Episode 1034 - Adam Beckley
In this episode, Andrew chats with Adam Beckley about his journey into martial arts from a rural town in Vermont.
Adam Beckley - Episode 1034
SUMMARY
In this episode, Adam Beckley shares his journey through martial arts, beginning from a challenging childhood marked by bullying and poverty in rural Vermont. He recounts how a pivotal moment watching a martial arts film ignited his passion for self-defense and empowerment.
Despite facing obstacles in accessing training, Adam's determination led him to discover a sense of belonging and purpose in martial arts. His experiences highlight the transformative power of community, mentorship, and resilience in overcoming life's challenges.
In this conversation, Adam Beckley shares his journey through martial arts, detailing his struggles with back pain and how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu became a transformative force in his life. He discusses the impact of the pandemic on his training and community, the growth of his martial arts school, and the importance of teaching methods that connect with students. Adam emphasizes the value of perseverance in martial arts and the lifelong benefits it brings.
TAKEAWAYS
The impact of bullying on self-esteem and confidence.
The challenges of accessing martial arts training as a child.
The transformative power of mentorship in martial arts.
The value of competition as a means of self-assessment.
Training in martial arts can be a motivator to stay active.
The pandemic disrupted training but led to new opportunities.
Teaching martial arts requires understanding how students learn.
Making training fun increases student engagement and retention.
Grappling in Jiu-Jitsu is calming compared to striking.
Support from the community can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Martial arts knowledge is a lifelong asset that can't be taken away.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage
01:12 Adam's Early Life and Challenges
08:40 The Turning Point: Discovering Martial Arts
16:56 First Experiences in Martial Arts Training
23:04 Competing and Overcoming Obstacles
25:56 Overcoming Pain and Embracing Martial Arts
30:23 The Impact of COVID-19 on Training
35:40 Building a Martial Arts Community
38:18 Comparing Martial Arts Styles
42:39 Teaching and Learning in Martial Arts
47:27 Inspiration and Connection in Training
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
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Show Transcript
Andrew Adams (04:12.034)
Welcome, you're listening or watching to the next episode of Whistlekick martial arts radio. And today I'm joined by friend Adam Beckley and I'm excited to get into chatting with him. But before we get there, I wanna make sure that our listeners and viewers know about all the stuff that we do here at Whistlekick. Well, okay, let's be honest, Adam. I can't tell everybody about all that we do, cause it would take way too long, right? So how about we talk about, I talk about Whistlekick.
Dot-com is where you can go to find out all of the stuff that we do you can purchase Apparel there you can buy shirts or hats or hoodies you can buy you can purchase books You can see about all of the events that we host throughout the country You can purchase a training program Maybe you're a school owner and you want to find out more about whistle kick alliance, which is our program just for school owners You can do all of that stuff at whistle kick calm now this podcast
has its own website, whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com. You can go there to find everything about this episode and all of our other episodes. We have more than 1,000 episodes at this point. extra stuff you can find at whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com. You can find transcripts. What else are you gonna find? You'll find photos, you'll find contact information for a lot of our guests. You'll also find at the top a subscribe button, which you can use to get our exclusive Marshall Arts Radio
email with you notified of all of the episodes as they come out and we're going to start putting out some bonus stuff coming up soon as well so don't want to miss out on that but I think that's about it for Whistlekick Stuff. Adam, how are you doing today?
Adam Beckley (05:53.294)
I'm doing really good, how are you?
Andrew Adams (05:55.69)
I'm great. I'm so excited to have you on the show. Someone that I've known for maybe about a year or so, maybe not quite. So I'm excited to get into to chat and I'm excited that you're here on the show.
Adam Beckley (06:03.416)
Yeah.
Adam Beckley (06:09.562)
Yes, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Andrew Adams (06:12.03)
Absolutely. So obviously this is a martial arts show. We talk martial arts. I think it's only appropriate that if we're going to talk about your journey in the martial arts, we should start at the beginning. So let's go there. Let's go all the way back to the very beginning and chat about what your journey started like.
Adam Beckley (06:35.972)
well, it's definitely a long complicated one, but where I grew up, I grew up in Southern Vermont, a small town called Danby, Vermont, and a very rural area. Beautiful, beautiful country though. I loved the wilderness as a kid. I loved getting outside, playing the streams, exploring. I loved it. And we grew up next to my grandparents that...
My grandfather was a dairy farmer too. So we had like, you know, we were next to a farm and it was just beautiful there. A lot of people don't know that Dambi is also home to one of the largest underground white marble quarries in the world. It's rich with it. And my father had worked for the marble quarry in Dambi. That's what was one of the bigger.
Areas of employment in that town other than that you had a few other places but for the most part It was a pretty poor area, you know poverty was was pretty major and as a young boy, I didn't notice things were hard until They ended up downsizing and he got let go from the company and then
My mom would have to work too and he ended up taking on other work, it was much less pay So we started I started noticing the difference in how life was a lot harder for us and I didn't really have a comparison on how other people's lives were because this is back in the early 90s I was born in 87. I always joke and tell the kids that I'm over 700 years old
about my age and stuff, but I was born in 87, so in the time, this was the early 90s, small community, so everyone knew everybody. And I didn't have a comparison on how other people lived until I got to school and I kind of found out that my way of life was very hard and it would either make you or break you. And so...
Adam Beckley (08:54.348)
When I got to fourth grade, that's when a lot of kids started to become really mean. And I was made fun of because of how tall I was. I was the tallest kid in my class. I was the second tallest, but the tallest person was a girl. No one was going to pick on a girl. So being taller, I was picked on for that. And I was picked on for my way of life.
even though I didn't know my way of life was different from other people's. And so, you know, I was bullied on a daily basis at school. I had talked to my parents about it, and we've tried telling the teachers it only made the bullying worse. Eventually it started to get physical and I was getting in fights almost every day on the daily. And
I didn't know how to really defend myself because the concept of fighting was not really in my in my wheelhouse. It wasn't in my periphery as far as what to do. And my dad didn't like my dad didn't really know much about fighting. So he wasn't teaching me anything. And my mom said, well, just try to ignore him and then they'll eventually stop. But
It was hard for me when they would start taking pot shots at my mom as well as my dad. Which would really anger and frustrate me. And saying things that I won't say here on the air, but there are really awful things. And the reality is, I think a lot of those people were also just really poor too, and it was their way of taking their frustrations out on someone to try and feel better. If I look back at it now. So.
Didn't really know what to do. I felt kind of powerless. You know, I was I was upset like almost every day I hated going to school. I wouldn't apply myself in my academics because I just I did not want to be there and then One night We're watching either is either HBO or cinemax it was a late night television show a movie comes on
Adam Beckley (11:13.402)
And this is when we had like the like back in the early 90s when they had like the really huge satellite dishes that were like bigger than an SUV. And it would you like tell everything. So we had something like that. And I see a I see a movie scene come on. And I'm just looking at it and it was really late. My mom's telling me, you got to get the bag. You got to go to school tomorrow. I was like, oh, wait a second. I need to see this. My brother's sitting there watching it. My dad's watching it.
And this guy strolls into this dojo and he's in black and everyone else is in white. And what this scene was, this would have been what we know now as Fist of Fury from Bruce Lee. Back then they call it the Chinese connection when it first came to the United States. And I just saw this dojo scene happen and it just, something clicked in my brain right then and there, like that's it.
That's the answer. Because he was outnumbered and that's what was happening to me when I was getting in fights. I was outnumbered and it was like it was only three or four people. This guy's taking on like 30 or 40. He's not even getting hit and I was just mesmerized. My mind was just blown by it I was just like a mouth of flame. I couldn't take my eyes off the TV. I was like this is the answer. This is what I need to do. This is how I can empower myself and protect myself.
So we, tried asking about getting martial arts lessons. We had no resources. There was an after school program that was available at my school, but there was no public transportation like there is for schools now. And we were a one car family. My mom did not drive and my father worked at nights and my mom worked during the day. So there was no way for me to even get there. And there was really no way to afford lessons on the regular.
So I started observing a lot of martial arts movies and taking notes. Bruce Lee movies, anything that I could find. And then I also expanded it to other things like our household was really big into professional wrestling. And at that time it was the attitude era for the WWF. there was a person named Mick Foley.
Adam Beckley (13:37.358)
who I gravitated towards because like, wow, this guy's really tough. He doesn't look like much, but he can take a beating and taking notes on the different things that he was doing and trying to practice that at home. So I had set up like a course in like, there were hills behind my house in the woods I would go and I'd set up a course for like a.
punching bag I had an old mattress that I strapped to a tree and I used like a balancing log and I did everything that I could to practice and train and Take notes on what I learned by watching these videos and watching these movies just so I could get something and And eventually
the needless to say eventually the fight stopped at school, but there was still emotional abuse. So when they couldn't hurt me with their fists, were still hurtful with their words and they would destroy my things and all that stuff. that was through sixth grade was the worst, which was the last year in that school. And I was just in the principal's office so often too for fighting back and everything.
Andrew Adams (14:27.63)
Ha
Adam Beckley (14:53.302)
Eventually things started to get harder at home too because of our way of life. I've had family members make choices that weren't the best and it made it to where things weren't safe at home. So then where home was an escape from the bullying and from the danger, I was starting to notice there was danger at home too. So that year became probably one of the hardest years of my life and while it was hard and difficult, I appreciate what I have now.
Knowing that no matter how hard things get for me. They will never be as hard as they were in that 99 year 99 2000 was the hardest for sure and Like I said, that was a really dark time and they I had a lot of anger from it and a lot of frustration on what I did to deserve that type of life and why
Looking back. I know my parents did the best if they could it was just unfortunate that I was in that situation because I don't think anyone deserved it and So in about 2001 I end up going to Junior high this was a we had no river no river junior high school in North Clarendon
And the bullying stopped. wasn't as intense because it was a bigger population and people didn't know me, but I still kept to myself. I didn't really socialize with a lot of people during that seventh, eighth grade period. Then in also during that time too, for seeking other things for martial arts relations, my mom had a book called the catalog of catalogs.
I don't know if you've ever heard of that before. this is pre-internet. So this is insane. She ordered this and it was very thick, like this thick. And in it had all these different types of catalogs from whatever thing you can think of, from seeds to comic books. And they had a category on martial arts. So I went through and I found a catalog.
Adam Beckley (17:14.554)
Because keep in mind this is pre-internet. So like there was no YouTube or anything like that. And if there was internet, we didn't have access to it or could afford it anyway. So I ended up coming across a catalog called Panther Productions. And so we ordered it and it is insane. The amount of instructionals that was in this catalog. It had everything.
And I mean everything, where you could order VHS tapes. And back then, they were very expensive. Like by today's standards, they'd be over $120 a piece for these instructionals. And so I would go through this catalog and like I said, it had so many different martial artists in it. And I took some elements of Eric Lee's Kung Fu, Thai boxing.
Knowing that they were so expensive. I had to kind of pick and choose I wasn't concerned with fundamentals at that time. I was more concerned with body conditioning Improving flexibility and improving strength. So I focused on that for the longest time because at the time that felt most important to me and so I would watch these tapes until the film broke pretty much and Then 2001 comes
It was the summer of, I just got out of eighth grade. I wasn't doing well for grades at all because I wasn't focused on applying myself academically and I was still lacking in confidence in myself. And we go to a pizza place in Rutland and I see there's a raffle box there for martial arts. Fill out your name and phone number. You could win a free class. You could run a free week. You could win a free month.
Adam Beckley (19:11.36)
And I had so many people in my life in the past tell me that I didn't amount to anything, that I wasn't going to win anything in life, that I was just going to be a failure like the rest of my family, that that voice was just in my head talking. And I just chose to ignore it at that moment and said, I'm going to give this a chance. Let me put my name down because it's free. If I don't win, then I don't win. But I'm in the situation now, but I'll never know.
So I put my name in that box and then a couple weeks later we get a phone call and it's Sensei Chad Denton calling to offer me a free month of martial arts. So that summer I talked my dad into taking me to Rutland. He was very supportive of it.
My mom had worked during the day and my dad worked at night So what he would do is he would drive me up to Rutland he would nap in the car and I would have morning classes that would go to during that summer and it was at Vermont martial arts Academy and I remember going there. I didn't know what to expect. I was a little nervous, but I was excited to and my first class was in
Aikijitsu, which is a collectic style. Both the systems that were taught there were a collective system of different martial arts. So Aikijitsu on the surface looks like Aikido, but it had elements of Jujitsu and it had elements of Tai Chi and Pakwa. And when I saw that and I experienced that for the first time and I met Sensei Rick for the first time, who was a head instructor of the academy.
who became like a second father to me. I met with Sensei Chad and the teacher of the class for that morning was Sensei Bobby. And it just blew my mind on.
Adam Beckley (21:11.244)
on martial arts forever. And I was hooked. I loved it. And I had trained all that summer. I did Aikijitsu, I did the karate program. And the first time I sparred with somebody, got gloves on, everything, I'm sparring. like I said, I'm summer, I'm in eighth grade, I'm a teenager at this point. But when most people would be nervous and afraid, I was excited and happy. Like,
Like if you're in line for a roller coaster ride, and I still get that sometimes when I'm spying, even if it seems like it's going heavier and harder, it was exciting to me because I really enjoyed it. And I was just grinning from ear ear. I was so happy to do it. So the end of that summer came and I had to go back to school.
I wasn't able to make the classes at night because of transportation. talked to my instructors. said, listen, when I, when I graduate high school and I get my license, I'm coming back. And sure enough, when I was 19, I went back and I trained and committed myself there for a number of years. Eventually ended up becoming an employee there and working there.
and I had gotten my black belt in 2012. And I said I loved it. I learned so many skills from there, not just as a martial artist, but also as a teacher and an instructor too. It was great.
Andrew Adams (22:48.674)
Now, I'm curious if you remember that first class that you went to, you walked in, you had been doing your own training, sort of speak, right? Watching these movies and doing your own thing at home. How did you feel actually, like what was it like that first class and how did it compare to what you thought it might be?
Adam Beckley (22:55.29)
Yeah.
Adam Beckley (23:10.946)
It felt like I belonged. For so long, I felt like an outcast and I felt like I didn't really have a place. And when I was there training, I felt like I was with people that I fit in with and it felt like a place of belonging. It felt like a place that I was accepted for who I was. So it was very empowering. And like I said, I loved it. It felt like home.
Whereas it might be intimidating for some people it it broke my heart that I couldn't keep going to do it But knowing that I had to have my own mode of transportation And my own way of being able to pay for it to afford said lessons to continue
was the main thing. So I had to put on the back burner as much as I hated to. But I also had, after that summer, it kind of renewed confidence in me because I saw, you know, I could see what was happening with other people around me with the poverty and everything in my town and the route it was taking them and where it was leading to. And I didn't want that for myself.
So I had applied myself for my grades. I did struggle with reading. I still struggle with reading, but I do the best that I can. and ended up making on a role in my high school, made high honors at one point and, had a really nice GPA considering all the obstacles and stuff that were presented before me. So once I had finished.
and got back into training, I just really, like I said, it was like a way of life for me. I focused so much on it. And then eventually a friend of mine, I got to do it as well. He did it for a little bit and then stopped. And I got him back into it and we were training together. And then I had like one of my best friends that I'm training with and we're just working this and.
Adam Beckley (25:18.658)
and training and training and we're going like five days a week as much as we could. And then if we couldn't make it because of a snow storm, we were training at one of our houses in the snow. You know, late at night, we'd have a little lantern and stuff. Those were some, those were some great years. just training the basics, the blocks, all that stuff, you know, all the key hoons and everything. It was, that was awesome. And we brought the best out in each other and we're able to grow more because of that.
Andrew Adams (25:48.61)
Yeah, and what was it like to have that person to be able to go with you? Like, how did that change your training and willingness to, did it change your willingness to go?
Adam Beckley (25:58.606)
Yeah, it did. It did. Like I was just as much even more so willing and I could also bounce theories off of him too, which I thought was great. Like we all we each had strengths and weaknesses and I felt like we helped to keep each other sharp. Like if we notice is I felt like if he noticed my weaknesses, he would be mindful of those. And it's like, OK, I got to make sure I keep strong on that to keep me honest.
and it was to help build me to be a better martial artist. There was a friendly bit of competition back and forth, but I think it was just to help build each other to be the best that we could be together.
Andrew Adams (26:45.896)
now after high school, what, what happened? What was your training like? Like you brought us up through high school, after high school, you started training. What, was the next part of your journey? Like you, you and your friend were training all the time, but where, does the journey go from there?
Adam Beckley (27:01.369)
Yeah.
So from there, I had done some, when I got to my third degree brown belt, I started competing in competitions. And the competitions, didn't matter so much whether or not I took first, it was a way to pressure test to see where I was at. Because it was the closest thing at that point that I could do without actually getting into an actual street altercation.
I felt like, it's a little bit more of a controlled environment. I can see how I do, where I'm at, and then I can consider, you know, continue to improve with my work and craft. Cause I was never satisfied. I was always constantly having to like, what can I do more? How can I improve this? And just constantly shaping it and to continually improve.
And there are pros and cons to that mindset, because it's like, also apply that to my work too, where I wouldn't say, okay, enough's enough, like, I keep going, like, all right, let's do a little more. Let's do a little more, do a little more.
Adam Beckley (28:15.962)
competitions went well for the most part. We traveled all over. We had done the iPawn tournament, twin state tournament, as well as crane. And then eventually I ended up starting getting a nagging lower back problem that was developing. I, know, a lot of it was passed off as like, well, you're getting older and you're training hard and all this. And I would find out later on that wasn't the case.
which we'll get to. But it's getting around 2000, you know, the end of 2012, I got my black belt and everything. And like I said, this chronic back pain would kind of come and go. And then in a competition, I ended up twisting just right. And then the pain was just awful. Like it was excruciating. So I ended up herniating a disc in my lower back.
And that led to a lot of complications later on with nerve damage and everything like that.
My fiance at the time and my wife were also set to get married and she ended up getting a job opportunity in Northern Vermont. And so I decided, well, I didn't know whether or not I could continue training and I was working and I loved my job and everything, but with my chronic back problem, I thought I was going to have to stop entirely for training because I wasn't even able to walk a quarter of a mile.
without taking heavy doses of Tylenol and there was other medications I was on too which which you know like gabapentin which gives some really nasty side effects in some cases and I was feeling those and muscle relaxers which were terrible because if I had to get up in the middle of night to use the bathroom it was really hard to get up and move I would have to crawl to the bathroom it's just such excruciating pain so
Adam Beckley (30:26.186)
when I moved, I didn't know what to expect for training in martial arts if I could ever train again. And I had done some research. We moved to Morrisville, Vermont. And there was a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Morrisville. I thinking, hmm, one area that
that I was really weak in was grappling on the ground. I could do some, I did not have get by, but it wasn't something that was super effective, because most of our style was so focused on striking. And there was like some ground wrestling, like there were Jiu Jitsu concepts, but not as much as like a deep level than what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu offered. And the, I, and, and,
It was something I was attracted to, but I wasn't sure if I could do it because of my back problem. So when I moved up north, it probably being in 2014. In the fall, I went to Method and met the instructor, Chris, and I said, you know, I want to start once a week. And again, really enjoyed it, loved it. I didn't know if I could continue doing it.
And you know with all the doctors I had prior they had told me well this is something you're just going to have to live with you might have to get surgery and then after I got a CAT scan done
And I met with a doctor in UVM. And I cannot remember the doctor's name for the life of me if I knew I'd be sending him thank you cards every year. He was a doctor that him and his son used to train in martial arts and they were from Greece. They trained in karate when they lived in Greece. And then when he moved to the United States.
Adam Beckley (32:23.94)
He knew about my martial arts background. I told him this is what I do. I want to continue doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but people tell me, if you have a bad back and stuff, it's going to make it worse. And he was one of the first ones to say, no, continue to work out. You should continue training. The situation with my back wasn't because I trained hard. It's nothing that I did. It was genetics. Because my tailbone sets too low on my coccyx bone. And because of that, my L4 and L5 was just rigid.
wouldn't move. So naturally flexibility is a lot harder for me. It's not that I don't try, it's just my genetics for the my lower back and because of that my those discs were paper thin and you know I had herniated before.
And he said, he was one of first people to say, you continue working out. Jiu-Jitsu is going to be great for your core. You're going to strengthen your core and have that act as your brace for your spine. And your back problems will go away. And with that and seeing a chiropractor on the regular, he was right. And Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu had saved my life. That and the people there that trained there, that done warmups. My friend Damian.
who did letter warmups and stuff was amazing, got me in great shape. So I went from not being able to walk a quarter mile to be able to carry someone on my back and run with them. And it's because of jiu jitsu, as long as I continue to train, I don't have the problems. If I take a week or two off, then the back pain starts to come back.
So training in martial arts now is kind of like a motivator. Like if I want to not have pain and hurt and be sore, just continue training. Plus I feel better when I do it anyway. So.
Adam Beckley (34:23.422)
And so I train with them for a while. I get my blue belt. I get my fourth stripe of my blue belt. And I'm very close to getting my purple, my instructor tells me. And then comes along the dark ages, I call it, where everything gets shut down. We have to stay home. We have to mask up.
And because of that time frame, doing any kind of close contact art like jujitsu was the worst possible thing you could do because we didn't know any of the information about this new thing. So we're all stuck at home. The location closes down. It's supposed to take a couple of weeks off. And the location ends up getting demolished. So we don't have that space anymore.
And it really broke up our group, unfortunately, because of the different views of everything that was happening. It kind of drove everybody apart. And just a lot of little bits and pieces of drama with martial arts politics. I wasn't sure whether or not anything would come back. And meanwhile, I'm sitting at home and I'm not getting my jiu-jitsu training and I can feel my back pain coming again. It's like, no, I gotta do something.
And I had to do something for my sanity because here was something that I really loved and I really enjoyed and it was just taken right away. And I don't know whether or not I get a chance to experience it again. And at that time I was teaching a kids program for the gym and I had some kids that were interested in wanting to continue training. So I mentioned, what if we did a once a week Google meet and I'll do it for my living room. It can be just 30 minutes.
and we do something, we do a little drill, and then we can do a workout together, and that helped so much. And I had six kids that were showing up consistently every week. And then we had adults do it too, another day. So those two days, we would get together and we would just work out from our homes. That helped my sanity. That saved me. And at the time, we didn't have a location. And so I said, listen.
Adam Beckley (36:43.81)
I'm not charging anything for this if you want to pay anything, please send it to my instructor Because my thought was well whenever we do reopen he can use that money for you know the rental space and It was a lot of you know waiting in that regard and unfortunately nothing ever came to fruition and I don't know the full story behind it, but I think a big part of him was
was kind of hurt that the location that he originally had that he liked so much is gone. And I know he had a lot of other commitments too. Being a small, he was a small business owner and farmer. So I understands why it would have been hard to reopen. And one of the families had mentioned like, know that...
You want us to pay donations to your instructor, but you've been showing up and you've been teaching the classes of stuff. We really would like to pay you. And I said, well, if you really want to, I understand, you know, send whatever you feel is fair. And I was expecting maybe 10, maybe $20 at most. And this was right around the time when things were starting to lift and things were getting a little more relaxed.
Andrew Adams (38:05.23)
GRR!
Adam Beckley (38:05.752)
Then I get that check and it's almost $500. I was floored by it. I was like, this is insane. I felt it as a sign and it got my gears turning a little bit of like, well, what if I opened a location in my town just for the kids, have them come and we'll keep a small group and we'll do like a once a week thing where we get together in person.
So I looked around, so just some different locations. found a place and I said, all right, the next thing you need to do is mats. So the amount of money that I got from that parent, I used half that portion. And then I doubled it with some money I had saved and purchased some mats. And the location that I rented with was kind enough to let me store those mats there. And it was like an open studio. And,
that would begin what I would have now for a martial arts school. It started off as something that was supposed to be temporary and I had talked to my old coach about it saying listen when you're ready let me know and we'll come over and join but again it never happened and then it grew to what it is now which is so much bigger and just so much more than what I thought it ever could be.
It started out with just a half a dozen kids and now we're over 50 students and I'm teaching 11 classes a week.
which is great. it was, it just started out with word of mouth and then eventually as, know,
Adam Beckley (39:48.718)
When I was doing it temporarily, I also got an offer to teach an afterschool program at a school in St. Johnsbury. And that made me realize how much I missed working with people and helping people. And at this time, during those dark ages, I was working in manufacturing and working on concrete flooring and boy, it was rough on my legs and feet.
And so I ended up making the leap into going into public education, being a paraeducator, which I never thought I would do. Because here I am looking back like how much I hated school. And now all of a sudden, as an adult, here I am going into the public education school system to be a support for students, which I thought was interesting.
And I enjoyed doing that for a number of years. I had worked as a small group para as well as a one-to-one ended up getting paraeducator the year my first year. But eventually the martial arts school grew so much that I couldn't give it the same energy. As being a paraeducator, for me, it was hard for me to separate the two because of my process and how I do things.
because I'm putting so much energy into my job as the paraeducator, I wasn't able to have enough energy at the end of the day to go and teach classes for my students. So ultimately I had to feel like I had to make a choice. So I ended up pursuing teaching full-time, the martial arts.
Andrew Adams (41:37.621)
and that's what you're doing now.
Adam Beckley (41:39.47)
That's what I'm doing now as well as I'm also a landlord too. have two apartments. So my main house is a duplex and then I have another rental property too that I manage.
Andrew Adams (41:51.422)
And talk about, if you can, I wanna go back just a little bit. Training, when you were in, you did your training on your own, then you went to the school as a middle schooler, then high school and beyond your training with Sensei Denton, you mentioned. And then you started training BJJ. Those two things are very different. How do you think...
Adam Beckley (41:55.716)
Sure.
Andrew Adams (42:18.434)
How do you compare the two and what was your training like? Because you would have been older, right? You would have understood what BJJ was, but it's very different, I suspect, from what you have been training. So how did those two things complement each other?
Adam Beckley (42:24.58)
Mm-hmm.
Adam Beckley (42:35.832)
The areas in which Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu focused on, there were elements of wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu in general is something that's continuously evolving. Today's technique is gonna be tomorrow's old news and there's gonna be new techniques that evolve and then what is old becomes new again. It kind of cycles through. So as far as...
what that gave me, it opened up some areas that I felt was lacking in what I was training with at the time. Not that the old system that I had didn't have grappling, but because Brazilian Jiu Jitsu focused so much on different things, especially with the gi, I really enjoyed working gi work, because I always felt like in a street situation, I would use someone's sweater against them anyway.
There's the argument that, no one's wearing pajamas out in the street, but they are wearing, you know, in Vermont, we only have maybe one month a year that's nice, and the rest of the time you're wearing a hoodie. So it's like, I'm going to use that hoodie in a street altercation. And a lot of the gi grips for chokes and for sweeps and takedowns do translate very well to a sweater.
Andrew Adams (43:40.526)
Yes.
Adam Beckley (43:59.286)
So that was something that was really beneficial. for whatever reason too, for, and I don't necessarily know why, but I always enjoyed the grappling portions more so than I do striking. Like I have more experience in striking. I've done it longer and I do enjoy it, but there's just something about rolling in a jujitsu roll that's just very calming for me. Like it's different when I'm...
throwing punches and kicks. There's a sense of excitement that comes from that. But with rolling, it's more relaxed to me. It doesn't feel stressful.
Adam Beckley (44:41.87)
which I do find interesting. And why it's like that for me, I don't know.
Andrew Adams (44:44.706)
So.
Andrew Adams (44:48.354)
Yeah, I get that. you, and you mentioned you, so you started training BJJ and then when the dark times happened, you had to stop. Have you, were you able to go back and continue to train BJJ now?
Adam Beckley (44:55.086)
Yes.
Adam Beckley (45:01.346)
Yes, I train with one of the students that I worked with. He ended up getting his black belt and I'm training under him now and working with him. And that's also here in Hardwick. And that's been going really well. I try and get there probably two to, if I can make it there twice a week, that's ideally a good goal. If I can get there three days a week, great.
You know, and they do have some striking there too. try and make every now and then on Fridays, which is great. Cause it's like, I get the chance to do that again. And
That way I'm training for myself too versus the instruction. While I'm still learning as I instruct, I do definitely get that benefit of being the student and not having the pressure of like, I gotta have a lesson plan. can train for me, which is nice. But I still am willing to offer insight and stuff when it's asked for just because I enjoy working with people and helping people. Especially if I'm finding that maybe someone's struggling to get the lesson.
I always prided myself in being able to communicate information to people to help them understand it because we all learn, we all can learn the information, we just learn it differently. And I find that I've always had the strength of being able to find out how someone learns and how I can connect that information to them.
Andrew Adams (46:39.604)
Talk a little bit more about that.
Adam Beckley (46:42.498)
So, oftentimes what happens with instruction is certain instructors will only have like a certain style of teaching. Like I teach this way and it's like a sink or swim mentality and I don't believe in that.
When I first started working as a martial arts instructor and membership coordinator,
I was taught to be able to try to identify how a student learns. I get to talk to them, get to know them, find out what their interests are. And by doing that, I was able to make connections with their interests based upon the art itself. Because what I learned in, and I learned this from my chemistry teacher in junior high school, that the brain is not a thinking mechanism, it's a feeling mechanism.
Feelings drive your thoughts first. So if you can connect, if you can connect a feeling to the art itself, student's more apt to learn it, especially children. If you can make it fun, and it's true for adults too, but more so for kids because they're so connected to the fun, if you can make it fun and enjoyable, they're more likely to learn it and actually apply the technique and train it effectively.
versus, okay, stand out attention, do this, do that, and just be really super serious all the time. There's a time and place for that, but there's also a time when you have to be animated and you have to connect with the person that you're working with. So my thing is I always try and meet where everyone's at and be mindful of like, okay, if I'm teaching this certain technique,
Andrew Adams (48:19.47)
you
Adam Beckley (48:31.416)
I have to be mindful of whatever group I'm teaching this to might be more sensitive to it than others. Like with Jujitsu, for instance, for the kids, I don't teach submissions right away. I focus on the positional control and the takedowns and the escapes. And if you're in a bad position, get out at first. And once you have the idea of the position, you have the idea of the control, and you have control over your own body,
then we can start teaching you the submissions. But even then, it's lighter ones like arm bars and such, not even chokes right away, which I know most schools will teach chokes pretty early, but chokes can be so dangerous that it's important for you to have an understanding of your body and what you can do before you learn something like that.
Andrew Adams (49:28.59)
And I think most people listening will get that. And I think that's great way to look at it and consider those things. I'm curious, you mentioned when you started training again after high school, you brought a friend of yours along. And it's great to have that to kind of, and you mentioned that competitive thing. Is this person, is this friend of yours still training and are you still in touch with them today?
Adam Beckley (49:53.806)
Yes, they're still training and I'm in touch with them. They actually are running their own school and we're both tournament promoters and whatnot. like, I look back at that time when he did start coming to train with me and then thinking back on how far we've both come and I am really proud of him.
and really proud about like he was an inspiration to me too because when I had first met him and we went to the same school elementary school together and he was he was getting bullied and this was like before like I was like I think he might have been in second grade I was in third grade I can't remember the the time frame of where it was but I was with my other best friend at the time
And it was in the winter and the kids were playing king of the hill and there's much bigger kid kept pushing him down and bullying him. But he didn't cower away from him. He stood up to him, even though this person was just so much bigger. And I really admired him about that. And I was like, we gotta go over and help him. This isn't right. And we had stood up to the bully and everything and he walked away. And that's when I introduced myself to him and we'd become good friends since. But I think part of what, like I said,
seeing how he stood up to that person. I was really inspired by that.
Andrew Adams (51:27.294)
If people listening want to reach out, is there a way that they should do that to connect with you? If something you said resonated with them and they wanted to reach out, how should they do that?
Adam Beckley (51:36.282)
Sure, you can find me on Facebook at Adam Beckley. There's also my, if you want to check out my website, martialartsonhardwickvt.com, you'll be able to find our social media on there for our Facebook and our Instagram. I'll be happy to hear from you.
Andrew Adams (51:53.943)
Awesome. I'm going to throw it to you here in a second to close us out, but I want to just reiterate to the people listening that this podcast comes to you twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. An interview on Monday and a topic show on Thursdays. Twice a week we bring you this show all completely for free. You can find out all the information about the podcast at whistlekickmarshallliferadio.com. Find transcripts, pictures.
All of the contact information that Adam gave us will be there so you can connect with him. So feel free to do that. You can also go to whistlekick.com to find out about all of the things we do. And if you would like to help support the show, you can do that as well. to, sorry, patreon.com forward slash whistle kick. And for as little as $5 a month, which at this point is less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks at this point, you can help make the show happen.
help bring us the traditional martial artists of the world and help us connect, educate, and entertain them. But you know, Adam, how do you want to close out today? What do you want to leave the audience with as we we close out here today?
Adam Beckley (53:08.586)
My thing would be to everyone listening, if you're training in martial arts, accept every style. I don't really think there's one style that's greater over the other. To me, martial arts is self-defense and a fight is an ever-changing set of situations. And each martial arts style is almost like a different tool.
So if you were building a house, there's gonna be some tools that are gonna work better than others. If you were painting a wall, you probably won't wanna use a hammer, you're gonna wanna use a paint roller. But if you're framing a house, you're probably gonna wanna use a hammer and not a paint roller. You could try using a paint roller, I don't know how well it'll go, but that and if you feel like you're struggling with training.
Keep at it, don't give up on it. Martial arts is something that is valuable. Yes, it's not something that you can physically hold. It's not something that you can physically see. It's an idea, but the beauty of it is whatever you learn is yours forever. It's always gonna be in your heart. It's always gonna be in your mind. It's never something that can be stolen from you. It's never something that you just accidentally lose and misplace. It's gonna be with you forever. So.……Keep training.