Ep. 167 - Aiden Gomez's Martial Arts Journey & a Special Guest

The salient point of this podcast episode revolves around the engaging dialogue with our esteemed guest, Aiden Gomez, a distinguished martial artist whose impressive accolades include being a third-degree black belt and a champion across multiple domains. I am delighted to introduce my son, Hezekiah Hayden, who joins me to share his experiences in Taekwondo and his aspirations within the martial arts community. Throughout our conversation, we explore Hezekiah's journey in Taekwondo, including his achievements and the skills he is developing as a young practitioner. We delve into the significance of mentorship in martial arts, highlighting Aiden's role as an inspiration to others and the impact he has on aspiring athletes. The episode encapsulates the essence of perseverance and dedication, underscoring the life skills that martial arts cultivate in individuals of all ages.

Takeaways:

• In this episode, we engage in a delightful dialogue with Hezekiah Hayden regarding his experiences in Taekwondo classes, highlighting his accomplishments and aspirations.
• Hezekiah, at the tender age of four, is already a double green belt, showcasing his dedication to the martial art of Taekwondo.
• Aiden Gomez, our distinguished athlete of the week, possesses an impressive record as a 33 black belt and multiple-time champion in various prestigious competitions.
• During the episode, we delve into Aiden's journey in martial arts, exploring the influences that motivated him to pursue this discipline for over a decade.
• The discussion emphasizes the importance of belief as a core life skill in Taekwondo, as articulated by young Hezekiah during our interview.
• Our conversation also touches upon the camaraderie and mentorship within the martial arts community, demonstrating the positive relationships forged through shared pursuits.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We've got an athlete of theweek and a very special guest.
What now?
Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
Ata Nation.

(00:21):
Welcome back to anotherawesome episode of the Ata Nation
podcast.
This is episode 167, and ifyou're watching on YouTube, you can
tell that I have a veryspecial guest with me.
My son Hezekiah is joining mein the podcasting booth today, and
I thought I'd give him a.
Do a little interview with himabout his Taekwondo classes.

(00:43):
So, hey, can you tell us yourname and what is.
What color belt are you?
Green.
Green.
You're a double green belt in our.
In our.
Our ATA skills class, right?
Yeah.
Yes.
And what.
How old are you?

(01:03):
Four.
Four years old.
Excellent.
And what's your favorite thingto do in Taekwondo class?
Maybe, like, do some punching.
Rolling.
Punching or rolling?
Yeah, that's a.
That's a fun one.
I like to do some punching and rolling.
What's your favorite partabout being at the Taekwondo school?

(01:28):
When we go to the Taekwondoschool, what do you, like, do there,
boy?
And what do you think aboutDaddy being a.
A taekwondo instructor?
A taekwondo teacher.
Good.
Yeah, is good.
Are you think you're going toteach taekwondo someday?
Yeah.
Let's go red, black.
It's black.

(01:48):
Yeah.
After red, black, it's black belt.
You got to go to red, black,and then black belt.
Do you think you'll teachtaekwondo with your sister?
You guys will teach together?
Do you think that would be fun?
Okay.
Do you think we should go toour athlete of the week this time
now?
Has.
Okay, Hezekiah, let'sintroduce our athlete of the week,

(02:12):
ATA Nation.
I am super excited to have anathlete of the week with us today.
Can you introduce yourself, sir?
Hello, my name is Aiden Gomez.
I'm a 33 black belt, and I ama 12 time state champion, 16 district
champion, three Pan Am, andone time world champion.

(02:32):
Whoa, that is quite the resume.
Holy moly.
That is awesome.
So you seem to like competition.
Is that something you enjoy?
Third degree black belt.
Where do you train?
Karate, Atlanta.
Hammer?
Tamir, Tequila.
Georgia.
And who's your instructor?
Mr. Monroe.

(02:53):
Excellent.
Well, man, you have quite the resume.
So we're looking at, you know,all these titles, all these things
that you.
You've done.
What got you started inmartial arts, Were you just like,
you see a tournament somewhereand you wanted to go do it, or was
there something else that gotyou started?
So I.
When I moved to Georgia, Iwanted to do something, and this

(03:16):
popped in my mind and wesigned up and I've been doing this
for 11 years.
Seven years by now.
Well, that's awesome.
So you, you know, you signed up.
It seems to have gone well for you.
What do you, so with all thesetitles, do you have like a favorite
event that you like to do in tournaments?
What, what is your favoritething to do?

(03:37):
XMI Films.
X Am I Forms.
Excellent.
And we were talking beforehand.
You do a little work with Mr.Van Eck down there.
Yes.
So I, I, I distinctlyremember, I bet Mr. Van Eck doesn't
even remember this.
I remember being in LittleRock in the lobby of the DoubleTree,
talking to Mr. Vanek aboutmartial arts stuff and whatever when

(03:59):
he's a man.
He was a teenager or somethingback then, but now he's like the
XMA superstar.
He's just an awesome guy all around.
So, so what if I had to picklike, okay, you're not allowed to
do one event at this next tournament.
What's the event that youwould probably like drop out?
You'd say, okay, this is theone I won't do this time.

(04:21):
Traditional forms.
Traditional forms.
Okay, very good.
So you like to be a littlemore creative, get to do your own
stuff.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
Do you, do you do creativeweapons as well?
No.
So just forms.
Just forms.
So you're not a, you're anopen hand guy.
I want to make sure you got,hey, that's smart.
You don't have to dropanything then.

(04:42):
Okay.
I mean, you don't have thetrouble of like, you don't just drop
your hands so you're safe.
I like that.
What kind of.
I got a question.
You said you had a world title.
What's your world title?
XMA foam.
So.
Ah, very good.
Awesome.
So, man, now we just started anew season.
There's a, there was atournament down near you guys like

(05:04):
yesterday or something.
Where did you guys go to that tournament?
No, so not the one.
What was that?
Tennessee.
Oh, I, yeah, it has to be.
I saw Master Burns Senior.
Master Burns was there.
I know he's down there.
Near issue, guys.
So, new tournament season.
Do you have goals for this season?

(05:25):
What you want to docompetition wise this season?
Not really.
Just, yeah, you've got likeall the titles.
You're like, hey, you don'tneed anything else now.
What about just like allaround your martial arts goals?
You got anything that you're,I mean, you're a third degree, so
you're gonna have to wait alittle bit of time till you can test
for fourth degree.
So what kind of goals?
What kind of things are you working.

(05:46):
On getting better at creativeand XMA forms, like, flips.
Ooh.
And like, open hands and allof that, like, stuff.
That's super cool.
Awesome.
Have you.
I've had some friends thathave gone to that.
The XMA Gathering down inLittle Rock.
Have you ever been to that?
No.

(06:06):
So no.
Ever looked at it?
Like, I've seen some video andI'm like, they do some pretty cool
stuff.
I don't know.
So what third degree blackbelt are you working on?
Obviously, you got a midtermand stuff.
You got.
How old are you?
11.
11?
Yeah.
So you got a couple of yearstill you get and test for fourth

(06:26):
degree.
Is that in the plans?
Are you gonna test for fourth degree?
You're gonna, you know, be aworld champ?
Go open a couple of karateland schools down there?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, that's the plan.
Are you.
Are you in the legacy programright now?
Yes, sir.
Excellent.
Very cool.
Working on.
Do you help out in some classes?
What kind of things are youworking on with Legacy?

(06:48):
I go every Friday to do all ofthose classes because Friday we have
XMA class, so I help that class.
I help all the rest of the classes.
That's very cool.
So, yeah.
Awesome.
Well, I love that.
How cool.
Well, I'm excited to.
Oh, I got a question.

(07:09):
I heard that you had aconnection with another instructor
that I'm pretty sure I've hadon the show before, Mr. Reed, who's
out in Texas now.
How do.
How do you guys got a connection?
He got me into competing inleadership, so.
Yeah, so.
So.
So all those titles are histitles now, right?

(07:31):
He gets to claim them.
Yes.
Like, no, he didn't do the work.
You did the work.
Right.
I'm sure he's.
He's very proud of you.
That's pretty awesome.
I.
It's so cool to see, you know,you're 11, you know, got all these
amazing titles, you know, nowworking instruction kind of things

(07:51):
as well.
I love it.
What does it mean to you tobe, like, an athlete that goes beyond
the.
I have, like, a lot of friends.
I've got some competition.
I have some in, like, SouthAfrica, Chile, Texas, Florida, California,

(08:11):
north and South Carolina.
And a lot of people, like,look up to me, like, in my karate
school, and I have somefriends in competitions too, who
look up to me.
Yes, you gotta.
You gotta, like.
Then you gotta make sure thatyou're doing the right thing.
Right.
You're showing that great attitude.

(08:33):
Which one of the.
If you're looking at the lifeskills that we talk about in Taekwondo.
Which one of those life skillsis the one that you're like?
That's the one.
I love that one the most.
Do you have one that's like your.
Your go to one belief.
Belief.
Oh, I love that.
Especially with this.
The extreme and whatnot.
That belief.
I love it.
Okay, this is a tough question.
Maybe not tough, but maybe,like, it's a little hard to answer

(08:54):
sometimes.
Which one of the life skillsis the one that you like?
Ooh, I have to work on that one.
Discipline.
Nah, that's Me, too.
I just.
You know what?
I had a little Reese's Candybefore I came, and I was like, I
probably shouldn't eat this,but my discipline didn't hold out
there, so.
I hear you there, man.
That's a tough one.
But we're always working onit, right?

(09:16):
So always getting better.
I love it.
Hey.
Oh, I was going to ask you.
You went to the Pan Am.
You've been to the Pan Am Championships.
How was.
How was that?
Travel international for a tournament.
Very fun.
I traveled with my dad and mygrandpa, so we went to Chile, and

(09:36):
we stayed there for, like,three to four days.
And is it.
Is.
Is there, like.
Is there food that you like?
I went to Korea one time withthe ata and there was a lot of food
that I was like, I am noteating this.
This is not my kind of food.
How was it?
Did you.
You have some good food there?
Yes, sir.

(09:56):
Yeah.
Okay.
Did you have to find aMcDonald's somewhere?
No snow.
She's like, no, I'm good.
Awesome.
Well, hey, Mr. Gomance, sonice to meet you.
Congratulations on being anathlete of week.
And thank you so much for justbeing an inspiration for other martial
artists out there of ages.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you.
So.

(10:20):
I love doing these athletes ofthe week.
So cool to talk to all thesedifferent kids.
You think someday you'll beone of the athletes of the week,
Hezekiah?
Yeah.
Or maybe a brand ambassador.
That would be cool.
Yeah.
If you guys aren't checkingthis out on YouTube, it's definitely
best on the AGA's YouTube page.
They.
You.
They should go check that out,don't you think?
Hezekiah?
Yeah.
It's so good to be on Taekwondo.

(10:43):
It is.
And they should subscribe.
Hit that subscribe button.
That would be great.
And that's.
You know what?
We've got other stuff we'vegot to do today.
I'm on daddy duty today, so weare going to wrap it up.
Is anything else you want tosay to all our friends in ATA Nation.
Is kind of old.

(11:04):
What?
Yeah, it's.
It's.
It's, like, so sold.
So old.
Yeah.
Does it need.
Is it.
Is it broken?
No, it's just.
Oh, do we need new stuff atour taekwondo school?
No, I'm just reminding you.
Oh, you're just reminding methat am I old?

(11:24):
I'll take that silence as asign up, maybe.
Okay, say, let's.
Let's end with saying, let thechampions beyond the belt.
Can you say, be championsbeyond the belt.
Be champions beyond the belt.
Awesome.
We'll talk next time.
ATA Nation.
Get out there and go beyondthe belt.

(11:45):
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