We're Kicking It | The Stories Behind the Legends and warriors of Martial arts greats

Tara Van Deusen | 7th Degree Black belt in Kenpo Karate | Owner of Power of One Martial Arts

June 28, 2021 Jose Flores / Tara Van Deusen Season 1 Episode 11
We're Kicking It | The Stories Behind the Legends and warriors of Martial arts greats
Tara Van Deusen | 7th Degree Black belt in Kenpo Karate | Owner of Power of One Martial Arts
Show Notes Transcript

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

Jose Flores:

All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the work again podcast where I get the privilege to talk to the legends and words or the martial arts world. Today I am being joined by seventh degree black belt and black 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 so much for doing this. I appreciate your time. Of course. Thank you. So just to start off, um, how was your turn? Like, I know you were born British Columbia. Yeah. That was young Tara like.

Tara Van Deusen:

Great question. I'm sure I have a different opinion than everybody else around me. remembers from that time, I was young, driven, tomboy competitive. And probably adventurous. Yeah.

Jose Flores:

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:

Absolutely. My were watching The Karate Kid. And I told my mother, I wanted to do that. And she says what you want to do acting or you want to do martial arts? And I said both. So she enrolled me in both in

Jose Flores:

both. And it was in the parks and RECs in the basement where you find your first studio? How did that come about? How did she find that spot?

Tara Van Deusen:

Um, you know, obviously, there wasn't the internet back in those days. So it wasn't our neighborhood, I'm sure she just asked around. And a lot of things were through Parks and Rec back in those days, especially in Canada. And she was a young teen mother as well. So financially, as well as travel wise, I don't even think we had our own vehicle at that time. So it was probably just something we could catch the bus to and go from there. The organization actually had several locations in probably all the parks and RECs in the area. So they had like eight or nine.

Jose Flores:

And what kind of system was it?

Tara Van Deusen:

It was called boo token, which is kind of like an offshoot firewood expense. It's a traditional Japanese Okinawan martial art and similar to show to Khan,

Jose Flores:

Khan. And who do you remember your instructor?

Tara Van Deusen:

I do actually I had several instructors. I was one of their sole females was actually my female doctor who was one of the only females in the entire organization. she happened to be a green belt at that time. And I think she wanted my mother to do it. Honestly, as I mentioned, she was a teen mom, so she was probably not even 20 yet. And anyway, so the head instructor Joe Sure. lumbus was a head instructor and unfortunately, he made some bad choices along the years and is in jail. And then I had several of assistant instructors that I spent most of my time with Dean Chu Dan Cogan. Here, Harry Charalambous Joe's brother, Lloyd Lloyd Phillips, I believe was another one I used to compete against his sons often

Jose Flores:

Oh, yeah. So and So you did that for about two, three

Tara Van Deusen:

years, or no, actually, I did that for six years, I I trained regularly almost five days a week because I would, I eventually started traveling around to all their different locations, so I could compete or, or train with all their instructors. Dean Chu did a lot of acting stunts as well at that time, and started competing. And as a result started doing really well in forms. I was always second best in fighting. And anyway, so I started competing, and I can train up until just before I was 11. And then my mother had some reservations about the head instructor for obvious reasons. And at the same time, it was very traditional. So at that point, I'd know I knew all the forms, and they were no longer. I couldn't test any further past it was kind of my version or their version of a junior black belt at that point. So I moved on to a different martial art facility

Jose Flores:

and was was then moved on to Taekwondo or

Tara Van Deusen:

so again, similar to us. It was Kelly's Academy of martial arts. And yes, it was a Taekwondo. However, after a couple years, I got my black belt with him and competed to he was really heavy into competition for fighting. And so that was kind of the beginning of where I started progressing from winning forms to winning sparring in sport, martial arts. And eventually, a gentleman by the name of Simon Posner, who still is training up there at this at this time took over and he changed it into a more of a pankration pen creation story because he competed around the world and muy Thai in jujitsu, and he too had his black belt with Kelly. So that was my first version of a traditional mixed martial art and this was back in the early 90s. So well before the UFC was around. Yeah,

Jose Flores:

I mean, it was early 90s when they started coming up 92 or somewhere around there. So when you started competing, it wasn't as because people right now when you say competing, they think fighting Well, back then it was more common as more forms, as per se

Tara Van Deusen:

no, there were still fighting as well. It was just an N pads were very different back in those days as well. The thing was, was my first six was a traditional Okinawan karate. So consequently, I did really well in forms deep stances, you know, kicks were not encouraged above your waist, so to speak. And I'd always compete and fighting, I just wasn't winning in fighting. There was a few competitors that kept beating me consistently. And that's how I chose what location to go to. I wanted to train with the best and those were the best, and they'd always traveled down to America and bought so hence, I started training with Kelly.

Jose Flores:

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 get better. I have to get better.

Tara Van Deusen:

Absolutely. I enjoyed the forums, but I enjoyed fighting better. End of the day, that was the real reason.

Jose Flores:

So you, you come to the US and I think you, you know, from what I read, you didn't even realize you were under Mr. Bob whites when Wednesday night fight. You were under you didn't even realize it was Mr. Guido who he wasn't to you later on. Right. And you're?

Tara Van Deusen:

Yeah, so I was trained and I moved to Malibu and I was training with a gentleman named Joey Escobar, who did pretty well with his sport karate, as well as a gentleman named Curt Lampson. Both of them were tongue pseudo. So now I've kind of gone from Japanese karate for five, six years to more of a Taekwondo Korean mixed martial art for six, seven years, then, tongue pseudo is more of an American Taekwondo style, right. So, with Curt Lampson, and Joey Escobar, I was training and it was with one of their black belts, that we came and attended a few Wednesday night fight nights. So I've met Mr. White, I didn't really, at the time, know anything about American camp or even who he was himself.

Jose Flores:

And how was the because I mean, I'm just assuming here, how was the atmosphere like going into? Was it a male dominant sport back then, like more more males than females or so?

Tara Van Deusen:

Yeah, I think from the time I was 12, I was competing. Once I received my junior black belt from 12, almost all the way through till 17. I was competing against the boys until I moved to, to America. So in Canada, it was pretty much combined for most of the time, every so often, they would separate them. And absolutely, there was many more males in the martial arts at that time. I don't think I ever really looked at it that way. I had my few girlfriends that competed against my toughest competitor to this day, Regina Thompson. I started fighting her at the age of 12 or 13. So to me, it didn't matter who was in front of me, it was all a game of chest and who could hit whose target fastest?

Jose Flores:

Oh, yeah. And you said pads were different. So you definitely felt the kicks in the punches back then.

Tara Van Deusen:

I was fortunate by the time I was a teenager, they changed to

Jose Flores:

Oh, really? Okay.

Tara Van Deusen:

So that was in my younger days, especially in the traditional karate. Often you didn't even wear pads. We were doing knuckle push ups on the concrete, you know, five years of age. So there was no mighty Tigers class back in those days. I think I was with the adults by the time I was eight.

Jose Flores:

Yeah. By the time you were at you were with the other. It was it was different back in those days. Yeah. But I mean, I'm pretty sure you were able to hold your own. And so you come to the US and hot. How do you start? Because I know you're you were in various teams, and I mean, obviously a world champion. How did that come about?

Tara Van Deusen:

So I wasn't a world champion. I'd won some many of national championships up in Canada and some internationals, I done pretty well in NBA I was, I guess, maybe at 13. And then I focused on soccer and basketball throughout high school. So it was really soon after I moved to California. I started after my senior year when I was going to Pepperdine. I met Colin as I was starting to hit your some small local tournaments. Kind of getting back in having fun with it. Really, that was kind of the extent of it. At that point. I started competing more, and I was training with Jose Pacheco and drew Christian and no Ramin was really young at this time. Manny, I was traveling around with Manny, Harry Graham. And just really having fun with a bunch of the West Coast fighters met Colin and from there it kind of that was kind of the beginning take off of my world champion shipped level I would say and he kind of created and taught me about angles. That was a whole new thing for me because I was never the tallest fighter or necessarily the fastest, fastest fighter, but he helped me analyze and create my own style with with angles that helped out with my lead leg kicks on top of it all. And so my first team was full contact. I think I met bear when I was 12 or 13 Originally, but it wasn't until after. I think I was 19 when he picked me up on the team, and that's also when I got closer with Colin, who was also on the team.

Jose Flores:

Oh, so for contact team, and so you guys go on the road a lot or was it more local tournaments?

Tara Van Deusen:

We, I would say local West Coast. Absolutely. And then at a Las Vegas tournament one year, that's when I beat Regina Thompson actually, who was one of the top top fighters at the time. And another cop, national sponsored Team cjb or elite. I don't remember which one, they're the same club but they called and asked me, you know, the, the manager the head coach was there at that event and he wanted me to come fight with him and his team, which was also Nikki Lee Carlson and Claire Coco's at the time and I'll be honest, Nikki Lee was the woman to beat and so I I kind of called up a competitor competitive team, Richard Plowden, in FCS and said, Hey, listen, I love to be on your team. I want to be this woman. And I don't think I'm gonna be able to do it if I'm fighting alongside of her. So,

Jose Flores:

oh, it's the such teams. So you could

Tara Van Deusen:

I didn't actually I wasn't on cGb. They just offered me the full the full sponsorship. And then it was with that offer that I then went to TMS? Yes, I had a lot of respect for their coach. FCS was was Regina has team, by the way. And I had a lot of respect for their coach Richard Plowden, who has been an amazing figure in the martial arts sport karate world for decades. And he made it happen, he picked it up, he said, he'd love to have me and that was kind of the beginning of my international or World Championship experience.

Jose Flores:

So you're going up against naked knee or whatnot? How do you how do you prepare for that? Because I mean, I've, I've seen you spar. I've seen some of your matches, obviously, butterflies in the snow, but you don't show it. So how do you mentally prepare for that yourself?

Tara Van Deusen:

That's a great question. And I think you prepare for it in your training. You know, when you, you prepare properly, you show up. And when you're in that ring, you're just there to do a job. The nerves show up when you know you didn't prepare enough. But when you've prepared enough, you've been visualizing every time you've been training your Blitz your kicks, whatever the case may be, you're already visualizing you win in your next match or your tournament, or whatever the case may be. So it also helped that I pretty much trained only with guys. For me, that was a huge mental shift. Because when you're training with guys who were also starting to do you know really well in their sport karate careers, it's a little easier standing up in front of some of these female competitors. At least for me, mentally.

Jose Flores:

Yeah. And these still remember that match to this day with me.

Tara Van Deusen:

You know, I do and it was interesting, because at that one tournament, Richard Plowden, had said that we also had to do forums, whatever made his fighters do forums, but for whatever reason, at this tournament, we had to do forums. So I enrolled in American kempo, because I wasn't about to start doing a freestyle forum with clips that I hadn't been trained for years. So I did long form for and it was a huge American kempo Division Two is a national national tournament, Atlantic City, I believe. And, sure enough, 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 men were scared of her, you know, psychic x kicks. So it was gonna be a simple get off the line, you know, angle off the line every time. And so it was it was actually a quick fight. It was probably easier for me because I knew who she was. And she didn't know who I was. This was one of my first larger competitions on the east coast. The West Coast people knew me but nobody really knew me on the east coast. And so, so I won. Absolutely. And then I ran over put on my traditional kitaab data, American kempo forms I was fortunate I got to go at the end of the long line of Listen, there are some great names in there God soccer there's some great names in there. And but because I was at the end, I was the last one go I think I had a little heads up. I had all this energy ramped up and ended up winning the national title and that as well. No way Okay, one time I did long form for Yeah,

Jose Flores:

that is awesome. I mean, you had the the adrenaline from your fight and you come into form. Absolutely. So yes, I do remember that fight. So now you're you're the as you say, the woman to beat now you're the woman to beat after that. You started participating more in tournament, and you obviously keep your training going? Because

Tara Van Deusen:

Yeah, so by that time, I moved down here to Long Beach and I was training regularly with Colin and we had this location at this point, his headquarters on Bixby So, Mike pump arrow was coming down. Raymond was coming down often we were just having lots of fight. We had all the best of the best. faders here training because we were more focused on training really than growing our business at that time, even though we had evening classes. My focus at time was was competing. So eventually. So yeah, I started doing 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, I didn't get too much time on sex before the team folded as well. The owners, the corporate owners had some tax issues. Oh, so I then got picked up by Garth bins on Team victory, which was based out in New York and he was the first one who started taking he was really one of the first national teams to start taking their team regularly overseas. So it wasn't too far after that. I got to go to my first Irish open which to this day is still the biggest in the best sport karate martial art competition. And yeah, I did, I won. I went undefeated that weekend won my my weight division as well as the open women's world champ grand champion. And that was a first year Ramin one of that as well. Raymond. So we felt pretty good.

Jose Flores:

Oh, yeah. So work Work. Work me through your Irish open. I mean, you obviously it's very different than any West Coast or east coast tournaments bigger. So how is definitely like marking into the

Tara Van Deusen:

I loved it. All these years. There's there were starting to be more and more leagues here in America. So the divisions were getting smaller and smaller. Which is why I always wanted to win my division because then I'd at least get to fight middleweight grands, and heavy or overall grands which would give me more fights. I really just like to fight. I think I just like to fight because I like to win. I don't know. But I really just wanted lots of fights. So traveling over there. There were 63 women in our my open weight division. I was I was in love.

Jose Flores:

And the I mean, I don't know if the rule was still in effect back then. But they did throw you off the lead leg to the I mean, the lead hand to the body. They did.

Tara Van Deusen:

So I do remember the rule. I remember coach pins, you know, reminding us about the whole thing and it didn't throw me off. It didn't throw me off because it didn't really affect the my angles game at the time. If they were a kicker, I was angling if they weren't. I was you know, going in with my kicks first falling up with my hands. I was just in the zone that year that was you know, I'd had two consecutive wins around. I'd been training consistently. I was in the zone that year.

Jose Flores:

Oh man, I stumbled upon a picture and I get this on your Facebook. Jason borley Raymond Daniels, I think it was Mike Barbero, yourself. And I don't know if jack Felton was still too young at the time. But I think,

Tara Van Deusen:

I don't know he might have been there. I'm trying remember that was in England, actually. And I was another fun, fun excursion, again with some of the best fighters.

Jose Flores:

So I'm going to get those. Every single one of them were the top fighters in that day. So how was that like?

Tara Van Deusen:

That was great. We actually competed in two different competitions that weekend. And, yes, one of the promoters who actually sponsored us to come over wasn't incredibly happy about that. But I What I remember most about that event was we had this big team finals they were filming it, they were doing you know, Team America verse. Team Europe, team England, I don't exactly remember that. It was a lot of fun. But the next day in competition, Jason Braley threw this spin inside kick that broke this guy's arm in a way I've never seen I hit a hole you in his forearm, and I just, I will never forget it to the day. That's why every time I see people teaching how to block you know, just by bringing their elbows in. I was like, No, no, you angle out of the way from that that hurts.

Jose Flores:

So I mean, that's what was sparked karate or radio, a big thing where you were coming up. During your time with it. It just started growing as you were.

Tara Van Deusen:

So sport, karate, historically here in America was already big. When I was growing up. In Canada, it was not so big. It was so we had how I got involved was we had this one competition called the Tiger Balm International. We did have a very large Vancouver is, you know, we were very open in Canada for immigration. And so we had a very strong kung fu population, so to speak, in the martial arts, a lot of Chinese arts. And so we had this Tiger Balm internationals that ended up getting sanctioned by the National Black Belt league because boys wanted to grow in both Mexico and Canada. And it was through that, that I won a bunch of competitions and got invited to the National Black Belt League World Championships in New Orleans thick when I was 13. And so one of my producers actually because I did a lot of film and television, one of my producers sponsored my my mother and I to go down and compete. That was my first Super grands, ever

Jose Flores:

How did that go with you in it?

Tara Van Deusen:

You know what I did? So there was, again, a lot of great competitors. There's 22 of us, and it ended up being Regina Thompson name you've heard a couple of times and myself in the finals. She's a year old. I was 12. She was 13. Somewhere along those lines. I was 13. She was 14, something like that. Anyways, we fought at 1am in the morning,

Jose Flores:

what? It was

Tara Van Deusen:

crazy. I don't remember everything. But so it was 1am in the morning, I did win World Championships in continuous that that year, though, okay, but four point fighting. So I beat her the first round, and I thought I won. And I was cheering. And I'd actually asked, there was another Canadian blackbelt there, Bill hunter who was from British Columbia. I'd asked him if he could coach me because I didn't have any coaches, my sponsored paid for me and there wasn't many Canadians there. I can guarantee you that. And so I wanted, I thought I won. And they're like, Oh, no, it's you have to win twice. It's best three, you know. So we fought again. And she won. And then we were in the final match. And this was where I kind of, you know, not having a coach kind of messed me up. The final point. I was getting her now with my kicks. And she smart. She's always been such a smart fighter just kicked me to the groin. And I didn't even know the groin was open, because it wasn't open in Canada. But yeah, so first one went to Regina Thompson, and I never forgot her name because of that.

Jose Flores:

She was your nemesis. Yes, nemesis. Good friend. Yes. Oh, my goodness. And I mean, obviously, as I said, You're very driven and whatnot. How do you learn how to cope and or learn from your losses? Because I do a lot of people they get they get upset, they shut down. But obviously for you, you kept you going and lit up that fire.

Tara Van Deusen:

You know, I think that probably stems back from something possibly even outside of the martial arts. From a young age, I think, again, my mother was a teen mom. And I think a lot of people underestimated me. And possibly her as well. And from from kindergarten, I remember my she put me in French immersion. And it was either the kindergarten or the first grade teacher that told 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, or 13, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, my the head neurologist of North America, told my mother that I'm not gonna be able to do martial arts anymore. I'm not going to keep excelling in sports. I'm not going to keep doing well in school. So I think the chip on my shoulder was always to prove people wrong, if that makes sense, especially if it was something that I wanted. It was like, Oh, yeah, watch me. So I think that was a big driving factor that when I would lose, now, I had to prove it to myself. So it was about getting back up on the drawing board. What did I do wrong? How can I do it differently?

Jose Flores:

Oh, man, I like that. I live in I mean, japanischen Canton, watch. watch me do this. So I mean, obviously you guys, and I think you're talking about about it. Last week in our meeting. You guys saw this place in Bixby. And you saw you saw it very differently than common. He's, he's is a great student. You were like, you really want to buy that. But he had another vision for it. And

Tara Van Deusen:

so yes, originally, it wasn't about buying it. There was just this. He really wanted to be in Bixby Knolls. I didn't really know anything about Long Beach at the time, we were teaching at two parks. And I was really just assisting him, I was still going to school. And I was I was focused myself on fighting, you know, I reinvigorated or re energizing this goal to win some World Championships. And so he found this location, and it just so happened we could afford, we'd figured out the math for how many people we felt would follow us from the parks. And we felt we could afford the rent for the downstairs two spaces. And yeah, absolutely, I didn't see it the same as him whatsoever. But at the end of the day, I wanted to have a spot that we could go because at the parks and RECs, we could only train there during class time. But you're also teaching during class 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 these guys that we were, you know, taking road trips with all these tournaments in Oregon and Seattle and Vegas, and we could have a spot to train and that's kind of what it turned in to in those earlier days. We had all kinds of small rooms. It's just very different. Remember that I remember that. It looked very different. But hey, look at it now. Right?

Jose Flores:

It's amazing having all the building and whatnot. And you know, going back to when you guys were competing a lot I do remember those days because I myself started in 2001 2002 around there. And I remember I used to help out every Saturday to clean and Mr. Mendoza will come in common. He come in and say what are you doing? I'm like, Oh, I'm just finished. I'm cleaning called off to the corner. I we just had a dragon roll Red Dragon Come come in and they want to spy. Okay, why are you telling me just the yellow bell or noise about Oh no, you get to experience God and they're like, okay, and I'm smart and all these black belts and I see you eyes image from Barrow. And I'm like, okay, I just give him my best.

Tara Van Deusen:

Those days. And I laugh because I think maybe every class we were sparring or every other class, we

Unknown:

were sparring.

Jose Flores:

And you know what, that was my favorite thing, because I remember going I hope we 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 everyone either likes techniques, like sports or sparring. For me, it was just sparring. I love sparring, and whatnot. But yeah, I mean, and it helped me out a lot. Because I remember in Long Beach internationals has just forgot his name. His last name was West. And he was a pretty good guy. He was around my rank at the time. Anyways, we went to a tournament, I was just an orange belt. And we were we were down until nighttime. I didn't want to go, but you guys told me just go just just go participate. Okay. It was a team of three. And I was just doing an orange film. And it was my turn to compete on competing. There's a brown belt in front of me. And I just remember him kicking it kicking me in my head. And he smiled. He gave me that smile. Like I got you now. Something lit up triggered, you triggered me? And I was like, Oh, no, no, no, that's not gonna happen. And I beat him. I ended up beating him. And it felt so good. But I what I'm trying to say is what helped me is all those firing those higher ranks, always firing everyone and everyone being being nice. And everyone gave me pointers. So that's that's kind of what helped me.

Tara Van Deusen:

Absolutely. I think also, if you remember, with all those sparring in our tests back in the day, and obviously we weren't able to grow, we were people that like to fight or people that were already had already had experience in the martial arts. And you have to get people there. And we kind of forgot all those days because we just like to fight and we weren't focused on our business either. So that being said, we used to do a lot of two on one three on one because we wanted every we wanted our students to know what it felt like to get hit, we wanted you to know what it felt like if you had to deal with a gang or you know, a mob or that type of stuff. And the whole perspective, or the whole point was for the students to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, right. And I think as a result, I mean, we have a lot of students that didn't really compete very much, but they would just show up in Vegas for a competition or whatever. And they would give just as good as they got. And we'd throw them right into the black belt divisions and they'd be fighting the best for the best. As like you said, purple blue belts. Yeah, no, you should like the black belts or jerrica tree as Suzanna Boyd we started them all as color belts.

Jose Flores:

And they are amazing. They did amazing. Oh, the one thing I will never forget from from you is we were at a tournament. And you it was I told the story before but we're at a tournament and it was down to first and second place. And you came up to me and you told me look Jose, that's the son of the promoter. So the judging my goal, they might not go your way. So don't get bummed out. And from there, I was like, really? Okay. So I get in there we bow and not in the first hit hits me, right. I think it was a punch to the to the body. And I was like, obviously you want to play this game. And because I mean, I, I pride myself in knowing how to watch my control. But once he did that, like you said, it triggered me. I was like, okay, it's gonna be that kind of game. I mean, I want but I was glad that you told me that. And I'm glad he did that. Because if not, I would have been more cautious and not like, I got to prove my point. I got to make him clear. I have to make sure he knows. You know, I'm not here to play around because I remember him. He was he was walking around like he was the hot stuff. He didn't have a uniform. He didn't have a belt. I was like, oh, wow, okay, we pick up.

Tara Van Deusen:

I think my point probably was more not to let it emotionally bother you. If the points were going to his way to just fight your fight. And to expect that the judges were going to and there was several times. You know, I still remember this one tournament, I went to an Oregon and I was fighting for the grand championship in the evening. And I just so happened to lose to somebody who I probably shouldn't have lost to. It was a debatable question. It was a debatable point. At that point. Mr. Cohen was not happy whatsoever. And everybody else thought it was crazy. But in my mind, I lost I shouldn't have let it get that close. And it didn't matter whether I really scored that point or not. I lost the fight because I let it get that close. But sometimes, you can get off your game. If you start questioning the judges early if you're not, you know, prepared for that. What are you talking about? I hit him. Well now instead of focusing on getting the next point, you're so busy, most of just kinda like if you've got continuous or contact and you get hit and you get rocked and you start focusing on the fact that you just got hit instead of a wait. I gotta get my hands up and hit them more than they're hitting me. That's

Jose Flores:

true. Continuous is a whole different thing. You get hit. Oh, no, you keep going. You keep going. And then that always says, I mean, I never did continuous. But I mean, here in the studio, that's what we always used to do just continue to get rock. I remember Mr. V or yourself, put your hands up, keep going. Okay, but I'm right, but okay. It's no wonder we had no students back in those days. I mean, for me, it was it was awesome. I mean, I, I do I appreciate those days because it helped my growth. Absolutely. So and when not. And so now you, you guys, I guess you realize that you have to focus more on the business. So when did that change started transferring from,

Tara Van Deusen:

you know, I think it transpired when I started having kids, okay. Because all of a sudden, you know, you start looking at things. So once I started having kids, or once I found out I was pregnant with pyara competition couldn't be my focus anymore. Now is it was the studio and it was more in reflection, and looking at everything that I received in the martial arts, it wasn't the World Championships, although I made some great relationships, I made some great, I had some awesome experiences. But what I really got out of the martial arts was was the character development was the life skills that we still, as you know, teach and really pride ourself on to this day. I know a lot of studios do now, but we started decades ago, talking about it, because that's something that everybody takes with him. So our goal changed from just making World Championships, real champions, which is kind of what we were focusing on that day, because we want it to be and we were, you know, to given people these these life skills that help them succeed in all areas, because there's not very many people are that are going to want to take martial arts to that level. But there's a lot of people that it can help them become top students, top athletes in other sports. It did. It helped me with basketball and soccer throughout high school, and it can help them become great human beings. And Henceforth, were how are we going to get more students in here so we can make a bigger difference in the world? promoting the power of one?

Jose Flores:

Yeah. And I mean, it surely has helped because I mean, five locations? Yes, I location.

Tara Van Deusen:

Yes. You know, at this given moment, probably there's 1500 Power of One students. Right now today.

Jose Flores:

Right? And oh, my goodness, that's insane. When you think back then we had 40. A good handful of them. And when so I mean, when you're taking you're enthusiastic, you're very your energy's very high. What? What do you I mean, I know, most of it is from you, but that you see anyone as you're growing up, like or want to, you know, mirror them in some way or whatnot.

Tara Van Deusen:

You know, it's interesting, I look back at all the different martial arts, I've had a lot of different black belts play a role in my career. And I'm so very thankful to that in so many different arts, and all some great instructors, as well as some interesting characters. But that being said, I think it's the passion that you hear, because I really am passionate on helping you become more successful in whatever area you want to by learning. Most of my world titles, most of my biggest, most important fights, I didn't win on my skills, and I really 100% firmly believe that I won, based on my mindset. And obviously, there's countless books nowadays, but in looking back, I can see, I know the fights I lost because of my mindset, because of what I was thinking about before. I know the fights that I won, solely because of my mindset over their mindset. And because the heck some of those people at the Irish open their train six hours a day, or you know, their governments happy to buy them a townhouse. I remember that the first time I went in 2003 this Russian girl she was like, Yeah, no, I went today I get my shoes from Sweden. My governmental buy me a townhouse. What? Really? I'll get a stamp when I come back to my passport. But anyway, so at the end of the day, that passion is his. Or that excitement, that energy really is the passion. Yeah. And it's not just about the martial arts, although I love the martial arts. That's our vehicle.

Jose Flores:

And I mean, because Oh, you were always one of the ones that I was like, man, if once Miss Conlon in your 30 games Give me the opportunity. I was like, I want to mirror that somehow. Because the energy and the enthusiasm it's always there. I want to I need to hear that and even when I'm teaching with Australian dollar, I tell them or Eric I'm like, you got some Mrs. V and you got some tar in you. I see it and he's like what really I'm like yeah, when you're teaching that's it comes out like you can see it in it like I swear to you like I picture you teaching when sometimes when Eric is teaching like that's what this is.

Tara Van Deusen:

Awesome. That's just the the the exponential growth in the hope Point have opened in multiple locations originally, which are now you know, we've got multiple instructors that own their own business, because now they can pass that same passion and life skills on to other people. So I'm happy that there's a little piece of me that's traveling through Mr. s. And, and I know he's making a huge difference. And I hear it all the time. I get the emails all the time. We love Mr. Jose Flores. We love Mr. Salazar.

Jose Flores:

Yeah, I know that the patients with him is incredible in the way. I mean, I would always whisper Yes, the cha is because I admire how he could control the four or five, six year olds. Don't get me wrong. I love teaching those classes. But he does him and you're so you guys do it different. It's like, wow,

Tara Van Deusen:

you know, what's really funny, Mr. Flores? And I don't know if so maybe you haven't given yourself enough credit. But when Mr. Salazar first started teaching for us, he was a brown belt 16. And he was so soft spoken. And I was just, you know, Mr. V was, this is 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 you know, I mean, myself, or even I think Mr. Daniels were teaching but anyways, because I was like, he was just so quiet, he's gonna lose their attention. And because he was doing it different for me. But then it didn't take long to realize that his different way was just as captivating if not more, especially for certain ages than mine. So I think sometimes we underestimate different styles. Don't underestimate your own teaching ability. I hear there's, you've made a big difference in a lot of people's lives. Oh, thank

Jose Flores:

you. Yeah, I mean, my own style. I mean, I relate a lot to the especially to the teens, and some some youth now that they like, the Japanese animation. So I relate. And toddlers, when I tell them a name, they look at me all shocked, like, how do you know that? And I'm on and on, like, playing around? I'm like, why I knew that before you were born? Yeah, no, you know, I'm, I'm very interested in that. And I remember one time you were telling us about if a student arrives late to not put them on the spot and say, permission to enter classroom or permission to enter class, man. So that really played in my mind a lot of money. 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. And a student showed up late. And I said, and said, Oh, guys, if you guys ever show up late you only chocolate chip cookies freshly baked in the oven. Bring him in the pan, because in the bag them up together. But buddy, you show me that premise attends a class. And that's my thing. Now, like every time everybody shows up, Austin's all your Mr. Flores cookies, and they love it. They all laugh. But the funny thing is, one day a student showed up late, and I don't even see permission to enter class. And I said, Oh, yummy chocolate chip cookies. He goes, he reaches out he pulls out a bag. And at the end his mom, his mom or dad can be like, yeah, here. He arrived late on purpose because he wanted to recharge. Thank you. That's great. Hilarious.

Tara Van Deusen:

I think actually, that was probably something I learned. I remember, I have very vivid memories of calling asking people for his cheeseburger if they relate. Well, that's probably where that originally started. That's right.

Jose Flores:

I mean, it's good to have I mean, different ways to get these kids to just smile and have fun. Because it's

Tara Van Deusen:

my biggest thing is I think, you know, I traveled I used to take the bus myself 45 minutes to an hour to the second martial arts studio I used to train in because it was in Vancouver, and I was kind of in the suburb area. And, again, my mother, single mother, she was working multiple jobs. So there were times when I was late, and I didn't want I You and I both know that it's often not necessarily in the child's control when they're late. Parents have a lot going on. So try to create a way where they can learn the respect of other people'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:

Yeah. And I mean, they load that way in that way. I'm not putting him in this spot, and they're having fun with it. So I found that when I mean it's so I love the fact that there's always a challenge or some challenge presents itself and it's not a bad challenge. It's a good challenge where you're like, Okay, I need to find a way to solve this. And it's every day, especially with the little ones. I mean, only some of these are you're like, Okay, moving on. Absolutely,

Tara Van Deusen:

absolutely, I think but it's the same thing, whether it's with the actual individual in their learning style, or their physical abilities, that's something that I enjoy myself now is you know, as we work with, say, an older, larger student or that has less mobility to a younger student that has less gross motor skills or agility. It's it's a great learning lesson that not everybody can fight or do the techniques the same way. And it's our job to find the way that works for them. That's one of the biggest things were my biggest pet peeves with martial arts. Old School is this there's this way And then there's the highway, right? You don't do it this way, then it's not right. No, that's there's nothing right about that if you open up your mind and see that each person is different, different, and they're going to have strengths, not only physically, but they're gonna have strengths mentally as well.

Jose Flores:

That's correct. And some of our best students have come up because they're not physically able to do something. But mentally they're strong. And some of those students, I'm like, Whoa, that's insane. I mean, I might have talked to them, because I'm like, man, if this was the old school way of power went, they wouldn't be here. I wouldn't I wouldn't have been when I haven't seen their progress their growth. So I mean, I'm glad this change happened. And when

Tara Van Deusen:

Absolutely, and it's but it's that fine line. It's trying to figure out where people's different comfort levels are, sort of speak when you can start pushing, because at the end of the day, you need to push everybody, but you need to push them differently. That is

Jose Flores:

correct. Yeah. And I mean, I don't know if you remember, but I was also kind of like Miss dress very shy, not very talkative. And I remember one time we were coming back from the Super Show, and we got in the car and you're you're driving us back back to the to the studio here. And you're like, Jose, you talk? Like Yes, ma'am. I do. And I think that that we can also Mr. V Fonda. On economy, find out how much I could talk is I guess, we bought a drink. And I'm not a big drinker. So that one hit me. And I guess he said, I was just talking up

Tara Van Deusen:

and look at you now running your own podcast, talking to world champions in martial art. lended legends worldwide, right.

Jose Flores:

And I love it. I mean, I love doing this. It's incredible. So man, I mean, I don't want to take my time. But before we go, anything you would like to say I mean, about your legacy, or anything that you would like to leave behind? Wow, that's a deep question to go with. Yes, I'd like to surprise people with this. You know,

Tara Van Deusen:

I wouldn't. I don't really care about my legacy. It never really was, you know, the world titles were not for anybody else. They were for me. As you know, I've got multiple different black belts, I don't even care. I told calling the other day, I was just like, I almost walked out of the house without my black belt. And I made a joke about Did I really, you know how many people would turn over in their graves if I showed up to teach without my black belt. But obviously, my skills aren't in that. I would like and love for all the positive life skills, empowerment that we have put decades into instilled into you and just 1000s and 1000s of students at this point, I hope to see that it continues to trickle down and that people remember the whole concept of the power of one coming together to work with people. I think right now more than ever, we're in a time where so many people are pushing other people down, out of fear out of jealousy out of their own lack of self confidence or self esteem. And that's never been what we promote here, obviously, as you know, which is why we have no problem bringing in people that are better. fighters and S are better jujitsu martial artists, why we tell our instructors to go train with other people that we know are better than us in certain areas, right? Because the whole goal is to help each other elevate power of people coming together to form that which is invincible, right, the power of one. So if anything, I hope that the power of one legacy that both Colin and I have worked so far, so long, continues to have that ripple effect. And as I sit here in front of you right now, I feel pretty good. That it will you know, regardless of what happens with Colin and myself tomorrow, or even the name power of one, I feel pretty confident the legacy we've left with all of you guys.

Jose Flores:

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I mean, you guys have tremendously helped us out. I mean, I, I won't speak for anyone as well. For instance, we definitely, both of you guys have helped me out just not in my confidence, but in my growth as a person. I mean, I've, if I were to talk to young Jose right now and say, hey, you're going to be teaching or you're going to be doing a podcast. Are you talking about I hardly talk to them to my I hardly talked to my parents or make full sentences. What do you mean? So I appreciate thank you so much for math. I appreciate it. If we were not separated by this big long desk, I'd give you a hug right now. Thank you so much. Well, everyone, if you want to get a hold of Tara she teaches over here at the headquarters location or went on Long Beach Boulevard in between Bixby and Roosevelt. How else could they get ahold of you? Your website?

Tara Van Deusen:

Oh yeah, any of the power one websites but probably just Tara Ta ra. At power of one karate.com.

Jose Flores:

And again, guys, thank you so much for tuning in. I appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jose. Bye, everyone.