It's time to head to the berg.

Let's get started.

Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.

Instructors, students, parents, family of Ata Nation.

Welcome back to the Ata Nation podcast.

This is episode 173 and I am your host, Senior Master Zach Hayden.

While you are listening to this, we're in Pittsburgh.

This usually drops.

Our episodes drop on Fridays on YouTube and all your favorite podcast players.

And this is Fall Nationals week.

So you will see me in Pittsburgh.

I'll be there.

I'm actually leaving in the morning after I record this.

We are heading out.

I want to.

We drive over there.

I'm going to go to Master's training.

I haven't been able to go the last couple of years that it's been in Pittsburgh.

And so I want to hit the Master's training this year with Grandmaster MK and the Master's Council and the training department.

Then on Thursday.

Excuse me, On Friday.

No, Thursday.

Yeah.

Getting all my days confused.

I got a bunch of training.

If you don't, you know, make plans to attend these training events, you are missing out.

I'm.

I'm super excited you'll be able to see me.

I'm doing two of the business ones and then I will be at the Max Team how to Build a Team seminar.

And then I will also be cleaning up my black belt forms.

I want to do that one as well.

And you'll probably see me doing a little bit of recording as well.

I've already booked to talk to the awesome people who've been at the Songam Academic.

Oh, it's got a cool name and I've forgotten it off the top of my head in Alaska.

I don't know, go back and listen to the episode we did about the, the training in Whale Pass, Alaska.

But these guys have been out in Alaska doing all kinds of martial arts training and other cool things.

And they're all kind of coming to Fall Nationals to get together and to do their.

Their almost the end of their training there.

And then they're going to all go home for a week and then finish up their projects and stuff.

So I'm excited to get to talk to a bunch of them.

Got that booked for Thursday afternoon.

I hope to be talking to a couple other, doing some.

A few other interviews while we're out there in Pittsburgh as well.

So I like to make a, make an adventure of it to try to get some people.

You have somebody you think I should talk to, you let me know.

I like to like to hit people up in person.

And I think we have a Nice little place to, to do that at.

So that's the goal.

This episode is going to be quick.

Hopefully you're listening to it while you're either in Pittsburgh or maybe you're traveling home from Pittsburgh.

Or if you didn't make it to Pittsburgh, you can use this as kind of a. Oh man, I feel so bad that I wasn't there.

I'm joking.

But make plans to attend the Hu Lee Classic in Little Rock, Arkansas or head to.

And also make sure you play.

Make plans to hit spring Nationals in St. Louis.

We're gonna have a short episode today, but we do have an awesome athlete of the week we need to get to.

Let's do that now.

Hey, TA Nation.

We're excited to have another awesome athlete of the week with us.

Can you introduce yourself, ma'?

Am?

Hi, I'm gianna Combs.

Well, Ms. Combs, where are you?

Where are you from?

I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh.

Well, there's a big event coming out there pretty soon.

Yeah, Paul Nationals.

Very excited.

You probably don't have to travel very far.

No, sir.

That's nice.

Who, who do you train with?

I train with the crew.

Kaminsky's excellent over in Ozem Park.

Very cool.

And how'd you get started in martial arts?

So it was actually my brother, when I was four years old, he wanted to start it and I was like attached to the hip with all my family, so I decided to go along with them and I really ended up liking it.

So you seem quite a bit older than four now.

So it's been a few years.

What rank are you?

I'm a third degree black belt, sir.

Very cool.

Now here's the question.

Does your brother still do it?

No, he did not like it at the beginning at all.

So he quit.

Isn't that funny how that works sometimes?

Like my brother and I started at the same time.

He's a red black belt, I'm a seventh degree.

You know, just goes that way.

So what is what for you and let's, let's go competition.

What's your favorite aspect of competition?

I would like the actual competition itself.

I love being competitive with all my friends and like ringmates and getting in there and just being able to just.

Win in some bling, right?

Yes, sir.

Be able to show off everybody skills and it's just such a fun time for me.

It is, it is a blast.

Competition is just a great way to.

I, I like what you said about, you know, friends hanging out.

You know, you get to be competitive but you also get all these people you get to hang out with when you compete.

What's your.

What's your favorite event to compete in?

Definitely combat and weapons.

I love the speed and competitiveness in combat, but really going down on like technique and weapons is so much fun for me.

Very cool.

Okay, what's your.

What's your weapon of choice right now?

The long range.

Long range.

You know what, we've seen a lot of.

A lot of long range seems to be coming up in now in the third degree division.

It's definitely getting more popular.

Yes, sir, it is.

I agree.

I.

It's great to see.

I really enjoy one.

It's just nice to have another weapon in there and not see like I'm.

I don't need to see any regular BO staff anymore.

I'm sorry, guys.

I just am tired of seeing you.

No, I'm joking.

If.

Let's say, I mean, we all love competition.

We love, you know, all the different aspects, but if there was an event that was like, maybe not your top event, not your favorite event, what would that be?

I would say forms.

It's just something I don't get to spend a lot of time on, but I do still really enjoy it.

It's just something that kind of gets put off to the side with all my other training.

You like the.

Yeah, the other stuff is a little more fun to train with.

And that third degree form has that horrible slow sidekick at the beginning, which is.

Might be more motivated to train it if you didn't have that.

That's my opinion.

So what about, you know, we're, what, not quite halfway through the season?

We've got all nationals coming up, some other things.

What kind of goals do you have for this season in your.

In your training and your competition?

So for competition, definitely getting back to Worlds and getting back up on that podium.

Last year I was really close and I just want to finish it and get another world title.

But also making Team USA again is definitely another goal for me.

Going back to the camp and trying out there.

Excellent.

So let's go.

You.

You've got a world title.

You've done a red letters already before.

Yes, sir.

I have three world titles.

Whoa.

What are those then?

So I have combat weapons and then also Team Combat.

Very cool.

Excellent.

Okay.

And then obviously Team USA stuff.

So are you doing.

Are you on Team USA currently?

So I start with Team USA in the 2026 season.

Gotcha.

Okay, awesome.

So you.

You went to Athlete Development this year, got on the team at Athlete Development.

Is that correct?

So start on the team in 26.

Cool.

Was this year.

Your.

Have you been to athlete development camp in the past?

This was my first year.

Your first year?

You come from the comancy school and this was your first year going, yes, sir.

Last year I was on vacation.

So, okay, I start up that this year.

What did.

What did you think of it?

I thought it was awesome to be able to just hang out with friends.

And then also I loved getting all the different perspectives from the coaches.

It's so cool to see how, like, we all prepare for the same thing in different ways.

So that was definitely lots of amazing talent there.

If you had somebody, you know, that's listening and they're like, hey, I've been thinking maybe about this combat or maybe about this athlete development camp in the past.

Maybe I should go.

Maybe I shouldn't go.

What would you tell them?

I would definitely say to go.

It's a lot of tough training, but if you're really dedicated to it and you want to improve, it's definitely the move for training.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And.

And I mean, you're going to walk away with so many memories.

You know, you're going to have a couple of those memories that, like, in the middle of doing it, you're like, this is horrible.

I never want to do this again.

But like, a week later you're like, that was awesome.

I'm so glad I did that.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, there was probably any of the workouts with.

Probably any of the workouts with Master Isaacs.

Those were tough.

Yeah, he likes to.

He likes to, you know, make people run and do some stuff that, you know, they.

They don't love to do.

So aiming for some titles, getting to compete with Team usa, That's super exciting.

What do you.

What do you.

I can't remember if this is going to come out before Fall Nationals.

Not.

Let's pretend it is coming out before Fall Nationals.

What's your hope for Fall Nationals?

What are you trying to get done there?

Definitely get some more points on the board for all of my events.

I'm super excited in Pete, individually and in teams, but, you know, just make some more memories and really get to enjoy competing at such a high level because you got everybody flying all over the country to come see Pittsburgh, for sure.

We love going out to Pittsburgh.

It's.

It's.

I think they should keep Nationals there forever, but I don't think they're going to.

Well, yeah, you do, too.

It's really easy to get some.

Some point.

You know, it's a little cheaper to get Points that way if you can just drive to your backyard.

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

For me, going beyond the belt means taking all that, like, respect and discipline that you've learned from your peers and mentors and putting it into, like, your everyday aspects of life.

Whether that's like spreading it into, like, your community or just onto yourself, reflecting it.

Because you always want to put 100 effort into everything you do and really strive for that personal growth that we should all, like, look forward to.

I love that personal growth.

I mean, you know, being all in on, on yourself and being able to, to improve yourself.

That's fantastic.

Well, ma', am, first of all, congratulations on being one of these athletes of the week that the brand ambassadors are going and picking out.

Super cool.

And thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you too, sir.

I hope you have a good day.

We'll see you in Pittsburgh.

See you soon.

It was great to talk to another awesome athlete in ATA nation.

And man, at Fall Nationals, we just see the caliber of these athletes from all, all over.

It is so cool to see.

Make sure you guys are checking out the different events that are going across all of ATA Nation.

And of course, look at the training opportunities.

We've got the virtual legacy trainings that you can do.

The Camp Jong Su that is coming up in Little Rock, Arkansas, as well as the Huli Classic coming up in Little rock.

And then 2026, man, it'll be here before you know it.

Lots of amazing training opportunities.

Spring nationals will be here before you know it.

So make sure you look at getting your hotel room booked for that.

That information is out online right now as well.

If you happen to see me at spring or, excuse me, at Fall Nationals, make sure you stop and say hi, say hey, listen to the podcast, watch it on YouTube, whatever the case might be.

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Guys.

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Hit that subscribe button.

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Wouldn't that look good in the museum at headquarters?

I think it would.

Just saying.

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Make sure you get out there and go beyond the bell.