Episode 729 - The Never Settle Awards
In this episode Andrew talks with our friends Craig Wharem, Stacey Grove, Tommy Given, and Chris Rickard about The Never Settle Awards.
The Never Settle Awards - Episode 729
whistlekick is recognizing martial artists who make the world better with what they do. However, whistlekick alone cannot do this so we’ve invited some great friends. In this episode, Andrew talks with our friends Craig Wharem, Stacey Grove, Tommy Given, and Chris Rickard about The Never Settle Awards. What are they? How did they come about? How do you nominate someone for them? All this and more!
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it. Don’t forget to drop them in the comment section below!
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Andrew Adams:
Welcome, you're listening to Martial Arts Radio. My name is Andrew Adams. That's right. I am not your host Jeremy Lesniak. I'm your host today, Andrew Adams. We're having a special episode without Jeremy. Don't tell him we're meeting behind his back. Everything we do here at whistle kick is in support of the traditional martial arts. If you want to see everything we do, check out whistlekick.com. That's our online home, you can go there and check out everything that we have. It's kind of where you'd find our store. If you decide to make a purchase. You can buy all sorts of things. You can buy at whistlekick, hoodies, shirts, hats, training, programs, all of that stuff. And you can use the podcast, the code PODCAST15 to save 15% on Martial Arts Radio, this episode here gets its own website, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. The show comes out twice a week.
Our goal here at whistlekick is to connect, educate and entertain artists throughout the world. If you want to show your appreciation for what we do, there's a bunch of things you can do to help us out, you can make a purchase, you can tell a friend about us, you can join our patreon for as little as $2 a month you get kind of back back, you get to look behind the curtain a little bit and see what it is that we're doing. You get to see upcoming guests and you actually get some free merchandise as well. So that's kind of cool.
If you want to see the full list of everything you can do to kind of help us out as well as a constantly rotating mix of behind the scenes and other fun content, check out whistlekick.com/family gotta type it in and there's no direct link. We make it work for just a little bit. So, you're probably wondering why there's an episode without Jeremy's unprecedented. This episode is to talk about the new whistle kick awards. And I'm joined today by four very special guests. First, we're joined by Mr. Friend of the show, Craig Wareham. Hey, everyone.
Craig Wharem:
I'm looking forward to chatting today. Awesome.
Andrew Adams:
Craig, thanks so much. Great to be here. Another longtime friend of the show. Does some breaks all the time online. We've got Ms. Stacey Grove.
Stacey Grove:
I am glad to join you. I'm fresh from a taekwondo summer camp and looking forward to talking about this project we've been working on for several months and ready to get it out the door.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. Thanks. So thanks so much for being here. And we're also joined by Mr. Tommy Given.
Tommy Given:
Hey, everyone, I'm excited to be here as well talk about the program. It's awesome.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. And last, but certainly not least, by any stretch of the means, Chris Rickard.
Chris Rickard:
Hey, Andrew, thanks for inviting us all here. I want to say first and foremost, because again, good job on that intro. Jeremy has some big shoes to fill. I did a great job. Did a great job.
Andrew Adams:
Thank you. I appreciate that, Chris. Thanks. So, Chris, you know, we're chatting here, really quick. Whistlekick awards. One of the cool things about whistlekick because we're growing. And there are a number of people that have kind of come on board to help with jobs that whistlekick is doing. And one of them has been this awards thing.
One of the reasons Jeremy's not here is because he knows all so he knows everything about the whistle kick awards. I know nothing, which is what makes me the perfect host for this because I'm going to ask the questions that people are asking because they don't know the answers. Jeremy knows all the answers. Don't tell him I said that. So talk to me a little bit about these whistlekick awards or where they came from and why whistlekick is doing them.
Chris Rickard:
Okay. I'm gonna disagree with you a little bit when you said that you know nothing about these awards, not because you have behind the scenes information or anything like that. But you know, whistlekick, sure you know what it's about. Okay, if I said ideas like, everyone should train martial arts for six months, it would make the world a better place.
And if we go with Jeremy's catchphrase of do what you have, where you're at, with what you've got, and everything like that, I butcher that every time I try to quote it, but you can hear Jeremy saying, those are some of the fundamental things behind these awards. It's the driving factor of whistlekick itself. And what we're looking to do here is recognize martial artists that are making the world and martial arts a better place just by doing what they do. It's not what they can do. It's what they do.
Andrew Adams:
Gotcha. All right. That's cool. That's no, when did this brainchild come about? How did this come about?
Chris Rickard:
This one has been in the works for the better part of the year. I think at this point, there was a Facebook post or just a general announcement on the first cup. Those places where whistlekick always get information. I was like, Who might be willing to help out with this award sort of a thing that we're looking into. And just like so many other whistle kick things, there's an idea. And then we kick it out to anybody that's interested. And some of us raised our hands. And here we are, you see four faces with you today.
And what ended up happening was, we sat down, we did a lot of talking, there was a lot of laughing, and a lot of fun along the way, where we, as a team tried to decide what things we wanted to recognize, what percent whistlekick the best, what represents martial arts, the best, what represents martial artists the best. And we ended up with four awards. And that's sort of how you have four phases talking to us. I think we're each going to take one of them and give you a little bit of information about it.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. So a year. So what I might take away from that is like everything whistlekicke, does a ton of planning and thought went into this.
Chris Rickard:
That may be an understatement.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. Well, thank you. I'm gonna throw it over to Craig here. So, Greg, obviously, you're a longtime friend of the show, you might hold the award for having been on the show the most without actually having an interview episode.
Craig Wharem:
That's true. I'm proud of that record.
Andrew Adams:
So each of you have an award, I have the list of each of the awards, but I know, I don't really know much about them. So why don't you go ahead and tell me about the award that you're kind of spearheading?
Craig Wharem:
Yeah. So I was asked by the group to talk about the flashlight award. And so the flashlight award, it was special to me. In any aspect of form in our lives, in culture, we always shine spotlights on people, right, we always kind of, and there are plenty of people who love being in the spotlight, they do what they do, so they can get public recognition.
We chose to name this one flashlight, because this is us searching for the people who are doing the things worth noticing, whether in the martial arts or in their communities, as leaders, who maybe don't seek out the spotlight, they're kind of just doing their thing, they may not even realize that they're doing something incredible.
They're just doing it because it's the right thing to do, or a nice thing to do. You know, one thing that was important to us about this is the rank doesn't really matter, you don't have to be a black belt, you could be a yellow belt doing an amazing thing with martial arts, and, be recognized and this award, and it's just to find those people and highlight them who deserve the recognition.
Andrew Adams:
Got it. So it's kind of like I've often heard as a joke, someone saying, you know, wait, and you need to wait before you help the older woman across the street until a bunch of people can see you do it. It's not right. It's, you're gonna have that old woman across the street because she needs to get across the street.
Craig Wharem:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's about catching people doing that, in that moment, like you said, I mean, the, to me, the hallmark of this one is that they don't seek recognition. It's just there. You know, and that their actions are speaking louder than their words, because we also know that throughout, and anywhere in our society, we can find people who talk a big game who don't do what they're saying. So this is sincerely people who are just doing their best to make the world a better place.
Andrew Adams:
Got it. I love it. That's great. Well, thank you. That's great, Craig. Stacey, why don't you tell us about the award you're spearheading here.
Stacey Grove:
So, I'm spearheading the open door award, which much like Craig's is one that's kind of personal to me, it's the only one that recognizes the whole school and not just a single person or an instructor. It's designed to celebrate a school that's created a culture where students would refer to it as their home or their family, where everyone's welcome.
And everyone wants to be there with each other, even though they're all different, they might be different ages and come from different towns, different backgrounds. It's the schools that really make everyone want to start their journey and stay. It's kind of a spirit of, of openness, compassion, you know, the chance to work with others to make your life and their lives better together.
Andrew Adams:
Great. Wow. So that's interesting that it is a whole school like, you know, I'm sure we've all seen different Martial Arts Awards and things of that nature. And you're right that from my understanding of New York, they are usually a single pair of people. And so this one is for an actual school Dojo dojang training hall whenever martial arts school.
Stacey Grove:
It's really the community that's being celebrated. And you know, their ability to make people welcome, whether it's they've got physical disability, mental challenges come from a different style and they want to start a new one. It is just that pace that makes people welcome with where they are right now.
Andrew Adams:
Awesome. That's great. I love it. And that's the open door award. Yes. Excellent. All right. Tommy, welcome. It's great to have you here.
Tommy Given:
Thanks for having me.
Andrew Adams:
So you, I've been told you are doing the enduring footprint. What is that?
Tommy Given:
Right. So, that's exactly what it sounds like. It's for that individual that left an enduring footprint in the community, and the martial arts in your life. And the lives of the people that they have come across, and it's that bridge, where you bring somebody in, and when I leave that footprint, it is suddenly distinctively martial art, but it's the individual that was able to resonate themselves. And so just like finding sauce, washers footprint that would last and make that imprint forever, and people would put plastic on it, and, and try to save it.
This is one that we can actually relate to. So that, you know, they're always beating that person bigger than life, like, you know, like Bigfoot are bigger than life, for whatever reason that is, but yet tangible in the sense where you've known you've met them. And so I was actually really honored to, you know, when this came about and got excited about it, and it's just so it's one of those awards that the person getting it as well. Just like the flashlight war, just like the Open School or you know, the open book and the family orienting behind it, you just know that person didn't do it for the work, you know, it's an honor.
And that's what we look at is, you know, it's an honor to say, hey, you know, what, you made an impact. Well, thanks. Can I go back to what I was doing? That's the kind of person that we're looking for. And you know, and I'm sure everyone has those individuals in their life, but to bring merit to their work. I think it is quite special as well.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. So yes, it wasn't really, it is really kind of how it sounds. It's someone that has left an enduring footprint on someone's life. That's great. Thank you, Chris.
Tommy Given:
Yeah, as a martial artist as well, right.
Andrew Adams:
It's what most people see.
Tommy Given:
Okay, so behind them.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. All right, Tommy. Thank you, Chris. We've got one last award here we haven't heard about, tell us about, tell us about what you got going on.
Chris Rickard:
So I'm representing the emissary of the arts tonight. And I'm super proud to do so. Everyone sort of picked an art or an award that resonated with them. This is the one that resonates for me. And how many times have you heard someone go to a martial arts school, looking to join a class and the person there is explained. And all of these wonderful benefits that the child might be getting signed up with receive self discipline, the respect, the humility, the indomitable spirit, all of those things. And the average person has no idea what any of that is. And the parallel that I'm going to draw here is a dancer. If you have someone that knows how to dance, you can see it just watching them walk, they don't have to be dancing, you just see it in every moment, or every movement. They do.
The emissary of the arts is the martial arts equivalent of that. We're not asking people to go around and hit each other in the face or kick each other or whatever. This is the shield that lists those core things about the martial arts, that a martial artist is going to go to martial arts, but the average person may not pick up on it. So you're out in the community, you're making a difference, but you're not wearing your belt to do it. You're being yourself, you're being that martial artist, and you're making martial arts and community a better place just by doing that.
Andrew Adams:
Gotcha. Okay. Now, we've got these four warrants: we've got a flashlight, open door enduring footprint emissary of the arts. How Somebody wins one of these, how would someone get one of these awards?
Chris Rickard:
Well, the first thing that we're going to ask people to do is go to whistlekick.com. Of course, that's our hub for everything whistlekick. And what they will find there are links for nomination forms, we tried to make it as easy as possible. There are four awards, there are four different links, because we didn't want anyone to feel like they had to nominate someone for every award. This is that you find that person that matches the award, and you can nominate them, we're going to compile the nominations.
And then later on this summer, we're going to have the nominees up. And then there'll be a period where we are going to have voting on the nominees that have been recognized. And then later in the year at a certain event that is very whistlekick known, shall we say, the actual award recipients will be announced? We're not saying which one right at the moment, but those of you that know what's okay, could probably figure it out. But we're gonna leave you in suspense for at least a little bit.
Andrew Adams:
So people could probably read between the lines there, if they knew whistlekick. But there will be links up on our website, whistlekick.com. And just again, from what I hear there, you don't have to try and nominate someone or the same person for all four awards. You've nominated someone that fits the best, the award that you're nominating them for that makes sense. Excellent. That's great. I'm excited for this. It's something that I have. I have not seen any martial arts. You know, I have seen awards and things, but they are usually different. They are usually given out at, you know, big symposiums type things. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I like that this one is going to be open to the public to vote on. And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't. I don't know of other groups that do that. And I think that's pretty cool.
Craig Wharem:
For us, that was kind of what we want is we want it to be a super open and community involved program. I think that people do it because regardless of if you win the award or not, you're still getting that recognition. And that's what it's about is our opportunity as martial artists to recognize the greatness and the impact others have. And by putting in a public forum, I think that that really kind of helps with that.
Andrew Adams:
That's excellent. Is there anything that I'm missing? What am I need to know that I don't already know, having listened to this episode,
Stacey Grove:
I would say you also don't have to feel like your nomination has to be perfect in grammar, punctuation. This is from the heart. You know, please don't worry about having the perfect wording or perfect links to other things. This is meant to be something short and from the heart that you should be able to do easily without doing a lot of research or writing that'll take you hours. This is meant to be something you could do and yeah, and 15 minutes. Excellent.
Andrew Adams:
Awesome, guys. Well, thanks so much for coming on today. And let you know helping spread the word of these awards and what they are and how they can be nominated. Again the nomination pages are up and live as of right now this recording so you know, feel free if you think of someone to go through and nominate people if you have someone that will fit one on one of these four words. Stacey, I want to thank you for coming on. I really appreciate you taking time to help. And obviously it's clear that everyone here has put in a ton of time on this. So, Stacey. Thank you, Craig.
Craig Wharem:
I also just wanted to because I know she's not going to do it. Give Stacey a shout out for shepherding us through this process. Jeremy was involved. But Stacey was the driving force behind keeping us all organized on late night meetings and making sure we all did our homework. So, Stacey was a big driving force. So, I just wanted to make sure she got that recognition as well.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. Awesome. Craig, thank you so much for being here. Always a pleasure, Tommy. It's always great to see and hear from you. I appreciate you being here.
Tommy Given:
Thank you. I appreciate it as well.
Andrew Adams:
And Chris, again, thank you for coming on and the work you've done with this. It's clear that like I said a lot of time and effort has gone into this and it definitely shows and I'm looking forward to seeing your nominations and being able to vote and hearing about them later in the year.
Chris Rickard:
Thanks for having me, Andrew. Thanks for having all of us, we are really looking forward to it. We're excited about this. And again, trying to get things off to a positive start is what we're about and looking to just build that momentum the whole way through. And again, we can't make promises. But I wouldn't be surprised if this is not a one time thing. This is the intention is to get this going, where it's an annual thing.
Andrew Adams:
Awesome. Thanks so much for being here, guys. If you liked what you listened to hear today, you want to hear more head on over to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Every episode has a page all to itself. With links, photos, transcripts, sometimes there's even more stuff.
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