Masters Alliance Uncut

How A Leaked AAU Call Sparked A Showdown Over Power, Money, And Coaching

• herb • Season 3 • Episode 12

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0:00 | 48:31

What happens when a leaked phone call pulls back the curtain on how qualifiers, elections, and influence really work? We press play on an AAU conversation that sketches a second North Carolina district event, a quiet plan to unseat a director, a fast-track to a regional role—and one jarring condition: end the podcast. From there, we unpack what a “money now” mindset means for a nonprofit sport, how block lists and MOUs can shape access, and why silencing critics hurts the very athletes the system is supposed to serve.

Then we head to Vegas for a frank U.S. Open debrief. Big brackets and packed schedules met thin international depth, choppy bout sequencing, and a spectator experience that made it hard to see the action. The harshest glare lands on DaeDo Gen3. When scrapes, toe taps, and phantom touches light up the board while clean punches disappear, tactics warp into front-leg foot fencing, 70-point junior rounds, and frantic “scoreboard lottery.” Refereeing amplified the confusion, with hands-off officiating giving way to sudden holding deductions in finals. Consistency isn’t a luxury—it’s integrity.

Still, excellence broke through. We celebrate sharp, composed G2 golds and strong U.S. performances built on years of steady coaching and development. That success “didn’t come out of nowhere”—it came from systems that prioritize athlete growth over politics. Which leads to the bigger question: if domestic programs keep losing top talent and leaning on external hires, what does that say about our pipeline and coaching depth? Awards that feel like politics don’t fix that; transparent standards and measurable reforms do.

We close with a simple playbook for leaders who actually want better outcomes: standardize tech thresholds, publish clear enforcement guidance, sequence brackets logically, invest in fan and warm-up infrastructure, protect independent voices, and remove backroom conditions from pathways. If we center athletes, results will follow. If we don’t, the scoreboard—and the community—will keep telling us why.

Like what you heard? Subscribe, share this with a coach or parent who cares about development, and leave a review with the one change you’d make first.

Cold Open, Banter, And Vegas Trip

herb

To the warehouse fifty No, no, I'm busy. No, the AAU? No, I can't take that call right now. What's Steve again? McNeil? No, I'm good. Welcome to the warehouse fifth. No, I don't need a job. Welcome to the warehouse 15 uncut, and I am the grandmaster of disaster with my two colleagues in chaos. How are you doing today, coach? Oh, love this shirt. Oh, wait, what's up? And the other shirt. Still waiting from mine. Guys, get to that merch site because it's up. What's up, coach?

SPEAKER_05

Terrence?

Juan

We'll get into you a little bit later. How are you doing today? You just got back to Vegas, yeah?

SPEAKER_10

Las Vegas.

herb

I left my voice over there too. Did you make a stop at the ranch again, the chicken ranch, or you skipped it this time?

SPEAKER_10

I skipped it this time, but I went to a bad buffet. Let me tell you. I ate so much crab legs and crab claws. Oh man, it was amazing. But Vegas, the land of the expensive$10,$15 slices of pizza and$8 Red Bull. So I'm not happy to be back home where prices are a little bit more than that.

herb

That sounds like San Francisco. Sounds like San Francisco. What's up with you, coach?

Listener Story And Speeding Ticket Joke

Juan

I'm good, man. I was messed up, man. I I I kind of had a bad trip in the sense that I got in Thursday night and then right, you know, early in the morning had to register and start coaching on Friday and Saturday. You know how it is. You don't eat well. You eat like a bagel in the morning and then you work all day and then you go grab something to eat at night and you're exhausted, and you just get up and do the exact same thing the next day. So three days of that, and then I took the red eye on Sunday. So you know, I was blitzed on Monday morning and took a couple hours of sleep and went to training and taught to little kids and stuff. And I was just kind of in la la land. But everything is good. Happy to be home. It's always fun to go to term. I know we're gonna kind of get into that a little bit uh a little bit later because there's a lot to talk about. But this is gonna be an interesting podcast for everybody because I think we have uh something else we want to listen to, and we're gonna start out with that, and then I think we'll kind of morph into the uh to the um to the US open, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I got uh a lot of things I think we could uh we can cover on that. So with that, Grandmaster does that.

herb

Let me let me I see that I got a I got a special delivery. Let me uh let me take a look at this bad boy and get it up and running. Let me see what we got. It's coming up, it's coming up.

Juan

And again, we had so many people. When's the next podcast? When's the next podcast? I mean, let me tell you, it's it's funny. Oh, let me tell you a quick story before we start. I can't I don't want to say the name because I'm not allowed to say the name, but I had a gentleman that's somebody in Taekwondo, and he calls, he sent me a message and he says, You owe me 95 bucks. He's actually actually you, Master Press, and Coach TJ owe me each 95 bucks. I'm like, what are you talking about? What I do he said, listen, I listened to your podcast, and I'm I'm so entrenched in it that I was speeding and I got pulled over and I didn't realize how fast I was going. He said he was listening to the podcast and he got a speeding ticket. So basically he goes, we each owe him 95 bucks. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll I'll I'll I'll pay for you. No problem. No problem.

herb

I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. Tell him to tell him to send me a thing and I will Venmo him. I take care of my have too. Nothing would make him nothing. Oh, what what what was that? You can't you can't get out. Yeah, exactly. I'm not I'm not gonna give it to you online, man. Next thing you know, I'll be uh I'll be finding myself in Nigeria again or something like that. TJ, aren't you from Nigeria?

SPEAKER_10

No. Actually, I think I did a I did a 23andMe a while ago. I had a big uh Nigerian vibe, it was like 68%.

herb

I had a feeling I got that scam vibe from you. I keep getting that vibe from you. Well, let me let me do this. I understand we have another gift in the way of a uh an audio. So let me uh let me get it ready to share. I don't know, I haven't heard this before. So I'm looking forward to it. Let me see what it is. Oh, there it is. I found it over there. I'm gonna get ready to share it now, which turns us into some weird land. But let me here comes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let me know when you're ready.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, it's TJMS. Glad you guys there.

SPEAKER_02

I'm here.

SPEAKER_06

Hey, how are you?

SPEAKER_02

What's up, sir? Sorry I missed you, man. I was trying to catch up with you afterwards. Sorry?

unknown

What about it?

SPEAKER_02

No, I when I reached out to you the first time and then we kind of missed each other, and then I never heard back from you. Um just trying to catch up. I know it's I know your schedule's like crazy. I know you guys are moving around constantly, so I just figured we'd talk later.

SPEAKER_05

Did you end up getting that car?

SPEAKER_02

What car? Oh no, it was my car. It was my car.

SPEAKER_10

They they they were supposed to fix something, and like it was still sitting there when I got back home from Croatia. Like, the the part that needed to be fixed hadn't been fixed yet because somehow, somehow, they put it to the side, it wasn't done, and I had to end up getting a rental car that day and stuff like that. It just got complicated for no reason.

SPEAKER_02

I was supposed to just go there and pick up my car and that didn't happen. Got it, got it, got it.

unknown

All right, awesome.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Setting Up A “Special” Audio

SPEAKER_06

Okay, so so good news, we got to meet with President Mirza and with um how everything was going for the district championship and how he wants to see things shaping up. So uh Abdul runs his qualifier January 17th. We are going to ask you to also run a qualifier. So we're gonna ask you to run a district qualifier for North Carolina, and then how North Carolina, then as that district goes well, then you will go against him in the election. When you beat him in the election, then we will be able to offer you the regional position. But you'll still be able to run a North Carolina district qualifier for nationals this year. And I think that honestly, it should be done kind of whenever you want. Just don't do it in January because I don't know why why does he do it in January? That just sounds like a terrible idea.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

Well so so so so right now, this is what we got to so far right now. Uh obviously we want you to be involved and we want you part of AU. So uh on the district side of it, we're not we're normally not allowed to have two district qualifiers in one state. Like, for example, we can't have AAU in New York and another AAU in New York for someone else, right? So uh we have to get that portion of it approved, and then the goal right now is uh I mean he's gonna be very, very upset.

Juan

It's okay, keep it running.

SPEAKER_06

I don't know what happened, but here we go.

The Leaked AAU Call Starts

SPEAKER_05

Go ahead, Matt. Go ahead. Yeah, so so so so pretty much normally when LL has two districts, uh it's it's like having two state, you know, state ch um championships, right? But uh we did we did get that portion of it approved. We explained the situation as well. And uh President Ruth obviously wants your involvement and needs to be with AU as well. So um w when we do this method now, like we're running two district championships. Uh most likely um Abdul would be very upset about the situation, and but you know, and then we have the voting process that happens after that. Um and obviously, you know, we'll help you with whatever, you know, whatever you have to do on the voting side of it. And you know, when you do become the official district director for the following year, there shouldn't be two district championships, and you would probably be the only one. But um and then the regional. Yeah, and and we I I heard that you expressed that as something obviously you would want something sooner than later. So at least on this side of it, we have everything in motion sooner. Uh you are able to, you know, start making money from this, start promoting the events, and probably this year, uh we probably just won't run any regional championships in that area. Uh so this way you can do your additional qualifier. So I recommend probably doing it like, you know, March. I mean, uh like March to May, right? April to April, May ish, you know. Mascobo, what do you think?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, I think that that this is I think this is the best case scenario because now you'll be able to run a tournament uh uh uh and it's gonna automatically already be better because it's not in January. So you're gonna give it uh North Carolina athletes and surrounding areas another district championship to be able to qualify, get points, and everything like that. So I I think this is the best case scenario because then afterwards you'll be able to say, look, this is what I'm gonna be able to offer our district, um, and hopefully our region after the election, and then you use this qualifier to say, hey, are you guys sick of having these qualifiers in January that only have a hundred and fifty people? Let's all vote for me, and we'll make sure that this tournament really is a huge success. We don't have to do anything where like we're hiring you. This is your tournament. You get to run it, you get to uh receive all the proceeds from it, and then go from there.

SPEAKER_05

And and you know, well what what is very important also is like you don't want too many people to know that um you're you're gonna be running on as an election, right? Obviously we'll do whatever we have to do on our side or do our best, right? But you shouldn't go and say I'm gonna be running for this position like immediately. You know what I mean? Like let things settle down and then we'll find out the election date on when it actually has to be done, and then um and then we'll we'll we'll do our best to, you know, monitor and help with whatever we have to help with, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, I'll s I mean yeah, as far as the days you said March, April, May, correct?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, pretty much whatever whatever you think you can find and do and get all that situated, I would I would pull the trigger and I would I would I would promote it January 20th. Like the week, the the Monday after his tournament.

SPEAKER_09

Mm-hmm.

unknown

Yeah, because and it'd be like boom, here we go.

SPEAKER_06

So I would try and get at least three months away from the day you announce it.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And um so so the same, but basically we're back to the same way you said just going through this way and then and then doing the whole voting. I'm just trying to recap. I wrote it down, but just doing the whole voting and all that stuff thing again next year.

SPEAKER_05

So so yeah, at at least at least this route, you can start making money right away. And then the following year you'll make money twice. You'll make money once as a district, once as a regional. Obviously, you'll be involved in the coaching position as well. I don't know what what we're gonna be doing with the full coaching program yet.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, but what is um sorry what I mean I'm gonna cut you off. What is what is Top's coaching level two program? What is that?

SPEAKER_05

Uh the the the top says tops is not coaching. So level two, level two, uh that's a more like a referee program.

SPEAKER_10

Oh, I thought it said so. I thought it said coaching level two or level two coaching or something.

unknown

So it's a level two certification.

SPEAKER_06

You uh coach for to get the black shirt and all that stuff like that, you have to go to a level two coaches certification because this was the one thing that regional chairs as that we want the the ask the referees and the coaches to be given the same information so we can eliminate issues at national.

Two Qualifiers, Quiet Election Plan

SPEAKER_05

So it's just a Matt Cobra, I I think I think for this one we can have um TJ host uh top scenic as well for the referee too. I think that'd be a great idea because then that's not important. Yeah, because technically you have to be a district director in order for for you to be a regional director. So at least this one now, you know, we're we got it up to the part of the qualifier being approved. And then the you know, because it's because the region's uh vacant, uh we can just you know say that we're appointed um to run the you know top clinic. So at least you can make some money off that too, and then and then start building his group of referees, you know.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, because then if he and then so that might be a good idea, TJ, is that you do your the region three top certification, like let's say March. But then in May you host the North Carolina uh district championship, and then you use all the people that came to the certification at uh in March to and invite them to your uh district championship that's in May.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. I got you. Okay. Okay, okay. Yeah, I I just kind of figured get filled in on all that little stuff with the whole referee program. I thought those two things were kind of like the same thing, that's all.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Yeah, well overall, um pretty much that's it. So we just have to we just have to move forward and uh at least we'll get this thing moving. And like I said, it's it's the the most important thing right now is you know, obviously we have uh like we have an agreement signed with USAT. Um so we we just we just don't want anything to negatively like we want you to be part of EU for a very long time, right? So I I just don't want anything on the side to result in, you know, random comments or just random calls, and I I think it's just not necessary. So um and again, like as as we stated when we met you, we want you to grow and and you know, we want to do our best to take care of you as well. And that's that region is very important. So um we have a lot a lot of our regions are pretty solid right now, but you know, it it's important to have the right person representing the whole, you know, state, two states.

unknown

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

unknown

So so this is the ball's in your court right now, TJ.

SPEAKER_06

I'm just I'm I'm never gonna be a person that has sugarcoats or anything like that. Is that plain and simple, you have the ability to run the qualifier, run the top certification. We are going to help you um win this election, then the following year you'll be a district chair and a regional chair, but the podcast has to stop.

SPEAKER_02

And yeah, I I hear you. I hear you. Um as far as um, but again, we talked I talked to him a little bit about it before, Clinton. Um I talked to um Alex a little bit before. I know he told me that there were some complaints about the podcaster saying the things that I was saying.

SPEAKER_10

I'm just again, I was asking him before what the plans moving forward. I know that was one of the things, obviously, that's a basic one, you know, let's not talk crap about each other if you're working within the organization. That's why my response was him was like, well, I don't have a position, yada yada yada. But um, I know I mentioned to him I would be interested in um possibly is it possible to see the rest of the MOU to kind of know what direction all this stuff is going in and what we're doing as uh a group if I'm gonna be a part of the group.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, so so that's so I again, and uh when we're on the same side, like I don't I don't mind showing you anything. So I'll I'll I'll uh Mess Cobra you can send um uh push TJ the the MOU. That's fine. So uh we'll send you that way. So this is this is my only concern, right? So let's say I send you something, and then now this topic becomes, you know, on that podcast again. And let's say you're not on it, right? And we have uh Herb and and Juan uh you know on this agreement as well. Like for me, for me it's like it's still unnecessary, right? Because I I I don't think we need any kind of ongoing association with at least between AAU and and and the um the podcast, right? So I I don't mind like it if it's one or herb or whoever, like whatever whatever we talk about. Obviously the podcast is technically related. So I don't mind what's spoken there, right? But I I just don't think that it should be associated with AU. You know what I mean? And obviously you are AU as well. And you know, at that point, you know, I but again I don't mind showing anything to you. That's fine. That's fine.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let me um let me let me start putting all this little information together. I just got today about the you mentioned the tops for the the referee stuff, and like obviously they'd be a certified ref in in like leading the program, correct? That'd be the goal.

SPEAKER_05

We'll find we'll we'll we'll find somebody to send you, and then uh they'll they'll lead the training there, people from the area.

SPEAKER_06

You're literally just host, and TJ I'll help you with this part. This you're just hosting, you're like you would be offering it up at your gym, but you can even run like a rumble at your gym if you want to do, and maybe maybe that would be a good idea too, Master Clint, that TJ puts on like uh AAU uh cross training thing at the same time that the tops is happening, that way there's athletes there to work with the referees and so forth, and they can do a training with TJ as well, and then this is all financially benefiting.

Money First, MOU, And Podcast Ultimatum

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, I I'll add that too, and just kind of start working through it, and then I'll like um I'll keep working on the dates, but I'll I'll get back with you guys maybe early tomorrow morning afternoon if that works.

SPEAKER_05

So anyway, appreciate your time and um let us know.

SPEAKER_02

First year, 100%. I appreciate you guys. Thank you, bye-bye.

SPEAKER_10

You know what I just you know what I just heard that he said that we had Herb and Juan on agreement as well. Did you hear that part of towards the end? Yeah, towards the end he goes, yeah, we had we had Herb, obviously we had Herb and Juan on this agreement as well. It was like right towards the end, maybe like somewhere between minute eleven and and the end when he was like, obviously, you know, we had both of them on this agreement as well. So you were doomed, by the way.

Juan

I was writing some notes, you know, and I don't know, I'm gonna run through a couple things real fast and then you guys can chime in. You know, the first part, you know, it's it's interesting how I kept on hearing money, money, money. You can make money right away, you can make money right now, and then you're gonna be able to make money twice, and then you can do a tops uh referee thing, you can make some more money. Like it's so weird because I listen, I guess we're all want to make money, but it's just nothing about uh athletes, nothing about coaches, nothing about I mean, I guess inherently if you have a tournament, it's better for people, but it was just it all revolved around money, money, money, and you can make money now. I also think it's strange that you weren't they're not able to have two uh qualifiers, but they had to get special uh special uh you know ability to to host two qualifiers in the same state. Like that in itself is shady. Like, why? Like why why for you, TJ? You know, when they say it's important that we get the right person in there, and again, I know Mr. Abdul just from face value, but I don't know anything about him. I don't know if he's good, I don't know if he's bad, I don't know if he's successful, I don't know. I've seen him as a referee many times, but I guess he's apparently bad to them for them to, you know, want you to run, but don't say it too early. Don't say it too early so that he's gonna be mad, according to them. You know, Clinton, he's gonna be mad, he's not gonna be happy with this. I mean for obvious reasons. He thought he was doing a good job or whatever, and all of a sudden the powers to be are conspiring against him, you know. And you know, when they they mentioned over and over that they will help you, you know, win, they will monitor, they'll find out when the the vote will be and they'll do whatever they can on their side to make sure that you win that. I mean, that's not very positive and upfront for a guy like you know, Mr. Abdul. So I I thought that was interesting. Um I also saw like yeah, again, once again, we've said this many times, the all Ultimatum has to stop. I'm sorry, the podcast, the ultimatum is the podcast has to stop. I'm not gonna sugarcoat a freezing.

SPEAKER_10

Powerful podcast people. Dang. There's no way you could ever stop, right? I mean, clearly, to the point where they're coming up with whole contracts just to get rid of this podcast. Like that's that that's crazy. Crazy.

herb

But let me let me let me be clear of something. First of all, I don't I don't know who Clinton, oh woo, whatever his name is. And he's not I've never heard of him, don't know him, don't care to know him. I don't know who the other guy is, other than I think he took a picture with me when he was like 12 years old, and I had won whatever I had won, one of the many things I won. The idea that they would think that I would sign any agreement or be party to, if I were going to work with anybody in the AAU, I would have worked with Bobby Stone and guys like that.

SPEAKER_10

I think they were I think they were saying they put your name in there as to be blocked. They were like, oh, and of course we have Herb and Juan in this agreement too. This was you were in the MOU along with me on people they couldn't work with outside of the organizations or whatever. So this is a good thing.

Reaction: Collusion And Block Lists

herb

As soon as I well, luckily they didn't put my name in the MOU, and it's nothing anybody signed because should I become aware of it, and they're a public corporation, by the way. So I can do discovery and find it. At that point, there was nobody whatever whatever little amount of money they they own and whatever little amount of property they own. I don't know where they live, but I would own it. So you can't defame me, you can't do anything to me that I won't hold you accountable for. I have won a few lawsuits against people that have done dumb stuff. And so I take the money, usually donate back to athletes. But this one I would gladly donate to a new convertible. But the idea there's a couple of things that they did wrong. First of all, nonprofits are nonprofits and they're held to the same rules in order to keep their nonprofit status. Once they start making money using their nonprofit, the officers of the organization use their money for personal gain. They violate the rules of being a nonprofit. Number two, when they collude to exclude a coach in the movement, in the Olympic movement or any movement for that matter, they violate the coach's rights, they violate the Avatar Sports Act, and they vi and in collusion with the USAT, that causes a bigger problem. So the fact that they're too dumb to even understand that. And then finally, I guess Clinton Woo, or whatever his name is, he went to the old school Korean school of politics. He thinks he's in Korea or in Seoul or whatever backward country he crawled out of, if he or he, unless he was born here, but his accent I can't tell because it keeps flipping. Um, he obviously thinks this is Korea, and you're Korean. That's the way Koreans do politics in Korea, which is why Koreans don't run USA Taekwondo anymore, just to be clear. But um, it's nice to think that he can do it, but he can do it because he finds guys like this other Alexander Covert or whatever his name is, this this ass clown, and he gets them to carry his bag like the chokey boy he is. But the idea that he would try to involve you is embarrassing for them as an organization. But these these audios, man, are crushing. And I hope people are listening to this. And I I've got a solution when we're done with all this, but anyway.

SPEAKER_10

I hope they're listening. I mean, I don't care. Like I said before, I just I hope that's a lot of people. No, I hope the people are listening. I don't care whether they're talking about it. That's what we're talking about. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. How backwards and messed up this is for everybody. And and again, we we said at the beginning, we are they're telling me how much they want me a part of the organization, how important I am. You know, we got a list of people now. We got you, Coach Moreno, we got me, we got you, Master Perez, we had Bobby Stone and Ryan all being blocked at the same time for whatever reason. And it's interesting to look at what those people stood for or what those people are saying. I know both Bobby and Ryan are respectful people. I know they've done a lot to help the athletes and get back to organizations and to be a part of like, you know, things like we talk about the TOPS program and kind of see another vision for AU, and now they're gone. And we're sitting here where there's five people on a block list, and that's all we know about who they can and cannot work with. That just raises the question who else was on their list. You know, we I know you mentioned something earlier on Facebook, Coach Reno, about um Coach Gianni. Um, it's interesting enough that, you know, like you said, you can show all his success, you can show what he's been able to do with, you know, upcoming juniors that are turning seniors and all that stuff like that, and he's not on the staff, you know, and he's he's not he's not a part of this cadet or junior or or even senior staff at this point. I mean, it raises the question who else's name is on this, who else's name was referred to in this agreement? Because I know it definitely doesn't feel like it was just ours, you know. Like again, I every coach in this country should be crazy upset even when it comes to the USAT selection procedures of coaches and how they went about that whole thing, you know?

Juan

But that's just no, but I'm gonna I'll say this is where the collusion starts. You know, you could tell one one group is trying to help the other group. AU gives money, they're buying their their influence, they're giving a hundred thousand dollars to a team a year early, and then all of a sudden there's a brand new coach that gets gets picked up. Like you can't help but to kind of think that maybe those are tied together. You saw, I mean, I I'm gonna, and I know Hyung, you don't personally you know think too highly of him. I like the gentleman, the president of the of the Korean Taekwondo Association. I I like he's he's he's a friend of mine. I could say he's a friend or friendly.

herb

Yan Jan Jinbang. The worst politician, the worst conniving, self-interested politician in the world. The worst. I get it, I get it. But I'm gonna say nothing, not I didn't say I didn't like him. Had a lot of good dinners with him, he's done a lot for me, but the worst, he screwed his senior in the last two elections. The guy has no ethic, no moral.

Juan

But but listen to this one. I'm just like, it was weird. He was at the U.S. Open. I don't think he's ever come to the U.S. Open. And I know he's the Korean Tech 10 president, he's at the WT council, and he was kind of probably came there as a guest. But if I tie things together, what the heck is this? If I tie things together, I gotta force quit.

herb

Are you going away for a minute? Go away.

Juan

I just gotta force quit. I can't see myself. But when I tie things together, he was from Young and University. You know, the new coach coming in is from Young University, and all of a sudden, to me, that ties you know the Korean Taekwondo Federation and and USAT together through some kind of you know small relationship. So again, I think it's weird, but like to your point, TJ, I think that when you see all this collusion, when you see these ultimatums, when you see these names being brought up, when you see these backdoor things going on, I hope people are listening because it's not fair. Everybody talks about transparency nowadays. That's the key word, transparency. And there is no transparency because they're having these conversations with you, TJ. What are they having with people that they actually like? I mean, people that they actually do business with already. I I don't know. I I I can't say, you know, so I'm just like, it's strange for me, it's super strange, you know, all this. I don't know. I don't know what to say. But I hope people are listening. And you know, this is one more audio that is being, you know, listened to by people that I hope they wake up. I hope they don't still like you know, hey, this is you know, not important. It is important, it's important for the organization, it's important for AAU to see who their leaders are and what they're trying to do behind closed doors. It's kind of it's wrong. It's wrong. I'm not saying I don't have all the answers, I'm not the leader, but to do this kind of these weird things to Mr. Abdul, to put you in a position, TJ, where it's money, money, money, but don't do this.

SPEAKER_10

Like, like you're there's a pre- there's a preset list of people they're not gonna work with. There's a preset list, and I'm I'm solid to believe we're not the only ones on it. Obviously, I know we're not the only ones. I know I said the other two earlier, I won't keep harping on that, but like they've created a group of people or whoever they wanted to single out and said we can't work with this person, we don't want to work with this person. There's a huge list of people. I'm sure this list doesn't stop at us. This is, you know what I mean? It's a it's absurd at this point. I I just again, I know we've got a lot of good feedback from a lot of people, and you know, um, we we keep saying the same things over and over and over again to people. And I and I think hopefully I think they're starting to understand it. It's it's deeper than this. It's it's again, I said it before, our sport has been hijacked on every single level. They've hijacked our sport and turned it into some as Grandmaster of Disaster, like I say, a clown show.

Legal, Nonprofit, And Culture Rants

herb

It's a clown. Listen, I had my tournament this weekend, the legacy tournament, and I saw some AAU shirts in there and coaches that came to support the event. And so hopefully they didn't tell the AAU. But um, I've I've never worked for with uh other than give them advice on how to do what they do, the AAU. And there's some reasons for that, but um, all on my side. I make a choice who I work with, I associate myself with people I respect and then have an impact. And I love the AAU as a grassroots development program. They're kind of like um at the point when we were training, they were the red-headed stepchild of taekwondo. Really didn't have anybody good, didn't have anybody winning, nobody made a team. You would look forward to the day that one of them would show up so you could have somebody to beat up for fun before you got to the real matches. And I know that's changed over the years. We have people, quite frankly, that still used it as the the uh C or D league to go and warm up. The one thing that's for sure now, though, is unlike the grand mafia CEO of past, Friello, and then the gentleman scholar, the southern gentleman scholar Bobby Stone, who was good, there's no doubt that this is a clown show.

Juan

Well, I'll tell you what, I mean, I know we we you know we're gonna we're gonna continue to talk about this because this is not going away. I mean, you know, along with the great reception of the podcast, you know, at the at the US Open, you know, I had many, many people talking about these situations. So I think we'll we'll continue talking about that. Um I I do want to pivot and to uh to US Open. What do you think, TJ?

SPEAKER_10

Absolutely, let's do it. I know you um you want to start?

Juan

Um yeah, let me see. Let me uh look at my notes. Um let's just talk, let's let's go over some like simple things, some kind of ground, ground stuff. Like, you know, the the size of the tournament was big. You know, we talked about that. The divisions were were were pretty good, pretty well stacked. I mean, people had five and six matches, you know. Um, I guess if you had a buy, you could have four matches. So that's a that's a live tournament, you know. You had big numbers. Um, like we had talked about before, and uh, you know, WT Facts and Data had talked about this. It was mainly USA. There was some Mexicans and some Brazilians and a few, you know, spattering of uh of South and Central Americans, but nothing of any significance, no real huge national team. So a lot of Americans. Um Vegas brings them out, huh?

SPEAKER_10

Like, we're going to Vegas, we're going to Vegas. I didn't even see that many cadet black bells. I think there was like, dude, there was like some of the representatives, like 45 people.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10

40 in cadets, juniors, or senior uh cadets and juniors. Some of the senior boxes were pretty big too, but even just the kid size. I think they come out, they come out from Vegas.

Juan

And uh in the 41 kilos, I believe it's 41. He had um he had six matches. He didn't win six matches. He lost his third, but he would have had six to to win it. I mean, that's it's a big tournament, you know. So I think from that standpoint, it was it was that the numbers were good. Um, the quality wasn't good as far as you know international competition. Um, I was impressed.

SPEAKER_10

Let's give it a number. Let's give it a number. One out of ten. Ten being the highest, one be the lowest, of just overall level. Could that do your thing? Yeah, sure. We'll put it all together. Like just one, one, one grade for all three. Six, seven.

Juan

That's fine. Oh, shit, say that six or seven.

SPEAKER_10

No, I'm saying I wrote down six, but I can argue for six point five. There were some big names we put people in the divisions, too.

Juan

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can't go, I can't go eight, like that's a you know, upper echelon quality of a competition. No way. There's just there was nobody there, like you know, where people were meeting in the quarterfinals, or you know, there's I can't do it. Um, I'd like to talk a little bit about the the organization of the tournament because once again, the tournament ran smoothly in the sense that we were out of there by six or you know, you know, six thirty. I mean, it wasn't that bad at all. That's very, very reasonable. But once again, USAT's got to like invest in some in some stands. You know, people are sitting in those chairs that all the way back, you can't see, you know, you try to get up on the close, and you know, you got security people yelling at you. I mean, it was just impossible from a spectator standpoint. It was absolutely trash. And that, you know, you you got that many people you got to invest.

SPEAKER_10

You either got to get to a stadium or an arena or or or or rent the bleachers because when are we gonna when are we gonna have a real size matted area for warming up and training? I didn't even get there. You had at the G2 USO.

Juan

Sorry, I didn't mean to jump off the whole ship, but like right when you walk in, boom, you're you're in this holding area that's it's like smaller than a dojong. It's crazy. It's crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_10

Like, but that's just for the people that got called on the screen. I'm talking about if you got cadets juniors and seniors there, and seniors there early to get acclimated, or you even want to warm up before your match. There's no mats. Yeah, you just there's literally no mats, it's just carpet.

Juan

And then they and then they I'm not bougie. They broadcasted, they're like, please, we just want to let you know if you work out on the carpet, you could get blisters. They announced that. I forgot that.

SPEAKER_10

I forgot that that was funny. That was funny. I forget what studyed next to me. They were like, uh, yeah, that's most likely what could possibly happen. I forget who that's funny.

Juan

I just think the holding area was non-existent, it's trash. I think the the seating and the viewing were was trash. I did say, you know, the good part of it was run, finished early. But I'm gonna say, like, I don't know. I know uh the management company up TKD is normally really good with like the digital stuff, like to check online to see when your match comes. Really good. I don't know what happened, but I was in a ring watching a match. The winner goes to the finals in the 58 kilos, and I looked down, I go, what division are you? They're like 58. I'm like, is that your semis? And they said, no, it's a quarterfinal. I'm like, wait a minute, you got a semifinal going to final done before a quarterfinal?

SPEAKER_10

I saw the men all over the place, though. I don't know.

Juan

The men 80 finished their semifinals before lunch and had to wait until 5 30, 6 o'clock to fight the finals. Like, I don't understand how that's just not professional. It should be around 32, round of 16, round of eight, you know, and that's how you keep people all kind of on the same on the same.

SPEAKER_10

I think so. And then you can't, and you like my my biggest issue with that, and I think I said it about the you can't hold coaches accountable for for for missing matches or being stuck in a ring when it takes forever to change. We're getting not even sent out late. It's just you're not sure where it's gonna happen, or we're stopping at this point or that point. Like, I just you know, you can't like dude, you you really can't hold anybody accountable to that. It's impossible. You just gotta hold every match. I'm sorry.

Juan

Let's let's let's go let's go over to the I want to talk about the equipment and also about the referees, the referees, and I also like to talk about the IVR. So let you let's do the equipment first. Dado gen 3.

SPEAKER_09

One to date throw it away.

SPEAKER_10

Oh I'm gonna say one because it turns on. It gets a one but because it's so bad. I'm sorry to whoever made dado. I don't even I love you. I think you're a great people because you invested our sport. But that hogu is the worst. That hogu system needs to be thrown away. You cannot, or or riddle me, this you gotta change the sensitivity. You you nobody sat here and watched that entire weekend as going, this went great as far as equipment. I'm watching scrapes, toe touches, miss shots, like hit to the body, register for the head. Like, I'm watching absolute chaos up soon. I've seen so many matches where someone's winning, and this other kid runs it and jams and throws something random that doesn't get close and it registers, and now they're up on top of the scoreboard for a spin to the head.

Juan

I throw it as a I I have I have personal athletes, and I saw athletes that I know better. They they scored four to eight points a match. This is and that's a good day. And I see them putting up 15 points. I had a boy that WT uh Dad and Facts put up. He was in a 73-point match, 74 point match. It was 40 to 34 in a one round of a junior match. 74 points. That's like that that that can't happen. I'm sorry. No one's that good, no one's that active. I mean, it it was it was bad. And you know, from a coaching standpoint, like I talked to a couple of people, the tactics are gone, you know, game management is gone. I mean, you you had to you know kick with the top of your foot all day long because no point was safe, no lead was safe, and you don't know what's gonna score. Touch the scores, like you said, scrape score. It was just it was wild.

SPEAKER_10

Stuff that's not even, but it's not even some stuff is just not even close. Like even a couple of my guys, we scored some like long twist kick stuff, like in front of the chest guard, before the elbow, and it's like ding up. I said it's crazy.

Juan

When it works for you, you feel like a rock star. When it works against you, you just kind of put your hands up and go, I don't know.

SPEAKER_10

Obviously, you gotta you gotta carry. We're there, we're committed to winning. Everybody's trying to win, and you get excited. Even myself, I get excited in these moments where the scoreboard changes. But like, I dude, I feel like sometimes when the scoreboard turns, I hit the lottery. I'm like, what it worked for me this time because it didn't the last time where this other kid threw something, now they're up six. It's it was the worst thing I've ever seen in my entire life for me. For I guess maybe I saw more matches than team trials um using it. But this was crazy, and the punching thing, I just punching it didn't work at all. Didn't work at all. I mean, I saw a few score, but they just seem to force. Like, I don't know, I don't not force, but like I don't know.

Juan

It was I saw some score, but it's it it took punching out because you punch somebody strong and it doesn't score. Yeah, that was bad.

SPEAKER_10

They're telling them they gotta they're they're taking their wrist and hitting the chess guard, like telling them they gotta punch like this. Like they're showing like nobody you want to break their wrist like this, they're showing them it has to be a certain way to just to get it to register in the beginning. What are we talking? Everybody sits by and watches this though, and they let it happen, they let it happen. You'll watch the referees at the head table. Like, so shouldn't some referee be really upset about like, dude, there's no way we could keep running this system, like the the TD or whoever it is is going, this cannot be the way. Somebody, no? Yeah, I don't think you can find me one coach that was like this system was amazing. That's telling the truth.

Juan

No, nobody, nobody goes to the show.

SPEAKER_10

I just one person tell me it scored amazing.

Juan

Maybe the the dado rep from uh Indiana or wherever he's from, he's like, It's great, it's running good, it's gen 3's here, come and get it. I'm like, Yeah, whatever, dude. Nobody likes it. Stop. If they can fix the pressure or the sensitivity, maybe, maybe, but it's trash.

SPEAKER_10

But what is it? Why is it set so low? Is it is it, but every every hogu scores the same, by the way. It's not like the little kids' hogus are lighter and the adult, like every all these hogus are like are the threshold for everybody the same. Yeah, is that not a thing anymore?

Pivot To U.S. Open Overview

Juan

I don't know. I have no idea what's going on. Well, listen, that that that's that. Let me let's move on to the referees. I I my only critique was I I like that the referees didn't interfere, but they didn't interfere when they should have interfered. For example, this monkey kick business is just out of control now. Jamming, click to the face, jamming, kick to the body, jamming and twist to the body. It's I don't know the rules anymore. Meaning it's rampant. It's rampant because you'll go to a technical meeting and they'll tell you, nope, that's gonna be deduction. And it happens over and over and over again. And then when it shouldn't happen, boom, they call and they pop somebody, they give it to you, they give a contract. And they're like, no, you haven't closed it for two rounds.

SPEAKER_10

I was in the finals and I was screaming that. I'm like, you guys have been allowing this, and we were in the same ring for the finals that we had all day. We we didn't switch, like we every single match in that ring, those boys were doing that. Yeah, all day long. Not one of them, not two of them, every single person. My guys, the other, like all day. We get to the finals, and that referee in the center starts taking points off the board for holding and kicking. I I was like I was just in shock. I had finally said in at that point and going, the monkey kick is live, it's it's involved. I'm telling my guy, look, do it, get your foot across in the clinch, like get there first. We gotta keep that space closed, yada yada, yada. And then they start calling it and taking points off the board.

Juan

TJ, you know what's sad about like the system and the referees is and we've complained about this before. We do this stuff in America. Like, I actually had a meeting today with my guys. I'm like, look, if the states, if the nationals, if the that little final, if the team trials are all gonna be with Gen 3 dado, we better get used to it. And I had just felt like you can kick with your back leg, you can spin, you could, you could do some taekwondo. Now, it's literally young, you're gonna love this. It is foot fencing, it is the front leg. It is just yes, don't get me wrong. Can you kick with the back leg? Can you follow through? Of course, but it's 90% front, 95% front leg. Front leg touch, not even cutting. Up but up but up all twist up all twist. It's crazy. Like I just I feel like we're gonna stunt our development without any KPP events. What do you put? No, no, he didn't put anything.

SPEAKER_10

I just the word development behind these Hogu systems made me giggle a little bit.

Juan

Because those things are way different. And if this country doesn't use them, which they don't, it's gonna be bad.

SPEAKER_10

Are they using uh I are they using um like Gen 3 at World Championships for the kids? Was that the one that was supposed to be set for it? Or what what system were they using?

Juan

Oh no, I think it's I thought it was KPP. I know the first Grand Prix is Dado, second one is KPP, and I think the third is Dado, and then Waychamp. I think.

SPEAKER_10

I'm so sad I'm gonna be at home. I missed the Grand Prix. I think it's gonna be exciting. I don't mean to skip all this, but the Grand Prix is gonna be exciting.

Juan

I I should have started with this and congratulations to you, TJ. TJ had uh one of his uh 54 kids. He's a young man. He got a bronze last week in in um in Canada, and he followed it up with a gold medal performance and a very, very solid gold medal performance. Like he looked better than the field like throughout the day. Like it looked easy. He looked controlled, he didn't look stressed, he looked professional, and you know, to kind of come out on top in the final in the big stage when everybody's looking against the the U.S. national team athlete in the category, or former, not former, but uh world collegiate champion, a very good fighter, very talented fighter. Um, to match up with him and to beat him in two rounds. And the first round was really clean, like by a lot. That's a an impressive victory for him and for you. So, you know, Bravo, congratulations to you.

Event Logistics And Spectator Issues

SPEAKER_10

I think I think I think you're talking about Brennan. Brent, I know you're talking about Brendan. Brendan fought crazy well that day. I think all of his matches are very controlled. Um, and but I just wanna someone said someone said to me when they were kind of congratulating like, man, he just came out of nowhere. And I that's like one of those, obviously, I know what they mean by that, but this kid has been in the peak performance system for a very, very long time. That's right. You know, I wasn't his original coach, I wasn't the one coaching at first, but he's been in the peak performance program, and he just and he had and again, I obviously this is a great deal, a big deal for him. It's his first senior uh gold medal in in his weight class at a G2. I mean, that's a big, that's a big moment. Um, you know, those are always the medals we're fighting for at that level. You know, he's 18, he's young, we're just kind of getting all that stuff, but just like in in the in the grand scheme of things, he's been a part of the system for a very, very long time, you know. And I know there's a lot more building to do. There's hopefully a lot more big things for that kid, but he's been a part of the system. It wasn't out of nowhere. He's been around good coaching and good athletes, and he was maintained all the way to 18 and strong enough within his techno development to carry on into seniors. So that in itself was the first victory, but to see him strive and do something that cool um at the at a G2 level for where he is was amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

Juan

Well, looking at the results, I mean, I think it was pretty interesting because I you know the United States team was number one overall. Um, obviously, they had a lot more um athletes. They didn't make a lot of finals, they didn't win a lot of gold medals, they only got three, they got two female and one male. Um, the the women was our heavyweight, you know, Naomi Aladdin from from Houston, from Coach Johnny Jombi. She did really, really well. Faith was uh uh 57 from the uh U.S. national team. She won a gold medal. She was pretty clean and pretty dominant. I don't think she was tested throughout the day. Um and then Victor Rodriguez in 74. He was um, you know, he looked like he was pretty clean throughout the day. Had a tough little final match, but he he pulled it out with a Hail Mary in the first round, and I think he won the second round, you know, a little bit cleaner. So they had three goals, but they lost, you know, the fifty 68. They lost the 80. Um, they lost to 54. I mean, it was a it was a tough day for for their finals, and you know.

SPEAKER_03

She's a bully. She's a bully. I love it. Right. The final finishes.

SPEAKER_10

Um, not really. I mean, I know if the two fifty-eights always have a good match against each other. Um, I think Nick Nick fought pretty good all day. That was kind of a that was a fun one to watch a bit. Um, as far as surprises, not really surprised. I'm not outraged at the the winners um in any division, to be honest with you. The obviously we'll get to it, but the 80 final was um probably the the premier one that people wanted to see, you know. I think there was a I I've like you said, the um Salim's daughter was probably the most, to me, the most amazing fight. I like I like watching her fight she gets after it, but the 80, what do you think about the negative 80 match finals?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he's a score.

SPEAKER_10

Like you said, I'm gonna just I'm gonna take the opposite. That's a tough one for me because like I in my brain, I'm going, CJ on this system should get to him way more than he did, right? On this system, with the with the amount of points that we're with the amount of points that are flying up with CJ's shot selection and shot ability, like that should have been at worst case a shootout, right?

SPEAKER_03

For sure. I think so. I think so. This brings me.

SPEAKER_09

This brings me to my question of the evening uh for you guys.

SPEAKER_10

Dun dun dun dun dun. So just walk me through this, coach, because I don't want I want to make sure I'm saying the right thing. If I don't, just stop me, pause me, whatever. Best male coach of the Patu region would involve every coach in the Patu region, correct? From all the other national teams and stuff like that, right? Yes, and and and I know that sometimes these awards can be popularity contests. I also know that sometimes people earn them, and you're like, yeah, that one made those. That's when I enjoy those, and I'm sure that's when coaches enjoy those when it's like this is justified, this makes sense. But out of the entire Pacheco region of coaches, the award goes to Steven Lambdon for best coach of the Pachbu region, right?

SPEAKER_09

Male coach. Is that correct? Who Steven Lambden, right?

SPEAKER_10

Stephen who I read that, I read that right. No, I just let I just want to some facts. That that's what he that's what I saw posted, correct? Coaching who? Who's who's in coaching? I need I need you to make me play devil, make me a justification of it, because it has to make sense somewhere.

herb

Because I don't again the last travesty, the last travesty. Let me finish real quick.

SPEAKER_10

Let me finish real quick. Uh the I I just I'm certain always look for an answer because I don't I don't want to just straight up hate and be like, oh, this is this, this. I just want it justified. I give me a storyline where out of everyone in this region, the overall male best coach goes to Steven Landman.

herb

So in 1993, to go back that far, I put three men on the U.S. national team. Three men. And no one else matched that record in in that in that time period. Howard University used to back in the day. So I had three men from my school, three men from my personal gym. And at the U.S. team trials and at the U.S. nationals, and we won more there. And Jay Warwick got coach of the year. Jay Warwick didn't have a single person on the national team that year, or hadn't had a single person since 1980. This is USA Taekwondo. Now forget about it. Yeah, but hold on. It's the same thing. Think about how it came to be. This is Jay Warwick, Jin Young, Young Jim Bon, and that crew. This is them trying to prop up their clown show. You Stephen Landon hasn't coached anybody. Stephen Landon got to the Olympics by gaming the system. Let me be clear. Something I haven't said before. He game the system. He figured out what tournaments he could go to where the good guys didn't show up and gained enough points to go to the Olympics. He wasn't the best heavyweight. He wasn't a good fighter. He didn't win a single fight at the Olympics. He was certainly no Jimmy Kim. And he wasn't even a Scott Moranti. So he might have lost to Lynette Love, to be honest, if he had fought her. But so why does that surprise you? They need to prop him up. Last time I checked, he's not a coach. Yeah, he's not a coach. Who's he coaching? Who'd he coach? But why should that surprise you? Look at the last national team hire, the national team higher of Dave, whatever his name is.

SPEAKER_10

This crazy has to be true. I just need someone to tell me if it's true. It's so crazy to me, to me, personally. It's my personal opinion. I'm not an extra.

herb

The best thing you said, the best thing you said, TJ, is something that I live by. I could care less about popularity contests, and I've apparently won a few of them. I was uh Pan Am Taekwondo Association after 30 years, after I pretty much won everything back then, uh finally put me in their Hall of Fame. I didn't go to the event. Not a slam on them, but I don't care about popularity contests. I've won the Taekwondo Hall of Fame, I've won this, I've won that. I don't care about the Hall of Fames. And there was one individual in the U.S. Olympic community who tried to take one away from me before it was given to me, as it was given to me, the Titan games. And we I made sure he wasn't CEO anymore. The reason I tell you that is live by that. Popularity contests I've never cared about. I've cared about medals and winning medals because those are things that you win that you earn. The popularity contests, those are things that you're given by your lessers in most cases who want to get a chance to sit with you at a dinner table.

Refereeing, “Monkey Kick,” And IVR

SPEAKER_09

You're gonna give me an answer. A tie. A tie. It's even people. It's the same same.

SPEAKER_10

It's like, you know, explain how do we why are we splitting that award?

SPEAKER_09

Do they normally split that award? Tell me they do. Tell me it's not the first time.

SPEAKER_03

No one's embarrassed. They gotta be embarrassed, right? This is embarrassing. A split. A split decision.

SPEAKER_09

Who in this room? There I don't know whoever was in this room when these decisions were made.

SPEAKER_10

I don't know how many, let's say ten people, eight people, seven people, three people, two, I don't care how many number of people.

SPEAKER_03

Everyone was in agreements that it should be split. But make a decision. Make a decision though. That Stephen Lambden's number one. He's number one.

SPEAKER_10

Stephen Lambden is the best male coach in the pandemic.

herb

Coming to a cinema cinema uh seminar near you one day. So him in day one, whatever his name is, uh Day Hoon Lee coming to a seminar. Well, he's gonna translate for him because Lambdon's Korean's outrageous. You didn't know that? He bows better than any he bows and bends over the table better than anyone else.

SPEAKER_10

But people, but people, I mean, when it comes to best coach awards and all that stuff like that, those are I'm gonna say those should always be given TJ.

herb

Oh TJ, TJ. In the words of no, no, no, no. You do not understand. In the words of Grandmaster, Grandmaster Huachang many years ago, when he told me, he said, Hobart, don't look at the flower, look at the seed. You are you are not paying attention. Or Desang Lee would say, I give you hot dog, how I how I and I ask you how it tastes, what you're gonna say. Or I say, I give you disease, but I give you cure, what you're gonna say. You you just don't understand Korean culture well enough, which is why you will never be the WT coach of the year and then or the Kookiewan examiner, because there are things unique to the Korean experience that you cannot understand. You must have taken solace and you did not take the message from a Mr. Clinton all. He was willing to help you and coach you and make a money for you. He takes the big paycheck, but you could take the smaller paycheck because you are younger. And look at Hubbard Perezu. He is ninth degree black belt, yes, Olympic old man, yes, yes, yes, yes, but he no listen. So, no, no, he cannot have the big paycheck either. You, you don't do not follow that senior. No, no, he is bad. Yes, yes, he has done everything, but no, you are not ready yet. How old are you? How old are you, TJ? TJ, you know it's to me. 39 start to you. I'm grad master. 39, you're still the boy. Don't look at the flower, look at the seed. It's like a finger pointing to the crack of your ass. If you look at the ass, you missed a beauty. You got me you got me going. No, no, you had to get me going off because once you told me Yang Jin Bon was there, once you told me that clown was there, and him and Jay are having their little bromance. Why you were surprised about why you were surprised about the chogi boy, uh Stephen Legend? Why you say he carries a bag better than nobody else? Mr. Positivity. Come on now. You could be Mr. Positivity. They offered you something and you didn't take it.

SPEAKER_10

And your professional opinion of Tekwondo and coaching and the results.

herb

Oh, look at the you're looking again at the finger, not the crack of the ass. Look at the ass. You miss all the beauty.

SPEAKER_10

Lambden is the Patu's best male coach.

herb

Look at the ass, not the beauty of the finger. No, no, it's possible it happened. No, no, it's improbable. It's possible, it don't make it right.

SPEAKER_10

You could ask Steve, he'd say I would be mad if I was them too. All the national team coaches in the Patsu region. But that's the point.

herb

You see, you guys are focused on the wrong thing. Here's the thing to focus on.

SPEAKER_10

They can justify Steven Lambden being better than you guys.

U.S. Results, Standouts, And Congrats

herb

If you want to know who should be mad, the people that are qualified. I wasn't mad. I wasn't mad of USA Taekwondo back in the day when I didn't get, I didn't care less. I was the Olympic gold medalist. This is a year after I retired. I was in law school. I didn't need to be coach of the year, but apparently Jay did because he didn't have anything. So I don't get mad at I don't get mad at them. I I feel sad for them. You should feel sad. The people that should be mad though are the qualified people. They should be like, what? And this is the same thing I'm saying about Dehan, whatever his name is. He I don't blame him. He's a nice guy, apparently. But if I were a coach that'd been sitting around carrying the bags and they passed me over, I'd be mad. Yeah, so be mad. Definitely be mad.

SPEAKER_09

So no, so coach, so coach. So no, or just give me one argument where you can make that make sense.

SPEAKER_03

No results. No results.

SPEAKER_10

And when and when you if they if they did it the right way, if they did it the right way, you know what I mean? Like if if you know, I it's stupid. It's it's absurd. That's a great question. I don't why did they leave? Why are we losing people? Why are we why are we missing talent in that are fighting other places?

SPEAKER_03

You know, I know um are you stupid? Are you stupid?

unknown

Oh.

SPEAKER_09

Oh well, I all these coaches took their kids and did something else.

herb

I will say this, and it's something that shouldn't be overlooked. Um USAT is not currently performing in its hometown where they have their biggest crowds and people are screaming and yelling. Their top talent, I'm not sure when they wake up to see that their talent isn't performing and their academy is getting academized because it's been radicalized by the uh the clown show. When you're doing something that doesn't work, the the definition of insanity is to keep doing it over and over again. So the question that becomes now, and we've seen it before, we've seen great talent be wasted because it was poor coaching. It takes an extraordinary athlete, not just a physical athlete. And there's no doubt that they have some physical athletes that are talented. What they have is the wrong mindset and the wrong coaching set to bring out the greatness of these athletes. And you and I have seen it. We've been around long enough to see times when that didn't work out for that athlete. And I won't mention their names because I still love them. And they were great athletes that never really truly achieved their goal because they drank the Kool-Aid, their own Kool-Aid or their own somebody else's Kool-Aid, and they didn't have anybody real in their life telling them it was time to move on and find a better coaching situation. So there's no doubt that I I mean I would just love to be there after that match and hear what the coach said to the athlete that lost again. Again, America's greatest hope, you know. Um so I don't know what the answer to. I I mean I know what the answer is to, but nobody's listening, so I don't really care. With regard to the other stuff, there's no doubt that the collusion continues, whether that's AU, USA, Taekwondo, or WT and KTA and whatever else. Um, but those are guys that do that historically, and that's what they do. I'm not surprised by it, nor should anyone else be. The question that remains, though, is when will America, the athletes in America, the athletes that want to fight for America, that don't want to Eileen Goo it and say, I'll take my chips and go somewhere else and make more money or get more famous. And I don't fault her either because she had a choice to make. She could go compete for her native homeland of her mom and make 23. She's a the girl who the snowboarder made a I mean, different, different. Yeah. And that's that's a business, standing is on business, as they say. But when athletes have to run away from the country because they know the game is rigged or they're gonna be ignored, or they're willing, they're not willing to get on, bend the knee, get on the knees, or bend over a table, and that's their better solution, that should be an embarrassment. Because the second part of that story is that's a generational talent in some cases that you're not gonna be able to fix or repeat. And it's clear the USA, for the size it is, doesn't have enough enough domestic talent that's been put in the pipeline nor educated well. So as a result, we don't have any coaches. According to them, their own admission at the point where you go outside of your own country for three coaches, you don't have a single domestic coach, right? What does that say about your coaching program? And we developed a coaching program that actually yielded coaches. Number two, when your best athletes are leaving, what does that say about you? And we developed people in this that are on this podcast developed their athlete program, of which some of them are sitting here with us, and others were the performers for years. So what does that say? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Oh yeah.

herb

They don't want to be smacked, they don't want to sit, they don't want to be sitting in the chair and hit by a porn stash color color Crayola color guy that that's gonna slap them. I know the reason.

The -80 Final And Tactics

SPEAKER_03

That's an Olympic gold medalist. Yeah.

herb

We that that's okay. That's it's supposed to be, it's supposed to be all over the place. I think it's time, I think it's time to have a live podcast again and get some of our taekwondo brothers and sisters on the cast and uh and love to talk to them. Let's do it, let's do it, let's announce it. And by the way, don't forget to get some merch. I saw some orders up there thanking everybody supporting the cause. So there's they're really base pricing. We don't make any money on it, but we want you to represent. I'm working tomorrow with a supplier to get uniforms with a very discrete logo on them that'll say something very special. So you'll know if you know. Gonna be like the secret sign. If we see you, then we know it's okay. We can, we can, we don't have to worry about being hit with a chair in the back of the head. So when I see the sign, I'll be like, oh, we see the we'll see the we'll have like a gang sign or something. I don't know. I can't, my hands don't move like that anymore. But like we said before, this has been a long one, but it's been the warehouse 15 where we keep it real, uncut, and alive. We say what needs to be said, we wear what needs to be worn. And uh, for whatever reason, you guys, I think Coach Moran was afraid of the hit, so I think he put a static picture up. But any parting words, gentlemen?

SPEAKER_10

I'll see y'all next week.

SPEAKER_09

Yeah, thank you guys when we see ya. We are out.