What If Athlete Development Started At Home

A Memorandum of Understanding might be the most “powerful” document in sports, mostly because it lets everyone pose for photos while nothing changes. We start with that idea and pull the thread all the way through the taekwondo world, where diplomacy, branding, and governance can sometimes feel like performance art instead of problem solving.

Then we get real about what people are arguing over right now: elections, voting influence, and the kind of rule changes that make athletes and parents feel played. We talk through the Colorado situation, why credibility matters more than clout, and how rankings and seeding confusion can turn a tournament into a trust crisis. If you care about AAU taekwondo, national championships, or how sports organizations should communicate changes, this conversation puts clear language to what a lot of coaches are thinking.

From there, we shift to what actually helps athletes: coaching, discipline, and development that starts at home. We challenge the idea that flying to open tournaments automatically makes you better, lay out our coaching camps competition framework, and explain why fundamentals still win even when the sport gets gimmicky. We also dig into internal competition, national team pathways, Grand Prix scheduling, and why systems built on access and money eventually stall out.

Subscribe for more blunt talk on taekwondo governance and high performance coaching, share this with a coach who needs it, and leave a review with your take: what’s the biggest thing holding athlete development back right now?

Transcript

The Myth Of The MOU

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Warehouse 15 with. We interrupt this program for an important announcement from our sponsor. Breaking news from the Grandmaster. Hello, everybody. My name is Pak Mengsu. And I am Great Supreme Grandmaster.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I am Supreme Great Grandmaster Pak Meng Su. There is no more powerful document in all of sport than the Memorandum of Understanding. And by powerful, I mean legally equivalent to a note your mom writes asking the teacher to excuse you from dodgeball. The MOU is the diplomatic equivalent of two people shaking hands and saying, we should really get coffee sometime. Everyone signs it, everyone smiles, and then absolutely nothing happens forever. Which is exactly as intended. Nowhere is this art form more refined than in Taekwondo, a sport that has elevated the signing of non-binding agreements to a higher belt thought and the actual kicking. You have not lived until you've watched two organizations that have refused to acknowledge each other's existence for 40 years sit down at a long table with a blue tablecloth, sign a historic memorandum of understanding toward unification, exchange commemorative Dobok, take 600 photographs, and then go back to pretending the other one is a cult. The MOU said they would explore pathways for cooperation. They explored. The pathway led nowhere. Beautiful. In Taekwondo specifically, the MOU performs three vital functions. First, it allows a national governing body to announce a strategic partnership with a brand, a university, or a vaguely described global development initiative, generating one press release and zero new programs. Second, it lets two rival continental unions appear to be unified for exactly the length of one ANOC reception. Third, and most importantly, it gives everyone something to point to during a governance audit. Are you cooperating with the other body? Here is our MOU. But are you actually MOU? Ah, so here's to the memorandum of understanding. The only document in sport where the ink is more committed than the signatories. Long may it be signed, photographed, and quietly filed in a drawer. Next to the last one nobody read.

Charlotte Check In And Travel Banter

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Welcome back.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

We are here again. If you can't tell, I am in the temple, the temple of the Grand Master of Disaster, where I am pondering all things significant, insignificant, but most importantly, things lower than insignificant, like M-O-Us. And I don't mean like moo, like a cow moo. I mean all those moles. I'm sorry, he's not a grandmaster. Well, he's a grandmaster of eating. He is a chubby little bastard. But anyway, how are you doing? Uh Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. TJ. What's going on?

SPEAKER_04 3:34

What's up? What's up? I am here in Charlotte still, like where I stay at. I'm not in the I am in the I am in the Lions, and as you can see, my lions on the wall over there and your favorite painting in the back. I leave it up there for you. At first I was gonna take it down and get something new, and I was like, no, he likes it so much. Now I gotta leave it. And I think it's like it's permanent. And I'm thinking about sending you one for Christmas. So make some space for it next to your guitars.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Well, I'm waiting for my hat, which I don't have, and I'm looking back here, and I do have you can see, but you guys can't see at home. I have this beautiful um little chubby Korean. Is that oh, is that a six? No, oh, that's the uh that is actually the uh the mascot from Korea. That is the harang. That is the little wave your little hat around thing, and uh it brings either shivers of love from Coach Moreno or pangs of of I wish I would have just punched that guy right in the canookies. How are you doing, Coach?

SPEAKER_05 4:30

Man, I'm good. I'm a beacon of health eating my quest protein chips, but I have to wash it down with a green lizard right here. It's not a real green lizard, it's a stellar green lizard. But uh now I'm here in uh Charlotte, uh North Carolina, here to watch and observe the national championships, not participate, only observe. I paid my ticket online about my two adult single passes. So I am how much more are they? I can't even remember 25, 30 bucks, 25 bucks, 28 bucks? I don't know. I forgot, to be honest with you. So I uh I checked into my hotel early, got a I walked around the downtown, I got a little workout in. So, you know, I am excited and ready to meet and greet the people of Charlotte, meet and greet the people of the national championships, and I have to bring, you know, I started off the day with my unfuckwithable shirt because that's the kind of mood I'm in. Tomorrow, maybe I'll walk around with the the warehouse uh 15 podcast shirt.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

I smooth around. Well, are you uh can can I can I ask you, are you playing that game? I think it's on Calci or one of those predictor markets, and I I I've already put a bet in. The question was as you amble around the local area of North Carolina, will you find more teeth or people? So if you were to count all the teeth or the people, which would be the greater number? The number of people or the number of teeth?

SPEAKER_05 5:54

Listen, first of all, I I told I told Coach Jennings that down here I've never seen so many khaki pants tucked in polos, built on, some cohort shoes.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

I told him that's the that's the dress code down there.

SPEAKER_05 6:10

Yo, everybody, everybody had their stuff tucked in, tight pants, walking around with some Kohan shoes. I'm like, I thought I was at a golf outing. I thought I was at a golf outing. I was cracking up. I mean, I think I said Camila, look, look, look, look, look, look, look. She was like, oh my God. I think that's what every they must go to the store and it must be on display. My daughter was busting on them. It was it's wild down here. Wild down here. Are they booty?

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Are they downtown? Are they are they booty chokers? Are they booty chokers?

SPEAKER_05 6:41

There was a lot of those. There was a lot of those. There's a lot of those.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

But no, I'm uh those pets, those pants that sneak their way up and they don't come back down.

SPEAKER_05 6:49

I I'm excited to see how how I'm received over here. This is the first time I've been here in a number of years, but I mean, I don't think it's gonna be anything bad, but it should be interesting to say.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

I can't I can't go to North Carolina. I just can't go. I still have bad memories in North Carolina. Yeah, I know you do.

SPEAKER_05 7:05

Listen, honestly, I I've been here many times and I and I like North Carolina. I like Charlotte. I I I think it's uh it's a pretty cool, uh diverse, you know, you have you know some good diversity and stuff like that, and it's uh it's just different, right? It's got that little southern charm. I mean, I I like it. I I I don't know how I'd live here, but I I do like it. But anyway, listen. I like here and I like it. Uh yeah, right. Listen, before we get going, you know. I like it like that. Uh uh uh

World Cup Reactions And Upsets

SPEAKER_05 7:35

uh uh I like it like that. You saw Brazil and two to one today. That was a close game, man. Man, I felt of course I'm pulling for Brazil. Oh, that was tough, and I felt bad for those Japanese guys. But hey, when you sit back and defend, defend, defend for that long, it's only a matter of time before something gets through. So um and they looked a little tired towards the end. I felt it coming.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

Yeah, now all these teams are a little. I know how it works, they're getting around a 32 and everything, but everyone looks a little, I think all these last minute games, all of them are gonna be like that. Down to the last second. I know they normally are, but I feel like it's gonna be a game of the game.

SPEAKER_05 8:09

Germany's a good team. USA beat, they smacked Paraguay up four to one. Smacked them up. Five to one, four to one. I don't know. Four to one, let's just say. And here Germany is trailing them and has to tie the goal, tie in the second half, and now they're in extra time. Like that's crazy. That's how tight everything gets, man. People take the World Cup for the city. Oh, Canada, man. But they deserved it yesterday. They had a lot of goal chances, man. And they were playing tough too. They played well. I mean, that's it. They said next one is gonna be tough. Next one's gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Who do they play next? Listen, I think the Netherlands is playing Morocco, but the here, here, here's the problem. So when you watch that game today between Japan and Brazil, Brazil is probably talent-wise, the better team. They played a better, they played better, but Japan is the more structured, disciplined team team, and they have um equally as good skilled guys on the ball and players. But if you were looking at that game from a spectator's person watching that game, you would want and expect Brazil to win because they had a better quality. They were they had better quality shots on goal, they had better quality, whatever, whatever. And Japan, so it wasn't heartbreaking, although it was for me because my son had gone to Japan to train with one of their teams there. So we watched it. I was hoping for Japan to win. But it's hard when you have a Vinny and you have guys like this, and you have Kasemura and these guys that can really play the game at a high level. But if you looked at the Japanese um players and their ball control, it was yeah, but just like I think that's the level in the world, man.

SPEAKER_05 9:49

Look at that, yeah. We'll we'll talk about the World Cup as it gets going. Um hey, before we

Colorado AAU Voting Controversy

SPEAKER_05 9:55

get going, I I gotta, I know sometimes I don't enjoy talking about things over and over, but I gotta bring something up because it happened again. We talked about the prelude to the Colorado uh election with the.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

TJ being late, TJ being late again for the podcast, TJ being late. That's a weekly occurrence. He's on CPT time, that's all I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

Yeah, no, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 10:17

No, the um, listen, they had the election in Colorado, and out of nowhere, I I'm gonna call her out because it's a it's a former Olympic athlete. I think as an Olympian, you should know better. I think you should you should hold yourself to that highest standard. And I know the AAU somehow went out and got Barb Kunkel to head up their their their demo team part of their of their competition. Again, I don't know much about it. I mean, she's into that. They picked her out, okay. They picked her out of the blue. Um, and then all of a sudden, just like in in North Carolina, a couple teams get made up from her school, you know, one by one of her students. You know, again, it it's the same thing, TJ. It's not that this person has a program. This is one of her students, okay, one of her black belts, okay, but Barb Kunkel should know better. She should know better than to to just kind of you would think that you would have some kind of like intuition, like, hey, yeah, you can't be that boy that you're gonna say, oh, if I make a couple teams, I have a couple more votes, that's wrong. And even worse, you know, in that area they put the I guess the governor had passed away, who's that made basically like the president of the state of all sports. And so they point to the governor, who happens to be a Tekuano person, like right there. And that person has some votes and and and and handed them down to one of the person that was running. It was just ugly all the way around, but I'm really disappointed in Bar because she's a good person, she's a good woman, and she either let herself get played or she looked the other way. One of the two. Again, it's nothing about her character because she is as quality as they come. I I have a lot of respect for her.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

She just jumped in bed. I say, I say look the other way on purpose. I say look the other looked the other way on purpose. I don't know, because like you said, okay, I'm gonna quote you. Don't discount people's egos. I don't know. Maybe she just felt good because she could be the poom say world champion coach traveling, you know. I don't I don't even know what that I don't know what it is. But I wanted to come in to not know what's going on and to just add clubs just because some guys or whoever is telling you this is a good idea and we have great ideas and we're doing this, is just it's absurd. Like you said, for someone of her stature and has been in the sport for so long, you would think.

SPEAKER_05 12:38

If she just showed up to the listen, okay, she's new in the AAU, she's gonna be an administrator or whatever, a director of the the demo team stuff, okay, fine. And also there's gonna be a new someone that's gonna run against the old leadership in Colorado. Okay, that's fine. She shows up and she wants to vote her her one vote for this new person for whatever reason that she's gonna go on this side. Uh again, I don't know why. Who told her that this new person was the right guy? But then to go and do more clubs, you know that you know that's wrong. You know that's wrong. You know, it's not you didn't have any clubs, you're like, oh, wait a minute, I could do one or two or three or four. That's just I expect more from the club. Yeah, people that haven't sorry. No, I she she's she's she's not young, she's not new to martial arts, she's not new to the whole Olympic movement, and for her to just to kind of insert herself like that, it's wrong. It's wrong, and I and I expect better. So that's my hot take of the day. I'm really disappointed in her, really disappointed in her. So I'm sure this will get to her. I don't have a a personal relationship where we talk all the time or we call each other all the time, or you know, I could vent to her and say, Hey, why would you do that? But when I found this out after the fact, that's wrong. She's wrong. Uh I it's not a good look. You know, and and the numbers, you know, listen, the AU is going on right now, and you know, the the all the black belt numbers are down, all the divisions are down, you know. Um I heard they were behind and they got caught up or whatever. And you know, if they were if they ran out of time today, good, they should because they're they're low numbers. You should be done, you know, at a decent time. But I'm just uh I'm disappointed in her in that situation. It just keeps coming because the real the real votes are coming in in August because that's who they're when they have to announce of who's gonna run for the chair of the whole AU technology of the chair or the or whatever they call it, the president chair of all AAU. So that's coming real soon. It's coming real soon, so we'll see what what people do. Anyway, I'll let that go for now. Let's uh let's move on to some uh easier topics, some better topics. What are we talking about, TJ? You asked me. We were talking about it.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

But that is an easy topic. That's an easy topic because that's people coming and that's supposed to have some kind of background in leadership and been around for a long time, showing people what the right thing to do is you you can't I I just I guess I can't wrap my mind around it's you got a bunch of people voting for something and voting for a sport that aren't really involved in the sport, they haven't been involved in the sport for probably years and years and years and years, and these are the ones that are showing up and casting votes and making extra teams to to to sway an election, to, you know, and these guys are again, we talked about it last week. These these guys are they're they're nobodies, and then they go online. I know it's been a lot of um hoopla and like a lot of a little bit of arguing back and forth online. People are pissed off because they've been told one thing, they've been told one thing, and then there's another, even with the the the ranking stuff that they've sold all these people, and now you're at there and people are they're only gonna rank the top four. Like you guys are you guys don't respect this sport at all. You you don't. You you set you set rules, you change them, you have your people go, hey, go write something nice about us online. Meanwhile, these same people the ones that are calling around showing pictures and telling about bad conversations are having with you guys, and then it it's just it gets uglier and uglier the the closer we get to August. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe all this is gonna be, you know, bubble to a head in in August when all this stuff kind of, I don't know, comes, I don't want to say come to light, but like it's just we're watching it in live time, and then you it's funny. You see these guys that are cheating, that know they're cheating, you know. You say something to them and then they go away, they go hiding. Now they don't want to respond, you know. Now they have nothing else to say back. And don't say you're above it, don't say you're hiding and being quiet and planning for the new season. Just just acknowledge. No one's came out and said, Hey, you people aren't cheating. Have you noticed that? Out of all the things, no one's been like, hey man, that's not going on. Defend yourself if it's not happening. But they can't defend themselves because it's a 100% happening, and too many people are standing by and watching it happen. And that's why they're not saying anything. That's why they're playing the bigger person. I'm gonna take the higher. You don't got no choice but to take the other road because there's bullies on the other road saying we're not gonna take up that. Put that, put up with that anymore. People know, people are watching.

SPEAKER_05 16:58

We said a lot of good things. First of all, like the um the the the point thing, young. So they they did what USAT did at the beginning of their administration when they said we're gonna open up these tournaments and we're giving values and we're gonna try to get people to have rankings and stuff like that. And then people were point chasing, and it didn't work out, and they kind of scrapped it. So AU went to that this year, kind of funny, and they didn't tell people that they were only gonna rank the top four people. The top four were gonna get seated, and everybody else not. So, like, there was a lot of chatter online. People are like, wait a minute, you know, the rankings changed. Uh, I heard again, this is purely speculation. I heard that certain competitions were devalued because they didn't have enough numbers, but they didn't tell people that um they changed. I mean, again, you have all you have all the stuff and you change a bracket once, twice, three times. Like, how like I like why put it out if you if you do that. One one father was beyond mad. And you know, he he said, Listen, he he called how it's a POS, a piece of shit. He's like, I'm coming for you tomorrow morning, so you better have security to take me out. I don't know if he showed up or not. I mean, I I I I wasn't I'm not obviously I'm not there, but to TJ's point, you you if you didn't lie, you certainly led people down the wrong way, and you didn't tell them exactly what was going on. And to TJ's point, if these guys really really believed in themselves, they would come out and make a blanket statement and say, No, we did this, this, and this. They they gotta answer. People are asking. You can't only say good things when people are kind of patting you on the back, and of course, their little circle, you know, the setup and this and that, and mopping the mats. We're mopping the mats to for you with alcohol. It's such a parade.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Like I'm watching a reality, reality TV show. Like we're making skits to show, we're making skits to show people that we're done with weigh-ins early. Like, this is goofy. This is I've been I can't even believe it.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

A skit to weigh-in, a skit to the mopping the mats, a skit to where the coaching seminar is. I mean, it's like I don't know, it's so silly, you know.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

But I don't know, this is it's but this is all just to disguise, this is all just to disguise the fact of what's really going on. I mean, you gotta you gotta smile that much and shake that many hands and look at us, look at us, look at us. We're doing this, this, this, and this, and you got your your crew, and everybody has their followers, right? We have our followers, people that really believe in what we're doing, and of course that's fair on both sides. But these guys are making the rules, a part of making the rules and and and celebrating it in front and being like, This is this is so great. Like, it's a it's a it's a freaking tournament. Like, let's stop, let's stop pretending that there's some I don't you guys just charge more. The tournaments are the same. Sometimes you get through weigh-ins fast, sometimes you get through weighing slow. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Like, but let's not pretend that like I I know people complain, but me as an athlete, me as a coach, I never got crazy, crazy, crazy if the tournament ran a little bit over. You know what I mean? It is what if if weigh-in line was long, like that's stuff that people complain about. That like I get it, I get it. Don't be ridiculous, don't get one scale and 5,000 people and no referees, like don't be stupid. Or like that's what the hanger had on and what yeah, what what's making a tournament good or bad is it's it has nothing to do with that. For me, it has nothing to do with that whatsoever.

SPEAKER_05 20:32

Yes. I I I couldn't agree with that more. Well, anyway, let's uh I'm sure we'll we'll circle back to this, you know, once this whole week is done because like you said, there's a lot of lot of events to go, you know, today or here and then in in Florida. We'll see how it goes. Hey, I was thinking about something that you know last week and stuff,

Rankings Confusion And Parent Backlash

SPEAKER_05 20:55

and I was talking I was thinking about athlete development. And you know, I I'd like to give both your perspective because I think we touched about on a little bit last last week, but I want to go a little deeper in as you guys were growing up in the martial arts, did you need or did you have a certain coach to kind of direct you or get you on the straight and arrow when like you were either unmotivated or being undisciplined or um you know maybe maybe depressed or maybe sad or or maybe you're too full of yourself. Did you have some guy that could that that that you needed to pull you in? Not just a mentor. I don't want to do just a mentor, like I I'm I'm gonna answer. Like I was thinking about it. I was lucky like I think TJ you mentioned this before. I was lucky I had good coaches. I don't think I ever had a bad coach. I I I think all the coaches, my original coach, my state coach, my national team coach, all three played great roles, and I can't say bad about any one of them at the at the stage of my career. So I was lucky that. But I was thinking. About it, I'm like, you know what? I never had to have an instructor cheer me up or calm me down or tell me to come or tell me to work harder. Like when I say zero, that's what I thought you were asking. Yeah, zero. I I was I was I remember, you know, at the height of my career at the Olympic Training Center, like when the coach would ask me, you know, people always complain they're tired, they want to break, and he would look at me and I would just be like, even if I was tired, I would just be like, no, no, no. And then once in a blue moon, he was like, he'd whisper, You okay? I'm like, a little tired. And also he might let us play soccer or play paddle ball or something like that. But more times, like I never had to have anybody motivate me to run or to lose weight or to like nothing. And like I always say, like, I I I lost a lot of weight, and I would get up and do it by myself. I didn't need the coach to come and drag me, you know. I had to put on a brave face and do it. So I don't know. I was I was thinking that with because I know I've done that a lot with athletes in this day and age. A lot. Actually, in my whole coaching career, I've had like, hey, calm the heck down. I had a get your ass in gear. Like, I I feel like I'm always working on people's psychology, which is important. It's a huge part of the sport. Uh but like I think I do it more now.

SPEAKER_04 23:23

I I think I think that's true. That's funny because like I find myself having a lot of conversations with athletes about that, like particular stuff, like how to feel, how to think, how to rebound, how to work through this or be this way or be that way. I don't, I don't necessarily remember a how do I say that? I mean, everybody needs advice sometime. You know what I mean? Everyone needs, like we talked about it last time, everybody needs advice sometimes. But on that from the aspect of work harder, be on time, or you're this, I don't think, I don't think that was the conversations, you know. I I think we always go back. Uh um, that's what makes you special or not special. You gotta choose it. I think once you choose it, then it's kind of not really, you're not looking for that sideways motivation or hey man, you gotta do this a little bit more. But I I mean, I I hate saying generational because I think that's so stupid. I just think it's just what what these what people are being taught from the beginning. You said you had no bad coaches, and that's why you were like that. You know, you were kind of trying to put in the right direction, I think, early, or maybe that's just your personality mixed with the right advice. But I find I have that conversation a lot more, or or people lean into that, or it's like very heavy mental side of our game is is what's missing. You know, people complain about not having enough or um working with sports psychologists. I've never been a big sports psychologist person. Because I think I remember I told you that a long time ago. I'm like, whatever they're gonna tell me, I know it's normal. Like, yeah, I'm nervous. I need to work around it. You give me some tips and some tricks, but I just it my brain didn't work like that. I just knew that was a part of it, you know.

SPEAKER_05 24:52

How about you? Did you ever did you ever have anyone have to like kick you in the ass to get you doing stuff?

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Yeah, I was lucky. I had um I had every one of my instructors was both um a disciplinarian and a mentor, and half the time I didn't know what they were mad about or why they didn't what I thought was like me. You know, so like I had people that kept it real for me. My instructor, my Korean instructor, Master Kim, Grandmaster Kim, um good guy, he didn't talk to me for a year, a year because he didn't like what he heard I said or did. And he um this guy had done something illegal to me in the ring at the at the uh prompting of one of my seniors, um, because he thought it would I don't I don't know why, but I don't want to talk about the individual. But um so the guy during a match that I was beating him in punched me in the face once and again, and then at the end of the match punched me in the face again. And all I did was literally turn around. I walked out of the ring because I was winning 3-0, I'd won. And then I made a turn. That's all I did. My instructor came in the ring, punched me in the chest, punched him in the chest, said I'll deal with you to school. And he didn't talk to me for a year because he didn't like the way I didn't do anything. He didn't like my demeanor. He said you shouldn't behave like that, not in public, not in front of other people. And so what did you do? I thought you said you didn't punch somebody in the face. I didn't do anything. All I did is after the guy did three legal things at the prox at the um direction of one of my seniors in Taekwondo, who is you all know, but you know who he is. Um the guy's name was Mark, and he's now a state police officer, I think. Um and I he couldn't beat me, wasn't good enough to beat me. But at the end of each time I hit him for a point, he punched me in the face at the prompting of this individual. So after the third and final time where I scored the point to win, it was a three-point tournament max. Um I walked, I turned around out, walked out of the ring, and then simply turned around like I was gonna go back in the ring and punch him in the face, which you know, I might have. But I didn't. But the point is my instructor came in and didn't like, I didn't say anything. I just turned around and started walking. That is all I needed to do. So he didn't talk to me for a year. And then I've had situations with one of my mentors, um, Stefu Paul Visio. And it wasn't so much that he didn't, I never did anything to gain his um disapproval, but he would say things and keep me in check. He kept me in a place. You know, one of my favorite things was, you know, I have to go to team trials. And he says, Um, who are you fighting? So I said, sir, I gotta fight this guy again that I just beat a couple of weeks ago. What? He says, uh he came back. Like, what do you mean? I said, he didn't quit the sport. He said, when I beat guys, I beat them. So they never they gave up the sport when I beat them. He said, they didn't even want to fight anymore. So he would teach me these kind of life lessons through action, words, and funniness. Um, and I always found that kind of interesting, you know. Um he he was my moral compass because he kept it real, right? He and in a and and and and and in life too. And you guys uh I won't tell the story here, um, but you know of a story where you know someone very close to me hurt me. And um Sifu was there and he just stood next to me and he said, just stand here and be the person that they need you to be. Don't say I said, yes, sir. And uh I did what I was supposed to do at his, not at his urging, I would probably have done it anyway, but he kept it, kept me real, kept me in perspective. He was the most real

Coaching Mindset And Athlete Discipline

SPEAKER_03 28:45

and honest martial artist. He makes he Koreans should be embarrassed because this was a guy who's a true martial artist. He lived it, whatever. Every Korean that I've known in the sport, in the art, with the exception of maybe one or two, they don't do martial arts. They do, they do taekwondo, take one dough, take one's dough, as uh Joe Corley likes to say. It's all about the dollar for them. Um, this guy, C Fu Paul Visio, true martial artist, warrior, whatever. And he kept it real for me because he didn't let me stray. By the way, when people around him strayed, what he thought was straying, they were gone. He threw them out of the school. Like they were gone. There was no equivocating with him. So I was honored and to this day, still honored to have both of those individuals. I've had other individuals. Well, we have a mutual friend, Dr. Capeman. He's that guy for me. He's the guy, you know, I remember a plane ride where you know he had a set me right on course. He kind of talked to me and he was like, Okay, so what exactly went so wrong for you, right? Like, you're so angry about all this stuff. What went wrong for you so much? You know, seems like it kind of worked out for you. What are you so angry about? And I was carrying all this residual anger from the Korean leadership at that point that was corrupt and had cheated and stuff, and I just never let it go. And this was like years later, and I had to realize, I had to reckon with myself he was right. You know, so I think you do need those people in your life.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

Yeah. What do you think about like you know, talking about like okay, as an athlete, I know like I don't know what you guys think about when people I people say you need more experience, you know. And I for me, I I don't like the word, and I'll I'll talk about that, I'll get my interpretation, but like, you know, this in our era right now, Hyung, it's a big thing for people to go to opens, people travel opens. And thinking that that's the way to get these guys, you know, stepping up. TJ, what do you what what's your what's your take on that? Like going to opens for the sake of going to opens? Because it seems to be a big thing right now.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Yeah, that's what we call development right now. That's not true. That's what we're calling sport development. We're calling traveling to open sport development. Obviously, there's some training camps, blah blah, but that's what we're that's what we're pushing on people that in our community that if we can go to open, your kid will automatically get better. And I think we talked about it a a while ago. Some good experience, some bad experiences. But I tell my guys all the time, we're not going over to Europe just to go over to Europe. Like it's a it's an impossibility to me. I don't like to lose. Like, we're not about to go over there and just just to say we're going or do things above our means. If you're we're not we're not competitive at nationals, we're not on the national team. I think, but again, that's a good point. We've degraded this whole system. I mean, even having, I think this year for the seniors, you could potentially have was it 10 plus people at team trials? Isn't it top 10 qualify for team trials or something like that? If I'm correct, Michael, something like that. So we've we've opened the floodgates, and again, we're calling that development, oh, more opportunity. But if the system was there, it literally goes like this, and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller. And there should be four good people at team trials. There should be four strong competitors plus the national team from the year before, blah, blah, blah, that whole thing. But we've we've degraded that whole system. So now we're telling people, even though your kids are not on the national team, even though they're not, you know, even formidable in the the divisions, we're just gonna go to opens, or we're especially on the senior side. We're gonna travel to all these opens and do all these things and call it development, call it getting better. I mean, that's not I don't, I don't, I don't think it's the way personally. I I think people do need, like you use the word experience a little bit, but the right people need the right experiences at the right times. And I think now we're just selling it for everybody.

SPEAKER_05 32:35

I think I I have this thing, this little coaching model that I that I go with, and I say it's coaching, camps, and competitions. And it's in that order for a reason. You need good coaching, you need to go to camps to have some you know, exchange experience to see where you're at, and eventually you have to get the competitions because you gotta see if it freaking works for real, right? We can't just stay in a bubble. But I think people do the opposite. Everyone's quick to go to a competition, they're going to all these fly-by-the-night camps thinking that they're gonna get some secret magic motion, and then they go home and they don't really have good coaching on a daily basis. They're not working on the things that are important when we talk about building an athlete, you know, from this from the mental standpoint, from the physical standpoint, from the structure standpoint of simple things like movement and blocking and stepping and distance control, ring management. Of course, we gotta have the technical things, um, you know, technical skills, you know, to be able to implement those things. But that's my model. My model is coaching, camps, and competition. And TJ, you you live that. I mean, I've I've done that forever. It just seems like it's a it's a model that that

Why Open Tournaments Aren’t Development

SPEAKER_05 33:45

lasts the test of time, right? I mean, I think about like my footwork and steps that I used to that I came up with my 25 years ago. It's still relevant right now. I used to talk about three things because we gotta know how to move. Well, but I I talk about three things. I said you have three most important things the Rhinoff's kick, the cut kick, and in the old days I did cover punch. Think about right now how punch, well, it just got taken away. But think about how punch was scoring, how cut kick is now so in, and runoff's kick is rhinoffs kick, it's back leg, it's up all its low, high, it's it's still Rhinoff's kick. Like I I coin those three things as a triangle of your basis for Taekwondo. Not axe kick, not back kick, not not, you know, none of that stuff. And it's funny that it's just a solid thing, but I think everyone's the opposite because I know I I bring that up because I know everyone's doing these things, the these training camps, and you know, go to an open and you'll get experience. And it's not true. You go to that open, you get your butt kicked. Yeah, you went to another country and yeah, you saw some different things. I I know that's part of getting better, but what they truly need to do is have good coaching at home and quit trying to use this snake oil that's gonna get you to the promised land by going to all these opens. You're gonna just keep getting your butt kicked over and over and over. Oh my gosh, Paraguay won.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 35:08

Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 35:10

What?

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Paraguay won. Paraguay won, they beat Germany.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

Penalty.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Oh, penalty. So they won or they didn't win? They won. They won. Penalty kicks.

SPEAKER_06 35:32

Anyway, sorry. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 35:34

No, it's all good. Uh it's it's funny though. Like, I mean, we talk about like development and everything. I mean, I see kids, and when I watch some of the cadets and the juniors and the youth and all the all the different divisions, it's funny you see some of the choices of kicks they choose. You see kids get into the clinch and want to turn their knee down and you know, whatever, monkey kick the inside before they just kind of switch their feet and do a regular roundhouse kick to the body. I think we're I think our whole sport's there. We're we're teaching, again, if you want to call it high-level taekwondo, we're we're taking all these, you know, gurus and people going, do it like this, and you gotta flip, flop, twist, call, pull your leg and grab your ankle and hit them behind their head and you know, before they land and catch a tennis ball. We're doing all that stuff before we're just doing a basic cut, kick, up all round kick. And I and I and I think you see it in our our kids as they get higher level. There's a few good kids, obviously. Yeah. But I I think we our supporters went too far. It's too gimmicky. We don't, we always I think we we get in a uh place where they they try to show their value through the flash or do this, do this, do this. Where most of our kids are are not high level, they're they're kids, and they should probably just be roundhouse kick, front leg, round house kick, upball, whatever you want to call it, sidekick, and how to stand and keep their bodies even.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

But see, isn't that what isn't that what Korea is doing, what Russia's doing, what Kazakhstan is doing, what Uzbekistan is doing? You don't see a thousand of those opens.

SPEAKER_04 36:53

Yeah, I got a question. Do you think do you think at their obviously everybody wants to win when it comes to cadets and juniors and maybe the coaching model, and I don't I don't really know. This is a question. But do you think they are focused on winning, winning at the cadet and junior levels? Or are they still closer to let's develop these kids through and you know, this guy, this kid's gonna be this, but they stick to a certain structure at the bottom that kind of produces an athlete that can kind of then go in a different direction?

SPEAKER_05 37:19

100% they're trying to win because they have pride, just like everybody. That's the goal of fight. No one's going there just to see what happens, especially those countries. But 1,000%, they're looking at the future. They're looking to identify kids. And so they're looking for that hot cadet that turns into a good junior. And they say, can we, can we, can we get one of our six cadets or juniors into our senior program, what one, two, or three of them at a young age. That's what they're looking to do. So, no, they're not putting a premium on winning, but they're definitely putting a premium on preparation and putting out a good product so that they can translate into the next level. So, I mean, I I don't know what our actually I know what our domestic coaches do. Our domestic coaches, they I mean, they'll tout how many cadet team members and junior team members and and what medal they got at the Pan Am, and if they're lucky enough to get a medal at the Worlds, and you'll never see them again when they get to juniors, and you probably won't see them again when they get to seniors. It's all about this laser focus on this this level. I guess that's fine. It is heavy, right? It's heavy. It's not gonna get us to where we want to get to. It really isn't. I mean, you gotta take it serious, and you definitely wanna win at those levels, right? There is some, there's some there's some follow-up. You know, there's there's definitely a trail of people that have done well in the cadet junior into seniors into the Olympics. And then there's some outliers. I mean, Hyung, you were an outlier. I was a little, I mean, they didn't have that stuff when I fought, you know, but there was there's some people that don't mature or develop at a cadet junior or senior, and that's okay too. But I think generally speaking, you do need to focus on that. But my point to you, TJ and Hyung, was when you look at these other big countries, maybe it's because they don't have the resources, but they're not traveling all over the world. I mean, they just stay at home. The Russians, they just train at home. You see these training camps and how they put these kids and all of a sudden you get an eight, sixteen, seventeen-year-old kid whooping everybody in the in the featherweight division. Like, what? How does that happen? You know? And same thing with have had we ever seen this girl in 49 that we talked about, that little Russian girl? Like, never even seen her. She goes to the Grand Prix challenge, she smacks everybody up, she just won the Grand Prix. Like, that that's not from experience of going all over the world and competing. I'm sure she has some, but it's from training and drilling and refining her game and understanding how her little body works against those big bodies, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Korea does that, and Kazan does that, and Uzbekistan does that. And I think the good countries think like that. They think more of the development than right now.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

That's just you have to. Again, if we're trying to, if we're trying to win, like I said, I always get stuck on the fact

The Coaching Camps Competition Model

SPEAKER_04 40:20

that I I want to wake up one day and feel like there is a a full, a full, I hate using the word pipeline, because I don't really think that's what the the preferred word is. But like I just when we we do feel like that. We have we have 20, 30, 40, 50 people. I always feel like the competition level amongst our group in the United States was high. But we've taken all importance off of for me personally, tell me if I'm wrong. I think I try to push for my guys how it's important to become the national champion. Because being a national champion is being a national champion. Obviously, we can say the water, the levels are a little up and down across the board, but I still think it's the the the governing body's job to make sure people understand it's important to be the national champion. We're removing kids out of the system. They make the national team once they're out of the system, they're off on this other pathway, going to all these opens. You know, obviously you're gonna end up in the top 20 or whatever it is if you're going to more opens and everyone else is not going to more opens. But we're not forcing them back in front of our guys at home, I feel like. I feel like there's too many people missing out of the system to say we're trying to develop or or keep the bottom going. You know, we get we get first place losers here. And I don't mean that to be rude, but we know there's a difference between winning nationals and the person that's on the national team. And they may not even ever fight each other. They may not even have to ever fight each other later on, you know? So it's just it's it's hard for me to see the the connectivity between the the internal conflict we're supposed to have in this country to how it translates once we once we actually leave, because we're taking all of our big dogs away from the fight a little bit. And I think if we're dealing with younger kids too, they should still be in the mix. I don't care if you're at the academy, I don't care where you are, but if you're 18, 19, 20, and I mean some think about it this way some of these kids for forwent making the national team and took a wild card to go to the the the Pan Am Championships, and now they're not technically on our national team. You're not a national team member, and that's that's weird for me. Because I think that's gotta be the the first part, you know? You're you're not. You you took a wild card because of something else you did good, and now we're not on the national team. But I I think again, like I said, we've we kind of demoted that whole thing. It doesn't really mean anything to be on the national team anymore, and that's the that's the problem.

SPEAKER_05 42:24

Yeah, I noticed there's a lot of like quote unquote names that are not fighting at this national championships.

SPEAKER_04 42:31

Because we have options. We can go and you know get some little local, not local, little open points and say we're higher because we picked some good, decent opens where there weren't that many people at or we did good. Let's say we did good and it was great. But like, I still think you need the internal conflict. I still think all of our top we're leading to LA 28. We should be flashing big talent in front of other people too. Like, they should be there. Don't tell me the schedule's too complicated or they're gonna get hurt fighting bad people. If that's the case, that's just silly because we're still fighters, you know. You don't you only want to fight the high-level matches as if you can't get hurt fighting a high-level match or whatever the reasoning is behind it. I just I just feel like they all should be there. I feel like they all should be there for the the building, for the development, for the continuation of our sport to even be in front of our cadets and juniors. I think all that stuff's important.

SPEAKER_05 43:19

Here's one for you, young, you can because you definitely seen this in your era. I know who you're gonna say. Do you think that coaches nowadays have the stamina to continue to make champions? So one of my pet peeves is I see these coaches that get this pretty good athlete. That's I'm gonna give the benefit of the doubt, a great athlete, really good, makes a cadet or junior a national team, and also this coach walk around like they got it. And I don't know if it's because the athlete was just a pretty good athlete, like a superstar, and they just happen to find like you said, I think you said TJ one time you said, you know, when am I gonna get that six foot three, you know, flyweight, walk in my room, you know? And like, do you think coaches have the stamina to continue to do it, replicate it over and over and over? Because I going to the pipeline thing, I feel like we're getting these one offs all the time. There's a few coaches, and we can talk about we can say names and names, but there's a lot of ones that kind of come up fast and then are gone. You never hear from them again. And young, you I know like in Korea, Kim Sayuk, one of your favorite you know guys, like this guy he produced it for freaking decades. You know?

SPEAKER_03 44:35

And what do you think you know what's the what's the reason what these these certain people have the stamina and others don't I think the challenge is that you know you always have to remember that sport is cyclical. We've talked about this right so the energy and the unique net is cyclical and it it needs to cycle. So if you think about great dynasties whether it's sport teams like the Warriors or you know name whatever team you want they're on top for a while and one of the reasons is you can be on top for a while and then everybody's hunting you. And it's just a matter of time when you're being hunted that one of the weasels or one of the jackals is going to get you. You can be king of the jungle for only so long, right? And that and you know my favorite movie you know true romance um guy says you know not true king of king of New York king of New York and he says you know the lion he just sits there he sits there and then one day he just gets up kills everybody remind him who the king of the jungle is um and that's the other part of it you can only be you can only be king of the jungle for so long before somebody takes you to task right and so that's number one and that's that's evidenced by Montana's program that's evidenced by Howard University's program that's evidenced by my program. You know I was putting three men on the team for eight years in a row. And then there comes a point in time where the energy of me, the energy of the people in the room, the energy of the athletes the energy of the the nature of transition. So unless you prepare for sustained competitive excellence like USA swimming does the pipeline is deep and the guy the guy what you don't know right now is the guy who's winning now his replacement's right behind him and his replacement or her replacement is right behind them. So they they're deep by four five in their searching for talent. And they do this in soccer clubs and that's just the nature of it. So a coach to keep the critical first of all the interest to do it that's a Kim say up or a Koemin. These guys had an interest to do it. They were living in the country where they could do it they were given a resource to do it and people were gravitating to them it's a peak performance Mont Moreno. People are coming to peak performance because they see the longevity of it they see the potential for them to be successful. So it self-feeds when the when the forest stops making wood for wildlife fires you know that forest dies. It's got there's a there's a rebirth that has to happen and it happens in sport teams. Actually the destruction of a dynasty is the very thing it needs to become a dynasty again. And that's happened in soccer in England and Coach Morano probably knows the names more than I do but you know Chelsea man city man you know you know the list goes on Barcelona whatever you know um they get that kid that Yamal who is a special kid right like he's not hype that kid's special he can do special things. Couldn't do him the other night but he can do special things. So I think that's part of the I think that's part of the reality of sport. And that's what makes sport beautiful you know you said it coach Morani you said something which was remember you're you're renting the championship you don't own the world championship. You rented your you're not the greatest in the world you're renting it you're just a visitor right so treat it right you know and I think that's the best advice anybody anybody could take or whatever. You know there was a moment when we were all the best at something

National Team Disconnect And Pay To Play

SPEAKER_03 48:10

somewhere and then that moment's gone. Right the other day some guy called me an old man and I had a look in the mirror for a minute and I was like actually I think he's right I am an old man. So I'm I'm older now so I'm not the guy in my mind that I think I am.

SPEAKER_04 48:25

So I mean that's a long answer to the short question but I I think I I I I think that the internal competition uh point you just made is important. There was always the number one guy the number two guy and there was a number three guy. Like I feel like we had more of that when we're competing you know the number one guy was being pushed by the number two and number three. I think we see a disconnect between competition. We see up here and then we see everyone else just kind of flickering in but you know when when the organization makes statements like we the organization are going to make the best tack window fighters in the nation like when the the CEO is saying these things where then that goes to show you why it is the way it is their mission is to be better than everyone else in this country which is obviously lopsided when you got all the money when you got all the planning when you got all the resources when you have access to everything when you make all the rules why do you even need this to to state that obviously you you should you should no one no one should be able to stand in a ring with you guys. You should and you tried that before with all those grand slam things and then it got a little weird when your guys started getting tested by some of these coaches that were doing the right things in those situations and you know causing tough matches and whatever so now they've just completely severed it there there is no connectivity. They're going we're gonna be the best in this country we're gonna make the best athletes here all the rest of you guys we're gonna pat you on the back along the way you're gonna try a little bit but that's why the coaches I mean I'll go on the opposite of your question coach right now say maybe the longevity and the energy is dead because there is no end game. There's no end game. There is no way for me to go I can take a kid and there's no guarantee that I'm gonna be at the the junior championships or the Pan Am championships to keep growing with this kid. And maybe that allows me to keep growing as a coach you know we they have they have control of everything they keep making rules by rules they keep giving people titles of coaching Olympic coach this coach this coach so now they can you know make everyone feel okay when they say your kid's gonna go to junior worlds with this coach who's an Olympic coach but you don't know my kid you don't you don't know anything and they're paying and they're not paying for it again we can go back to that but like that's why it's it is like this there's no connectivity there is no connectivity you had a guy like Steven Lopez five time world champion Olympic gold medalist two time Olympic gold medalist and every year he was at team trials for the most part right yeah one day he always had to defend yeah he always had to defend it he had to defend it he had to come back he had to humble himself restate his head he had to come and defend himself against people in this country that saw his legacy that saw how much good stuff he did and he had to stand in front of him and still beat him and he had to prove it on those days I got to stand in front of the ring with him in a in the Olympic division for negative 80 a whole nother reason but like almost I was close I was close was there a pot was there a pot was there a positive 80 like negative like negative in attitude or negative in weight I was little oh under under 80 under 80 80 yeah no no I thought it was like negative like oh I'm so negative dude and like you got to fight in the negative 80s. No it should have been 68 there but that's all a story for another day but there is no connectivity so you see a guy like him who has gotten all the Olympic medals all the world medals and he was always in our system in the United States fighting and now we've taken these kids literally when I say out of the system some of them not there. They don't have a need to be there you know they work them around we save them. So it's interesting because we talked about athlete development we talked about coaching development or do they have the stamina and you're saying because of the system on top it's almost deflated everything is that maybe if these coaches had the stamina they're almost like why why do it all the time let me let me let me uh let let me ask you a question so here's the question so why should uh brown the color of poop do anything he's gifted right he's gifted I don't mean gifted as a coach he's he can't lose he can't lose enough he he's he gets paid for losing so why should he do anything he doesn't have to perform they fired before the guy before they left the World Cup they fired three coaches already like they fired them before they even got on a plane to come home they canceled the plane and made the guys fly back commercial of a country yeah yeah guess what right and so like these guys don't have a performance standards and do you know why they don't have to they don't have to nobody's asking them to perform they don't have to perform for what reason because we think they think they are performing there we're telling them where we are performing though please I don't know I mean there's only some of us that I'm just being honest nobody thinks what's i i mean they've convinced a lot of people that what they do is good i've had a lot of i've had a lot of conversations with a lot of coaches that go well this this and this and I'm like well you got one billion dollars to travel around and do all this like what's what's the level of success we yeah you know that's your standard you know that's your standard you know you you got a lot more money than when I was competing right our we didn't have that kind of money to travel around we were kind of restricted to the opens and stuff that we did well that that was one of my biggest things we were having to take a lot of big shots against these countries at the grand prize and they were always competing against each other and like but now it's not like that these these guys can travel around the world and they talk about the grand price they got a lot of money yeah and a lot of money yes and a lot of money and things like of course you should you should be better but this should be you should be better than this I don't care about the comparison let's say the comparison is like this between how it was and how it is and I don't even think that's it but you should be this much better you have to you have more first of all you say gifted if you're gifted the best athletes in the country you gifted the best athletes they're already excelling you should be able to take them to the stratosphere with the money the resources and the talent that you've been gifted how can you lose seven years in and we got one bona fide superstar one who who's the bona fide superstar CJ CJ come on he's the best in our country he's not a superstar but you can't use the word superstar he's a clown he's a TikTok clown he's not a no no I'm not that's like I don't sit here and I'm not gonna hear that I'm not I'm going by my standard kiss kiss my ass on standards. You know like my point is you don't you you don't get that but that's in other words you got I wanted to say this I wanted to say this last week and I feel like we always end up here you know people hear our opinions and I know they hear your opinion which is very strong but it's because you're protective of what that kid should be it's not because you're hating it's not because you see the level of skill you know where he's come from you see what he's able to do and you're you're calling bullshit you're calling bullshit you're saying that he should be miles and miles better and I agree I don't think he should lose with this in in a lot of these 80 matches that I I I see and the way they play out like he should be here we should he should be the there's no way and that's but that's what people understand. So I I I say that because I want to clarify because it's never a a bad place we're sitting here and I'm sitting here going we're calling bullshit because we know what that kid can do.

SPEAKER_05 55:32

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

Yeah I I don't but by the way I I could care less what they think about what I say. I mean what I say is true it don't matter what I don't really give a rat's ass of what people think about what I say. And this isn't like a dig. You know I owed an apology to a friend of ours which I apologize to and and talk to and try to help on some other stuff that he's doing. That guy what that was a true nonpology because I misspoke in this situation I'm not misspeaking. He's a talented athlete this isn't a dig on him this is the dig on the coaches that don't know how to coach a talented athlete and so he's on the road to becoming a wish I could would have had should I been could have been and that's that's neither here nor there.

SPEAKER_04 56:11

I think that's what people don't understand about coaching. It's the mismanagement of assets and you call them I call them assets because that's what they are to them they're mismanagement of these these athletes like you go back and you talk about the Anastasia I know we went over it quickly last week but you have a girl online like going I let this 40 year old convince me that something I did wasn't special by winning an Olympic gold medal like that's crazy for her to say and you can call it crazy we can all sit back and act like we don't see it and we don't comment on it. And I've done it a couple times where I pointed out these these posts that these athletes are making they're saying something to you and whether you think it's good or bad she's telling you that this experience in her life was mismanaged and she got I don't know I don't know how she's not in this sport. I don't understand how she runs off a gold medal and never to be seen again like it's it shouldn't work that way. We're we're losing a lot of we talk about top talent like what explain to me how that happens I don't think that happens in other rooms it doesn't it doesn't make any sense it it doesn't add up you can say these athletes are this or they're crazy or whatever but a lot of it happens the same on repeat so if the athletes are constantly changing and the athlete involved aren't the same then that that that that that consistency factor has to be the coaching has to be how they're dealing with situations. But you have people complaining and walking away from the sport and we as coaches sometimes sit and pretend we don't see it.

SPEAKER_05 57:27

We all talk about it a little bit but y'all saw what this girl said y'all know exactly who she's talking about she said the name you're gonna now she's just crazy we just deem her crazy I don't think she's crazy I've seen it I've heard it I've i've I've listened to it I don't think she's crazy I think she's mismanaged I think our whole national our whole national team system and obviously this organization is mismanaged you don't it doesn't make any sense zero zero zero she should have been on board to go do something special get get multiple Olympic medals period it's funny because again you say the athletes just keep recycling this and again I'm not I'm just gonna use I'll use the situation you know when when an athlete tells me in his first time first first trip to to train at the academy the first conversation that he he hears is one at one athlete tell the coach to fuck off like I don't want to do that I'm gonna go sit over here and he says go ahead sit over there do it and like again how does our how does our room get like that and so we go back to 2020 2021 and this this again superbly talented person gifted with a body gifted a way to score in this system in this era almost unbeatable like all of a sudden it's just gone and then we get another high achiever at the at the biggest level same thing haven't seen them for a year I hope the best for them I we don't even know we know there's rumors about this rumor about that but my point is the room keeps getting like that it keeps having these kind of flare ups how why whatever I mean I mean we've got all you got national team coaches yeah but I don't care now we got national team coaches quote unquote leaving the room and taking their athletes back with them and starting their own programs.

SPEAKER_04 59:21

I don't I again if I've been sold and told that this is the best place to be and you got someone that's on the inside going nah this can't be we're gonna go do something different and for whatever reason maybe it's an opportunity whatever I don't care what the reason is but if this is where you're supposed to be quote unquote what you're telling people why would you even think about leaving why why would you even think about leaving because because you get in there and you realize it's all about access and money if he's figured out a way that he can fund this team and get them to travel around it's the same thing. He's going maybe I can do at the same level if I got the money that's that's what this sport has come down to access money the ability to travel if you can travel more you could be someone kind of important in this game. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

It's almost a play to play or a pay to play I mean we talked about this in soccer young it's close it's some of these kids I mean there's some people I gotta I gotta let you guys say hello to somebody say hello what's up you owe me you you owe me a second you owe me sir yes sir yeah don't forget I'll be out of bed tell him I want taco thank you for the help another another well no surprise to anyone the um no taco I think taco but the um taco taco the um the do they have tacos in north north carolina and I'm not talking about pink tacos but anyway I got a couple good taco places I had some of the best tacos I had some of the best tacos I had in Oklahoma City Oklahoma City now I belong to some Facebook page where they're um they put up every day somewhere where there's a Puerto Rican community in every place pretty much everywhere in the world I'm gonna be in New York City this weekend with my daughter so I'm gonna go run around try to get some good Puerto Rican food but maybe I'll try to say hello to Jin who hasn't said hello to me in 40 or 50 years.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:17

I'm gonna tell him I'm gonna see him tomorrow

Grand Prix Weak Fields And Bad Scheduling

SPEAKER_05 1:01:20

40 or 50 years. Oh he's not even gonna be there so what what the hell says that hey speaking of the Grand Prix the Grand Prix coming up and we got President's Cup Grand Prix Women's World Championship that's not it's it's further down the road but um man what's going on with the Grand Prix I thought it was going to be stacked with everybody one to 32 and they're getting the like the athletes number 50 and stuff like that. Like number ones number twos number threes and not showing up like I don't know what's going on in the world. It's weird. It's a weird like it's it's watering it down.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:56

It's nothing more than like an open now open for 60 points what do you think that is though because we're going I thought going into two years we're gonna be at everything big you know you gotta that's I mean I'm sure that's some country strategy right there's some people like I don't think the United States is going to miss a grand prix like you know what I mean I know they know they gotta go there and just get do what they got to do but um why do you think that happens though? Do you think they can afford they're like ah well we can afford to make this up later is it injuries is it is it scheduling because I know a lot of tournaments get scheduled on top of each other where you're trying to prioritize one or the other what's important what's not important but for me I think they got to figure out how to protect the grant it should be one through 32. It should be the best of the best always I don't know what you do to fix it but it's it's crazy we're that low already.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:42

Scheduling is one and I also think that they fit people figured out that these points get deleted by 50% next year. So are they important important to get you kind of where you need to be or position yourself but next year it's the home run points it's everything's a hundred percent right I think so I think that you know I don't think anyone's gonna be so far ahead that they don't feel like with a big win next year they keep up. So for example you win a grand prix right now I don't see anybody smoking everybody in two or three grand prix and having a 150 point lead you know I'm saying I I I think there's gonna be some parody there um when all the points get deducted and stuff like that. So if you're within striking distance 30 40 points and you win one grand prix next year you have you're you're leading. You know if you win your Continental Championship remember next year there's three Grand Prix, the Grand Prix Final Continental Championships and the President's Cup. And then the 40 open points there's a lot of and the world championships and the world championships.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:48

So I think next year's the injury thing or it's an important thing. But I wouldn't I mean the Grand Prix should still be the Grand Prix I agree.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:55

I agree with you but they're not I mean I used to look at them and kind of go wow wow wow but they've they've they've taken a hit and I was surprised at looking at this list in Muju it's uh yeah it's a little weak. There's a lot of the top guys that are not fighting. So there's still some good wins in some of the categories but some they're not so we'll see how it plays out you know but maybe it's a better opportunity for some of those I'm gonna say middle line athletes uh you know those middle ranked athletes if they can kind of get a decent draw and maybe just pop through to give themselves a little position but not impressed but we'll see. And Mu's gonna be K K2 so I think that's gonna be a little bit heavier of a shot so you're not gonna see so many little touches.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:41

We'll see. When is Muji?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:44

So the president's cup is at the end of August and then it's the first week of September first week of September I think it's September 3rd 4th 5th yeah all right I'm going to Peru to China to Korea back to back to back. It's gonna be brutal but that's that's the scheduling part that's just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:03

I mean that's unacceptable yeah I think WT I mean they you got they gotta take control of that schedule maybe they have to go we put our schedule out by October whatever the year before this is what WT is doing. And then you allow people to work into the open spots and bid or but they gotta work with them to get this to make it make sense it's it's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:29

Yeah I mean I think not only that I think they need to have like a certain time and we've talked about this with other coaches have a a a season like I mean they kind of did it like now all the content of the championships have to be done before May and then they have the seasons of the uh of the grand prix so but they need to get a little bit better a little better structured at the top yeah I know this week is a big week with both

Closing Thoughts And Next Segment Tease

SPEAKER_05 1:06:00

uh national championships you know um in different different states so maybe next week we can kind of wrap it up with you know kind of see how this thing all plays out how how people did and and look at it like that but good stuff guys I mean I'm I am excited because it is here and I don't gotta travel I can go back and forth and get back in my bed so that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:18

But also that means I don't get off work this week.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:21

I gotta I gotta kind of do both I'm at the school then I'm at the uh the competition so we're doing a little bit of a I'm only here because we're in Charlotte for you because I wasn't planning to come and I said you know what let me come I can't be not see TJ in his town so I came yes sir just kind of hanging out hanging out downtown so I'll see you tomorrow for sure yes sir 100% well and all right Grandmaster disaster we're coming up we're coming up on uh we're coming up on an hour it's been a moment peace love and uh prosperity and don't forget mo we're gonna have a uh special segment here maybe in the beginning of it where I've reached out to a very special individual who could explain to us all what memorandums of understanding are we are out