More educational opportunities on your way.

Let's get started.

Welcome to the ata nation podcast.

Students, instructors, parents, grandparents of Songam taekwondo.

Welcome Back to the Ata Nation podcast.

This is episode 188 with.

We have a great show for you today.

We're gonna feature the first in two episodes with people who were at the Songam Academy up in Alaska over the, like, beginning of the school year and talk about how it was and then they are starting enrollment for the next year.

This is an amazing opportunity for your, you know, know, younger students, your middle school, your high school students who might be interested in going and spending six weeks in Alaska doing some amazing training, not just in martial arts, but some really neat academic things at the school up there as well.

And then getting to go to come down to fall nationals to finish up the training there.

So this week we've got an episode where we're going to be interviewing those.

Some of the parents who.

And then next week we're going to share with you an interview with a couple of the kids as well from the last year.

You definitely want to go check out the opportunity where you maybe as a family or just your student could go up to Alaska and enjoy the amazing rainforest.

There's a rainforest in Alaska?

Did you know this?

It's amazing.

Anyways, let's get right to that interview.

At Nation.

We have some awesome parents with us today.

Could you guys introduce yourself for us?

I'm Scott Smith.

I'm Nicole Smith.

I'm Christy Ely.

And I'm Casey Ray.

And we have you guys on because you had some kids go to Alaska for the Songam academic program.

And if I'm not mistaken, some of you guys were in Alaska also.

Was in Alaska.

The three of us.

The three of you guys were in Alaska the whole time.

Okay, so first of all, and anyone can answer, doesn't matter what made you guys go, hey, let's go to Alaska or let's have our kids go to Alaska.

Well, Master Hill, I've seen her master heel pretty much like, okay, this is something we need to do.

And so we just want.

All right.

I couldn't let Kennedy go.

I don't think he gave us much choice.

I pretty much senior Master Hill told us we were going and then convinced us to take the whole family.

Oh, okay.

Okay, sounds good.

I mean, sounds like a nice trip.

I mean, should be fun.

I'm happy he made us do that.

Okay, so that's what I was going to ask.

Like, you guys were kind of volun told into this situation the first time but this is, this is happening again this coming school year.

So what would you tell a, a parent across the country who just like they might have seen this Alaska thing, they don't know what it is.

You know, they're probably not being volun told by their instructor to do it.

Is it worth doing?

What's the benefit of it?

Would you suggest it?

The benefit that I saw because our instructors didn't know anything about it.

We knew Dr. Hill outside of it.

And so we sent our oldest who hadn't been in Taekwondo.

His growth and his interest in getting back into taekwondo skyrocketed.

So.

And the leadership skills that he gained while he was there, his desire to instruct and to participate like this night and day.

Between who I dropped off in Waska and who I got back in October.

Awesome.

Anybody else?

We took our family.

We were, we have always homeschooled, so we enjoy looking at opportunities that aren't your traditional school routes.

And this was definitely not a traditional school route.

And it was the most unique experience I think could have provided the children to learn in so many different environments.

Not just in taekwondo and leadership, but the environmental science and the hands on.

And then the friendships that have come from those six weeks of being together has been more than worth the academic part.

Very cool.

Like, Kennedy came from a Christian private school, but this has been amazing program for her to go through to experience Alaska in itself.

She's made lifetime friends.

Right now we have six of the 10 kids from the lower states here.

Seven of them, seven's walking in the.

70S coming in right now.

So after, so after this, so they go to Alaska, it's six weeks.

You, some of you guys went with your kids there, some of you guys didn't.

For those of you who didn't, what, like, were you really apprehensive about sending your kid to Alaska?

What was what went through your mind in kind of sending a kid?

So my family had gone up the year before, so I already knew where they were going.

My daughter and my mother went as instructors and worked out and we spent two weeks there the previous year.

So I knew the area and who he would be with.

But you're always apprehensive of leaving your kids somewhere and, and he's not great at communicating because he's 15.

And so you're from him for six weeks.

So that was a little.

But the other moms that were there reached out and would tell me how things were going and I could see pictures that they posted online.

And then she had a conversation when he got back, said I needed him to communicate more with me in the future.

Tell him that's one of those life skills.

The communication is one of the skills.

We got to work on that one.

Okay.

So this is such a unique program in that, you know, you could be in a, a traditional school, a home school, a private school, and you can go and enroll in this school in Alaska for a six week time and do all kinds of different things.

What for your guys's kids, what were some of the like highlight events or things that they did as part of this academic training program?

Well, B's highlight was the Deep Sea Mission.

He talks about that all the time.

But we did so many other things.

We went to El Cafe, which was pretty amazing.

I think everything outside of the classroom was like a once in a lifetime.

Where do you learn to take a seal and harvest a seal?

Like they're just things that you don't get in a traditional setting.

And I think it really, all of the stuff outside of the classroom opens their eyes to different ways of learning and different opportunities and things that you just don't find in a classroom or a textbook.

Definitely.

And they did Taekwondo while they were there as well?

Yes, we had Jeffy Day.

We had two.

A grandmaster and then a nominee grandmaster there training too, along with Mr. Richards and no black sword.

It was great.

And then a tricking.

A tricking coach came up and did some stuff with you guys too, right?

Yes, he'll be here today.

He's coming in to work with these kids for another day.

That's fantastic.

Super cool.

Okay, so this is, this is coming back for another year.

It's going to be in what, the spring?

Not the spring.

Excuse me, the fall semester.

Is that what it would be considered?

Okay.

And then they end coming to fall nationals are there as a group and then could be what?

You know, I think there's a lot of people who see this kind of event and they're like, you know, this is cool, but is it for my kid?

Are they going to benefit?

Are they going to get behind in their regular school?

Just address any of the concerns that a parent might have and help them kind of see how this might be something that would be worthwhile for their child.

I saw a big change with a lot of the kids and I was, I have, one of my daughters is autistic, worried about how she would handle that environment.

And each adult there, from the cooking staff to the instructors, every there was so accommodating and helpful and caring for each.

An individual's Children's needs there.

So it really boosted my confidence, and.

I was like, oh, I could have.

Left them here, and it would have been as good as I could have provided him he care and love every single child.

We had kids that showed up saying, I hate fish, and then they had the fresh salmon that was caught earlier that day, and they're like, oh, this is delicious exploration.

And the challenges for each of them.

Every child, there are leaps and bounds.

I'm sure when they get home, their parents are like, who is this kid?

Yeah.

If a parent is concerned about, like, coming in and out of public school, I would certainly suggest talking to the school that you're coming from and working with their school district.

Their school district was super responsive to all of my requests, and when I needed the transcript, I got it.

They were willing to work with us.

And so if that's a concern, I think that can be a conversation you have ahead of time and it shouldn't be a limiting factor.

Oh, great advice.

I really like that because I think that's.

To me, I mean, my kids are little, so they're not going to Alaska anytime yet.

They're three or five and.

Or no.

So I know my kids age.

Guys, come on.

Don't.

Don't harass me.

4 and 6.

They're 4 and 6 not ready for Alaska yet.

But I know if they were in a traditional school, that would be.

One of my concerns is the in and out.

But you had that experience, and if you're talking to the school district up there, making sure your school district, you're.

You're working back and forth, it shouldn't be a concern.

It's something they can totally do.

And I think your kid's probably going to really enjoy going to Alaska and, you know, getting to go in caves and do taekwondo every day and stuff over there.

Their regular school.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, how many people can say they went to Alaska for school for six weeks?

I mean, what an awesome.

What an awesome adventure.

And to be able to tie this in so closely with our song curriculum and getting to do Taekwondo the whole time, the leadership skills, I mean, it just is an amazing opportunity for so many out there.

What do you guys have kids that are.

You guys.

Can they go more than one year?

Are you guys looking at doing another year?

Yes.

My kids have not stopped asking to go back.

Mine's saying she's going back.

Okay.

It's his brothers that they should all go.

Oh, nice.

Is that a vacation for you?

Then, like, they go and you get to stay Home.

It might be, but I might feel a little guilty about dropping all three of them off.

Hey, that could be a selling point for some parents.

I mean, who knows?

Well, I know the kids did some one.

When I talk to the kids and I've got an interview with them that I've got to get.

I.

We just had some audio issues and I've had some issues editing it and things got behind.

But I know one of the things they.

They loved was the food.

They eaten some amazing food up there which is, I'm sure better than most school foods.

And they made videos as part of this curriculum.

They.

They had, you know, working with the audio, video storytelling, those kind of things.

Have those videos been posted?

Are they out for people to be able to check those out?

I don't think they've been posted.

I think we could get one if you need one.

But they finished one of them for sure.

Gotcha.

Cool.

Well, we just want to make sure when those get out, we.

We're able to share them so people can kind of see some of the.

The adventures that they did.

I know they got to see so many beautiful things and experience so many things that we'd love to make sure that ATA nation gets to check those out.

I'm gonna.

Where if somebody has a question about the Songam academic program, where should they go?

Who should they talk to?

There's a new blog for on page.

You have.

You don't have it that on there.

It has a phone number on there.

Excellent.

She'll be glad to answer any questions, but she's over the whole program.

We will make sure we forward that out to people so they can get that information and start planning now.

You know, I got plenty of time.

We don't want spaces.

June 1st.

Okay.

Right now.

15Th or something like that.

Okay.

Is currently open now, so perfect.

This is something people are looking at.

Humans definitely jump on it now because there will be limited spots.

I mean there's.

They can't take everybody and you know, getting started early, especially if you're in a traditional school and want to talk to that school probably is a good plan as well.

So we'll send people over that way.

I love it.

This is so cool.

I really appreciate your guys's time and the information about program.

Yes, thank you.

And what an awesome opportunity to go and check this out.

I.

One of these days I will make it a plan to go up and travel and check out the, you know, wilderness and all the adventure that these guys are going to have up in Alaska.

Maybe get to teach class or something.

That'd be super cool.

One of these days.

One of these days.

I got so many travel plans I want to do, but it's, you know, busy running martial arts schools, raising kids, got all this stuff going on.

So much fun.

But next week we're going to talk to some of the kids that were at the first ever one of these trainings up in Alaska.

But now let's get to our athlete of the week, ATA Nation.

We have another great athlete of the week with us today.

Can you introduce yourself for us?

Yes, sir.

My name is Javan Blythe.

I'm a second degree black belt from Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas City, Missouri.

Excellent.

And who's your instructor there?

Master Joshua Palmer.

Excellent, Master Palmer.

Good deal.

Okay, well, athlete of the week.

Pretty exciting.

How did you get started in martial arts?

I actually spun a wheel at an event that my school had a booth at and won a free class, went and tried it out and have been doing it ever since.

Ah, see, there you go.

That's just should remind instructors out there to make sure you get to these community events because you could have a world champ in your school someday because of it.

So, you know, spin a wheel, become a world champ.

I like that.

Those.

That's pretty cool.

So I see.

Speaking of that, you have this awesome I'm a world champ shirt on.

Can you tell us a little bit about your competition?

What?

What?

You win your world champion?

I won my world title in creative weapons this last year.

Very cool.

Okay, what was your.

What weapon did you use?

I use oh Sung Do.

Oh, oh Song Do.

Really?

Very cool.

Oh, now I'm intrigued.

I want to watch.

Okay, so is creative weapons like one of your favorite events or does it rank up there with some other things?

What's kind of your.

Your top events you like to do?

I do really love creative weapons.

It's up there.

Extreme weapons is good.

Traditional weapons is good.

All weapons are good.

Very cool.

So your traditional creative weapons, extreme weapons.

So do you do creative and extreme.

Excuse me?

Do you do the same weapon for all those?

Do you switch them to some different weapons?

So I normally use Osung do for my traditional weapon and my creative weapon, and then I do double Jong bong for my extreme weapon.

Oh, double jong bong.

Nice.

Okay, so I've got a question for you.

The traditional oh Sung do, did you learn the old version first or have you always done the newer version?

I learned the old version first and then learned the new version right after it was unveiled at Worlds.

What do you think of the new version?

I think it's really good.

It's good having the second half not be so repetitive.

Yes, I agree.

I think there's.

The second half has got some really neat things in it.

Some kind of.

I mean, some cool stances, some neat things.

I think it's such an improvement from the original.

So very cool.

You, oh Sung Do.

I don't see as many people competing in oh Sung Do.

What drew you to that weapon?

I don't know.

I think we just learned it in class and then.

I don't know, it just stuck with me.

I like it.

It's a good one.

I think it's really cool.

Now, what about events that you're like, maybe not my favorite event.

Individual traditional sparring, I don't love.

I do team sparring, but I kind of like it more for the team aspect than for the actual sparring.

I prefer combat over traditional spark.

Cool.

It's really interesting.

I. I hear a lot of the.

A lot of people who sparring might not be their top.

Even maybe combat might not be their top.

They still.

Team sparring is so much fun just because you do have that team aspect.

You get to get together, you get to do things with your team, you get to support each other, you get to, you know, rely on each other a little bit.

So, um, that.

That's pretty awesome.

What.

What kind of goals do you have?

Maybe for your competition season?

Maybe for your personal training?

What are you looking at for 2026?

So this season I've started two team sync teams and a demo team.

So my goal is to place in one of those competitions.

This year, uh, we are going to be competing at Spring Nationals and then the Chicago tournament the week directly after.

Yeah.

Awesome.

So can I ask, was your.

The reasoning for starting those.

Did it help motivate you that they were going to introduce them at other events other than just Spring and Nationals, or.

I guess part of it probably helps that St. Louis is so close.

Like, it's easy to go to Nationals then too.

Yeah, it was.

It was good hearing that we're going to have it at regional tournaments.

Um, and I've also just loved watching team events in the past, so that's why I chose to start teams.

Very cool.

How did you go about it?

Do you have somebody at your school that you're partnered with or did you go outside your school to have people for demo and sync?

So for both of my sync teams, it's just with a couple of my friends, and then for my demo team, I Kind of just asked all the black belts at my school if they would come compete at Spring national since it was so close.

Ah, I love that.

Great initiative.

What a good leader.

Um, man, I love that now.

Great athlete of the week, you know, working hard, world title.

New events with Spring nationals coming up.

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

I would say to go beyond the belt means to have the same discipline that you have in martial arts for the rest of your life, you know?

Yeah.

What.

So this is a.

You know, kind of might be personal, but what area of discipline outside of Taekwondo is maybe the one that's hardest for you?

Um, I would say probably schoolwork.

Devoting the same amount of time to that as I spend working on Taekwondo.

Hey, I totally understand Taekwondo.

You know, you don't get to kick people at school.

It's not as.

Not as fun that way, but it's important.

Look in.

You know, you're in martial arts.

Are you in the instructor program at all?

The legacy program?

Yes, sir.

So my instructor owns three schools, and I teach at one of them.

Excellent.

I'm primarily there to teach at Tiny Tigers.

Very good.

Excellent.

You enjoy all the little ones.

I'm growing to enjoy it.

I have a legacy student who feels that same way.

He's working on it.

He's getting better.

It takes some time, but.

Excellent.

Well, hey, sir, congratulations on being one of the athletes of the week.

I'm excited.

Excited.

Maybe I'll get to see you guys compete in Team Sync and Team Demo at Nationals.

Everybody else, make sure you head out there to Spring Nationals to get to watch these guys as well.

And thanks for your time today.

Thank you, sir.

Another great athlete.

Guys, we've got so many talented martial artists in Songam Nation.

Uh, it's just amazing to see, and we love to continue to see them on the Brand Ambassadors corner on Instagram.

We've been posting that on YouTube, too.

Make sure you check out YouTube.

We just.

Guys, yesterday I was logging into YouTube.

I was checking things out.

If you haven't subscribed on YouTube, you got to go to.

To subscribe on YouTube.

And we have now the ATA YouTube page.

And I've been working.

I've been working hard, guys.

I. I am really trying.

We want a silver play button.

We need a hundred thousand subscribers.

And we just passed.

Where's my number?

Where's my number?

Here it is.

We just passed 34,000, which is silly.

Guys, come on.

Let's be honest, all right?

There are so many of you out there, parents, grandparents, students, instructors, you just got to go over to YouTube, hit the subscribe button on the ATAs YouTube page and we put this podcast out every week on the YouTube.

We put some clips on the shorts on YouTube.

We put the Brand Ambassadors corner on shorts there as well.

So I'm going to encourage you to head over to YouTube subscribe so we can help ATA get a silver play button because we're that cool.

We need to know, we need everybody to see ATA on YouTube.

Anyways, I really appreciate you guys.

Thanks for tuning in.

Stay tuned for next week's episode.

We're going to have another awesome athlete.

Talk to some of the kids who were in Alaska and got this opportunity so you guys can check it out.

Until then, get out there.

Go beyond the Belt ATA Nation podcast.

Be sure to subscribe and share with your ATA family.