from that Berwick Summersworth area and he's homegrown them literally from young kids Who starry-eyed and was like I'm gonna do MMA And Devon Powell is a local superstar MMA fighter. He's been to the UFC's been to the big shows He's got big wins under his belt and he's just an all-around super guy So it was like and now his fighters they're out there and they're winning

They're taking tough fights. So it's just like to see the progression over the last 15 20 years to see it I kid like Devon go from being just a young kid We want to do the same thing at the seacoast MMA to now being a mentor and that's what he is. He's a mentor

Jeremy (17:09.118)

Mentoring young people he's bringing the world of mixed martial arts. He has a great curriculum up there. He's offering jiu-jitsu He's offered women's only jiu-jitsu. He's offering Muay Thai and then he's got himself an MMA team. That's like There are some of the finest up-and-coming amateurs and pros in all of New England There's a there's a common thread here and I know we'll get into this there's a common thread I'm gonna foreshadow a little bit in that the way you're talking about

people who are mentored the way you're talking about people who give back pass it on forward however you want to turn it one there's something there and we'll get into that but yes you can go there yeah i mean i guess that's it i mean you know it's on great people always going to help always opening their doors always want to share their resources that's martial arts martial arts is

you know it's funny because i grew up in a time when you watch kung fu theater and there's one school going to another school and having this challenging fight on the courtyard of who's the best school but that's like that is the furthest from what it actually is. it's nothing like that it's just you know when you see martial artists competing on any level whether it's a local grappling competition whether it's a local forms and weapons competition

striking competition there's so much camaraderie there's so many hugs and high fives and smiles and people sharing and trading shirts and taking pictures together and again it's mentorship it's like the martial arts is where people learn and share the most beautiful part about martial arts is nobody ever has to worry about being hurt nobody ever has to worry about being embarrassed because

they're in an environment where they have complete and total trust in the community that's around them. Yeah, that trust is so important.

Jeremy (19:11.214)

we can't get good without someone offering up their body. It doesn't matter what your discipline is. It's, you know, you find any value in what people, uh, in combatives, whether it's, you know, because you're training some, some grappling art or because you want to spar or whatever it is, then yeah. Uh, you need, you need bodies. Yeah. I, uh, I like to use the word, um, mutual cooperation and warm bodies,

Lots of times when people say to me, Rob, how do you help out the MMA team? I'm like, I'm a great warm body.

You know what I mean? You need somebody that's gonna be mutually cooperative. You need somebody that's gonna give you the energy that you need, but you also need somebody that understands you're not the star. You're not the person that's getting ready. You're just a small cog in a much bigger mechanism. And again, that's martial arts. It's like all of us understand we have a role to play and we embrace that role and our goal is to share in the fullest and most meaningful way we can share.

Yeah, I mean, that's martial arts, man. You made a comment, I don't remember the exact words about finding Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu being such a transitional and important thing in your martial arts journey. Can you speak to that? Yeah, if there's one thing that I noticed when I came into the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, there was a culture involved in it. And I think that it's different from sort of traditional martial arts where, you know,

The culture is part of that, what's the word that I'm looking for? This intrinsic value when it comes to BJJ is that.

Jeremy (20:56.938)

you know that lineage of it how it started what it was made for the connection to true self-defense and how it can take smaller people smaller bodies and give them the opportunity to if gosh forbid they ever found themselves in a daunting situation they'll be able to move in a manner to get out from underneath bad spots and find their way into uh better opportunities to evade bad situations and again

going back to the whole cultural thing, it's you get to meet an entire culture of people and you get to learn about them and they're sharing with you their experiences because let's face it, when you think about Brazil and think about where Brazil is now compared to where Brazil may have been 30 years ago.

my tough rough and tumble neighborhood that I grew up in is just like it's Disney World compared to the rough and tumble neighborhoods that some of these Let's keep in mind in order for them to create a combat sport that they wanted to watch it had to be Valley 2 It's amazing, right? You couldn't

Yeah, if you don't know what Valley Tudo is, go check it out. I can't even put it in the words. It's, it's some of my biggest, most, most favorite fighters of all time come from that Valley Tudo family, you know, just the energy and the excitement. And it's just, wow. You know, yeah, for sure. So what was it like stepping into that? Cause you're talking about the cultural elements, energetic elements of training BJJ coming in from.

A Kempo karate background. Well, the beautiful part about it is that, again, you know, I love mixed martial arts.

Jeremy (22:42.194)

So any chance that I get to learn from, you know, for instance, our, our Muay Thai program at the PMA, where I train is, uh, is a city on Thai Muay Thai. And so once a week we have the tremendous honor of having kumak dalagrady in our building. So, I mean, you know, come on, you know what I mean? It's like, where else are you going to get an opportunity to, to learn from somebody like that? You know? And again, um,

it's a traditional martial arts school, just Shaolin and Kampo Karate there. So all of the tenants and kind of like all of sort of the things that bring the whole martial arts full circle, it really manifests from that beginning spot. Cause you have to imagine the majority of the students in this big building, they're children.

And they're, what are they doing? They're building their martial arts construction from a traditional martial arts. They're building their social conductions constructions from a traditional martial arts. They're learning to behave and work together cohesively in a group.

They're themselves learning how to become mentors as well as they... And I'm talking young kids, mentoring little kids. I remember the first time I was really scared, I'm going to help you. And parents get to watch this all unfold in real time, you know? So by the time these kids hit teenagers, they're like, I want to get into jiu-jitsu. I want to do Muay Thai. I want to do mixed martial arts. And...

Yeah, it's all of it together. It's like, we live in a world where I believe, you know, we have so much opportunity at our, you know, so much opportunity right in front of us. And we need to take advantage of it, more people do. Yeah. Let's kind of switch gears. Let's switch into the piece that I was foreshadowing at because I wanna make sure we have time to talk about it because I know how important it is.

Jeremy (24:40.81)

You have recognized that, you know, if we take these things that you're finding so much value in, in martial arts training, mentorship, progress, an opportunity to belong all of these things, your day job, right? My day job. Your day job. Yeah. And your efforts even beyond that, it seems.

are in an effort to create that for those who maybe don't have it. Yes, so my passion, I work for Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire and what Big Brothers Big Sisters does is mission is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power of promise of youth.

and it's our vision that all youth achieve their full potential. So what does that mean? We have kids out there that you know they're at risk for one reason or another you know. Parents are working really hard to provide everything they can for their kids and sometimes they just don't have the capacity. So they need an extra trusted adult to bring into the fold to help share some time with their kid to you know do all those wonderful things that sometimes you know they just might

And yeah, and for me, I mean, again, I think to myself, martial arts, mentoring, martial arts, mentoring, how can I bring the martial arts community into the world of mentoring outside of the martial arts to give at-risk youth an opportunity to experience life through a lens that they might not necessarily have a chance to do in the situation they're in right now.

When you talk about mentoring, I think a lot of us, especially if we've spent a lot of time in Marshmarts.

Jeremy (26:32.506)

we may not realize that we have mentored people and we may not have realized the impact we've had on people. You know, I don't have kids, but I've been Uncle Jeremy to quite a few friends' children over the years and I've loved that time and I've had the opportunity to share whether it's martial arts or you know love of science or whatever it is something just different

Jeremy (27:02.34)

have from their parents, you know? And it seems like such a no-brainer because when we get used to standing in the front of the room or being a long-standing partner, understanding what it's like to work one-on-one with someone in the context of training, that develops a skill set that for most of us kind of doesn't necessarily. And when we walk out the door,

but maybe goes underutilized. I don't think it ever ends when you lock out the door. I think that there's a direct connection between what we do at Big Brothers, Big Sisters and what martial arts have been doing for quite a long time. I think that it's kind of something that I hope to bring martial arts and mentoring to Big Brothers, Big Sisters. My hopes is twofold. One,

where we always need bigs and mentors in our program, because there's never a shortage of at-risk youth. There's never a shortage of- What does it mean to be a big? Oh man. Can I tell you something? It's not babysitting, but I think that some people, if they aren't familiar with that program, might go there first. You do not need a cape, and you do not need to be a superhero. All you need to do is show up, and you'd be amazed at the stars in the eyes of a young kid where people just show up.

and we have so many wonderful opportunities for Biggs to engage with their littles in the community. And what do I mean by that? We have a match support.

and those folks are there specifically to make sure, oh Jeremy, you're going on with your little, I don't know what to do. That's okay. Did you know that you could go to the Sea Science Museum and just show your big card and they let you in? It's a great learning experience. Did you know that you could go to the J.B.'s Cakes Bagels down by the ocean? You guys can have an acai bowl or go watch the surfer surf. Did you know that you guys could go to the escape room and how amazing is that? Work on problem solving.

Jeremy (29:08.472)

work on reading clues and getting out of an escape room. So you have support that's always there to kind of help you build that relationship, kind of take that pressure off. But at the end of the day, just showing up and showing a kid some attention, throwing some bread at the docks or something, you know what I mean? Like playing some checkers in the park. It's it's the it's can I tell you it's the best. It's like it's so wonderful and the kids.

They love it. And the parents and the caregivers, the aunties and the uncles, whoever it is at home that reached out to us and said, hey, you know, we'd like to have a bake for our child. They love it too. You know what I mean? Because they can see it and it unfolds in real time. And the kids that we serve, all of them show in real time, they get along better with their peers. They're doing better in school. They're getting their homework done.

They're just better with their focus, better with their concentration, better behavior around the household. All of those little things that we take for granted that we don't realize, sometimes it takes that extra, extra trusted adult, that positive influence in your life to really kind of frame out a new vision, to frame out a new...

a new ability to recognize that, hey, life is really good. I'm having lots of fun. I went out with Jeremy. We went to a ball game. We went bird watching. I never went bird watching before. Did you know that there's this many birds and that, you know, it's just, I get choked up. It's hard for me even to talk like this because for me it's like, there's so many wonderful opportunities to do community work out there, but I love this because.

One, it hits me close to home because I wish I had a mentor. And you get to see it unfold in real time. Because you blink your eyes and 11 year old kids graduate high school or not. You know what I mean? And it happens really fast. Yeah. There aren't a lot of things you can do where...

Jeremy (31:15.342)

Showing up consistently is the goal, right? Showing up. And martial arts is kind of one of them, right? Like we tell people, show up. Again. How do I get better at martial arts? You show up. You just gotta show up. And mentoring is just about that. It's about showing up. So, I'm gonna show you how to show up.

You know, and we have awesome programs. We have our community-based programs where it's what you'd imagine. Jeremy goes, he picks up his little, they go to the park, they go for a walk. They place with checkers. They get a soda pop somewhere. They build this amazing relationship. And our matches last two and a half, three. A lot of our kids do what's called age out. They're with their bigs so long that when it comes time and they hit 18 years old, I can't tell you how many pitches I've seen of.

Jeremy (32:03.625)

I'm getting choked up because this is like, it's real and it happens. And these success stories are amazing. I meet the most wonderful people and I can't tell you how many times I've heard from a grown-up, I was a little 35 years ago in the city of Austin, 40 years ago.

in the city of manchester to this day i ice i'm still engaged with my big i'm calling my brother i call them my sister i call them my best friend it's uh... yes so what are you what are you doing you talked about we know that this is your job you know all of this yes we know that martial arts is a big part of yes you are

How are you bringing these two things together? You mentioned wanting to get the martial arts population involved, but you've got some specific things that you're working on to that end. Yeah, so my focus really, particularly with this interview that I'm so psyched that you're giving to me and your audiences, I want to let everybody know that we have initiative.

martial arts for mentoring we've had our second annual kickathon this year and this kickathon allows all students Youth and adult ages to throw as many kicks as they can in a minute To jiu-jitsu people throw up as many arm bars as they can in a minute We've had a kung fu school throw as many fist strikes as they can in a minute and right here at karate international Craig decided you know what I'm having a symposium this day and rather than throw the kicks and punches what we're gonna do is We're gonna bring in

bunch of martial artists to all different disciplines. We're going to offer it not only to our students but also to the public as well for free and all that we ask for a return all that we ask for a return is that rather than paying for the symposium you make a donation whatever your capacity is to Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire to help out with martial arts for mentoring and this was our second year.

Jeremy (34:01.33)

We set a goal for $20,000 and we're literally right knocking on the doorstep. We're almost there because we're still counting the pledges and dollars as they come in. The site's still up and we're about to now embark on a recruitment campaign. So the big thing for me is right now is I'm looking to recruit martial artists.

do they have to be in New Hampshire? Well, I'm Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire, but the truth is, no, I know you're in Vermont, and here's something that's interesting. Vermont has joined forces with Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire, so we're kind of, we're in this collaborative together, which is great because if they're a martial artist in Vermont, right, get at me. What if they're elsewhere? You know, we're, this is a global show, most of our audience is in the US. My goal is this, my goal is that five years down the line,

artist president big brothers big sisters of america's gets on the wire with our c.e.o. what's going on in hampshire i hear you got this martial arts reventing thing i hear that there are all kinds of people signing up to be mentors i hear that there are all kinds of schools that want to join the fundraiser once a year for the kickathon arm barathon

We need to do this in every state in the union. There are a ton of martial arts schools in every state in the union. There are a ton of martial artists all across the United States. And if there's one thing that I know about martial artists, and this is one thing I know, martial artists are all about their community. They really are. They're all about giving back.

what better way to give back than to being a big, to a youth who might not have the opportunity to get to a school three days a week. Because mom and dad are working really hard, they can barely get all their jobs, let alone get their youngster to a school three, four days a week. So, yeah, we have in this state,

Jeremy (35:54.422)

We're serving over 250, 270 active matches right now. Right here on the sea coast where we are, we have, we have 125 active matches right here on the sea coast. We have 50 plus on the waiting list. Don't gloss over that, cause that- That's what it is, yeah. That's the important piece. The important piece is our waiting list. We have, right in the sea coast over,

What do I say? In the entire state, over 150 on the wait list. 80% of them are boys. And what do we need? We need mentors, we need bigs. We need people who are at home listening to this right now saying you know something.

I've always wanted to do something in the community. I've always wanted to give back, but I just didn't really know what it was. I've never really come across information that's hit me in a way where I'm like, this is what I wanna do. So what I'm hoping for after the end of this interview and at the end is you get off this and say, oh man, I know exactly what I wanna do. I wanna be a mentor. I wanna be a big. I'm gonna make the inquiry. I'm gonna hit that QR code and I'm gonna go make the inquiry

This is what I want to do. I want to give back to my community and I want to do it by being a mentor by being a big One of the things that I believe holds martial arts participation back in Western culture is likely The same reason that imagine some folks would be nervous about getting involved. It's that there's no definitive endpoint If you join a martial arts school You go until you stop going. It's your choice

and it's the end of the year, it's the end of the six week program, it's the end of the six month program. Oh for sure. And it's one thing if I do that and then I stop, that's on me, I'm letting myself down. For sure.

Jeremy (37:49.826)

but when there's a young child involved, that might make somebody nervous. Well, there's a commitment involved. Yeah. So the commitment, and can I tell you, it's a very easy commitment. It's a one-year commitment. It's four hours a month. And I can assure you that it's not a heavy lift at all. Most of our bigs spend more than the four hours a month with their littles because they realized right at the onset, like, this is not a heavy lift. By the time I get in the car, shoot over,

pick up my little, hang out in the park, go to a hockey game, play some chess and checkers. Like three hours, just three, four hours goes by and snap the finger. And you know what else? They find themselves really connected to their little. And they're like...

I'm seeing my work unfold in real time. I'm finding myself more and more attached to my little in a way where I want to see this little succeed. And I'm spending way more time than I even have to, that's required of me, where it almost gets to the point where when that one year is up and their math support's like, you're going to stay on. It's like, am I staying on? I'm not going anywhere. I can't wait to see my little in high school. I can't wait to see my little go to a prom. I can't wait to see my little graduate go to college.

You know, I can't wait to see my little wear a tuxedo at my wedding. You know what I mean? Like it's uh, it's not a heavy lift. But to look at it from another perspective, because I, you know, one of the things I've, I think I do a pretty good job of is anticipating when someone doesn't want to take an action, right? Trying to understand why that one year piece, right? If, if somebody says, I don't know if I'm going to live here in three years. That doesn't mean you can't. It doesn't mean you shouldn't. It doesn't mean you can't. It doesn't mean you should. Right. What would you tell someone if they

we're only going to be around for a year and then they might move would you tell them don't come to my martial arts school sit on the couch never i'd say just keep coming and keep showing up until some is better than none it's the best you know for me i'm like again

Jeremy (39:46.658)

There's so many ways you can support Big Brothers Big Sisters in New Hampshire. You know, and again, one of the things that's really important to me is that type of messaging. The messaging is this, you might not have the capacity to be a big. However, you might work for a company that has a big, robust community program where you can say, hey, we have a Benevity program in our work. And right now, they're sending, you know, information out to say, hey, we're taking a poll. What type of nonprofit do we want to support in the community?

this year. Boom there we go. You might have a project on your hand and this resonates with you and you could say hey Rob I don't have the capacity to be a big but I'm in this position at my work and we're doing this big project and we want to focus it on Big Brothers Big Sisters. What you're doing right now, what you're doing right now, what Jeremy's doing right now is he's giving back. He's giving me a platform.

to share our mission with you, to see if what we're talking about here resonates with you in the way that you're saying, you know what? I am a martial artist. I love Jeremy's show. I've always wanted to give back to the community. I am a mentor. I wanna do this. I gotta call this guy Robin the phone. I gotta find out a little bit more.

and I'm gonna become a big, this is something that I wanna do. And that's what we're doing here right now, isn't it? We're sharing our martial arts stories with one another and I'm making the connection between what we do as martial artists and being mentors and how that lasts a lifetime for all of us. And I wanna bring that into the world of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, New Hampshire, so that we can get some of our youth off that wait list

get some of our martial artists on the road to mentorship. This has always been the mission of Martial Arts Radio, is to show how martial arts training creates change in the world. I think for so many people, especially if they're new to martial arts, or if they've never done martial arts, they think the path of a martial artist is I train and then maybe I teach and that's it. And those are the two states. I'm a student or I'm a teacher, hopefully also still a student. Yeah, you're always a student. But here we are.

Jeremy (41:58.908)

You know, we are, we just passed episode 900, I don't know exactly what episode this is going to be. And, you know, so we're near 500 interview episodes.

and all of them have things in common, but they're not the same story. And that to me is the fascinating thing because the people who sit in the chair with a single exception have all been martial artists and they all have that in common, but they took that skillset that developed. It changed their life in some way and then they implemented that into the world in some way. And yeah, sometimes there's, we see some patterns, but it's often very, very different and you're a great example.

I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Yeah, of course. Thank you Now obviously if someone's in Vermont, New Hampshire reaching out to you directly that's easy. That's clean. Make sure we get that contact information You mentioned that the goal is to get this big enough that it goes national. So the folks out there watching Listening, how can they help you from afar get that program to go national?

Hey, it's simple. If you're listening to this podcast, and you're in Texas, Google your local Texas big brothers, big sisters, and get on the wire and make the inquiry and say, hey, I'm a martial artist. I saw a podcast. They're doing great things in New England, particularly in New Hampshire and...

I want to be a big. What this gentleman said resonated with me and I want to be a big. I mean, again, this is what we're talking about. The thing that's most important for me is telling our story, getting our mission out there. As many people as we can reach to share our mission with, as many people that are willing to redistribute this information so that more people can hear it.

Jeremy (43:57.794)

That's the goal, right? The goal is telling our story and sustainability. I feel personally that there is a well of opportunity with martial artists that will never end. There will always be martial artists. And as long as there's always gonna be martial artists.

there's the potential to be a lot of bigs too. And I think that there's a substrata of martial artists out there that have the time and the capacity and the willingness to do this sort of community work. And you're the folks that I'm appealing to.

But I'm appealing to everybody because if you don't have the capacity to give as let's say as a big in the program You definitely have the capacity to share a story You definitely have the capacity to make an introduction to somebody who might be interested in what we're doing you get time talent treasure Everybody has it. It's just a matter of how they want to distribute it, you know and My Humble request to everybody out there is

Jeremy (45:01.25)

give us a call, give me a call. Yeah, what's the contact information? Let's drop that in. Yeah, let's drop the contact information. You can email me at rleone, r-l-e-o-n-e, at bbbsnh.org. Or you can call me directly, 603-793-1345. Say, hey Rob, I saw your interview. I love it. What's next? And let's let the magic happen. Well, you're probably not gonna drop the phone number in the transcript, in the show notes. That's okay, that's okay.

you know it's a little bit easier to do lots of random robo I know this is perfect yeah great but you know folks that are watching can hold that number and I know you mean that when you ask them to reach out to you know what you aren't gonna see in our conversation is the 20 minutes that we had out there yeah with Craig Wareham who other than Andrew holds the record being on the show the most number of times he's very proud of that

uh... as well as the guess that i had prior to speaking robin for us which is and it's happening you know you got choked up a couple times talking about this and you did happened it's not your to it's you know it's clear how passionate you are and you know you don't have to look too far to see a kid that could benefit from a little more attention it's just about all of them it's just about all and you're not asking anybody out there

support every kid. No. You're asking them to support a kid. A kid. One to one mentorship. Yeah. It does. It's amazing what one to one mentorship can do. It's proven it works. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's heavy. But at the same time, it's a great feeling. If you have trained in a

conventional martial arts setting, you have reaped the benefit of receiving guidance from multiple people. 100%. No martial arts program that I'm aware of exists where...

Jeremy (47:13.594)

you as a student do not benefit from the other students. No. Right? It's the, I'm not aware of any way that you could tune your ears to only hear the instructor, et cetera, right? You're around these other people, they are helping you, you're helping them, that communal environment, you know the benefits of that. And in a slightly different way, that's what we're talking about here. You're not asking people to replace parents. No. You're not asking people to adopt. No. You're asking people to be mental.

be part of a collective that is helping raise these children up and making the world better. Lift them up. That's right. No meaningful learning takes place, you know, without a trusted adult by their side, you know, and that's, uh, you know, yeah. Right on. I'm gonna come back to you in a minute, but we're gonna close out here. Hit the show notes, grab that email address.

Even if it's not right for you at this time, it might be right for you in the future. And even if it's not right for you, you probably know half a dozen people that a little bit of a poke to say, you know, you were just saying the other day that you're feeling like you kind of miss having kids around because your kids have moved on. You know, this is your opportunity. Heck, you can teach them martial arts. So totally correct. Right?

I want to have my own school, but I don't have the time. Go grab a little and teach them, right? Share something with them. You know, it's not going to take a ton. And the myth, one of the biggest myths of all, one of the biggest myths of all is I'm too old. You're not too old. You have tons of it. If you have a ton of energy.

You're never too old. Never. If you're breathing, you can still find a way to do this. Oh, I mean, you need to be ambulatory. Oh, okay. All right. You've got to be able to get around, you know? Okay. It's a little bar. Yeah. It's a very little bar. Most people are going to clear that bar. Yeah, most people, yeah. And I just, yeah, for sure.

Jeremy (49:16.254)

Make sure you hit up the show notes as I said, whistlekick.com for all the things that we've got going on. And again, thank you to Karate International for hosting us here today. Rob, I'm gonna have you wrap. So what do you wanna leave them with? How do you wanna close up? I'd like to close up by reminding folks, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of New Hampshire is right now embarking on our.

recruitment campaign. We're looking to drive a lot of energy and a lot of inquiries to our website. Our goal is to get all these young kids who are on the waiting list matched with mentors and bigs. So please reach out to the info that's going to be the info is there and make the inquiry. Reach out, say hello. And also like Jeremy was saying, super connectors are great too. If you don't have

the capacity to introduce us to somebody do that as well we love super connectors and yeah that's yeah really appreciate it yeah