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June 13, 2025 • 13 mins

The focal point of this episode centers on the critical importance of registering for the Tournament of Champions (TOC), with the deadline for registration set for noon on June 18th. I emphasize the necessity for all eligible participants to ensure their registration is completed online, as there will be no opportunity for in-person registration at the event itself. Furthermore, I express my heartfelt gratitude to our ATA family for the numerous birthday wishes, reinforcing the sense of community that we cherish. Following this, we introduce our Athlete of the Week, Ruby Freitag, a first-degree black belt from Arizona, who shares her passion for Taekwondo and aspirations for the upcoming championships. As we delve into Ruby's journey and goals, we celebrate the spirit of encouragement and camaraderie that defines our martial arts community.

Takeaways:

  • The Tournament of Champions, a vital component of the World Championship, requires advance online registration.
  • Competitors must ensure their registration for the TOC is completed before the deadline of June 18th.
  • We emphasize the significance of community support in martial arts, encouraging participants to check on each other's registration status.
  • The ATA Nation podcast features inspiring young athletes who exemplify dedication and sportsmanship in martial arts.
  • Listeners are invited to participate in a live podcast episode scheduled for June 21st, featuring notable guests and discussions.
  • The overarching theme of our podcast is to promote excellence and camaraderie within the ATA martial arts community.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
EEOC registration is open.
Let's talk about it.
Welcome to the ATA Nation podcast.
Instructors, students,parents, family, masters, Grandmasters

(00:22):
of Songam Taekwondo.
Welcome back to the ATA Nation podcast.
I am your host, Senior MasterZach Hayden.
And thank you, thank you toall of you out there who were wishing
me happy birthday this week.
I really appreciate it.
I love my ATA family.
Whether it's just my local ATAfamily or my international ATA family.

(00:43):
Thank you guys so much, thatwas very generous of you.
Now ladies and gentlemen, aswe mentioned in the pre intro, TOC
registration is open.
So let's remind everybody justin case you are a newbie, we love
you.
We want you to come in to thefold that is ATA nation.

(01:04):
TOC is the Tournament of Champions.
This is one of three parts ofWorld championship.
So world championships reallyconsists of three things.
One, the world conference, abunch of amazing training which we're
going to talk about soon.
Two, the Tournament of Champions.
This is an invite only event.

(01:25):
You have to have earned yourspot in and this is where our world
champions will be crowned.
And then the Super 20 which isthe beginning of the brand new tournament
season.
Anyone and everyone cancompete in the TIA or excuse me,
not the TOC, the Super 20.
So if you are eligible for,for the TOC, you must register online.

(01:50):
There is no in personregistration at the event.
None, zero, zip.
You go, you don't register,you will not be able to compete.
I had the absolutely horriblejob, one year of being a judge at
the toc, which is a great job,I don't mind that.
But this gentleman was not onour roster.

(02:12):
We go and look, he didn'tregister, couldn't compete.
It was heartbreaking.
So make sure if you are in theTOC, you have to register ata easy
sign up and the registrationends noon on June 18th.
Noon on June 18th.
So do not miss youropportunity to register.

(02:32):
Get on there, register.
You can only register for theevents that you are qualified in.
Okay?
But make sure you do that.
You don't have to print outthe registration sheets for that
event.
Okay, Just, just a quick headsup on that.
Now get that registration doneright away and then do all of your
friends a favor and check withthem to see if they've registered.

(02:54):
If we help each other, talk toeach other, make sure, hey, did you
get registered?
Make sure you get registered.
Hey, get registered.
And then licenses you can go on.
Make sure you check, make sureyou're, you're checking in with your
people.
We want to make this a greatexperience for people.
So got to get that TOCregistration taken care of.
That's.
That is our top news.
Like, you've got to know that.

(03:14):
We don't want to miss out on that.
But we've got more news foryou at the end of this episode.
But let's get to our athleteof the week, Atnation.
We're super excited to haveyet another amazing athlete with
us.
Young lady, could youintroduce yourself for Atnation?

(03:37):
I am Ruby Freitag and.
Yeah, what, What?
Ruby, where are you from?
I'm from Arizona.
Surprise, Arizona.
Yeah.
Excellent.
And tell us who yourinstructor is and what rank you are.
My instructor is JonathanThornton, and I am a black belt.

(03:57):
First degree black belt.
Oh, excellent.
Well, you know what?
I just talked to yourinstructor on a podcast a couple
weeks ago.
I.
It was the first time I reallygot to talk too much.
It was a great conversation.
Really enjoyed talking to him.
So you guys got an awesomeschool down there.
It's probably getting a little toasty.
What's the.
What's the temp down there today?
It's like 80 something degrees.

(04:20):
Okay, getting.
Getting warmed up for us tocome down for world championships,
right?
Yeah.
So, Mr.
Ruby, what, you know, you.
You were one of theseathletes, got picked by the junior
brand ambassadors when itcomes to, you know, competing at
tournaments and stuff.
What's one of your favoriteevents to compete?
I love doing my extreme andcreative forms, and I also love doing

(04:44):
combat.
Oh, okay, okay.
Extreme and creative.
Open hand or weapons or both?
I do weapons for creativeweapons and then I do extreme forms.
Yeah, very good.
What weapon do you like to use?
Double nunchucks?
Double chucks.
That's a great one.
Very good.
Cool.
Now, you know what I forgot toask you.

(05:05):
How'd you get.
What first.
Did I ask how old you were?
I can't even remember now.
How old are you?
I'm nine, but I'm about toturn ten in June.
June.
Birthdays are the best.
What day in June?
Third.
June 3rd.
Okay.
June 3rd.
Mine's on the 10th, but stillpretty close, so I'll take it.
So, ma' am, how'd you getinvolved in martial arts?

(05:26):
Well, it actually started withmy brother.
He started in taekwondo, andwhen I saw him doing classes, I was
like, you know, that looksreally fun.
I want to try it.
So, yeah.
You just started from there, huh?
Yeah.
How was it?
Was it a long time after yourbrother started, or was it pretty
soon after Brother?
No, it was like, maybe like a month.
Okay, so pretty, pretty closeafter him?

(05:46):
Yeah.
Now, is he still doingTaekwondo no, he does.
Yeah.
So you.
You passed him.
I did the same thing with my brother.
My brother and I started atthe same time, and now he doesn't
do it.
And, like, I'm way higher than him.
Isn't that fun to be higherthan your brother?
Yeah, I agree.
It was one of the best thingswhen my brother decided not to do
it and I got to be highranking and it was just.
Yeah.

(06:07):
Now I'm sad for him, of course.
So, Abby, if I had to say,like, there's an.
There's an event that maybeyou had to pick one that you couldn't
do, what would be the one thatwas like, your least favorite or
that you would be like, okay,if I have to not do one, I won't
do this.
Probably sparring.

(06:27):
That's okay.
I understand.
I understand.
I'm trying my hardest.
I'm still, like, practicing,but I am getting really.
But I'm getting better at it.
Excellent.
Well, you know what?
It's good for all of us tohave something that we.
We're better at and somethings that we need to work on because
if we're just good ateverything, I mean, it wouldn't give
us the opportunity to grow.
Yeah.
So.
So, Abby, or excuse me, Ruby.

(06:48):
I'm so sorry.
My.
My brain has just been.
I've got a bunch of interviews today.
I'm talking to all kinds ofpeople now.
We're at that time of the year.
Districts is coming up.
World champions coming up.
What kind of goals do you havefor the end of the season?
Well, I really want to get a world.
I want to have a world titleon my back.
And I know that doesn't reallymatter what you have on your back

(07:11):
because everyone's like, sogood at Taekwondo, but I'm just really
excited to get.
I just want one title in the back.
I just want one title.
What.
What title are you reallypushing for?
I.
I'm really pushing for worldtitle because I've been working really
hard for that.
Is that in, like a creativeextreme combat?
Which.
What event?
Do you know?
Do you have one?
I want to get in sparring.

(07:32):
In spa.
In.
In regular sparring.
Yeah.
The one you just told me wasnot the one was your.
Wait a second.
I'm trying to get better atit, but I.
It would be amazing if I.
That would be fantastic.
I love that.
That is great job.
I like that attitude.
That's great.
So if you're looking at yourmartial arts, you know, you said
you were first de.

(07:53):
You've been doing this For a while.
But what kind of long termgoals do you have as a, a martial
artist?
Well, I want to teach otherkids to, you know, like stay in Taekwondo
and be their best as they canand have a great attitude.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, that's a great.
Just be a great role modelforever for other people.

(08:16):
I love that.
I mean, one of my favoritethings about getting to interview
you guys that get to be theseathletes of the week is just getting
to highlight some other coolkids all across ATA nation that are
doing really neat things, thatare having a lot of fun, that are
great role models for other people.
So I absolutely love it.
What for you, what does itmean to be an athlete that goes beyond

(08:38):
the belt?
For me to go beyond the beltis not just going to competitions
to win, but also to cheer onmy fellow competitors and my friends
and taking Taekwondo, not justin Taekwondo, but in my regular life
and also taking those lifeskills that we learn in home, at
home, at school and even atTaekwondo, even though you learn

(08:59):
it there.
That is great advice.
I love that.
I know, especially as we getto, you know, this time of the year
where we have thesechampionships and we're going to
have a lot of new statechamps, district champ, world champs,
There are also going to be alot of people who aren't going to
get the titles that they wanted.
I mean, that's just part of competition.

(09:19):
And like you said, you know,being going beyond the belt is, you
know, going, doing your best,cheering for your friends, remembering
that we're encouraging our friends.
I love that.
What great advice to make surethat we're cheering others on at
these events then too.
That's fantastic.
Well, Ruby, it is a pleasureto get to highlight you to all of

(09:40):
Atnation.
We're super excited.
We wish you good luck in yourdistricts and world championship
title hunts.
And of course, thanks forbeing an inspiration for everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you for letting me havethis opportunity.
We really appreciate it andwe'll see you at World Championships.
Bye.

(10:04):
Another great athlete.
These are so much fun.
You know, I know they've kindof taken over the show.
I hope you guys don't mindthat too much.
But I think just highlightingthese individuals is so cool.
I love what the junior brandambassadors have been doing.
It's just fantastic.
So now our next piece of news.
I need you to mark your calendar.
It's going to be on ATAmartial arts Facebook page and their

(10:27):
YouTube and we're going to setup events and premieres and stuff
online so you'll be able tosee it there.
But on Saturday, let me doublecheck my calendar, make sure I get
the right date becausesometimes I give it away.
On Saturday, 21 June, we'regoing to be going live with a monster
episode of the Ata Nation podcast.

(10:48):
This is going to be live onAta Martial Arts's Facebook page
and their YouTube and we havesome amazing special guests.
Okay, Grand Master Tammy isgoing to be on.
She's going to be on live from.
I think she's going to be anathlete development camp at that
same time she's got.

(11:09):
Master Blanks is going to beon with her.
They're going to be talkingabout the seminar they've got at
World Championship.
We're going to have somemembers from Team Mexico and Team
Philippines on.
We're going to start kind oflike this rivalry, kind of like pushing
these international teams, seewhat teams are going to be.
I mean all in good sport.

(11:30):
Obviously we want goodattitudes, everything but you know,
it's nice to have some competition.
They're going to be on.
Oh my goodness, I've forgotten.
Oh, Mr.
Raffle from the ATA Max teamis going to be on, talking about
all things ATMX and kind ofwhat's coming for world and what
we're looking at in the future.
So we've got three, like bigsegments that we're going to be doing

(11:52):
that day.
So it's going to be a monster episode.
It's going to be live.
We're going to have youwatching live and you can put in
your questions, your comments,shout outs on, you'll be able to
see them on screen.
It's going to be so much fun.
So mark your calendars.
June 21st.
Got to nail my time down.
I'm pretty sure I have exactlywhat time I'm going to do it, but
I want to make sure that Idon't mess anything up.

(12:16):
So market, it's going to be awesome.
We're going to do two of thesebefore world championships.
One in June and one July.
Hyping up worlds, gettingthings ready.
And so get ready with yourquestions for some of these guests.
Get ready, tell your friendsabout it, share it online when you
see the information come out.
So we are all ready to rock.

(12:36):
That is going to wrap it upfor today, guys.
The summertime is so busy.
I've been teaching so manyclasses with some great community
people.
We've been going beyond thebelt in what we've been doing at
our school.
I hope you've been goingbeyond the belt and training hard
for that new tournament season.
All kinds of great events.

(12:57):
Some of you guys are going toathlete development camp.
Good luck there.
We're going to see a bunch ofyou guys in Phoenix.
District championships is over.
We've got a ton of awesome newdistrict champions.
Congratulations on that.
Let's keep rolling.
Creating champions beyond the belt.
Until next time.
Get out there, take some action.

(13:18):
Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe and sharewith your ATA family.
Hey, did you notice I didsomething a little bit different
with the way.
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