Episode 228 - Sensei Hal Pierce
Sensei Hal Pierce is a martial arts practitioner and instructor from Maine. He trains and teaches multiple martial arts disciplines including karate and judo.
Even if you're struggling, come to the people out there who just see you struggling and they're dying to help you...
Sensei Hal Pierce - Episode 228
Many martial artists start their journey after seeing an impressive display on television or in a movie. Sensei Hal Pierce is no diff
erent. Martial arts movies were his gateway into training, and he’s still bringing that passionate attitude to the arts years later. Today he practices multiple martial arts disciplines and is known for sharing that knowledge, a passion I can personally attest to. Sensei Pierce is fond of the application of traditional arts through MMA and loves working with kids. His story is both inspiring and relatable, so let’s take a listen.
Show Notes
Sensei Hal Pierce
Robb Buckland, Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Tony Blauer and Gene LebellFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/hal.pierce.5150
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below or download here.
Hello everyone thanks for tuning in to whistlekickMartialArtsRadio, episode 228. Today, we're going to be joined by Sensei Hal Pierce, a friend of mine from my martial arts time in Maine. Lots of ties to previous guests on the show and frankly, it's a great conversation so stick around and enjoy that. If you're new to the show let me introduce myself, my name is Jeremy Lesniak and I'm the founder here at whistlekick, I'm your host for the show and I love the martial arts which is where whistlekick and this show came from. Honestly just my passion and kind of grew into some other stuff like this. Thanks for tuning in, you can check out everything we do at whistlekick.com. You can check out 200 and 27 other episodes at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Feel free to sign up for the newsletter at either spot, we send out couple episodes, episodes a couple issues of that newsletter every month. They're short they're to the point, stuff that's going on behind the scenes, discounts on products, upcoming things you might be interested in, events. We've got all kinds of stuff going on that we're sharing with you. So, jump on that list you know we're not going to spam you. we're not going to sell it, your address you know. It's pretty low key, like a lot of the stuff that we do here at whistlekick. If we're not out on the floor training, it's probably pretty low-key cause we're just you know, we want people hanging around that want to be around. We're not going to beat you over the head with these aggressive business practices that so many other companies try to use. If you're on Facebook and you haven't checked out our sort of private group for talking about the show whistlekickMartialArtsRadio behind the scenes. You should do that? make sure you like whistlekick while you're over there on Facebook and if you're not on Facebook or you've already checked us out on Facebook, don't forget we're on Instagram, we're on twitter, we're on YouTube, we're on Pinterest 02:04 other places and the content isn't always the same in every place you know admittedly like those companies we bring you some stuff but you know once in a while there's some different stuff popping out so be sure to follow us everywhere that works for you. Many martial artists start their journey after seeing an impressive display on television or in a movie and today's guest Sensei Hal Pierce is no different. Martial arts movies were his gateway in the training and he's still bringing that passionate attitude to the arts so many years later. Today he practices multiple martial arts discipline and he's known for sharing that knowledge, a passion I can personally attest to. Sensei Pierce is fond of the application of traditional martial arts through mixed martial arts and loves working with kids. His story is both inspiring and relatable so let's take a listen. Sensei Pierce welcome to whistlekickMartialArtsRadio.
Hal Pierce:
Oh, I'm very honored to be here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, the honor is mine, this is fun you know we talked about doing this. I think the first time we talked about doing this was like over a year ago and you're busy.
Hal Pierce:
Probably.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I'm busy, and you know just 2 ships passing and I'd see you at stuff and I was like hey we got to do that and but now we're here and we're doing that. So, I appreciate making...
Hal Pierce:
Exactly, timing's perfect because I've been slowed down this year with injuries and other things and it is time to refocus and get back on board.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, I'm not going to look at your injuries as a positive thing, if it allowed me to talk to you here then I'm going to see it as making the best of a bad situation.
Hal Pierce:
That's the positive way we got to look at these things.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's right. Alright. Well you're here of course to talk about martial arts and I know some of your background. I don't even know the whole thing but a lot of the listeners aren't going to know much of it if any. You've come up in a couple of conversations in past episodes I know that. But why don't you start, give us some background how you got started in the martial arts.to talk about martial arts and I know some of your background. I don't even know the whole thing but a lot of the listeners aren't going to know much of it if any. You've come up in a couple of conversations in past episodes I know that. But why don't you start, give us some background how you got started in the martial arts.
Hal Pierce:
Sure, and probably I started probably as a kid watching you know martial arts movies on TV but the thing that really triggered me was watching kickboxing on ESPN in the USA network. That's what I really, really wanted to do and you know at the time it really didn't fit in to the family structure things but once I went off to the University of Maine I hooked up with this man named Bruce Barker. He taught Shotokan and he had classes in the basement of 04:35 gym in a cement floor and at the time that I knew. The coolest thing that drove me in was that when they did sparring, he dumped out his bags. It was like 2 duffle bags full of really, really dusty crappy gear 16 ounce gloves and karate foot gear and we just had a blast and that was probably like the thing that drew me in. At the time if we were doing like point fighting like the way we do now, typical karate sport probably wouldn't have lasted. Full contact fighting is what I had seen on TV and that's what I wanted to do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay so what was it about what you saw on TV that drew you in cause I think for a lot of people it can go the other way you know people watch the sports that they participate in and here you are you started participating in the sport you were watching. What was it about watching kickboxing on TV that drew you?
Hal Pierce:
It was just, it was the skill that these guys were showing me on TV that was just you know boggling my mind cause you know you expect stuff in the movies and you can't understand the stunt work and this funny camera angles but to see people go out there and actually perform these things you know I'd watch boxing and I was you know I knew a lot of the big named boxers at that time but to see someone who kicks over the head is something I couldn't do you know at the time. You know kids just sit around and play around and throw kids but to see these guys throw a really, really precise technique like that it just you know it intrigued me enough to I wanted to do it and you know as well as part of a school year you know you do your spring, you do your fall and what it leads to is summer's when I'm back and Greater Portland area I hook up with Mr. Chae and he was like the local kickboxing guy in Portland at the time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're doing that, you're doing some kickboxing in the summer Shotokan karate at school you know and what, where did it go from there?
Hal Pierce:
It's, well the funny was that my second year at the University of Maine Bruce brought up a guest to do a seminar and it was Joe Lewis and you know at the time I kind of knew the name, didn't know the person. But when he came out you know in his blue gi, everybody else is wearing white, you just, it was just he was almost like a superhero to me, even though I'm in my 20s it's still he was a superhero and he started you know showing us just simple things like his you know his famous sidekick and that kind of sort of lift the flyer so that's what, that next summer, that's when I had my first kickboxing match and I was a yellow belt at the time and cool thing was I was meeting people at these shows and you know I have to you know shake hands you know drink water or something and they'd say, what dan are you and I'd say what do you mean dan? They go oh first degree second degree and I said dude I'm a yellow belt and they were kind of shocked. It's very similar with what I see today in like mixed martial arts, you see guys come into a gym to do they train 3-4 months and they have their first match the only well the only difference is that I always really, really wanted to polish my technique and look like the guys I saw on TV. One of the things that you see no we step back a little bit mixed martial arts doesn't appeal to a lot of what I call traditional karate teachers because you know not so many word it's really, really crappy technique but if you think about it you know real fights aren't pretty techniques, real fights they're kind of gritty and dirty and mixed martial arts can be kind of really, really gritty technique but for those of us you know who want to see what really happens when you need to defend yourself that's the kind of thing that happens. You're not going to defend yourself against the perfect reverse punch, it's going to be something the sucker punch or kick or some try to take you to the ground, I could delve too far in that way but that's kind of thinking was at the time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah but that's an interesting way to look at it, you know I think a lot of people look at, a lot of traditional martial artist myself included I mean you've got me thinking look at the idea of MMA as being something sim, separate or at least some kind of bastardization of martial arts in you're saying that you look at it as, I'm losing the words I was trying to sum it up, I had it and I lost it but this idea that you can look at how it might actually be applied, it's bunkai in a sense.
Hal Pierce:
Pretty much and 09:23 the future, just like it was in the year 2000, Rick Pelletier who was an instructor in Lewiston hosted and individual named Tony Blauer and I read the flyer in it sort of you know intrigues me and I went to the seminar and have somebody talk about real self-defense. He was calling it cerebral self-defense using the minds and it's not so much as, well I hope I get to use my favorite technique it's you know some of the technique and your brain's going ahh what am I going to do, how do you get beyond that you know the fight of light. Why do some people freeze and some people will instantly trigger and do something like whatever and defend themselves and what did you do I don't know you know so like I said you know really defending yourself against something isn't a trained martial artist most trained martial artists don't attack people it's usually street fighters, gang bangers, bikers, pissed off, drunk people?
Jeremy Lesniak:
For sure.
Hal Pierce:
But like I said that was one of my epiphany moments I've had a bunch over the years and I'm sure we'll get into most of those.
Jeremy Lesniak:
At least some of them I'm sure there's, I don't know that we have time for most. Mr. Blauer's quite the example of traditional martial arts that branched out and we did have him on the show, I want to say it was like episode 108, I'll link to it in the show notes for anybody.
Hal Pierce:
I do, I did watch that one I mean I listened to that one because you know I zipped, I scanned through your list and I'm like I had to go see that one.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But both parts because Mr. Blauer holds the record for the longest episode in fact we had to split it in 2 parts. I want to say it was 2 hours 35 minutes.
Hal Pierce:
I've only seen one then huh
Jeremy Lesniak:
It was a marathon, it was by the end my legs were crossed, let's put it that way.
Hal Pierce:
I did his PDR certification in Montreal, I did the advanced PDR, I did the weapons PDRI mea at the time my brain went to you know like there's 2000 I said I got to find about the self-defense stuffs. Everything I'd been practicing is wrong I said I got to learn this and then you know you step back and your like how can I apply this to what I've been doing all these years and I had a similar advance in I know it was like early 90s maybe 1993, '94 that's when the US school started and for you listeners who are like red belts or brown belt now that you have that confidence in you that you're getting ready for your black belt and your technique is really, really sharp and you're polishing everything up and you're feeling pretty good and confident on what you do and I'm sitting there watching TV watching this little skinny guy always crazy taking these big guys down and submitting them and I'm thinking oh my god I don't know that. I need to know that stuff and in the karate tournament I was talking to an instructor off the coast Frank Berrenie, he was doing the same thing he's looking to that scene, I got to do that I got to do that and he was fortunate that in the Dao Karate Club we had a judo instructor who started the Judo program so I took my 3-days I week I was doing martial arts and at the fourth day. I was doing Judo. It wasn't quite that I was looking for at the time but I fell in love with Judo at the same time and like I said I'm a red belt testing for black and 13:00 system overload but it was fun and I think, truth be told I think I had like kind of an addictive personality anyway. I was just fortunate that my martial arts with other people find other advice 13:14
Jeremy Lesniak:
What was it about Judo? You know so you're doing I want to say, is it exclusively striking arts up until the Judo Club started?
Hal Pierce:
Pretty much.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Hal Pierce:
Well because you know starting a program at a University, once you graduate and move on to do a career hopefully so I you know went looking for another Shotokan class and I did a session with Tony Fournier in Portland not to do a lot of name dropping but I think a lot of people probably know him and then I when I changed jobs I moved up the coast again and I went searching for a school. Well it just so happened that someone started teaching at the YMCA but it was in Taekwondo and so I'm like well do I start this? If it's only a few miles away from here go find a Shotokan school. Well I switched over to Taekwondo so I said like I started over and that was the instructor who gave me information to Bill Superfoot Wallace seminar which I went to and had a blast and if you remember back in I don't know you're probably a little younger but in the early 90s after the seminar he'd spar with every single person in class and he usually at one time or another we'd chase him into the corner and 14:37with his foot. That was one of my biggest memories for that and like I said I had a blast.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah it is well known and unfortunately, I didn't meet Mr. Wallace until long after that but yeah, we've had quite a few people on the show who their first taste of Superfoot was going to a seminar and thinking I can get him and not getting him.
Hal Pierce:
Well, cause he's not a big guy and usually just you know three quarters of people in the seminar of his would be bigger than him and you think well especially after you spar with a few people in front of you he must be getting tired. Absolutely not and again you chase him around and 15:23 you and then usually if you had 15:26 with his foot. This is before everybody had a camera phone, I would love to have me getting my 15:33 by Superfoot Wallace.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, we've got Judo and some Karate and some Taekwondo, yeah, yeah keep flushing that out we're starting to get the puzzle pieces put together...
Hal Pierce:
And when that Taekwondo teacher left the YMCA, the Dao karate club came in which was owned and run by Jeff Wood and he was hosting a camp every year so the first camp I went to that's where I initially my Judo teacher John Dyer and then that Skip Barney who was teaching weapons and all of a sudden, I fell in love with Judo, I fell in love with weapons 16:14. So I wanted, I got my single stick and I started doing stick too and with Taekwondo and everything else. Like I said it's kind of an addictive personality it's just try to suck it all in, master it all and then like I said when the UFC came out and I started watching that we started Judo and we had a little bit of grappling but it wasn't quite what I was looking for in watching TV and a couple of us decided we were going to go to Renzo Gracie seminar put on in 16:46 by a friend of mine named 16:49 and we had such a good time with that. We started going to Long Island every other weekend and I ended up getting my blue belt from Henzo and this is let's see. This is like '98 and the cool thing was at the time you could go online and find yourself, your name and your rank on a BJJ site. That's the kind of thing you know you could tell all your friends that happened to look it up on a computer and that's like it is a big deal. But I kept doing my judo with John and he lead me to one of the best times I ever had with a seminar with Judo Gene LeBell and you know he'd come out in his pink gi and usually beat 1 or 2 people who would snicker, he would do every single painful thing to those two people and he was kind of a cranky guy until the end he's kind of warmed up then afterwards he just want to go have a beer with everybody and then the stories he would tell you know a 4-hr seminar, you were there for 8 hours or so and those of us who don't really train much you know it's a 10 milk 1 beer 18:08 stories.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's awesome, that's some of my favorite stuffs the after of the training. It's kind of the vibe we're trying to recreate in here.
Hal Pierce:
And something that I picked up, well many years ago was the people that I really enjoyed training with could teach with like a sense of humor and you know well a lot of sometime you'd meet local instructors who you know just seem to have an attitude. They want you to know their title and they recognize the stripes in their belts. The people like Bill Wallace and Joe Lewis or Gene LeBell they all taught with a sense of humor and it was just fascinating to see that you know you were kind of cram information your head not lose any of it and they'll tell little jokes on the side and some of the stories that you remembered forever 19:10 my brain works and I tried to do that ever since especially with the kids you know. Kids attention span can be based on age you know anything from 15 minutes to a half an hour or so. 19:23 keep engaged and having a good time you got them. Then if you go too far they walk all over you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure, I'd love to talk about that for a second because one of the things that I have certainly observed when you're teaching children is that you have their complete attention in a way that very, very few instructors I've ever seen do. Some instructors can get children's attention by you know kind of brow beating them by intimidating them even if they're mixing it in with humor and when I see you teaching children it looks like it is 100% because you love teaching children and they love learning from you. So, would you be willing to share a bit about your philo, more about your philosophy on that and how you've gotten to that point?
Hal Pierce:
Sure, like I said when I see other instructors who I consider you know some of these people everybody knows is world class instructors and some peep some of these guys are just local and that I consider them still world class instructors cause they're that good. You know I've seen Tony Fournier with you know 30-40 kids on the floor and do the same thing and I was like Oh I got to do that and you watch how they work with the kids and it's not so much you try to bring yourself down to their level maturity wise, you try to bring yourself down to their level so that you at least they recognize you as a peer yet they want to learn what you had to teach them and I'm probably confusing on my words here but
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, I get what you're saying.
Hal Pierce:
The, because you can relate to a child easier if you try to put your brain into like their way of thinking yet continue to realize that you're the adult so if they ask you a question you know you kind of give them an adult response and still understand where they're coming from.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're talking about meeting them where they're at?
Hal Pierce:
Yes, exactly
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I think most people will get that, you know the idea that you can change, I think the easiest example and correct me if I'm wrong but changing your language you know using words that kids would use doesn't mean you talk like a little kid you know not necessarily that same inflection but avoid using big words and this is kind of if anybody out there is has been at, had a job in sales that's kind of 101 it's to wherever people are at try to meet them talk about the things that interest them I don't know about you but sometimes when I teach children I try to make sure that I'm using topical references you know which means I'm staying up on the music that they listen to or the TV shows or the movies which honestly the older I get the harder that gets.
Hal Pierce:
Exactly, well I had a little ninja class and one of the little boys had to come in and came running in and tell me a story about Thomas the tank engine and for some reason the TV was on in PBS one day and I knew who Thomas was so I asked him a question about something I knew about Thomas. His eyes got huge and said hey I had to go run tell mom and dad that I knew who Thomas was.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And how much more can you impart, how much better a teacher can you be with that kid when they look at you with those eyes say he knows who Thomas is he probably knows other stuff that I want to know.
Hal Pierce:
Exactly and the only sometimes I really struggled at was when I had a at one time I had a teen only class because they kind of didn't fit with the kids' class and sometimes they didn't quite fit with the adults ' class and I had I remember 12 or so and I said let me set a teen class. Every once in a while, we do self-defense and some of the topic would come up it was specific to like a high school kid versus grade school kid or someone out in the real world but it you know and sometimes I struggle with that especially when a teenage girl would come in and say nobody understands me and I'm like I'm a middle-aged guy what the hell do I know about you know nobody understands me and I kind of 23:42 and use some of my best martial arty stuff and the kid turned out okay. She graduated high school and then 23:51 air force and last, I heard she was becoming a nurse so I kind of hoped I had a little help and a little hand in helping her in heading in the right direction. Even though if you ask me what I'd tell here I didn't know 24:03
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well I think that's the hallmark of a good martial arts instructor is that you can adapt and you have to again meet people where they're at the best that you can and I've always found that at least most people pick up on the effort rather than the actual outcome. If they see that I'm trying, they'll give me the benefit of the doubt.
Hal Pierce:
Exactly, and that you I find that if you were giving everything you have to something even if you're struggling, come to the people out there who just see you struggling and they're just dying to help you. You know some people just walk right by but some people will actually go out of their way and try to help you or stick up for you or eventually put in the good word for you, next thing you know you get these opportunities coming left and right just because you worked hard. And I think, I don't think anything's really come easy 25:04 in life but you know you got to, it's you kind of develop a work ethic or you don't. I grew up as a dyslexic kid who didn't know that what that was, or didn't know what my problem was till 8th grade and you know once you someone finally tells you hey you got an issue you would really kind of learn how to read and remember what you read and hopefully go on in life and I actually went to University of Maine and became an Engineer and a martial artist and everything else.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. Alright I think we've got a pretty good foundation. I mean we've put a lot of puzzle pieces together there, I'm going to guess the listeners are understanding a bit more about who you are and your philosophies so I kind of want to move on and stack some other blocks or whether we're going to turn this into a three-dimensional puzzle now.
Hal Pierce:
Sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You gave us some stories. some anecdotes there, I know you've got so many more. So, if I was to ask you for your favorite martial arts story what would that be?
Hal Pierce:
You want a humorous one?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'll leave that to you.
Hal Pierce:
This is my favorite
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay
Hal Pierce:
This is my favorite one. I just started Judo and I would then see to try it out and at the time Judo tournaments were really really small and you know you go into a Judo tournament in high school here in Maine and it'd be 20 people. But we had a grappling event at one of our karate tournaments. So, I'm like oh I got to enter that, I got to enter that. Well I had a favorite take down that I could use in class almost on everybody and essentially in Judo you know you kind of grip up with someone you grab in the sleeve, a little power or something, you tug in and try to get a position so that you can you know dominate them and then you know throw them or as we'd say hit them with a 27:05. Anyway, one of my favorite ones was when I grip up with somebody and they held my right hand and I would break loose and I would drop down and grab their pant leg and rip it up and other hand 27:19 you know I ended up dumping them on their back. My instructor always told me, he says go for the leg not pant leg, yup yup yup and I would always grab the pant leg. Well grappling is brand new in the Northeast here and brand new with our karate tournament and I had won my first much so I was feeling pretty cocky I get my second one and he grabbed my right sleeve and I broke loose and went down and grabbed his pant leg and when I ripped the pant leg up, the pant leg came with me as foot still on the ground and his pants ripped all the way up to the waist band. If you want to picture it he was wearing a Judo top with Taekwondo pants, the really light cottony ones and just lucky for me that you know we were starting the transition to spandex shorts and not jocks and things like that because I'm standing there looking him almost in the face with his pant leg in my hand. He was looking at me, the next thing you know, he's got 28:17 on me and belly down he's on top of me and I'm tapping.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you tore his pants and he won the match.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah, I tore his pants from the ankle all the way up to the waist band. Kind of like those breakaway pants, you'd see in basketball.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, mean clearly you could've surprised him more with the well I you know
Hal Pierce:
I didn't know how to convert that 28:43 Oh my god what did he do
Jeremy Lesniak:
I would need, I if I was grappling with someone and next thing I knew my leg was completely exposed I don't know that I would have the mindset to put a choke 28:57 I just I don't know that would happen. I think I would just be in shock.
Hal Pierce:
And I have had people tell me you know they ripped their pants kicking and things which I could picture but it's just you know this one happened to me since, that's one of my favorite stories about myself. I had another good one too.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah please.
Hal Pierce:
I was down to another Judo tournament, I was down in Massachusetts and there's a lot more people at those tournaments. Well based on rank my second opponent outweighed me by that'll be 150 pounds. He was younger than me and I believe he was like a Samoan kid, but he shorter than me must be going over 300 pounds and I'm thinking Oh my god what do I do. Alright so I gripped up 29:51 a strong kid and again I trying my best take down all of sudden boom he falls on top of me well because I had a grip of his lapel. I've got his gi ripped wide open and he's naked sweaty belly is forming a seal on my face and in a Judo tournament you know you have to throw your 30:11 a little bit so they'd stop you and stand you back up and I'm trying everything I can to move him off of me and all I'm doing is moving flesh and like I said my face is been sealed and I had to tap because I was smothered by his belly and the joke I tell the kids usually is 30:26.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That maybe the best punchline to a martial arts joke I've ever heard, I love it. It's fantastic.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah like I said, that will break the eyes if somebody brand new would walk in and okay let's get to work.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now outside of martial arts is there anything that you're passionate about, do you have hobbies or you know or is all your time training and working?
Hal Pierce:
Well, when I do have some spare time, I do like water sports. I love canoeing and kayaking. Actually, fishing I'm going like 31:08 mindless stuff like just sit there quietly in the water. When I was younger you know I used 31:15 powerboats, but now I think, I don't know if I'd mellowed or most or become a granola. I like to paddle a canoe, hit the kayak and recently when I actually could afford to I put a couple of Caribbean vary vacations. Man, I love snorkeling down there where the water is crystal clear. The fish and beautiful colors, you do that here up in Maine you know you can't sit in you know in 3 feet in front of you. Water is ice cold, color's is kind of bland, I could retire down there I think, I get bored probably in you know 3-4 months but I could try it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well you'd have to keep training and teaching.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah, I don't know if I 32:02. It's much like talk about it, I don't know if I could really stop and do nothing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't think, I don't know that too many people are really good at doing nothing and certainly some of the folks that we've had on the show if I use the as a sample set I can't imagine to many of them stopping everything. Some of them I can imagine retiring from work and training more but hanging out on the couch.32:27
Hal Pierce:
Now that I don't have, I’m one of these people who can't really sit and watch a movie. I'm the one who have to get up and buy go get a drink sit back down, go make popcorn and sit back down. I just I don't have the ability to sit still and watch like a movie like many people. I don't know if I'm the one 32:51
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's kind of shift gears a little bit and we've talked some of the things that you love, talked about a lot of positive stuff. Let's talk about the other side, let's talk about I guess we can call it the negative. Everybody goes through hard stuff, so I'm wondering if you'd share with us a difficult time in your life and how you were able to use or reflect on your martial arts to get through it?
Hal Pierce:
33:22 in 1971 I was in first grade. She wasn't really keen on my fighting but once I started karate and going to like real karate tournaments and doing forms and things she was more impressed with the plastic trophies than she was like black eyes and bruises. But she'd you know and I sort of degraded her to the point where she couldn't get out, she couldn't walk and she died in '99 and a promoter that used that knew me very well and I had you know '99 I hadn't fought probably in 10 years, read the obituary in the paper and called me out of the blue and he says how would you like to go to Madison Square Garden with a boxing match. I'm like holy cow, I said you know at the time because she just died I kind of refocused in the martial arts and I was like you know going everyday of the week till I can find a class and I said sure. He brought me to Madison Square Garden for the Lennox Lewis - Evander Holyfield fight was a draw but I met a bunch of people because he brought me back stage. Bridgett Riley if you know the name she was a champion kickboxing and a champion boxer which is 5-time world champion in boxing and of course she had a lot of handlers at the time and also you kind of meet these people you shake their hand, they acknowledge you and they move on. Well years later you know I've found her on Facebook and told her the story and you know we kept chatting and 35:06 one of my Facebook friends 35:08 on a handful of things and we go back and forth. It's you know It's kind of like martial arts can make or create lasting relationship you know you don't see these people very often, they remember you and then it's 35:24 get together and train sometimes you know sometimes you do sometimes you don't and you know like I said martial arts is my distraction from issues like you know your mom dying and you're 30 something years old.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, yeah certainly a great distraction far better than, distractions I think that others not all but some will look to.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah well like I said as for someone with like an addictive personality you're better off playing golf, do martial arts than if you are you know drinking every night or something like that and just 36:08 real quick my old personal policy was never just having a and I don't drink very often but never have I mean your students see you drinking especially the kids. Sometimes it can be tough but it's you know, it's hard for you to promote clean living and what not and then have them see you doing the opposite. I was very very conscious of that and mostly cause I've seen the results of people who aren't responsible and that's my little public service announcement.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do you think that could have, been you? If you didn't have martial arts? Do you think you could've gone kind of sideways with things?
Hal Pierce:
I don't, yeah probably you know like I said I would've probably had to find something. Like I said I can recognize the addictive personality and then some of the you know people I have worked with who like recovered from there. I recognize a lot of the traits cause I kind of have them, maybe not to their degree but I do have them. A lot of us do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, it's for sure, I put myself in that camp as well.
Hal Pierce:
And then it's sometimes it can tweak your life a little bit so that you're not you know what I call like normal everyday people you know I kind of over the years messed up relationships based on being martial arts addictive personality, oh 37:43 oh no I got class. Oh, can't you get someone to cover, I could but it's my plan.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah
Hal Pierce:
No, I don't need to go on all that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No No because I think most everyone gets that you know it's there's always something else. There are a thousand and one distractions and I've heard a number of instructors say that you know that their competition in bringing someone into their martial arts school is the student it's not the other martial arts school in town or the multiple other martial arts schools nearby. It's the multitude of things that distract people, it's you know it's soccer it's the movies it's television it's life. You know and we all get the same 24 and everybody chooses to spend it differently and to dedicate yourself to martial arts certainly requires an investment in time. It's a dedication, I don't know too many people that after a full day of work and just life in general say, you know I've got all this time I'm sitting on I guess I'll go learn Taekwondo or Karate or whatever.
Hal Pierce:
It's true, that's very very true when I'm holding one in my hand right now, a phone. I just if you go out to a restaurant now just kind of stop and glance out and look at how many people are looking at their phones and then someone 39:11 around them. It's shocking watch people walking around in public 39:16 their phones out. You know not that well you could probably come up with a karate app you can learn karate on your phone but there's something to be said for the interaction of people especially when you're learning something new and then if you're struggling, someone else is struggling well you got a bond there. You kind of have a bond with the people that come up to the ranks with you. There's a whole bunch you get a rank and next thing you know is it's down the 2 of you testing for your black belts and you've outlasted everybody else. Those are you know, those are lifetime memories, you know how many people remember it. You remember the time you went to let's say see a movie at the movies, remember the time when Joe got drunk at the bar oh yeah like it's not lasting, pretty shallow but...
Jeremy Lesniak:
We've heard a lot of the influences you've had in the martial arts and some of the people that you've learned from and I'm going to take your original instructor out when I ask this question, but who's been the most influential, was it someone we've heard about or maybe somebody else?
Hal Pierce:
One of the biggest ones was Joe Lewis, a couple of years before he died because in over the years based on my financial situation I would go chase seminars or I was in bad financial situation probably not and it was almost every time he'd see me or after a span of few years oh nice to see you he says you're getting back in, no I'm training just not in 40:56 but like I said a couple of years before he died I was, the MMA thing was kicking in and I'm trying to do everything, I'm doing jujitsu twice a week and judo once a week and Taekwondo a couple of times a week and he says do you want to be good at all those things? He says do you want to be great at one or two, well he says what do you really, really like well like everything he says you can't and he kind of made me say that oh you know I like the old-style kickboxing and I really, really like Judo cause I like as an engineer of the science 41:36 had to break someone's balance. You know those two things intrigued me martial arts wise, he says well he says chase those he says to hell with the rest you know in his little 41:49 and he says I want to let me ask you the same thing in a year and then I think it's early probably in '14-'15 I think he died in '15 no '14 I was in Springfield, Mass he says well what are you up to and I said 42:12 well Taekwondo twice a week I said and kickboxing and Judo. What else he said and I said that's it, 42:20 and he watched me he says you know you getting sharper and that meant the world to me like I said you know, he's the kind of person, he's the first person I met who I can say is world class and I valued his opinion.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Certainly, a powerful force in the martial arts at various levels with the various status of his life and one of the most referenced folks in this podcast and one of my regrets is that I didn't get to meet him. I have to.
Hal Pierce:
He's a very, very giving person and he's one of these people you know you are hanging on every word and he'd slip a joke in, it took you a second to 43:08 oh that's funny then you think you processed it oh my god it’s really funny and you know what if ever he showed you, you remembered it just because that little humor trigger stuck in your head forever. Yeah, we missed him a lot and I go 43:26 find out where he was instructors were so I try to go and hook up with them. I know you know Robb Buckland 43:35
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah been on the show
Hal Pierce:
Yup he's one of those people 43:39 train with him 43:42 Oh yeah, I haven't really said anything about how I get into like boxing thing either.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, let's hear that, yeah let's do it.
Hal Pierce:
Alright, like I said I started with kickboxing you know where we're kicking bags and hitting 44:03 and then I had the middle area where you know you start doing point sparring. My first point sparring tournament you know someone had scored on me with what I call like 44:16 the kind of thing that you know you'll be cracking egg. 44:19 and then you know comes whip 44:25 here comes next one I'm like side step jab cross hook boom and I drop him. contact disqualified, you got to be kidding me and Hal you can't do that, what do you mean he can't do that? It's controlled, what do you mean it's controlled? Point sparring 44:41 One of these people that always had a problem with point sparring but anyway a friend of mine brought me down to a boxing show in Portland in 2008 and he's been bogging me for years to go and I kept ah boxing that's you know old school, it's going away 45:03 kickboxing is sport of 80s, boxing going away 45:08 still around. Anyway, get down with the show you know I walked through and the promoter of the show sees me 45:20 while I'm walking behind 45:22 I recognize you from somewhere, I'm like wow I said I used to fight for Mr. Chae a long time ago, Oh, and I said 45:31 oh he's my promoter oh he says I do think I remember you so my ego has been inflated to the sky and I met some of his people, some of his fighters. I met 2 young ladies one was named Lisa 45:45 who became my personal boxing coach for a while and brought up my karate school and did a seminar and the other was Liz Letty who was, who has struck me as being you know small dark-haired girl with big giant arms 45:59 I should and at the time Lisa was a 5-time national champion one time world champion and Liz was you know was just you know reaching a point where she started to compete national, she's now 3-time national champion. Anyway, once you know while I'm sitting down all of a sudden, I started hearing something just go pa pa pa and I recognize you know hitting mitts and I turned around there's a little tiny kid about 120pounds, just pounding the mitts and I'm like god I missed that and that was like my foray into it and boxing coach says come on by the club and I'm like okay. I kind of wanted to go but I was a little intimidated to go you know I did make my way in and it's a very close-knit group. You don't just get invited in especially you know someone in their 40s. But I missed it so I kind of wanted in and they've accepted me pretty quick and like I said Liza became my boxing coach for a while and I kind of never left. I just enjoyed the atmosphere and then I started working with some of the people down there and in karate I was teaching a lot of you know parents who bring their kids in saying oh my kid has trouble focusing in school 47:24 not paying attention. I started getting involved in the boxing community not needing kids who were trying not to go to prison or kids coming fresh out of prison and I'm like wow, so you can really make a difference down here so like I said I never left and then 2 days a week I'm down in there doing what I can do to help support 47:45
Jeremy Lesniak:
Boxing is one of those combat sports that some will lump in as a martial art some say it's not though sometimes people that say it’s a martial arts say it's not really martial art they draw a line, right there are different ways some people draw those lines. I'm curious of your perspective how would you like someone who is very clearly a traditional martial artist, how do you look at boxing?
Hal Pierce:
If you're too high level of it, if you can get too brush it off thinking well it's just guys 48:24 and the other thing is that you know, parents talking about how my kids having trouble in school, someone might pop up and say, jeez my kid's going to karate class down the road you got to check it out. Martial arts appeals to parents are held a lot more than boxing, no parent says I want my kids to learn how to box, 48:45 combat sport. It doesn't appeal to a lot of people but martial arts wise once you get into footwork and transferring body weight and calculate a punch it's by teaching karate you know like teaching how to mechanics of 49:04 teaching mechanics of a kick you break it down you started teaching mechanics of a punch, turning your wrist over you know it's very, very related when you break it down into pieces and once you get beat you start to learn the science of it, it's not just showing your jab that's pushing off the back foot from your jab and that foot plants when it catches up then your right hand's loaded up and after you throw your right you know you left the weight that your left side, you throw your left hand. I like I said the science of it intrigues me and I just like I just miss hitting mitts and heavy bags to the point now where I'm teaching a boxing class like a student, students from 14 up to 70.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool. Does boxing scratch the same itch for you that other arts do?
Hal Pierce:
Yes it does and then recently I've gotten involved with a couple of mixed martial arts games one now closed and now down to one and it's a piece of it and like I said earlier just like watching watch people show sloppy technique in a sport of MMA kind of you know kind of hurts me funny that jeez that person needs to like work on the, to box that person needs to work in the kicks but we have a couple jujitsu black belts and to watch them you know do their jujitsu once they get some 50:39 watch how smooth they are, watch how smooth they are and watch their technique and then all of sudden they start using their own ability is they got them their black belt in jujitsu and they starting to learn, they're striking the same manner, like breaking mechanics down and you know you and I know what it takes to be a black belt. It's not just show up twice a week do your stuff and go home you know you become obsessed with working the technique in your material. Those people 51:08 obsess over you know the other pieces of the mixed martial arts game and those are the ones that are fun to watch. First that comes into the door wants just dying to learn how to fight it's just, yeah, this person doesn't quite get it, like those are the ones you're going to see 51:23 but it's fun to watch a black belt break down something brand new to them and do break it down like a black belt would. Break it down piece by piece, where's my weight go?
Jeremy Lesniak:
There are certainly a lot there, and what I'm enjoying about what we're hearing from you is how you're connecting I mean just as we were talking about them as puzzle pieces your kind of building your own puzzle of who you as Sensei Pierce are the martial artist and your puxxle's a little bit different than mine and than everybody else's but, yours certainly has more pieces I think than most.
Hal Pierce:
Well if anything is that we if we all have our tool box we go and select the tools we like and we work on others whether, I never want to be the person I don't remember who told me this the first time, it might be even Ben Joe, he said something you don't want to be the guy with one year experience repeated you know 20, 30 times he said you want to be the guy who has 20 or 30 year’s experience cause you're always like totally experiencing new stuff and polishing what you got and refining and coming up with a better method and one of my weapons instructors actually said to me he says you could teach traditionally but he said you got to be a black belt 52:51 what do you mean he says you climb the mountain he says you have students coming up behind you says do you find if you get at the top or the first peak and say oh my god there's a better path over here he says as a responsible instructor you need to tell them that hey guys there's a better path over here to the left and you know help them to succeed don't make them just do every painful thing you've ever done or every long lesson you ever like tried to master he says you really need to make it easier for them and that makes you a better person.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Those 2 statements and folks I want, I don't want this to risk going by with only some of you catching that. Those 2 things that you just shared with us it was like our 2 of the most poignant sentiments that have ever come out in this show and this is going to be episode 220 something and you completely blew my mind with the first one. You want 20-30 year’s experience not the same year 20 or 30 times and I'm not going to expound on that, because different people are going to take that in different ways but I think in every way I'm looking at it, it's pretty powerful so I hope people take that to heart if you have to roll back the last couple of minutes to listen again.
Hal Pierce:
I think that you know, you're going to see it differently than I'm going to see it but essentially, we were, it's our responsibility to make sure that people following our path, follow it the proper way you know I know like I said I've made mistakes and you know not turning my foot when I do a spin kick. I don't need to watch them to do the mistake and yeah, they'll figure it out after you know they hurt their knees or something it's oh I'll even step beyond that. You're probably old enough to remember the days we'd warm up to like for 5 minutes and they we're trying to do full splits. We don't do that stuff anymore you know we warm the body before we start stretching legs but in the old days we're in the hard wood floors we used to like do a few jumping jacks, push-ups, and next thing you know we're doing full splits and all those people will 54:58 hips and knees and I really don't, I kind of like my body parts, I really don't want to replace them.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm attached to mine.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah, we've gotten so much better about science and exercise physiology, it’s up to us that you know have our guys and girls doing the smart 55:20 traditional. You know if I you know respect traditional martial arts immensely, what I respect the most of if I ask you a question it's someone tells me an answer or describe the 2 different ways not just do it this way the traditional that turns me off. That means you get you go figure it out myself or alright I just 55:44 down a couple.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We talked about the people that you had trained with, who would you want to train with? Who do you need to get to cross off on your list or you know they can be alive now or passed on and you know maybe even someone that you may get to train with in the future.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah, I've thought about this too and the one person who I would have loved to train with or love to train with right now would be like Bruce Lee but not because of what everybody's instantly picturing I don't necessarily want to you know train today what he was doing way back then. I'm curious where his brain would be at today because you and I both are I'm sure a lot of people that would know him or studied him, know that he was continuously evolving he probably would've started the mixed martial arts thing years before it was started and I'm just I don't know if I can comprehend where his brain would be today He would just be probably again so far ahead a bit of everybody else but I would just love to take his brain. I'm sure you read the Tao of Jeet Kun Do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh yeah
Hal Pierce:
I wore put my first copy with yellow highlighter and writing in the margins to the point I had to buy a second and start highlighting and writing things in the margins. If I had questions you know I had put little question marks. If I thought of some cool thing I could do or 57:17. Sometimes I didn't understand what even he's getting at in that breakdown what I thought it was and if I was wrong cross it out later. He just like, like I said his brain has intrigued me and the more I learn about him the more I'm just intrigued at like what could he possibly be doing today if he was still alive. Again, he's going to be doing the same thing he was doing in 1968.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah that's for sure, there are some that claim him as the original mixed martial artist because of the fusion of wing chang and boxing and what was the third element there. There are 3 elements generally described as the roots of Jeet Kun Do you probably know him better than I do.
Hal Pierce:
I'm certainly having a brain cramp58:08 dig stories out from.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No that's fine, somebody I'll write in or I'll maybe I'll remember before we close up.
Hal Pierce:
Would that be58:17
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right exactly, maybe it was boxing, Chinese boxing and Kung Fu I don't remember. I don't know that it's important but just the idea that he said what do I have to put in my toolbox and you mentioned the toolbox and you also mentioned Kyoshi Buckland who's been on the show and he loves that metaphor that's one that he uses quite often when he's teaching the idea of we have a tool box and we put different tools in and sometimes you're going to certain ones going to take more often than others and others are just in there because you know that you thought they looked cool at the store. That's about half my toolbox.
Hal Pierce:
Yeah, I have some things like that too. Things I've used in ones, alright pretty impressive so I make sure we seize it when I look in there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's right. So, let's talk about the future, what's going with you, what you know what are you looking forward to? What's keeping you motivated I mean you're still you know you're working through at transition right now I know that but you know you're still dedicate so I guess it all comes down to why?
Hal Pierce:
Like I said this has become my lifestyle and few months ago well I'll step back a couple of years two years ago a couple of people I used to compete with back in my kickboxing days had said yeah you know you should get more involved they said you'd become a judge and I'm, like no I don't want to be a judge. You should be a referee, yeah, I don't want to be a referee and then one of them said, how'd you like to be a boxing inspector? A what? A boxing inspector, what's that mean well he says you know how to wrap hands yeap, he says you know what it's like to be a fighter yeap, he says we had people that we hire to you know you got to 1:00:07 get their hands wrapped sign them off and you don't let them out of your sight till they hit the ring. While they put the gloves on you're going to tape the gloves and sign your name on them. Oh, I can do that, and it sounded really, really cool and I get to wear a badge 1:00:23 but I ended up being in the locker looking at some 1:00:25 while the crowds going haaa 1:00:27 But again a few months ago I got appointed by the governor of Maine to become a member of the combat sports at 1:00:39 Maine and this is essentially like the old boxing commission was we oversee combat sports in Maine, boxing and mixed martial arts and soon to have kickboxing legalized in Maine again. We're formalizing the rules right now and they say I told them when they asked me to join I said what I'd like to do is I want to have kickboxing back in Maine not that I miss the sport because what I remember as kickboxing what we have today, today is 1:01:08 Muay Thai. I like the old 1:01:11 days with beautiful kicks and real boxing punches and now it's a little more brutal and I hate to sound old school but I do miss that I had this long discussion Joe 1:01:24 about this and but anyway I said you don't realize that as all these karate schools and then each school has a couple real, real stud black belts who were kind of bored like essentially can wipe the floor with all the students in there and I said you're not really challenging I said each of these schools could probably have 2 guys that would want to fight on the card like that I said I think this could be big if somebody would wanted to promote it I said and I'm willing to step up and help like Bruce which I didn't have to cause essentially copied the glory rules and just tweaking from there. I didn't realize what being a member of the board would be because I got really, really busy helping a first time promoter put on his first show I'm like well that's a little work for like very little money but I said dedicated my life to it and it's kind of nice to be recognized as someone who could contribute and actually contribute rather than 1:02:26 and I'm like a lot of even more behind some of this is I'd like to make sure these events were held safely cause my fear is these mixed martial arts shows a little 1:02:40 you get someone's head that's on the ground and you're smacking with these really, really light gloves and on your feet your body naturally will recoil and do whatever it needs to protect the brain when you start smacking it and your head in the ground has no place to go, go it's your brain it just flushing in fluid and I don't really know what the long term effects of these things are going to be but I'd like to at least make these things as safe as we can and just recently there was a young men who died after a mixed martial arts show and kidney failure it's like oh what maybe was a weight cut it sounds like he only had to cut eight pounds which isn't a lot but I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want to have anybody to die because of a combat 1:03:29 a big chunk if it's going to be making sure these shows are safe and like I said continue to do what I can do and all the other traditional martial arts. It's kind of where I'm in.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool well personally I would love to see more kickboxing you know I think for those of us that, well I don't want to speak for everyone but I know for me and what I look at and what I define as traditional martial arts the way I was brought up with and this is not meant to say anything bad about any other sports because you know I watch everything and people that know me know that I enjoy watching everything. I think kickboxing as you're describing it is probably the closest thing to where the quote unquote real version of the sport stuff that many of us grew up with.
Hal Pierce:
Right
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know and it's not perfect, nothing's perfect you know every iteration every implementation of combat sports have people that are going to hate it for whatever reason and that's fine, that's why there's variety, there are choices but I look forward to that first kickboxing match and if I can I'll be there by all means.
Hal Pierce:
And there's a bunch of people I'm surely 1:04:55 like people like 1:04:56 who's because he's a you know traditional martial artist he told me he says1:05:03 that's what I want to do, I'm doing MMA because that's the only outlet I have but I can see him being on a 1:05:11 kickboxing 1:05:13 you do in Maine.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I hope so, that's a lot of fun to watch.
Hal Pierce:
Every day decent sized school in Maine has one or 2 guys that just might appeal to him and you're you know you're looking at people will have 6,7 10 years’ experience so you're going to see really really polished fighters, not somebody's who's been training for a year or 2, you will see people withe really really good polished technique in a combat application that's kind of what I miss and I see out of the boxers we had down in Portland are really really polished cause we essentially don't want anybody you can spar for 6 months and that 1:05:59 and then you know you guys are having 20-40 amateur fights before anybody becomes a pro. In MMA, I haven't seen guys that are have like 4 amateur fighters boom they become a pro and it's like o goodie. That's the reason why we have a sports story to oversee these things and you know the authority of reviews all the cards 1:06:25 promoters before it happens has to approve them so you shouldn't get those like the old-style boxing matched where guys save the tomato can and 1:06:36 wreck it up we try to prevent that from happening and the guy that's 2 and 0 facing some guy who's like 4 and 4.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well if people are listening they want to get a hold of you or they're travelling through Maine and they want to stop by where you're teaching or something you know how would people find you online, how would they get a hold of you, how would they come connect?
Hal Pierce:
The easiest way to track me down is probably Facebook, because I have friends all over the world just find Hal Pierce on Facebook and you'd probably see my picture.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And we'll definitely link that page in the show notes
Hal Pierce:
I can get a webpage sooner or later, it's one of those things to do which is always on the list.
Jeremy Lesniak:
For anybody that might be new to the show whistlekickmartialartsradio.com is where we got those show notes so we'll have a look to Sensei Pierce's personal Facebook page, great way to connect with him. He always writes back to my Facebook messages pretty quickly 1:07:42
Hal Pierce:
And like I said it's it took me awhile to understand social media, I'm a little I'm usually technologically challenged but when I have, a friend of mine who I used to do weapons with in Massachusetts moved at Thailand, and his wife knocked makes the trainers 1:08:01 which essentially hard fallen you know he's in a different time zone but if he's up to something I know what's going on, I had a friend in Canada who does similar things it's neat to stay connected to people who there's no way to pick up a phone and call them as you would 1:08:19
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think we're going to link that in, go ahead
Hal Pierce:
And it's kind of a way to keep in touch and all of sudden hey someone's going to Florida 1:08:28 jeez maybe I can slip down there and see them or train with them. It's an easy way to connect, you don't get surprised by, hey I'm going to be in Maine when tomorrow oh crap 1:08:40
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right, I think we're going to look back in 20-30 years or so and see that more than many other things in the world social media helped bring martial artists together. The sharing of ideas I mean we're in a really exciting time at least from the way I see it. You know back in the when I was starting you know back in the 80s and even through the 90s if you wanted to learn stuff from somebody it too a lot of work and now you've got the opportunity to figure out what you want to learn and connect with people and you know having you on the show here is a great example of those connections and being able to share them out with everyone else. So, I appreciate you being here today, thanks for your honesty and for sharing everything and I'm hoping
Hal Pierce:
This is a lot of fun
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well good I'm glad, just hoping
Hal Pierce:
I don't consider myself one of these guys way up here I'm holding my hand way above my head but I've done a lot of stuff and 1:09:41 a lot of the stuff going away and if someone's interested I don't want them like steal all their money, I'm just you know I love to share and if they have stuff to share I want to tick their brain 1:09:54 add it in my toolbox.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We always close with the guest offerings and words of wisdom some parting ideas to share with the audience, what words of wisdom might you offer to everyone?
Hal Pierce:
I think that my biggest thing is I would love to see 2 pieces, I'd love to see martial arts in all the public schools’ kind of like what Chuck Norris does with his kick start program. I think it would be a huge value just for people who will get exposed to the lifestyle. I think it'd be so much more appealing than a gym class and then my biggest thing is just you know get involved and try to make this your life style. If you wanted the healthiest lifestyles out there, it's a sport you can do forever, you know you would just adapt it to your age and body structure and just do martial arts forever.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Even though I know Sensei Pierce I still found his story inspiring. He shows us how patience and perseverance in martial arts or whatever it is you do can make you successful. In his case his pursuit of different disciplines and sharing that knowledge it's maintained the level of passion. It's really the only word I can think of to use, his passion. It's so easily seen whatever it takes before or hopefully for you in his words here today. Thank you, Sensei Pierce, for coming on the show you can check out everything we talked about links photos and more over at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. While you're there sign up for the newsletter check out some other episodes and maybe find your favorite and share it with some friends. The show continues to grow rapidly and as we grow we're bringing on new projects, new products more guests. We're expanding a lot of things behind the scenes so thank you for allowing us to grow and hopefully growing with us. Don't forget you can check out our social media we're at whistlekick pretty much everywhere and we'd love to hear from you comment tag you can email me jeremy@whistlekick.com. We spend a lot of time engaging with our audience, it's important to me and I do it a lot, probably too much. Alright, remember this show is here for you, it's here for the martial arts, don't forget our slogan, never settle that's what we do. We'll always iterating trying to make things better and hopefully bringing martial artists together to share to learn to grow. Until next time train hard smile and have a great day.