This episode features an engaging discussion with Kenton Shoup, a distinguished fourth-degree black belt hailing from Success Now Martial Arts in Darien, Illinois. We delve into his illustrious background, which is steeped in a rich lineage of martial arts excellence, and explore how his familial ties have profoundly influenced his journey in the discipline. Notably, Kenton reflects on his aspirations to achieve world champion status and his dedication to nurturing future champions through instruction. Furthermore, we examine the significance of the ATA MAX program and its role in fostering competitive skills and enhancing the martial arts community. As the episode unfolds, we also touch upon the upcoming events, including the H. U. Lee Classic and Camp Jahng Soo, highlighting the vibrant activities within the ATA community.

Takeaways:

• This episode highlights the importance of community engagement and connection among various ATA members.
• Kenton Shoup, our featured athlete, has familial roots deeply embedded in martial arts tradition.
• The discussion emphasizes the value of perseverance and ambition in martial arts training and competition.
• Listeners are encouraged to share their international experiences and connect with the broader ATA family.
• The episode addresses the upcoming H. U. Lee Classic and Camp Jahng Soo as significant events for ATA members.
• The importance of setting personal goals in martial arts is a recurring theme, showcasing growth beyond competition.

It's a busy week.

Camp Jiangsu, Hulu Classic and more.

Let's get started.

Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.

Welcome back to episode 187 of the Ata Nation podcast.

I am your host, Senior Master Zach Hayden, and it is a joy to be back with you today.

As you can see, I am bundled up.

We got so much snow yesterday.

We got like, I don't know, 6, 8, 9 inches, something ridiculous like that.

And I just finished snow blowing our entire parking lot at Taekwondo.

It was a lot.

Who knows what tonight will bring and what about classes and stuff and all those things.

But hopefully you are safe where you are.

If you're near me, you probably got a ton of snow.

But I know at Nation is everywhere.

We've got some.

Some followers all over the globe.

If you're tuning in from somewhere outside of the United States, let us know.

Post a.

A selfie of you listening or.

Or tag us or something on social media and let us know where you're listening from.

We'd love to hear all about our international listeners now and viewers.

If you're watching this on YouTube, comment, I would love to see a comment below.

If you're watching this on YouTube, let us know where you're watching from anywhere.

Even if you're in the US Comment below, let us know where you're watching from if you're watching on YouTube.

So, ladies and gentlemen, this week and next week, very busy for my schedule for other things because we just had Thanksgiving and so lots of things going on there.

We had, you know, a lot of family events, things like that.

We've got the new week that has just started today and that brings with it the Hu Lee Classic in Little Rock along with Camp Jiangsu and some other tournaments across the country where you can get those super awesome coins.

So my family will actually be heading down to Little Rock on Thursday.

We're going to spend all day driving, get down there for Little Rock, be there Thursday or Friday and Saturday, get to enjoy the time with our ATA family celebrating this historic event and then heading back this way.

So I'm saying that to let you know that this week's episode and next week's episode will be a little close.

Quicker.

They're gonna be a little smaller.

I know we've been doing some solo episodes.

I've still got some footage that we shot at Fall Nationals that I need to get cleaned up and posted that we're gonna have those as well.

But, you know, the holiday seasons, things coming up, lots going on, and so we might be having a Couple of just a little shorter episodes.

We'll be doing a little feature talk about what's coming up, maybe talk to you about some goal settings as we set get ready for the new year.

And then of course we've got our athletes of so don't forget to tune in.

We really want you to be here and share it with your friends over the holidays.

But let us let know, let just to let you know, excuse me, that there might be a little bit of a shorter episodes.

That's okay.

We'll be back full swing.

I hope to maybe even get some interviews when I'm down in Little Rock.

So hopefully we'll get to see that as well.

Let's get right to our athlete of the week this week.

ATA Nation, we've got another awesome athlete of the week with us.

Can you introduce yourself, sir?

Hey, I'm Ken Shoop.

I'm a fourth degree black belt.

I train at Successnom Martial Arts in Darien, Illinois.

Fantastic.

I, I think I know the answer to this one.

But how did you get started with martial arts?

So my grandparents actually started martial arts like 40 something years ago and then my mom started under my grandmother and my dad started under and my, I just followed the line with me and my siblings.

Yeah, so you just basically born into it.

Tell us, tell everybody the, the name drop some of these grandparents, parents of yours.

So my grandmother is 9th degree black belt now.

Super exciting.

Chief Master Barnum.

My mom is Chief Master Kelly Shoop and my dad is Senior Master Keith Shoop.

Yeah.

So I'm guessing a master title needs to be in your future at some point, right?

Oh, of course sir.

Can't, can't miss out on that.

Got to continue the family legacy.

So let's, let's go a little bit with for you martial arts, obviously it's something you kind of grown up with.

Was there a time or a point or has it always been a thing that you started to own for yourself?

Like you really were like this is my thing.

I've always been doing it.

It's always been like the main thing that I've done.

But, but I'd say like my freshman year of high school.

So like three, four years ago is when I really started.

Like it really became the thing that I was like I want to do this forever and ever and like continue and like all my friends really became people in taekwondo.

Yeah, yeah, no, I know how that goes for sure.

As a, as a competitor, as an athlete, what's kind of like your top event that you like to Compete in.

Right now it's traditional weapons.

If you asked me a couple years ago, it would be craven extreme.

I still love doing craven extreme.

But traditional weapons has really become my thing.

I went.

I became like top five or six in the world last year, which was super exciting.

But oh yeah, weapons has always been my favorite thing to do.

What's your.

What's your go to weapon?

Right now it's BO staff.

For extreme weapons I like to do commas, but BO staff, Jong Mong, that's been my traditional thing.

And the mid range, Zhangmong.

Correct long range for traditional actually.

Okay.

Long range.

Excellent long range.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a great weapon.

You know, and I've seen last couple of years, you see a little more long range.

I'm like, I'm.

I'm liking it.

It's fun to see.

Hey, I know you were involved in one of the.

Speaking of extreme and creative, you were involved in one of the first regional events that the MAX team was doing going around the country.

What are your thoughts on the MAX program?

What do you like about it?

I know Team Sync and Team Demo is coming to a tournament up your guys way next year.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, so the ATA MAX trainings, I've been going to em for a while now.

Pretty much as soon as they started the like actual ATMX trainings, I've been going to those and Master Turner came to one of our tournaments to do a training and it was super awesome having people who might not be able to go outside of like the Chicagoland area, actually being able to go and do a training with them and learn from the best.

And yeah, about the Team Sync, it's coming to our tournament this April, I believe my grandmother's tournament, which is super exciting.

So we got a couple of teams coming.

Yeah, I'm excited about that.

You know, an event close to me that's got extreme or it's got the Team Sync and Team Demo.

Really neat to be able to see that.

And you guys have got some.

Some cool teams up that way been working hard on.

So that's pretty great.

What kind of goals do you have for maybe competition, maybe your regular training?

What are you looking at for the future?

Yeah, one thing that I really, I've always wanted to become a world champ.

Like I grew up, my mom's world champ.

My grandmother has trained a bunch of world champs.

So I've always been able to look up at those guys.

I'm like, I want to be that one day.

So that's one big thing.

But recently, as I become more of an instructor, I really want to train a world champ.

That's been something that's like, I want like, not only for myself because I know I can push myself hard enough.

Being able to like say I've made this world champ is like, that would be super awesome.

That's very cool.

What?

What?

In your.

Oh, I was going to mention, speaking of instruction, you were a student of the Songam University.

Can you tell us a little bit about that experience?

It was a super awesome thing.

Started off, I was a part of the very first group, which was awesome.

My mom heard about it and she's like, hey, you want to try this out?

I was like, yeah.

So I was able to a bunch of online classes.

Being able to.

Half of the classes are about like earning like your legacy collars.

Like you have to go through the forms, one steps, everything to be able to earn that legacy collar and get the actual knowledge of instruction.

And then the other side is how to actually run the business.

So like the business aspect to hopefully get more licensees and stuff like that.

And it's been able to help me get college credits for now that I'm in college, I'm able to have those credits that I can push forward with.

So you were able to transfer some of those over.

That's cool.

What.

What would you tell or, or maybe you know, from your mom's perspective that she's.

She's maybe mentioned to you what would be like, if I'm a licensee out there, I'm a another instructor.

What would be the benefit of me having a junior or another student going to Sangam University?

What's been beneficial for, you know, not.

I mean, it's been beneficial for you, but for your parents in having you do that.

How has that helped them?

I've really been able to gain a lot of knowledge with the.

Especially the Taekwondo side.

With the instruction side, we really learn how to instruct and part of it is actually helping out in this school.

But I was able to learn all the forms through that and then all the one steps and then also the business classes.

Those have been able to help me.

Like, I'm able to do more than just teach.

I can help out with the business and like do and like work behind the desk and stuff.

So I've been able to learn how to do that and the instruction side.

So both of them are really helpful.

Yeah, that sounds, you know, I mean, to.

To have a student of mine go and, and learn that kind of stuff, be able to spend time on that work in my school while they're doing it, you know, and get college credits.

You can't go wrong with that.

So what.

What for you, if you're looking, maybe for yourself, for your students, those kind of things.

What does it mean to you to be a champion that trains beyond the belt?

The biggest thing is really pushing myself in every single thing I do, whether it's through martial arts, being able to have the confidence to go onto the mat and compete and do my best.

That's the biggest thing.

But also in every single thing I do in school.

And if you.

I did other sports growing up in that and then even like anything I do, just being able to put my all into it and being able to put 100% in.

Being able to grow as a person.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

Well, congratulations on being an athlete of the week that the brand ambassadors have picked.

That's super cool.

And we want to thank you for your time today.

Thanks so much.

All right.

Thank you.

Mr. Shoup.

Great athlete.

I'm lucky enough I get to see him compete around our area some.

A lot of a very talented young man.

Great young man.

Just really a great example of another.

A new generation for ATA nation.

Hey, if you've ever been interested in being an athlete of the week or think you know somebody who should be an athlete of the week, shoot that information out to one of our brand ambassadors.

Don't send it to me.

I'm not in charge of that.

I just interview them.

I just want to feature them here on the show.

And then if there are other people that you would love to hear on the show, you can send me those recommendations.

I love interviewing neat people doing cool things.

If you didn't know.

I get to talk to a lot of school owners and licensees as part of our business beyond the Mat podcast, which is specifically for licensees only.

If you're not.

If you're a licensee and you are not checking that out, you need to be checking it out.

We do it twice a month live.

And then of course, you can watch the replays and you can tune in to the podcast feed.

But it's a special feed that you can't just find anywhere.

We have a just for licensees, so if you would like to do that, let us know.

Just shoot me a message if you're a licensee, because we would.

It's got great information.

I'm always taking action on things that I hear from these amazing licensees.

We had senior master Berkey on the last one.

Fantastic.

He.

His mother in law said that episode of Business beyond the Matt for our licensees, that saved her $13,000.

Can you believe that?

$13,000 just from that episode.

So if that's not a testimony for the Business beyond the podcast, I don't know what is.

And if you're interested in being a club owner, a school owner, a licensee of some kind, make sure you reach out to ATA headquarters.

They've always got some amazing deals for the new year, some great things going on.

We had an episode of the Business beyond the Mat podcast recently.

Again, that's where the licensees, the school owners all about opening club.

And let me tell you what's some amazing opportunities out there if you're interested in taking your teaching, your martial arts journey to the next level.

Really leaving a legacy through martial arts by teaching to others club might be a way to go.

So.

Okay, guys, that's gonna take care of it for us today.

The next episode will probably be just athlete of the week, but after that, I'll give you a little rundown of the Hulk Classic and some of the amazing things that went on there.

Or maybe, maybe.

Ooh, I should think about this.

Should we do an episode live from the Huli Classic?

Hmm, let me think about it.

You'll only know if you're subscribed.

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And until next time, get out there and go beyond the Belt.

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