May 16, 2025 • 13 mins
The forthcoming segment features an engaging dialogue with Ms. Lexi Barnes, an exemplary athlete of the week, whose dedication to the art of Taekwondo embodies the quintessence of perseverance and integrity. As we delve into her journey, we uncover her motivations for embarking upon martial arts at a tender age, as well as her aspirations to evolve into a certified instructor. Lexi's insights into her training experiences, reveal a profound commitment to both personal and communal growth within the martial arts community. Through her narrative, we are reminded of the vital importance of courtesy and self-improvement that extends beyond the confines of the dojang. Join us as we celebrate Lexi's accomplishments and explore the ideals that define her as a remarkable young athlete in the ATA Nation.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we explore the importance of perseverance and integrity in Taekwondo, emphasizing the values that guide athletes in their journeys.
- Lexi Barnes, our featured athlete, shares her journey into martial arts, illustrating the significance of passion and determination from a young age.
- As we prepare for district championships, it is crucial to adhere to registration protocols, emphasizing the necessity of online registration to compete.
- Volunteerism within our martial arts community is vital, and we encourage parents to support local events and foster a sense of camaraderie among participants.
- Lexi's aspirations to become a certified instructor highlight the importance of mentorship and giving back to the martial arts community.
- The conversation underscores the importance of being a positive role model, encouraging athletes to embody the principles of courtesy and respect both inside and outside the dojo.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Districts is almost here andwe have another awesome athlete.
Let's get started.
Sir.
I will live with perseverancein the spirit of Taekwondo, courtesy
for fellow students, integritywithin myself and to become a black
belt leader.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
(00:25):
Instructors, students,parents, masters, grandmasters of
Songam Taekwondo.
Welcome Back to the Ata Nation podcast.
This is episode 149.
Next episode 150.
Can you believe it?
It's going to be amazing.
We have so much going on thistime of year because as you know,
(00:48):
we're in postseason district championships.
Everybody's waiting for thosefinal finals.
By the time you hear thisepisode, the final standings might
be out.
I think they will be.
I think when you listen tothis, you'll be able to see those.
Who knows, maybe districtregistration will be really opened
by then.
Who knows?
I don't know because I'mrecording this in the future or in
(01:08):
the past?
In the past.
You're hearing this in thefuture now.
A couple reminders though, aswe get ready for districts, do not
forget you can only registerfor the events that you're qualified.
You can't register foreverything like a regular tournament.
You can only register for thethings you're qualified.
Two, you must register online.
(01:29):
There is no, absolutely noregistration at the door.
You can't do it.
You don't register online.
You will not be able tocompete at districts.
So just pay attention, socialmedia, your instructor, the things
going on online andeverywhere, on to when districts
(01:50):
registrations will be open.
As a guy who helps set updistricts for our Mid America district,
I'm going to ask also a kindof a special plea, parents.
These districts are put on bygroups of schools.
These districts are not run byany one individual school or by ATA
(02:13):
headquarters.
A lot of stuff is done by headquarters.
But the day to day, on thatday, getting people checked in, you
know, doing the wristbands,getting the athletes ready, getting
all the stuff, okay, set upand torn down is all done by local
volunteers.
(02:33):
So I really encourage you togive back to, you know, these areas
that you've been supporting intournaments and whatnot, and volunteer
to help.
Whether that be setting up theday before tearing down after the
event.
There are people who will beneeded in all of these districts
(02:55):
for checking people in asathletes, for doing spectator admission,
for doing the pro shop.
All of that is run by volunteers.
So I really would appreciateit and I think all of our districts
would appreciate if youreached out to your instructor and
were just like, hey, as aparent, I would like to watch my
(03:17):
Kid when they go.
But I would love to be able tovolunteer an hour, two hours to help
out with his event.
I think that would be really awesome.
Okay, let's get to our athleteof the week.
Here we go.
Special guest interview.
(03:42):
Ata Nation.
We're super excited to havewith us today Ms.
Lexi Barnes.
How are you?
Good.
How are you?
I am wonderful.
You are another one of theseawesome athletes of the week.
Can you introduce yourself?
Tell us, like, where youtrain, who your instructors are,
what rank you are, that kindof stuff.
I'm Lexi borens.
I'm a first three black belt.
(04:02):
I train at Wexford ATA inPittsford, Pennsylvania, and my instructors
are Ms.
Stanley and Mr.
Langer.
Excellent.
And what.
What got you?
Well, before that.
How old are you?
I forgot to ask.
Oh, I'm 11 years old.
Perfect.
So what got you into martial arts?
I've always been, like,interested in doing martial arts,
(04:25):
but I never knew what type ofmartial arts I wanted to do.
When I was younger, I did,like, ninja camps and stuff like
that, and I.
I wanted to do karate becauseI didn't know any other martial arts.
And I asked my dad.
I was like, I want to do karate.
I want to learn how to fight.
Be a ninja.
And we did more research intoit, and we found that the AT industry
(04:49):
was the best way to go.
Well, you are not wrong.
That was a great choice.
What age were you when you started?
I was eight.
Eight, perfect.
Okay, fantastic.
Well, that's super cool.
I hear.
Usually we hear lots ofstories about, you know, little boys
that are like, I want to be aninja turtle.
I want to be a.
And not as.
Not as much the lady.
(05:10):
So I love that.
That you were like, I want tobe a ninja.
That's awesome.
Were there any, like, shows oranything that you watched that made
you think you wanted to be,you know, do martial arts?
I like a lot of action shows.
When I was younger, and Iloved the ninja turtles and I even,
like, dressed up like them.
Yeah, I love.
(05:30):
I wanted to be a ninja since Iwas, like, three.
That is so cool.
Which ninja turtle is your favorite?
Raphael.
That was my favorite.
That's a good choice.
But I'm sorry.
Donatello is better.
But, you know, you can haveyour opinion.
It's okay.
Speaking of, then what's yourfavorite weapon to train with?
(05:51):
My favorite weapon to trainwith is either the osundo or the
gumdo.
I like the swords a lot.
Very cool.
I don't hear oh, sung do comeup as much.
And have you done your firstdegree You've done the black belt,
oh Seung do form?
Yes.
Have you done the.
The newest version with thewhole different second half?
(06:12):
No, not yet.
Oh, you gotta check this out.
The new version, the X.
The like the second half,that's all new.
It is so cool.
I.
I just love the new Osung do form.
Really neat.
So I would love to learn it.
Yeah, yeah, you gotta checkthat out sometime.
Okay.
Hey, what, what events are youreally like your favorite thing to
(06:32):
do at tournaments?
My favorite thing to do attournaments, it's usually combat
sporting because I just love.
I just love to.
How you always keep moving and.
Yeah, that's my.
My favorite one.
And I like weapons a lot too.
Weapons a lot.
Weapons.
Competition, sparring.
Competition, Combat sparring.
You were saying before thisthat you had some team sparring training.
(06:54):
So you.
You're on a team?
Yes.
Okay, very good.
You do.
Do you fight with both thetraditional sparring and combat or
just this?
Combat?
Yeah, I do traditional and combat.
Very cool.
What do you think about theteam events?
The team events, they usuallytake a while, but other than that,
(07:14):
I really like being with myfriends and sparring with them.
Even if we don't win all thetime, I like to compete with it.
Yeah, that's one of the thingsI really love.
I always have been a martialarts guy, so I didn't do team sports.
That was never something Iever did.
Um, and I love that teamsparring kind of brings that team
aspect into it.
(07:35):
So you can still do yourindividual sport, which is what I
love to do.
But here's this team aspectthat keeps the.
Still the camaraderie and thethen stuff with the, the life skills
that we do in martial arts.
So I like team.
What if you were going to choose.
I'm not going to say that wedon't have events that we, we love
them all, they're all great.
(07:56):
But if you had to pick onethat was maybe like not your favorite,
which one would it be?
No, my favorite is definitely sparring.
I like sparring a lot, but inmy ring I'm usually like, I'm in
the taller ring, but I'musually like the shortest one and
I get like kicked in the head.
Not.
It's just like.
(08:16):
Yep, I understand, I understand.
I.
You know what, that's so funny.
I was never in the taller ring.
I was always in the smaller ring.
But I, I can totallyunderstand that, you know, as a first
degree.
And that's one of the reasonsI kind of like, I wish they had team
sparring when I was younger,because I think, like, for myself,
(08:39):
I wouldn't have wanted to dosparring that much, but I would have
wanted to be on a team.
So it made me work on sparringbecause I just wanted to be part
of a team that way.
Um, yeah, I'm with you.
I totally understand.
Hey, what are some of thegoals that you have for your martial
arts training?
Maybe short term, long term, whatever.
What kind of goals are youlooking at as a martial artist?
(09:02):
I really like teachingstudents and I am a level zero instructor,
so I just have the red one.
But I really would love to getmy level one and then maybe go to
be a certified instructor someday.
I love that.
And then I also want to beable to, like, have a more confident,
(09:24):
like, thing where I could,like, teach the class by myself,
but with people just to helpme out.
I would love to just, like, goon myself with like, a lesson plan
and stuff like that.
I love that.
I.
I guarantee you will be awesome.
It you'll.
The confidence you build.
We just drove by.
I was out on a drive with mykids and we drove by where this Taekwondo
(09:47):
school that I taught, my veryfirst class was.
And I'm glad there's no video.
They didn't have, like, cellphones and stuff back then because
it was a horrible class.
Um, and I don't.
I think I talk about this.
Um, I just whispered.
I think most of the time itwas bad.
I mean, we didn't have greatinstructor training back then.
They just kind of threw us in.
Um, but I think you're goingto be an awesome instructor.
(10:09):
A great inspiration to lots ofathletes out there.
I'm.
I'm excited to get to see you.
You know, as we go and get tosee all these athletes of the week,
we get to see all these peopleand just to get to see you guys grow
and mature as martial artists,as athletes, as instructors, master
someday.
So what does it mean to you tobe a.
(10:31):
An athlete that goes beyondthe belt?
It means to me, to be anathlete that goes beyond the belt
is not just helping and beingyour best self inside of your martial
arts school.
It means being your best selfout of school.
You know, helping whenever youcan, having courtesy for people and
just being yourself.
(10:53):
I love that.
I think that's so important.
You know, courtesy, beingyourself, those kind of things in
today's world is just, youknow, a really important thing with
so much social media and, youknow, just all the issues going around.
So I love that.
It's great to hear of youngLadies like yourself embracing the
idea of going beyond the belt.
(11:14):
And so we really appreciateyou inspiring us in ATA nation through
being one of these athletes ofthe week and all this amazing training
you're doing.
So congratulations and thanksso much.
Thank you.
Any, any.
I always leave early and thenI sometimes I have people message
me.
I was like I had somethingelse to say.
Anything else you want to sayor you plan to say to at nation out
(11:37):
there or do you think youcovered it all?
I think I covered it all.
Excellent.
Well, I'm glad.
I'm excited to get thisinformation out to let people see
you as an athlete.
Congratulations on beingchosen and thank you for being an
inspiration to all of otherathletes in ATA nation.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
(12:02):
We want to thank Ms.
Lexi Barnes for a great interview.
We really appreciate all theseawesome athletes.
We got more coming all the waythrough June.
It's going to be amazing.
We've got some other neatthings coming as well.
Getting ready.
This is what I'm going to askfor you.
I'm going to ask for you today.
Please head over to YouTube,click the subscribe button for the
(12:22):
ATA Martial Arts YouTube page.
We're getting.
We're putting more shorts onthere for the podcast, some junior
ambassador things.
We've got some other stuff somake sure you hit the subscribe button
over there on YouTube so youget notified of every episode and
you can do that on yourfavorite podcast player as well.
Don't miss out.
Next episode 150 we just gotso many stuff.
(12:45):
So much stuff going on, guys.
55 year anniversary of HA.
Last year we're into a brandnew year, new season of, you know,
competition starting at Worlds.
Oh, guys.
Oh.
I don't know if I can tell you this.
Secret park.
We'll do it at the secret park.
Here we go.
I think that's going to wrapit up for today.
(13:07):
Make sure you're out theregoing beyond the belt.
Okay?
(13:27):
Guys, Guys, I saw the.
So I saw previews.
Senior Master Lee showedpreviews of the medals for world
championships to the licensees yesterday.
Really cool.
You're not going to want to miss.
We got one of those kind ofcombined metal things going on.
I don't know if I'm supposedto tell you guys.
I hope I don't get in trouble,but it's going to be cool.
(13:51):
I can't tell you anymore.
I better be quiet.
They'll fire me.
Okay.
Districts is almost here andwe have another awesome athlete.
Let's get started.
Sir.
I will live with perseverancein the spirit of Taekwondo, courtesy
for fellow students, integritywithin myself and to become a black
belt leader.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
(00:25):
Instructors, students,parents, masters, grandmasters of
Songam Taekwondo.
Welcome Back to the Ata Nation podcast.
This is episode 149.
Next episode 150.
Can you believe it?
It's going to be amazing.
We have so much going on thistime of year because as you know,
(00:48):
we're in postseason district championships.
Everybody's waiting for thosefinal finals.
By the time you hear thisepisode, the final standings might
be out.
I think they will be.
I think when you listen tothis, you'll be able to see those.
Who knows, maybe districtregistration will be really opened
by then.
Who knows?
I don't know because I'mrecording this in the future or in
(01:08):
the past?
In the past.
You're hearing this in thefuture now.
A couple reminders though, aswe get ready for districts, do not
forget you can only registerfor the events that you're qualified.
You can't register foreverything like a regular tournament.
You can only register for thethings you're qualified.
Two, you must register online.
(01:29):
There is no, absolutely noregistration at the door.
You can't do it.
You don't register online.
You will not be able tocompete at districts.
So just pay attention, socialmedia, your instructor, the things
going on online andeverywhere, on to when districts
(01:50):
registrations will be open.
As a guy who helps set updistricts for our Mid America district,
I'm going to ask also a kindof a special plea, parents.
These districts are put on bygroups of schools.
These districts are not run byany one individual school or by ATA
(02:13):
headquarters.
A lot of stuff is done by headquarters.
But the day to day, on thatday, getting people checked in, you
know, doing the wristbands,getting the athletes ready, getting
all the stuff, okay, set upand torn down is all done by local
volunteers.
(02:33):
So I really encourage you togive back to, you know, these areas
that you've been supporting intournaments and whatnot, and volunteer
to help.
Whether that be setting up theday before tearing down after the
event.
There are people who will beneeded in all of these districts
(02:55):
for checking people in asathletes, for doing spectator admission,
for doing the pro shop.
All of that is run by volunteers.
So I really would appreciateit and I think all of our districts
would appreciate if youreached out to your instructor and
were just like, hey, as aparent, I would like to watch my
(03:17):
Kid when they go.
But I would love to be able tovolunteer an hour, two hours to help
out with his event.
I think that would be really awesome.
Okay, let's get to our athleteof the week.
Here we go.
Special guest interview.
(03:42):
Ata Nation.
We're super excited to havewith us today Ms.
Lexi Barnes.
How are you?
Good.
How are you?
I am wonderful.
You are another one of theseawesome athletes of the week.
Can you introduce yourself?
Tell us, like, where youtrain, who your instructors are,
what rank you are, that kindof stuff.
I'm Lexi borens.
I'm a first three black belt.
(04:02):
I train at Wexford ATA inPittsford, Pennsylvania, and my instructors
are Ms.
Stanley and Mr.
Langer.
Excellent.
And what.
What got you?
Well, before that.
How old are you?
I forgot to ask.
Oh, I'm 11 years old.
Perfect.
So what got you into martial arts?
I've always been, like,interested in doing martial arts,
(04:25):
but I never knew what type ofmartial arts I wanted to do.
When I was younger, I did,like, ninja camps and stuff like
that, and I.
I wanted to do karate becauseI didn't know any other martial arts.
And I asked my dad.
I was like, I want to do karate.
I want to learn how to fight.
Be a ninja.
And we did more research intoit, and we found that the AT industry
(04:49):
was the best way to go.
Well, you are not wrong.
That was a great choice.
What age were you when you started?
I was eight.
Eight, perfect.
Okay, fantastic.
Well, that's super cool.
I hear.
Usually we hear lots ofstories about, you know, little boys
that are like, I want to be aninja turtle.
I want to be a.
And not as.
Not as much the lady.
(05:10):
So I love that.
That you were like, I want tobe a ninja.
That's awesome.
Were there any, like, shows oranything that you watched that made
you think you wanted to be,you know, do martial arts?
I like a lot of action shows.
When I was younger, and Iloved the ninja turtles and I even,
like, dressed up like them.
Yeah, I love.
(05:30):
I wanted to be a ninja since Iwas, like, three.
That is so cool.
Which ninja turtle is your favorite?
Raphael.
That was my favorite.
That's a good choice.
But I'm sorry.
Donatello is better.
But, you know, you can haveyour opinion.
It's okay.
Speaking of, then what's yourfavorite weapon to train with?
(05:51):
My favorite weapon to trainwith is either the osundo or the
gumdo.
I like the swords a lot.
Very cool.
I don't hear oh, sung do comeup as much.
And have you done your firstdegree You've done the black belt,
oh Seung do form?
Yes.
Have you done the.
The newest version with thewhole different second half?
(06:12):
No, not yet.
Oh, you gotta check this out.
The new version, the X.
The like the second half,that's all new.
It is so cool.
I.
I just love the new Osung do form.
Really neat.
So I would love to learn it.
Yeah, yeah, you gotta checkthat out sometime.
Okay.
Hey, what, what events are youreally like your favorite thing to
(06:32):
do at tournaments?
My favorite thing to do attournaments, it's usually combat
sporting because I just love.
I just love to.
How you always keep moving and.
Yeah, that's my.
My favorite one.
And I like weapons a lot too.
Weapons a lot.
Weapons.
Competition, sparring.
Competition, Combat sparring.
You were saying before thisthat you had some team sparring training.
(06:54):
So you.
You're on a team?
Yes.
Okay, very good.
You do.
Do you fight with both thetraditional sparring and combat or
just this?
Combat?
Yeah, I do traditional and combat.
Very cool.
What do you think about theteam events?
The team events, they usuallytake a while, but other than that,
(07:14):
I really like being with myfriends and sparring with them.
Even if we don't win all thetime, I like to compete with it.
Yeah, that's one of the thingsI really love.
I always have been a martialarts guy, so I didn't do team sports.
That was never something Iever did.
Um, and I love that teamsparring kind of brings that team
aspect into it.
(07:35):
So you can still do yourindividual sport, which is what I
love to do.
But here's this team aspectthat keeps the.
Still the camaraderie and thethen stuff with the, the life skills
that we do in martial arts.
So I like team.
What if you were going to choose.
I'm not going to say that wedon't have events that we, we love
them all, they're all great.
(07:56):
But if you had to pick onethat was maybe like not your favorite,
which one would it be?
No, my favorite is definitely sparring.
I like sparring a lot, but inmy ring I'm usually like, I'm in
the taller ring, but I'musually like the shortest one and
I get like kicked in the head.
Not.
It's just like.
(08:16):
Yep, I understand, I understand.
I.
You know what, that's so funny.
I was never in the taller ring.
I was always in the smaller ring.
But I, I can totallyunderstand that, you know, as a first
degree.
And that's one of the reasonsI kind of like, I wish they had team
sparring when I was younger,because I think, like, for myself,
(08:39):
I wouldn't have wanted to dosparring that much, but I would have
wanted to be on a team.
So it made me work on sparringbecause I just wanted to be part
of a team that way.
Um, yeah, I'm with you.
I totally understand.
Hey, what are some of thegoals that you have for your martial
arts training?
Maybe short term, long term, whatever.
What kind of goals are youlooking at as a martial artist?
(09:02):
I really like teachingstudents and I am a level zero instructor,
so I just have the red one.
But I really would love to getmy level one and then maybe go to
be a certified instructor someday.
I love that.
And then I also want to beable to, like, have a more confident,
(09:24):
like, thing where I could,like, teach the class by myself,
but with people just to helpme out.
I would love to just, like, goon myself with like, a lesson plan
and stuff like that.
I love that.
I.
I guarantee you will be awesome.
It you'll.
The confidence you build.
We just drove by.
I was out on a drive with mykids and we drove by where this Taekwondo
(09:47):
school that I taught, my veryfirst class was.
And I'm glad there's no video.
They didn't have, like, cellphones and stuff back then because
it was a horrible class.
Um, and I don't.
I think I talk about this.
Um, I just whispered.
I think most of the time itwas bad.
I mean, we didn't have greatinstructor training back then.
They just kind of threw us in.
Um, but I think you're goingto be an awesome instructor.
(10:09):
A great inspiration to lots ofathletes out there.
I'm.
I'm excited to get to see you.
You know, as we go and get tosee all these athletes of the week,
we get to see all these peopleand just to get to see you guys grow
and mature as martial artists,as athletes, as instructors, master
someday.
So what does it mean to you tobe a.
(10:31):
An athlete that goes beyondthe belt?
It means to me, to be anathlete that goes beyond the belt
is not just helping and beingyour best self inside of your martial
arts school.
It means being your best selfout of school.
You know, helping whenever youcan, having courtesy for people and
just being yourself.
(10:53):
I love that.
I think that's so important.
You know, courtesy, beingyourself, those kind of things in
today's world is just, youknow, a really important thing with
so much social media and, youknow, just all the issues going around.
So I love that.
It's great to hear of youngLadies like yourself embracing the
idea of going beyond the belt.
(11:14):
And so we really appreciateyou inspiring us in ATA nation through
being one of these athletes ofthe week and all this amazing training
you're doing.
So congratulations and thanksso much.
Thank you.
Any, any.
I always leave early and thenI sometimes I have people message
me.
I was like I had somethingelse to say.
Anything else you want to sayor you plan to say to at nation out
(11:37):
there or do you think youcovered it all?
I think I covered it all.
Excellent.
Well, I'm glad.
I'm excited to get thisinformation out to let people see
you as an athlete.
Congratulations on beingchosen and thank you for being an
inspiration to all of otherathletes in ATA nation.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.
(12:02):
We want to thank Ms.
Lexi Barnes for a great interview.
We really appreciate all theseawesome athletes.
We got more coming all the waythrough June.
It's going to be amazing.
We've got some other neatthings coming as well.
Getting ready.
This is what I'm going to askfor you.
I'm going to ask for you today.
Please head over to YouTube,click the subscribe button for the
(12:22):
ATA Martial Arts YouTube page.
We're getting.
We're putting more shorts onthere for the podcast, some junior
ambassador things.
We've got some other stuff somake sure you hit the subscribe button
over there on YouTube so youget notified of every episode and
you can do that on yourfavorite podcast player as well.
Don't miss out.
Next episode 150 we just gotso many stuff.
(12:45):
So much stuff going on, guys.
55 year anniversary of HA.
Last year we're into a brandnew year, new season of, you know,
competition starting at Worlds.
Oh, guys.
Oh.
I don't know if I can tell you this.
Secret park.
We'll do it at the secret park.
Here we go.
I think that's going to wrapit up for today.
(13:07):
Make sure you're out theregoing beyond the belt.
Okay?
(13:27):
Guys, Guys, I saw the.
So I saw previews.
Senior Master Lee showedpreviews of the medals for world
championships to the licensees yesterday.
Really cool.
You're not going to want to miss.
We got one of those kind ofcombined metal things going on.
I don't know if I'm supposedto tell you guys.
I hope I don't get in trouble,but it's going to be cool.
(13:51):
I can't tell you anymore.
I better be quiet.
They'll fire me.
Okay.
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