Stop Selling Auditions And Start Coaching

The Junior World Championships didn’t just showcase great taekwondo, it exposed which countries are building real systems and which ones are hoping talent can cover the cracks. We walk through what we saw up close: young athletes who look comfortable in chaos, teams that share an unmistakable rhythm, and programs like Uzbekistan that don’t feel “small” when half the bracket seems to come from the same pipeline.

From there, we get honest about Team USA. We can compete, we can steal matches, and we can celebrate a medal, but that’s not the same as being dominant. We talk about the development gap and why it shows up early: coaching time, culture, and the unglamorous work of building juniors and cadets who are ready for long tournaments and world-level pressure.

Mexico and Brazil become the contrast points. Mexico’s long camps and tournament toughness show how preparation translates on the world stage. Brazil’s hybrid approach highlights a different path: find talent early, invest in it, pair it with experienced support, and create opportunities that are earned, not sold. Then we dig into the uncomfortable stuff, pay-to-play auditions, bloated event calendars, and what happens when selection becomes marketing instead of development.

If you care about USA Taekwondo, Olympic taekwondo, athlete development, and what it takes to build a national identity that actually shows up on the mat, this one will hit. Subscribe, share this with a coach or parent, and leave a review, then tell us: what’s the first change you would make?

Transcript

Intro Track And Roll Call

SPEAKER_03 0:06

One country at a time. Yo, yo, yo, uh. Them blue coats, they rode home. They left our dirt roads, red, white, and own. Yeah, it's more like us in every state. It's time to stand up, cause we got our fate. Three of the spirits. F the in the crown car, sending the Brits back again for the second time. Making America great again. One country at a time. One country at a time. Oh, my papa taught me the truth. So if y'all wanna come and take it, then cool, you better come strap. I got a full safe. I got in the tech. Don't forget this your worst death. Three-up three. Sending the bricks back again for the second time. Making America great again. One country at a time. One country at a time.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

One country at a time. One country at a time.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Y'all ain't seen a fight like the ones we fight.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

We are mobile today. This is the warehouse 15, and if it looks dangerous, it's cause it is. I'm driving, baby. This is the Grandmaster of Disaster with his colleagues and crime and other things, but most importantly, the truth. Welcome, gentlemen. What's going on? What's up, what's up, what's up, what's up? Driving where?

SPEAKER_02 1:47

You're always driving somewhere, you know that.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Well, I mean, I I am in the home of taekwondo. It used to be my Miami me know I love, but uh, you know, we were we're in Texas, and uh, you know, to be honest, some good taekwondo has come out of Texas, but I'm down here for soccer as usual, and I am in a pickup truck. This must make this must make you feel right at home. But I got all my teeth, so welcome to North Carolina, baby. What's up, Coach Moreno? I did a good little kid's uh job. I'm back here uh oh, I just felt it again. You should see this truck I'm in. Go ahead. I don't have a gun rack though.

Juan 2:26

That's funny. No, I'm good, I'm good. I just got back from uh see Uzbekistan. Uh I was over there, and then uh I went straight to New York um to do a training camp over there with my friends, and it was great, uh, a great time always to go go to that that part of the country. And uh I feel like I'm I'm um I missed you guys. You know, we got uh, you know, because I was traveling so so much and the time difference, we kind of got off our schedule. So I uh I have so many things in my brain to talk about that like I think this is gonna be a hodgepodge of uh of a conversation today. But uh yeah, I'm happy to see.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Oh hodgepodge. It was a chromogeny kind of a word from back in the past, back in the day. It was better than the kerflunkel. I still one of my favorite words is kerflunkel, but I will never forget that we have ultra-crepidarians like the you know, Green, Brown, and others that speak with volumes of things of which they know nothing. But with that said, let us let us get on with the beautiful array of things that we have to say today. In the words of, but TJ, you you know, I I I know you asked me not to mention it, but all I'm gonna say is, Roxan! You look good today, baby. You're channeling your inner, inner Murphy.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

You see the sun coming through my window, so I just wanted to like, you know, this is my little 20-30 minutes of vacation, you know. I gotta like, you won't be able to see it on the background, but yeah, it's nice and nice here today. Weather's good. Weather's good.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Yeah, but when you say now when you say sun, that brings to mind you the sunshine of my life. Another great Stevie Wonder tune. But the hits just keep coming. Go ahead.

Juan 4:06

Obviously, not great for you singing it, but that's that's another story.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

You know, there are many things I can do, and singing has never been one of them, nor do I ever claim that I could. So I'm good with that. I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Yeah, coach Moreno.

Junior Worlds Shock And Awe

SPEAKER_02 4:20

So I guess on uh, you know, it's been a little hot topic about the the results for the junior worlds. Like, you know, I know we we talked about a little bit. Let's uh what do you think about the last few days wrapping up to like all the results in big countries?

Juan 4:30

First of all, um, man, I I I just I couldn't be more impressed with the level of these these kid athletes. And I and I I say kid, 15 to 17, they're young men and young women, but I and I know like that age, they have less inhibition, right? They're a little bit more free, a little bit crazy, a little bit more wild. They're not overthinking things. And so generally speaking, like, you know, when you even go to a local tournament, the kids' matches sometimes are better than most of the time are better than the adult matches because they're just wild, they're unpredictable. You never know what's gonna happen. And this this event did not disappoint from that standpoint. Like I said, the energy was crazy in that arena, the level was was good both physically, technically, tactically, mentality-wise. It was just so impressive for me to see it up close. And um, you know, we talked about having you know seen the the big programs with their big coaches there. Um, it's something that I think definitely needs to be looked at, you know, certainly from this country standpoint. Um, but I was just uh I was overall impressed by the big ones. Um, of course, I thought the Korean men, the boys looked very strong again as they are starting to look on the senior level. Of course, the Iranian athletes on both sides are good. The Russian athletes are ridiculous on both sides. The Kazakhstan athletes are looking strong. Uzbekistan on the men's side was I mean, if I'm not mistaken, they had five out of ten medals. I think they had three quarterfinal uh you know, for the ones that didn't uh medal. So think about that. That's a 50% click. And two of them, uh did they make three finals? I know they got two golds. No, two goals, one silver, and two bronze. So think about that. They got three finals, you know, from that that quote unquote small country. But it's gotta be important, right? Yeah, it's huge for for for these programs. And and I asked the question to you how can we catch up?

SPEAKER_02 6:35

And my answer was You didn't you didn't say our name in that whole list of people you said that look dominant as groups or establishments or I mean, not even a mention.

Juan 6:46

Listen, listen, no, if I'm being objective, no, not close. But I will I want to go into like I want to talk about something else, but just as you mentioned that, I'm gonna say this. I told my wife, like after day three, obviously Mexico, you know, got a gold and a silver. We'll talk about that young man in a second. But uh before they had got a medal, I had told my wife, I said, hey, Mexico's fighting well. These kids are getting into the quarterfinals, they're winning two and three matches, they're doing some good things, they're losing to some better people, or they're losing some tough matches. But I thought they competed well. And I will say the same thing about the United States. I thought, you know, we had some kids later on in the in the in the tournament win two matches, win three matches, losing the quarterfinals, um, lose tight matches in the quarterfinals. So um, you know, we are lucky enough to get a gold or get a uh a final and one young man from he got a silver, and this is his third medal. This guy got two medals at the uh one medal at the uh cadets and two in the juniors. So, or or vice versa was that I can't remember what it is. Okay, but regardless, you know, he he beat some good people, including Korea, to get to the finals, and um thank goodness he got a medal for the United States. But to answer your question, um no, the U.S. athletes did not were not in that top tier of people. Did they fight well and strong and do well for themselves? I I'm gonna say yes. They weren't outclassed, but there's stuff there's still that doesn't hide the fact that there's a gap. There's a gap. And and and how we close that gap and how we fix that gap um is a great conversation. But yeah, it's there.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Yeah, I think the that gap is connected to our again. If we're not winning right now at the cadet and junior level, or let's say the junior left say juniors, I'll stay there, let's say junior level. Um, you know, we we're going,

The Talent Gap For Team USA

SPEAKER_02 8:45

we're not being 100% dominant, we're not dominant on the senior level right now, correct? Can we agree to that too? Yeah, of course. So no, not close. Not close. So if we're not gonna develop and try to be dominant here, how can we ever be dominant on our senior level? Like when we talk about the word pipeline and growth, I like how does it happen? Someone pops up out of the blue, some kid is like diamond and like special, but it's like always that one-off. But how do we change that if how we can't win up here if we can't win down here? I just always talk about that because a lot of people don't think those two things connect, and it's a little weird for me.

Juan 9:18

But so let uh before we go there, let me remind me to talk about Mexico and Brazil. Mexico and Brazil. Okay, but my question would be how do we dominate so well in the in the when I say we, the United States usually dominates on the cadet and junior level in the Pan American region. I mean, I think they always come in first place, and they beat routinely beat Mexico, routinely beat you know Brazil. But then when you see Mexico get to the world championship level, all of a sudden you start to see a little change. And those kids all of a sudden look like they're more equipped to win than our kids. Like that's an interesting dynamic for me. I have my theories, but um What are they doing?

SPEAKER_02 10:04

What are they what are they doing to support the kids that make our junior team? Like, I'm not even from a funding standpoint, just from a development standpoint or like training camps or open.

How Mexico Builds Tournament Toughness

Juan 10:14

So I will say a couple things. I think the Mexicans are built a little bit more to fight longer tournaments. They're used to fighting four and five and six matches domestically. So when they see that big draw, they they know they got three, four matches to get on the on the stand. It's not a shock to them. Um, that's one. Number two, specifically, they have training camps, long training camps. So is their coaching staff perfect? I don't know. That's not my job. Um, but at least, at least they are spending a certain amount of time with them to get them. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

I guess just for people that don't know, and I'm I'm in a curious question for me, how long would you say is long? What's a long training? I think they're doing four to six weeks. Four to six weeks together as a team, building unity. Uh we talk about culture, uh understanding of each other, abilities, all that stuff. Four to six weeks.

Juan 11:07

I mean, I know like in the in the past, the junior team, once you make the junior team, you move to the Olympic training center. So you're there all year round.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Yeah. But I mean, they're still doing a lot together, though.

Juan 11:16

Yes. And so I think that that's where that that's what I was, I was, that's what I'm talking about. You know, they lose on the pan-american level, but they start to excel at the international level. I'm talking on the juniors right now. Um, but I I like to go back to that, you know, can we catch up? And my my first answer is no, we will never catch up. I don't say that. I I I don't see how we catch up with Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazan, Jordan. Not like this. Uh, yes, and that's what I was gonna say, not like this. Now, without an outlier, without a uh, you know, Josh Alade or you know some outlier of a kid that just comes up and goes just you know wipes the field, it's gonna be dangerous for us as we move forward. Because these other countries are just getting started and we're trying to climb back. Um, I do think there's a way. I I do um I think it starts with like I I'll be the first one to say I think this country has a lot of talent, just as much talent as other people, but um, you know, I think that you know having these these coaching uh this coaching time with these athletes is necessary. I think having home coaches with a certain pedigree involved is is is also important, especially at the junior level because they know them um the best. Um there's just gotta be a hybrid. I mean that's I'll leave it at that because I I always I know Grandmaster Perez, you always tell me things like, oh, we should, we should, we should solve the problem. I I I'm gonna differ with you because I'm not here to solve your problem because it's not my job. I have my answers and I I keep them for myself and keep them for the country that I work for. But I don't know.

unknown 13:08

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, I don't I don't disagree. I mean, listen, you said three or four things that all of both of you just said. One is sustained competitive excellence comes from underneath, not from top down. So if you're hoping to win in the future, then your juniors and your cadets have to start winning now and have to start developing now. Number two, coaching, you know, the most important thing to remember is athletes first, coaching second, coaches second. So that means that the athletes' needs have to come before the coach's ego. And in our current situation, that doesn't seem to be the case. And finally, I don't disagree with you. It's not your problem to solve. I just don't see how it gets solved unless brighter minds and more resolute individuals intervene. So until we intervene and make changes, nothing's gonna we as a country, not you and me and TJ, of course, but we as a country, if we don't intervene, then we're continuing to let the inmates run the asylum.

Juan 14:14

Young, real fast, like when you're I I know it's a lot with you, but when you're not talking, maybe you should mute your thing because we got like a consistent like hold on a second.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah, I don't want to be the buzzy guy. Give me a second.

Juan 14:27

TJ go ahead. What were you what were you thinking about that? I mean development.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

It's all connected. Like I I just I I hate it and I heard I think it was a long, long time ago was said of how one doesn't doesn't um correlate to the other or one's not important and doesn't show absolute growth later on as a senior, but I'm I'm going if you're not watching the junior worlds as a coach from any country, it'd be kind of silly. You're you you'd be not paying attention, you know. I these kids, like going back to what you're saying about junior world, these kids look comfortable, and that's that's that I think that's that style change that makes me feel like, man, I'm watching kids that are gonna be one day good seniors. I can see the movement, I can see the distance, I can see the control, I can see the emotional control. And I'm not saying I can't see it in our USA athletes, I'm saying I can see it consistently across the board in mass groups for other countries.

Juan 15:21

That's crazy. If that makes sense, that's you know no no it does make sense. When you when you can look as as a totality of everybody and say something is going on there, these guys look ready. That was the that's the thing that got him.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

You got parents, you got parents, sorry. You got parents, um, and parents and other cultures are even in the US and other people, you know, would ask the question what countries look dominant? It's Uzbekistan, it's Iran, it's but they're saying a country. The country looks dominant. They're not even going, this individual was great, this individual was good. They're like, these boys, you just said it, the Korean men, the the the Iranian men are the team look dominant. You can feel that like there's some kind of unity in this, and I don't feel that from us in the United States of America.

Juan 16:08

So uh one of my old athletes and your teammate and now a coach and doing some really good things in his area, I'll give him a crop. Uh so on Kim. You know, he has a taekwondo school, he's a coach, he actually runs a program in the Virginia area and supports athletes and funds athletes to an international competition. I think it's great, especially he's a young man doing this, it's awesome. He asked me specifically, he said, coach, uh, if Brazil loses on the international world championship level and a j for on the junior level, how the heck are they doing it on the senior level? And I was like, Presto magical. I was like, well, listen, I mean, again, I I I won't go into specific details, but let's just say we've created a hybrid. Let's just say we look for talented athletes. Let's say we invest in those talented athletes, we give those talented athletes opportunities, we couple them with uh experienced people that we have on the adult level, and we see if we can find that diamond in the rough. Because our system isn't like uh Uzbekistan or isn't like Iran. So we can't just throw it right there. I we can't throw our hands up in the air and say, we'll never do it. We gotta find a way. And what people don't understand, and they want to see the the end result, they want to see Maria Klata, they want to see Anhike, they want to see all these results, you know, they want to talk about what they what they did, but they didn't see the steps, they didn't see us picking them up and and taking the US Open, taking them to camps, getting losing in the quarterfinals, getting a bronze medal, and then all of a sudden, boom, they pop through. And that's I think some of the hybrid that I think needs to be looked at. Maybe in this country, um we like I said, I know what we do, you know, with the country that I work for, and I know how we approach it. We have a long-term goal, but maybe like your point, TJ, we're invested. We know. Look, I'm going to the Pan Ams, we'll talk about that later, and I'm specifically staying a day later to watch the juniors and cadets. That's my goal, that's my job. That's I I specifically made my ticket so I stay an extra day to watch those kids fight. So I can try to pluck some of these other people. We just got back from Uzbekka saying, I told you, we took three people that are not on our national team. They're not even on our national team. Most people wouldn't even know who they are, but they got talent. They have talent. Let's see. Let's see what we can do with them. And I think that's gonna be part of the hybrid system that uh that's what you're saying.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

It's just everybody's system is a little bit different, everyone can do it a little bit different. I think we are in a I don't want to use the word unique because unique makes it sound special. But a unique situation in the United States of America. I just like you said, I know we have talent, I know we have kids. Apparently, we got I mean, the argument of resources shouldn't be even a question. Um and I don't see any building of that. I don't see any like thinking like how are we gonna make this worse? We've we've always heard a lot of things. We're gonna do this, and we're gonna do that, and we're gonna do this. And then it's just like fizzle, fizzle, fizzle, fizzle, fizzle. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And there is no there's no building point. We are in a unique situation. We do have a lot of talent. I know having a lot of talent can make it more difficult to manage, right? Having a little, having less, maybe it's a little bit easier to pick full, you know. We go back to like the we talked when I went to um G V at one point. They were at one point I think they had so much money and not enough. What an amazing problem to have, right? You you let me ask you this. It's not an amazing problem, but a terrible manageable problem if you have one, you

Funding 52 Athletes Versus Auditions

SPEAKER_02 19:45

know.

Juan 19:45

Let me ask you this, TJ. Like, for example, if you had to compare countries in sports, uh how can I put that in the United States, I think we have a pretty, you know, we don't have a huge organization, but I I definitely know there's a lot of money here. And if you compare it to a country like Mexico or Brazil, let's say Brazil, how is it that like again we didn't we didn't send a full team, but we sent six men, six women, two coaches, a doctor, and and a uh team leader. All fully paid for. 100% fully paid for. And I'm I'm sure we have less. What do you mean pay for? What do you mean paid for? Hotel, airfare, food, tra everything. Everything was paid for. Everything was paid for. And I know for sure we have less money than than over here. Funded. Everything was funded. Everything for sure. I'm being funny, but like I know the economics in Brazil. It's not even close to America. Not even close. I'm gonna tell you, do you know how many people were funding to the Pan Am Championships? 52 athletes, airfare, airfare, hotels, food, transportation.

SPEAKER_09 21:02

That's a secret shh.

Juan 21:04

No secrets. That's crazy and staff. That's 52 athletes. I think about that. Like, and again, I I know, and it's not Olympic committee money, it's not government money, it's federation money.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

And I know we don't have that. Understand. We got it. They found it, they made it work, they made it work. Coach, coach, coach, coach. You're funding 52 athletes to a competition. You're funding 52 athletes outside of your national team to a competition. And then we all in America. We are charging people to do audition camps in North Carolina. What are we doing? There's no way we can catch it. You're right. I'm sorry. There's no way it can't live in this way. That story right there makes me want to slam my head against a wall. Funding 52 athletes, flights, hotel, food, 52 athletes, people that are not on your national teeth, people that are not at the top of the cream of the crop of your radar are being funded, and even the little bit of development being pushed in their direction, and we're charging people for auditions. Are we stupid? This is stupid.

Juan 22:22

We had a meeting yesterday with all of our wild cards, all of our coaching staff, everybody to organize structure and everything. And again, I'm not saying it's perfect, right? We don't, I mean, we it's hard to move around with that big of a group. But just the fact that we try to, you know, bring everyone together on a meeting, explain to them this, you know, the the logistics of everything. How many coaches?

SPEAKER_02 22:44

How many coaches, athletes do you think are involved in those 52? Like, like the the 52 different people, like how many coaches would you say are a part of that group? Like you got three from here, or two from this coach, or two from this region or area, or however it's stuff.

Juan 22:58

Well, I know for sure we have eight right now, right? So we have four national team coaches. Actually, five. Well, let's say five. And then we have four athletes that have from uh wildcard coaches, you know what I'm saying? That we brought along. We said, okay, we're we're we're funding their you know, paying their entry fee and all you know, that kind of stuff as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Because they haven't we consider them part of the it's they made a wild card to the event. They did something good, they qualify for a championship in our continent.

Juan 23:27

And they might not win, they might, you know, they might not perform well, but we're bringing them. So listen, again, I DJ, I I'm I'm like you, I'm a I'm an optimist. I I believe in, you know, there's always a chance. If I didn't believe there's always a chance, I would I probably wouldn't coach. But it is a little demoralizing and and bleak when you see what we could have and what we should have and what we don't have. And so 52 funded. Going to, you know, going back to the junior worlds, I I did think our kids fought well. I thought Mexico kids fought, I thought the Canadian kids fought well. I mean, they they they they look like they belong, but there was there was definitely a gap. And I have to be honest with that. That gap was for some of those other countries that we mentioned. Can we close it? Um no, unless something changes. There's their talent, yes. Are there resources? I believe so.

Rebuild The Pipeline From Scratch

SPEAKER_02 24:19

I think the word change is not the right word. A change sounds like what we have currently can be man uh changed, uh manipulated, or fixed, or adjusted. Look, like I it's time to start from ground zero. We gotta start from the bottom, and it has to be completely ripped out, restructured, and things need to be put in place that make sense for our situation and our country with our coaches, our athlete, our system, our sport. But there's no way. There's no way.

Juan 24:48

See that changing actually two things. I I talked to uh a coach from uh El Salvador, and he was asking.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

No, that is the furthest Starbucks. I don't know. Sorry, I'm gonna cut you off. That is the furthest Starbucks I've ever seen. We've been on for 23 minutes, he just got the Starbucks. Sorry, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

Juan 25:03

Um, no, I was talking to this coach from El Salvador, and he had a cadet world champion last year last year, and uh he was asking me about some programming and this and that, and he would like to, you know, me to to speak with them, consult with them. And uh he says it's very hard starting with a young group and this and that. And I said, You're doing exactly the right thing. You're starting with your cadets and your juniors, and you I thought they didn't have a full squad, but they had a big squad. I go, you know, you look at the senior level, it's too hard. You gotta look here, you gotta establish your base, you gotta establish, you know, you know, your prerequisites, you gotta establish a culture, and you will grow with these kids, and then the next group will actually know how to do it even better. This is exactly how you do it, like you just said, TJ, start from the bottom. And so I thought that was it was really cool for me to to kind of to talk with you know with that coach, you know, when he said, you know, you know, and that's like the for me as a coach, that's like the the the the the beautiful part that that the debt early junior development, that's when you can invoke the most change, that's when you can set the most like groundwork building forward, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah, and no, no, and we're we're wasting that amount of time and those parts of these kids' careers in our country.

Juan 26:20

Yeah, and I'm not even saying like I'm not gonna say like even like I there's a big argument, and I think we mean we talked about this with Coach Prez, like sometimes you need your best coaches at the bottom level, you know, because that's what I was about to say. Yeah, sorry, you know, because they're the ones that can have the that can have the influence because if you have average coaches coaching them, you're gonna get average results. If you have uh someone that doesn't really know what they're doing, they're just trying it out because we like them.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

We think, you know, it's even if you've been average, it's not even average. I wouldn't even say average coaches, I think it's dude, I I I don't know how you I don't know how you get around it because I say, you know, like experience doesn't necessarily mean or no, excuse me, you don't need to be an experienced fighter at one point to be an amazing coach, you know? And I let's say I agree, but I think it's important to make sure you've lived through all those different levels, right? You know what it's like to be a white belt, you know what it's like to be a black belt, you know what it's like to compete, you know what it's like to train, you know what it's like to chase, you know what it's like to be a teammate, uh, be a supporter, um, be the guy that's at the top and everyone's supporting. You've kind of been in all those roles, athlete coach, all across the board. I think that is important. That is important because that's the stuff that our kids are missing. That's the stuff that our kids need to be taught. So when they are at the senior levels, we are dominant at that point. All this time we're wasting, not learning all these parts of the game, and and and like we talk about culture a lot. All this time is being wasted.

Finding A National Fighting Identity

Juan 27:43

How about this, TJ? Do you believe that listen, fighting is an individual sport? We have unique styles, unique bodies, unique mindsets, and stuff like that. But in a strange way, should you have a certain amount of identity? Identity. Let me eat. Of the country? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

You know what? I say yes right away because like I say yes 100%. But like I think we talked about it a long, long time ago, or I was listening to something. We never, I never understand now how our athletes in this country or or the people in this country get so absorbed with for me in my brain, how Korea fights, how Korea does it, how even this country doesn't, this country doesn't. Like we just say and said it's a style, like that. But as a country, like we're always idolizing, going like this looks good, and they're doing this, but like we don't have that culture because they've taken every person out of the system that knows what it means to be an American fighter and what it means to have to walk in there and carry that tone of being American. Let's be honest. I've known since I was a junior, we had the hard route being American in another country, fighting against Korea, fighting against these other like it felt like we had to strap up a little bit more in a sense of this is what we gotta do. We had to be a little bit more focused, we had to fight a certain way, and and that's what made us different. That's what people um became to fear. You walk in, you look at these Iranian boys, you look at these Uzbekistan guys, you're like, man, our we're worried because they fight like this. What does that even mean? They train like that. We train like this, we fight like this. And I think there is a certain level of, I think across the board, at one point in America, our tech window standing at the bottom as far as like um what is it, structure, body placement, technique, development was so strong, is that's what made us different. Now we just are flippy floppy twisty doing all the same shit as everybody else and just hoping it, hoping it works in a system that doesn't condone that.

Juan 29:36

So I love that emotion and I love all that stuff. And I'll add, TJ, um, because I don't want to say but I'm just gonna add, you know, the I was on some teams that you were on, and we didn't always win. We didn't always win medals, but everybody respected us, like in the sense of it wasn't an easy out. It was like, oh, I got America, it's gonna be tough. They might get past us. And I went on teams that were really good and the fighters were good, and we didn't get we didn't get uh we didn't get results. But there was an identity, people knew we fought. I I was just in Uzbekistan, and they're like, oh, Brazilian style, oh Brazilian style. What is Brazilian style is is not Korean style, it's not Asian style, it's not clean, it's a little choppy, it's a little rough, it's a little finding the holes, it's a little strong, it's a little wild. Like it they said it to us, they said it to us. Oh, Brazilian style, uh different, uh-huh. Like, and it's true. Like, we speak differently. I mean, not many people speak Portuguese, they speak Spanish, French, English. I mean, more people speak Portuguese than you think, but it's just not a common, you know, thing. Would you say our senior national team has a style? Absolutely not. Either does our junior team. You know, so it's alright. I believe it starts with the mentality, it starts with the energy, it starts with an attitude, and then maybe you know, you can have a academy itself.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

Do you think the academy has a style?

Juan 31:06

If uh I'm gonna say more than just the country, you know. I mean, they have a uh a GB style, uh, uh a high energy go, go, go, cut, cut, go underneath hook kick.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

You know, I mean, it's uh it's a pretty a small base success style, basically, because we just talked about GB and we talked about the amount of athletes and resources and versus what their situation is. You took we took basically a small country system, try to implant it in the United States system, and this is where we're stuck with no development from the bottom.

Juan 31:37

Did you see that that's the that soccer thing that I put up the other day on on social media?

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Remind me.

Juan 31:43

It was uh two former uh World Cup soccer players from the United States talking about the gentleman that they that was put in ahead of like development in soccer in the United States, and the guy was saying, it has nothing to do with the gentleman, the gentleman's from England. He's like, if you were giving him the uh uh uh a territory the size of Alabama, I'm sure he could do it because England, Great Britain is the size of uh Alabama, but when you got the size of America, he's like he doesn't understand the culture. He goes, Soccer, we have a huge soccer program in this country. He's like, it's our problem, it's our problem to solve. Stop trying to make us, you know, uh train like uh British people. Try stop trying to make us train like Spaniards. We have an American's culture problem, and we have to develop that first and foremost. And it was a good analogy, and I thought about that a little bit here. I was like, you know, maybe I've said from the beginning, if you don't understand the culture of American society, you know, from all areas, it's hard to coach over here. If you don't understand the, you know, the culture of the coaches and the families, it's hard to coach over here. Kicking is just not kicking, punching is not punching. You know, some people have religious backgrounds, some people have ethnicity backgrounds, some people have cultural backgrounds. And it's tough in a country like this to understand all that stuff. So anyway, the the analogy was, you know, when you're used to working with a small group or small landmass of people versus a huge land mass of people, it affects the unwillingness, it's the unwillingness to change.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

That's true too. It's the it's the unwillingness to to accept where you landed. I don't care how you got here, I don't care that you got the job. It's like, did you know what job you were getting? Did you know what place you were walking into and what was to be expected to be successful? And if if if those if those answer questions are no, then that again, that's where we are. It's not I because I look, you coach for another country, you work with another country, you could probably go to any country in the world and identify, help develop, and intertwine with the current working system of that country and their tech wondro development. I'm 100% positive. It don't even matter where it is, because you are willing to open your eyes and pay attention and listen and absorb and figure out what's the next best steps for you as a national team coach or the national system to keep it moving forward. These guys came in and said, we do it this way, and that's

Pay-To-Play Selection And Tournament Bloat

SPEAKER_02 34:14

it. We're gonna take 20 kids and we're gonna travel around the country. Forget all your selection procedures. Let's pretend they don't exist, let's act like it doesn't matter. We're gonna select who we want and we're gonna do it. And then we end up having these kids one place training full-time and doing their thing while we're neglecting the entire rest of the country. And now we're doing it once again by saying you can come to an audition here in North Carolina and try out to be a part of the 2028 Olympic selection and the 2032 Olympic section. Nationals don't matter, uh, states don't matter, team trials don't matter, national teams don't matter. Nothing matters but coming and paying your money for us to look at you. We're doing it again, and now we're charging you to do it. It is the silliest thing I've ever heard of my entire life, simply based on the system and how we've currently got here.

Juan 35:08

Yeah, again, I can't say it better. It's uh and it's it's it's a it's a systematic approach from a small country mentality, not a big country mentality, right? It's a small pool of people. You know what? Let's just grab the the 20 best ones that we think since you use that number and forget about the 2,000 or 20,000 other ones that are out there. And it's just uh you're not a coach.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

You're not a coach, you're not a developer at that point. You're not you're not anything. You're you're at best, you're a manager. You manage talent that's already exists and hope it fucking hits the excuse my language, hope it hits the wall and does something great for you that day so you can go look at our system.

Juan 35:46

But other than that, that's why I think it's important. Like, I think, you know, as a as a wise consumer, if I'm a business owner and I'm gonna bring somebody in, look, you come to my school and you can teach, you you, you can kick like a demon, you can do everything, but you're rude to the kids or you don't have any parent skills. Like, I can't hire you, no matter how talented you are. Like there's there's other factors that go into coaching. I do coaching programs all the time, and I say coaching is not science, is science and art. There's some things that are better than others, right? Tried and true. I can agree with people's methodology. You know what? I cannot even question people's methodology, and I've said that different different times on this podcast from other countries. But what I can say is the art part of it, of understanding the culture, of talking a right way, of understanding the same languages, that's called that's the art part of it. And if you just avoid that, you're half the coach. This guy, hey, Kringle Crackle, man.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

Um you better say something instead of just eating you better say something insightful.

Juan 36:54

Yeah, man. Quit rustling that paper like you like it's the first time you ever ate a scone in your life. It's like, oh nice, nice. No, but yeah, man. But you know what I'm saying, TJ, like I just again, it's it's it's and thank you for the compliment. And I I'm gonna be arrogantly, you know, uh, you know, converse about that for a second, but that's my that's my style of life, right? I mean, I didn't I didn't design peak performance by being an asshole and by just doing things like shut up, you're not. I listen to Coach Lee, I listen to you, I listen to Tim Tokel, I listen to Coach Benaby. Uh, you know, my wife tells me what to do all the time. No, I was getting back there. No, but uh again, it's a collective thing. Am I the authority? Yes. Am I the guy that drives it? Yes. But you gotta be inclusive.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

You said you listen. I I think it's it's deeper than because anyone can listen because some people talk a lot, you know, some people do whatever they want, but it's you ask the question. That's why I've always worked well with you because you ask the question and you we figure out an answer and you intake information and process it for the best in that situation. Like it's okay to be wrong too.

Juan 38:19

I'm okay to be that you know what? Yes, yes, that's I didn't think about that. That makes sense. So look, I know I'm not perfect, none of us are perfect, but I mean, like you said, change.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

No, no, I'm sure everybody knows, you know, I I'm probably have a you know a little bit of bias in me because we've worked together for so long, and but like it's the simple fact of well, not even natural, it's a simple fact of what we've done was proven. What we did was hard. What we did was not easy, what we did was against the grain. We didn't do what everybody else was doing. There was a time where there was a lot of decisions being made to go do training camps and do other things, other places, and we said, no, we're gonna stay home and do it this way, our way, because this is the best way for us to get our results. We've always made the right decisions, like in the sense of what you thought was for what best for us. And I mean, at the end of the day, for that Olympic cycle, not perfect, not gold, but it worked out for our country and bought those two home back home two Olympic medals from the same gym. And I don't think people realize that we weren't a national team then. We were a gym in Miami. You were a national team coach, but we trained with our team in Miami, two people surrounded by a lot of support, a lot of parents, a lot of athletes, a lot of just energy, and and and we were able to do it. Not just us, you got Coach Marr, Coach Lee, Coach Russ, all the people that were there, all of our training partners. We did that from a small gym in Miami, Florida. Two Olympic medals. Only our Olympic medals, not a million dollars a year, not flying, not ticket after ticket after ticket, not training camp, training camp, training camp. Not money, money, money, money, money. And we were able to do it. So sometimes we talk about and again, I love sometimes we talk about Brazil, and I think the system's great. I think Brazil has a very unique system that works for them, and they have a person in place that's gonna help them make that system even better. Smart move, great move, always nothing else makes any sense. Yeah, but we were doing that same thing from one gym. One gym. Think about what I'm saying. When now not the money wasn't there, they weren't paying for us to travel. It coach no, I mean, it wasn't perfect. No, we didn't have all the support to go to eight opens a year to get to 40 points. We we went to grand prize and took big shot after big shot because you know what? The money wasn't there. The the organization at that point, they they weren't funding the seniors, not even close to what these kids are getting. Not even close to what these coaches are getting.

Juan 40:30

So that's what gives me hope because we did it, and it can it can happen again because you know, again, I'm I'm I'm super close with Brazil and one of my big coaches over there. He's got city funding, he's got government funding, he's got Olympic funding. I mean, he's got a gym that was provided to him by the Olympic Committee. He's got companies that are paying his athletes, so they have some advantages that we don't have. But going back to your point, TJ, dude, we had a 2500 square, not even a 2,500 square foot gym with no AC, with dirty ass mats that were given to me. Give it to me. Like, think about that. And and same thing. We didn't fly any international athletes in. We said, We need you, Luke Ford. We need you, Rufer Hammond. We need you, uh, you know, other athletes for you know, uh Lauren Hammond for for for Paige. Like, think about that. That it's just crazy that we just use our pieces and said, you know what, we'll make the best of it. It can happen. It can happen. And again, I'm not trying to go down memory lane and stuff like that. It's a new era. Okay, I get it, I get it, I get it.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

But my point is a lot more, it's a new era with a lot more advantages. Like, let's be mental. Much more advantages. Think about let's be honest. How much money is being spent to get the results that we're getting? There's a that I'm sure uh Don Lewis has already done it, but I'm gonna reach out and I'll look for the results. But how much money did we spend to get the results that we're getting?

Juan 41:58

Is my only question. That'd be a great number. Like, we spent $100,000 to get a bronze medal. We spent five 100, we spent a million dollars. You know what I'm saying? Like, think about all the money. All the money that was spent in the first four years, three years, four years from nine two thousand twenty twenty-one to twenty twenty-four to get a bronze medal. And was it worth it? I don't know. Maybe it was, absolutely, maybe it wasn't.

SPEAKER_08 42:29

Immediately. That's because they're that's because they're lying to people.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

That's because they're lying to people and I realize they live people don't know. They don't know what they don't know. They don't understand. But for people that don't know, but you gotta but you gotta remember, and like again, starting to work back with my schools and being around like some of the lower level tournaments and with the the coaches and the cadets and the kids, you gotta remember there are new type of no people being born every day that don't know anything. You're right. And when they go to United States, US No, and then when you go to No, no, you're talking about you're talking about I'm not talking about that.

SPEAKER_09 43:49

Finish, finish, finish.

SPEAKER_08 44:00

Oh, you're calling me stupid.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

No, wait, wait, wait. I'm probably not in the room.

Juan 44:07

No, but my my point is I think you're I think I TJ, TJ, you're talking about like cadets and juniors. And I think you're absolutely right because they've been in this for five years, six years. Let's say they're nine years old and now they're 15, and all of a sudden they're on the junior team or cadet team, and they don't really know what's going on, but only what's being put on social media, and all of a sudden it sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

And what all and what someone and this is this is the stupid part, and what some of our other coaches are are are are reposting and saying and being like results important.

SPEAKER_09 44:39

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go. Like and then when they go somewhere else, their kids aren't being supportive. You understand what I mean? Like we celebrate it and I just think people tell me how bad it is.

Juan 46:21

Yeah, you're right. No, young you're TJ, so you're sad. I like where you were going with this because if we all know that what's happening systematically is not working, like like uh Herb Young said. And the coaches, let's say the coach, let's say the athletes don't know, let's say a cadet or junior entry level, they don't know yet. But the coaches, the good ones that have programs for a couple years, like yourself and like many others, and then they're just reposting, yay, yay, hurrah, they're just as guilty. I mean, I I it would be better that you say nothing. Let's say you don't want to talk negatively, you don't want to hurt your chances to go on the next team trip. Say nothing. But when you perpetuate and you say, man, it was great, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, it wasn't great. We have to look at it, we gotta fix it. And I'm not just talking about this event, I'm just talking about in general. Like, say less, my boys, say less, my girls. Like, unless you and if you really then if you can look at me straight in the face and go, it's right, and we're we are going somewhere. Well, first of all, we've been saying that for seven years, but let's say you you you believe that. I mean, I I I that you're just flat out lying, or you don't know, because if you believe that it's going in the right direction, holy cow, holy cow, and and let's not point the fingers. We don't gotta say it's your fault, your fault. Just let's say it's not going right. If we want to be politically correct, let's not point the finger.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

Yeah, I always try to like go, well, you know, my opinion is probably held by the people also that are in the group that I hang around, the people that talk to me are associate with me, right? Uh just let me let me go. And I always question, I go, I stop there because I think that's how it like situations are. You have a certain way, you know, people think, you know, okay. And then I there's people outside of this circle. We watch it on the internet every single day. We hear it from this part of the country, that part of the country, this team, that team, this level of coach, that level of coach, this parent with a cadet, this parent with a junior. Like we hear it from everybody, and no one is satisfied or happy with where we are, and no one thinks they have the ability or control to go change it. And that's why we sit here. That's the stupid part. That's the part right there for me. Because I it's too many people that agree. It's too many people that agree, and I know it. I hear it. You guys tell me it. I I I hear it all the time, even when I don't want to hear it, even when I hit my points of like, man, phooe. It don't even matter. Like, it ain't no fixing it. And I still hear it.

Juan 49:08

And then we have them. You're right, because same. I mean, look, I I know I got my we and it's politics, right? People on the left view it like this, people on the right view it like this. It's the same thing in Taekwondo.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

People in our circle think but I just hate when people say politics. This is just stupidity.

Juan 49:26

Well, I'm just I was talking about politics and the world. I was talking about politics in the world, but I'm just like uh but in taekwondo, in taekwondo, people in our circle think this way, people in another circle think that way. But you're right. When you have people from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, uh Norway, uh, Hungary asking me like when they're saying the things, I I just kind of like I'm sheepish, sheepishly embarrassed, like, yeah, I know. Well, I but they see it. So I don't know. Listen, I know I know we beat this up a lot, and we started with the juniors. You know, can we were we happy with our results? We shouldn't be. Can we close the gap? Likelihood is is no, unless you said change is uh is a bad word because it seems like it should be altered. You're probably right, it needs to be flatlined and and start over just like any corporation. They are a new CEO, uh uh just like an NFL. Get a new head coach, you you gotta start over. And it's you know, hopefully the next person will be understanding and and can kind of can help fix this on many different levels and not an easy task.

SPEAKER_02 50:34

You can't tell me after eight years of whatever we've been doing that we're gonna keep doing this, and it's just one day gonna work. We're just gonna get lucky in this impossible, not possible, non-existent process that's been put in place on posters and pictures and video and AI releases and dominating 20, like all this stuff is just gonna go and it's just gonna make sense one day after eight years.

Juan 51:02

Can I can I can I lead this into, I don't know. I mean, maybe um again, maybe it's me being a little personal and stuff like that. I can always have you know admit okay, I have a little emotional bond or uh a little emotional scar, but I'm seeing like the second organization all of a sudden have it went from like A to Z. You know, it used to be like again, you know, district qualifiers, nationals, team trials. Now you have regionals, and I saw a super regional, I saw, you know, uh uh uh this organization tournament on one day, and then another organization on the other day, and the prices have gone up and the the events have expanded, and team trials instead of just for one event, now there's team trials for traditional forms.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

Like I like I guess you got other organizations building going the exact opposite direction, saying, come here, do this, this state, this, so this is what you need to do and not spend $900 at 900 different tournaments.

Juan 52:07

Well, that's what and then I was that's what I was going. It's all behind the guise of more opportunities. It's like a it's like a trick, it's like a bait and switch. Like we're giving you all these opportunities, but uh oh. He leave the room? It's okay. Yeah, go ahead, keep on, keep on, keep on. No, all these opportunities, but think about the expense. Think about the expense. We're just bleeding. I mean, I almost feel like it's an organizational thing, like they're getting the money and telling you, oh, you're gonna get more opportunities. I I I don't see that.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

I see if we're getting if we're if we're only getting two matches, some in like I think two or three, I'm gonna say two in some of our divisions for uh team trials, right? And for juniors or cadets, some of them only had two matches to win the whole tournament, correct? Yeah. So I mean, at nationals they probably had what, three to qualify? Two to qualify? Whatever number, I would hope. So, what is the what other benefit other than come pay us more money? Is it for us not to just solidify this division on that day and somehow, again, situational awareness? Like, maybe it has to work like this. Maybe we're going top four and then do a double elimination that day because these divisions they're too small. Why are we taking them from one place to go to another place just to fight them? One more match, two more matches. It has to be about money.

Juan 53:23

But even like on you know, according to you know, some audio calls that we've had in the past, it's like, hey, you can make you can start making money right now. You can start making money right now, you can start making. I didn't hear one time, this is gonna be amazing for the athletes. This is gonna be a great development, this is gonna be uh, you know, this is what we're lacking. You know, we're gonna give them nothing like that. It was like you can make money. You can make you matter of fact, you can have a referee thing, you can have a top referee thing, you can make money right now. It was always about money, money, money. And now here we are, fast forward a number of months. I'm disconnected. I'll be the first one to admit I'm disconnected, but I mean, I'm not blind. I see a social media, all of a sudden there's a new tournament in this state, and oh yeah, there's another tournament, the next one, and one's for AAU and one's for USAT. And I'm just kind of like, again, it's separate. I'm getting all these opportunities and ching ching ching ching ching ching for who? For the organization, for the host.

SPEAKER_02 54:18

Even what they're doing, even even what they're still doing here in North Carolina with adding this regional qualifier or whatever the hell you want to call it. If it like for regional, I thought whatever. I don't know.

Juan 54:28

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

I've seen these AAU tournaments, the size of them was just gonna be magically bigger because they called in their connections and they're gonna show up more people and it's gonna seem like a success. So people that have already qualified for nationals are gonna go pay more to qualify for nationals to get some extra points so their seeding is better to make the AAU development team. Like, I and I hate being that way because you know the the word national team, I know why it's used that way. But it's the AAU development national team, whatever you want to call it. It doesn't lead you to anything with the Olympic movement, the world champions, anything that these kids are quote unquote being developed for. And that's okay. But when you're charging them for states, regionals, super regionals, and all these people are buying in because oh, my child has a better chance of winning if they do all this seeding. Then I blame a little bit of the parents and I blame a little bit of the coaches too. Yeah, it's uh it's it's like me taking some kids that I don't think are ready for Europe over to Europe just because you know it's the thing to do. You're not even on our national team, you're not even winning our states, you're not even qualifying deep into our team, Charles, and we're sending you to we're going to G1 and G2 opens. Like I get it, but I don't get it.

Juan 55:32

Well,

Access Arms Race And Olympic Prices

Juan 55:33

there's a reality check, and you know, one of my one of my one of my good buddies who used to do taekwondo and he's a professional, he's retired. He was asking me about my trip to Uzbekistan, and he said, I was telling him about these countries, and he's like, So the old powerhouses of uh of Turkey and Spain and Germany, and I said, No, no, those countries still do relatively well, you know. Actually, Spain's an interesting one because they don't do so well in juniors and they always do well later because they have a later development. But um, he said, Um, you know, I'll I'm talking blah, blah, blah. And he goes, so basically, you think it's it, he goes, it's just access, Juan. He's like, it's access. All these countries have more access nowadays, access to travel, access to coaching, access to competitions. And I said, This guy is not even in martial arts anymore. And he's 100% correct, you know. And these, you know, you know, I mean, young, we, as much as we're gonna talk about the glory days and stuff like that. I mean, I'll be the first to admit Russia wasn't competing when we competed, you know, either with Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan because they weren't even countries, you know, at the time. But now these countries have access to training and traveling and people coming into dude. I'm in Uzbekistan and I told you Hungary, Poland, Kazakhstan, China, Belarus, they're all there. So these Uzbekistan people are getting people coming at them left and right. Of course they're gonna get better. They have access. And we have access to we have access to community here, to other countries, we have money. We we have to get better, but it's uh it's a scary landscape, you know. I I talk about scary landscape, we're getting tickets to the Olympics for one session, $262. To go to a full day was like $1,500. So go first of all, you can't get tickets. I don't know who's buying them all up. I don't know if it's only they they blocked off Americans, but like I got tickets the other day for like morning session. Crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Young to soccer, like two thousand dollars. Two thousand dollars for like an average game. I'm like, what normal person can do that?

SPEAKER_08 58:56

Already there. TJ, go to the go.

Juan 59:12

TJ, TJ, you should honestly, I and I'm I'm not I'm not joking about this. You should, as we approach 2028, you should reach out to the US Olympic Committee, USPC, whatever, and you should also reach out to the United USA Taekwondo and say, as a as a former Olympian, as an Olympic medalist, I'm requesting a a a WT, you know, or uh whatever. They have these badges that you can get and then you sit in a certain section. You don't have access to the holding area, you don't yeah, yeah, you don't, you know, the day pass, whatever. Like, listen, the USAT is gonna get a bunch of them. And you should, by all means, as a former Olympian, no, no, you you you should. I might ask for one.

SPEAKER_02 59:54

Like, as an Olympian, as a former Olympian Olympic, Olympic, Olympian, Olympic medalists, Olympic coach, Olympic, Olympic, Olympic.

Juan 1:00:04

I listen, you know what? I actually I I'm going to. I'm gonna ask for that. Just from the United States Olympic Committee, like, and and from USA Taekwondo. I'm a I'm I'm a former Olympian, you know, multiple times. I'm a former Olympic coach multiple times, you know, Pan American Games, everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:23

So if I go because if I because if I asked, you should be giving us badges. Listen, because if I ask for it giving us badges.

Juan 1:00:40

That's what I'm saying. I'm gonna ask for it, and you should ask for it too, TJ. And and so should pay, so should all the major uh Olympias. No, because if if you go, if you don't, and and and and I don't I'm not gonna mention names right now, but uh if if X, Y, and Z are sitting in the stands, I don't even care if it's mothers, I'm sorry, uh wives or coaches or or maybe other Olympians get there and you don't, or even board members, even a board member and you don't, that's an absolute travesty. And listen, I don't have any guarantee. Brazil, we don't have any guarantee that we're gonna get athletes there, that we're gonna have enough credentials. So, you know what? I'm gonna be in the same board with you. I don't have to be a member. I I'm a I'm a I'm a member of the of the Olympic, of the you know, the Olympic fraternity. I got that O L Y. What are we talking about? No, but you know what I'm saying? I got an O L Y at the end of my name. That's earned. Me too. So wait your ask. Anyway, listen, hey, this is uh this turned into a little bit of a hot like hodgepodge of uh of a conversation, but

Wrap-Up And Audience Qs

Juan 1:01:50

it was fun. We haven't been back for a while. I mean, we're gonna get back on our normal schedule next Monday. Um so that'll be that'll be fun, but uh we'll we'll be a little bit more organized and structured, but it's always good to kind of just chat and and I and uh keep oh keep hey keep liking, keep liking, keep liking, keep liking, keep uh reposting.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:18

I had some good conversation with some people after the last, you know, they said they enjoyed it. Um any questions you have from the episode, go ahead and throw them on the page. We'll we'll try to increase the activity there. I know we have a lot of conversation across a lot of different subjects here. So if you heard anything you want to have another conversation on, I'll try to, you know, one of us will pop on and probably respond to you and then we'll be back.

Juan 1:02:37

I think we're gonna have a special guest next uh on Monday. We're gonna have a guest, but just uh not not for the yeah, working on it, not for the whole oh shoot, look at that.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:47

This is my personality for today. Y'all know who this guy is? This this we were on this kind of time today. All right.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:54

All right, guys, yes. All right, we'll talk to you guys on Monday. Peace. Peace.