June 28, 2021 • 45 mins
Tara Van Deusen has been studying Kenpo since 1998, though she started karate at the age of 4 years old! She is a 7th Degree Black belt in Kenpo Karate, 9 time National Black Belt League World Champion, 1 time National Association Sport Karate (NASKA) World Champion and won the overall Woman’s Grand Champion Irish Open in 2003, an event that had 69 fighters from 33 Countries. She also has over 160 National Wins, was a 4 time Compete national overall grand champ, as well as the Australian ISKA Open and England Open champion. She has won over 36 women’s over all grand championships from Nationally and Internationally rated tournaments and has a Black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a Jr Black Belt in Butokukan Karate.
Tara is the President of the Power of One Martial Arts & Fitness Studios,
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jose Flores (00:02):
All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the work
again podcast where I get theprivilege to talk to the legends
and words or the martial artsworld. Today I am being joined
by seventh degree black belt andblack belt in American Kenpo and
World Champion Tara vandusen.
Ma'am, how are you? I'm great,thanks. How about yourself? I'm
doing well. Well, thank you somuch for doing this. I
appreciate your time. Of course.
(00:23):
Thank you. So just to start off,um, how was your turn? Like, I
know you were born BritishColumbia. Yeah. That was young
Tara like.
Tara Van Deusen (00:33):
Great question.
I'm sure I have a differentopinion than everybody else
around me. remembers from thattime, I was young, driven,
tomboy competitive. And probablyadventurous. Yeah.
Jose Flores (00:48):
That's awesome. I know, early age h4, I believe so
The Karate Kid and you're like,that's, I want to do martial
arts.
Tara Van Deusen (00:56):
Absolutely. My were watching The Karate Kid.
And I told my mother, I wantedto do that. And she says what
you want to do acting or youwant to do martial arts? And I
said both. So she enrolled me inboth in
Jose Flores (01:07):
both. And it was in the parks and RECs in the
basement where you find yourfirst studio? How did that come
about? How did she find thatspot?
Tara Van Deusen (01:14):
Um, you know, obviously, there wasn't the
internet back in those days. Soit wasn't our neighborhood, I'm
sure she just asked around. Anda lot of things were through
Parks and Rec back in thosedays, especially in Canada. And
she was a young teen mother aswell. So financially, as well as
travel wise, I don't even thinkwe had our own vehicle at that
time. So it was probably justsomething we could catch the bus
(01:35):
to and go from there. Theorganization actually had
several locations in probablyall the parks and RECs in the
area. So they had like eight ornine.
Jose Flores (01:44):
And what kind of system was it?
Tara Van Deusen (01:46):
It was called boo token, which is kind of like
an offshoot firewood expense.
It's a traditional JapaneseOkinawan martial art and similar
to show to Khan,
Jose Flores (01:56):
Khan. And who do you remember your instructor?
Tara Van Deusen (01:59):
I do actually I had several instructors. I was
one of their sole females wasactually my female doctor who
was one of the only females inthe entire organization. she
happened to be a green belt atthat time. And I think she
wanted my mother to do it.
Honestly, as I mentioned, shewas a teen mom, so she was
probably not even 20 yet. Andanyway, so the head instructor
(02:20):
Joe Sure. lumbus was a headinstructor and unfortunately, he
made some bad choices along theyears and is in jail. And then I
had several of assistantinstructors that I spent most of
my time with Dean Chu Dan Cogan.
(02:43):
Here, Harry Charalambous Joe'sbrother, Lloyd Lloyd Phillips, I
believe was another one I usedto compete against his sons
often
Jose Flores (02:51):
Oh, yeah. So and So you did that for about two,
three
Tara Van Deusen (02:57):
years, or no, actually, I did that for six
years, I I trained regularlyalmost five days a week because
I would, I eventually startedtraveling around to all their
different locations, so I couldcompete or, or train with all
their instructors. Dean Chu dida lot of acting stunts as well
at that time, and startedcompeting. And as a result
(03:18):
started doing really well informs. I was always second best
in fighting. And anyway, so Istarted competing, and I can
train up until just before I was11. And then my mother had some
reservations about the headinstructor for obvious reasons.
And at the same time, it wasvery traditional. So at that
point, I'd know I knew all theforms, and they were no longer.
(03:41):
I couldn't test any further pastit was kind of my version or
their version of a junior blackbelt at that point. So I moved
on to a different martial artfacility
Jose Flores (03:50):
and was was then moved on to Taekwondo or
Tara Van Deusen (03:55):
so again, similar to us. It was Kelly's
Academy of martial arts. Andyes, it was a Taekwondo.
However, after a couple years, Igot my black belt with him and
competed to he was really heavyinto competition for fighting.
And so that was kind of thebeginning of where I started
progressing from winning formsto winning sparring in sport,
martial arts. And eventually, agentleman by the name of Simon
(04:18):
Posner, who still is training upthere at this at this time took
over and he changed it into amore of a pankration pen
creation story because hecompeted around the world and
muy Thai in jujitsu, and he toohad his black belt with Kelly.
So that was my first version ofa traditional mixed martial art
and this was back in the early90s. So well before the UFC was
(04:39):
around. Yeah,
Jose Flores (04:40):
I mean, it was early 90s when they started
coming up 92 or somewhere aroundthere. So when you started
competing, it wasn't as becausepeople right now when you say
competing, they think fightingWell, back then it was more
common as more forms, as per se
Tara Van Deusen (04:52):
no, there were still fighting as well. It was
just an N pads were verydifferent back in those days as
well. The thing was, was myfirst six was a traditional
Okinawan karate. Soconsequently, I did really well
in forms deep stances, you know,kicks were not encouraged above
your waist, so to speak. And I'dalways compete and fighting, I
(05:13):
just wasn't winning in fighting.
There was a few competitors thatkept beating me consistently.
And that's how I chose whatlocation to go to. I wanted to
train with the best and thosewere the best, and they'd always
traveled down to America andbought so hence, I started
training with Kelly.
Jose Flores (05:31):
And that's what I was gonna ask because you're a
very driven person. And I know,you're very competitive. So as
soon as you were, I guess,coming second place, and finally
you were like, I gotta getbetter. I have to get better.
Tara Van Deusen (05:41):
Absolutely. I enjoyed the forums, but I
enjoyed fighting better. End ofthe day, that was the real
reason.
Jose Flores (05:50):
So you, you come to the US and I think you, you
know, from what I read, youdidn't even realize you were
under Mr. Bob whites whenWednesday night fight. You were
under you didn't even realize itwas Mr. Guido who he wasn't to
you later on. Right. And you're?
Tara Van Deusen (06:05):
Yeah, so I was trained and I moved to Malibu
and I was training with agentleman named Joey Escobar,
who did pretty well with hissport karate, as well as a
gentleman named Curt Lampson.
Both of them were tongue pseudo.
So now I've kind of gone fromJapanese karate for five, six
years to more of a TaekwondoKorean mixed martial art for
(06:27):
six, seven years, then, tonguepseudo is more of an American
Taekwondo style, right. So, withCurt Lampson, and Joey Escobar,
I was training and it was withone of their black belts, that
we came and attended a fewWednesday night fight nights. So
I've met Mr. White, I didn'treally, at the time, know
(06:48):
anything about American camp oreven who he was himself.
Jose Flores (06:53):
And how was the because I mean, I'm just
assuming here, how was theatmosphere like going into? Was
it a male dominant sport backthen, like more more males than
females or so?
Tara Van Deusen (07:04):
Yeah, I think from the time I was 12, I was
competing. Once I received myjunior black belt from 12,
almost all the way through till17. I was competing against the
boys until I moved to, toAmerica. So in Canada, it was
pretty much combined for most ofthe time, every so often, they
would separate them. Andabsolutely, there was many more
(07:26):
males in the martial arts atthat time. I don't think I ever
really looked at it that way. Ihad my few girlfriends that
competed against my toughestcompetitor to this day, Regina
Thompson. I started fighting herat the age of 12 or 13. So to
me, it didn't matter who was infront of me, it was all a game
of chest and who could hit whosetarget fastest?
Jose Flores (07:43):
Oh, yeah. And you said pads were different. So you
definitely felt the kicks in thepunches back then.
Tara Van Deusen (07:49):
I was fortunate by the time I was a teenager,
they changed to
Jose Flores (07:52):
Oh, really? Okay.
Tara Van Deusen (07:54):
So that was in my younger days, especially in
the traditional karate. Oftenyou didn't even wear pads. We
were doing knuckle push ups onthe concrete, you know, five
years of age. So there was nomighty Tigers class back in
those days. I think I was withthe adults by the time I was
eight.
Jose Flores (08:09):
Yeah. By the time you were at you were with the
other. It was it was differentback in those days. Yeah. But I
mean, I'm pretty sure you wereable to hold your own. And so
you come to the US and hot. Howdo you start? Because I know
you're you were in variousteams, and I mean, obviously a
world champion. How did thatcome about?
Tara Van Deusen (08:30):
So I wasn't a world champion. I'd won some
many of national championshipsup in Canada and some
internationals, I done prettywell in NBA I was, I guess,
maybe at 13. And then I focusedon soccer and basketball
throughout high school. So itwas really soon after I moved to
California. I started after mysenior year when I was going to
(08:52):
Pepperdine. I met Colin as I wasstarting to hit your some small
local tournaments. Kind ofgetting back in having fun with
it. Really, that was kind of theextent of it. At that point. I
started competing more, and Iwas training with Jose Pacheco
and drew Christian and no Raminwas really young at this time.
(09:14):
Manny, I was traveling aroundwith Manny, Harry Graham. And
just really having fun with abunch of the West Coast fighters
met Colin and from there it kindof that was kind of the
beginning take off of my worldchampion shipped level I would
say and he kind of created andtaught me about angles. That was
(09:37):
a whole new thing for me becauseI was never the tallest fighter
or necessarily the fastest,fastest fighter, but he helped
me analyze and create my ownstyle with with angles that
helped out with my lead legkicks on top of it all. And so
my first team was full contact.
I think I met bear when I was 12or 13 Originally, but it wasn't
(09:59):
until after. I think I was 19when he picked me up on the
team, and that's also when I gotcloser with Colin, who was also
on the team.
Jose Flores (10:09):
Oh, so for contact team, and so you guys go on the
road a lot or was it more localtournaments?
Tara Van Deusen (10:17):
We, I would say local West Coast. Absolutely.
And then at a Las Vegastournament one year, that's when
I beat Regina Thompson actually,who was one of the top top
fighters at the time. Andanother cop, national sponsored
Team cjb or elite. I don'tremember which one, they're the
same club but they called andasked me, you know, the, the
(10:40):
manager the head coach was thereat that event and he wanted me
to come fight with him and histeam, which was also Nikki Lee
Carlson and Claire Coco's at thetime and I'll be honest, Nikki
Lee was the woman to beat and soI I kind of called up a
competitor competitive team,Richard Plowden, in FCS and
said, Hey, listen, I love to beon your team. I want to be this
(11:04):
woman. And I don't think I'mgonna be able to do it if I'm
fighting alongside of her. So,
Jose Flores (11:08):
oh, it's the such teams. So you could
Tara Van Deusen (11:12):
I didn't actually I wasn't on cGb. They
just offered me the full thefull sponsorship. And then it
was with that offer that I thenwent to TMS? Yes, I had a lot of
respect for their coach. FCS waswas Regina has team, by the way.
And I had a lot of respect fortheir coach Richard Plowden, who
has been an amazing figure inthe martial arts sport karate
(11:33):
world for decades. And he madeit happen, he picked it up, he
said, he'd love to have me andthat was kind of the beginning
of my international or WorldChampionship experience.
Jose Flores (11:48):
So you're going up against naked knee or whatnot?
How do you how do you preparefor that? Because I mean, I've,
I've seen you spar. I've seensome of your matches, obviously,
butterflies in the snow, but youdon't show it. So how do you
mentally prepare for thatyourself?
Tara Van Deusen (12:03):
That's a great question. And I think you
prepare for it in your training.
You know, when you, you prepareproperly, you show up. And when
you're in that ring, you're justthere to do a job. The nerves
show up when you know you didn'tprepare enough. But when you've
prepared enough, you've beenvisualizing every time you've
been training your Blitz yourkicks, whatever the case may be,
you're already visualizing youwin in your next match or your
(12:26):
tournament, or whatever the casemay be. So it also helped that I
pretty much trained only withguys. For me, that was a huge
mental shift. Because whenyou're training with guys who
were also starting to do youknow really well in their sport
karate careers, it's a littleeasier standing up in front of
some of these femalecompetitors. At least for me,
(12:48):
mentally.
Jose Flores (12:51):
Yeah. And these still remember that match to
this day with me.
Tara Van Deusen (12:55):
You know, I do and it was interesting, because
at that one tournament, RichardPlowden, had said that we also
had to do forums, whatever madehis fighters do forums, but for
whatever reason, at thistournament, we had to do forums.
So I enrolled in American kempo,because I wasn't about to start
doing a freestyle forum withclips that I hadn't been trained
(13:15):
for years. So I did long formfor and it was a huge American
kempo Division Two is a nationalnational tournament, Atlantic
City, I believe. And, sureenough, I fought Nicky Lee right
before the forum's competition.
But I already had my game plan,I already knew she was taller
than me her legs were strong menwere scared of her, you know,
(13:35):
psychic x kicks. So it was gonnabe a simple get off the line,
you know, angle off the lineevery time. And so it was it was
actually a quick fight. It wasprobably easier for me because I
knew who she was. And she didn'tknow who I was. This was one of
my first larger competitions onthe east coast. The West Coast
people knew me but nobody reallyknew me on the east coast. And
so, so I won. Absolutely. Andthen I ran over put on my
(14:00):
traditional kitaab data,American kempo forms I was
fortunate I got to go at the endof the long line of Listen,
there are some great names inthere God soccer there's some
great names in there. And butbecause I was at the end, I was
the last one go I think I had alittle heads up. I had all this
energy ramped up and ended upwinning the national title and
that as well. No way Okay, onetime I did long form for Yeah,
Jose Flores (14:21):
that is awesome. I mean, you had the the adrenaline
from your fight and you comeinto form. Absolutely. So yes, I
do remember that fight. So nowyou're you're the as you say,
the woman to beat now you're thewoman to beat after that. You
started participating more intournament, and you obviously
(14:42):
keep your training going?
Because
Tara Van Deusen (14:44):
Yeah, so by that time, I moved down here to
Long Beach and I was trainingregularly with Colin and we had
this location at this point, hisheadquarters on Bixby So, Mike
pump arrow was coming down.
Raymond was coming down often wewere just having lots of fight.
We had all the best of the best.
faders here training because wewere more focused on training
really than growing our businessat that time, even though we had
(15:06):
evening classes. My focus attime was was competing. So
eventually. So yeah, I starteddoing really well started
winning more competitions,getting a bit of a name, won a
bunch of world titles in NBL,National Black Belt league. And
then shortly after, though, Ididn't get too much time on sex
before the team folded as well.
The owners, the corporate ownershad some tax issues. Oh, so I
(15:28):
then got picked up by Garth binson Team victory, which was based
out in New York and he was thefirst one who started taking he
was really one of the firstnational teams to start taking
their team regularly overseas.
So it wasn't too far after that.
I got to go to my first Irishopen which to this day is still
(15:50):
the biggest in the best sportkarate martial art competition.
And yeah, I did, I won. I wentundefeated that weekend won my
my weight division as well asthe open women's world champ
grand champion. And that was afirst year Ramin one of that as
well. Raymond. So we felt prettygood.
Jose Flores (16:11):
Oh, yeah. So work Work. Work me through your Irish
open. I mean, you obviously it'svery different than any West
Coast or east coast tournamentsbigger. So how is definitely
like marking into the
Tara Van Deusen (16:23):
I loved it. All these years. There's there were
starting to be more and moreleagues here in America. So the
divisions were getting smallerand smaller. Which is why I
always wanted to win my divisionbecause then I'd at least get to
fight middleweight grands, andheavy or overall grands which
would give me more fights. Ireally just like to fight. I
think I just like to fightbecause I like to win. I don't
(16:44):
know. But I really just wantedlots of fights. So traveling
over there. There were 63 womenin our my open weight division.
I was I was in love.
Jose Flores (16:55):
And the I mean, I don't know if the rule was still
in effect back then. But theydid throw you off the lead leg
to the I mean, the lead hand tothe body. They did.
Tara Van Deusen (17:03):
So I do remember the rule. I remember
coach pins, you know, remindingus about the whole thing and it
didn't throw me off. It didn'tthrow me off because it didn't
really affect the my angles gameat the time. If they were a
kicker, I was angling if theyweren't. I was you know, going
in with my kicks first fallingup with my hands. I was just in
(17:24):
the zone that year that was youknow, I'd had two consecutive
wins around. I'd been trainingconsistently. I was in the zone
that year.
Jose Flores (17:32):
Oh man, I stumbled upon a picture and I get this on
your Facebook. Jason borleyRaymond Daniels, I think it was
Mike Barbero, yourself. And Idon't know if jack Felton was
still too young at the time. ButI think,
Tara Van Deusen (17:47):
I don't know he might have been there. I'm
trying remember that was inEngland, actually. And I was
another fun, fun excursion,again with some of the best
fighters.
Jose Flores (17:56):
So I'm going to get those. Every single one of them
were the top fighters in thatday. So how was that like?
Tara Van Deusen (18:03):
That was great.
We actually competed in twodifferent competitions that
weekend. And, yes, one of thepromoters who actually sponsored
us to come over wasn'tincredibly happy about that. But
I What I remember most aboutthat event was we had this big
team finals they were filmingit, they were doing you know,
Team America verse. Team Europe,team England, I don't exactly
(18:26):
remember that. It was a lot offun. But the next day in
competition, Jason Braley threwthis spin inside kick that broke
this guy's arm in a way I'venever seen I hit a hole you in
his forearm, and I just, I willnever forget it to the day.
That's why every time I seepeople teaching how to block you
know, just by bringing theirelbows in. I was like, No, no,
(18:47):
you angle out of the way fromthat that hurts.
Jose Flores (18:53):
So I mean, that's what was sparked karate or
radio, a big thing where youwere coming up. During your time
with it. It just started growingas you were.
Tara Van Deusen (19:02):
So sport, karate, historically here in
America was already big. When Iwas growing up. In Canada, it
was not so big. It was so we hadhow I got involved was we had
this one competition called theTiger Balm International. We did
have a very large Vancouver is,you know, we were very open in
Canada for immigration. And sowe had a very strong kung fu
(19:26):
population, so to speak, in themartial arts, a lot of Chinese
arts. And so we had this TigerBalm internationals that ended
up getting sanctioned by theNational Black Belt league
because boys wanted to grow inboth Mexico and Canada. And it
was through that, that I won abunch of competitions and got
invited to the National BlackBelt League World Championships
(19:48):
in New Orleans thick when I was13. And so one of my producers
actually because I did a lot offilm and television, one of my
producers sponsored my my motherand I to go down and compete.
That was my first Super grands,ever
Jose Flores (20:01):
How did that go with you in it?
Tara Van Deusen (20:03):
You know what I did? So there was, again, a lot
of great competitors. There's 22of us, and it ended up being
Regina Thompson name you'veheard a couple of times and
myself in the finals. She's ayear old. I was 12. She was 13.
Somewhere along those lines. Iwas 13. She was 14, something
like that. Anyways, we fought at1am in the morning,
Jose Flores (20:22):
what? It was
Tara Van Deusen (20:24):
crazy. I don't remember everything. But so it
was 1am in the morning, I didwin World Championships in
continuous that that year,though, okay, but four point
fighting. So I beat her thefirst round, and I thought I
won. And I was cheering. And I'dactually asked, there was
another Canadian blackbeltthere, Bill hunter who was from
(20:45):
British Columbia. I'd asked himif he could coach me because I
didn't have any coaches, mysponsored paid for me and there
wasn't many Canadians there. Ican guarantee you that. And so I
wanted, I thought I won. Andthey're like, Oh, no, it's you
have to win twice. It's bestthree, you know. So we fought
again. And she won. And then wewere in the final match. And
(21:07):
this was where I kind of, youknow, not having a coach kind of
messed me up. The final point. Iwas getting her now with my
kicks. And she smart. She'salways been such a smart fighter
just kicked me to the groin. AndI didn't even know the groin was
open, because it wasn't open inCanada. But yeah, so first one
went to Regina Thompson, and Inever forgot her name because of
(21:28):
that.
Jose Flores (21:29):
She was your nemesis. Yes, nemesis. Good
friend. Yes. Oh, my goodness.
And I mean, obviously, as Isaid, You're very driven and
whatnot. How do you learn how tocope and or learn from your
losses? Because I do a lot ofpeople they get they get upset,
they shut down. But obviouslyfor you, you kept you going and
lit up that fire.
Tara Van Deusen (21:51):
You know, I think that probably stems back
from something possibly evenoutside of the martial arts.
From a young age, I think,again, my mother was a teen mom.
And I think a lot of peopleunderestimated me. And possibly
her as well. And from fromkindergarten, I remember my she
(22:13):
put me in French immersion. Andit was either the kindergarten
or the first grade teacher thattold my mother, I'd never be
able to speak French. I mean,and it was just continuously
things that came up like that.
You know, my, when I was 12, or13, I was diagnosed with
epilepsy, my the headneurologist of North America,
told my mother that I'm notgonna be able to do martial arts
(22:34):
anymore. I'm not going to keepexcelling in sports. I'm not
going to keep doing well inschool. So I think the chip on
my shoulder was always to provepeople wrong, if that makes
sense, especially if it wassomething that I wanted. It was
like, Oh, yeah, watch me. So Ithink that was a big driving
factor that when I would lose,now, I had to prove it to
(22:55):
myself. So it was about gettingback up on the drawing board.
What did I do wrong? How can Ido it differently?
Jose Flores (23:01):
Oh, man, I like that. I live in I mean,
japanischen Canton, watch. watchme do this. So I mean, obviously
you guys, and I think you'retalking about about it. Last
week in our meeting. You guyssaw this place in Bixby. And you
saw you saw it very differentlythan common. He's, he's is a
(23:24):
great student. You were like,you really want to buy that. But
he had another vision for it.
And
Tara Van Deusen (23:29):
so yes, originally, it wasn't about
buying it. There was just this.
He really wanted to be in BixbyKnolls. I didn't really know
anything about Long Beach at thetime, we were teaching at two
parks. And I was really justassisting him, I was still going
to school. And I was I wasfocused myself on fighting, you
know, I reinvigorated or reenergizing this goal to win some
World Championships. And so hefound this location, and it just
(23:52):
so happened we could afford,we'd figured out the math for
how many people we felt wouldfollow us from the parks. And we
felt we could afford the rentfor the downstairs two spaces.
And yeah, absolutely, I didn'tsee it the same as him
whatsoever. But at the end ofthe day, I wanted to have a spot
that we could go because at theparks and RECs, we could only
(24:13):
train there during class time.
But you're also teaching duringclass time. So this would allow
us to do privates on the side,this would allow us to train on
our side to say, Hey, tell theseguys that we were, you know,
taking road trips with all thesetournaments in Oregon and
Seattle and Vegas, and we couldhave a spot to train and that's
kind of what it turned in to inthose earlier days. We had all
(24:35):
kinds of small rooms. It's justvery different. Remember that I
remember that. It looked verydifferent. But hey, look at it
now. Right?
Jose Flores (24:44):
It's amazing having all the building and whatnot.
And you know, going back to whenyou guys were competing a lot I
do remember those days because Imyself started in 2001 2002
around there. And I remember Iused to help out every Saturday
to clean and Mr. Mendoza willcome in common. He come in and
say what are you doing? I'mlike, Oh, I'm just finished. I'm
cleaning called off to thecorner. I we just had a dragon
(25:06):
roll Red Dragon Come come in andthey want to spy. Okay, why are
you telling me just the yellowbell or noise about Oh no, you
get to experience God andthey're like, okay, and I'm
smart and all these black beltsand I see you eyes image from
Barrow. And I'm like, okay, Ijust give him my best.
Tara Van Deusen (25:23):
Those days. And I laugh because I think maybe
every class we were sparring orevery other class, we
Unknown (25:29):
were sparring.
Jose Flores (25:30):
And you know what, that was my favorite thing,
because I remember going I hopewe spar today. And sure enough,
put on your pants. I was like,Yes. And don't get me wrong. I
mean, I, like you say everyoneeither likes techniques, like
sports or sparring. For me, itwas just sparring. I love
sparring, and whatnot. But yeah,I mean, and it helped me out a
lot. Because I remember in LongBeach internationals has just
(25:54):
forgot his name. His last namewas West. And he was a pretty
good guy. He was around my rankat the time. Anyways, we went to
a tournament, I was just anorange belt. And we were we were
down until nighttime. I didn'twant to go, but you guys told me
just go just just goparticipate. Okay. It was a team
of three. And I was just doingan orange film. And it was my
(26:16):
turn to compete on competing.
There's a brown belt in front ofme. And I just remember him
kicking it kicking me in myhead. And he smiled. He gave me
that smile. Like I got you now.
Something lit up triggered, youtriggered me? And I was like,
Oh, no, no, no, that's not gonnahappen. And I beat him. I ended
up beating him. And it felt sogood. But I what I'm trying to
say is what helped me is allthose firing those higher ranks,
(26:38):
always firing everyone andeveryone being being nice. And
everyone gave me pointers. Sothat's that's kind of what
helped me.
Tara Van Deusen (26:44):
Absolutely. I think also, if you remember,
with all those sparring in ourtests back in the day, and
obviously we weren't able togrow, we were people that like
to fight or people that werealready had already had
experience in the martial arts.
And you have to get peoplethere. And we kind of forgot all
those days because we just liketo fight and we weren't focused
on our business either. So thatbeing said, we used to do a lot
of two on one three on onebecause we wanted every we
(27:07):
wanted our students to know whatit felt like to get hit, we
wanted you to know what it feltlike if you had to deal with a
gang or you know, a mob or thattype of stuff. And the whole
perspective, or the whole pointwas for the students to get
comfortable with theuncomfortable, right. And I
think as a result, I mean, wehave a lot of students that
didn't really compete very much,but they would just show up in
(27:27):
Vegas for a competition orwhatever. And they would give
just as good as they got. Andwe'd throw them right into the
black belt divisions and they'dbe fighting the best for the
best. As like you said, purpleblue belts. Yeah, no, you should
like the black belts or jerricatree as Suzanna Boyd we started
them all as color belts.
Jose Flores (27:44):
And they are amazing. They did amazing. Oh,
the one thing I will neverforget from from you is we were
at a tournament. And you it wasI told the story before but
we're at a tournament and it wasdown to first and second place.
And you came up to me and youtold me look Jose, that's the
son of the promoter. So thejudging my goal, they might not
(28:09):
go your way. So don't get bummedout. And from there, I was like,
really? Okay. So I get in therewe bow and not in the first hit
hits me, right. I think it was apunch to the to the body. And I
was like, obviously you want toplay this game. And because I
mean, I, I pride myself inknowing how to watch my control.
(28:29):
But once he did that, like yousaid, it triggered me. I was
like, okay, it's gonna be thatkind of game. I mean, I want but
I was glad that you told methat. And I'm glad he did that.
Because if not, I would havebeen more cautious and not like,
I got to prove my point. I gotto make him clear. I have to
make sure he knows. You know,I'm not here to play around
because I remember him. He washe was walking around like he
was the hot stuff. He didn'thave a uniform. He didn't have a
(28:51):
belt. I was like, oh, wow, okay,we pick up.
Tara Van Deusen (28:55):
I think my point probably was more not to
let it emotionally bother you.
If the points were going to hisway to just fight your fight.
And to expect that the judgeswere going to and there was
several times. You know, I stillremember this one tournament, I
went to an Oregon and I wasfighting for the grand
championship in the evening. AndI just so happened to lose to
somebody who I probablyshouldn't have lost to. It was a
(29:17):
debatable question. It was adebatable point. At that point.
Mr. Cohen was not happywhatsoever. And everybody else
thought it was crazy. But in mymind, I lost I shouldn't have
let it get that close. And itdidn't matter whether I really
scored that point or not. I lostthe fight because I let it get
that close. But sometimes, youcan get off your game. If you
(29:38):
start questioning the judgesearly if you're not, you know,
prepared for that. What are youtalking about? I hit him. Well
now instead of focusing ongetting the next point, you're
so busy, most of just kinda likeif you've got continuous or
contact and you get hit and youget rocked and you start
focusing on the fact that youjust got hit instead of a wait.
I gotta get my hands up and hitthem more than they're hitting
me. That's
Jose Flores (29:59):
true. Continuous is a whole different thing. You get
hit. Oh, no, you keep going. Youkeep going. And then that always
says, I mean, I never didcontinuous. But I mean, here in
the studio, that's what wealways used to do just continue
to get rock. I remember Mr. V oryourself, put your hands up,
keep going. Okay, but I'm right,but okay. It's no wonder we had
(30:20):
no students back in those days.
I mean, for me, it was it wasawesome. I mean, I, I do I
appreciate those days because ithelped my growth. Absolutely. So
and when not. And so now you,you guys, I guess you realize
that you have to focus more onthe business. So when did that
change started transferringfrom,
Tara Van Deusen (30:41):
you know, I think it transpired when I
started having kids, okay.
Because all of a sudden, youknow, you start looking at
things. So once I started havingkids, or once I found out I was
pregnant with pyara competitioncouldn't be my focus anymore.
Now is it was the studio and itwas more in reflection, and
looking at everything that Ireceived in the martial arts, it
(31:02):
wasn't the World Championships,although I made some great
relationships, I made somegreat, I had some awesome
experiences. But what I reallygot out of the martial arts was
was the character developmentwas the life skills that we
still, as you know, teach andreally pride ourself on to this
day. I know a lot of studios donow, but we started decades ago,
talking about it, because that'ssomething that everybody takes
(31:24):
with him. So our goal changedfrom just making World
Championships, real champions,which is kind of what we were
focusing on that day, because wewant it to be and we were, you
know, to given people thesethese life skills that help them
succeed in all areas, becausethere's not very many people are
that are going to want to takemartial arts to that level. But
(31:46):
there's a lot of people that itcan help them become top
students, top athletes in othersports. It did. It helped me
with basketball and soccerthroughout high school, and it
can help them become great humanbeings. And Henceforth, were how
are we going to get morestudents in here so we can make
a bigger difference in theworld? promoting the power of
one?
Jose Flores (32:08):
Yeah. And I mean, it surely has helped because I
mean, five locations? Yes, Ilocation.
Tara Van Deusen (32:16):
Yes. You know, at this given moment, probably
there's 1500 Power of Onestudents. Right now today.
Jose Flores (32:24):
Right? And oh, my goodness, that's insane. When
you think back then we had 40. Agood handful of them. And when
so I mean, when you're takingyou're enthusiastic, you're very
your energy's very high. What?
What do you I mean, I know, mostof it is from you, but that you
see anyone as you're growing up,like or want to, you know,
(32:45):
mirror them in some way orwhatnot.
Tara Van Deusen (32:49):
You know, it's interesting, I look back at all
the different martial arts, I'vehad a lot of different black
belts play a role in my career.
And I'm so very thankful to thatin so many different arts, and
all some great instructors, aswell as some interesting
characters. But that being said,I think it's the passion that
you hear, because I really ampassionate on helping you become
more successful in whatever areayou want to by learning. Most of
(33:14):
my world titles, most of mybiggest, most important fights,
I didn't win on my skills, and Ireally 100% firmly believe that
I won, based on my mindset. Andobviously, there's countless
books nowadays, but in lookingback, I can see, I know the
fights I lost because of mymindset, because of what I was
thinking about before. I knowthe fights that I won, solely
(33:37):
because of my mindset over theirmindset. And because the heck
some of those people at theIrish open their train six hours
a day, or you know, theirgovernments happy to buy them a
townhouse. I remember that thefirst time I went in 2003 this
Russian girl she was like, Yeah,no, I went today I get my shoes
from Sweden. My governmental buyme a townhouse. What? Really?
(33:59):
I'll get a stamp when I comeback to my passport. But anyway,
so at the end of the day, thatpassion is his. Or that
excitement, that energy reallyis the passion. Yeah. And it's
not just about the martial arts,although I love the martial
arts. That's our vehicle.
Jose Flores (34:21):
And I mean, because Oh, you were always one of the
ones that I was like, man, ifonce Miss Conlon in your 30
games Give me the opportunity. Iwas like, I want to mirror that
somehow. Because the energy andthe enthusiasm it's always
there. I want to I need to hearthat and even when I'm teaching
with Australian dollar, I tellthem or Eric I'm like, you got
(34:41):
some Mrs. V and you got some tarin you. I see it and he's like
what really I'm like yeah, whenyou're teaching that's it comes
out like you can see it in itlike I swear to you like I
picture you teaching whensometimes when Eric is teaching
like that's what this is.
Tara Van Deusen (34:56):
Awesome. That's just the the the exponential
growth in the hope Point haveopened in multiple locations
originally, which are now youknow, we've got multiple
instructors that own their ownbusiness, because now they can
pass that same passion and lifeskills on to other people. So
I'm happy that there's a littlepiece of me that's traveling
through Mr. s. And, and I knowhe's making a huge difference.
(35:20):
And I hear it all the time. Iget the emails all the time. We
love Mr. Jose Flores. We loveMr. Salazar.
Jose Flores (35:26):
Yeah, I know that the patients with him is
incredible in the way. I mean, Iwould always whisper Yes, the
cha is because I admire how hecould control the four or five,
six year olds. Don't get mewrong. I love teaching those
classes. But he does him andyou're so you guys do it
different. It's like, wow,
Tara Van Deusen (35:42):
you know, what's really funny, Mr. Flores?
And I don't know if so maybe youhaven't given yourself enough
credit. But when Mr. Salazarfirst started teaching for us,
he was a brown belt 16. And hewas so soft spoken. And I was
just, you know, Mr. V was, thisis what he wants. Let's get him
in here. And then he's like, No,we got to let him have the class
cuz I kept taking over. I youknow, I mean, myself, or even I
(36:05):
think Mr. Daniels were teachingbut anyways, because I was like,
he was just so quiet, he's gonnalose their attention. And
because he was doing itdifferent for me. But then it
didn't take long to realize thathis different way was just as
captivating if not more,especially for certain ages than
mine. So I think sometimes weunderestimate different styles.
(36:30):
Don't underestimate your ownteaching ability. I hear
there's, you've made a bigdifference in a lot of people's
lives. Oh, thank
Jose Flores (36:34):
you. Yeah, I mean, my own style. I mean, I relate a
lot to the especially to theteens, and some some youth now
that they like, the Japaneseanimation. So I relate. And
toddlers, when I tell them aname, they look at me all
shocked, like, how do you knowthat? And I'm on and on, like,
playing around? I'm like, why Iknew that before you were born?
Yeah, no, you know, I'm, I'mvery interested in that. And I
(36:56):
remember one time you weretelling us about if a student
arrives late to not put them onthe spot and say, permission to
enter classroom or permission toenter class, man. So that really
played in my mind a lot ofmoney. How can I How can I get
this going? And it's funny,because when they were like, you
know what, let me try this. Anda student showed up late. And I
said, and said, Oh, guys, if youguys ever show up late you only
(37:19):
chocolate chip cookies freshlybaked in the oven. Bring him in
the pan, because in the bag themup together. But buddy, you show
me that premise attends a class.
And that's my thing. Now, likeevery time everybody shows up,
Austin's all your Mr. Florescookies, and they love it. They
all laugh. But the funny thingis, one day a student showed up
late, and I don't even seepermission to enter class. And I
(37:40):
said, Oh, yummy chocolate chipcookies. He goes, he reaches out
he pulls out a bag. And at theend his mom, his mom or dad can
be like, yeah, here. He arrivedlate on purpose because he
wanted to recharge. Thank you.
That's great. Hilarious.
Tara Van Deusen (37:56):
I think actually, that was probably
something I learned. I remember,I have very vivid memories of
calling asking people for hischeeseburger if they relate.
Well, that's probably where thatoriginally started. That's
right.
Jose Flores (38:09):
I mean, it's good to have I mean, different ways
to get these kids to just smileand have fun. Because it's
Tara Van Deusen (38:17):
my biggest thing is I think, you know, I
traveled I used to take the busmyself 45 minutes to an hour to
the second martial arts studio Iused to train in because it was
in Vancouver, and I was kind ofin the suburb area. And, again,
my mother, single mother, shewas working multiple jobs. So
there were times when I waslate, and I didn't want I You
(38:39):
and I both know that it's oftennot necessarily in the child's
control when they're late.
Parents have a lot going on. Sotry to create a way where they
can learn the respect of otherpeople's times and understand
the importance of being on time,but at the same time. It's find
a way to get him in.
Jose Flores (38:56):
Yeah. And I mean, they load that way in that way.
I'm not putting him in thisspot, and they're having fun
with it. So I found that when Imean it's so I love the fact
that there's always a challengeor some challenge presents
itself and it's not a badchallenge. It's a good challenge
where you're like, Okay, I needto find a way to solve this. And
it's every day, especially withthe little ones. I mean, only
(39:18):
some of these are you're like,Okay, moving on. Absolutely,
Tara Van Deusen (39:21):
absolutely, I think but it's the same thing,
whether it's with the actualindividual in their learning
style, or their physicalabilities, that's something that
I enjoy myself now is you know,as we work with, say, an older,
larger student or that has lessmobility to a younger student
that has less gross motor skillsor agility. It's it's a great
(39:45):
learning lesson that noteverybody can fight or do the
techniques the same way. Andit's our job to find the way
that works for them. That's oneof the biggest things were my
biggest pet peeves with martialarts. Old School is this there's
this way And then there's thehighway, right? You don't do it
this way, then it's not right.
No, that's there's nothing rightabout that if you open up your
(40:07):
mind and see that each person isdifferent, different, and
they're going to have strengths,not only physically, but they're
gonna have strengths mentally aswell.
Jose Flores (40:17):
That's correct. And some of our best students have
come up because they're notphysically able to do something.
But mentally they're strong. Andsome of those students, I'm
like, Whoa, that's insane. Imean, I might have talked to
them, because I'm like, man, ifthis was the old school way of
power went, they wouldn't behere. I wouldn't I wouldn't have
(40:39):
been when I haven't seen theirprogress their growth. So I
mean, I'm glad this changehappened. And when
Tara Van Deusen (40:44):
Absolutely, and it's but it's that fine line.
It's trying to figure out wherepeople's different comfort
levels are, sort of speak whenyou can start pushing, because
at the end of the day, you needto push everybody, but you need
to push them differently. Thatis
Jose Flores (40:57):
correct. Yeah. And I mean, I don't know if you
remember, but I was also kind oflike Miss dress very shy, not
very talkative. And I rememberone time we were coming back
from the Super Show, and we gotin the car and you're you're
driving us back back to the tothe studio here. And you're
like, Jose, you talk? Like Yes,ma'am. I do. And I think that
(41:21):
that we can also Mr. V Fonda. Oneconomy, find out how much I
could talk is I guess, we boughta drink. And I'm not a big
drinker. So that one hit me. AndI guess he said, I was just
talking up
Tara Van Deusen (41:32):
and look at you now running your own podcast,
talking to world champions inmartial art. lended legends
worldwide, right.
Jose Flores (41:39):
And I love it. I mean, I love doing this. It's
incredible. So man, I mean, Idon't want to take my time. But
before we go, anything you wouldlike to say I mean, about your
legacy, or anything that youwould like to leave behind? Wow,
that's a deep question to gowith. Yes, I'd like to surprise
(41:59):
people with this. You know,
Tara Van Deusen (42:02):
I wouldn't. I don't really care about my
legacy. It never really was, youknow, the world titles were not
for anybody else. They were forme. As you know, I've got
multiple different black belts,I don't even care. I told
calling the other day, I wasjust like, I almost walked out
of the house without my blackbelt. And I made a joke about
Did I really, you know how manypeople would turn over in their
(42:26):
graves if I showed up to teachwithout my black belt. But
obviously, my skills aren't inthat. I would like and love for
all the positive life skills,empowerment that we have put
decades into instilled into youand just 1000s and 1000s of
(42:51):
students at this point, I hopeto see that it continues to
trickle down and that peopleremember the whole concept of
the power of one coming togetherto work with people. I think
right now more than ever, we'rein a time where so many people
are pushing other people down,out of fear out of jealousy out
of their own lack of selfconfidence or self esteem. And
(43:16):
that's never been what wepromote here, obviously, as you
know, which is why we have noproblem bringing in people that
are better. fighters and S arebetter jujitsu martial artists,
why we tell our instructors togo train with other people that
we know are better than us incertain areas, right? Because
the whole goal is to help eachother elevate power of people
(43:39):
coming together to form thatwhich is invincible, right, the
power of one. So if anything, Ihope that the power of one
legacy that both Colin and Ihave worked so far, so long,
continues to have that rippleeffect. And as I sit here in
front of you right now, I feelpretty good. That it will you
(44:00):
know, regardless of what happenswith Colin and myself tomorrow,
or even the name power of one, Ifeel pretty confident the legacy
we've left with all of you guys.
Jose Flores (44:09):
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I mean, you guys havetremendously helped us out. I
mean, I, I won't speak foranyone as well. For instance, we
definitely, both of you guyshave helped me out just not in
my confidence, but in my growthas a person. I mean, I've, if I
were to talk to young Jose rightnow and say, hey, you're going
to be teaching or you're goingto be doing a podcast. Are you
talking about I hardly talk tothem to my I hardly talked to my
(44:29):
parents or make full sentences.
What do you mean? So Iappreciate thank you so much for
math. I appreciate it. If wewere not separated by this big
long desk, I'd give you a hugright now. Thank you so much.
Well, everyone, if you want toget a hold of Tara she teaches
over here at the headquarterslocation or went on Long Beach
Boulevard in between Bixby andRoosevelt. How else could they
(44:54):
get ahold of you? Your website?
Tara Van Deusen (44:55):
Oh yeah, any of the power one websites but
probably just Tara Ta ra. Atpower of one karate.com.
Jose Flores (45:03):
And again, guys, thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Jose. Bye,everyone.
All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the work
again podcast where I get theprivilege to talk to the legends
and words or the martial artsworld. Today I am being joined
by seventh degree black belt andblack belt in American Kenpo and
World Champion Tara vandusen.
Ma'am, how are you? I'm great,thanks. How about yourself? I'm
doing well. Well, thank you somuch for doing this. I
appreciate your time. Of course.
(00:23):
Thank you. So just to start off,um, how was your turn? Like, I
know you were born BritishColumbia. Yeah. That was young
Tara like.
Tara Van Deusen (00:33):
Great question.
I'm sure I have a differentopinion than everybody else
around me. remembers from thattime, I was young, driven,
tomboy competitive. And probablyadventurous. Yeah.
Jose Flores (00:48):
That's awesome. I know, early age h4, I believe so
The Karate Kid and you're like,that's, I want to do martial
arts.
Tara Van Deusen (00:56):
Absolutely. My were watching The Karate Kid.
And I told my mother, I wantedto do that. And she says what
you want to do acting or youwant to do martial arts? And I
said both. So she enrolled me inboth in
Jose Flores (01:07):
both. And it was in the parks and RECs in the
basement where you find yourfirst studio? How did that come
about? How did she find thatspot?
Tara Van Deusen (01:14):
Um, you know, obviously, there wasn't the
internet back in those days. Soit wasn't our neighborhood, I'm
sure she just asked around. Anda lot of things were through
Parks and Rec back in thosedays, especially in Canada. And
she was a young teen mother aswell. So financially, as well as
travel wise, I don't even thinkwe had our own vehicle at that
time. So it was probably justsomething we could catch the bus
(01:35):
to and go from there. Theorganization actually had
several locations in probablyall the parks and RECs in the
area. So they had like eight ornine.
Jose Flores (01:44):
And what kind of system was it?
Tara Van Deusen (01:46):
It was called boo token, which is kind of like
an offshoot firewood expense.
It's a traditional JapaneseOkinawan martial art and similar
to show to Khan,
Jose Flores (01:56):
Khan. And who do you remember your instructor?
Tara Van Deusen (01:59):
I do actually I had several instructors. I was
one of their sole females wasactually my female doctor who
was one of the only females inthe entire organization. she
happened to be a green belt atthat time. And I think she
wanted my mother to do it.
Honestly, as I mentioned, shewas a teen mom, so she was
probably not even 20 yet. Andanyway, so the head instructor
(02:20):
Joe Sure. lumbus was a headinstructor and unfortunately, he
made some bad choices along theyears and is in jail. And then I
had several of assistantinstructors that I spent most of
my time with Dean Chu Dan Cogan.
(02:43):
Here, Harry Charalambous Joe'sbrother, Lloyd Lloyd Phillips, I
believe was another one I usedto compete against his sons
often
Jose Flores (02:51):
Oh, yeah. So and So you did that for about two,
three
Tara Van Deusen (02:57):
years, or no, actually, I did that for six
years, I I trained regularlyalmost five days a week because
I would, I eventually startedtraveling around to all their
different locations, so I couldcompete or, or train with all
their instructors. Dean Chu dida lot of acting stunts as well
at that time, and startedcompeting. And as a result
(03:18):
started doing really well informs. I was always second best
in fighting. And anyway, so Istarted competing, and I can
train up until just before I was11. And then my mother had some
reservations about the headinstructor for obvious reasons.
And at the same time, it wasvery traditional. So at that
point, I'd know I knew all theforms, and they were no longer.
(03:41):
I couldn't test any further pastit was kind of my version or
their version of a junior blackbelt at that point. So I moved
on to a different martial artfacility
Jose Flores (03:50):
and was was then moved on to Taekwondo or
Tara Van Deusen (03:55):
so again, similar to us. It was Kelly's
Academy of martial arts. Andyes, it was a Taekwondo.
However, after a couple years, Igot my black belt with him and
competed to he was really heavyinto competition for fighting.
And so that was kind of thebeginning of where I started
progressing from winning formsto winning sparring in sport,
martial arts. And eventually, agentleman by the name of Simon
(04:18):
Posner, who still is training upthere at this at this time took
over and he changed it into amore of a pankration pen
creation story because hecompeted around the world and
muy Thai in jujitsu, and he toohad his black belt with Kelly.
So that was my first version ofa traditional mixed martial art
and this was back in the early90s. So well before the UFC was
(04:39):
around. Yeah,
Jose Flores (04:40):
I mean, it was early 90s when they started
coming up 92 or somewhere aroundthere. So when you started
competing, it wasn't as becausepeople right now when you say
competing, they think fightingWell, back then it was more
common as more forms, as per se
Tara Van Deusen (04:52):
no, there were still fighting as well. It was
just an N pads were verydifferent back in those days as
well. The thing was, was myfirst six was a traditional
Okinawan karate. Soconsequently, I did really well
in forms deep stances, you know,kicks were not encouraged above
your waist, so to speak. And I'dalways compete and fighting, I
(05:13):
just wasn't winning in fighting.
There was a few competitors thatkept beating me consistently.
And that's how I chose whatlocation to go to. I wanted to
train with the best and thosewere the best, and they'd always
traveled down to America andbought so hence, I started
training with Kelly.
Jose Flores (05:31):
And that's what I was gonna ask because you're a
very driven person. And I know,you're very competitive. So as
soon as you were, I guess,coming second place, and finally
you were like, I gotta getbetter. I have to get better.
Tara Van Deusen (05:41):
Absolutely. I enjoyed the forums, but I
enjoyed fighting better. End ofthe day, that was the real
reason.
Jose Flores (05:50):
So you, you come to the US and I think you, you
know, from what I read, youdidn't even realize you were
under Mr. Bob whites whenWednesday night fight. You were
under you didn't even realize itwas Mr. Guido who he wasn't to
you later on. Right. And you're?
Tara Van Deusen (06:05):
Yeah, so I was trained and I moved to Malibu
and I was training with agentleman named Joey Escobar,
who did pretty well with hissport karate, as well as a
gentleman named Curt Lampson.
Both of them were tongue pseudo.
So now I've kind of gone fromJapanese karate for five, six
years to more of a TaekwondoKorean mixed martial art for
(06:27):
six, seven years, then, tonguepseudo is more of an American
Taekwondo style, right. So, withCurt Lampson, and Joey Escobar,
I was training and it was withone of their black belts, that
we came and attended a fewWednesday night fight nights. So
I've met Mr. White, I didn'treally, at the time, know
(06:48):
anything about American camp oreven who he was himself.
Jose Flores (06:53):
And how was the because I mean, I'm just
assuming here, how was theatmosphere like going into? Was
it a male dominant sport backthen, like more more males than
females or so?
Tara Van Deusen (07:04):
Yeah, I think from the time I was 12, I was
competing. Once I received myjunior black belt from 12,
almost all the way through till17. I was competing against the
boys until I moved to, toAmerica. So in Canada, it was
pretty much combined for most ofthe time, every so often, they
would separate them. Andabsolutely, there was many more
(07:26):
males in the martial arts atthat time. I don't think I ever
really looked at it that way. Ihad my few girlfriends that
competed against my toughestcompetitor to this day, Regina
Thompson. I started fighting herat the age of 12 or 13. So to
me, it didn't matter who was infront of me, it was all a game
of chest and who could hit whosetarget fastest?
Jose Flores (07:43):
Oh, yeah. And you said pads were different. So you
definitely felt the kicks in thepunches back then.
Tara Van Deusen (07:49):
I was fortunate by the time I was a teenager,
they changed to
Jose Flores (07:52):
Oh, really? Okay.
Tara Van Deusen (07:54):
So that was in my younger days, especially in
the traditional karate. Oftenyou didn't even wear pads. We
were doing knuckle push ups onthe concrete, you know, five
years of age. So there was nomighty Tigers class back in
those days. I think I was withthe adults by the time I was
eight.
Jose Flores (08:09):
Yeah. By the time you were at you were with the
other. It was it was differentback in those days. Yeah. But I
mean, I'm pretty sure you wereable to hold your own. And so
you come to the US and hot. Howdo you start? Because I know
you're you were in variousteams, and I mean, obviously a
world champion. How did thatcome about?
Tara Van Deusen (08:30):
So I wasn't a world champion. I'd won some
many of national championshipsup in Canada and some
internationals, I done prettywell in NBA I was, I guess,
maybe at 13. And then I focusedon soccer and basketball
throughout high school. So itwas really soon after I moved to
California. I started after mysenior year when I was going to
(08:52):
Pepperdine. I met Colin as I wasstarting to hit your some small
local tournaments. Kind ofgetting back in having fun with
it. Really, that was kind of theextent of it. At that point. I
started competing more, and Iwas training with Jose Pacheco
and drew Christian and no Raminwas really young at this time.
(09:14):
Manny, I was traveling aroundwith Manny, Harry Graham. And
just really having fun with abunch of the West Coast fighters
met Colin and from there it kindof that was kind of the
beginning take off of my worldchampion shipped level I would
say and he kind of created andtaught me about angles. That was
(09:37):
a whole new thing for me becauseI was never the tallest fighter
or necessarily the fastest,fastest fighter, but he helped
me analyze and create my ownstyle with with angles that
helped out with my lead legkicks on top of it all. And so
my first team was full contact.
I think I met bear when I was 12or 13 Originally, but it wasn't
(09:59):
until after. I think I was 19when he picked me up on the
team, and that's also when I gotcloser with Colin, who was also
on the team.
Jose Flores (10:09):
Oh, so for contact team, and so you guys go on the
road a lot or was it more localtournaments?
Tara Van Deusen (10:17):
We, I would say local West Coast. Absolutely.
And then at a Las Vegastournament one year, that's when
I beat Regina Thompson actually,who was one of the top top
fighters at the time. Andanother cop, national sponsored
Team cjb or elite. I don'tremember which one, they're the
same club but they called andasked me, you know, the, the
(10:40):
manager the head coach was thereat that event and he wanted me
to come fight with him and histeam, which was also Nikki Lee
Carlson and Claire Coco's at thetime and I'll be honest, Nikki
Lee was the woman to beat and soI I kind of called up a
competitor competitive team,Richard Plowden, in FCS and
said, Hey, listen, I love to beon your team. I want to be this
(11:04):
woman. And I don't think I'mgonna be able to do it if I'm
fighting alongside of her. So,
Jose Flores (11:08):
oh, it's the such teams. So you could
Tara Van Deusen (11:12):
I didn't actually I wasn't on cGb. They
just offered me the full thefull sponsorship. And then it
was with that offer that I thenwent to TMS? Yes, I had a lot of
respect for their coach. FCS waswas Regina has team, by the way.
And I had a lot of respect fortheir coach Richard Plowden, who
has been an amazing figure inthe martial arts sport karate
(11:33):
world for decades. And he madeit happen, he picked it up, he
said, he'd love to have me andthat was kind of the beginning
of my international or WorldChampionship experience.
Jose Flores (11:48):
So you're going up against naked knee or whatnot?
How do you how do you preparefor that? Because I mean, I've,
I've seen you spar. I've seensome of your matches, obviously,
butterflies in the snow, but youdon't show it. So how do you
mentally prepare for thatyourself?
Tara Van Deusen (12:03):
That's a great question. And I think you
prepare for it in your training.
You know, when you, you prepareproperly, you show up. And when
you're in that ring, you're justthere to do a job. The nerves
show up when you know you didn'tprepare enough. But when you've
prepared enough, you've beenvisualizing every time you've
been training your Blitz yourkicks, whatever the case may be,
you're already visualizing youwin in your next match or your
(12:26):
tournament, or whatever the casemay be. So it also helped that I
pretty much trained only withguys. For me, that was a huge
mental shift. Because whenyou're training with guys who
were also starting to do youknow really well in their sport
karate careers, it's a littleeasier standing up in front of
some of these femalecompetitors. At least for me,
(12:48):
mentally.
Jose Flores (12:51):
Yeah. And these still remember that match to
this day with me.
Tara Van Deusen (12:55):
You know, I do and it was interesting, because
at that one tournament, RichardPlowden, had said that we also
had to do forums, whatever madehis fighters do forums, but for
whatever reason, at thistournament, we had to do forums.
So I enrolled in American kempo,because I wasn't about to start
doing a freestyle forum withclips that I hadn't been trained
(13:15):
for years. So I did long formfor and it was a huge American
kempo Division Two is a nationalnational tournament, Atlantic
City, I believe. And, sureenough, I fought Nicky Lee right
before the forum's competition.
But I already had my game plan,I already knew she was taller
than me her legs were strong menwere scared of her, you know,
(13:35):
psychic x kicks. So it was gonnabe a simple get off the line,
you know, angle off the lineevery time. And so it was it was
actually a quick fight. It wasprobably easier for me because I
knew who she was. And she didn'tknow who I was. This was one of
my first larger competitions onthe east coast. The West Coast
people knew me but nobody reallyknew me on the east coast. And
so, so I won. Absolutely. Andthen I ran over put on my
(14:00):
traditional kitaab data,American kempo forms I was
fortunate I got to go at the endof the long line of Listen,
there are some great names inthere God soccer there's some
great names in there. And butbecause I was at the end, I was
the last one go I think I had alittle heads up. I had all this
energy ramped up and ended upwinning the national title and
that as well. No way Okay, onetime I did long form for Yeah,
Jose Flores (14:21):
that is awesome. I mean, you had the the adrenaline
from your fight and you comeinto form. Absolutely. So yes, I
do remember that fight. So nowyou're you're the as you say,
the woman to beat now you're thewoman to beat after that. You
started participating more intournament, and you obviously
(14:42):
keep your training going?
Because
Tara Van Deusen (14:44):
Yeah, so by that time, I moved down here to
Long Beach and I was trainingregularly with Colin and we had
this location at this point, hisheadquarters on Bixby So, Mike
pump arrow was coming down.
Raymond was coming down often wewere just having lots of fight.
We had all the best of the best.
faders here training because wewere more focused on training
really than growing our businessat that time, even though we had
(15:06):
evening classes. My focus attime was was competing. So
eventually. So yeah, I starteddoing really well started
winning more competitions,getting a bit of a name, won a
bunch of world titles in NBL,National Black Belt league. And
then shortly after, though, Ididn't get too much time on sex
before the team folded as well.
The owners, the corporate ownershad some tax issues. Oh, so I
(15:28):
then got picked up by Garth binson Team victory, which was based
out in New York and he was thefirst one who started taking he
was really one of the firstnational teams to start taking
their team regularly overseas.
So it wasn't too far after that.
I got to go to my first Irishopen which to this day is still
(15:50):
the biggest in the best sportkarate martial art competition.
And yeah, I did, I won. I wentundefeated that weekend won my
my weight division as well asthe open women's world champ
grand champion. And that was afirst year Ramin one of that as
well. Raymond. So we felt prettygood.
Jose Flores (16:11):
Oh, yeah. So work Work. Work me through your Irish
open. I mean, you obviously it'svery different than any West
Coast or east coast tournamentsbigger. So how is definitely
like marking into the
Tara Van Deusen (16:23):
I loved it. All these years. There's there were
starting to be more and moreleagues here in America. So the
divisions were getting smallerand smaller. Which is why I
always wanted to win my divisionbecause then I'd at least get to
fight middleweight grands, andheavy or overall grands which
would give me more fights. Ireally just like to fight. I
think I just like to fightbecause I like to win. I don't
(16:44):
know. But I really just wantedlots of fights. So traveling
over there. There were 63 womenin our my open weight division.
I was I was in love.
Jose Flores (16:55):
And the I mean, I don't know if the rule was still
in effect back then. But theydid throw you off the lead leg
to the I mean, the lead hand tothe body. They did.
Tara Van Deusen (17:03):
So I do remember the rule. I remember
coach pins, you know, remindingus about the whole thing and it
didn't throw me off. It didn'tthrow me off because it didn't
really affect the my angles gameat the time. If they were a
kicker, I was angling if theyweren't. I was you know, going
in with my kicks first fallingup with my hands. I was just in
(17:24):
the zone that year that was youknow, I'd had two consecutive
wins around. I'd been trainingconsistently. I was in the zone
that year.
Jose Flores (17:32):
Oh man, I stumbled upon a picture and I get this on
your Facebook. Jason borleyRaymond Daniels, I think it was
Mike Barbero, yourself. And Idon't know if jack Felton was
still too young at the time. ButI think,
Tara Van Deusen (17:47):
I don't know he might have been there. I'm
trying remember that was inEngland, actually. And I was
another fun, fun excursion,again with some of the best
fighters.
Jose Flores (17:56):
So I'm going to get those. Every single one of them
were the top fighters in thatday. So how was that like?
Tara Van Deusen (18:03):
That was great.
We actually competed in twodifferent competitions that
weekend. And, yes, one of thepromoters who actually sponsored
us to come over wasn'tincredibly happy about that. But
I What I remember most aboutthat event was we had this big
team finals they were filmingit, they were doing you know,
Team America verse. Team Europe,team England, I don't exactly
(18:26):
remember that. It was a lot offun. But the next day in
competition, Jason Braley threwthis spin inside kick that broke
this guy's arm in a way I'venever seen I hit a hole you in
his forearm, and I just, I willnever forget it to the day.
That's why every time I seepeople teaching how to block you
know, just by bringing theirelbows in. I was like, No, no,
(18:47):
you angle out of the way fromthat that hurts.
Jose Flores (18:53):
So I mean, that's what was sparked karate or
radio, a big thing where youwere coming up. During your time
with it. It just started growingas you were.
Tara Van Deusen (19:02):
So sport, karate, historically here in
America was already big. When Iwas growing up. In Canada, it
was not so big. It was so we hadhow I got involved was we had
this one competition called theTiger Balm International. We did
have a very large Vancouver is,you know, we were very open in
Canada for immigration. And sowe had a very strong kung fu
(19:26):
population, so to speak, in themartial arts, a lot of Chinese
arts. And so we had this TigerBalm internationals that ended
up getting sanctioned by theNational Black Belt league
because boys wanted to grow inboth Mexico and Canada. And it
was through that, that I won abunch of competitions and got
invited to the National BlackBelt League World Championships
(19:48):
in New Orleans thick when I was13. And so one of my producers
actually because I did a lot offilm and television, one of my
producers sponsored my my motherand I to go down and compete.
That was my first Super grands,ever
Jose Flores (20:01):
How did that go with you in it?
Tara Van Deusen (20:03):
You know what I did? So there was, again, a lot
of great competitors. There's 22of us, and it ended up being
Regina Thompson name you'veheard a couple of times and
myself in the finals. She's ayear old. I was 12. She was 13.
Somewhere along those lines. Iwas 13. She was 14, something
like that. Anyways, we fought at1am in the morning,
Jose Flores (20:22):
what? It was
Tara Van Deusen (20:24):
crazy. I don't remember everything. But so it
was 1am in the morning, I didwin World Championships in
continuous that that year,though, okay, but four point
fighting. So I beat her thefirst round, and I thought I
won. And I was cheering. And I'dactually asked, there was
another Canadian blackbeltthere, Bill hunter who was from
(20:45):
British Columbia. I'd asked himif he could coach me because I
didn't have any coaches, mysponsored paid for me and there
wasn't many Canadians there. Ican guarantee you that. And so I
wanted, I thought I won. Andthey're like, Oh, no, it's you
have to win twice. It's bestthree, you know. So we fought
again. And she won. And then wewere in the final match. And
(21:07):
this was where I kind of, youknow, not having a coach kind of
messed me up. The final point. Iwas getting her now with my
kicks. And she smart. She'salways been such a smart fighter
just kicked me to the groin. AndI didn't even know the groin was
open, because it wasn't open inCanada. But yeah, so first one
went to Regina Thompson, and Inever forgot her name because of
(21:28):
that.
Jose Flores (21:29):
She was your nemesis. Yes, nemesis. Good
friend. Yes. Oh, my goodness.
And I mean, obviously, as Isaid, You're very driven and
whatnot. How do you learn how tocope and or learn from your
losses? Because I do a lot ofpeople they get they get upset,
they shut down. But obviouslyfor you, you kept you going and
lit up that fire.
Tara Van Deusen (21:51):
You know, I think that probably stems back
from something possibly evenoutside of the martial arts.
From a young age, I think,again, my mother was a teen mom.
And I think a lot of peopleunderestimated me. And possibly
her as well. And from fromkindergarten, I remember my she
(22:13):
put me in French immersion. Andit was either the kindergarten
or the first grade teacher thattold my mother, I'd never be
able to speak French. I mean,and it was just continuously
things that came up like that.
You know, my, when I was 12, or13, I was diagnosed with
epilepsy, my the headneurologist of North America,
told my mother that I'm notgonna be able to do martial arts
(22:34):
anymore. I'm not going to keepexcelling in sports. I'm not
going to keep doing well inschool. So I think the chip on
my shoulder was always to provepeople wrong, if that makes
sense, especially if it wassomething that I wanted. It was
like, Oh, yeah, watch me. So Ithink that was a big driving
factor that when I would lose,now, I had to prove it to
(22:55):
myself. So it was about gettingback up on the drawing board.
What did I do wrong? How can Ido it differently?
Jose Flores (23:01):
Oh, man, I like that. I live in I mean,
japanischen Canton, watch. watchme do this. So I mean, obviously
you guys, and I think you'retalking about about it. Last
week in our meeting. You guyssaw this place in Bixby. And you
saw you saw it very differentlythan common. He's, he's is a
(23:24):
great student. You were like,you really want to buy that. But
he had another vision for it.
And
Tara Van Deusen (23:29):
so yes, originally, it wasn't about
buying it. There was just this.
He really wanted to be in BixbyKnolls. I didn't really know
anything about Long Beach at thetime, we were teaching at two
parks. And I was really justassisting him, I was still going
to school. And I was I wasfocused myself on fighting, you
know, I reinvigorated or reenergizing this goal to win some
World Championships. And so hefound this location, and it just
(23:52):
so happened we could afford,we'd figured out the math for
how many people we felt wouldfollow us from the parks. And we
felt we could afford the rentfor the downstairs two spaces.
And yeah, absolutely, I didn'tsee it the same as him
whatsoever. But at the end ofthe day, I wanted to have a spot
that we could go because at theparks and RECs, we could only
(24:13):
train there during class time.
But you're also teaching duringclass time. So this would allow
us to do privates on the side,this would allow us to train on
our side to say, Hey, tell theseguys that we were, you know,
taking road trips with all thesetournaments in Oregon and
Seattle and Vegas, and we couldhave a spot to train and that's
kind of what it turned in to inthose earlier days. We had all
(24:35):
kinds of small rooms. It's justvery different. Remember that I
remember that. It looked verydifferent. But hey, look at it
now. Right?
Jose Flores (24:44):
It's amazing having all the building and whatnot.
And you know, going back to whenyou guys were competing a lot I
do remember those days because Imyself started in 2001 2002
around there. And I remember Iused to help out every Saturday
to clean and Mr. Mendoza willcome in common. He come in and
say what are you doing? I'mlike, Oh, I'm just finished. I'm
cleaning called off to thecorner. I we just had a dragon
(25:06):
roll Red Dragon Come come in andthey want to spy. Okay, why are
you telling me just the yellowbell or noise about Oh no, you
get to experience God andthey're like, okay, and I'm
smart and all these black beltsand I see you eyes image from
Barrow. And I'm like, okay, Ijust give him my best.
Tara Van Deusen (25:23):
Those days. And I laugh because I think maybe
every class we were sparring orevery other class, we
Unknown (25:29):
were sparring.
Jose Flores (25:30):
And you know what, that was my favorite thing,
because I remember going I hopewe spar today. And sure enough,
put on your pants. I was like,Yes. And don't get me wrong. I
mean, I, like you say everyoneeither likes techniques, like
sports or sparring. For me, itwas just sparring. I love
sparring, and whatnot. But yeah,I mean, and it helped me out a
lot. Because I remember in LongBeach internationals has just
(25:54):
forgot his name. His last namewas West. And he was a pretty
good guy. He was around my rankat the time. Anyways, we went to
a tournament, I was just anorange belt. And we were we were
down until nighttime. I didn'twant to go, but you guys told me
just go just just goparticipate. Okay. It was a team
of three. And I was just doingan orange film. And it was my
(26:16):
turn to compete on competing.
There's a brown belt in front ofme. And I just remember him
kicking it kicking me in myhead. And he smiled. He gave me
that smile. Like I got you now.
Something lit up triggered, youtriggered me? And I was like,
Oh, no, no, no, that's not gonnahappen. And I beat him. I ended
up beating him. And it felt sogood. But I what I'm trying to
say is what helped me is allthose firing those higher ranks,
(26:38):
always firing everyone andeveryone being being nice. And
everyone gave me pointers. Sothat's that's kind of what
helped me.
Tara Van Deusen (26:44):
Absolutely. I think also, if you remember,
with all those sparring in ourtests back in the day, and
obviously we weren't able togrow, we were people that like
to fight or people that werealready had already had
experience in the martial arts.
And you have to get peoplethere. And we kind of forgot all
those days because we just liketo fight and we weren't focused
on our business either. So thatbeing said, we used to do a lot
of two on one three on onebecause we wanted every we
(27:07):
wanted our students to know whatit felt like to get hit, we
wanted you to know what it feltlike if you had to deal with a
gang or you know, a mob or thattype of stuff. And the whole
perspective, or the whole pointwas for the students to get
comfortable with theuncomfortable, right. And I
think as a result, I mean, wehave a lot of students that
didn't really compete very much,but they would just show up in
(27:27):
Vegas for a competition orwhatever. And they would give
just as good as they got. Andwe'd throw them right into the
black belt divisions and they'dbe fighting the best for the
best. As like you said, purpleblue belts. Yeah, no, you should
like the black belts or jerricatree as Suzanna Boyd we started
them all as color belts.
Jose Flores (27:44):
And they are amazing. They did amazing. Oh,
the one thing I will neverforget from from you is we were
at a tournament. And you it wasI told the story before but
we're at a tournament and it wasdown to first and second place.
And you came up to me and youtold me look Jose, that's the
son of the promoter. So thejudging my goal, they might not
(28:09):
go your way. So don't get bummedout. And from there, I was like,
really? Okay. So I get in therewe bow and not in the first hit
hits me, right. I think it was apunch to the to the body. And I
was like, obviously you want toplay this game. And because I
mean, I, I pride myself inknowing how to watch my control.
(28:29):
But once he did that, like yousaid, it triggered me. I was
like, okay, it's gonna be thatkind of game. I mean, I want but
I was glad that you told methat. And I'm glad he did that.
Because if not, I would havebeen more cautious and not like,
I got to prove my point. I gotto make him clear. I have to
make sure he knows. You know,I'm not here to play around
because I remember him. He washe was walking around like he
was the hot stuff. He didn'thave a uniform. He didn't have a
(28:51):
belt. I was like, oh, wow, okay,we pick up.
Tara Van Deusen (28:55):
I think my point probably was more not to
let it emotionally bother you.
If the points were going to hisway to just fight your fight.
And to expect that the judgeswere going to and there was
several times. You know, I stillremember this one tournament, I
went to an Oregon and I wasfighting for the grand
championship in the evening. AndI just so happened to lose to
somebody who I probablyshouldn't have lost to. It was a
(29:17):
debatable question. It was adebatable point. At that point.
Mr. Cohen was not happywhatsoever. And everybody else
thought it was crazy. But in mymind, I lost I shouldn't have
let it get that close. And itdidn't matter whether I really
scored that point or not. I lostthe fight because I let it get
that close. But sometimes, youcan get off your game. If you
(29:38):
start questioning the judgesearly if you're not, you know,
prepared for that. What are youtalking about? I hit him. Well
now instead of focusing ongetting the next point, you're
so busy, most of just kinda likeif you've got continuous or
contact and you get hit and youget rocked and you start
focusing on the fact that youjust got hit instead of a wait.
I gotta get my hands up and hitthem more than they're hitting
me. That's
Jose Flores (29:59):
true. Continuous is a whole different thing. You get
hit. Oh, no, you keep going. Youkeep going. And then that always
says, I mean, I never didcontinuous. But I mean, here in
the studio, that's what wealways used to do just continue
to get rock. I remember Mr. V oryourself, put your hands up,
keep going. Okay, but I'm right,but okay. It's no wonder we had
(30:20):
no students back in those days.
I mean, for me, it was it wasawesome. I mean, I, I do I
appreciate those days because ithelped my growth. Absolutely. So
and when not. And so now you,you guys, I guess you realize
that you have to focus more onthe business. So when did that
change started transferringfrom,
Tara Van Deusen (30:41):
you know, I think it transpired when I
started having kids, okay.
Because all of a sudden, youknow, you start looking at
things. So once I started havingkids, or once I found out I was
pregnant with pyara competitioncouldn't be my focus anymore.
Now is it was the studio and itwas more in reflection, and
looking at everything that Ireceived in the martial arts, it
(31:02):
wasn't the World Championships,although I made some great
relationships, I made somegreat, I had some awesome
experiences. But what I reallygot out of the martial arts was
was the character developmentwas the life skills that we
still, as you know, teach andreally pride ourself on to this
day. I know a lot of studios donow, but we started decades ago,
talking about it, because that'ssomething that everybody takes
(31:24):
with him. So our goal changedfrom just making World
Championships, real champions,which is kind of what we were
focusing on that day, because wewant it to be and we were, you
know, to given people thesethese life skills that help them
succeed in all areas, becausethere's not very many people are
that are going to want to takemartial arts to that level. But
(31:46):
there's a lot of people that itcan help them become top
students, top athletes in othersports. It did. It helped me
with basketball and soccerthroughout high school, and it
can help them become great humanbeings. And Henceforth, were how
are we going to get morestudents in here so we can make
a bigger difference in theworld? promoting the power of
one?
Jose Flores (32:08):
Yeah. And I mean, it surely has helped because I
mean, five locations? Yes, Ilocation.
Tara Van Deusen (32:16):
Yes. You know, at this given moment, probably
there's 1500 Power of Onestudents. Right now today.
Jose Flores (32:24):
Right? And oh, my goodness, that's insane. When
you think back then we had 40. Agood handful of them. And when
so I mean, when you're takingyou're enthusiastic, you're very
your energy's very high. What?
What do you I mean, I know, mostof it is from you, but that you
see anyone as you're growing up,like or want to, you know,
(32:45):
mirror them in some way orwhatnot.
Tara Van Deusen (32:49):
You know, it's interesting, I look back at all
the different martial arts, I'vehad a lot of different black
belts play a role in my career.
And I'm so very thankful to thatin so many different arts, and
all some great instructors, aswell as some interesting
characters. But that being said,I think it's the passion that
you hear, because I really ampassionate on helping you become
more successful in whatever areayou want to by learning. Most of
(33:14):
my world titles, most of mybiggest, most important fights,
I didn't win on my skills, and Ireally 100% firmly believe that
I won, based on my mindset. Andobviously, there's countless
books nowadays, but in lookingback, I can see, I know the
fights I lost because of mymindset, because of what I was
thinking about before. I knowthe fights that I won, solely
(33:37):
because of my mindset over theirmindset. And because the heck
some of those people at theIrish open their train six hours
a day, or you know, theirgovernments happy to buy them a
townhouse. I remember that thefirst time I went in 2003 this
Russian girl she was like, Yeah,no, I went today I get my shoes
from Sweden. My governmental buyme a townhouse. What? Really?
(33:59):
I'll get a stamp when I comeback to my passport. But anyway,
so at the end of the day, thatpassion is his. Or that
excitement, that energy reallyis the passion. Yeah. And it's
not just about the martial arts,although I love the martial
arts. That's our vehicle.
Jose Flores (34:21):
And I mean, because Oh, you were always one of the
ones that I was like, man, ifonce Miss Conlon in your 30
games Give me the opportunity. Iwas like, I want to mirror that
somehow. Because the energy andthe enthusiasm it's always
there. I want to I need to hearthat and even when I'm teaching
with Australian dollar, I tellthem or Eric I'm like, you got
(34:41):
some Mrs. V and you got some tarin you. I see it and he's like
what really I'm like yeah, whenyou're teaching that's it comes
out like you can see it in itlike I swear to you like I
picture you teaching whensometimes when Eric is teaching
like that's what this is.
Tara Van Deusen (34:56):
Awesome. That's just the the the exponential
growth in the hope Point haveopened in multiple locations
originally, which are now youknow, we've got multiple
instructors that own their ownbusiness, because now they can
pass that same passion and lifeskills on to other people. So
I'm happy that there's a littlepiece of me that's traveling
through Mr. s. And, and I knowhe's making a huge difference.
(35:20):
And I hear it all the time. Iget the emails all the time. We
love Mr. Jose Flores. We loveMr. Salazar.
Jose Flores (35:26):
Yeah, I know that the patients with him is
incredible in the way. I mean, Iwould always whisper Yes, the
cha is because I admire how hecould control the four or five,
six year olds. Don't get mewrong. I love teaching those
classes. But he does him andyou're so you guys do it
different. It's like, wow,
Tara Van Deusen (35:42):
you know, what's really funny, Mr. Flores?
And I don't know if so maybe youhaven't given yourself enough
credit. But when Mr. Salazarfirst started teaching for us,
he was a brown belt 16. And hewas so soft spoken. And I was
just, you know, Mr. V was, thisis what he wants. Let's get him
in here. And then he's like, No,we got to let him have the class
cuz I kept taking over. I youknow, I mean, myself, or even I
(36:05):
think Mr. Daniels were teachingbut anyways, because I was like,
he was just so quiet, he's gonnalose their attention. And
because he was doing itdifferent for me. But then it
didn't take long to realize thathis different way was just as
captivating if not more,especially for certain ages than
mine. So I think sometimes weunderestimate different styles.
(36:30):
Don't underestimate your ownteaching ability. I hear
there's, you've made a bigdifference in a lot of people's
lives. Oh, thank
Jose Flores (36:34):
you. Yeah, I mean, my own style. I mean, I relate a
lot to the especially to theteens, and some some youth now
that they like, the Japaneseanimation. So I relate. And
toddlers, when I tell them aname, they look at me all
shocked, like, how do you knowthat? And I'm on and on, like,
playing around? I'm like, why Iknew that before you were born?
Yeah, no, you know, I'm, I'mvery interested in that. And I
(36:56):
remember one time you weretelling us about if a student
arrives late to not put them onthe spot and say, permission to
enter classroom or permission toenter class, man. So that really
played in my mind a lot ofmoney. How can I How can I get
this going? And it's funny,because when they were like, you
know what, let me try this. Anda student showed up late. And I
said, and said, Oh, guys, if youguys ever show up late you only
(37:19):
chocolate chip cookies freshlybaked in the oven. Bring him in
the pan, because in the bag themup together. But buddy, you show
me that premise attends a class.
And that's my thing. Now, likeevery time everybody shows up,
Austin's all your Mr. Florescookies, and they love it. They
all laugh. But the funny thingis, one day a student showed up
late, and I don't even seepermission to enter class. And I
(37:40):
said, Oh, yummy chocolate chipcookies. He goes, he reaches out
he pulls out a bag. And at theend his mom, his mom or dad can
be like, yeah, here. He arrivedlate on purpose because he
wanted to recharge. Thank you.
That's great. Hilarious.
Tara Van Deusen (37:56):
I think actually, that was probably
something I learned. I remember,I have very vivid memories of
calling asking people for hischeeseburger if they relate.
Well, that's probably where thatoriginally started. That's
right.
Jose Flores (38:09):
I mean, it's good to have I mean, different ways
to get these kids to just smileand have fun. Because it's
Tara Van Deusen (38:17):
my biggest thing is I think, you know, I
traveled I used to take the busmyself 45 minutes to an hour to
the second martial arts studio Iused to train in because it was
in Vancouver, and I was kind ofin the suburb area. And, again,
my mother, single mother, shewas working multiple jobs. So
there were times when I waslate, and I didn't want I You
(38:39):
and I both know that it's oftennot necessarily in the child's
control when they're late.
Parents have a lot going on. Sotry to create a way where they
can learn the respect of otherpeople's times and understand
the importance of being on time,but at the same time. It's find
a way to get him in.
Jose Flores (38:56):
Yeah. And I mean, they load that way in that way.
I'm not putting him in thisspot, and they're having fun
with it. So I found that when Imean it's so I love the fact
that there's always a challengeor some challenge presents
itself and it's not a badchallenge. It's a good challenge
where you're like, Okay, I needto find a way to solve this. And
it's every day, especially withthe little ones. I mean, only
(39:18):
some of these are you're like,Okay, moving on. Absolutely,
Tara Van Deusen (39:21):
absolutely, I think but it's the same thing,
whether it's with the actualindividual in their learning
style, or their physicalabilities, that's something that
I enjoy myself now is you know,as we work with, say, an older,
larger student or that has lessmobility to a younger student
that has less gross motor skillsor agility. It's it's a great
(39:45):
learning lesson that noteverybody can fight or do the
techniques the same way. Andit's our job to find the way
that works for them. That's oneof the biggest things were my
biggest pet peeves with martialarts. Old School is this there's
this way And then there's thehighway, right? You don't do it
this way, then it's not right.
No, that's there's nothing rightabout that if you open up your
(40:07):
mind and see that each person isdifferent, different, and
they're going to have strengths,not only physically, but they're
gonna have strengths mentally aswell.
Jose Flores (40:17):
That's correct. And some of our best students have
come up because they're notphysically able to do something.
But mentally they're strong. Andsome of those students, I'm
like, Whoa, that's insane. Imean, I might have talked to
them, because I'm like, man, ifthis was the old school way of
power went, they wouldn't behere. I wouldn't I wouldn't have
(40:39):
been when I haven't seen theirprogress their growth. So I
mean, I'm glad this changehappened. And when
Tara Van Deusen (40:44):
Absolutely, and it's but it's that fine line.
It's trying to figure out wherepeople's different comfort
levels are, sort of speak whenyou can start pushing, because
at the end of the day, you needto push everybody, but you need
to push them differently. Thatis
Jose Flores (40:57):
correct. Yeah. And I mean, I don't know if you
remember, but I was also kind oflike Miss dress very shy, not
very talkative. And I rememberone time we were coming back
from the Super Show, and we gotin the car and you're you're
driving us back back to the tothe studio here. And you're
like, Jose, you talk? Like Yes,ma'am. I do. And I think that
(41:21):
that we can also Mr. V Fonda. Oneconomy, find out how much I
could talk is I guess, we boughta drink. And I'm not a big
drinker. So that one hit me. AndI guess he said, I was just
talking up
Tara Van Deusen (41:32):
and look at you now running your own podcast,
talking to world champions inmartial art. lended legends
worldwide, right.
Jose Flores (41:39):
And I love it. I mean, I love doing this. It's
incredible. So man, I mean, Idon't want to take my time. But
before we go, anything you wouldlike to say I mean, about your
legacy, or anything that youwould like to leave behind? Wow,
that's a deep question to gowith. Yes, I'd like to surprise
(41:59):
people with this. You know,
Tara Van Deusen (42:02):
I wouldn't. I don't really care about my
legacy. It never really was, youknow, the world titles were not
for anybody else. They were forme. As you know, I've got
multiple different black belts,I don't even care. I told
calling the other day, I wasjust like, I almost walked out
of the house without my blackbelt. And I made a joke about
Did I really, you know how manypeople would turn over in their
(42:26):
graves if I showed up to teachwithout my black belt. But
obviously, my skills aren't inthat. I would like and love for
all the positive life skills,empowerment that we have put
decades into instilled into youand just 1000s and 1000s of
(42:51):
students at this point, I hopeto see that it continues to
trickle down and that peopleremember the whole concept of
the power of one coming togetherto work with people. I think
right now more than ever, we'rein a time where so many people
are pushing other people down,out of fear out of jealousy out
of their own lack of selfconfidence or self esteem. And
(43:16):
that's never been what wepromote here, obviously, as you
know, which is why we have noproblem bringing in people that
are better. fighters and S arebetter jujitsu martial artists,
why we tell our instructors togo train with other people that
we know are better than us incertain areas, right? Because
the whole goal is to help eachother elevate power of people
(43:39):
coming together to form thatwhich is invincible, right, the
power of one. So if anything, Ihope that the power of one
legacy that both Colin and Ihave worked so far, so long,
continues to have that rippleeffect. And as I sit here in
front of you right now, I feelpretty good. That it will you
(44:00):
know, regardless of what happenswith Colin and myself tomorrow,
or even the name power of one, Ifeel pretty confident the legacy
we've left with all of you guys.
Jose Flores (44:09):
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I mean, you guys havetremendously helped us out. I
mean, I, I won't speak foranyone as well. For instance, we
definitely, both of you guyshave helped me out just not in
my confidence, but in my growthas a person. I mean, I've, if I
were to talk to young Jose rightnow and say, hey, you're going
to be teaching or you're goingto be doing a podcast. Are you
talking about I hardly talk tothem to my I hardly talked to my
(44:29):
parents or make full sentences.
What do you mean? So Iappreciate thank you so much for
math. I appreciate it. If wewere not separated by this big
long desk, I'd give you a hugright now. Thank you so much.
Well, everyone, if you want toget a hold of Tara she teaches
over here at the headquarterslocation or went on Long Beach
Boulevard in between Bixby andRoosevelt. How else could they
(44:54):
get ahold of you? Your website?
Tara Van Deusen (44:55):
Oh yeah, any of the power one websites but
probably just Tara Ta ra. Atpower of one karate.com.
Jose Flores (45:03):
And again, guys, thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Jose. Bye,everyone.
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