Episode 18: Master Leonard Yordan
Master Leonard Yordan
Master Leonard Yordan: Episode 18
"Be the best person that you can be, and that's how you end up paying things forward, because you make somebody else better by being that way, too."
This week's episode is with Master Leonard Yordan, a tae kwon do practitioner from Vermont. He and I go back quite a few years as I've trained with his Dad since 2006. But I didn't bring him on because of that relationship. Even before I knew him well I knew how unique he was. Master Yordan has a presence that draws others in. He's an exceptional martial artist and instructor, as anyone that has witnessed his classes or competition can attest to. That magnetic personality comes through in this episode with some incredible stories that get quite personal at times.We've heard from a few of Master Yordan's students in past episodes, specifically episode #2 and #15. Listening to these episodes as a set you can get a good idea of who Master Yordan is from different perspectives as his students mention him specifically. I've had the pleasure of training with "Master Y" on a number of occasions and have found him to be an exceptional instructor.
Master Leonard Yordan
Show Notes
Jhoon RheeMovies - Enter the Dragon (Available on Amazon Prime Instant Video), Fist of Legend (Available on Netflix)Actor - Jet LiBooks - Art of War, Zen in the Martial ArtsYordan's Fall Open ChampionshipYordan's Black Belt Academy on FacebookYordan's Black Belt Academy Website
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.
Hello everyone and thanks for tuning in for episode 18 of whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. The only weekly podcast dedicated to bringing you amazing stories from traditional martial artists. I'm your host Jeremy Lesniak and I'm also the founder of whistlekick, makers of the best sparring gear on earth as well as great apparel and accessories for traditional martial artists. You can learn more about our products like our sparring helmets, it's far more comfortable than alternatives at whistlekick.com and you can learn more about the podcasts including all of our past episodes show notes for this one and a whole lot more all for free over at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. We've started adding something new to the show notes for each movie that our guest recommends, we're checking both Netflix and Amazon Prime to see if they're available and providing that information to you. It's a small thing but for those of you that have an account on either of those services it should be worthwhile and while you're on our website don't forget to sign up for our newsletter full of information, discounts and useful martial arts content. And now for the review of the week, this is titled one of a kind and it's from LNGENO, this is an awesome podcast I really enjoyed all the episodes and look forward to each new one. Its content is varied and inspiring. I started martial arts as an adult and I do find it difficult sometimes being the only person to my classes that can legally drink including the instructors most of the time. I'm also sure I consume much more 01:35 but I do love it and whistlekickMartialArtsRadio is there every week to give a little boost of inspiration. In addition, I have discovered books, movies and websites, the t-shirt one is my favorite that have expanded my knowledge and enjoyment of martial arts. If I had to offer any criticism at all I would say the interview questions are a little rigid, everyone gets the same questions in the same order. It does lead to some very interesting discussions and side topics but I personally like interviews that are a little more organic. Every podcast starts out of certain way and most of all the time is it grows into its own. I look forward to seeing this journey, keep up the great work. Thank you for that review and I personally appreciate the comments. We've gone back and forth about our questions and what we've come back to each time is that they do work so while I'm not saying that we're never gonna change them at least for now based on the feedback that we've received from listeners, we're gonna keep things the way they are but criticism keeps us moving forward and working at our best so we certainly do welcome that and hopefully those of you out there listening if you do have comments about the show whether you leave them as a review or you email us or submit a contact form on the web, we'd be open to that please we want the show to be the best that it can be and the way to do that is to hear from you as to what you think. This week's episode is with Master Leonard Yordan. He's a Taekwondo practitioner from Vermont and he and I go back quite a few years as I train with his dad but I didn't bring him on because of that relationship. Even before I knew him well, I knew how unique a person he was. Master Yordan has this presence that just draws others in. He's an exceptional martial artist and instructor and anyone that's witnessed him in class or in competition knows what I'm talking about and that magnetic personally really comes through in this episode as he shares some incredible stories that really get quite personal at times and with that Master Yordan welcome to whistlekick Martial Arts Radio.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolute honor to be here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool. Well it's gonna be fun. I'm sure you got good stories.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Looking forward to the stories but what I don't really know is how you got started I mean you know I've got bits and pieces cause as it's come up a little bit through there I trained with your dad.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely for sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm not gonna turn this into something about him and about me cause this isn't about me but I want you to fill in some of those pieces.
Leonard Yordan:
Sounds good.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How did you get going?
Leonard Yordan:
I'll give you the whole Genesis of it. Back in 1982 GM Bruce Twing actually opened a school in Randolph and my whole entire family we all started together back then and for me you know Taekwondo was just another thing to do so I was in every sport I can get my hands on: baseball, basketball, soccer. Soccer was my number one passion you know, I'll tell you more about those stories after but so it was something I just did here and there as I was growing up and in between time with the sports and then when I moved up to Johnson in the middle 80s is when I actually continued my training with GM Dunlavey and I've been with him forever so basically you know I started in Randolph but all of my training and knowledge really came from training with GM Dunlavey.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay so how old were you when you got started in 82?
Leonard Yordan:
Let's see I was just barely 13.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay so 13 so that's 5 ish years you go up to college, Johnson Vermont.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, what was it that you know cause you're starting at 13 that's the time that a lot of kids now and you know this is as an instructor, kids are kinda fading away from martial arts.
Leonard Yordan:
Right, absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Because of all the other sports, their friends are there so what was it that not only kept you there but made it something you moved towards you know even picking up a new instructor.
Leonard Yordan:
Right, right well you know as I finished up my sports career in high school when I went to college I was still involved as a soccer player but you know what really made me get serious about my Taekwondo training was my soccer coach and I did not like each other very much and it was a blessing in disguise cause you know I've said you know what I'm never gonna be a professional soccer player cause once college is done that's it, I'm done and so I decided to actually focus my time towards the martial arts and I actually with the guidance of GM Dunlavey we started a program a credited course at Johnson State college so the kids could train as an outside elective.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
And they would actually get course credit for it, so you know that's what really made me get serious about the art and never looked back since then.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah cool.
Leonard Yordan:
And it was a good thing that I gave up the soccer even though I had accomplished a ton I got to play overseas in Europe and represent the United States but I just knew that it was gonna come to an end eventually and to you know make that choice but you know it was a painful choice I'll give you that at you know thinking about what I was really gonna do but it was the best thing I ever did.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Was that at all colored by your relationship with your soccer coach?
Leonard Yordan:
Well that actually spurred, actually that was the thing that said you know what I'm outta here. I've always been a person that is very individual. I don't do what everybody does because everybody else does that. I was raised by my parents to be you know independent and to think of myself and be assertive and be strong and I gained that knowledge that type of attitude when I was very, very young but because of the fact that I wasn't one of the soccer cronies you know that we have to dress the same way and we had to go and eat together and we had to do this to get I was never one of those guys and I refused to be one of those guys so because I wasn't one of those guys my coach and I didn't see eye to eye. He was one of those guys that it was all about him and you had to worship him and you had to be like him and that just wasn't my style never has been.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, there's a little bit of a story there.
Leonard Yordan:
Sure, sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But I know you've got a lot more, think about your best one that you want to share that with us.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh absolutely. My best one really is about a personal thing that happened to me and it was even though I had the program at Johnson State college but my school 07:40 was not opened as of yet.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
And this story is the reason why I opened my school in Underhill.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
Okay and it's one of those things that I hope inspires people and there's a lot to be learned from it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
So basically, what happened was in 1993, it was October 29th 1993 at 8:04am. I know that seems like wow really.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That is specific.
Leonard Yordan:
And here is why it's so specific we all have these things that happen in our lives that you will never forget. You'll never forget the day you, you know, you were here when you know the space shuttle catastrophe happened or when 911 happened or you remember the day you had your first kiss you know whatever and all these different things you remember but this one is ingrained in my brain I'll never forget because at that particular time I was on my way to work and as I was driving somebody fell asleep on the other lane in oncoming traffic and we had a head on car collision and I was almost killed and the jaws of life to open the car up to get me out which isn't God awful sound if you, you never ever wanna have a car being cut open a foot from the head it is the worst thing ever and when it happened it was I was going about 40 miles an hour he was going 50 and he actually hit me head on at least I think it was about 50 but I was driving a tiny little Ford escort, no airbags, this was just 09:18 and all those things and there was a skid mark 17 feet in the other direction from my car so he hit me in the pretty good clip. So, this car accident happened now at the time that it happened I knew 3 guys on the rescue squad over here in Colchester Vermont and I happened to get in an accident that was literally a mile from the ambulance from the station so as I get as the accident happens and I'm in severe pain obviously and the car was just destroyed like an accordion. I looked down and what had happened was I saw him coming at the last second, grabbed the steering wheel, tried to hit the brakes and the impact happened right as I did that so the entire right side of my body was just destroyed, broken arm, 10:15, my foot and my leg I looked down at my right foot and I apologize this might seem, this is a little bit graphic but my foot was completely turned upside down but my leg was straight and I was a mess and I wanted to get out of the car and I couldn't. t didn't have the energy, thank goodness that I had already been training for quite some time now and I was able to focus and kinda breathe through the whole thing and the gentlemen that hit me wasn't even wearing a seat belt he got out of his car he was fine and he starts freaking out my car my car and then he passes out. Okay I'm like wait a second I'm the one over here that's a mess, right? While the ambulance comes, now while the ambulance is on its way there was a woman who came upon to see me and she says are you okay and I said yes, I'm just in a lot of pain can you get me out of here. She's like well listen I'm gonna get in the seat behind you and I'm gonna hold your head still, I'm a nurse okay and when the ambulance comes I can hear them coming so you know I was gonna hold you still I'm like that's fine. So, she gets in the seat behind me and she says what's your name and I said Leny Yordan and she's like where do you live I said Porters Point Northern Colchester and she says well what's your name I said you already asked me that and she was like I'm fine just checking with you to make sure you're with it. I'm like I'm absolutely with-it ma'am I'm just in a lot of pain you gotta get me out of here. So, she says the ambulance is here I'm gonna let them take over. My friend Kevin on the medics he's like Leny how have you been? I'm like not too good you had better days huh I'm like you think? He says hang in there we'll get you out of here so moving fast forward they get me out of there bring me to the hospital the whole gamut and you know I was in a wheelchair for about a month and a half and it was really tough to deal with because at the time my martial arts career and this is how we're gonna tie this in a little bit more keep kinda coming back and forth to this but at the time when it happened I was one of the guys on the circuit.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
I was and you know here I was, I was young I was strong and I was at my physical best and I was doing okay for myself and never won National Championships but regionally I was fine I was doing okay. So, fast forward to about a month down the road they have a surprise party for me. They had me get out of the house, somebody came and got me wheel chair the whole gamut right so it was a get together and true enough Kevin the guy who was on the ambulance squad is there. So, I said Kevin how are you doing man? And he goes good Leny nice to see you here and I said well doing a lot better I said thank you so much for your help and he goes yeah not a problem but I said I have to ask you who was the woman that was in the seat holding my head still and he says what woman? The one who was holding my head when you guys got there and this guy is kind of a smart aleck he's a joker he goofs off all the time and he goes there was nobody in the car. I said no Kevin don't mess me who was it and he looks at me and he kind of like went into pondering serious state on like I've never seen him he goes Leny there was nobody in the car I said okay well I dismiss that. I said thanks for being here and I just dropped it and I moved on and I'm telling the story to my dad, my birth dad my dad I have 2 dads Master Rota you know step dad and my real dad in Texas so I'm talking to my real dad in Texas and I told him the story and he says to me what did she look like I said I don't know I couldn't see her he goes well I said I'm guessing maybe 50 years old I can hear the voice I pictured glasses in like a curly silver hair and he says to me he goes well you just described your aunt who was a nurse who passed away while you were pregnant.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you know one of the things that's not gonna come through cause this is audio is the look that's on your face right now and we're kind of in a space that for a lot of people it's really difficult to think about, difficult to accept there you know wherever you fall in terms of those beliefs.
Leonard Yordan:
absolutely, absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But I have no doubt from seeing the impact it has on you with the story that I'm sure you've told quite a fewThat happened, I'm doing math 20 years ago?
Leonard Yordan:
22 years ago, 1993.
Jeremy Lesniak:
22 years ago, you know so it still had that impact on you.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely
Jeremy Lesniak:
That happened I have no doubt that that happened.
Leonard Yordan:
So, you know and take it for what it will, you know there's people out there who can say whatever they wanna say but the reason why I tell you the story too is because after all this is said and done I'm actually glad that it happened and why I’m glad that it happened was because at the time in my life I needed a serious paradigm shift. At the time, it was I wanted to be the best martial artist, I wanted to have the cool car, I wanted to have the nice house I wanted to make this amount of money and typical 24-year-old
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
Right absolutely and it happened and I took it as a way of something's need to change. I was fortunate I'm still here which is good I think it is right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Leonard Yordan:
So, at that point is when I really had a different mindset and I had to recover for a long time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Leonard Yordan:
But it told me you know what I think I'm gonna do I think I'm gonna open a school a full-time school in Underhill because I saw it as I'm not gonna be the same competitor that I used to be at least let me start to pass on some knowledge that was handed down to me from GM Dunlavey who was not GM Dunlavey at the time he was Master Dunlavey, handed down some knowledge and try to you know pass on what I've learned because I've learned a lot at an early part of m in comparison I mean there's some funny ones and there's some great ones I hope I could share some of those though.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, yeah, we'll get to some more.
Leonard Yordan:
But that is what really made me have my school and at that point my philosophy changed quite a bit and my school philosophy that I came up with at that time I said I'm gonna have a school this has to be it and it's my school model we use it all the time you know and it's we train and rise above ourselves and never to rise above other people, because before that I was like I wanna be you know the best you know and if you train just to overcome other people, there's only winning and losing and at the end of the day when you retire you become a coach.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
That's it, so that is the genesis of how I got that school 17:16
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's a good story, I like that.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, our next question on the list, certainly dug into quite a bit of it the question about how the martial arts has made you better?
Leonard Yordan:
Sure, well you know and that is you know a lot better but even deeper back when I was first started out I had furious temper as a kid. Oh, men I was even 17:43 the easy going as anybody who can be you know but it took me a while to get there obviously but I really had a bad temper but there was a reason why I had a bad temper and this is pretty deep stuff too. We moved Randolph Vermont in 1976 and 18:00 who will be listening to this and maybe there's a picture attached right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
There would be your picture
Leonard Yordan:
You'll see what I look like, right okay cool. In case you have never met me, I do not look like your typical rural farmer from Randolph Vermont.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You have darker skin.
Leonard Yordan:
I got a great tan anyway you know I'm Spanish I have a Spanish heritage, when we moved to Vermont there literally I joke and say to as 18:22 farmers and me so keep in mind
Jeremy Lesniak:
Not to as someone who lived in Randolph, it's not far off.
Leonard Yordan:
So, keep in mind that 1976 was only 8 years after the Civil Rights movement.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
Okay so you know we opened up a restaurant we were merchants in the town but I literally swear on anything holy that I could walk down the street and people would roll by, roll their window down and yell a racial slur at me and even the wrong one too I mean come on get it right you know so but so as a kid coming from Connecticut where I was originally from you know our next door neighbor you know we had Asian neighbors, we had Cuban neighbors, we had you know Jewish neighbors we had a 19:08 and it was just you know that's how it was.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Leonard Yordan:
So to come up to a little town and I'm not disparaging Randolph Vermont I love that place it's got such fun memories for me but back in early 70s it was stuff for me to deal with certain thing for it's like why does this person dislike me I didn't do anything to him I didn't quite understand that as a kid so I was pretty easily set off and my mom had the foresight to say there's a martial arts school that just opened and she knew that martial arts done the right way can help someone control their emotions, focus their energy in a positive way so she actually enrolled me and it was the best thing that ever happened because it really did get me a certain inner peace and control and it served me well, in sports growing up. It served me well in a personal relationships so it really helped define who I am as an individual.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now here you are at 13 jumping into the martial arts, it's a time that even if you don't have anger issues 20:16 you know do you have any memories around not being angry you know.
Leonard Yordan:
I do oh absolutely in, are you referring to just life in general or martial arts?
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, no, no something where you, you know maybe it struck you to set to that you realized your reaction had changed a bit because of martial arts.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh absolutely, absolutely. I would say almost immediately really when I say immediately you know I'm old now so you know taking back to those day I'd say you know within 6 months I had noticed the difference I really had you know I wasn't set off as easily. Maybe part of it became as a young you know young teenager now knowing that yeah I've only been training for a little while but man I have a certain amount of self-confidence that comes along with that and I was never a kid that lacked confidence but a different kind of confidence that came through you know and it didn't bother me, words or words you know and there's lots of different 21:20 circumstances and you learn these things along the way and different things you hear from parents and other adult figures and teachers and friends and you know you collect it all and try to remember as much as you can and but I remember you know relatively short on my career that I had the change of attitude absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool, so we that first story it's funny as we look through the list of questions that first story encompassed so much of the you know maybe someday I'll publish it the 12 questions that I ask that I send everybody in advance and the next one's about a low point in your life.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh yeah that was.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And we certainly dug into that but I'd like you to think about another one. Think about one where you know outside of that be it before or maybe since.
Leonard Yordan:
Well let's I will think about my school when after I had opened it in Underhill. I came from a lot of old school, I'm the last generation of being on the receiving end of old school.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm right there with you.
Leonard Yordan:
Being it from your parents or even in the martial arts or just in general you know as a young boy I was taught you say yes sir and yes ma'am and before I even did martial arts so that was a piece of cake when it came to martial arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
So, you know just something we said about the old school way so when I started my school I felt that if the students didn't throw up after the work out I didn't give them a good enough work out. It was insane but look what happened Fred Forsberg you know his sister Mickey, 23:03 they are all these masters that came out from that generation and then so I pushed them really, really hard and the day I opened my school the very day I had opened my school I have 33 students.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Where did they come from?
Leonard Yordan:
All in Underhill in Jericho, I was already known in the community.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Leonard Yordan:
I was a soccer coach and I used to be a disc jockey I used to DJ for weddings, I used to manage what, Vermont's largest company so people knew who I was and I was also in to the martial arts already so I competed a lot so you know Vermont's only so big.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right
Leonard Yordan:
And Chittenden County even though it's the biggest county, it's still only so big. So when I opened my doors I had 33 students and I pushed them really, really hard and suddenly I found myself with only 7 students, they were 7 hard core amazing students but I was faced with I'm gonna have to close my school, I can't you know I had another job, 9-5 but it didn't seem worth it to me and I had to do some real soul searching and I really had to think about where I was going with this and yeah I almost called it quits, I almost just wrapped it up and said you know what I gave it a whirl but that's not my style and I wasn't raised that way. So, I had to reinvent myself, changed how I my approach and figure out you know once you figure out what it is that you want to be then you know set a course and stick to it. You know if that's not perseverance and in all spirit, I don't know what it is you know so I had to change my philosophy and try to figure out a way to motivate and instill passion about the martial arts without having to physically beat them down and say yes sir and you know that's the stuff that we knew off. You know when we started martial arts when I started back in 82 there was no kids, it was guys who watch too many martial arts movies and like to go to bars and oh I'm a karate guy you know and I get in the bar fight and it was just like that's what I was surrounded by cause that's what we saw in the movies, you know Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee you know those guys you know so yeah it was pretty painful the fact that I was getting ready to close my school and I still don't wanna do that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Why?
Leonard Yordan:
Because I had something to say I knew what I wanted to be when I first started but I didn't know how to get there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What did you wanna be?
Leonard Yordan:
Well first of all I looked at the old school masters. I wanted their knowledge, I wanted their expertise, I wanted their, the honor of being positioned in a community to help 25:37 individuals.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
And to create an environment that was positive I just didn't know how to get there. I knew what I didn't wanna be and you and I both know some of the old school masters that were you know some of them are no longer with us. Amazing martial arts practitioners, the knowledge they have forgotten more than I will ever know and I wanted all the information but as a white belt as a beginner I wasn't even allowed to say hi to them and I wasn't raised that way. I was very respectful and good morning ma'am, good morning sir how are you and I just kept on pestering them good morning sir, good morning ma'am finally how are you doing yeah, you know that's why I wanted to be like them but I just didn't know how to get there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
But that whole school closing thing you know that happened again in my second location here in Burlington. I almost shut the doors.
Jeremy Lesniak:
For the same reason?
Leonard Yordan:
For the same reason, what happened was I have you know and in Burlington, rent is just outlandish. Oh, my goodness $12 dollars a square foot type of thing it's just you can't afford it. So, I opened a school in Burlington thinking about why there's not too many martial arts schools right here where I wanna do this but I'm not competing against martial arts schools in Burlington. You're competing against the water front, you're competing against the mall, you're competing against kid's camps, you're competing against everything that's in Chittenden County to do and I just didn't realize that. I had to leverage my house to pay off the lease so I was like I had said I can't do this anymore and fortunately I got a break where I was told come and do a demonstration at our school and so I did a demonstration at a local public school which is where my daughter goes to school a private school actually and from that I got 8 students imm
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah that's certainly a lot of dedication to your kids and you know when I ask you some of those questions there and I think it lets us listening to you connect those dots cause we've all had that spot often it's tied up to money and it's usually about money right you know and you look at it and you're going how am I gonna get from A to B.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
And it takes something solid, something strong, pushing you, pulling you, whatever the motivation is to get to that.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah, I don't regret any of it either, even the negative things you know they help to find who you are as an individual.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure.
Leonard Yordan:
You know and you learn it well I won't do that again or I won't put up with this again but as long as you keep on moving in the right direction then you know you're on to something there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you mentioned those, those 7 students that stuck around after the 33, do you still have any of those?
Leonard Yordan:
I have, actively training?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
2
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool
Leonard Yordan:
Yes
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's 28:33
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah and there were some that came in just after that I still consider part of the original crew cause they were there you know within months after my school opening absolutely so we have pretty good retention.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's great. So, you've really only, you've mentioned 2 of y our instructors you know GM Dunlavey and Master Twing, so let’s take them out of the mix, who would you say was the most instrumental in getting not just getting you into the martial arts but keeping you in the martial arts and making you the martial artist that you are today.
Leonard Yordan:
You know outside of my immediate instructors, I have to give you know props to my parents obviously.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
You know for them as I mentioned previously having the foresight to put me into the martial arts and
Jeremy Lesniak:
And you said they trained too.
Leonard Yordan:
They trained, absolutely, absolutely and you know we're all masters and stuck it out since then. But if it wasn't for them you know obviously once you get there then your instructors take over but you know their support and their guidance as my parents and to keep pushing me and trying to you know Leny be the best you can be no matter you do. I don’t care what it is but just work hard at it, let the chips fall where they may. You know so those life lessons, that's it. Those guys outside of my instructor yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, competition we talked a bit about
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
Competition prior to that car accident, tell us about that why did you well you didn't say you enjoyed it but I'm going to assume if you were doing it that much you enjoyed it.
Leonard Yordan:
Competitions? Oh man I had a I say had because you know here I'm 46 years old but for all 30:22 and purposes I'm long from competition just because that's not my mindset. Do I still have the ability, absolutely but I don't have the desire to do that but when I competed, I competed hard, I competed 12 times, 15 times a year. I competed a lot, I sparred a lot, I did a lot of patterns. My favorite was always patterns over sparring even though I excelled at sparring.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Why?
Leonard Yordan:
Again, you know its always weird to talk about yourself in terms of your accolades.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
But for what it is you know I sparred hundreds and hundreds of matches and I only lost 2 in my career so I'm pretty happy about that career.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So that's pretty impressive what was it about patterns, forms, kata, poomsae or whichever you 31:20 at some point you know I'll have to make a list of every words patterns. What was it you liked about that more?
Leonard Yordan:
Why I enjoyed patterns so much is, was in a variety of reasons. I would say it's because there's a variety. It encompasses everything you've learned since day 1 walking into the studio. Everything you learned has to come out in that one moment. Also, it is the one thing you cannot luck your way through. You can get lucky sparring we've all like, someone's coming at you, you can just you turn and you throw your head and you hope for the best, you hit them right in the head woohoo point for me, it doesn't make me a phenomenal fighter. Okay you cannot luck your way through a pattern. You have to continually practice, practice, practice. The dedication because after all that is the art side of the martial arts, without patterns we're just fighting and does that make you a martial artist I could take the next person walking by right now off the streets come here pick your foot up throw a front kick woohoo he could do it, does that make them a martial artist? Absolutely not. The patterns encompass everything you are the holistic approach from the tenets, from the points of power to you know realism, to your heart and soul. When you finish your pattern, be it open hand or even with a weapon which is an extension of yourself, you gotta pour your heart and soul into that and every single nuance matters. You are accountable for every single movement. There is nothing that should happen that doesn't have a purpose in it. So, the constant work and dedication to that to excel at that I'm sorry in my personal opinion, people may differ and that's what makes us beautiful as people we have different opinions. It is much more important that the ability to just be a good fighter cause it wraps it all up in one whole. But you know in terms of the competition though I won a lot of competition the regionally, locally and that stuff but after my car accident, a year and a half exactly to date is when I finally won National Championships, that wasn't even half the martial arts 33:48 before my car accident and I won you know men's black belt heavy weight fighting and heavy weight I know I'm only 5'8" but you know I'm also you know short stocky you know so I think the cut offs 185 something like that it was light weight and heavy weight so I ended up being in heavy weight division fighting guys or you know 6'9" giant individuals but you know it was because you know here I am half the martial artist I was physically but I was training for the right reasons just to be the best person that I could be and just be the best technician that I could be and if you did it for the right reasons let the chips fall where they may and you know my instructor GM Dunlavey is phenomenal so his knowledge that he passed to me I was able to use but I just found it rather ironic that here I was heading out to be a champion got crushed in a car accident, half the martial artist physically and then I win and I had failed at winning prior to the car accident. So, I enjoyed that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do you really think you were half the martial artist?
Leonard Yordan:
Physically, absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely, you know it's like there's days where I get up and I can't walk for 10 minutes, because of my foot and the surgery, 3 surgeries make it look like a foot again and the metatarsals are fused together. I just you know I couldn't move as fast as I used to and you know in martial arts and Taekwondo your legs are everything man.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
So, you know so for 35:22 to just you know jump around yeah, I kinda limit what you can do but you know you find a way.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah that's again that A to B.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Getting from one to the other. If you could train with anybody living dead who would that be?
Leonard Yordan:
Boy, the obvious would be General Choi, General Chae if you would pronounce it actually since he's the man responsible for spear heading the Taekwondo movement you know and then coming up with the patterns in 1955 even though it was a ramp the Taekwondo wasn't called Taekwondo and for those who are history buffs you know you could research all this as to how it came to be.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Leonard Yordan:
But and just because he's the man that made the patterns.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Some would call him kind of the father of Taekwondo.
Leonard Yordan:
The father of modern Taekwondo, yes absolutely. So, you know that would be an obvious one just because it'd be cool to have some of his knowledge and you know see where he was coming from when he designed all of this.
Jeremy Lesniak:
36:25
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah, I'd say why did you put a twin 36:29 block in the second pattern and then drive all the beginners nuts, you know it's I would love to ask him that you know but he might hit me in the old school way and say don't ask me that cause I said so. Remember the days in GM cause I said so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes.
Leonard Yordan:
Why is your arm bent, they say cause I said so? I just wanna know. So, he would be one and another would be probably Jhoon Rhee.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
Just cause he was the first person to teach Taekwondo in the United States, I believe it was 1962 if I'm I can't remember I think that's the date but you know and you know I just the guy is still impressive do a hundred push-ups in 60 seconds still.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
And 37:06 close to 70 right
Jeremy Lesniak:
Keep going.
Leonard Yordan:
Is it more than that?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think I wanna say he's like 85, 87.
Leonard Yordan:
I remember seeing him and not too long ago just doing knuckle push-ups he did a hundred of them in a minute and then he got bored and started to do some one-handed ones after that and I was like you've gotta be kidding me but his Taekwondo knowledge is fantastic you know the father of Taekwondo in the United States. So, I'd say those two would be the ones that I would be you know more apt to want to train with.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay those are great answers I mean, we've I think we've had General Choi mentioned once or twice. I don't think anybody has said Jhoon Rhee.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are you a movie guy at all?
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely, absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I knew the answer to that.
Leonard Yordan:
Of course, of course.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, I'm sure you've got some good martial arts films that.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh yeah, I mean I enjoy you know the cinematic master pieces such as crouching tiger or even some of those old Sunday schlocky B rated martial arts movies where the dubbing is all off you know I enjoy them all but I'm kinda torn between my favorite. I'll mention two.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Leonard Yordan:
Enter the Dragon just because you know it was just such a complete martial arts movie. Just absolutely fantastic and the other one being Jet Li's Fist of Legend just because the sheer prowess that that guy has and he's the real deal he just there's no movie magic here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No.
Leonard Yordan:
That man is the real deal of course so as Bruce Lee, but those two movies are you know 2 of my favorites. I would say for a more realistic effect look at Best of the Best you know the USA team vs Korea team and that's kinda how the matches were back in the you know 70s and 80s so you know that's another one of my favorites even though there's some pretty bad acting in it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure
Leonard Yordan:
Of course, 38:56 the martial arts movie that kinda ties us into the favorite martial arts actor.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah which would be Jet Li for me, just you know I guess in real life I don't I've only hear certain things about him that he's actually 39:08 he's actually a pretty humble quiet guy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really?
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah and that he actually had contemplating retiring from the movie scene itself.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That I did hear.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah and I think partially it was because of his personal beliefs.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah but just watching that guy do his stuff is so fluid of course you know you see him pull off four kicks in midair before you land, right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Leonard Yordan:
Which is impressive and I still do a few but I would love to see a guy who's 6'5" 250 pull that off, that's more impressive.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
You don't see that, so it's easier when you're smaller absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah now he's great and you know you can always tell the good martial artist because their fight scenes don't have to be edited. You know it's a wider shot, it's a consecutive shot, they're not chopping it up and editing it together to make it look good.
Leonard Yordan:
And the technique is beautiful as a martial artist watching the martial artist movie you can say oh that was legit, that was perfect.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right.
Leonard Yordan:
And then we see stuff that's movie magic and you just kinda chuckle a little bit then say yeah not on your best day.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Did you see forbidden kingdom of him and Jackie Chan?
Leonard Yordan:
No, I have not.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That there's really only one solid fight scene in there between the 2 of them and unfortunately, its too far towards the end.
Leonard Yordan:
Okay
Jeremy Lesniak:
I sat there the whole movie kinda bouncing in the theater and to see when are they gonna fight, when are they gonna fight and it was worth it, it was absolutely 40:34
Leonard Yordan:
I'll check it out, very cool.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are you a reader at all? Any books?
Leonard Yordan:
A little bit you know in terms of martial arts books I probably would say Art of War or Zen of the Martial arts
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
Probably more a partial of the Art of War, Sun Tzu just I love the tactics and strategy behind you know what he discusses and it how it can be applied to actually our modern-day sparring, absolutely. I remember reading somewhere in I believe it was the art of war where he spoke about the individual as themselves and how they need to be and I was completely shocked to how close it was to my school motto and that kinda made me feel like I mean I'm on the right track here you know so I didn't read that first and then come up with my motto. My motto came up with something the meant something to me but when I saw it in an excerpt from Sun Tzu one of his writings I was like wow that's cool alright. I'm in good company there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Absolutely, and the Zen of the martial arts I mean I haven't bumped into a lot of people 41:46 read that but that when I started training in the martial arts my mom started not too long after and so that was a book that was in the bathroom and
Leonard Yordan:
standard reading
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can't tell you how many times I've read through that, that book in just it was pretty foundational for me.
Leonard Yordan:
Awesome.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's nice and short to anybody that hasn't checked it out.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah absolutely. Little bits, it's a relatively easy read.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you've got a lot going on you've done a lot but obviously you know we've got that theme running here through the A to B you know moving forward so what's moving you forward now, what are your goals?
Leonard Yordan:
Well the immediate goal which isn't so immediate is to be a GM.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
And in Taekwondo that comes to 8th Dan so here I am at 6th Dan and you know I'll get there I guarantee that. I will not stop doing this as long as I am on this earth. So that's the immediate, the easiest goal to achieve I think.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Why?
Leonard Yordan:
I guess because you wanna get to the point where if I get to that point then it's a mark of a life's accomplishments, it's a mark of dedication and all that you've done for the martial arts community cause you don't get to that rank without bringing something to the martial arts community. You don't just train at a school and become an 8th Dan or 9th Dan. That is reserved for the people who are moving martial arts forward in a positive direction, helping the martial arts to evolve and fostering a positive environment for people to grow in and build stronger families and individuals so for me personally to get to that that means I have achieved those type of things and that'll be my legacy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
And that's a goal that as we were talking you in your twenties I mean it was pretty clear I mean that's the description.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely
Jeremy Lesniak:
You used that as
Leonard Yordan:
43:46
Jeremy Lesniak:
It was pretty clear that that's
Leonard Yordan:
Where I wanted to be.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely where I wanted to be you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you have 43:53 from that so that's great
Leonard Yordan:
No, no and I never will, I never will and in terms of you know what else keeps me going. I love to live vicariously through my students, I love seeing them succeed not just in the martial arts I have had so many students start as children grow up going to college and say in their entry essay they write to the colleges for the you know please take me to your school and they write about becoming a black belt at my school and what it took to get there. I am darn proud of what it takes to become a black belt at my school and we hold all of our students to a higher level not based on their athleticism not based on whether they can throw a straight upside kick or not it's got nothing to do with that. It has to do with who they are as a person from day 1 until the day they get that black belt. How have they grown? How have they changed as a person and I get so many stories and feedback from all these kids who are growing up got black belts gone off to school and that is beautiful to see. I love watching my current list of black belts grow and we just had a testing not too long ago where we were able to promote you know a bunch of people to 5th Dan you know a to 4th Dan and that doesn't happen every day.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Leonard Yordan:
Okay cause there's I mean we have more masters at my school than a lot of schools in this immediate smaller schools this area have black belt. We have a really, really, excellent black belt crew at our school and I just can't get rid of them I tried but I can't get rid of them. What can I do to make them quit? Nah, I keep trying but they just keep coming back you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Before I came up here today I was editing an episode that we recorded with one of your students. it's gonna be episode 14 with Master Fred Forsberg.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh cool.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And he told a story about you pulling him aside on Friday as I think it was at late teen, 16, 17-year-old kid saying you're taking class on Monday and just now you know 10 years later how strong of an impact that was for him and I think it, it's a great example of what you're talking about with that personal growth.
Leonard Yordan:
Sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know cause you can listen to anybody if you've listened if you're listening to this episode and you haven't listened that one in you know I think you should listen to all of them.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You can go back listen to that one because it's so clear that even though on the surface it sounds like something that's simple and something that all of us might expect. It's clear that him stepping up even for that one night to run class was huge and he talks about the emotion and almost the terror you know was he capable of doing this and he and I talked a little bit about clearly you knew he could and so that growth process and that's something that I think we have in martial arts that you don't have elsewhere. One of the things I love to say about martial arts is you get back exactly what you put in and there aren't a whole lot of things on earth that are like that.
Leonard Yordan:
I like watching my students rise to the level of expectation you know I really do so you know those guys keep me going they keep me on my toes. I love if somebody ask me a question and I’m not fully sure of the answer because that says you know what let me I'll tell you what I'm not gonna give you an answer that I'm not quite sure off I said let me discuss it with GM Dunlavey and I will I'll give you the appropriate answer. It doesn't happen very often by any means just because you know I've been doing this longer than any of my students and I've heard every possible question they can come up with and I have answers ready but some interests change throughout the time as well too but if it happens you know I am man enough to say you know what I'm gonna get back to you on that one you know and that quest for knowledge there's always a quest for knowledge and if you stop trying to gain that knowledge then you're just gonna be antiquated and you're gonna move backwards.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, yeah there's not only is there nothing wrong with not having an answer in fact if you’re if you constantly know the answers to all the questions you're not asking the right questions.
Leonard Yordan:
Sure, there you go. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cause how do you move forward unless you're questioning everything.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So not that you haven't given bucket loads of it but do you have any advice that you'd like to give everybody listening?
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah you know for me if I can tell anybody who's training in the martial arts first of all ask why are you
Jeremy Lesniak:
Training in the martial arts and as long as your answer is a healthy reason then that's good but you need to train for the right reason, you need to train to overcome your own weaknesses.
Leonard Yordan:
You need to be a better person than you were yesterday. Again, if you ever shift to the attitude of I am training because I wanna be the best fighter, I wanna be the champion. Now your focus is about overcoming other people. You need to constantly just look at yourself every single day and say was I better, am I better today than when I was yesterday. Train for the right reasons, that was always taught to me by GM Dunlavey and in our association, that is the attitude you must have to thrive at our schools. I personally do not care how many medals you win. I personally do not care if you can do a perfect split. I personally do not care if people are afraid of you. I care about the individual becoming a better person because what I tell my students is look, if you were a better person that makes your family stronger. If your family is stronger that makes your community stronger. If your community is storing then you are affecting people all over the place. So, you need to understand where it really matters as you being the best you that you can be and I'm not telling you anything that I don't tell my own daughter. I tell my daughter about being the best person that you can be and she was upset because she didn't get straight As. She got a B, she's a really good student, she was upset that she got a B and I looked at her right in the eye and say Angelina I say what that doesn't measure, that doesn't measure the kind of girl that you are. It doesn't measure how good of a friend you are, it doesn't measure how good of a daughter you are, it doesn't measure how good of a team mate you are, that just measured how many things you were able to memorize about whatever the topic was. I said so don't get caught up in that, okay? Be the best person that you can be and that's how you end up paying things forward because you make somebody else better by being that way too.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well that was good. Man buckets, buckets of advice here.
Leonard Yordan:
I didn't give any funny stories though, that's the thing. I have so many funny stories but you know yeah it is what it is.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You wanna throw one out.
Leonard Yordan:
Ah let's see yeah, let's see.
Jeremy Lesniak:
51:13 a lot of intensity.
Leonard Yordan:
Well how about I made somebody cry one time by doing a self-defense seminar.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Leonard Yordan:
I didn't do it on them, they were just watching. It was this woman she was a very sensitive woman, very sweet and she had just joined the school where I was the guest instructor doing a martial arts seminar and of course Master Forsberg was the guy I was he was my demonstration person and for those of you who know him he's a pretty strong kid so here I was doing a lot of Hapkido joint lock self-defense movements and incorporating into the basic block strike thing and at the end of the seminar she came up to me and she's like I don't like you I'm like I'm sorry did I say something I'm sorry is everything okay You were mean to him and I'm like oh no, no he's fine trust me you gotta trust me. I do it just enough and he's a good okay he can fall he's not hurt hon go talk to him you'll see and as I saw her now and again she's like hi Master Yordan and by the time she trained for her black belt I was actually afraid of her. She is intense and it was funny cause I brought it up at her testing how there she was in tears when I was doing a simple wrist lock take down about how mean I was and 52:37 but she did it at her testing and she remember the conversation and she started giggling and she's like I'm so sorry. I'm like you don't need to be sorry, its just fantastic to see what you've become and now as a black belt you understand what we were doing you know and then another quick one from 52:54 Master Rota who is not a very big individual, you know he's about 5'7", maybe 165 pounds you know kinda unassuming but growing up I like to call country strong. His family was a bunch of loggers, right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
He talks frequently to class about his time in the woods.
Leonard Yordan:
Just country strong you know, it's kinda part where he was trying to lift a boulder and it into a wheel barrel and this is probably a good 275 pounds trying to get in 53:26 and he kept trying and it fell on his foot out of the wheel barrel and he got mad and I saw him bend down and pick it up and just curl it and walk around the house and throw in the ditch and at that point I'm thinking I'm gonna go clean my room, you know. So, Master Rota as intense as he was he actually used to do a board breaking competition and if you've people listening know what an in step turning kick is, using the top of your foot to hit boards and it's 53:54
Jeremy Lesniak:
Round kick
Leonard Yordan:
Round house kick yeah, so he did 6 boards, a 6-board turning kick and he would grab those board together and he never used those nice 54:06 he used rough cut lumber it was I mean still 54:09
Jeremy Lesniak:
No spacers
Leonard Yordan:
No spacers, no this was just a chunk of wood so he'd go to the tournaments and then he'd step up and then everybody be like oh come on cause they knew what was coming. Bamm first shot put the boards down, stay there, bow, walk away, gold medal, tournament after tournament. We're in a tournament in Chelsea one day and he decides to 54:29 board break and the whole gym is just packed and they see him coming 54:32 literally got quiet and he lines up he say yaaaaaaaaahh whap and he hits it as hard as he can with the top of his foot and all you hear is that sound of bone and flesh on boards, it didn't break and the whole crowd is just like whooooooo you see people just visually disturbed and he says huh and he goes the second time whap, again same noise of bone crunching you know just and the whole crowd now is just skin crawling you know nails on the chop board feeling and he says whaaaaa he goes for the third time and he hauls off and he hits as hard as he can. The minute he hits it the board just turns red and the top of his foot just blew open and at that point people are losing their mind but he's so he was just like so matter of fact about it he just grabs the boards looks at the judges and sys well guess it's not going today and walks off the floor and people were just beside themselves you know and didn't win the medal but man put the fear 55:29 in a lot of people. But you know we someday I encourage all the people who are listening to this who maybe beginners martial arts stick with this because there's gonna come a time where you get to sit around and chat with all the instructors and the masters be it at a summer camp or dinner after a tournament and you get to hear some amazing stories and the stories that just build character that about friendship of laughter, sadness, pain, joy and take it all in cause those stories if they're not told they're gonna be long gone.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right and there are plenty of stories you know what I mean part of the goals of this podcast is to capture as many of them as we can but there are plenty that people are never wanna go on record tell them.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah exactly.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well cool I appreciate it so let's flip it now you know what do you have going on that you wanna share with people?
Leonard Yordan:
Well we you know the one thing that we host every year is our fall tournament you know that's coming up on the first weekend of November as usually up here in Jericho Vermont at Mount Mayville high school and it's one of the larger tournaments up in this area. It is an open tournament even though there's not a ton of karate schools up here in the Northern part of Vermont, you know I'd say probably 25, 30% of the people that compete are karate schools. A couple others you know maybe some Chinese styles as well also but predominantly Taekwondo schools in the area. This is gonna be our 17th year of hosting that tournament and that's one of the only thing we have going on and we do have some inter school stuffs be it summer camps and we do a fund raising every year, kickathon, we raise money for the Vermont Respite House and we'll be doing that again this and in the past years that we've done that for the Vermont Respite House we've raised I think over $15,000 for them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wow.
Leonard Yordan:
And that's where my wife's father spent the last two weeks of his days with us so we're forever tied to them because those guys are angels on earth. Vermont Respite House is just incredible for people who do that type of service that provide that end of l if care and just so selflessly and beautifully, it's a good thing. So, we give our money and we help out for that every single year.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Leonard Yordan:
So that's what pretty much what's going on in terms of events for us.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay and of course there's your website and your Facebook page, we'll have links to that.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know and as soon as the tournament information out we'll get that out there and does the kickathon get anything on your website that we can link to?
Leonard Yordan:
Oh yeah what I'll do is I will be posting that probably on both sites, our webpage and our Facebook page as well also and you know the students do a great job of raising money for that and just to keep it in context real quickly we started out doing a thousand kicks in a half an hour and that was a piece of cake. We literally did that in like nothing. So, let's amp it up, let's go 1500 kicks in a half an hour, no problem broke the record 30 minutes, no problem. Then we went okay let's do it less time than we did it in 26 minutes and then we did it in 20 minutes and then, let's amp then let's go to 2000 kicks so now with 2000 kicks we did that in 30 minutes and then it was 2000 kicks in 25 minutes and then let's just amp it up so last year and the last one we did it was 2500 kicks and we did and when I'm talking to everybody individually does 2500 kicks. We're not talking you do 100, you do 100, you do, no every single person does 2500 kicks.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's a lot of kicks.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh, absolutely and we ended up doing it in 26 minutes, and it will be like a kick every .9 seconds.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wow.
Leonard Yordan:
Oh, its absolutely insanity but the way that the team comes together.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's the slow person.
Leonard Yordan:
Was that?
Jeremy Lesniak:
The slowest person doing it in .9 seconds.
Leonard Yordan:
You know that if you average it out that amount of kicks over that and do the math.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Leonard Yordan:
Ends up being that and some people get them done faster.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right, right.
Leonard Yordan:
Yeah absolutely and some people you know and there's we have all ages we had you know 7 year olds doing this and we had 60 year olds doing this and obviously you do what you can do. You know we have some that probably pull off more kicks that what we're asking and maybe there's a couple of kids who didn't quite get all of them but the goal is that and the music's going and people are cheering and we're having a great time and it really is one of those things that these people will look back years from now and no will never ever forget what they went through. Yeah
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's awesome.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't think there's much else to say, I appreciate you coming on, this has been fun.
Leonard Yordan:
Absolutely, absolute pleasure. I'm honored to be part of this and there's a lot of the credible martial artists that we have up here in New England. You don't have to travel across the country to meet some of the exceptional people that we have in our community and I'm one of those people that I love being friends with all of them and hope someday we all unite as Vermont martial artist type of thing you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah that'll be fun.
Leonard Yordan:
So that's been my dream for the get go.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool, thank you. Thanks for listening to episode 18 of whistlekickMartialArtsRadio. Thank you to Master Yordan for his time and his wonderful stories. If you liked the show please subscribe so you never miss out in the future. If you could help us by leaving a 5-star review wherever you download your podcast, it would make a big difference. Those reviews help new listeners find the show and you might hear us read yours on the air, if we do read yours on the air go ahead and email us at info@whistlekick.com and you'll get a free prize back including a shirt, water bottle, stickers and more, we'll even pay the shipping. You can check out the show notes with links to everything we talked about today at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com and while you're there if you wanna be a guest on the show or you know someone that would be a great interview please fill out the guest form and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you can keep up on everything whistlekick. If you wanna follow us on social media we're on Facebook, twitter, Pinterest and Instagram all with the username whistlekick. While you're at it check out the great stuff we have at whistlekick.com, from gear to, shirts, to pants to a whole bunch more it's all made for martial artists by martial artists. So, until next time train hard, smile and have a great day.