Time to talk clubs and extreme martial arts.

Let's get started.

Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.

Welcome back, Ata Nation for another episode of the Ata Nation podcast.

This is episode 166 and I am thrilled to be your host, Senior Master Zack Hayden.

Always a pleasure to be with you.

We've got amazing guests, amazing athletes to feature, and just an amazing community out there in ATA Nation.

One thing I wanted to highlight real quick, if you haven't done so, go over to the ATA Martial Arts YouTube page and you can check out the 2025 Mastership Ceremony.

If you've never watched the mastership ceremony, it is by far one of my favorite events every single year.

I remember going to world championships.

The first time I went to world championships, our plane got delayed and we missed the master ceremony.

And I was just so upset because it was the one thing that I really wanted to go see.

I just.

I love the master ceremony.

So if you weren't able to be there in Phoenix, you need to go check it out on YouTube.

After you finish watching this episode on YouTube or you finish listening to it on your favorite podcast feed and then go ahead and watch that.

But first you've got to, you know, check out what we've got here today.

We've got two great interviews for you today.

I caught up with Chief Master Bast at world Championships this year and he has got this cool thing he's working on with clubs and stuff.

We just talked a little bit about his starting and whatnot and we've got an interview with him and then we're going to transition from that interview right into our athlete of the week, which was a great one this week.

So stay tuned.

Let's get started with those interviews.

Okay.

HA Nation, we have with us an awesome chief Master.

Chief Master Bass.

You are from.

I live in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Fort Collins, Colorado.

Okay, give us your little origin story.

How did you start in martial arts?

I was riding by a HA school my bike when I was 12 years old and saw a class and went, that looks pretty cool.

Walked in, talked to the instructor and he said, if you come back with your mom.

So I went home that night, talked to my mom, and enrolled the next day.

Really?

It's so neat to see how many ATA like, like high ranks.

It was ATA from the beginning, you know, born and bred.

Only organization I've ever belonged to.

That's awesome.

And were you in Colorado the whole time or somewhere else before?

Yeah, I grew up in northwest Florida in Fort Walton Beach.

Okay.

Just 45 minutes up the road Grandmaster Soon Ho Lee and Grandmaster MK Lee.

So my original instructors were under those guys.

And so.

And then I left Florida when I joined the Army Reserves and on my way to college.

Okay, and then what brought you landing in Colorado?

So it was too cold.

It was too hot in Florida.

Too humid.

Too humid, no.

After college, I ended up in Sacramento, California.

I had an opportunity after school.

I went to school for theater and had an opportunity to work in theater.

Did that for a year.

Really?

Theater.

Oh, that's exciting.

So that's what I went to college for.

But Grandmaster Jaime obviously was in that area, and I just happened to look him up, and he said, what are you doing?

I was like, well, I'm trying to figure out if I want to renew my.

My contract with this theater or not.

And he goes, how about you start next week with me?

I went, okay.

And so I started working for him that next week.

How so?

I'm sidetracking here because this theater thing's fascinating to me.

Have you.

Did you find that.

That.

That education helped in the instruction side of things?

I think because sometimes being an instructor is being a performer in some ways.

Acting and whatnot.

It is totally.

It's there.

I mean, yeah, they're different, but you're in front of people, and you have to be on, and you have to perform.

That's what it is.

So, yeah, absolutely.

And I think all the training I had prior to entering my theater program in college helped with that.

And then they just kind of.

It's like, you know, they just helped each other.

They work together that way.

That's very cool.

What's you.

Plays.

So it was.

I went to school for as a.

As an actor.

Performance.

Very cool.

Any.

Any, like, plays that people know that you would have been in?

I mean, you know, everything.

Everything from Shakespeare to modern st.

Very cool.

Okay, now you are doing something really cool with ata.

They've kind of talked about it at world championships here, focused on clubs.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

So we have this really amazing opportunity to go back to our roots of the ata.

The ATA was really founded on this club foundation, and so I'm here to help potential instructors and licensees who are looking to grow.

Maybe it's a licensee who's looking to expand to another location, but they want to start with a club to begin with or an instructor who has their professional career and they're on track to do what they do professionally.

But maybe they.

They love taekwondo, they love teaching, and they like to do it.

They're not going to be a full time school owner.

Right.

But they have this opportunity to go open a club and contribute to the culture and lineage of our organization.

I think this is really neat.

I think there's a lot of, you know, people who might be listening, watching the, the, the podcast that are.

That didn't know this was an option, you know, because we, we see a lot of these big professional schools that are doing amazing things and they go, well, I'm going to go to college and be a teacher.

I'm going to go to college and be a nurse.

I can't teach martial arts then.

But this is something that, like you said, the ATA was founded on a lot of, but it hasn't been talked about as much or a lot of people don't know about it.

Yeah.

And so we're trying to really provide that education process and then really develop a process of how do I go from, I don't know anything about running a club to from point A to point B?

What are the steps I need to take to find a location open?

What are the things I need to be looking for?

Considering.

So just helping our instructors through that process of opening club.

Very cool.

I think this is really exciting.

If somebody is interested first, I'm sure they should talk to their instructor.

If you're listening, talk to your instructor first.

Always do that.

But then with them or whatnot.

Reach out to headquarters to you.

Yeah.

So you can go through the licensing part department and contact Master Jacobs and then he'll reach out to me or, you know, reach out to me directly.

You know, either way is going to be perfectly fine.

Awesome.

Well, I think this is really cool.

If people have questions, make sure you check it out.

And thank you for your time, sir.

Absolutely.

My pleasure.

Thank you, sir.

Cool.

Awesome.

ATA Nation.

We are excited to have with us an awesome athlete of the week.

Hey, can you introduce yourself, sir?

My name is Alex Rubio.

I'm a third year black belt from Roanoke, Texas and I'm excited to be on the podcast.

We're super excited to have you.

So who's your instructor there in Texas?

My instructor is Senior Master Michael Morrison.

Whoa.

Sorry.

My instructor is Senior Master Michael Scott Morrison.

Master Morrison, Fantastic.

We love Master Morrison.

He's a great guy.

So third degree black belt.

Can I ask how old you are?

Yes, sir.

I'm 17.

Seventeen.

Very cool.

Okay.

So what got you started in martial arts?

How'd you get started?

Honestly, I was a bas baseball kid back in my days.

I really liked baseball, but then my sister tried Martial arts.

And I wanted to try it too, because I saw them kick boards and kick butt, and I was like, I gotta try this.

So we started as white belts back in 2017, and I've been here ever since.

It's been there ever since.

You still play any baseball?

No, I quit in 2021 for MTA.

All about doing the taekwondo.

Smart man.

Smart man.

Okay, so you.

You're a martial arts athlete here.

The.

The ambassadors have picked you as one of the athletes to go, you know, be famous now on the Instagrams and stuff.

So what kind of.

We.

We wrapped up last season.

We're onto the new season.

What kind of tournament competition is kind of like your favorite thing to do?

My favorite thing has always been craven extreme.

I've always.

I've always wanted to have the creative will of making my own stuff and putting into out there to perform, and I've always loved doing that, specifically XMA weapons, because that's what I hold my titles in.

Okay, what kind of titles do you got?

I have two world titles and XMA weapons from 2022 and 2023.

Try to go for another one this year, but it didn't make it.

But it's okay.

We've got next year, hopefully.

That's a good attitude to have.

What weapon do you do for your extreme?

I do both stuff.

Okay, very cool.

Excellent.

Um, okay, so I. I always like to see what people's favorite things are, and then I think it's neat to.

To kind of see, like, hey, not everybody is a pro at everything usually.

I mean, we've got some people who are just like, pros at everything, but most of us humans are.

You know, we have one event or two events that maybe not be our favorite.

So what if we had to say, hey, maybe on the.

The other end of favorites, what would be the event that might not be your top one?

This is really easy for me.

But traditional forms, if you ever watch traditional forms, you know.

Yes, sir.

Traditional forms, it's okay.

But it's definitely not my favorite event.

Really.

Okay, that's very interesting.

Usually we find that people.

I mean, this is a stereotype, and not all stereotypes are true, so I should be careful.

But, you know, usually the people who are extreme and creative kind of people, sometimes the thing they don't like is the, like the sparring side of it.

But for you, it's the traditional form.

You don't like to be in that box.

Like, you got to tell me what to do and.

And do it this way.

Yes, sir.

That's why forms just seems so boring.

Not boring.

I don't mean to put it in that sense.

Forms just seems like, not as creative for me.

That's why I just don't enjoy it as much as other events.

Sparring, I like doing, I like moving around.

I like kicking people.

I like the fighting aspect too.

I've just always been better at the extreme martial arts events.

But I love all the events.

That's awesome.

So I got a.

As an extreme martial artist, what's your, what's your process for making a form?

And then with that, are you like each season do you make a new one?

Do you stick with the one you've got?

Do you kind of tweak it throughout the year?

What's your process?

My process is I'll usually start a form in December or around November.

December, January.

Because that's when Tech.

In Texas, we don't have any tournaments around that time.

So then I can get those forms done there, practice them and see if they're ready in competition in some of the tournaments leading up to spring nationals and districts, and then keep them until the next December.

Okay.

Usually I like to have fun.

I like to have fun when I'm competing.

So I sometimes tweak stuff while I'm doing the forming competition or I'll tweak it around as I go throughout the season.

So you've got a little freestyle while you're doing it as well.

You know, you, you know how to tweak it and stuff while you're going?

Yes, sir.

Do you do that?

So do you do that like even at like, like Worlds and National, like the big events, do you sometimes.

Do you like, you tweak it here, There too?

Or do you stick with what you have there or know that like, hey, this one little part, I know I need to tweak this at Worlds because, you know, I'm feeling it, going through it and I know I have a next level thing in this little section and so I'm going to throw that next level thing.

Is that how you do it at Worlds, Nationals, like bigger events?

So usually at Worlds and Nationals, I do keep my set form so I don't mess up.

But sometimes if I know either I've got a good chance at winning this event.

I'll throw something in there just for fun while I'm doing the form.

If I feel like it, or sometimes if I know I need to throw something crazy to win, I'll throw that.

Okay.

Okay.

Very cool.

Oh, man.

How I. I can tell in the Way you think about forms and stuff, that kind of thing.

How traditional forms wouldn't be your thing because you got to just like.

No, I just got to do this the exact way.

There's no throw an extra cool or anything like that.

Yeah.

Back in the day, I used to freestyle on my open hand crit of an XMA on the spot every single tournament, but I've got rid of that.

So you probably get too many.

Like, it goes really well and then doesn't go well.

Well and, you know, too much inconsistency.

Then that's what happened.

Cool.

Now, what about this new season?

We're.

We're just starting off.

We've got a couple.

I don't know.

You guys had the Texas Twister a couple weeks ago.

What kind of goals do you have for the new season?

New season, my main goals are just to improve my forms the best I can.

And honestly, this season I want to get my form down more solid just so I can go to TLC more prepared.

I think last season in my XMA weapons especially, I changed around a little too much.

I wasn't as prepared.

Gotcha.

Yeah.

Last season, my creative weapons was really good, and I kept it the same the whole season.

So I think that's a strat now.

That makes sense.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I will.

Yeah.

What I always do, though.

Every term I do switch my songs around, so I like experimenting with songs.

I want to keep doing that, see how that works out, and then find my song for toc again.

Okay, cool.

So when you switch a song, how much does that change your form in the presentation of it, in the timing of it?

Do you have a lot of adjusting that you have to do or just like a little bit?

Just a little bit.

Because I know almost all my songs.

Here, let me show you something real quick.

I already know if I switch it to this song, I'll just need to add an extra beat in the intro.

If I switch it to this one here, it can change the overall vibe depending on if it's a happy song, sad song, intense song, something like that.

That's awesome.

A lot of people in my ring have the same mindset when it comes to that.

They'll just choose their songs on the spot.

I have around a folder of.

I think this is 200 songs I could use for competition.

Whoa.

Okay, so where do you find your songs?

How do you.

How are you picking music for your competition?

So back in the day, I used to buy music for a competition.

I know a lot of people do that now.

And then In December of 2023, I thought, what if I could start making those my own, on my own?

What if I could start doing that?

So in January 2024, I started actually making my own music from the songs that are already online.

I just remix them and use them for my own competition.

Okay.

I remix over 400 songs in the past year, and I still.

I sell those two on.

On my page, on my mixing page.

Oh, excellent.

What.

What's your mixing page?

We'll shoot.

Shout it out for everybody.

It's at Rubio Remixes.

Awesome.

Well.

Well, make sure people check that out if they need a good remix.

Sounds like you're the man.

Yes, sir.

Awesome.

Well, good.

I finished my summer sale, but I'm gonna have a seat soon.

Yeah, good, good.

Okay.

Well, I.

That's.

That's excellent.

I. I love.

I've never been a big, extreme creative guy, but I love to dig into talking to people who do it extreme and creative and kind of see what their process is, see how that works.

Because I'm the opposite of you.

I'm like a forms guy, and I'm like, no, tell me the next move, and then tell me the next move and tell me exactly how it's supposed to go.

So when it comes to the creative thing, no, that's something I've got to really work on.

So I love hearing kind of your process and how you go about it.

What about outside of tournaments?

Do you have any martial arts goals that you're working on outside of the regular competitive season?

Yes, sir, I do.

I'm trying to get more out.

This also applies kind of in the venues.

I'm trying to get more out there because I do want to open a school when I'm older, and I want to get into more teaching as a head and coach.

Head instructor.

Very cool.

Yes, sir.

Those are my goals.

Just keep teaching and one day open my own school.

I love that.

Fantastic.

What great goals.

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

To yo.

Beyond the belt means to me here.

How do I put this into words?

It means not to show that respect and courtesy, not just on the mat, but outside.

Specifically, for me, it means to be doing that inside the tournament venue.

So when I was little, I was a little nervous at tournaments.

I was scared to talk to people.

And then I talked to Mr. Ethan Feinstreiber back in the day.

I think this was Worlds Expo 2019, and that was the kindest person I had met at a tournament so far.

And he inspired me to keep pushing onwards.

And I think that's the type of attitude we should have in nature.

Gta.

Not just being kind in the ring, but when you're in the venue, watching everyone walking around, being a kind person and being open to everyone.

I love that.

Yeah, I, I, I'm right there with you.

Especially, I mean, because that at the tournament can be a tough place to do it sometimes.

You know, I mean, it gets a little, can get a little heated, can get that nerves and, and you know, all those competitive juices going on in the, in the tournament venue can be rough.

So I love that idea of going beyond the belt there.

So, sir, thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you for being an inspiration for ATA nation out there.

Keep up the good work and we'll see in an event soon.

Thanks so much.

Thank you for having me here.

It was a lot, it was a lot of fun.

Well, those were some great interviews.

I really love to kind of probe in and figure out how people are making their extreme forms and stuff like that, just because it's something I haven't done.

And I always find it interesting to see other people's process when they are doing those kind of things.

Now, real quick, couple of reminders.

Last week we talked about regional camps, so make sure you're checking those out.

You've got from the time this episode airs, only like two weeks, a little less than two weeks with the regular pricing for Fall Nationals.

So if you are planning to go to Fall Nationals and compete, go and register.

If you are thinking about it, you should probably just go and register.

You're going to save money that way.

It's going to help you and headquarters get everything organized and stuff.

Well, so go and check that out.

I know there's been some challenges in getting hotel rooms and that's just the, I mean, that's just the world we live in when there's so many other things going on.

Um, they've got two big games in Pittsburgh that weekend, so it's just tough.

But hopefully this reminds us.

It reminded me because I didn't do it as fast as I usually do, that we need to register or get our hotel rooms early.

That is just a good reminder to all of us because I didn't get my hotel room early and that hurt a little bit because usually I get, you know, Airbnb early or whatever it might be.

So remind us, start a little earlier.

I'm going to do that for St. Louis for spring Nationals, make sure I get my stuff done.

Nice and early, so check those out.

It's going to be some great times.

We've got some great events coming up, some awesome tournaments.

The first Legacy training online was just last week or so.

If you did that, let me know how you liked it.

We had another event going on that we had to go to, so I couldn't make it, but I hope to do some of them in the future.

Lots awesome training going around ATA Nation.

So get out there, make a difference, Go beyond the belt, guys.

We'll see you next week.

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