This podcast episode elucidates the recent district championships within the ATA community, highlighting the excitement surrounding these events while emphasizing the importance of personal growth and effort beyond mere competition. Senior Master Zach Hayden recounts the thrill of witnessing participants achieve accolades and encourages listeners to reflect on their own journeys in martial arts, stressing that true champions exhibit perseverance and character regardless of the outcome. As we progress towards the Tournament of Champions at the World Championships, it is imperative to remember that while winning is admirable, the essence of martial arts lies in the values we embody and the resilience we cultivate. Our featured athlete of the week, a second-degree black belt, shares her experiences and aspirations, illuminating the significance of dedication and the joy derived from teaching and helping others. Thus, as we engage in the dialogue of competition and achievement, we remain steadfast in our commitment to personal development and the nurturing of a supportive martial arts community.

Takeaways:

• The majority of district championships have successfully concluded, with only three remaining.
• Competitors who secured victories at district championships will qualify for the Tournament of Champions.
• Participants are reminded to finalize their arrangements for the upcoming World Championships.
• It is crucial to focus on one's effort, attitude, and behavior, rather than solely on outcomes.
• Instructors and students are encouraged to engage with the ATA's YouTube channel for valuable content.
• Athletes are advised to embrace the journey of martial arts beyond mere competition.

Most of the districts are over.

How did you do?

Let's get started.

Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.

Instructors, students, parents, masters, grandparents of Songam Taekwondo.

Welcome to the ATA Nation Podcast.

It is a thrill to be back with you.

I am senior master Zach Hayden and, and I mentioned in the intro that it was most of the district championships occurred last weekend, but that doesn't mean they all occurred.

We have, I believe, three districts left, my district being one of them, the Mid America district.

So it was amazing to see all of the posts out there about districts, videos.

I saw people getting awards and holding their medals and just all kinds of great things.

Really great.

Now we still have three left.

And a reminder for everybody that if you won district championship as a black belt, that's going to get you the opportunity to compete in the Tournament of Champions at World Championships.

Make sure you book your time for world championships.

Get that?

All red shirt hotels, all the things.

But the TOC will not open up yet.

There'll be another week or so.

They don't, I don't know if there's an exact date, but they've got to finish all the districts first before they can open that TOC up.

They got to get that, all that data in and whatnot.

So good luck.

If you are going to one of the district championships this weekend, you guys are going to do awesome.

Remember what we talked about last week.

Remember that you don't always get to control the outcomes.

You get to control what you do do.

Your effort, your attitude, your behavior.

So go beyond the belt and be a champion.

Not always a champion for district surfer worlds or whatnot, because we just don't all get to every time.

That's not the way it works.

But you can be a champion of life by going beyond the belt.

Want to make sure you're working hard on that at districts just as much as you're working on everything else.

Now I do have a quick highlight video of some of the district championship stuff that I got from one of the brand ambassadors.

If you are listening to the podcast, you're going to hear some nice audio, but you're not going to get to see the visuals.

So make sure you head over to YouTube, the ATA's YouTube page.

Hit that subscribe button so you can make sure you watch all of the amazing content that comes out from ata.

We've got shorts that come out pretty, pretty regularly, you know, and this video podcast comes out.

I have heard that there may be maybe another live video coming soon on the ATAs YouTube page.

So you make sure you hit that subscribe button there.

Let's go to that highlight video now, Sam.

ATA Nation.

We have another awesome athlete of the week with us.

Could you introduce yourself, please?

Hello, my name is Isabella Vesso and I'm a second degree black belt at Summit Martial Arts in Cold Spring, Kentucky.

In Cold Spring, Kentucky.

Who's your instructor?

My instructor is Master Rick Hill.

Okay, excellent.

Yeah, good, good.

Okay.

Very nice.

Are you out of school?

Yes.

When did you guys end?

Sorry, what?

When did you guys finish school?

Oh, we finished school Friday.

Okay.

Okay.

I just.

My daughter's last day was today and so everybody's getting out of school.

And so, you know, before we talk about, you know, some competition, some stuff, end of the tournament season, all those kind of things.

What got you started in martial arts?

Well, before martial arts, I did ballet.

I did not like doing ballet, but my mom used to do martial arts, so she searched up the nearest ATA school and that's how I got started.

Oh, excellent.

So ballet wasn't.

You needed to kick things, not just kick your legs?

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Way more fun kicking people.

I totally agree.

Did your mom do ATA martial arts or a difference?

Yes.

Oh, very cool.

Awesome.

I love that.

Neat.

Stated right in the family.

Did she get back into it or she just put you into it?

She did get back into it.

Oh, there we go.

I convinced her after six years.

Very good.

Yes.

My.

My mom did not do martial arts, but she.

I always joked with her when I opened my own school, she was going to have to be my first student and she said, sure.

Then I opened my own school and she had to be my first student.

So now you've been doing martial arts for a long time.

Um, what.

You know, your, your competition season, we're at that end of the season kind of post season with the districts and world toc, all those kind of things.

What's your favorite thing to compete in?

My favorite thing is probably XMA weapons because I get to be creative and I get to throw things.

Yes.

Everybody loves the.

The extreme weapons seems to be way more popular than creative weapons because people like to throw their weapons up.

It's fun.

Yeah.

What.

What's your go to extreme weapon?

BO staff.

Okay, good deal.

I like the BO staff.

It's a solid weapon.

Very good.

What's the like if you had to do an extreme weapon that you're like, this would be the worst extreme weapon.

What would you pick?

I'm not very well with commas, so probably commas.

Ah, gotcha.

Yep.

That can be a Challenging one.

Okay, so what about your traditional.

Let's go traditional ring traditional stuff.

What's your favorite traditional event?

Favorite is probably Forms.

Okay, excellent.

I love forms.

I'm a forms guy.

Me too.

So in any category Traditional, extreme, creative, what would be the event that you'd be like, ah, I'm okay skipping that one.

Probably sparring in combat.

I mean, I'm not.

It's not my least favorite, but I'm getting better at it, so I. I totally understand.

I don't have, like.

There's nothing that I would say is like, no, I hate that.

I'm never going to do that.

But, you know, there's ones that are like, okay, if you forced me to skip one, I'd probably put this one as one I'd skip.

So I totally get that.

Okay.

Now, postseason.

Are you competing for district championships?

You get any state titles?

What's.

What's your postseason looking like?

I am competing in districts and I'm competing in worlds.

I'm just doing all the competition.

Nice.

Can't go wrong with that.

What.

So what are you placed in?

Are you in, like, all eight things?

What's your events that you're kind of focused most on?

I'm focusing more on probably creative and extreme.

Cool.

And I'm not ranked in everything because currently I don't do sparring in combat because I'm trying to get better at it.

Gotcha.

Yep.

Okay, cool.

Do you do.

So you do creative.

Do you do creative weapons?

Yes.

Okay.

Do you do both staff for that as well, or do you do a different weapon?

Bo staff?

Okay, that's a lot of.

It's interesting.

I've talked to some people who do a completely different weapon for Creative than they do Extreme.

And I'm like, oh, that's.

That's a lot of things to do.

This is the first season where they have matched.

Okay.

Last season, I did XMA weapons for Double Sword.

Double Sword for XMA Weapons.

Oh, do you have one of the magnetic ones that sticks together?

Yes.

Oh, man.

I interviewed somebody just the other week, and they were like, I asked them.

They do Double Sword, and they don't have one.

And they were like, I looked everywhere.

I can't find one.

I told them if I had one, I'd sell it on ebay for big bucks.

We looked for three years.

Probably I need to start making them and.

And just seeing if ATL let me sell them because, man, I'd make some money.

Okay.

So went to the.

The same for both creative and Extreme.

Okay, very good.

So do you have.

Have you.

Do you have red letters?

Have you got a world title?

I have not, but I have placed out ones.

Oh, very nice.

Very good.

So I'm guessing red letters is the goal?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

What do you.

You know, I mean, I don't want to.

I don't want to jinx anybody or do any.

I mean, but I. I think some people are.

They know, like, I'm going into the TOC this year, and I've seen my competition.

I've seen how my years went.

It might not be my.

My year on the podium.

And then some people are like, you know what?

This might be my year on the podium.

This is.

This is my.

Where in that.

Do you feel where in that cycle?

It's definitely hard because all my competitors are very talented, but I am working really hard, too, so I'm going to try to grace.

I love that.

I love that.

And you know what?

Extreme and creative is such a.

Like, you can go to one event and everybody is on fire.

They're just, like, rocking that event.

And you could go to another event, and the same people, they're just, like.

They're off.

You know, they're dropping weapons left and right, and you're missing tricks and you're.

You're not landing stances, and it seems to go up and down a little more than in a traditional event where, you know, it's a little more steady.

Yeah, I've definitely been in that position, too, so.

Okay, man.

Okay.

Good luck.

It's going to be a good one.

Are you.

What are you looking at for goals?

Either tournament, competition, or just your own personal training.

As you're looking towards next season or the new year as we go on, do you have any kind of specific goals you're looking at?

I want to be a World Champion someday, and I definitely want to be a European Champion again because I am one right now.

Are you?

Nice.

Was that from this year?

Yes.

So you just went out to.

Out to Portugal for the event out there?

Yes, sir.

Nice.

Congratulations.

How was it in Portugal?

It was beautiful.

Want to.

The weather was amazing.

Oh, man.

Have you been to the Pan Am champs yet?

No.

Are you looking someday, maybe?

Yes.

Yeah, me too.

Okay.

How about South Africa?

They just opened that one up.

We are going to South Africa.

What are you.

Yes.

That's so exciting, man.

Okay, so now maybe they need some kind of, like.

I think there needs to be, like, global champion or something.

If you get, like, world champion, European, South African, and Pan Am, like, all in the same year, you should get some kind of crazy something that'll be cool.

It'd be hard and a lot of money to travel all those places in one year.

Okay, so you got those goals.

What about you are a secondary, you said Now, I see you got a red collar.

You into helping out at the school, teaching, doing those kind of things?

I love teaching kids that are lower than me.

Yeah, they're very fun.

I totally agree it can be difficult, but, you know.

Yeah.

After this interview, I'm heading over to help with a bunch of tigers.

So we'll see how it.

How it goes for me today.

And, you know, end of school year, I don't know if it happens around there, but our tigers at the end of the school year.

Oh, a little extra crazy.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Well, hey, what does it mean to you to be an athlete that goes beyond the belt?

It means helping people that might be lower than you and really working hard, you know, as a athlete and as a person.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, I almost forgot.

You know, we've got these life skills that we're working on in taekwondo.

I've been starting to ask around and just see, like, is there one of the life skills that for you is either one that, like, you gravitate towards because it's one you like to.

To think about, work on that one or one that you're like, this is the one that I'm not so good at and I need to work on a little bit more.

Is there one of those life skills that for you has made a big difference,.

Being open to more things?

You know, that's probably the biggest one.

Oh, that's.

Yeah, that can be tough.

ATA has helped me, like, expand my nature.

Like, it's easier for me to try new things because of all the events that you get to choose from and all the weapons that you get to choose from and all your creativity or your creativity, which.

Yeah, that's.

And.

And that's hard for some people, especially, like, I. I naturally, like, creating a form is harder for me to do.

I've stuck in my song on ways of like, nope, this and so that.

You know, when I work on ATMX stuff and those kind of things, it does push me out of my comfort zone.

And you're right.

That's really good for us.

So.

Well, congratulations on being an athlete of the week, and thank you so much for your time today.

You're welcome, sir.

Thank you, too,.

Man.

Another awesome athlete of the week.

And we've got.