Do you guys hear that?

Do you hear that?

It's world championships right around the corner.

Let's get started.

Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.

Welcome back ATA Nation to another episode of the ATA Nation.

ATA Nation.

We are super excited to have with us another amazing athlete of the week.

Can you introduce yourself, ma'?

Am?

Yes, sir.

Hello, my name is KK Alexa.

I'm a third degree black belt and I am from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Raleigh, North.

That's the Vision Martial arts headquarters area.

So, yeah, with Chief Master Wegman and all of those guys out there, is that right?

Yes, sir, I am.

Have you been there?

Well, let's do this.

How did you get started in martial arts?

So I got started when I was around 8.

We were still living in central Raleigh at the time, and I went to a summer camp that was doing field trips and we went to a martial arts school and they taught us, you know, basic moves, kicks, punches, that sort of thing.

And I just fell in love with it and I begged my parents to sign me up.

And then we moved a little outside of Raleigh and we found Vision Martial Arts.

Had a location for four minutes from my house.

Perfect.

Oh, my mom got me signed up and it's just been history ever since.

Been doing it ever since.

Excellent.

Well, I was just telling.

We had a legacy retreat the other day and I was just telling some of my legacy students the very first time I let met Chief Master Wegman.

It was a long time ago and it was a very funny story, but I'm not going to tell it on the podcast here.

You'll have to see me in person for that.

Anyways, what you, you know, we just finished the season.

How did the season go for you?

Yes, so this season I didn't compete too heavily.

I was a junior last year, so, you know, starting to look at colleges, do college tours, that sort of thing.

But my goal this season was just to have a lot of fun, make new friends and see some improvement in my competition.

Oh, see, I really appreciate that.

I think it is so important for athletes to be looking at the same season of life that they're in, to be setting goals that are smart for that season.

You know, like you said, certain times in high school you might be like, okay, I'm not going to a tournament every weekend.

It's just not going to happen this time.

But other, other seasons of life, you're like, hey, I can do this.

So when you are competing, what's your like, your go to event?

Extreme weapons.

Extreme weapons.

What weapon do you do?

I Do both stuff.

Bo staff.

Okay, very good.

So you one.

Oh, I can see it there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Whether you're one of the ones that like throw it way up in the air and it like spin 12 times and catch it or something.

I'm not, sir, I'm not quite available yet.

I can do about a half turn currently.

There we go.

Okay, well, you know, baby steps, Baby steps.

There's more than I can do.

I can sometimes throw it up and catch it.

That's about it.

So what is the event that, like, you know, we support all events.

We think all events are great, but if you had to, like, if somebody was like, hey, you can't do one of the events, which event would be the one you'd kick out first?

Sparring.

Okay.

I wondered.

I mean, it's funny, it seems that they're like, if people are extreme or forms oriented people, the sparring is usually the one that goes off.

And they're sparring oriented people.

It's one of the forms ones that goes off.

Okay, I gotcha.

So have you done any team sparring?

I have not.

Not yet.

I'm thinking about it in the future.

Yeah, that's, that's good.

Okay, so, hey, what kind of goals do you have?

You said you were junior year, so you're getting ready to go into your senior year this right year, right?

Yes, sir.

Okay, so, you know, this is, you're, you're entering, you know, this senior year, which is like, okay, what am I going to do after this?

How's this going to work?

What are you thinking about as you think forward about your martial arts goals?

How are you thinking about that?

What are you thinking about as goals for the future?

So I definitely would love to be a world champ one day.

So a title run may be in my future here in the next few years.

I definitely want to continue doing martial arts as my career.

I actually just finished up in the winter.

I went down to or.

I went out to Texas and received my advanced certification from LEE College.

Excellent.

Okay, so you were doing the Song University?

Yes, sir.

I was actually part of the first cohort for that.

So that was a great experience to get through that.

Very cool.

So are you, I assume you're in the legacy program, you're training.

You know, I know Chief Master Wegman, Vision's got an amazing program for moving up and training for careers in martial arts.

Are you part of that whole journey?

Yes, sir, I am.

Very cool.

Okay, so your goal, you're gonna stick with taekwondo.

This is some of the Things.

So we're gonna see you go through the master's ceremony someday and do all these things.

Oh, I love that.

That's so exciting.

Okay, Very cool.

What?

So you are a senior in high school.

What?

Where along that journey in your martial arts training did you think, hey, I can do this as a job?

Like, this is something I could make a career.

How did you start thinking about that?

When did that become a reality for you?

So you mentioned Vision has a great staff, and that staff is very supportive of wanting to do martial arts as a career.

So when I was younger, I had an instructor.

Her name was Ms. Kepley.

She was amazing.

She was my favorite instructor besides Senior Master Veto and Chief Master Wegman, of course.

She was the one who inspired me to become an instructor because she was just so kind.

She worked with everyone so well.

She brought this amazing energy to class and made me look forward to going to class every day.

So I was like, I want to be a Miss Kepley for another little girl or student.

And that's when it started.

Yes, sir.

Oh, that's so cool.

I love when people are inspired by others, but then they see that this is, like, this is a thing you can really do, you know, it's.

It's a real career.

You know, a fantastic.

I mean, I. I joke with people when I do, like, school programs and whatever that I told them.

I tell kids, I'm like, I considered going to school to be a teacher in school, and then I heard that you can't.

You can't kick kids in school.

And I was like, well, at Taekwondo, I get paid to kick kids, so this is way better.

So it's a.

You know, it's a great career.

You can't go wrong with it.

Well, that is super exciting.

I am so excited to get to talk to another athlete, a leader out there that is inspiring others and going to do this as a career.

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

So to me, being an athlete that goes beyond the belt is being a black belt in all aspects of life.

So whether that's at school and you're helping someone else out with their homework, because maybe they're struggling a little bit in one section, you can go and help them and be a leader there in your classroom, you can also be a leader in your community.

Community.

So I actually just finished up doing a charity drive for a local charity in my area that helps provide clothes to children who maybe need just a little bit more help with getting clothes for school.

You can be a leader in your community that way it doesn't just have to be in taekwondo class at your school.

I love that.

You guys got a great example of doing some great community work out there with Mrs. Beto.

No.

Mrs. Yeah, Mrs. Beto.

I was gonna say she's not a master yet this year, right?

She's.

She's getting masters.

Oh, close.

She's so good.

Yes.

Okay.

I have good stories of senior master Beto too, but I won't tell those either.

So that's awesome.

I love it.

Well, ma', am, thank you for being one of these athletes of the week.

Thank you for the inspiration.

I look forward to getting to continue to watch you as you grow into the martial arts career.

More and more go through the mastership ceremony someday.

Are you going to go out to World Championships this year or you got to stay home?

I'm thinking about it.

I'm not entirely sure yet.

Okay, well, if you're out there, make sure you, you stop me and say hi.

And again, thanks for your time and for your inspiration.

Thank you so much for having me.

Ladies and gentlemen, another awesome athlete.

I say that every time, but it's so true.

There's so many amazing athletes and in at nation.

And one of my favorite parts about going to World Championships is getting to see all these amazing athletes.

We have some of the cream of the crop in the martial arts world.

So inspiring to watch, so inspiring to talk to.

I hope you guys are tuning in to all of what's going to be happening at World Championships.

If you're not able to make it and make sure you are subscribed on YouTube and Facebook, Facebook, Instagram so that you're not missing all the live videos and using that as an opportunity to inspire yourself and set goals for the future.

It's all about becoming a champion beyond the belt.

That's going to wrap it up for our episode today.

Really excited about Worlds coming up.

We've got.

I'm going to finish recording two more episodes so that I've got them all set for one.

I'm out at World Championships and these are going to come out while we're at Worlds even we just keep trucking along.

Thank you for being a loyal subscriber.

Please share this with a friend.

It makes a great listening or watching tool as you head off to Arizona.

Hey guys, get out there.

Become a champion beyond the belts.

Be sure to subscribe and share with your ETA family.