#17 Kate Rice SCU

Transcript

0:00

Hi Kate. How you doing? Pretty good. How about you? Good. Today I'm gonna introduce Kate Rice So here's an introduction. Today's guest is someone whose story reflects the quiet power of consistency. Kate grew up surrounded by sports movement and discipline, But her journey into martial arts started early and stuck from earning a black belt in TaeKwonDo as a kid to transitioning through Kav Maga and ultimately finding her home in jiu jitsu. At just 14 Kate has spent most of her life on the mats. Jiu jitsu wasn't just a sport during some of her toughest years. It became an escape, a constant, and a place to rebuild when life felt heavy. She trained through the long road of white belt, help build a Jiu jitsu club at 18, and eventually took her journey all the way to Brazil where she earned her purple belt at age 21. This episode isn't just about belts or training. It's about resilience, patience, and what happens when you commit to something through every phase of your life. Hi, Kate. Welcome. Hi. Let's start off with, what does Jiu jitsu mean to you? Right now? It means community above all else. that's the biggest thing I've been able to take away from jiu jitsu is just friends, family, like just a big community that I can call on them for anything and they're there for me. If someone met you for the first time, what part of your story would they never guess. That I was a really shy kid. Um, Even entering college, I was deathly afraid to talk to people. And that's since changed. That's good. So growing up, active, when you were younger. So tell me about how you were raised. Okay. so it's just been me, my mom, my dad, and my sister. and we were just always a super active family. My mom did 2D three sports in college, volleyball and softball. Nice. My sister then went off to play D three college softball too. My dad played volleyball for post grad And so when I was growing up, they were always like, all right, we're gonna get you in as many sports as possible. Just to get you as active as possible. And I've even told my friends, like my schedule when I was younger, and they're like. If you didn't have any free time. And my whole family was like, well, why do you need free time? You're like, five. And I was like, well, that's a good point. Um, so I grew up, I started in soccer, softball, basketball, and swimming. Starting out. And I hated soccer. I didn't like running and it was all running. And so I absolutely hated that. Mm-hmm. And so with my mom, I was like, mom, like I really don't like soccer. And I was like, seven. And she was like, well, you don't know what you like, but finish the season. And then if you don't wanna do it, you don't do it anymore, but you always finish. So then after that, I moved into more sticking with like softball, basketball, swimming, and then I joined TaeKwonDo when I was seven. Okay. So, how was the family dynamic? You and your sister growing up together, how was it? We were sisters. she's my older sister and she was very, I'm in charge. I'm gonna tell you what to do if you're not doing it, I'm gonna yell at you. We were fighting constantly when we were growing up, just as sisters do. Yeah. But at the end of the day, like. She was always there for me. I remember One time I was being bullied by this kid named Jack in elementary school. And I told my sister about it, and she's probably nine at the time. I come out sobbing to her and she goes up to not Jack, but Jack's father and yells at him that he needs to be a better parent. After that, I had no problems with Jack, but it's just that's how she is. we'll go back and forth with each other, and even today she'll still bite me. Which I'm like, you're 25 years old. But at the end of the day, she's always there for me. That's great support. How about your parents, how were they with you in your discipline and, were they always doing activities with you? Well, my dad worked very far away, about an hour and a half drive sometimes. So he wasn't, he was always there for the big events, but not always for, day-to-day little things. Yeah. whereas my mom, she took a job at a smaller law firm to purposely. Be able to be there for me and my sister. If we had something at school happen, she'd be there right away. Then when I was in kindergarten, she would always pick me up during her lunch hour and she'd bring scooters in the back or baseball gloves and we'd go play, catch or scooter around and she'd take me back. And she's always like, when my sister had practice, she would be like, okay, she's at practice, but let's go scooter, let's go shoot around a basketball, let's go play some tennis. Like anything like that. She sounds active herself. Oh, she was very active. Yeah. Very much an athlete. Awesome, awesome parent. Yeah. You were mentioning you played a lot of different sports. How did that shape the way you approached training? it's got me to just. Not just focus on one thing. it's if something isn't working, try a bunch of different things. I've done multiple different workout routines where it's okay, I'm not really liking this. okay, let's think about this in a different way. And I've done different trainings with those different sports and so I found what exercise I do, what exercise I don't like. do I like waking up early and working out? Do I like staying up late and working out and just all different things like that. So what do you like working out later or early morning? I generally wake up early and I'll go work out and then I'm good for the day and it makes me just feel like I'm actually awake instead of trying to become awake. Yes. but it is also nice to like end the day with working out, but I like waking up and doing more like strength to just get my body up and going. And then at night I like doing more something where like I could really get a sweat on, so then I could feel like, okay, now I'm time to go to bed. How did being active as a family influence who you became? Well, I'm still very active today. So that had a big influence and I think just with all my backgrounds, it's made me appreciate physical activity a lot more. It's just always been something where, okay, I don't know what to do right now. I'm a little bored or I'm overthinking things. Let's just go work out. Let's go do something like that. Let's go be active. and it's just like a way to like almost center myself where it's okay, there might be so much chaos going on in the world, but let's just go focus on this one thing, get our body tired, and then move on. Yeah. When you were younger, did you realize how uncommon that kind of upbringing was at that time? No, not at all. I didn't find out till, I think last year when I was talking with my friends and I was like, yeah, this is my schedule growing up. And they were like. What I'm like, yeah, I didn't really have much free time. It was just sports, sports, sports. I was even talking to them last night about like my schedule in high school where I was like, yeah, like I sometimes was eating dinner at 11:00 PM or even in middle school at 11:00 PM or like midnight. And it was like, that was just normal to me. And I didn't even think to ask people around me at the time being like, oh, like is this what you guys are doing too? And, but apparently not. Like all the friends I've met in college are like. what? This is just, this sounds like hell, like you're just so busy all the time. And I was like, why do I need free time? Like I'm just, you know, and it's fun. Like I had a great time like growing up, being that active. Do you think your mom kept you more active because you were an active girl? Were you pretty hyper growing up Yeah. Yeah, I definitely think so. I actually got diagnosed with ADHD in high school, and I think a reason that it was delayed so long was because I was always. Not like exhausted, but I was always just kind of like, it got the energy out and so I could just sit and not fidget and not I could focus a bit more because my mom was just always so let's just go run, let's go do this stuff. I think most of us that are in Jiu jitsu are ADHD. Yeah. And, Jiu jitsu does calm us all down. Yeah. Let's move on to, your TaeKwonDo years. You started TaeKwonDo at age seven? Yes. What pulled you into martial arts that young? It was actually my grandma. She, yeah. My family was never a martial arts family, never anything like that. And I didn't know any friends in martial arts. My grandma came up to me and she's oh, like there's this little boy who lives up the street from me and he just started this TaeKwonDo school. Do you wanna go check it out? Oh. And I was like. All right. And so she drove me to every single practice that I had at TaeKwonDo. And I like showed up the first day and I was like super nervous. Like I don't know what to expect. And then after it I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this. And it was just, it was so funny that my grandma got me into it.'Cause she had never, she was not a very sporty person at all growing up. So just in the neighborhood pulled you in. Yep. Grandmas are the best. They really are. Tell me about your journey in TaeKwonDo. What made you stick with it? I loved it. I loved the structure. I loved the format. I loved learning new things and every belt, you got a new form. You got new moves. And I loved breaking boards, was my favorite part. It was so much fun to just get out there and just get a punch something and it breaks and you're like, awesome. Yeah. I liked sparring and then as I got older I was able to do weapon sparring, which I thought was so much fun. So you sticks and you're just hitting each other. That was a lot of fun. And it did eventually fall out of love with it when I got closer and closer to black belt. Just because, the instructors stopped being super fair to everyone and they would like, it was just got political at a certain point. Yeah. And I'm like, I almost 11 and I'm like. Why is this getting political? And so I just, my mom pushed me to the finish line. She was kinda like, okay, you're almost a black belt. Get your black belt and you can quit. And then I got to black and I was like, this is great. I love the sport again. And then I broke my arm in a, my first black belt tournament. Oh wow. And that sucked. How did that happen? I punched a kid and like he had like gear on. Yeah. And he got stuck. Oh. And so then he punched straight down and I broke my growth plate. Oh no. And I was like, okay. And then what made me stop doing it is right after that, none of the coaches cared. They're like, oh, okay. no concern. And I'm like, okay, I don't wanna be part of this. Yeah. Like, you know, I'm 12 and I just broke my arm. Have a little bit of concern. Yeah. But I did love it growing up and I had a few friends in it and, I still have my, all my belts hanging up on my wall back at home, and I'm really proud of all them. Oh, yeah. Great accomplishment Yeah. What lessons from TaeKwonDo still show up in your Jiu jitsu today? Discipline. Nice. Yeah, definitely discipline. Just keep going through. Just show up every single day. And even if you're not having a good day,'cause there's times in TaeKwonDo where it's like you're sparring and you just feel like crap. You feel like, oh, I'm just not doing what I should be doing, or you can't break aboard, or things like that. And it's it's okay. You can have a bad day, but you keep showing up for the next day. Absolutely. How did training for that long at such a young age shape your discipline? It definitely gave me a greater, sense of discipline. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing I can say from it. So then you ended up transitioning to another sport. Yes. Which was Krav Maga, yes. What made you transition? Well, I loved martial arts and I was like, I definitely wanna stick with like martial arts and everything. I got out of it, but I was like, I need to go away from TaeKwonDo. And so I just think, I just looked up on the internet. Different martial arts in my area, and it was Kung fu and krav maga, and I was like, all right. Kung fu seems a little D, you know, soft, soft, soft. I'm like, all right. And then I saw krav maga, I was like, Israeli street fighting. That's what I wanna do. And I was like, my mom was like, are you sure you wanna, you wanna do this? Like, this seems kind of intense. I was like, yeah, let's just go for a class and try it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. How old were you then? Oh, I was. 12, I think. Oh, wow. And they would put me in the adults class'cause they didn't have kids class back then. And I was like, all right, give it a shot. Yeah. It's very intense. Oh, I bet. So what kind of intensity explain some of the intensity? Um, so at the gym I went to, they tried to really stimulate your fight, your flight response. Mm-hmm. And so when you're inside, they'd be blaring music, the lights would be turned off, they'd be hitting you with pads, and then they would like. Come up and try and grab you or pick you up or try and come at you with a knife and you just have to defend yourself. But then it got a little bit more intense'cause then there's a back alley behind the gym. No way. And they put you in a scenario. Yeah, they would take us out back and they would still hit us with the pads and they would have us close our eyes and they would be like, all right, go. And then they, you'd all of a sudden be trying to figure out who's grabbing you or who's trying to attack you. And so it was really good for a while just to learn okay, like if there was a situation where someone's going at me. I feel very, very confident, like defending myself because I'm already used to that fight or flight response and it's just, okay, I take care of business. And it's like a muscle memory. Yeah. How fun. Yeah, sounds really fun. But it was intense. It was hard to stick with that. So how about the weapons that they used against you? Yeah, they just used knives, which I appreciate. They didn't do any gun stuff. Because some of that's just. You know, they're gonna pull the trigger faster or then you can try and grab it. Oh, absolutely. Run away, right? Yeah. And with the knife stuff, they're mostly just like, just here's how you try and at least push it away a little bit to use space, not here's how you flip it around into them and spin it around. It is just, alright, here's how you can try and defend it and then here's how you get away. Yeah. which I really appreciate, but it was a lot more like they come up behind you and they try and grab your wrist, they try and pick you up or they put a choke on you and just how to defend yourself. Good. I think that's important for, any kid to be able to protect themselves and get away. Yeah. Too many weirdos out there trying to snatch up kids all the time. Yeah, and it was funny'cause it was me this little 12-year-old and then a bunch of like. 30 to 40, 50 year olds. Oh, wow. And like men, mostly men. I think we had one other woman in the class. Mm-hmm. I was just like, yeah. Like I'm just in here with it. Like, let's go. Well then you have your perfect, people to practice with because Yeah. Basically you're going to go up against people of that stature, right? Yep. So how long did you do krav maga? Two years. And then after that then when did Jiu jitsu enter the picture and what stood out immediately about it? So on the way to krav maga? There was like this little gym, Jiu jitsu gym on the way, and I was like, I don't know what this is. But you know, like I'm getting sick of krav maga, it's just too intense all the time. And so I was like, I told my mom, I was like, mom, I wanna do jiu jitsu. She's like, I don't know what that is, but all right. And so she's like, but you have to set it up. And so I had to call the place. I had to schedule a lesson and I'm like, all right mom. I'm like, we're going tonight. And she's like, already tonight I am like, yep, let's go. And so we go to it and I was the only one probably under 40 there. And one of the few women, and we're rolling around. And jiu jitsu is very interesting. If you've never done it before, you know, just like the positions. And I'm rolling with grown men and my mom, who's never done any martial arts is like, oh my God, what are you doing? She was told me, she was like, I was expecting you to come off the mats and be like, I never wanna do this again. And we would leave and we would, it'd all be fine. Uhhuh. And I came with a mask and I was like, yeah, this is it. Like I wanna do this. And I think it was just, it felt different than any martial art I've ever done. Mm-hmm. Where it's not just, alright, here's how you like beat up someone, or here's how, like, you know, like it's,'cause krav maga was still that self-defense portion, but it was always just so intense of like, all right, now you turn it around on them. Whereas this was a bit more alright, here's how you really defend yourself. Here's how you can slow down the fights, here's control. And especially like. Being 14 and actually not being dominated by the men and being like, oh, I can actually hold my own a little bit against them. I was just like, okay, I really wanna do this. What felt different about grappling compared to your striking? It felt more gentle. Um, and like I know jut is always called like the gentle art, but with striking it just felt so intense all the time and just like you were inflicting pain on someone else, right. Whereas like grappling just felt okay, you're just turning away control. You're using control instead of just hurting another person. Tell me a about any funny experiences in jiu jitsu that, come to your mind. I think it was just mostly like the guys not knowing how to roll with me. Because like they had a kids' class, but I was like too old really to go to the kids' class'cause they were all like seven year olds. And so I was just thrown in with a bunch of guys and like older women. And the guys would always be like, well, I don't like, I'm sorry. I don't know how to roll. Like I'm sorry. I'm like, you don't have to apologize. I'm just, because I never had that thought of oh, I'm rolling against a guy, or I'm rolling against a girl. It was always like, okay, I'm just rolling against someone. Yeah. And so it was just kind of funny with them being like that. And then eventually, like I became like best friends with this group of 40-year-old women and 40-year-old men. And they would take me out and we would go get food and it was just, it was really weird because it would be all them and then just me, it was like 14 or 15 years old. Yeah. it's a great community. We take care of each other no matter what age. Yeah. Because we all know how difficult jiu jitsu could be, and it's a long journey. Right. Yeah. Let's talk about high school. How Jiu jitsu was used as an escape For, some of the challenges that you had. Well, first of all, like during high school, I didn't really have any friends. Um, and the friends I did start having were terrible people. And so it was just a very toxic environment and I didn't really know, like, how to get out of it, but at least like I could go to Jiu-Jitsu and I'd have like my 40-year-old friends and, like I remember freshman year of high school. I didn't have anyone to sit with at lunch. And my sister would give me the keys to her car so I could go sit in her car and eat instead of, because I didn't want anyone to see me eating alone. Because I was like, that's gonna make it worse. And people are gonna be like, why are you eating alone? Like, that's weird, Uhhuh and not be friends with me. So I was like, so I was very appreciative of her. Or she'd also take me out sometimes when our lunch is lined up with her senior friends and gotta hang out with them. But it always, I just felt like so alone. And so starting jiu jitsu, it's like, okay, this sucks, but now I have to go to this place and everyone's nice to me. Like everyone's just there to help me there to support me. They wanna ask about my day and eventually then even when I got later into high school, I would go leave during my lunch hour.'cause I scheduled it right where I had almost two hours for lunch.'cause I had an off period. And I would go to the noon class and then I'd drive back to school, do my class, and then leave right away. And so it just became like somewhere to go to be around people who actually seemed to like wanna be around me. Do you think it was just the culture at your high school? I think so.'cause they all, we all grew up together. we went to the same elementary school, middle school.'cause we were, I was in the DT program, the gifted and talented program, all the way up. And then when I got to high school, it's like those same people. And so they were always very like cliquey. And I wasn't in GT in elementary school, but I joined in middle school. And so those groups have already kind of like found each other. And then I did experience quite a lot of bullying in high school, and so it just more like ostracized me where I just wasn't really like part of a group. And so it just sucked. And it was just, it was, I think it was like the culture and then I tried to meet other friends and it just, it never really worked. And then COVID hit, which just everyone's oh, that must've been awful for you. I was like, I was already alone, so now I'm just alone at home, which feels a lot better. My parents were like, let's get you a dog. And so during COVID, since I didn't have anyone really, they were like, let's get you a dog. And he became my best friend. Nice. And so that was awesome. So thank you COVID for getting me a dog. So then how, many years were you in, high school when COVID hit? It started halfway through my sophomore year of high school. And then it was more or less over with, like halfway through my senior year. Mm-hmm. We still had to wear masks until I think about halfway through senior year. Oh wow. But all of junior year, I, you had the option of going either all online or hybrid. And I purposely chose to go all, online. Because at that time my grandfather had gotten sick. Wow. And he moved into that home with me. And my mom had to go to work and my dad. Moved to Seattle. Okay. And so it was just me'cause my sister was in college. I stood home to just take care of him and be there when he fell or when he needed food. And so I just do my Zoom classes and run downstairs and hang out with him and ask for uh, help on math, homework, uhhuh. Um,'cause he was brilliant. and so it was just, it was nice to just be able to stay home and be there for him and then senior year I had to go back in person. What did the mats give you when other parts of your life felt heavy? A place to just go and just not be alone? I think that was the biggest thing and it did really give me a community, like, even though it was like older people who like from the outside looks like why should we be friends? Mm-hmm. Like we have nothing in common. It gave me a community of people who just were like, Hey, we're here for you. Awesome. Do you think you would've handled those years differently without jiu jitsu? Yeah, I think I would've struggled a lot more. It was, high school is a really, really dark time for me. And I think it would've been even worse if I was not in Jiu jitsu. Jiu jitsu saves a lot of us. It really does. I don't know where I'd be without Jiu jitsu. Did training help you process things or was it more about turning off your mind? I think both. Some days I'd go to jiu jitsu and I'm like, okay, I just need a break and I just need to just roll. And so I get some intense roll on and I'm just thinking about, okay, I just really don't want this person to choke me. Like, all right, how do I defend this? But then some days it was like, okay, like I just don't really know what I'm gonna do about this. and so I'd go to the mats and I'd be like, okay, while I'm rolling, and it's kinda okay, I can handle like a 300 pound man trying to choke me out. This problem seems a lot smaller. We can just take it step by step. Like how I would do in Jiu jitsu, okay, for this move, like you do this step first, then this step, and then it just kinda, that approach kinda helped me with life problems being like let's think about step one first. Let's figure out how to go from there. Yeah. And then you also have your other fellow jiu jitsu practitioners that would probably give you advice right? Yeah, they would. What was one of the advices that they would tell you? Just keep going. it sounds so stupid, and in the moment I thought it was so stupid, where they're just like, life does get better. I was like, well, yeah, yeah. What do you know? you know, and I remember being like, you guys, you just don't get it. You just don't get it. Like, it's not gonna get better. It's not gonna get better. And then it of course got better. And so I'm like, all right. That was pretty good advice. It just, it's okay. Like things will get better. In jiu jitsu, you had a time where you were a white belt for a long time. Yeah. how many years did you spend in the white belt? About five years. That is a long time. Yeah. Due to your age or what do you think? So COVID did take off a year. but that was also, I did online Jiu jitsu mm-hmm. Where they were like, create a dummy and then they did Zoom classes. But I also, like later on I kind of got mixed signals about why I wasn't being promoted. They tell me one thing and then oh wait, no, it's not, it's actually this and, or it's this. And I'm like, okay, like what do I need to do? And they're like, well, just. It'll get there. I'm like, okay, but clearly I'm not progressing. What do I need to do? And they're like, it, you need to do a private lesson, or you need to do all this stuff. Like you need to just, you know, you need to work more. And I'm like, okay, but what am I not clicking? What's not happening here? And so it was a very frustrating journey. I think you were so used to like, okay. In TaeKwonDo, you do this and you get a belt. You get to this point, you get another belt, you get, you have to do this form and this spar type of sparring and you move on. Right? Yeah. And jiu jitsu's not like that at all. Yeah. what kept you training when progress felt slow in that white belt era? I guess just determination. I was like, I wanna get to that next belt. I wanna keep getting better at this, and this is like my sport that I wanna keep doing, so I need to figure out what I need to do to get better at this sport. Resilience. Yeah. I was very stubborn. I was, because I was at the same school and it got a little frustrating because they were like, you need to do this to get your blue belt. And I was like, okay. Then I would do that. And they had a blue belt test mm-hmm that you had to do. And I was training, every single day, working on the curriculum, working on like the whole test, every part of it. And then it came to when they were gonna announce who was gonna be testing soon. My name wasn't on it, And I was like, okay, all right. it's a little frustrating. Then they had me train the people who were going to be testing. I'm like, okay, what? All right, but I'm not ready. I was like, okay, fine. You know what? I'm gonna be the best trainer. And so I went and I had one of my friends. come over and I videotaped me doing every single move in the curriculum. Mm-hmm. And then the entire test. And then I put it into a, a sheet for them so that they can go in like, oh, this move in the curriculum. Alright, what does that look like with steps that I like, I did four steps for every single move. And I shared it with every single person that was testing. And even now, like I'll give people at that gym reaching out to me being like, Hey, can I have that, video thing that you did where you have all the steps? And I'm like. Sure. But it was just, it was so frustrating.'cause I was like, I I'm training all these people and these people are getting their blue belt. Like there's, what am I missing? There's clearly something that I'm just missing And so it's just it, it kind of got me really stubborn where I was like, all right, you know what? I'm gonna stick through it. I'm gonna get that blue belt. I'm gonna keep going and I'm just gonna be the best person I can be. And so then I had to leave for college'cause I was 18 and I was still a white belt. When I started the club, but I think that actually helped me a lot because I was like, all right, now I get to work on my teaching skills and how to actually teach people and I have this huge base and I know all these moves. Now let's figure out how to actually teach them to people. Mm-hmm. So wasn't it a little embarrassing for that? dojo that you were teaching all these people that were getting their blue belts, right? For one, yeah. For two you probably could, kick their ass a little bit, right? Yeah. Okay. My coach says, doesn't matter what the belt is. Yeah. If you go in there and you give it, you're all in your heart. that's all that counts. And if there's all these higher belts that you're going toe to toe and beating them, that shows you're jiu jitsu. Yeah. So don't even, yeah. I don't want kids to get frustrated because of, you know what belt they are, yeah. It was, it was frustrating not about the belt so much that I was so stressed about. It was more just I wanted to get to that next level. And the belt does symbolize like another level. And I was just like, I'm not getting something here and there's something that my instructors are seeing that I'm not seeing. Mm-hmm. And what do I need? Because I just wanna keep improving my jiu jitsu in any way I can. Yeah. And any feedback, anything, I just wanna keep getting better, even if it's. Forget about the belts, like the, I wanna keep getting better. Right. But it just, it felt like I wasn't getting better, but I didn't know what I was doing wrong. You were competing during that time, right? So, were you bringing the Dojo medals. No.'cause they weren't a huge competitive school. Okay. They didn't really, they didn't help me really at all with competitions. They were of course like supportive in like, I can use the dojo to train or things like that. But I had asked one of my, like 40-year-old friends there who was competing to help me train and she came to the tournament and coached me and That's great. That was awesome. Mm-hmm. But it wasn't like I was really bringing anything home to them. Okay. Yeah. It's weird, huh? Yeah. Who knows. Yeah. You're over them. Yeah. Okay. How did earning your blue belt at 19 change your perspective and who'd you get it from? I got it from the same gym. I went back over that summer And I was like, here's the club, here's what I'm doing. And they're like. All right. I guess we can do the blue belt test for you. I'm like, okay, cool. And the blue belt test was the most stressful thing I've probably ever done in my life. Really? Yes. Because I've done like all these tests in schools and applications to apply for college. This takes all the medals. This was awful. And so I was training all summer, like every single day that I could. And I would practice on my sister, I would practice on my mom, like I'd practice on the dog. I would do it by myself. I'd use the gym. I'd find my friends, at the gym to help me train. And it got to the week of the test when they're like, okay, you're gonna take it this Thursday? I'm like, perfect. Ready to go. And then it got to the week of, and I'm like, they weren't, they, the two coaches had their assistant coaches teaching. And so assistant coaches, they didn't know what was going on. And I was like. I messaged them, I was like, oh, like I'm testing Thursday. Right? Nothing like, okay, wait a few days. I'm testing this Thursday, right? Nothing, oh no. Day of the test. I'm like, oh God. Like I'm, and so my friends who are helping me prepare for the test, were like, Hey, just take it as you are taking this test. Like we're ready to go. Because they generally announced it. They announced it the week before that I was testing, but then just wasn't that week. And then, the day of, I was like, I'm testing today. Right? And they were like, yeah, be here at this time. I'm like, okay, I'm testing. Wow, cool. And I was like, you know what? It doesn't matter. All of that stuff I'm testing, I need to show what I know. And so I show up and they like, it's very serious the test. And so you show up and the lights are all off and you're supposed to go on the mat and just start stretching out. They don't say anything to you. All right. You know, just shake out the nerves like it's gonna be okay. And then all of a sudden the instructor will come out and just be like, alright, do this move. Alright, do this one. Alright. I do some jumping jacks, do some cardio, and for an hour it's just him calling out moves and doing cardio. Okay. And so after the hour I'm exhausted and they're like, all right, now you're doing a shark tank for an hour. Wow. If you give up, it's a fail uhhuh. And so of course like you're gonna get tapped out like crazy, right? I had a brown belt and a pearl belt like on me at the same time and You know, I was like, it just, you tap and it got to the point where it was after the hour and I, after the hour of rolling and I'm like, I am exhausted, but it's over. I literally physically cannot get up. And I'm like, all right, cool. It's done. And he goes, alright, burpees. I'm like, more after this two hours I just did. So I start doing burpees and I'm just like, I reached a wall where I was like, I don't know if I can keep going. I don't know if it's worth it for me to keep going. I don't think I could do it. And that's when like my friends who were there,'cause they were doing the Shark Tank, they just started cheering me on and it's okay, I can do this. All right. Oh yeah. And then they was like, all right, do squats now. I'm like. All right. And then they started cheering me on more. I'm like, all right, I can do this. And so at the end, I was wearing my eyebrows and my mascara because my eyebrows are blonde uhhuh, and afterwards they're gone and I'm just, I look like I went to war. I looked just. Oh my God. I looked like I was just not there, like in shell shock, but I got my belt and so I was like, I passed. That's all that mattered to me. I was so extremely happy about that. Wow. But it's done and I got it. So I couldn't be happier with like, how I went through it and it was hard to get there, and the test was like very difficult. But I became a really good blue belt because of it. Yeah. That's great. Wow. Congrats on your blue belt. Thank you. It was very well earned. So looking back. Are you grateful for that long white belt? Yes and no. Okay. Yes, because I was a really good blue belt. When I got my blue belt, but a little bit, it was a little discouraging'cause it's like, wow, maybe I'm just, I started doubting myself like right, okay. Maybe I'm just not doing that good. Maybe it's like people are just letting me win or maybe I'm just, not as good as I think I'm gonna do, or maybe this isn't the sport for me. And that really sucked. But then pushing through that and being like, okay. And so I think I'm grateful that I pushed through it now. Mm-hmm. And how I reached my blue belt, because now I'm like, okay, I handled that. I kept pushing through. And you will reach these points in your life where you're plateauing or you're feeling like maybe they're seeing something that I'm not seeing and I'm not actually that good. But as long as you believe in yourself and you keep pushing through, you'll get the goal you want. Yeah. Let's get into leadership in, Santa Clara University jiu jitsu Club. yeah. What inspired you to start the jiu jitsu Club at age 18? I love jiu jitsu. It was kind of as simple as that. I knew before I started coming to Santa Clara,'cause Santa Clara was my dream school and I was so happy I got in. So I was like, I wanna start a jiu jitsu club. Like they don't have one there. I wanna do this. And my mom's sure. Sweet. Like of course, go try and do it, but you know, it's okay. I was like, no, like I think I really wanna do this. Like I wanna share Jiu jitsu and it's brought so much like great things to my life. I wanna share this. And they're like, all right. And so I go to school in the first quarter, I started training at a gym in the area, and I got injured. Oh, no. And I was like, okay. Because I was like trying to just, my mom was like, you know, take a quarter, get used to school. Mm-hmm. And then figure out how to start a club. I was like, okay. So I'm training off campus and I got injured and I was on crutches for like the first like week or so of college. And I was like rowing myself to class and it was awful. What injury did you get? I, they said I sprained my femur, which I don't think that's how that works. Yeah, it was like a knee reef, but because of how my knees are so flexible, it just ended up hurting my femur instead of my knee. Oh. Because my knees can bend in. Yeah. And so I was like, all right, it hurts really bad and I can't walk, so Okay. But yeah. and so I hurt that and that sucked. And I was like, I'll just take some time off. I stopped going to that gym, and then I started being like, wow, I'm having all these great experiences college, but something's missing still. And this was after my first quarter of college. Right. And I'm like. Yeah, I need to really start that club. And so then we go into this winter quarter and I'm like, yeah, I'm doing this. And so me and Lydia, the vice president of the club, I was like, Hey, like we are in this barbell club and the barbell people, you're the ones who started it. And I went up to'em like, Hey, how do you start a club? And they were like, alright, here's everything you need to do, like here. And then if you want, you send me your application. I'll read over it for how we did ours. Okay. And I'll help you in any way we can. I'm like. This is awesome. Thank you so much. And so I did the application and at one point you had to get I think 20 signatures of people, okay, who wanna like be part of the club. And I'm like, well, I don't know that many people who wanted to jiu jitsu. And so I go around all my friends and I'm like, Hey guys, you do not have to join, but can you just sign this form so I can start the club? And they're like, all right. And so I get the 20 signatures, I get the club up and running, and we have so many meetings with the school for like risk management and like what the club needs and everything like that. And they're like, alright, you can start it like, okay. Nice. Wow. And so we start our first practice spring quarter, first week. And one of the biggest things that really took off from the club is when I was starting it, I was in the gym mm-hmm. On the pull-up machine. And there was this man who's probably six foot five, like just built just like he looked like a Greek God. And I was doing the little workout machine and he comes up to me to work in with me and I'm like, this is embarrassing. Like he can just do pull-ups. And I'm doing the little pull-up machine. And he ended up being the sweetest person I have ever met. Nice. And he was like, he's on my pants. And he's like, you need Jiu jitsu. I'm like. Yeah, I'm actually starting a club. He's like, really? Like I'm on the rugby team. I'll get all the rugby guys to come out and practice with you. Nice. I'm like, really? He's like, yeah. Like even our rugby coaches, I think he's a brown belt in jiu jitsu. Like, he'll come help you guys. We wanna be part of this. I'm like, alright. Our first practice was just like me, Lydia, and like a bunch of rugby guys who were just huge dudes, but they were the sweetest people I've ever met, and they're just here to learn. And so I'm a shy little freshman. As my best friend says, I used to radiate anxiety and I was so shy and so nervous. And I'm up there teaching a group of like grown men who are just huge and could throw me across the room, and they're listening to me Nice. And I'm like, huh? It's possible. Okay. Yeah. Good. That's awesome. That's a good start. Yeah. What challenges came with stepping into leadership so young, making sure people listen to me. Okay. All the rugby guys were great. But there was some people who were like, why do I listen to you? Right. And we did mostly know you when we started and some of'em were like, well what, what belt are you? And I'm like, A white belt. They're like, still. Oh my goodness. I'm like, okay. I'm trying my best here. Like I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm talking about. And so some of them were just, you know, and I remember the first practice I was trying to teach some people and they just were doing their own thing. I'm like, no, no, no. Like, let's say structure. Yeah. Yeah. Especially'cause like you can get injured in jiu jitsu if you don't know you're doing, it's. Not like you're going into a gym where you're the first new person. It's a gym where everyone is completely brand new to the sport. Right? And so more injuries can happen. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, no, no. Like, you gotta listen. They're like, well, I know more. I'm like, okay, have you done jiu jitsu? They're like, no, but like I, I'm a guy. I'm like, I've like messed around with my brothers. I'm like, cool. That doesn't help here. You got, you gotta listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. And it was just weird to have so many people just be like, no, I'm not gonna listen to you. And it's like, okay. And then that's when I would work with the rugby guys and I'm like, go kick'em out. And the rugby guys would go up to'em and be like, you're gonna listen. They're like, well, like, whatever. We'd threaten to like kick people out. So it was really nice to just have that support system where the guys were like, what do you need handled? We got it. Oh, nice. Yeah. That's awesome. How did building that community change your relationship with jiu jitsu? It made me fall more in love with it. I was reaching some points where I was like, you know, I really love Jiu jitsu, but it just doesn't, something's just not working. I'm not super happy with what's going on. I think especially'cause like I left my community back in Colorado and so coming out here I didn't really have a Jiu jitsu community and I was like, okay, like something needs to change. And so then building the community out here,. My closest friends, I think, honestly, all my friends are now in the Jiu jitsu Club.'cause I've recruited them and every single person I know does jiu jitsu. And I know we had one time where people stole our mats. Oh no. And I called the jiu jitsu Club and they're like, we're tracking down. Like where like we're getting calls from campus security being like, they're last seen here. And we'd go to that place. There's no one there oh, it was actually this place they were seeing. And it's like a huge Jiu jitsu group going, walking around being like, all right, we're gonna find these mats like we got you. And it's just, it's so nice to have that or. We had one person in the club who, felt a bit uncomfortable, with her dance team, right. And she was like, yeah, can you guys just show up for me for this dance show? And we're like, yep, we got you. Mm-hmm. And it's just, it's so nice to have a community where it's like, you need something, we got you. Like, we're here for you. We're here to be there for you. And it's just, it made me love jiu jitsu even more because it's what jiu jitsu brought me. Community. Yeah. That's awesome. Great friendships. What did leadership teach you? That training alone couldn't, I think it taught me a greater understanding of the art. Just being like, okay, not just how to do moves, but it's also. How to do other parts of jiu jitsu, how to show people the moves, how to just be there for people. It made me grow up a lot more and it made me become more sure of myself. And so when I was more sure of myself, my game became more sure of itself. Yeah, it does. You guys first started coming around to Triune, which is my dojo. Yeah. And that's how I met you guys. You guys are good training partners. You guys are quick, and you guys have great technique. How did you come to know about, baem, I know you train over there mm-hmm. With Denny on Mondays. He's amazing. I'm a big fan of his, huge a fan of his I love Denny. Yeah. And then Shay. So Shay is the one that brought you around? Yeah, he did. He reached out to me, I think in October of last year and was like, Hey, I went to Santa Clara. I tried to start a Jiu jitsu club, but there was no interest back in the day and I love Jiu jitsu. How can I help? And I'm like, oh, great, okay.'Cause I was still like trying to figure out the club, trying to figure out mats. The school wasn't the best at giving us like spaces to train with how big we were growing. And it's okay, like what do we need to do? And then it felt like almost my training was being hindered, right? Because I wasn't learning anything new. I wasn't going to gyms off campus. I was teaching here three days a week. And so for Shay to come in and be like, Hey, I wanna help. And I'm like, all right, we have practices these days. Stopping when you can. And so I think closer to maybe December, I think he started really like coming into the club and just helping and teaching. I was like, here's how I teach. And he was like, all right, we're, you're gonna stay teaching, right? And I was like, okay. And he was like, I want you to stay teach, but then I'll add on things'cause I want this to be your show, but I'm gonna add on things or I'm gonna answer more questions and I'm just another resource to have here, but I wanna make sure like that this is still your club because it's so impressive what you did. I'm like. This is amazing. You're not trying to take anything, you're adding Yeah. And that's what I love so much about the jiu jitsu community. It's not like, I need the glory, or I'm gonna be in charge now. It's, how can we help each other? Yeah. And so it was just amazing. And then he was like, I'm gonna take you to JG Academy and they're doing this class. I'm gonna bring any Santa Clara students you want. I'm like, perfect. And so I go there and I meet Kevin. I don't know his last name. but he teaches over at Baem and then he was the one who introduced me to Denny. And he was like, are you interested in teaching kids class? And I was like, yeah, I think so. He's like, okay, I'm gonna put you in touch with Denny and you can come teach kids class. Nice. And then you can come here and train. And I'm like. Amazing. And then Shay started taking us to Triune, and I know Shay and Denny are great friends, and it just became like, all right, now I just know like a lot of people in the area, and it's just, it's getting bigger and bigger. And S U jiu jitsu is getting more of a bigger name to itself. Right? Cannot be more grateful to him. Oh, yeah. What led you to train in Brazil? So Shay was talking about how he would go down to Brazil basically every single year. Mean, he was like, yeah, if you guys are interested, I'll take you down. And I think he was more like, in the future, you know? Yeah. And I was like, all right, let's go this year. He's like, all right, let's get to planning. He invites everyone. Yeah. And so he, I think he was like, you know, I think eventually you'll take me to the offer or not thinking I would do it right away. Yeah. And so I'm like, no, like I wanna go to Brazil.'Cause mean, it's from there. I wanna go train Brazilian jiu jitsu in Brazil. And so he was like, all right, we will go at the end of August. Let's go after, because I had an internship. We'll take all everyone, whoever wants to go and we'll take you guys down there. Mm-hmm. And I was like, great. So where'd you train? We trained at Atos. Balao, I was trying to think of how to pronounce it. And then I think that was it. There might've been another gym. Okay. I was also very sick, so it was a little, no little delirious while training. But it was just the most amazing experience I could have ever done. Wow. Is the jiu jitsu a higher caliber, do you feel, or is it, comparable? I think compared to Triune, it was about the same, like the level of intensity. But in terms of like, it's like almost their life. Like they're training multiple times a day at the same gym and just that's what they're doing is Jiu jitsu and they're, then they're going to work out, but it's for Jiu jitsu or they're going to do this, but it's for Jiu jitsu and it's just very different than here where it's oh, like I'm doing all this other stuff in my life and then I go to Jiu jitsu. Wow. What was one of the lessons you learned off the mats in Brazil? That's a tough question. Just that it's so different from America. Like everyone there is so friendly and at least I'm used to that more from Colorado where you go talk to someone, like you just start saying hi to them you just start having a conversation. Whereas like in the Bay, it's a bit more like, oh, I don't know you. Why am I talking to you? Which was a very culture shock for me coming from Colorado. And then in Brazil it's like, oh, we never met, but let me give you a hug we're gonna talk for hours. Gonna be best friends. Like, what do you need? Like we're here for you. And it was just, it was so nice that everyone was just nice and they're there for you and they just want to help you in any way they can. So what was your favorite thing to do in Brazil when you were there? Off the mats, eat the food down there was amazing. Really. It was so good. And then of course, like. The water is just exceptionally blue, and the beaches are just perfect. And so it was nice. We would go down to the beach and we'd order some food and we'd have our coconuts and we'd just be relaxing. And it was just so nice. It just kind of like we're vacationing, but we're also training. And so it just feels. Good. Because sometimes when you go on vacation and you're just vacationing, you're like, I feel like I'm just like stuck or I feel like I'm just gross almost. And down there it's you're training so you're feeling great, and then you're eating all this amazing food and you're seeing all these amazing sites. I ended up going on a helicopter ride around Sugar Loaf. And that was phenomenal. It was. Because I've never been in a helicopter before Uhhuh, and so going and doing that, I'm like, this is starting to check off the bucket list. This is so cool. And when else am I gonna ever do it? But in Brazil, and it was amazing. Did you go to any of their monuments over there? Yeah, I went to the Christ statue, went to Sugar Loaf. I think we went a few other places. I don't remember the name of. And how many in your team went? Let's see, me, Lydia, Scarlet, Jenny, Anderson. Cole. Shay. Nice. So seven of us. So a pretty good group. Everyone just had a great time down there. That's amazing. Yeah. What did earning your purple belt there mean to you? It meant everything. You're in like the birthplace of Brazilian jiu jitsu. Shay told me this afterwards that a bunch of the black belts and the coral are coming up to him and being like, why haven't you promoted her? She'd been doing this for two years. Like, She's blue belt for two years. Why haven't you promoted her? Like promote her uhhuh. And to me that just was like, oh, like all the self-doubt just went away because I still felt a little self-doubt of being a white belt for so long and being like did I really earn this blue belt? Am I real, am I really a blue belt? And then going down there and having be like, why isn't she purple? Yeah. And it was just, it was so nice. And then when they were doing the belt ceremony,'cause we were going there I had worked with Shay to get, stripes for some people on our club. Nice. And I didn't know I was getting promoted. I thought maybe I'll get a stripe. Yeah. I was excited. I was a one stripe blue belt and I'm like, all right, maybe I'll get a stripe. And so they go and they only speak Portuguese. We're talking and we're sitting there, and Shay goes up there and I'm like, oh, maybe they're doing the stripes now. And then he goes, Katie, and I'm like, who is this? Katie? What? Why is she getting a purple belt? I'm like, oh, that's me. It caught you off guard. And so I go up there and Shay just says like the nicest things about me, and it just made me feel like, wow, like this. I am exactly where I wanna be right now with Jiu jitsu and I, it just, it meant everything to me to get it down there, get it from Shay, get it from having the black belts have their input. And he was even like, yeah, I got the input from Josh, from Triune and Denny from Baem. Like, they all gave their input and you deserve this. It just made me feel so amazing, you know? Yeah. How has your relationship with Jiu jitsu evolved over the years? I think it's just gotten stronger. Like I just, I fell more in love with the sport and it's just, it's brought me so many incredible things, and so it's just being able to keep my body in shape and so my mind's in shape. I'm doing like another martial art, and then it turned into this is my life. This is what I wanna be doing. Like even when I grow up, and even more so now going forward, I always wanna have jiu jitsu as part of my life. And sometimes I even find myself where I'm like, oh, I need to figure out like what I'm gonna do be teaching tonight. And it's like, well, I have a test tomorrow. I should be focusing on that first. But it's just, I love it so much. I wanna give my life to Jiu jitsu. I wanna figure out how I can help Jiu jitsu. I, I can help people in Jiu jitsu, how I can get more people involved in Jiu jitsu and just what I can give back because it's given me so much. What does success in jiu jitsu look like to you? Community. I feel successful in jiu jitsu if I have a good, strong community. What advice would you give to someone using training to get through hard times? It gets better. The same, same advice I was given. It felt so stupid at the time, but it does. And you just gotta keep pushing through and find something that gives you a little bit of light at the end of the dark tunnel. And that's what jiu jitsu was for me. And so if they're doing jiu jitsu and it's giving them a little bit of hope, lean into that. Keep going with that. If it's not, find another sport. Find something else. Find there's so many different hobbies or passions you can have in the world. Find something and it will help you get to the, light at the end of the tunnel. Okay. Good advice. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about in regards to the club? So it grew from about five people. Sometimes there was even three people at practices my freshman year to then sophomore year I think we had about 10, 15, got a little bit bigger. And then junior year it was like, all right, we got 30 people signing up and we have about 15 people in the class. This is getting pretty big. And I think even my sophomore year when we were pretty small and everything, one that was in the club at the time had just started jiu jitsu with me. And I was their only instructor. And we went sophomore year to a tournament. And we beat Stanford. And to me, I'm like, all right, they have two black belt coaches and we just beat them. We got third of the tournament. It was outta like six teams and it just made me so happy. Yeah. Because it was like we, yeah. We got third, but this is our second year as a club. And everyone that just competed, this was their first time really doing Jiu jitsu and they're under a blue belt teaching them. And so then junior year we got bigger. Senior year we go in. I'm like, all right, Lydia, like, how many people do you think we're actually gonna have, like in the club? I'm like, I think it's gonna stay the same. I think it's gonna be about 30. And Lily's like. Oh, it's gonna get bigger. I'm like, I don't know. And she's like, it's gonna get bigger. And we had over 40 people sign up. And of those 40,'cause normally we had about like half, coming to practice. Yeah. We had 30 to 40 at the beginning of the year coming consistently to practice. So we're like, whoa, We need a bigger space. We need to find something out'cause this is getting huge. And then of course. Last year we hosted the Koffee Krew, um, the Bay Area unite thing here and that was just incredible to get our club even more out there where it's like we're a real deal. Like we're here to stay. That's awesome. What's the future for the club? When you graduate, What's the next step? What happens? So I've been prepping, someone to take over as President Weston, who also goes to Triune and Baem with me. He's a junior. And so he'll take over as a senior, I've been prepping him, being like, Hey'cause it was a weird thing when I picked him. I wasn't, I think it was my sophomore year. I think, yeah, spring sophomore year. Spring sophomore year. Where I was like, I didn't really know him that well, but I was like. Do you wanna be president? He's like, what? I'm like, oh, I just got a feeling about you. Do you wanna be president? He's like, all right. And so then junior year, I was like, all right, we'll vote you in at the end of junior year to take over as president when I leave. I didn't really know him at the time. And then after that, starting in a junior year, we became really close friends. Like we were just, it was awesome just to have this friendship between us and then. But it was even better that I picked him before we were friends. Yeah. And then senior year, like he's been shadowing me and he'll take over and he's a white belt now, but he'll be getting his blue belt, hopefully soon, for when he takes over. But even starting as a white belt, I did it. So it's not the end of the world. Yeah. He's passed the SU, um, curriculum test that we just did. And so I completely trust him to teach classes. And he's just shown so much leadership and so much forward, and I have him teach Mondays so that I can go off campus to teach. So it's been a great opportunity for him to get his Jiu jitsu better. Just by learning how to teach other people. Yes. And then when I leave, he'll take over Uhhuh and then we're looking at people for after him, but after me it's up to him, whatever he wants to do with the club. Right. Do you think you're gonna stay in this area? I'll, I'm staying in the area. Okay. So I accepted a job that's probably five minutes away. Oh, great. So I'll be here and I'll be coming back to check on my club. Well, it'll be Weston's Club, but it's my baby. So tell me about, what job you're going to, I'll be starting as an audit. first year at EY. Alright, right on. So an accounting firm. Yeah. Good for you. Yeah, so I'm excited. That's great. Yeah. I bet you your parents are very proud of you. They really are. I think we didn't really focus on what it was like, in your younger years when you were growing up in Colorado. Higher elevation, right? Yeah. Snow. Yeah. So everyone assumes that it was snowy all year round. It's not the case. And even Decembers, we would have high. Like temperature was like 70 I think this past December. I went home and it was like 75 degrees, sunny, no snow on the ground, but Colorado was very bipolar and so if my graduation, it was snowed out. It was the end of May and it got snowed out. And so I'm like, great. But growing up it was always like, you don't know what the weather's gonna be like. Because I did softball, I did travel ball, and so we'd be going all over Colorado or even sometimes other states. But when you're in Colorado, it's like you could be playing and it's gonna be beautiful skies and the next day it's snowing. The next day it's hailing or it's pouring rain and you're like, great. So just growing up, you just kinda get used to like being unpredictable. And I know a lot of people here from Colorado and then they find out I've only been snowboarding once, never been skiing, and I don't really hike. They're like, but you're from Colorado. I'm like, yes. I had too much to do when I was younger with all my sports to like venture into other things.'cause going up to the mountains would take so long. And then skiing the whole day and also my family was never big skiing snowboarders growing up anyways. But it was nice to grow up in a place with high elevation because then when I came out here for school, I'm like, I am in such great shape. Like I can go run, I can do all this stuff and I'm just having the time of my life. Yeah. So growing up like I love it. Especially when I started family one day, I think I might wanna go back to Colorado.'cause it's just the perfect place to raise people and to just, you don't feel like you're in a city all the time. In parts of California, I absolutely love California. But then you get to the point where it's I have to drive like an hour or two or even more just to feel like I'm not in a city anymore. But if I go that far, there's nothing around there. Whereas my home, I live in like the suburbs and it's in an area where you see Red Rocks amphitheater from my bedroom. Nice. Beautiful. There's an open space, but then King Supers, which is like our grocery store, it's two minutes away. Target's five minutes away. Walmart five minutes away. But you don't feel like it's five minutes away. You feel like it's forever away because you go outside and you're like, okay, I'm just part of nature. I'm just being in the mountains. Have you been to Alaska? Yes, I have. I used to go every single summer to go fly fishing with my grandpa. Oh, wow. What else did you do with your grandfather? He taught me how to shoot. He was the biggest reason I'm actually good at math. He'd always sit me down his office and pull out an envelope and he'd be like, all right. He'd call me Scooch, because I was a kid. I never crawled. I would just scooch around on the floor. He would write out the math problem and he'd be like, just understand. I'm like. Yep. Or he'd pick me up from school and, he would take me to go get cigars for him. Nice. And he'd give me like one of those little gum cigars. He had just the most interesting stories, and he was a brilliant man. And he also, he taught my mom, my aunt, my two aunts, both their softball, he was so invested in their softball and like in their lives. Mm-hmm. And then when I came along, my sister came along, he's Alright, let's go do softball. And he would take me out and he would hit balls at me. He would help me with my hitting. He would help me like with my fielding with how to throw the ball better and all these things. And he was just so invested. And then when I switched to jiu jitsu, everyone in my family still called it TaeKwonDo. Or they called it karate. They're like, how's karate going? And I'm like, that was a few years ago. And he'd be like, how's judo going? And I'm like, the fact that, it's something different and you think it's Judo, like, because he always ask me about that. He was always like, how's Judo going? And I think it's'cause Jiu jitsu was too long and he was like, yeah, I'm gonna call it Judo. But he was always the family member who would ask me about how it was going. Yeah. So he passed away in I think 2021. He was like a father to me. Absolutely. And so it was awful. Um, especially'cause he was living with the time with me. And then I still remember the day he passed, I knew something, and then in the day before that, he was helping with my calculus homework. And so after he passed,'cause it was during COVID and all these things, he never get to see me do jiu jitsu. Oh man. And so it just, it sucked and I'm so happy with where I am now and he never gotta see me go to Santa Clara, which sucks too.'cause I know he'd be so fascinated with me'cause he was big into stocks and finance and accounting. Mm-hmm. I know he'd be so proud of me finishing with accounting, especially with my career path. Going to Brazil, traveling, doing all this stuff. The jiu jitsu starting the club. Mm-hmm. Um, he even told my sister that he was worried about me in college'cause he was worried I wasn't gonna make friends because of how shy I was. And just to see how I am now and see how much, like how many friends I have, how community I have, what I've built, how out of my shell, I've become, yeah, I just, I wish he could see that. I wish he could have seen me graduate high school. I wish he could see me graduate college, but Yeah, I know he's always with me. Yeah, they are. Yeah. I just, I always miss him so much, but he's a big reason the way I am today. He sounds like an amazing man. He is. He had his, beat up, I think. I forget what type of van, but, he would always drive it up to Alaska and I'd fly up to meet him, Uhhuh and he would take me around and he'd always buy me, orange chicken from Safeway and it was the best orange chicken in my life and chocolate milk. And he would, we would go fly fishing and it was generally over my birthday.'cause summer's the best time for the salmon runs. Yeah. And one birthday he'd always make sure I had a cake, uhhuh. And'cause he never liked to spend money on things, but he always made sure that like me and my sister were taken care of. And so he'd always make sure I had a cake. And then he would sometimes for my birthday, buy me a shower.'cause you're camping and so you're not really showering. You're covered in fish guts and it's very gross. Uhhuh. But on my birthday he'd be like, all right, he got you a shower. I'm like, this is the best thing ever. He was always there for me. And I truly wish he could see where I am today. I know he's watching you and. He definitely is seeing all your accomplishments in such a young age. Yeah. So you just turned 21. I did. So you've already lived a, pretty amazing life, In that short amount of time. I look forward to interviewing you when you get higher in your belts. How about your mom? She's one of your biggest fans, right? Oh yeah. She really is. Yeah, I call her every single day and we talk and she doesn't really know much about jiu jitsu. It makes her really nervous that I'm doing it. Mm-hmm. But she goes to every tournament and she's always cheering me on. And I remember one time I had her coach me'cause I didn't have anyone else with me. And she was like, bump, bump and I'm like in guard. And so I look over to her, I roll my eyes at her and I go back to the match and they have it on video. And my sister, my mom will never let me live it down, but my mom's she doesn't understand jiu jitsu, but she's trying to get into it and trying to learn as much as she can. And she'll ask me a lot of questions and she'll watch jiu jitsu so that she can better understand what I'm doing. Because her whole life is softball or volleyball or, even I played golf in high school and she knew something about that, but jiu jitsu was brand new territory and it's just, it means so much to me that she took the time to try and figure out this new territory. And what school did she play for? Occidental College. Oh, okay. Great. Where Barack Obama went? Yes. Nice. Yeah. Sometimes you have guest appearances that come and help you teach jiu jitsu classes every once in a while, right? Yeah. So Crazy. Kevin came to Triune. Mm-hmm. And he taught us a lapel choke, which was the joker choke. Right. That was an awesome choke. I still do it now. Yeah. And so he told all of us, whoever landed it first that he would go and teach the class. And so Kate was the one that won? Yeah. So who'd you do it on? The Joker? Choke on Nick. Nice. Yes. Felt very good about that one. We've only had him and we've had Shay and then we've talked about with Josh coming. Or with Denny. And I have people in the club who like. Wanna teach? Or we've had members of the club who have graduated and they come back to visit and I'm like, you wanna teach a move? And that's been wonderful. Okay. good. Reach out to you if you'd like to come and Yes. And practice with you guys or do a class with you. And then also you do take donations, right? Yes, we do. So that will would help with some additional mats. Yes. Maintenance of the mats. And also help with Gi's., Yeah. We try and keep the club dues as cheap as possible. We do a hundred dollars for the entire year, which if people train outside, it's generally like$200 a month. right. And we, that a hundred dollars includes a rash guard in shorts. So they have the nogi set. And then if they can't afford a gi, we provide them loaners. But we also have discounts through Fuji to get cheap gis. And just we try and help it keep it as low as possible so that it's open to anyone. Is there anything else that you'd like to say about the club? I can't wait to see where it keeps going. we're applying to be a club sport right now'cause we're just a club. So hopefully that goes through and we'll be able to get, I think, a bit more funding from the school, or at least we're able to use the school logo. And then I know like places in Florida are like getting jiu jitsu more into a D one or D three sport. And so maybe, hopefully eventually we can turn it into here, but that's looking way far down the road, but I'm just excited to see where it goes. I wanna thank you for coming on. Thanks so much for having me. Yeah. Appreciate the time you took to do this. I just commend you in regards to, your passion for Jiu jitsu. Thank you for coming by our dojo and sharing the mat with us. And I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me and I appreciate you guys so much. I cannot be more grateful for everything you guys have helped me with or just brought like me bring the club there. Everything. I'm so thankful. So we'll see you soon. Yeah. All right. Take care. All right. Have a good one.