Masters Alliance Uncut
Honest Conversations with Masters of their craft about life and Olympic Sport Issues
Masters Alliance Uncut
Inside The Taekwondo Power Struggle
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The jokes land early, but the mood shifts fast. We go from new students and Olympic nostalgia to a frank examination of how Taekwondo is being shaped—by scoring systems that reward ghost touches, by officials letting clinch head kicks pile up, and by leadership choices that mute the very voices pushing for athlete-first change. You’ll hear why Canada’s team trials felt deeper and tougher, why KPNP vs Daedo thresholds don’t just tweak strategy but rewrite it, and how equipment quirks turn coaching into coin flips. This isn’t a rant about sensors; it’s a case study in how rules shape behavior, culture, and health.
Then we open the file no one wanted public: a leaked call describing an MOU designed to silence critics by restricting platforms for certain coaches and even their clubs. We connect timelines, quotes, and outcomes—suspensions, selective press, and contradictions between public “we welcome disagreement” statements and private “stop talking” demands. We’re not litigating in the feed; we’re explaining what due process means, why the Amateur Sports Act matters, and how excluding coaches damages livelihoods and athlete pathways. When governance relies on leverage over transparency, athletes pay first and longest.
Amid the heat, we stay on the athletes. Juniors heading to World Championships with hotels covered but flights unpaid. Transfers handled without basic coach-to-coach courtesy. Top-ranked competitors sidelined while others get travel and support. We’ve coached too many kids to pretend this is background noise. If scoring rewards flicks, training bends toward gaming, not growth. If politics shuns certain rooms, kids—not logos—lose opportunities. We argue for simple fixes with big impact: clear thresholds, real head contact for head points, active clinch management, and funding policies that follow merit.
What keeps us going is the surge of messages from referees, coaches, and athletes who want the same thing: a sport that’s fair, watchable, and true to its roots. We’ll keep pressing, answering your questions, and pushing for a culture where critique isn’t punished but used to build. If you care about Taekwondo’s future—from club floors to world stages—hit play, share this with someone who needs to hear it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Subscribe for the next deep dive, and tell us: what’s the one change you’d make right now?
No, say it isn't so. It's another Warehouse 15 Uncut podcast, and we are back, back in black, back in blue, back and back and back. And welcome to the weekly enjoying ourselves and making the world a better place for all of you in Taekwondo. Coach Moreno, what's going on? What's the word?
SPEAKER_01Mockingbird. What's the price? 50 twice. What's the reason? Grapes in season. Oh yeah, that's some old school stuff right there. Some Chicago stuff. You don't know about that. Hey, hey, you know what? We kind of, you know, took a little break last week. We kind of let you know our minds relax and stuff like that. So uh I think we have a good show today. We have some, you know, talk about some uh some current events and uh you know some of the team trials that have happened, but um I think we definitely need to unpack a little bit the audio. We gotta get to the elephant in the room and and talk about some of that stuff and kind of put some things together for the for for the people. But yeah, I'm good. I'm good. I was home this weekend.
SPEAKER_00And what do you got, Mr. TJ? What's going on?
Olympics, Medals Mishaps, And Exposure
SPEAKER_02Chilling, chilling. Started the week strong. Had a couple new signups show up today, so always good. I had a four-year-old and a five-year-old. So more people, kind of fun, kind of exciting. Yeah, yeah, good times. Other than that, chilling, like you said, getting ready, just training my guys, getting ready for this. Um, obviously, we just came back from the team trial, a couple of them, but looking forward to you know moving towards the U.S. Open and Canada Open and US Open. So everything's starting to spin and go pretty quick. But just chilling, chilling, chilling. And you, how about you?
unknownMe.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what you doing?
SPEAKER_00Well, just getting my life in balance and trying to find a better way of doing everything that I do. So we've been very busy in the school. Luckily, I got my wait, what happened to my beads? I got my beads, I got my love, and I and every day I become a better person. Generosity. So uh I still have to speak the truth, but other than that, there's nothing wrong with the truth, and you shouldn't be afraid of the truth unless you're not telling the truth. So today, I think we got some good stuff to get to and stuff. But I was watching the Olympics, and um, you know, I get all these notes from people because obviously, you know, we're Olympians, and they ask me, you know, some interesting questions. And and to be honest, it's interesting because every time you watch the Olympics, what you see is a new and improved version of it. So when we were competing, it was hard for people to know what we were unless we were involved in some sort of controversy. But now, you know, athletes across the board, even in some of these obscure sports, are getting noticed and more opportunities and just doing better in general. So I just can't it's you know, I'm glad of the times that we had at it and the times we got to compete, but I'm very happy for these young people that raised to that level and will get a chance to do their best in front of the world.
SPEAKER_01I I I was gonna say something about the Olympics because yeah, I was watching it all all day today and watching the curling, you know, you know, those guys doing that stuff is crazy. Those guys are so that's it's amazing what they can do. But did you see the the debacle with the medals, how the medals are falling off the ribbons?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01People are like cheering and stuff like that in the middle, like ding ding ding ding ding. It falls off the ribbon. It's like it's like glued or something like that. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00The winter Olympics, dude. Winter winter Olympics tend tend to have problems with their medals. This one I don't understand the problem. The last one had like crystal in it, and it wasn't holding up. And then the Paris medals were rusting, I think, or something.
SPEAKER_02They're rusting. Do you know that's crazy? They have a lot of time to make these medals, though, or like come up with a plan for medals. They gotta have like a medal department for it to be falling apart. Like that's crazy. That's crazy, right? That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Did you do you guys know what what country has the most Olympic gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games?
SPEAKER_00Norway.
SPEAKER_01Netherlands, Norway, Netherlands, Netherlands, Norway.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Netherlands, not Norway. But I I was surprised. I I thought I thought, you know, USA would be up there, but they're like number two. But like, yeah, the Netherlands have the most gold, like 148 or something like that.
Super Bowl Halftime And NFL Global Push
SPEAKER_00Well, those those two countries, you know, besides being full of snow, they but they also did something different. Norway, when it hosted the games, I think it was Norway, um, a friend of mine was in charge of studying why they were so successful. And what we came away with, they made a plan where they decided what sports could they have an impact in if they spent money, time, and education. And they only focused on medal performers and sports where they thought they could meddle in a shorter period of time. And they ended up winning the medal count at that game. I think it was Norway, and the guy's name was Norm Bellingham. I don't know if you remember Norm. He then went on to work with Harvey Schiller at Turner, and uh Norm was I was he was one of my roommates because we were athletes, advisory council, and executive committee for a while together, one of the brightest guys I knew. Um, but he went out and studied athletic performance and he used that as a case. He said, Here, here's a way if you want to be successful at the games. And he said, Don't try to be good at things you're never going to be good at in a short period of time. Focus on the things that you are good at or can be good at within a certain period of time.
SPEAKER_01I think a lot of I think a lot of countries you know can adopt that model nowadays. I think it's pretty common. I mean, eventually like America, we you know, we tend to have a little bit more diversity when it comes to being able to win different medals. But like you look at some Asian countries, some European countries, they just like you said, they pick what they're strong at, they know what they're gonna be good at. And actually, when I interviewed for a job in in Norway, you know, a couple years ago, two years ago, they were explaining that whole model to me, you know, and they're talking about how successful they are in the Winter Olympic Games and why I mean verbatim what you said, so it's pretty interesting.
SPEAKER_00So why did why didn't you take the Norway gig?
SPEAKER_01Um it wasn't exactly perfect. I I I've kind of set my parameters for different um things that I want to make sure. If I'm gonna give up things that I have here. Um and it was attractive, to be honest. It was a small, it's a small country. It was uh you know with a very limited number of athletes, but they have a lot of um resources for training camps and things like that. So it was it was interesting. It just um it wasn't it wasn't exactly what I like I said, I put my standard in all my things that I I had to have that were non-negotiables for me, and it fell just a little short and it was a tough decision, but that'd be life-changing.
SPEAKER_02Move to n Miami to Norway, it'd be crazy.
SPEAKER_00You got a situation on a on a totally different uh but you could pass for Norwegian. You got you Blanco, baby. You you look like you could you could totally pull off the Norwegian thing. We just have to change your name to Olaf and uh yeah, yeah. Oh, you're my snowman. We start singing frozen. But um, with that said, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01I'll talk about the Super Bowl. What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, man, what about Canelo Malo? Did you did you watch the Bad Bunny? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched it.
SPEAKER_02I watched it. That was probably honestly, that was probably the I stopped watching after that was over. I I watched it in it. Dude, it was the most boring game I've ever watched in my entire life.
SPEAKER_00But what about Bad Bunny? Forget about the game. The game was terrible, but what about Bad Bunny?
SPEAKER_02I liked it. I mean, it's it's the standard with all other performances at the Super Bowl. Nothing, nothing outrageously crazy or super exciting, but I don't know. I I I don't know. It was cool.
SPEAKER_01First take on it was I didn't I didn't like it, and then I I I thought about it actually again, and I was thinking about it a lot this morning, and I said, you know, I think the symbolism and stuff like that was pretty good. I don't think it connected for if you look at all the audience and then you see all these like Instagram videos, like people in the stands are just kind of like what's going on, yeah. Yeah, I mean you couldn't understand. I mean, the the the audio was not very good visually, it was good for like the TV people because you can kind of see everything, but like on the and the game, like you can't see anything, so it was a little bit awkward. I mean, it wasn't your traditional stage where there's performers and stuff like that, you know, where there's Michael Jackson or you know, all these other prints and stuff like that. But it definitely was um actually my my brother-in-law was talking about it today, and he said, you know, the NFL is the entertainment nowadays. The thing about they're in Germany, they're in London, they're in Mexico, they're going to Brazil, they're trying to become I I mean, not that these countries really understand football and are gravitating, but they're definitely marketing to those different, you know, type of countries. So um this was a this was it was controversial for for some people, but I think I agree with you, TJ. Was at the end of the day, it was just another performance. What whatever it's it is what it is.
SPEAKER_02I feel like the commercials used to be better too. Like they were okay. Like I feel like there's commercials used to be amazing for the weak.
SPEAKER_01Well, this whole build-up, this was not a sexy game. There was no like marquee players, no marquee, you know, there wasn't Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady's of the world. There's no fancy receivers that would like draw attention to themselves. Even the defense, the defenses are nasty, both defenses were nasty. Seattle's was nastier, but it's like I don't know, I don't want to be disrespectful and say they're no name because they're not no name, but it's just you don't have a an icon of a player on the on the defenses, you know. So it was it was weird. It was definitely weird, but Seattle was nasty, man. That defense wasn't good by him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, the kicker won the game, so yeah, he broke a record.
SPEAKER_01It was five or six. Is it six? I thought it was five. And then like this one guy made uh a record for the most fair catches. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's funny. Well, it was.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I watched the game just as we watched the game, and I I actually liked the bad bunny performance, although I didn't understand most of it. Then I afterwards I understood it, that I realized today that the bushes were people. So the people crazy. So but you know, I thought it was good that he had Ricky Martin on, and then he had Pedro Pascal and Jessica Alba, you know, hanging out, you know, in the on the porch dancing and stuff. So I thought it was pretty cool. He paid paid props to his Puerto Rican brothers and sisters. So um I know that I know my Mexican teammate over there is hating on my Puerto Rican brothers, but you know, he had a Mexican boxer in there, buddy. That was a Mexican boxer. Those were two real boxers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but like I said, I listen, I I love you know you know, Latin music and stuff like that. I love Alejandro Fernandez, right? But I don't think he would be it would be good for the Super Bowl, you know, and that's just my my mystery.
SPEAKER_00Did you change the channel and watch the kid rock thing?
SPEAKER_01No, no, I I forgot about that.
SPEAKER_02I didn't even go back to watch it either.
SPEAKER_01I no, I watched the bad bunny. I mean, I was curious, just like everybody else. I wanted to see, you know, how what he was gonna do and what the performance was gonna be. So yeah, I thought it was cool.
SPEAKER_00Anyway. Well, I wanted to get, I know we got a lot to get to, and there was a subject that was the elephant in the room that that farted and we didn't smell the fart. We didn't pay attention to the elephant. But today, let's get to the good, the bad, the ugly, and the smelly fart. That was the conversation that we uh had a week ago that we didn't get to.
Team Trials Tech: KPNP vs Daedo
SPEAKER_01Hey, can can I just can I talk real fast about the the USA team trials real fast?
SPEAKER_00And uh what what did the what did elephant farting have to make that that that made you think about the USA team trials? You're trying to say something. I think he was setting you up. I think he was setting you up.
SPEAKER_01No, no, I just want to talk about the USA team trials and Canadian team trials because something that stood out to me, TJ, was uh, you know, one used KPP, one used 803, and all I heard was bad. All I heard was bad. I mean, obviously at the US team trials, I mean, it sounds like the the threshold was so light that people were just you know, points were flying up. It was kind of hard.
SPEAKER_02It was it was it was crazy, not crazy, and I want to be dramatic. It was it was crazy. Like you got stuff that's whiffing past the face, like you someone kicking to the face, three points go off, misses to the body, two more points, you get five points for barely touching anything. And obviously, like everybody, you know, when it's working for you, it's like it's easy to cheer for, but like when you're watching some of these matches and the league changes and points go up and the stuff that's scoring, like I'll have to go jump on the bag around with Grandmaster over here. Like that wasn't that's not even like desirably coachable. Yeah, you know what I mean? You're just it's just like nothing I said last week mattered that day, realistically, you know.
SPEAKER_01So let me ask you to prepare for it. Let me ask you this because I didn't go to USA Team Trials, I watched it uh you know, some of it, and I watched Canada um on the live stream, and I went to a tournament this weekend, and there was like actually two international referees I know coach, I'm sorry, referee internationally. So I was watching them, and you said something before, and I saw in Canada this weekend, I saw over and over in the clinch monkey kicks to the head, and the referees did not do any like I saw one time two, three, six, nine. I'm like, what's going on? Like, I I know they want to let them fight a little bit more, and they don't they're supposedly don't want to interfere, but but man.
SPEAKER_02I feel like when it c when it comes to all these rule things that they decide at WT at the top, it's like playing telephone. You're like, let them fight a little bit more, let them fight a little bit more, let them fight a little bit more, but not that much. Don't call this today. And then by the time it reaches these other people and the other referees, it's just this let them do whatever they want. That's what they want. That's what we got.
Clinch Kicks, Thresholds, And Refereeing
SPEAKER_01I I was I was really shocked by those those monkey kicks, and like I said, I saw them a little bit at the US, a few at the US team trials, but then you know, in Canada, I was like, man, this is this is a little a little strange. Another thing I'm gonna say, I mean, I know this is sounds like a hater, I was I I would just use this term. I was impressed by Canada's depth of you know, the people that the people that won, okay, they were good, but the second ones or the third ones, I thought it was they were really man, they looked a little deeper than us. And and to a point, check this out. I was talking to one coach eight matches this one kid had. Eight matches. I was like, we didn't have anybody in the cadet or juniors that I think had more than three. I was like, that's good, man. These kids are getting tough. And and they got second place. Eight matches.
SPEAKER_02Don't they do AC A C B seed once they get to the finals too? I think they fight one more level yet. I don't think it's straight through. I think they get the top two and then they fight a two out of three at the at the end, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I just was shocked at the number of fights and then the the the overall quality of like the matches. I was like looking at them like these are really competitive. These people, like I didn't know. How are the Hovies? They use KPP, right? They use KPP too. And I mean, it's the headgear still, I I don't think work too good. I know for the cadets, they you know how they they they make wear the masks, and those things don't have anything like the stick. I don't know, those those things are falling all over these kids.
SPEAKER_02That's crazy. I hate the mask thing. That's that that one bugs bugs me. It's so stupid. They fog up. You got these kids looking up out of their like eye holes where their nose things are, try to see the match when it's going on. There's no real sympathy given to fix it. It's just a mess, you know? It's a mess.
SPEAKER_01But I'll put those on my all my my beginner kids, maybe punching each other in the face, kicking each other in the face, nobody gets hurt, nobody cries. I love it. But for cadets, yeah, it's kind of weird. Anyway, that was that. I just uh like I said, I know you were at the team trials, and I think the look, you know, I I think what's interesting to note, and I know we're kind of picking on things again, like I noticed that Canada, Mexico, and Spain all had their team trials like this last week, and all of their big guns fought. All their Olympians, all their medalists, all the world championship medalists. They were all in the in the trials in Mexico and Spain and Canada. You know, I I know we have a little different model. I'm not quite sure. Yeah, I'm not quite sure about it.
SPEAKER_02We talked about it. I don't think it makes much sense. I think, like I said, for it to be, even if it was just for this time, for it to all the points to go to zero anyways, you know, all this stuff's gonna reset to not not to let our guys like fight at home is yeah, it's weird to me. I don't I don't believe in protecting any spots, but especially not spots for the Pan Am Championships from past results.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Especially not spots when the with the team trials are gonna be, I'm sorry, the uh the points get reset in June. So that was kind of pointless. Um I did see the junior team is going to the world championships, and apparently they're paying for their hotels but not their flights. Who the USATs. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02And where's it again?
SPEAKER_01Uzbekistan.
SPEAKER_02See, that's crazy. I don't I don't understand. I don't understand. Like I said, I again I we read the stuff about the surf surplus of money and all this stuff like that. And yeah, it's kind of hard for me to believe. Like, why are they not getting their trips paid for? Like it would be very normal. I don't know, I know we said it before, but when I was a junior, when I made the junior team, my flight, my hotel, my food, and TV, what do you I mean you got the the the Pan Ams, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01That's all you have. I I don't know. This is a junior world championship year. I think you should any world championship people should be have their way paid for. I mean, that's just ridiculous.
Canada’s Depth And Tournament Structure
SPEAKER_02But anyway, guys, would you what did you think about real quick? Sorry, I didn't cut you off. What did you think about like because I remember when I was on a junior team, um, like they would fly to two different locations with the team, and the team would physically travel together from one airport or another airport and then meet wherever the the competition was. Like that I I thought for me that was a part of like the the team experience a little bit. You're you're with the actual team. And right now, I know if they're buying their own tickets, they're probably all flying in under a get there by this time and this day.
SPEAKER_01And no, you don't have to, you you can come and go whenever you want. So if you wanted to come the day before you fall and leave the day after, you you know, they let you do that. But to your point, I think it was good because you know, kids could fly domestically and then they'd be with staff so they didn't have to have their mom or dads go with them if they didn't if they couldn't afford it, you know. So I think it was probably better for the team cohesion and security and all that kind of good stuff. So yeah, I like that. I like that. Anyway, let's get into this. You know, I know we talked um it was a it was a big thing. I I I you know the the audio between you and the AU chair and some of that stuff, and I think you know, some of the things that were you know stood out to me, you know, was it was very revealing, very uncomfortable, and and I think it's it shows how important it is to talk about these things because this is what's going on behind closed doors. And it finally got exposed. It got exposed in the biggest worst way possible. Like, you know, with a a an Olympian and a world-class coach, you know, trying to do some good things, you know, for an organization, and there was obviously some some some deals made and and things going on, but I think you know, my overall impression was that it uh it it just it it makes me dig want to dig in even deeper to do what we've been doing, and and that's talk about issues, talk about um programming, talk about the federations, because we keep saying this over and over. People whispered it to our ears all the time, and oh my god, keep saying what you're saying. But after hearing that thing a couple times, it just and the the the writing was on the wall.
SPEAKER_02Like, you know, I mean, like you said, it's always that that quiet whisper. Like we, I mean, I know you've experienced the little jokes like, oh, they don't like you, or oh, you know, they're not gonna let you do this, they're not gonna let you do that. And for me, from my experience, it's always like, ah, you know, whatever. And I just kind of I don't bother, you know. I know I don't want to be at any table. I'm not one of that that's one. I never fight to be in a room that, you know, you don't want me in. Like that, that's that's against my nature a little bit. But to be working with the AAU and kind of doing some good things, and you know, we talked a lot about it, how it was good in the beginning, and you know, the welcome. And I felt like I was coaching on the team. And as soon as this whole talk of USAT came up, I it was almost on the wall. Like it, it I just didn't know how, but it's like this is gonna become a problem at some point for sure, because it's just them extending their reach to try to control a little bit more and try to get people to be quiet and try to like discount people in our country that they choose not to work with, even if they're high value people, if they're successful coaches or successful athletes. They want to, if you're not in their room, then your value can't outshine theirs, your value can't be the same as theirs, you know.
Funding Gaps And Junior Worlds Costs
SPEAKER_01I think that I think the the the strange thing you know about that is TJ, like over and over in that call, you heard the chair talk about how your value was so unique to AEU, how much they wanted you. You know, he kind of went at it from a personal standpoint. He went on to say Clinton thinks you're. you know, the guy, the you know, what the top coach in the country. And if if any of the big high-level programs were you know reinstituted, you know, you would be you know at front and center of that. So I just it it was so crazy for me to hear how important you were and how much they value you. But somebody else didn't want you to do something. And if you wanted to continue doing that, then all that good stuff you guys just said gets thrown out. It doesn't matter. Yeah it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah it's irrelevant. That's not important anymore. I mean it it it it begs to talk about that the MOU is specifically for that it was specifically for to silence you and maybe me or maybe Grandmaster Perez or anybody it said anybody but based on that conversation it went as far it went as far as to even say clubs to specify you won't give clubs a platform. Like what what does that mean? That means you silence the coach you silence the head instructor it means peak performance other than that but like it's just that level is to the club you're gonna tell me my whole club won't get how how can you not give a whole club a platform you're not gonna like oh this coach and this team got these many results you're just gonna just push it to the side and pretend those results didn't happen you're not gonna like you know boast their wins like how do you not give a club a platform you know it's uh you know it's kind of crazy too is that you know I'm kind of switching gears here a little bit because obviously there was a an article that was written you know in Moss TKD and the USAT um CEO you know specifically mentioned that he thinks it's good that people disagree actually because sometimes I think it's good when people strongly disagree you know that's that's how you you get things accomplished and I'm like so you say that in the public but in private you make an MOU and say no no no we don't want anybody talking bad or or having any kind of dissent or any kind of criticism if you will that that was what the whole MOU was about I mean that the M I mean I think the chair even said listen if I didn't mention TJ's name in leadership there there may have not even been an M O like that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01That's I mean that's basically saying that this was just made to silence you to just keep you to keep you quiet you know so um yeah so it's I don't know hearing over and over how you're valued you know but then hearing over and over how Steve wants you to be quiet Mirza wants you know USAT to not work with Stone and Anderchek and just the trade-off of that was just I can't hear you it's unacceptable it's unacceptable I I don't know where we go from here.
SPEAKER_02I don't know you know what this does to each both organizations but it it can't be it can't be looked at lightly it can't be brushed under the the the the rug so to speak you know we get suspended by the timing of all this stuff you know after a week after you know we do a podcast and you say you tell them no you're not gonna uh take their deal all of a sudden we get we get suspended like that's crazy right like that's the collusion there is just it's so evident and and this conversation you know ratified all that you know I mean even even the CEO of USAT saying that they had nothing to do with that in the in the article when with when they were asked about the AU situation when we know that a coach from the USAT I'm sorry why why would it like even this Moss Td thing why is Moss Moss T I looked at the website and I I don't like I said I haven't really ever looked at that page too much in detail but like every story on that page is positive. And you're gonna tell me they woke up one day and decided to go write a story or post a story about us getting suspended from AAU not A S A T AA from AAU and had all these details and and took quotes and and put this up I mean I didn't get a he did he reach out to you did you talk to him he said before interview uh not an interview just he asked me for a quote because he he wanted and that's why I just kind of said you know I'm always gonna stand up for people's rights and blah blah blah blah blah but no it wasn't like he he didn't do an interview like he did with USAT you know I'm saying that that was an exposition and they asked and they asked direct questions about it in this interview how weird like what what where what what what are we doing? Yeah what is like how do you get there how does that become the most important person most questions you can ask the CEO of USA tech wonder like how yeah it has nothing to do with them at all.
SPEAKER_01I mean again we're we're talking like they would be asking like the the WT about an ITF thing like what what do what are we doing here? Like AU and USA T have nothing you know especially if you didn't have anything to do with it.
SPEAKER_02Why we would talk about it you would probably just tell them hey we we can do an interview it's cool but we don't even got to talk about this because that's not our that's not our thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah but to to offer insight to it and then to to lie about it and it's absurd you know well I guess that's where I was going with it you know you have you know you just say you have nothing to do with it but you had a coach from USAT send you know the chair of of AAU you know a timestamp of one of our podcasts of when we said this when we said this you know blah blah blah like AAU has that like so there is and for sure that coach wasn't acting by himself.
SPEAKER_02No way there's no way you know so if the if the if the CEO knew about it then he's lying and if he didn't know a lot about it like shame on him for not knowing what his coaching staff is doing to another organization and why would his coaching staff have any reaction or interaction with with AAU they never have you know so it's just it's it's again it's they were already they were already that's that's when he told me uh you know the I think was it past past actions will be looked upon um forgotten about or whatever it was anything moving forward so that was the first one that was our first warning with that those timestamps had to be you know because that episode had nothing to do with AU at all.
The Elephant: Leaked Audio And MOU
SPEAKER_01But again you know even that even in that mou like how would how would anybody like forget about us how would anybody know what was in the MOU because it wasn't made public so let's say again John Smith just does a podcast or does something in some article and then they don't know like you know they don't even know what they're doing is quote unquote frowned upon or or forbidden it's a forbidden fruit it's like I said that the collusion between the two to get from the horse's mouth you know verbatim because you know this wasn't like thought process or this wasn't like I'm thinking this was this was what it was told to him in the meeting. The the a the AU chair was in the meeting you know and he's speaking with Steve speaking with Mirza speaking with with Clinton and so this is right from the horse's mouth you know so um it was clear what they wanted to do to you it was clear you know how they felt about you it was clear that you know there was a give and take we do this you do that and I don't know I don't even know what else to say about it.
SPEAKER_02I don't know I honestly like even like I said even with uh Alex or whatever he didn't even like it you know what I mean like he's saying it's not good it's not this not this and it's it's unfortunate that it it is the way it is but like that's just that like I'm sitting here listening to this guy tell me how the organization needs like you just said needs me wants to work with me I have such tremendous ability to do some things you're going well in this person's world it's Steve McGnley's world over here and Joe Mercer's world over here and that's just it like what is that like I I I I can't I can't take any value from that. You know what I mean what would what would you like me to do with that I'm just okay you're right I'm just supposed to let it be and just continually just keep getting pushed into a corner and pushed into a corner and pushed into a corner for nothing I'm doing at this point. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Who is this Moss TKD guy? I don't know his name Claudio yeah yeah I know who is he where is he from he's from Argentina oh okay well anyway that explains a lot but the uh you know this is he posted something I I said something because basically I don't know who he is but he spent apparently the past two years on his knees and and and and uh over a table uh for the WT and for USAT probably and now AAU because you know take a quick look at his site um it's a lot of hyperbole not any journalism to say um and then he doesn't doesn't seem to speak to the topics that are on everybody's mind if you you do taekwondo right now and you do it at any level of importance um that leads to a world championship level of of elite performance then the questions you are probably asking yourself if you're on one side of the fence are the scoring system, is it better or worse? What's the qualification process going to the Olympics and how does any of this matter if you're an older school guy you're asking yourself about the validity of the current scoring system um the the intent of the sport and where is the arc going and and what's the arc of that um a quick parousal of his site has a conspiracy theory with Angel Ramos from is it Ramos I think from Cuba and his thing it actually has an old article of TJ on there. And when I did make my comment on Facebook he put a comment up oh who are you referring to and uh what is this and I'm like well if you can read it it's quite clear who I'm referring to so that we can be perfectly clear since you're translating stuff and podcast hopefully you're listening Claudio Claudio I'm speaking about you and I'm speaking about your blatant attempt to suck up to the powers that be that be relevant to anyone that matters. And so let me be clear as I've said before if you want to understand the Olympic movement at least from this perspective of taekwondo I'm the guy to talk to why because I've been there since the inception of it I removed more CEOs and put more CEOs in the Olympic movement on the USA side than anyone else and I ran the coaching program and athlete identification program. So if you want to understand the players that matter and where we are and where we find ourselves with regard to the AAU USAT and the clown show that's going on feel free to call me and I'll give you an interview that might make Moss Taekwondo more than menos taekwondo.
SPEAKER_01I think I mean I think it's a little again like Masi Go TKD has been around for a long time. There's basically two major outlets it's Moss and Mundo. And Mundo's really gained a lot of traction recently actually the Mundo is the one that wrote you know that really nice piece on me you know the the day after all this stuff kind of broke and uh I was like really like shocked like just you know kind of uh blown away by that and again no so I have no idea why he did it actually did one on Steve Catner too um a really nice piece so you know I I I don't know what the goal was but it it did look weird because again I I've known you know Tiggady for a long time. Claudio's a good guy he really is but I'm not I'm just not sure why he I don't know if it was him or I don't know we don't know who put it like I listen's a good guy.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't mean he's an effect there's a lot of good guys. I mean Claudio may be a good guy. Nothing that he's doing is he's listen there's a story to be told coach and and he's not telling the story.
SPEAKER_01That's my point.
SPEAKER_02That's where I was going with it and it was definitely lopsided and evenly reaching out and asking for if you know you know these two people that this is going on with and you've stepped into a world where you're talking about AAU so you've given it this importance you don't actually take the time to actually have a conversation or get some more details about it. You just take a quote put two quotes and then you put out this long article which in that article you're asking the CEO of the USAT to have input on this why yeah what are we what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01That's I'm saying that's where I was going I think he's a he's a decent guy but this was weird this was out of left field and like he didn't even call you TJ he didn't even he's no not even a message he's got a he he he already posted on social media so he just pulled from that that's just it seems a little again I'm gonna use the word fishy and you know I would if if if he was being fed information by from some organization then then that's that's bad journalism than me.
Media Coverage, Bias, And Accountability
SPEAKER_00Yeah me too and that you know that's just it seems for you know for people like us you know we're not everybody but we're not nobody's he knows who we are and we've always been respectful and polite and and cordial for for interviews or for pictures or anytime anytime especially in the Patu region like he could have given us you know either more of a platform or more of a background than just being but here's I was just taking a heads up a heads up would have been cool here's here's here's one of the things that matters about anything you want to say yeah here's one of the things that matters the AAU and USAT and they're held to different standards because the AAU is they don't matter they they're just a they're a a a grassroot organization that deals with people that you know to be honest don't matter that much in the sense of the Olympic sport. And that's okay because you need those organizations too they're feeder organizations. And what I mean by that they don't matter they don't have a standard to hold up to because they're not subject to the Olympic movement and its rules and regulations. Unfortunately or fortunately USA taekwondo is they have a rule that doesn't allow them to exclude or participate in excluding a coach from amateur athletic without a hearing and without due process and just cause so at the point where USAT and its CEO and Jay Warwick a former CEO COO of the clown show decide to cooperate and be complicit in the exclusion of a coach then they violate the amateur what used to be called the amateur athletic uh act and what is what it's called now I don't know. There's a revision of it but it's the same thing. They can't violate that they can't remove a coach or participate in the exclusion of a coach and certainly can't be complicit in it. So the question becomes to what degree does this affect their membership rights under the charter of the Olympic movement when they have caused that the second part is that there are civil penalties for this when you affect somebody's ability and reputation to make a livelihood. And you would think that USAT learned that lesson when they did it to Daesung Li and had to write a huge check. But apparently you know nobody in the room except back then Daesung's best friend Jay Warwick who didn't stand up for Daysung back then by the way and was complicit in that happening actually maybe they wanted him to get that check.
SPEAKER_01I don't know that was my one of my first not that one of that was my first ever would you would it be called getting subpoenaed like when you have to test that when they uh they call and I told them I'm like I was their witness and I said don't bring me on don't you guys I'm not I'm not gonna lie for you I'm not gonna I'm gonna say I'm I'm gonna tell the truth I'm gonna tell the truth so no no no just come and so I remember when the attorneys were I was I was a plaintiff on behalf of uh uh coach Lee Daysung Lee but I'm like don't don't don't ask me any questions because I'm not gonna lie for you and so when they said ask me questions and I gave them like the exact opposite answer that they thought was coming I just looked across the table and they were just like they were looking at me and the their lawyer was looking at him going like this is our witness like and I said when I was done I'm like I told you guys don't I mean I'm not gonna not gonna lie for you so it was pretty funny but yeah they were all in the room at that time.
SPEAKER_00So I mean I think you know I think the good news is there's been a lot of support and people have spoken out a lot about this and and and a lot and I think we just have to keep doing it at the point you know what's been incredible is the amount of silence from Alex whoever he is and uh and uh and and and Clinton who Clinton who Clinton oh who or who oh uh that nobody knows um the silence on their part and now hopefully I know hopefully you guys have followed up on your um rights and we'll hold them accountable and uh I hope they've saved some money to write a check because at the end of the day they need to learn a lesson and unfortunately in this sport the only way you learn a lesson is by writing big checks to people that you've you've harmed um and you've harmed their reputations and you guys are two outstanding Olympic coaches and athletes and your reputation is how you make money in your sport as you should and when you damage that reputation it should be compensated so that people learn not to do it anymore. If you just damage the reputation of the guy down the street selling your newspaper it's a different ticket but this is a this is a big ticket and it's unfortunate they didn't learn that. But when you get amateurs no pun intended involved in amateur sport running amateur sport amateur doesn't mean that you have to have amateurs running the sport amateurs mean amateurs participate in it. So the amateur athletic union is for amateur athletes and coaches its leadership should be professional. You shouldn't go to the corner and find a guy that runs dojong and have him be in charge of what you do. And having some experience with the guy who runs AAU in general and having seen him navigate the Olympic waters you know I was underimpressed by him and unimpressed by him when he was running or trying to run karate which I don't think he ended up doing right away because he wasn't capable. But in this particular situation you know it's it there needs to be a critical mass that happens that people hear and then it matters enough to them that they respond. And so you can't wait for it to happen to you. You've got to ask yourself is it happening to the detriment of the athletes when the Canadian team trials are better than the USA team trials because athletes are being excluded and coaches are being excluded you've got to ask yourself a question how do we fix this? So to have anybody who runs taekwondo in an amateur capacity profit and then brag about the$100,000 he makes on his tournament and then talk about cutting deals to get a coach to stop talking to be silenced that that's scary and should be scary to all of you know there's been no shortage of people who tried to silence me including my two teammates on the phone here on my podcast but you know um they can't silence me yeah you can't silence me I've been to the mountaintop I've seen the other side and I see the the joker poster behind you.
SPEAKER_02Oh it's back no but I uh like I said I for me you know I I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support like the text messages the the DMs the emails being sent I mean it's it's been crazy TJ I know you have just as much if not more you know because you know you you you you went out of limb and spearheaded this thing from from the beginning and uh I mean obviously it affected you you were the name and obviously you know obviously like you said it's it's not comfortable it wasn't comfortable but it also wasn't comfortable sitting there and listening to this it also wasn't comfortable knowing that if my my whole livelihood or my next steps in being able to get back or being determined by an organization that I know doesn't want me involved with them. Like that that's uncomfortable sitting there too when someone's telling you that this is what they're gonna do and this is what they have to do and it is what it is and this is what's being presented. Like I I get it I I get it but I don't get it and you it it gets you you you're in a point where you have to make a decision you know it's and and and and I guess let me hold on real quick before I go too far off. And more so like I think me and you probably obviously together individually have dealt with the same kind of thing as far as like being excluded being pushed aside being talked about being said that we're not this we're not that we like all the stuff that's happened. But when you can sit there and you listen it tells you that it's anyone involved with peak performance like that's the disheartening part. So now you're putting me in a position that even if I could suck it up one more time and just deal with it and just ignore and turn my back you're telling me every person in all of our programs is never going to get a fair shake until this organization changes until they're they're accept but this is a lot of kids we're talking about these a lot of kids that are the current ones the past ones and like you said the ones that haven't started taekwondo yet that that part in itself puts me in a position where what else would you like me to do? There's there's no other option at that point.
Athlete Exclusion And Peak Performance
SPEAKER_01DJ you say it's uncomfortable you that's that's an understatement because I know every day you wake up waiting for that phone call or that email for them these guys to say something you know that you can't be involved again, again and You're right. I I have lived that. And when I I'll go back to Pai, just because that was like the pinnacle of when they first got there. And just to know that they actively worked against her to try to get her to not be in the top six. To think that they send text messages to their, you know, their Olympian at the time who wasn't Olympic gold medals to say, don't have lunch with her, you know, because she's peak and she doesn't want good for you. It's just like it's crazy that a coach would say that to a young 17 or 18-year-old athlete that's trying to be the best that she could be. And she, it's just it's crazy.
SPEAKER_02Back to the page thing. Think about when they set across from her and coached her when we're in the process of trying to get top 20, top 20 ranking, and all these points matter. And you have the the national team program coach sitting across from you at the US Open. And that's a and that's a good moment for you. What I don't think any internal organization should be working against itself like that. That's crazy. Especially you know how cocky you have to be for to like go, hey, I'm gonna fight against this person. That's probably one of our best chances to qualify direct to the Olympic Games. I'm gonna do the opposite. I'm gonna try to make sure that our person that's in our room wins.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's crazy in that race. It's crazy. That's crazy. I mean, again, if that athlete was by yourself and trying to block Paige or trying to beat Paige or whatever, that's one thing. But when the organization is doing it, that's just it doesn't make any. I can't imagine any organization, any country going, you know what, we're gonna just line up against this person. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_02But nobody has but nobody has a backbone. Let's like nobody in that whole group was like, hey Garrett, don't sit there. Or even Garrett himself is like, yeah, I shouldn't take this match. Just walk away, my guy. Yeah. But like to involve yourself in that match is crazy. Simply because of who you are and what position you're in. Yeah. It makes no sense. I don't think any other country would do it. It is, it just sounds ass backwards.
SPEAKER_01But that's what I'm saying. I'm going, I'm I I bring that up because that was exactly when they first got there. And then they've done it ever since. They did it to the WCAP, they did it to random other people that you know didn't want to go to out to the academy. And it was just they lobbied, they just basically lined up and lobbied against them and made sure that they couldn't be involved with anything. And if you did happen to get through, it wasn't comfortable. It wasn't comfortable for those athletes, and that shouldn't be the case. I know athletes are tough and they're resilient and not everything, they're not going to get everything that they want or every coach that they want, but it shouldn't be the feeling, me versus the rest.
SPEAKER_02But it's been like that, though. I had according to the US ranking, I had the best 54 and 58 in my room. Pan Am game medalists, multiple-time national team member, one of literally the highest ranked in the international ranking, plus the USAT ranking. And you as a coach, I'm dealing with the fact that I got two other kids that are training up the street and they're being funded and supported, flown to all these competitions and everything because they're in the room. But you got the number 50, number 154 and number 158. 25 minutes from you receiving no funding. The only conversation I had was well, you know, Mel uh, they'll be right on David Hills. Melville and Emilio, they're right there, they'll be right on David Hills. Like, are you thinking you got the number one guy, you have a good guy right now, you have a strong competitor, a tough kid, and you're telling me who you're gonna replace him with. That's our goal in this country.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because if it's not there, it's absurd. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, I mean, again, kind of bringing that all you know, full circle, you know, into this conversation that I was had, like you said, when they I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you. Anyone involved with Peak, like you said, so all of our programs, anybody that has that blue and yellow color and it is just out. You know, it's and it's funny because I know I know the the you know, I'm gonna make this a little personal now. You know, these guys have, you know, I've always told people, and I told you this a couple weeks ago, TJ, Peak Performance is an organic organization. It's organic in the sense that I never set out to be political, I never set out to be even a business. I set out to do athlete development. That's that's literally what it was, and it just kind of morphed into what it is, you know, today. Listen, we've been around for you know 26 years, 26 years at the highest level in this country and and in the world stage. And these other groups, 300, Wolfpack, uh progression, next level, they were all built to compete with Peak Performance, and they're all gone. None of them are there anymore. And it's funny because the the consistent you know grouping of people that were with each one of those teams have remained together, and lo and behold, they're they're hand in hand with the USAT. I mean, it's funny, they're all gone. Not non-existence anymore. Come and gone, failed, failed, failed miserably. All of them. They can say what they want, but if they were so good, they would have continued. Um you know, they one is is is has has an offshoot of GAU, which actually is still doing pretty good, but not because of them, but because of other people. Um so it's interesting when you think about how you know how the USAT people think of of what we what we've done and what we bring to the table, and they don't want any part of it. They don't want Coach Lee, they don't want you, they don't want James Howe, they don't want Russell Benaby, they don't want me, they don't want you know, you know, Coach Brad Demink. Nobody. Nobody nobody has anything to offer. It's it's crazy. But that's where we are. And that was, you know, now, you know, that's I told you to, you know, TJ one of our private conversations, is I said it's it's crazy that we had heard these whispers and people had told us that all the time. Oh, if you're with Peak, you can't do this.
SPEAKER_02Oh, people that but to hear even a whisper at this point, it's just a public conversation. You could you could stand in a circle and hear that being said because because we've just we kind of brush it off. We kind of like, ah, you know, whatever, you know, and and it's unfortunate that it has to be like that because in what world, you know, it it's it's it is what it is, and we we've all had that conversation and we've all taken that conversation. We've all I've laughed that conversation off. I've had some deep conversations about that conversation, but it's not like us, it's not a whisper anymore.
SPEAKER_01People know it's even it's it's even crazy. Look, we have a couple kids on the junior team this year, you know. One of the one of the best academy athletes right now, you know, comes directly from my program. And never once have they ever, ever, ever even reached out to me. Never once. Like, not not Steve, not Paul, not Gareth, not Lambden. Nobody. Nobody to say, hey, we're gonna do this, this, and this for this kid. Or hey, like zero, nothing. Like that's crazy. And you try. And you tried. Listen.
SPEAKER_02I've tried what? Like you tried to reach out to them, you tried to handle things when it came to like, you know, athletes and everything like that.
SPEAKER_01Listen, I I mean, I I I didn't go above and beyond because really No, I understand. Yeah. I mean, but you know, I've I mean, Steve with with with CEO, absolutely nothing. You know, with with um yeah, I'm cordial with Coach Brown and Coach, you know, green, like, hi, what's up? You know, that's about it. But but again, that's not for me to do. I shouldn't be chasing them. They're they're receiving my athlete.
Governance, Due Process, And Legal Risk
SPEAKER_02That's what I'm saying, but I'm saying, even in the conversations of athletes leaving your gym to go somewhere else, there's no conversation between the coaches. No, no, yeah, no, zero. That's what that's my point. Oh, like zero, zero, zero. Zero. Zero. I don't know. And again, even knowing that, how does a kid feel comfortable with that? How does a kid go from someone that's been with him and then part of his process, part of his growing up, to now he's having and navigating these conversations by himself and maybe his parents?
SPEAKER_01Well, even even okay, let's say you go, like, again, like we we hear that peak performance is the boogeyman. Now that athlete, okay, yeah, he's he's over there, he's being coached, he's he's doing well, he's adjusted, blah, blah, blah. But like, uh it can't be feel good for him to know that these people hate Peak Performance, these people hate their his coach. Like that's crazy. It's it's just uh it's like you said, it's not even a whisper anymore. It's it's live and living color. And now, because of your conversation with uh the chairman of AAU, we we know everybody knows it's it's not a secret anymore. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_02They can't pretend it's a secret anyways.
SPEAKER_01Yes, they can't pretend it. They can't pretend it because like I said, this is not a I think this is what this guy thinks, you know. Like when he said he goes, I think TJ, there's a chance that you know you could work with it USAT down the road, but then later later on he says, if you don't take this deal, there's no chance you'll be blacklisted. So it kind of contradicts himself a little bit, but like my my point is he's speculating with that. But with this one, the name was brought up. My name, P Performance, you, Coach Lee. That wasn't that was there's no speculation, it was brought up. So I I think it's unacceptable. I think it's unacceptable for you know for a CEO to be talking like that. You know, I think the board should hear that.
SPEAKER_02I think the uh you know whoever is you know empower these guys. There's no way for it to be right. There's no way uh any of that is acceptable. Just it alone, just thinking about trying to just you're just blocking people because of personal issues. You're you're blocking people because you're emotional and upset. You're blocking people because they're telling you the truth that follow the actual results that are happening, that are putting scrutiny on the fact that you're still not funding our juniors to do things, you're still not putting the money back into the organization like you should do. Those are the things that they don't want to hear. Yeah, that that's weird.
SPEAKER_00That's weird that they're not spending the money on the junior team.
SPEAKER_01Especially if they have so much left over. Like, why not?
SPEAKER_00You gotta take care of care of those people.
SPEAKER_01I mean, even the Grand Prix that happened this year, there's gonna be a handful of people that go to that, right?
SPEAKER_02But don't, but don't then aren't they supposedly making more money than the past organization that was funding uh yeah, was funding junior team trips and stuff?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're supposed to be making more money than yeah, they're in the black right now, they're not in the red anymore. They're they're doing good, they're making boatloads of money.
SPEAKER_02And those guys sent us on those trips every year, fully paid, fully funded, fully everything, scheduled it, sent us to multiple airports, had staff members in place to watch out for us, to to to to help us, multiple coaches. I I don't understand. It's true. So we can't you can't say we're better because better would be us being able to pay for our junior team. So whatever you're doing, whatever you're doing with the money, whatever ups or downs are good, it can't be better because less people in organizations are being supported fully. It can't be better.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry. So where do you think we go from here, TJ? Um, like I said, I think we already talked about the competition. We talked about both sides. I I'm gonna I wanna harp on it a little bit because after watching some of the Canada one, just sorry, switch roles real quick. Watching some of the Canada and watching some of the US Open one, this can't be what Tekwondo's gonna look like for the next two years. Like I don't I I might be at his house playing with his guitars and not doing Tekwondo anymore. Shoot, you might have another band member or something.
SPEAKER_00If it's gonna look like this for two years, ready, baby, and living colorless to it.
SPEAKER_02I'm serious though. It was to me, it was very it was just bad. You you you couldn't like I said, there was a point in some of the matches that I'm watching the match and like I'm I'm saying things, and all of a sudden my guy's up eight, nine, ten, and the round's over. You're like, wait a minute, and you gotta replay what happened in your head and try to make corrections when the corrections probably maybe or maybe don't make sense depending on what the system does the next round, you know? But I I think we gotta figure out. I know you this is your big area, but it didn't look like that didn't look like taekwondo at all. That was just complete nonsense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think, you know, you know, I have a general rule and it comes to fighting, right? As well. And it's like when you get tired of losing, you'll start winning, right? And when you get tired of whether something looks or the results you're getting, you'll change. And so it's really got to be a question of whether or not, you know, people are tired of what they're seeing and what they're doing. So there's only so many times like a bad girlfriend or a bad boyfriend that you can hear the same story. And Taekwondo has become that bad girlfriend or bad boyfriend that you keep waiting for her or him to change and get better. And really what you're seeing is it's not getting better. And so, you know, I'm not a fan, as everybody knows, of the current scoring, scoring system, the dynamic and what it's supposed to be. So, you know, once I'm not a fan of something and I see the car crashing, I just wait for it to crash, you know. So I'm watching the car crash, so I I have a different I have a different mindset only because I don't like the direction the car is going anyway. So whether it crashes or not in a weird way doesn't matter to me unless it turns around and and tries to, you know, to get better. And so I don't really see the better as a possibility. Um and and you know, I and this is probably needs to be said. So if I believed that anything that was happening now was going to get us to a place that was better and would make taekwondo matter more, then I'd probably care more. But I don't really see that happening. I really I really don't. And I don't mean that to say anything about you guys, but uh uh and and you know uh how you guys talk about it, but I don't see any of the effort that's being spent on the scoring system or the or the um and the electronic scoring system and the the philosophy behind it as a step getting us better. I don't see it get it getting us back to a full contact martial art that used to matter and it was exciting to watch. So um when your technical regimen is around gymnastics, mental and physical to score a point, then you've lost the true intent of the martial art. And and I'll give you the last thing on this, which is I don't love watching karate. I not my thing, but at least they stayed true to themselves. Like if you watch a karate tournament, it's two guys that have a philosophy of what karate is, they score what they think karate is, and they punch each other or kick each other like they do in karate, whatever that is. Now it's not my cup of tea, um, and I don't necessarily agree with the scoring, but at least it's something. I think you can't look at what Taekwondo is today and when you can watch somebody take their leg in their knee, and you're watching them doing these machinations, uh, like a windmill kind of kicking over and over again with the legs flipping around like this. And then I'm just I'm watching here's my prediction. When you watch MMA, there was a guy that used to fight. Um, it was Frank Shamrock's brother. It was Ken Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock was his brother, and Ken was a good fighter, so was Frank. But Frank was way better looking, he was a good-looking guy until he did MMA. Then he he became like uh not very good looking because that's the nature of that sport. Well, I got a prediction for you. All these kids now that are doing what they're doing with their hip and their leg and their knees, hip replacements, knee replacements by 40. If they're lucky to get to 40.
Scoring Philosophy And Sport Identity
SPEAKER_01And that's a lot of females, a lot of females have like a lot of hip problems and abductor problems because they're not. But do you know why? Do you know why? Because they're all they're on one leg all the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and they're all their bodies aren't made for it. They they have the same problem in soccer, their bodies, and the way that their hips are created for childbirth means that they have to be trained differently to sustain the rigors of soccer turning. So they have a lot of ACL tears. Yeah. More than men. And it's this is Olympic knowledge because they did studies on it. So, you know, and none of what's being taught to generate flexibility is being taught to get enough.
SPEAKER_01You you know, like in boxing, how they said, you know, people they think they're fine, and later on they figure out they have all the trauma. I think you're right. I take one of them and you know, knock on wood. I never, you know, I really didn't have any major ish injuries, but like I think these kids nowadays, with that, you're right, the things they do with their knees and the things they do with their hips. I mean, they could have some injuries later on in life.
SPEAKER_00You know, I I haven't I haven't done a podcast, you know, outside of this podcast, because I was doing podcasts with some really high-level coaches, athletes, and administrators. But one of my teammates and one of your teammates contacted me and said she wanted to do a podcast. So I may do a podcast with Dana He, um, who I haven't talked to in a million years, so just a little bit. She does say hello to you and you both of you, and she was very impressed with what we um have been saying and and lately about the and some other stuff that we've been talking about. And I got a call to translate some of it into Korean because I want to make sure that the message is getting out to the Koreans as well. So I'm in the process. I put some posts up in Korean as well. And on this particular podcast, I'm gonna have a Russian beginning and a and a Korean beginning. So uh get your get your translation because I'm not gonna translate it into English, but um when I when you hear it, you'll hear it.
SPEAKER_01Speaking of Russian, like did you I think they they they said at the last General Assembly or uh executive meeting that they're gonna allow Russia and Belarus to fight at the World Championships under their flag. So I don't know if that's an ILC thing, because usually WT doesn't do anything without the ILC's blessing.
SPEAKER_00Well the ILC the ILC has a thing where they try not to punish the athletes, they may punish a country unless it's a drug thing. And then they'll have a they fight under a no flag. But to let them go back under a flag is good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but they they didn't do it with like most of the Russian athletes and Belarusian athletes. So this is America.
SPEAKER_00America has a 15-second memory, and so right now people have forgotten that there's still a war going on in Ukraine, Russia, and although there's a tentative peace thing going on. Funny how quiet that got recently, right? Yeah, like Russia who? You know. Maybe bad bunny will be at their their summer, there's a Super Bowl. But um yeah, anyway. All right, well, we're coming up on an hour. I know we got a lot more to talk about, but any closing thoughts on this one?
SPEAKER_02Uh I'll just say thank you guys. I know we we started the warehouse 15 page. We've gotten a lot of uh following three or four people per day, but I'm I'm glad you guys are enjoying some of the stuff we're putting on there. Um, we plan to keep just putting stuff out on there too. Also, some of the clips and videos, and um, hopefully get to answer some of the questions. I know I promised you guys we'd answer some of the questions on the episode, but for sure next episode, we'll make sure we put it in the beginning and we'll get a couple of the questions answered that you uh you reached out about. So, but thank you guys.
SPEAKER_01All right, Coach Moreno, say I said thanks, you know, thank you for the support. And you know, I've like I I posted two things recently. One was from Mundo TKD, and one was a I won't I just I told the person I keep them anonymous, but it's just uh it's great to hear all this all this good support, you know, from referees, from athletes for coaches, and not that I needed a reminding, but it kind of reminded me why I do this and why I am the way I am. So you know, I'm not going to you know back off. I'm gonna continue you know speaking, you know, what I believe and what I think is is in the best interest of athletes from the past, the current athletes and people in the future. It's not about me, to be honest with you. It's not I don't even you know, TJ, I love him, but it's not about TJ, it's about it's about the people you know that are in the mix and in in the future. This thing has to get better and has to change. And they it it's not right. It's not right what they've what they've done for a long time, and we're starting to get a lot of people that support that and are maybe because we're we've been so vocal now, all of a sudden they feel confident to come out and say things and and support. So thank you to everybody, it really means a lot, and uh the 15 will keep going, baby.
SPEAKER_00Brothers and sisters, we're out. This has been the warehouse 15, and like we said before, sorry, not sorry. Peace. Alright. So I'll get this up tonight. Good.
SPEAKER_04Глаз безмолных крик вночи, глаз безмолвных наши сердца не сломить.
SPEAKER_03Вот и кровь на матах, улыбки фальшивые, судьи слепые, правила кривые, глаз безмолных крик начи, глаз безмолных наши сердца не сломить, Новый рассвет, солнце взойдет! Правда пробьется Цервей Глаз безмолных, крик вначи, глаз безмолвных наши сердца не сломить.