This week on the ATA Nation Podcast we talk to Master Kerry Regano from Ignite ATA Martial Arts in Ventura, California. At her recent tournament there was a great example of going Beyond the Belt and in this episode we talk all about it.

Not only will you hear the story of an awesome scholarship donation to Master Regano's students but you'll here how she got involved in ATA Martial Arts and how she looks to impact the future Beyond the Belt!

Takeaways:

• Master Regano began her martial arts journey by enrolling her son at age three, which led her to become a black belt and school owner.
• The Dan McGrath Scholarship Fund provides financial support for outstanding students in leadership programs, emphasizing the importance of community and mentorship.
• Master Regano highlights the transformative power of martial arts in developing leadership skills and character beyond physical training.
• Parents are encouraged to participate alongside their children in martial arts, fostering personal growth and strengthening family bonds through shared experiences.
• The ATA's philosophy of 'beyond the belt' emphasizes the lifelong values and skills students learn, which extend into their everyday lives.
• Involving oneself in martial arts not only enriches the child's experience but can also significantly enhance parents' lives and parenting skills.

Today we talk to a mom who's now a master and making an impact beyond the belt.

Let's get started.

Sir.

I will live with perseverance in the spirit of taekwondo, courtesy for fellow students, integrity within myself, and to become a black belt leader.

Welcome to the AtA Nation podcast.

Students, instructors, masters, parents, grandparents of Ata nation.

Welcome back to the ATA Nation podcast, where we are telling stories of instructors, students, everybody going beyond the belt.

This is episode 126, and I am your host, senior master Zach Hayden.

Ladies and gentlemen, we got some big stuff coming.

I'm not gonna lie.

We got some cool things on the horizon.

Stay tuned to social media.

Check some things out.

I can't.

I can't spill the beans right now, but it's been a little slow and coming.

But we're getting things going and it's going to be awesome.

But today we are actually going to feature an awesome interview with Master Regano.

I heard about this story from senior Master Lee.

He was out at their tournament, ignite martial arts in California, and just heard a really cool story and thought we should feature it here on the podcast because it is just super cool to hear about people going beyond the belt all over Ata nation.

So let's get started with that interview.

Special guest interview.

Back with another great interview.

We have Master Regano with us today from California and ignite martial arts.

How are you, ma'am?

I'm great.

How are you, sir?

I'm very good.

We were just talking about how busy we are as school owners and, you know, running from place to place.

And you recently had a tournament, which I know makes things even more busy.

But before we get into some of that information and some stories there, can you tell us a little bit about your history of martial arts?

How did you get involved?

Oh, that's a great question.

I got involved about 22 years ago because my son was in it.

I enrolled him when he was three and a half, and I didn't start till I was about, till he was about five.

And it was from instructors asking me to do class.

When are you going to do class?

When are you doing class?

Two other moms and I are like, let's do it.

So we did it.

All of us, these other two moms, we became black belts.

Some of us became state champions.

I'm the only school owner, but it's been about 22 years of doing martial arts.

So it's really my son, Stephen, Mister Dryrock.

Yeah, that got me involved with that.

We hear so many stories like that.

I just love it.

Parents get involved because their kids sick of sitting and just watching their kids do it.

And you're a master instructor now.

I mean, did you think that would happen?

I did not.

I think when I first started, my goal was fourth degree.

That was where I thought I would end.

And thankfully, I got my school.

I love teaching, and of course, I love martial arts.

And I have a really amazing best friend, Elizabeth on, and my instructor, Sean Barry, who motivate me to just keep going and not stop.

So that's my goal, just to keep going and not stop and see how far I can take this.

Well, that's fantastic.

Well, uh, yeah, you.

You have some, uh, some great instructors there.

Um, what, uh, like, what was the thought?

Like, when did you first think, like, hey, maybe.

Maybe I'll open a school, not just, uh, take martial arts?

Um, that's great question.

It was, honestly, I was.

I love teaching, so I was inspired by that.

And I just think it was great for me to have my own business.

I really wanted to have my own business and I wanted to also teach.

And it just seemed like that was a great combination, so I was able to just move on to the next, next step, and it hasn't.

I don't regret it at all.

It's been wonderful.

Oh, that's great.

I'm right with you, a small business owner.

I don't want to be somebody else's employee.

And I love teaching, and that's why the martial arts is such a good, you know, tie in there.

Well, just a couple weeks.

Exactly.

Exactly.

I tell, when I do different talks with different people out, you know, I tell them I thought about being a teacher in school, but, you know, I can't hit kids, you know, now I get paid to make them do push ups, whack them with combat sticks, you know, I mean, it's a great gig.

How can you go wrong with that?

I know the combat.

Combat weapons.

I tell you.

Exactly the greatest invention it is.

You just had a tournament not long ago.

Is this your first tournament?

Actually, no.

I have been doing tournaments.

Oh, so a bunch.

Yes.

And we probably, in the last five, six years, we made it Star wars themed, which I'm a huge Star wars fan, so we.

We made it Star wars themed, and so it.

Yeah, we.

We've been pretty blessed to have it every year.

Have one every year.

Oh, that's fantastic.

How was.

How was it this year?

Another good event?

It was a great event.

I mean, we.

We pretty much have it dialed in, set up cleanup.

We had an amazing panel of masters.

Senior master Taekwon Lee had come out with a special guest.

We also had Grandmaster William Wacholz there, and I mean, a whole panel of judges.

So it was pretty, it was pretty amazing to see all that leadership there at the tournament.

So it was great.

That's fantastic.

Well, that's actually, I got, I got turned on to hearing a little bit about your story from senior Master Lee.

He posted some neat things from your tournament and was like, hey, you know, they're doing some really cool things out here.

You know, Master Regano is, is rocking it here and you should talk to her.

And I was like, hey, that sounds great.

And, you know, we don't get enough west coast love on the podcast sometimes, you know, says, I'm an east coast or mid guy, mid America guy.

I don't always have the connection, so it's nice to connect.

There was a really neat story I saw from online that happened at your tournament.

I think something about a gentleman who learned about martial arts or whatnot and gave out some scholarships.

Can you give us a little bit of insight into this?

Of course.

So we do, he is a black belt, so we do have a gentleman.

He and his family were a family of black belt.

And he has decided to dedicate, basically he's given us a scholarship every year for leadership.

And it just provides kids, we get to pick two recipients and they of our choice, and then they receive $500 each to get into the leadership program.

And these are kids that we've chose that have been outstanding in class.

We know that they be great leaders.

So he's been doing that for every year.

It's called the Dan McGrath Scholarship Fund.

And it was fantastic.

What really made it great this year was he's really into working out.

And Mister McGrath, even in taekwondo, he was amazing, amazing athletes.

And he was at the gym and he just happened to run into one of our former students, one of our former junior instructors who's a third degree black belt.

And he talked to him like, oh, I'm doing the scholarship.

I'm gonna be at the tournament.

You know, the kids hear me talk about the scholarship every year.

And he asked our inspector, his name is Mister Anthony Ghost.

He now is a sophomore at Westminster College out here.

And he asked him, would you come in and talk about what the leadership program has done for you?

And Anthony, of course, was just, yes, you know, absolutely.

He said, I'll do it.

And it really tied into the ATA's beyond the belt, because this is what we talk about.

We talk about how it's not just about Taekwondo and what we're teaching our kids is valuable leadership skills.

So at the tournament, Anthony spoke and he talked about what it did for him.

I mean, I.

He started when he was seven and he's in college now, and he was one of our junior instructors and just an amazing individual, and it was such an inspiration to hear him talk about what it did for him as a leader.

Yeah, well, that's, that's super cool.

So this, this gentleman, he was a student of your guys'but, he just, he sees the, the power of the program.

He's just inspired by what you guys are doing.

Is that his motivation?

Absolutely.

His.

All his kids were in our leadership program and now they're all older.

So they were young family in our leadership program.

And as they're.

He just has seen the value in what it's done for his children.

And we've made connections.

We have been connected with him still.

He has just been very supportive of our school even after he stopped training and his kids got older and moved on to college.

So he just sees the value in what we do because it's not just at the Dojang, it goes beyond that.

And he has evidence from what his kids and himself as an adult have, have gone through because he was also in leadership.

Well, that is so cool that I, like you said, it's, it really does show that beyond the belt idea that what we're doing is not just, you know, kicking and punching and, and it even lasts, you know, after we obviously, as instructors, we would like our students to all stay students until, you know, forever.

But we know that that's probably not going to be the case.

And seeing that this lasts, you know, beyond that, that it makes this impact later on is just super important.

Wow.

Super cool.

What, what, what does it mean to you?

You know, this beyond the belt, this idea of beyond the belt, you know, obviously we talked about here, but what kind of things do you, do you want your students to have and take on beyond the belt?

Well, I.

What I joined when I started teaching, my goal was always not just martial arts, it was to obviously teach them that, but was to make them just amazing human beings and in life, you know, obviously be on the belt.

So all of our teachings have been, this is stuff that you would do at home, at school.

And so for me, that's really what motivates me to continue to teach, is to see how these kids grow with our program.

And I just use martial arts to teach it.

I mean, I really like to believe that we really make great human beings.

And when I see, like, a former student, Anthony Ghost or McGrath family come back and several students, including my own son, who is 27, he started when he was three and a half, it just, you see the product of what we teach, and it really just motivates me to continue on with this mission.

Wow.

Yeah.

It is so motivating to get to hear those stories, you know, of these students beyond the time that they're with us at the school and, you know, get to see them come back and say, hey, I've used this.

Hey, you know, I really remember that time there.

How cool.

Well, I really appreciate your time today, ma'am.

We're going to have to get connected with a few more of those awesome west coast people.

And is there any parting words of advice you'd give out there to maybe the parents of students that maybe they're sitting on the sidelines and they want to get in or they're looking at how their kid can take this beyond the belt as well?

Well, I would say, because I've seen it from a parent's perspective.

I was, before I joined, you know, watching what it was doing for my son.

And of course, now to where I'm at and whether you have aspirations to be a school owner or a master or anything like that, I just think it changed my life, in fact, that we as adults and as parents, we still can change our lives and make it better.

So.

And I would, I was 25 when I started, and I would say the journey, and I didn't think this would ever happen, but the journey had.

It's just.

It's life changing, obviously.

It's amazing.

And I could I recommend for every parent to get involved because not only for myself, but also what it did for my son and for my kids that are in Taekwondo.

It just.

It really had us.

We just have a better bonding experience and not to ever give up on their kids.

When they see their kids struggling through the program, the struggle is to make them the best individuals they can be.

And no matter what, don't give up on them because the end product is going to be pretty amazing, and they'll always be grateful that their kid was able to get through our program and enjoy martial art.

Good martial art.

It is for life.

And whatever we're teaching them, it's going to be for life.

Yes, ma'am.

Yeah.

And that's.

I love what you say there about, you know, parents can get better, too.

A lot of times we're like, we always sign our kids up for things because we're like, they need to get.

And we forget that we're.

We're not stagnant.

We could keep going.

We can get better.

We can keep moving.

And.

Made me a better parenthood.

Being in taekwondo made me a better parent, so made me be better with my kids, how to.

How to talk to them, how to encourage them.

So parenting isn't easy, right?

I mean, I know you have kids, too, so it's not easy.

And this definitely made me a better parent.

Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, I joke all the time that my kids are going to be so sick of hearing about our life skills because they get, you know, they get it in class, and then it's like, hey, I said the same thing at home all the time.

So it's just, it is really a powerful tool that we have.

And it, like you said, you know, these kids coming back, the kids that come back are probably not the ones that are.

That they quit when they were orange belts because something got hard.

You know, they're ones that stuck through the hard times.

Like you said, you know, parents encourage them to continue to push through even those hard times, because those are where you're learning those big lessons.

Yes, sir.

Well, ma'am, we really appreciate your time today.

I know you got to run to some other events, and we, we don't want to hold you up, and we just want to thank you for all that you do for Ata Nation and for your time today.

Thank you, sir.

Here's what's going on in Ata Nation.

I hope you enjoyed that interview.

Super cool to see what's going on and what a great impact our ATA licensees are making on people all across Ata nation.

Now, upcoming events, something I want to bring to your attention, in case you haven't heard about it, and I know.

We'Ve talked about it a little bit.

But Camp Jiangsu coming in December 5, 6th and 7th in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Let me tell you guys, I started.

Going to what was called leadership camp when I became a fourth degree.

At the time, they had one every year.

And if there was talk that you needed to make sure you went to.

Each of these for all of your time as a fourth degree and then as a fifth degree, to be able.

To become a master, these have come.

And gone and Whatnot.

But this Camp Jiangsu is really doing what that camp did for me.

The idea that I took from these camps was to develop what I was going to become, to set that path as a fourth degree to mastership.

And I man, I didn't miss those leadership camps, not a single one.

I was always at them because I.

Knew that I wanted to continue that training to become that master instructor.

And so I'm going to really encourage.

Those of you out there in Ata Nation.

If you are, you know, third degree.

Fourth degree, fifth degree, that are looking.

At saying, hey, mastership is what I want to do.

I want to set my goal on.

Becoming an ATA master.

Then I'm going to encourage you.

You need to go check out Camp Jiangsu.

It's going to be just an awesome experience.

So I'm going.

My family's coming down to Little Rock.

We're going to be there.

I think you need to check it out.

If you have any questions about it, head over to atamartialarts.com and check it out there.

Of course, talk to your instructor about it because you know, you always need to let your instructor know your plans.

If you're planning on being a master, your instructor better know about it.

That's going to wrap it up for us today.

Lots of things coming down the pike.

Make sure that you head over to your favorite podcast app, leave us a rating and review.

And please share on social network.

Or, you know, at class.

Just go at class and be like, hey guys, how are you guys listening to the at and Nation podcast?

You should.

It's awesome.

You should check it out.

I'd really appreciate it.

Okay, guys, until the next time, make sure you're out there living beyond the belt.

Thanks for listening to another episode of the ATA Nation podcast.

Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.

Sorry we didn't have an episode last.

But guys, we had some issues with my recording and takes some time to try to fix it.

Lots of things going on.

And then as I'm recording this right now, I'm actually in little Rock getting some stuff done for the podcast and some other things.

Hey, you guys listening?

Secret part.

You guys know, big things happening.

It's coming.

Thanks for being a loyal listener.

We appreciate it.

Take care.