Episode 1: Welcome to the SwiftKick Podcast

Welcome to the SwiftKick Podcast, live from San Diego, California! This introductory episode of the SwiftKick Martial Arts Podcast highlights some of the exciting topics Brian will be discussing including fitness, martial arts, culture, business, parent resources and much, much more! In this short podcast, Brian Cowell introduces himself and briefly explains his martial arts journey. He explains how he started as a small, shy child, growing into a confident academic wanting to make a difference in his community through the power of marital arts. Brian also discusses what makes SwiftKick Martial Arts San Diego different from other martial art schools in San Diego, explaining how he carved a niche market and combined different elements of various martial arts programs to create the ultimate self-defense school. Brian's passionate shines through as he discusses teaching and and helping others develop and see their potential. 

Do you live in the San Diego Area? Interested in giving SwiftKick a try? Now you can! SwiftKick Martial Arts San Diego and SwiftKick Martial Arts Carlsbad are offering FREE trial martial arts classes with kid martial arts programs and adult martial art training! Try out San Diego’s #1 Martial Arts School! Don't choose between jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, taekwondo, karate or wrestling! Just choose SwiftKick! Click the link below to sign up today! We have schools in Carlsbad and Rancho Bernardo! https://swiftkickma.com/free-class-2/

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➊ Learn more about SwiftKick's Founder, Brian Cowell 👋

➡️ https://swiftkickma.com/about-the-founder/

➋ Watch SwiftKick's Testimonials! 🥋

➡️ https://swiftkickma.com/about-san-diego-martial-arts/testimonials/

➌ Visit our FREE Community Events page 🎉

➡️ https://swiftkickma.com/free-community-events/

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➡️ https://swiftkickma.com/specialty-programs/ninja-camps/

➎ Check out our Google Reviews! ⭐

➡️ San Diego School https://maps.app.goo.gl/mL6mUL228bpRUVSq6

➡️ Carlsbad School https://maps.app.goo.gl/KvQ...

Transcript

00;00;05;00 - 00;00;23;44
Hi, my name is Brian Cowell. I'm the owner and founder of Swift Kick Martial Arts. Welcome to the Swift Kick podcast. We're going to be talking things like fitness, martial arts, culture, business, parent resources, things that we're training in our program. And we're really excited to have this, podcast started. A lot of times I'll be having a guest with me, today I'm just going to be doing a solo.

00;00;23;49 - 00;00;38;36
So I started martial arts at the young age of three. My mom kind of noticed that I was really shy. I had some issues with, gross motor skills and fine motor skills. I was kind of. I was preemie, and I had some of those challenges. And so she had heard somewhere martial arts might be really good for that.

00;00;38;36 - 00;00;57;49
And when I started, I loved it. I thrived in it. It was something that I really, really enjoyed. And I was kind of in and out of, that activity. Up until about middle school, my dad was a, a traditional sports guy. So baseball, soccer, basketball. I played all those sports as a young kid, but I was never in love with any of them.

00;00;57;54 - 00;01;11;29
Probably around the time that I was in middle school, my my dad kind of said, all right, hey, you got to choose a path, you know, what are you going to be focusing on? And the first thing out of my mouth was martial arts. I think some of what inspired that, too, is, I actually went to a really rough middle school.

00;01;11;34 - 00;01;27;55
There's a lot gang related activity at the school that I was at, and, I kind of was scared. Looking back, I think that kind of inspired my journey for really honing in on learning how to defend myself so that I could have that confidence walking around campus, making sure that I felt like I could handle myself if something came up.

00;01;27;59 - 00;01;47;25
Then I started cross-training in a lot of several styles that are more applicable, like boxing and kickboxing and jujitsu. So as I kind of started training in martial arts, I became very passionate about it. It completely changed my life. I went from a shy kid to someone with a lot of confidence. I was a kid who kind of stood in the corner, who didn't talk to anybody, who then got in front of audiences and spoke.

00;01;47;30 - 00;02;03;40
And my martial arts training is responsible for that. And so it completely changed my life. By the time I was in high school, I kind of got interested in teaching. I was about 15 years old as a as a junior instructor. I started helping out and I fell in love with that aspect to passing on the knowledge, how it changed me.

00;02;03;45 - 00;02;22;04
I was able to now impact somebody else's life and use martial arts as a vehicle to change their life too. And that made me super passionate about it. And I kind of did that job all the way through high school and all the way through college. And, while I was in college, I was studying psychology. My undergrad is in, social psychology.

00;02;22;04 - 00;02;40;14
I kind of was really into the research field. My expertise was focusing in on self esteem and how that impacts our ability to perform in school and in work and those kind of things. I worked with a lot of leading experts in those fields. Matter of fact, I was on track. I wanted to get my my PhD in psychology.

00;02;40;19 - 00;02;57;42
But while I was conducting a lot of this research, I kind of came to the conclusion I'd rather be doing something on the forefront about it. And so while martial arts has always been a passion, and while teaching had always been a passion, I never really saw it as a career path until I had a couple things come up.

00;02;57;44 - 00;03;13;08
One, I started realizing that while I enjoyed all this research, I couldn't see myself sitting behind a desk all day. To active and I and I, and I like to be proactive and not sit behind a desk all day and do something about what I'm researching. I wanted to do something about it versus just kind of research it.

00;03;13;08 - 00;03;30;31
And second, I had a major injury when I was in my early 20s and I had to have an extensive shoulder surgery at that time, and also by doctors. You'll never train martial art again. Now imagine being 20. I think I was 20 or 21 years old being told you'll never train martial arts again. And it just hit me.

00;03;30;31 - 00;03;53;25
I kind of entered a state of depression. I was, really worried about my future. I was, even though martial arts wasn't a career path in mind, it was the thing I loved the most. And when that was taken away from me, I kind of felt like I'm going to dive all in. And so kind of against the judgment of my family and everybody there, you know, hey, you're on this career path, you're going to get a PhD, you're going to be a researcher.

00;03;53;25 - 00;04;10;56
You know, you're on the education route. I decided to, instead start a martial arts studio. So at 22 is when I started Swift Kick Martial Arts. And what inspired me that that inspired me to start Swift Kick. And what makes Swift Kick a little bit different? I kind of looked around at all the different martial arts.

00;04;10;56 - 00;04;26;52
I grew up in it. Look at all the different martial arts programs that are out there. And I saw that there was kind of a niche market that I thought was missing, and that's what kind of gave birth the swift kick. You know, we're not a traditional martial arts school like I grew up in. I grew up in taekwondo, but I really appreciate the character values that come from traditional martial arts.

00;04;26;52 - 00;04;46;12
So we're not an MMA gym, which is what you see out, you know, cage fighting, that sort of thing. And they're doing high level sport martial art. I really love that training. We actually bring that training into Swift Kick, but we kind of partner it with the traditional style of martial arts and helping clients just better themselves, get in good shape and learn how to defend themselves.

00;04;46;12 - 00;05;06;52
So we've kind of carved a niche market for us where we combine those different elements of various martial arts programs that are out there and credits with kick martial arts. I'm really passionate about teaching and and helping others develop and see their potential, and I think a lot of times the best way to do that is through stories and through conversation.

00;05;06;57 - 00;05;25;11
And so I'm really excited about this podcast because I feel like it's going to be a great way to reach the community. So we have parents. I can share my experiences and my expertise that I've learned over the years on how I've been coaching kids for 25 years, and the different things that I've learned help develop kids and adults over the years.

00;05;25;16 - 00;05;43;00
Anybody interested in business? The experiences that I've gained in the 18 years of running this company, starting it at 22 and kind of developing it into a multi-location organization that has served thousands of people over the many years. And, yeah, I think this is going to be a lot of fun, a great way to get resources on those things.

00;05;43;00 - 00;05;59;49
And I'm excited about this podcast. So thanks for joining our very first podcast. Please subscribe to the podcast so that you can get information on future releases of our podcast and you don't miss out. Also, if you happen to be in the San Diego region, we have a studio in Carlsbad, and we also have a studio in Rancho Bernardo and you can register.

00;05;59;49 - 00;06;03;52
Come check us out for free class. The registration is in the link below. Thanks for joining us.