Master Candidate Liz Beto joins Senior Master Zach Hayden to discuss her inspiring journey and the impactful work she has done in her community, which earned her the prestigious Sunsee Lee Award. Liz’s commitment to service began long before her Taekwondo journey, as she started participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at a young age. After facing her own family’s battle with cancer, she turned her grief into action, leading fundraising efforts that have raised over $350,000 for cancer support services. The conversation highlights the importance of using martial arts as a platform for community engagement and service, encouraging others to go beyond the belt and make a difference. Liz emphasizes that everyone, regardless of age or resources, can contribute to their community through time and effort, illustrating the profound impact of compassion and leadership in martial arts.

Takeaways:

• Master Candidate Liz Beddow won the prestigious Sun C. Lee Award for her significant community service contributions.
• Her journey in Taekwondo began at age 12, influenced by her family's involvement in martial arts.
• Liz initiated fundraising for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life at a young age.
• The impact of cancer on her family motivated her to continue fundraising and helping others.
• Beto's innovative kick-a-thon fundraiser has raised over $51,000 in the last event alone.
• She emphasizes the importance of giving back, especially through community service and leadership.

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Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:00:00

Have you heard of the Sun C. Lee Award? We're gonna talk to a winner today. Let's get started.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:00:06

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.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:00:25

Sirs, ma'am, instructors, students, parents, grandparents of Ata Nation, welcome back to the Ata Nation podcast. This is episode 130, and I'm your host, Senior Master Zach Hayden. It is a joy to be back with you again today.

We are going to going to get to an interview here in just a second with Master candidate Liz Beto. I have known Master Candidate Beddow's husband since he was wee to a grasshopper.

Um, we grew up together in taekwondo when he was, I don't know, almost a teenager. A little younger than that, I think.

But I was really excited to see what Master candidate Liz Beddow has been doing, and she recently won the Sun C Lee Award for service. This is for community service, making an impact in your local community outside of your regular, you know, martial arts training and whatnot.

So she's got a really awesome story, and as we, you know, have left Founders Month, but we're still in that time of year where a lot of people are doing, you know, fundraisers when they're doing events in their community to help out, and that's obviously something we can do year round as we work to go beyond the belt. I thought this was a really great story, and I would love for you to check it out.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:01:50

Special guest interview.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:01:53

We are super excited to have with us today Master Candidate Liz Beddow. How are you, ma'am?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:02:00

I'm good. Senior Master Hayden, how are you today?

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:02:02

I am wonderful. Well, we've got a specific topic we want to talk about today, but I always like to start with where you started in your Taekwondo journey.

How did you get into martial arts?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:02:14

Sure. So my older brother, my mom and sister actually started before me, and they had started.

My brother wanted something for, like, the off season of his sports, and my mom had always wanted to do it growing up, but they couldn't afford to, so she took the opportunity. She came home one day with a uniform and said, you need to learn a little bit more respect. So I talked, talked back a lot.

It was a confidence issue too, so I would overcompensate with, you know, talking back and that. That's how I started. And we had a deal, like, I had to do six months or I couldn't do anything else.

And so true to their word, because I Tried many, many times to do other things. But by the time the six month mark hit, I got to start sparring and hitting boards and I was like, I'll stick around for a little bit.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:03:01

This is not too bad. What, what age were you then?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:03:04

I was 12.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:03:05

Okay.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:03:07

Yeah, so, right. Beautiful time. Close to the teenage years. And my dad was a police officer and so he also, he was more for the self defense.

He also said like I couldn't go out with friends without an adult unless I actually did self defense for six months time as well just to have something.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:03:26

Well, that's awesome. Did, did you start with Chief Master Wegman or was it somebody else?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:03:32

I did. It's always been Chief Master Wegman. So you've been my instructor.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:03:36

Yes, very good. Awesome. Well, I saw you win this fantastic award at world championships at the licensee reception. You won the Sun C. Lee award.

And this is for making a differ in their community. You know, doing something above and beyond. It really, you know, speaks to the beyond the belt that we've been talking about this year.

And can you give us a little background as to how you get got started in making this impact in your local community and then kind of where we are now?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:04:09

Sure. So I started it's with American Cancer Society. It's a fundraiser called the Relay for Life. I actually started that middle school. So before.

Are you familiar?

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:04:18

Yeah, I've done a couple of Relays for Life. Yes.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:04:20

Oh, they're so much fun.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:04:22

They are a lot of fun.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:04:24

They, they asked us and like it was like a service project in like I was like 11 or something. So I've been doing that longer than taekwondo. But when I showed up, it was in honor of my uncle.

So my mom's brother had passed away of cancer, her only sibling and she was super, naturally super upset. And I remember her saying the only thing to make it better is to find a cure for cancer.

So I got the opportunity and I was like, oh my gosh, this is how I can do it. Like, didn't want to be a doctor. I can go raise some money and walk on a track and hang out with my friends.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:04:56

Yeah.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:04:56

So I did that and fell in love with it.

en doing the relay since like: 1990

it started there. And then in: 2008

And so that I was 20 at the time, and I was working part time at martial arts with Chief Master Eggman. But I had to quit school because we couldn't afford, we couldn't afford bills.

And so my mom sat me down and said, you know, I can pay, I can pay till April. I don't know, we're gonna pay the mortgage in the house. So I talked to Chief Master Wegman and he gave me a full time job.

I got another job on top of that. And what we used during that time because I had to get to work, were resources through the American Cancer Society funded by the Relay for Life.

So there's free rides to and from cancer treatment that we got to do. And we've been like, this is what we were fundraising for the entire years.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:06:06

So it, it like come full circle. You were doing all these things for your uncle, you know, these fundraisers, Relay for Life.

And then you find yourself in a situation where you guys need these funds, right?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:06:20

And I went to a team captain's meeting. My mom and I were team captains at that point. And I said, okay, my mom has cancer, she's in the hospital. I'm working all the time.

And when I'm not working, I'm in the hospital with her. So like, where are these resources? And they just handed me pamphlet pamphlets, like tons of pamphlets. And we were able to get set up with that.

They had a hope line that we could call 24 7. So at like 2am when you can't get in touch with a doctor, we'd have to call and go, all right, she just got sick and she took this medication.

Can we give her more of this one? The nurses line hasn't called back in two hours. Or do we just skip to this one?

And they were able to answer and help throughout her, throughout her cancer journey. And sadly she passed away from it. But we were able to after that. I saw the resources that we had.

We had an amazing volunteers that made an impact for her and for me. And I thought, well, we're going to have to keep doing the relay.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:07:16

Oh yeah.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:07:17

So that's kind of what kept me going. Because for a while Chief asked me, he's like, do you want to be a team cast again?

I was like, let me think about it kind of, you know, it's like I'm in a weird spot. And then afterwards I thought, well, I can't not do this. I have to give back again.

So everything I've been giving since I was 11, nine years later just came back to me. It's my turn to pass it on to the next person.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:07:40

And so you do the relay for life. You fundraise. What's the school due to fundraise and what does that look like value wise? How much have you guys raised?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:07:53

Right, so we used to just do like. So you're familiar with the relay. You go and you get like sponsors to walk a track. Well, throughout the years, it's kind of dwindled.

g was really small. And so in: 2019

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:08:12

Wow.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:08:12

And I went to Chief Master Wagman and said, I have an idea. Tell me if I'm crazy. But we do kicks. Like, I thought about, what if we do like a kickathon and all the schools can come together and do it.

I've talked to PTAs to figure out how they do their fun run. I talked to the American Cancer Society to make sure I can do this and use their name.

And he's like, all right, just try it with, like, just try it with two of the schools. Two of the schools you oversee. See how it works? And we raised $10,000 that first year.

And then: 2020

Just kind of like a low key level of like, hey, guys, here's an event. We'll kind of try it out and see. And that one, we raised 36,000.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:09:05

Wow. 36,000.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:09:07

That was. That was unbelievable. I think my goal was like 15, because we had hit 10. I was like, all right, now we have six schools here.

And then after that one, Chief Master Webb said, let's make it a party. Okay, we can make it a party. I don't know what that looks like. And he said, I will host. Like, I'll bring in masters. We'll have a leadership workshop.

So you do the workshop and then the next round is kids kicking and students kicking. And we did that for an entire day. So from nine to six, it's just teaching martial arts, specialty teaching, and then having the kickathon after.

And we raised last year $51,000.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:09:45

Wow.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:09:46

So for a total. Yeah, I know. It's just in short period of time, me wanting to just raise, you know, 10,000. 15,000 is turned into this huge, huge fundraiser.

And a lot of the money goes back to our county. So I think throughout my entire time, we've raised $350,000 between. Not just me.

That's what Chief master, we can, too, and his team, and then the Kickathon. Oh, gosh. I think it's like over a hundred thousand, maybe 150,000 just in four years, four times doing it.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:10:18

Wow, that's amazing. Well, I mean, and it makes. Have you. Have you had other students come out and be like, hey, my mom's got cancer or my grandfather or what?

What kind of impact had that. Has that made in your student body?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:10:33

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because at least maybe every other month, I get an email or a phone call or something that says, hey, my mom was diagnosed, my spouse was diagnosed. What are the resources? What can I do? I need your help. And so I just send them. I find the link, send them directly to what they're looking for.

And we've had business sponsors come to me and say, all right, I sponsored your event. And now my husband has cancer. And so I have no idea where to turn. We just got this diagnosis. This just happened about six months ago.

They said, we just had this diagnosis. We're supposed to get second opinions. How do you even ask those questions?

And so I sent them to cancer.org and it literally has, like, an entire workbook you can print out, and it guides you through what to do and the steps to do for meeting doctors for the kinds of cancer you have, clinical trials, everything.

So to be able to actually give back, not just to the students, but even the businesses and community has really kept me drive, like, kept the drive going to make it bigger.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:11:37

kind of goals do you have for: 2025

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:11:40

Oh,: 2025

So I have some firemen I'm working on, some mayors of our town, because the only way to get bigger is to have a bigger outreach. And so while Vision Martial Arts has gotten bigger with students and the student base has gone up, we had over 400 participants last year.

We are going to need a little bit more community help. So my goal this year we raised about 51,000. So I'm. I'm. I always shoot a little low at, like 55, 56. And. But.

But the goal would be to have the community come out more and see what we do and then be able to give them the information for resources as well, especially in the firemen. Community. It's so high for firemen and first responders to be diagnosed with different kinds of cancers just for what they're around.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:12:34

Yeah.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:12:34

And so that's been an important one to get that information out for them as well.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:12:38

I mean, what an impact. How cool to take something that you had happen to you and be able to influence the people around you and the community.

You know, I think this is a great example. Not just, you know, like everybody, obviously. I don't know anybody who doesn't know somebody who is been touched by cancer. You know, I. It's.

It's such a thing. You know, it's Founders Month when we're recording this eternal grandmaster passed away from cancer. It's a thing that just touches us all.

But everybody's got their thing that they might be passionate about also, you know, you know, Lou Gehrig's disease or Alzheimer's or, you know, the, you know, scholarship foundation, you know, education, things like that. And it's how you can take this passion and use the skills that you've learned through martial arts to make an impact.

What would you tell a student, a kid, maybe an adult who's in taekwondo and is thinking like, hey, this is really cool. What can I do for my community?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:13:43

So I think the best thing, my husband actually came up with it. He tells him that they use sweat equity.

So you're eight years old, you're nine years old, you don't have all of the money to give, but you can give your time and you can give and think about who you're giving back to.

And that comes part of the leadership traits and doing something more than just earning a belt, doing something more than learning a form or, you know, how to. How to kick someone in the head really fast.

But it's all about how can you help the person next to you because you don't know what they're going through.

And sometimes that's time, sometimes that's physical effort, and other times it's going outside of your comfort zone and asking people for help just for you to spread the word on something that you're passionate.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:14:29

You know, we have so many people, a part of ATA nation that, you know, can make an impact through, you know, the scholarship foundation, you know, do something for Founders Month or, you know, just taking over, like you said, a Relay for Life event and really trying to inspire others to do that. Does the. Does Relay for Life total side note, but do they still do the walk around the thing?

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:14:52

So we. Every. Everyone's different, and I actually am the Co lead for our relay in the area, we turned ours into a 5k.

So we found that like doing, doing like just the laps in a circle wasn't really exciting and we needed to figure out kind of how to branch out more.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:15:08

Yeah.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:15:08

So we turned ours into a 5K. But in the county, 30 minutes away from us, they have a huge one that's 24 hours long. They're still doing the old school.

24 hours walk, walk the labs, eat the food, like themed laughs each. Each hour. Like it is still a hardcore crazy fun event no matter which way you go.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:15:28

Yeah. Well, I remember, I remember taking some kids out and doing that. I think ours was. It might have been 12 hours. Maybe it was 24 hours.

I remember all night though. You're out there, like just going, going and going and going. Be like, I need another pop. You know, I, I wasn't a coffee drinker then.

I would have had way more coffee then.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:15:49

That's the only way to keep, to keep you going at 3am when your feet are like burning and you're delirious.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:15:55

But it's one of those, it's so worth it.

These kind of events, whether it be a kickathon, you know, when you are doing something that you're passionate about, serving, giving back, you know, going beyond the belt, you know, that's where some of those great memories are made, where you're doing these exciting events. I'm sure.

What's one example of a, you know, something that's happened or something that you guys have done at one of your events that you just like, oh, yeah, I totally remember that time.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:16:22

Oh, man. I. Well, I think so. I'll give you two. One was when I did the first relay with Chief Master wegman. We walked 24 hours and then I slept 24 hours.

Like, I will never forget going home. I'd like. My mom and dad picked me up. I don't remember going home. Ate, took a shower and I woke up and I was like, that's weird.

It's almost the same time. Did I sleep 12 hours? I come downstairs groggy, and it's. It's light out. I'm like, okay, this is weird. I was like, all right, what are we doing today?

And my mom's like, it's Sunday. You slept 24 straight hours.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:16:57

Oh, my word.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:16:58

Oh, wow. I was really tired. She's like, we checked in on you every couple of hours. We just figured, like, what were you doing?

We were walking and we were dancing. They had like a Zumba call party at one point, like, they have you. They keep you going the whole time.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:17:13

Oh, yeah.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:17:14

So that. That was a fun one for the kickathon, though. I think my favorite is we were. We have a certain goal for kicks each round. And what's really fun, my.

My husband is the MC for the whole thing. And so they come up with different levels of kicks, and someone will say, I'll.

I'll donate an extra hundred dollars if you get a thousand more kicks this round. And so the price was high. Like, $500 was on the line. They had not hit. They had not hit that goal yet.

And every instructor just lined up, like, on their own, didn't say anything. And every single vision instructor came to the front and just started kicking, and we went well over it, and it, like, doubled it. But just to see.

Like, just to see in a huge room with, you know, hundreds of people, our team, without even needing to say anything, go. All right. We understand the mission. Like, we understand the goal. It's our turn to show the students.

Even if nobody asked you and you see that something needs help to reach something, let's step in and do it.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:18:13

Oh, that's.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:18:14

I think that was my favorite one. That was last year that. That happened.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:18:17

Yeah. That is a memory to remember. I mean, that's just that idea of black belt being something way beyond the belt, you know?

I mean, it's not just that, hey, I kick and punch, but it's way more than that, so. Well, this is amazing. Congratulations on the Sunsee Lee Award. Obviously, it's well deserved.

You've got an amazing thing you've been doing, and it's just really neat to hear the story, especially how personal it was and how you turn that into something just so big and impactful for other people. So thank you for what you do for everyone in ATA Nation. We really appreciate it.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:18:58

I really appreciate you taking the time to meet with me to get the word out, because I feel like ATA has always talked about beyond that, beyond the belt, and they've always had those life skills and internal grand master. You could see that vision, and he did it. He taught everybody else how to do it.

But I love that there is a way, like your podcast, to get it out even more to see the impact everyone's making throughout ata.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:19:22

Well, we appreciate. Ma'am, thank you so much.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:19:24

Yeah, thank you so much. Bye.

Master Candidate Liz Beddow: 00:19:26

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

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:19:31

Well, what a cool thing. I am so impressed with what master candidate Beddow is doing, and it just inspires me.

I You know, thinking about what I can do with my leadership students, what we can do. I remember those old Relay for Lives. I took some students to those before. It was so much fun.

But definitely, you know, whether it's for the Huly Scholarship foundation, which is an amazing organization or any other organization out there, you know that we as martial artists love to go beyond the belt, take our life skills outside the school into the world and just make an impact. So let's go do that now. We've got some upcoming events going on. We talked last week about the Spring Nationals. Stuff is already out.

You can already start registering for Spring Nationals. The early registration is up for the Max Gathering three in Little Rock, Arkansas and then we've got r awesome tournament circuit.

getting ready to wrap up the: 2024

We have this coming weekend, Duluth, Georgia with Grandmaster Emeritus soon, Holy Charlotte, North Carolina, the weekend after, as well as Romeoville, Illinois, the week after that on the 16th. Also the 16th in New Jersey and the 16th or no, the 22nd and 23rd of November in Kansas City.

Now we also, those are A events, but you don't want to miss out on those B events as well.

In November, we have Pittsburgh, excuse me, not Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this weekend, the 8th and 9th, as well as all the way out in Colorado if you're part of Ata Nation out there in the mountains, the 9th. We have a bunch of, oh man, so many bee events this weekend. So we also have in Florida, in British Columbia, in San Diego and in Louisiana.

So lots of great events going on. And then that's going to about wrap it up for our regular A and B tournaments this calendar year. I know there's a bunch of class C's going on.

If your school's doing a class C, good luck at that. That's going to be a lot of fun. We love those classy events. So good times there. Get training, get working hard. We've got a lot of cool things coming.

I keep saying that and I know if you haven't already, make sure you are subscribed. So if your favorite podcast player, hit that subscribe button. We're also releasing the video of the interviews on the ATA's YouTube page.

So hit the like and subscribe button over there. Share this episode with a friend. We would greatly appreciate it. And until next time, get out there and make a difference beyond the bells.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:22:28

Thanks for listening to another episode of the ATA Nation. Podcast. Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.

Senior Master Zach Hayden: 00:22:42

Secret park. Hey, I've been sending out. I got some new stickers, some ATA Nation podcast stickers.

And if you would like one, I am sending them out to loyal listeners. But you gotta send me your mailing address.

Best way to do that is DM us over on Instagram and I'll send you one of those ATA Nation podcast stickers if you would. Then when you get it, post a picture of it on Instagram and tag us. We would love that. Okay guys, take care.