Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's time to head to the berg.
Let's get started.
Welcome to the Ata Nation podcast.
Instructors, students,parents, family of Ata Nation.
Welcome back to the Ata Nation podcast.
(00:22):
This is episode 173 and I amyour host, Senior Master Zach Hayden.
While you are listening tothis, we're in Pittsburgh.
This usually drops.
Our episodes drop on Fridayson YouTube and all your favorite
podcast players.
And this is Fall Nationals week.
So you will see me in Pittsburgh.
(00:43):
I'll be there.
I'm actually leaving in themorning after I record this.
We are heading out.
I want to.
We drive over there.
I'm going to go to Master's training.
I haven't been able to go thelast couple of years that it's been
in Pittsburgh.
And so I want to hit theMaster's training this year with
Grandmaster MK and theMaster's Council and the training
department.
Then on Thursday.
(01:04):
Excuse me, On Friday.
No, Thursday.
Yeah.
Getting all my days confused.
I got a bunch of training.
If you don't, you know, makeplans to attend these training events,
you are missing out.
I'm.
I'm super excited you'll beable to see me.
I'm doing two of the businessones and then I will be at the Max
Team how to Build a Team seminar.
(01:25):
And then I will also becleaning up my black belt forms.
I want to do that one as well.
And you'll probably see medoing a little bit of recording as
well.
I've already booked to talk tothe awesome people who've been at
the Songam Academic.
Oh, it's got a cool name andI've forgotten it off the top of
(01:45):
my head in Alaska.
I don't know, go back andlisten to the episode we did about
the, the training in WhalePass, Alaska.
But these guys have been outin Alaska doing all kinds of martial
arts training and other cool things.
And they're all kind of comingto Fall Nationals to get together
and to do their.
Their almost the end of theirtraining there.
(02:07):
And then they're going to allgo home for a week and then finish
up their projects and stuff.
So I'm excited to get to talkto a bunch of them.
Got that booked for Thursday afternoon.
I hope to be talking to acouple other, doing some.
A few other interviews whilewe're out there in Pittsburgh as
well.
So I like to make a, make anadventure of it to try to get some
(02:29):
people.
You have somebody you think Ishould talk to, you let me know.
I like to like to hit peopleup in person.
And I think we have a Nicelittle place to, to do that at.
So that's the goal.
This episode is going to be quick.
Hopefully you're listening toit while you're either in Pittsburgh
or maybe you're traveling homefrom Pittsburgh.
Or if you didn't make it toPittsburgh, you can use this as kind
(02:52):
of a. Oh man, I feel so badthat I wasn't there.
I'm joking.
But make plans to attend theHu Lee Classic in Little Rock, Arkansas
or head to.
And also make sure you play.
Make plans to hit springNationals in St. Louis.
We're gonna have a shortepisode today, but we do have an
(03:12):
awesome athlete of the week weneed to get to.
Let's do that now.
Hey, TA Nation.
We're excited to have anotherawesome athlete of the week with
us.
Can you introduce yourself, ma'?
Am?
Hi, I'm gianna Combs.
Well, Ms. Combs, where are you?
Where are you from?
I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(03:33):
Pittsburgh.
Well, there's a big eventcoming out there pretty soon.
Yeah, Paul Nationals.
Very excited.
You probably don't have totravel very far.
No, sir.
That's nice.
Who, who do you train with?
I train with the crew.
Kaminsky's excellent over inOzem Park.
(03:53):
Very cool.
And how'd you get started inmartial arts?
So it was actually my brother,when I was four years old, he wanted
to start it and I was likeattached to the hip with all my family,
so I decided to go along withthem and I really ended up liking
it.
So you seem quite a bit olderthan four now.
So it's been a few years.
What rank are you?
I'm a third degree black belt, sir.
(04:13):
Very cool.
Now here's the question.
Does your brother still do it?
No, he did not like it at thebeginning at all.
So he quit.
Isn't that funny how thatworks sometimes?
Like my brother and I startedat the same time.
He's a red black belt, I'm aseventh degree.
You know, just goes that way.
So what is what for you andlet's, let's go competition.
(04:34):
What's your favorite aspect of competition?
I would like the actualcompetition itself.
I love being competitive withall my friends and like ringmates
and getting in there and justbeing able to just.
Win in some bling, right?
Yes, sir.
Be able to show off everybodyskills and it's just such a fun time
(04:56):
for me.
It is, it is a blast.
Competition is just a greatway to.
I, I like what you said about,you know, friends hanging out.
You know, you get to becompetitive but you also get all
these people you get to hangout with when you compete.
What's your.
What's your favorite event tocompete in?
Definitely combat and weapons.
I love the speed andcompetitiveness in combat, but really
going down on like techniqueand weapons is so much fun for me.
(05:19):
Very cool.
Okay, what's your.
What's your weapon of choiceright now?
The long range.
Long range.
You know what, we've seen alot of.
A lot of long range seems tobe coming up in now in the third
degree division.
It's definitely getting more popular.
Yes, sir, it is.
I agree.
I.
It's great to see.
I really enjoy one.
It's just nice to have anotherweapon in there and not see like
I'm.
(05:39):
I don't need to see anyregular BO staff anymore.
I'm sorry, guys.
I just am tired of seeing you.
No, I'm joking.
If.
Let's say, I mean, we all love competition.
We love, you know, all thedifferent aspects, but if there was
an event that was like, maybenot your top event, not your favorite
event, what would that be?
I would say forms.
It's just something I don'tget to spend a lot of time on, but
I do still really enjoy it.
(06:00):
It's just something that kindof gets put off to the side with
all my other training.
You like the.
Yeah, the other stuff is alittle more fun to train with.
And that third degree form hasthat horrible slow sidekick at the
beginning, which is.
Might be more motivated totrain it if you didn't have that.
That's my opinion.
So what about, you know,we're, what, not quite halfway through
the season?
We've got all nationals comingup, some other things.
(06:22):
What kind of goals do you havefor this season in your.
In your training and your competition?
So for competition, definitelygetting back to Worlds and getting
back up on that podium.
Last year I was really closeand I just want to finish it and
get another world title.
But also making Team USA againis definitely another goal for me.
Going back to the camp andtrying out there.
(06:44):
Excellent.
So let's go.
You.
You've got a world title.
You've done a red lettersalready before.
Yes, sir.
I have three world titles.
Whoa.
What are those then?
So I have combat weapons andthen also Team Combat.
Very cool.
Excellent.
Okay.
And then obviously Team USA stuff.
(07:05):
So are you doing.
Are you on Team USA currently?
So I start with Team USA inthe 2026 season.
Gotcha.
Okay, awesome.
So you.
You went to AthleteDevelopment this year, got on the
team at Athlete Development.
Is that correct?
So start on the team in 26.
Cool.
Was this year.
Your.
Have you been to athletedevelopment camp in the past?
(07:25):
This was my first year.
Your first year?
You come from the comancyschool and this was your first year
going, yes, sir.
Last year I was on vacation.
So, okay, I start up that this year.
What did.
What did you think of it?
I thought it was awesome to beable to just hang out with friends.
And then also I loved gettingall the different perspectives from
the coaches.
(07:45):
It's so cool to see how, like,we all prepare for the same thing
in different ways.
So that was definitely lots ofamazing talent there.
If you had somebody, you know,that's listening and they're like,
hey, I've been thinking maybeabout this combat or maybe about
this athlete development campin the past.
Maybe I should go.
Maybe I shouldn't go.
What would you tell them?
(08:05):
I would definitely say to go.
It's a lot of tough training,but if you're really dedicated to
it and you want to improve,it's definitely the move for training.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And.
And I mean, you're going towalk away with so many memories.
You know, you're going to havea couple of those memories that,
like, in the middle of doingit, you're like, this is horrible.
I never want to do this again.
But like, a week later you'relike, that was awesome.
(08:28):
I'm so glad I did that.
Yes, sir.
Yeah, there was probably anyof the workouts with.
Probably any of the workoutswith Master Isaacs.
Those were tough.
Yeah, he likes to.
He likes to, you know, makepeople run and do some stuff that,
you know, they.
They don't love to do.
So aiming for some titles,getting to compete with Team usa,
(08:48):
That's super exciting.
What do you.
What do you.
I can't remember if this isgoing to come out before Fall Nationals.
Not.
Let's pretend it is coming outbefore Fall Nationals.
What's your hope for Fall Nationals?
What are you trying to getdone there?
Definitely get some morepoints on the board for all of my
events.
I'm super excited in Pete,individually and in teams, but, you
(09:10):
know, just make some morememories and really get to enjoy
competing at such a high levelbecause you got everybody flying
all over the country to comesee Pittsburgh, for sure.
We love going out to Pittsburgh.
It's.
It's.
I think they should keepNationals there forever, but I don't
think they're going to.
Well, yeah, you do, too.
It's really easy to get some.
(09:31):
Some point.
You know, it's a littlecheaper to get Points that way if
you can just drive to your backyard.
So, hey, for you, what does itmean to be an athlete that goes beyond
the belt?
For me, going beyond the beltmeans taking all that, like, respect
and discipline that you'velearned from your peers and mentors
and putting it into, like,your everyday aspects of life.
Whether that's like spreadingit into, like, your community or
(09:53):
just onto yourself, reflecting it.
Because you always want to put100 effort into everything you do
and really strive for thatpersonal growth that we should all,
like, look forward to.
I love that personal growth.
I mean, you know, being all inon, on yourself and being able to,
to improve yourself.
That's fantastic.
Well, ma', am, first of all,congratulations on being one of these
(10:16):
athletes of the week that thebrand ambassadors are going and picking
out.
Super cool.
And thank you so much for yourtime today.
Thank you too, sir.
I hope you have a good day.
We'll see you in Pittsburgh.
See you soon.
It was great to talk toanother awesome athlete in ATA nation.
And man, at Fall Nationals, wejust see the caliber of these athletes
(10:41):
from all, all over.
It is so cool to see.
Make sure you guys arechecking out the different events
that are going across all ofATA Nation.
And of course, look at thetraining opportunities.
We've got the virtual legacytrainings that you can do.
The Camp Jong Su that iscoming up in Little Rock, Arkansas,
(11:03):
as well as the Huli Classiccoming up in Little rock.
And then 2026, man, it'll behere before you know it.
Lots of amazing training opportunities.
Spring nationals will be herebefore you know it.
So make sure you look atgetting your hotel room booked for
that.
That information is out onlineright now as well.
If you happen to see me atspring or, excuse me, at Fall Nationals,
(11:26):
make sure you stop and say hi,say hey, listen to the podcast, watch
it on YouTube, whatever thecase might be.
And don't forget to hit thatsubscribe button on your favorite
podcast player.
And on YouTube, give us arating and review.
If you are listening to thepodcast version, make sure you give
us a thumbs up if you are on YouTube.
We want to make sure this getsinto more Ata Nation.
(11:48):
Hands, ears, eyes, whateverthe case might be, make sure hit
that subscribe button.
We do.
You know, ATA needs a silverplay button from YouTube, but we
need 100,000 subscribers andwe don't have that yet, which is
ridiculous.
Guys.
We have so many ATA membersacross the country.
Hit that subscribe button.
(12:09):
Get your friends to hit thatsubscribe button.
Help me help the ATA get asilver play button.
Wouldn't that look good in themuseum at headquarters?
I think it would.
Just saying.
And shows how awesome ATANation is.
That's all of you.
Make sure you get out thereand go beyond the bell.