Through discipline, respect, fitness, and focus, martial arts training puts children on a path to lifetime confidence and success.

Founded in 2004, Jett Garner Martial Arts teaches Goju Ryu Karate and Krav Maga in Austin, Texas.

Website: jettgarnermartialarts.com/

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“Don’t prepare the road for the child. Prepare the child for the road.”

Transcript

Will Loconto:

I'm Will Loconto. I'm here with my partner Cindy Bass today, and we have a guest, Jett Garner from Jett Garner Martial Arts.

Cindy Bass:

Hi Jett.

Jett Garner:

Hello. How are y’all?

Cindy Bass:

I'm good. I'm just meeting you today for the first time, but Will's known you for quite a long time. Can you tell us a little bit about you and how you got into martial arts?

Jett Garner:

Yes, ma'am. I'm from Indiana and in central Indiana where I'm from, it was really one of the first places in the Midwest in the early and mid sixties that actually opened up a traditional karate studio. My sensei and his friend from high school. Long story, but they were pioneers in the Midwest and a lot of people that came out of their dojo during the sixties and seventies went on to have film careers and action films, world champion kickboxing stars, Bill Wallace, who's one of the most famous martial artists on the planet. Granted, he's in his seventies now, but he's still kicking and getting it done and teaching seminars and so forth. So I really came out of, by the time I joined in martial arts in 97, my sensei had branched off at least 10 years earlier. He had been running his own studio in a smaller town near where I resided at the time.

Cindy Bass:

How did it evolve that you got to Texas From Indiana?

Jett Garner:

Indiana? Right. So going back to Indiana real quick, I was pretty much just on a track of, as I had mentioned earlier, of just kind of being a professional salesman. And I would not take a lot of pride of work or a lot of discipline. It was more of a, I'm doing enough to get by, if that makes sense. And my parents, that martial arts, that Koma Kai, the Koma Kai Studio in Anderson, which Mr. Glenn Keeney and my sensei, Mr. Larry Davenport, opened up in the late sixties, early seventies. They worked on it together. They were like a team, although Mr. Keeney was kind of recognized as the leader of the group, and eventually my sensei decided he wanted to have his own studio. So he went to a smaller town, a little bit north, and that was called the Larry Davenport Karate Studio or Dojo. So I was 25 and looking forward to the weekends, to just partying and then feeling terrible on Sunday and Monday. And then once again, looking forward to Friday with not much going on Monday through Thursday, so to speak. And Mr. Davenport, his studio, all those guys, I had heard about them my entire lives. I knew people who trained there. My, as a matter of fact, my parents, when I was like four, had trained at their studio in the seventies for about a year. And eventually, I don't know what it was, I just walked into what would eventually become my senses Dojo or my sensei and his dojo. And he took me through a demo class, just hit with him 1 on 1, and I was hooked right away. So after about six months nah, probably not even that long, about three months of training, weekend partying stopped. I started coming in on weekends and working with the other black belts in the dojo that had a key to his space. And I became a hundred percent invested. It was definitely, as far as my life goes, like a being saved moment or a Jesus moment type thing, it just clicked with me right away. And that was the first thing in my life that had ever just clicked immediately.

Cindy Bass:

And what happened to make you want to start your own studio, dojo?

Jett Garner:

Outstanding. Yes. So I started 97, received my black belt, earned my black belt in 2000, and then I had an opportunity to transfer with a company, not going to mention the company down here, cause they were opening up a new call center. And so I put in for the transfer and I received it. I wasn't expecting to receive it. And then the day before I moved to Austin, there were mass global layoffs and I'd already sold my little house and I'd already rented an apartment up in North Austin. And I was like, well, I don't really have a choice,

Will Loconto:

still have to go.

Jett Garner:

Well still have to go. And continue to train on my own. It was a very hard conversation I had with my sensei that his new black belt was actually going to move. But we've stayed very close over the years and he's come to see me on 5, 6, 7 occasions. But anyways, I found work pieced together, work here and there in 2001, 2002, 2003. And by 2004, I just couldn't find a place to train. And I was kind of getting bored with training myself on tennis courts and racquetball courts and apartment complexes and so forth, just doing all my forearms and my combos and stuff on my own. And I just couldn't find something that I was satisfied with. And one of my friends had lived out in the Westlake area, according Vaca area, and I was like, maybe I should just open my own studio. So two months later, I was in front of some of the grade schools out our way on their first day of meet the teacher handing out my flyers. In our first year, we taught in a double wide trailer on Kova. Wow. Yeah, and it was a slow buildup at first, but that was 2004. So August of 2004 we're coming in on 19 years. But by 2010 it became, that's all I did anymore because we opened up a I teach traditional, that's mainly kids and teens. And then in 2010 we became a Krav Maga studio as well for adults. We have teens that take it too, but Krav Maga being the Israeli self defensive fitness system.

Cindy Bass:

That's so cool.

Jett Garner:

Yes. Thank you.

Will Loconto:

That's awesome. That is a business success story too.

Jett Garner:

Jury's still out.

Will Loconto:

Well, especially after Covid, like you were saying that you think

Jett Garner:

We, we've, we've survived. But I count my lucky stars and blessings every single day. A lot of studios went out of business and they'll never reopen. But knock wood, that will continue to get back to where we were, which I think we are. We're on that track. We're on that path right now. You’re

Will Loconto:

Finally starting to even out a little bit.

Jett Garner:

But that's another thing too, always, every day, even before Covid, every day, I'm like, I'm so worried that this thing I've built will somehow go away. I would worry about it unnecessarily. That's just kind of how I'm wired. When when's the bow going to break on?

Will Loconto:

And that's similar in the imposter syndrome thing where everybody feels like they're faking it in your own heart. You feel like you're faking it. I've never heard a title. It's called imposter syndrome.

Jett Garner:

Okay. Yes. Well, I've learned something today.

Will Loconto:

It affects a lot of people.

Jett Garner:

Okay. But it also drove me.

Will Loconto:

Yes.

Jett Garner:

So it keeps me

Will Loconto:

To not let it fail

Jett Garner:

Because I don't want to be that guy that I was before martial arts.

Will Loconto:

Oh, that makes a lot of sense.

Jett Garner:

Without the focus, without the drive. I have parents who can't get through to their kids now or once i n a while, can you help us with this? It's almost like a, that makes me feel amazing that the parents have enough

Will Loconto:

Trust,

Jett Garner:

Trust or respect towards what we're doing there. That they're having a difficult time with a child.

Will Loconto:

But well, as a parent who has a child that has been training with you, I would say you have a gift with them.

Jett Garner:

I appreciate that, sir.

Will Loconto:

And I'm sure you've honed it over the years too, but that has to also be a natural part of your personality,

Jett Garner:

Perhaps. I don't, I don't know. I don't know or

Will Loconto:

Was it the initial idea of starting your own studio was mainly to have a place to train yourself?

Jett Garner:

To train myself and maybe just make a little bit of money so I didn't have to have a great day job, if you will. But as far as

Will Loconto:

It wasn't trying to build the Jett Garner Martial Arts empire kind of thing.

Jett Garner:

Not at all. Not at all. It was more we need a good studio out our way and I need people to train with. And maybe I'd be all right with this as far as how I interact with the parents and the kids and my on mat presence. I have no idea where that came from. No idea. It was just their class one. I'm sure I've matured a little bit and gotten better at it and more efficient and realized, well, you can't say these things in class, or you can't use that to motivate someone. Sometimes you got to be positive with a person, motivate them. And sometimes you need to be negative. It just really depends on the situation.

Will Loconto:

Well, and you have all kinds of kids in there, too.

Jett Garner:

Right, all over the spectrum.

Will Loconto:

All kinds of abilities, all kinds of disabilities even.

Jett Garner:

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. And it's definitely an art form to be able to interact and motivate that many different kids.

Cindy Bass:

I feel like just talking with you, I think you have an energy to you.

Jett Garner:

Thank you.

Cindy Bass:

You have a positive energy and it's an excitement.

Will Loconto:

It's infectious

Cindy Bass:

It's infectious. But I think what's happening is the kids bond, they're bonding with you.

Jett Garner:

Yes, ma'am.

Cindy Bass:

And sometimes they need to bond with someone else other than their parents.

Jett Garner:

Outside of their family.

Cindy Bass:

Yes. And so I think that's what's happening is you're bonding with the kids and just like you said, you're going to, there's pros and cons. There's good and bad. There's ways that you work with some kids and others. You've figured out how to reach kids in different ways, which is a gift.

Will Loconto:

And ask them to extend themselves beyond what they thought they could do.

Jett Garner:

Very important.

Will Loconto:

Because that is really evident when you watch the kids.

Jett Garner:

They have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, is a phrase I like to use a

Will Loconto:

Lot. Well, my son was right when he started, he was not athletic was not coordinated at all. Even throw throwing, throw a punch.

Jett Garner:

Yeah.

Will Loconto:

And now he's a brown belt and is very coordinated and very strong and very disciplined, he's a different kid. He made the comment when he started karate that he was afraid of everything. And he told the dojo that now he's not.

Jett Garner:

That's awesome. That's awesome.

Cindy Bass:

That is probably one of the most awesome things, knowing him too.

Jett Garner:

Yes, ma'am.

Cindy Bass:

I was going to tell that little story about my daughter. So in early junior high, my daughter was into athletics and she was in the locker room. And she was was short. And this tall girl, I believe this was in basketball, she came into the locker room and picked my daughter up and threw her across the locker room. And she went across the locker room. And then I think she ended up under a bench with another friend of hers who was tiny. And that big girl just was bullying. And, excuse me, my daughter was hiding. Most people that know me knows I'm not going to hide. And so I told my kids, you're not going to hide either.

Jett Garner:

Yes, ma'am.

Cindy Bass:

So I put them into TaeKwonDo because I physically, as a mom just couldn't show them how to fight. I couldn't fight them to show them how to fight. So I knew the way was through martial arts. So I put 'em in and overnight, I have three that were two very gentle one, not so gentle, but she became fearful of a bully. And it did an amazing thing. They started walking taller, more confident. The fear was gone.

Jett Garner:

Yes.

Cindy Bass:

That's what I think that you're doing with your studio is you're reaching these children and you're giving them something they already have. They just don't know they have it.

Jett Garner:

Right.

Cindy Bass:

They have to be shown.

Jett Garner:

Yeah.

Will Loconto:

One of the things that I would say is I remember you talking to them. One of the things that's refreshing for me is that you're not in there just teaching katas and hypotheticals. You're teaching them how to fight.

Jett Garner:

Yes

Will Loconto:

And by knowing how to fight, you want them to not need to fight.

Jett Garner:

Yes, absolutely.

Will Loconto:

And they carry themselves differently and are much less likely to be bullied.

Jett Garner:

Yes.

Will Loconto:

When they have the confidence of what they do.

Jett Garner:

Yeah.

Will Loconto:

I mean, you can see the personality of these kids change as they mature through the program. And you are teaching them, if you're going to fight, here's how to end it as fast as you can end it.

Jett Garner:

And when. If you have to.

Will Loconto:

If you have to, yeah.

Jett Garner:

Yes.

Cindy Bass:

But TaeKwonDo is, isn't it more self-defense or reactive?

Will Loconto:

The different styles.

Jett Garner:

I try to stay away from really broad strokes on every school, every sense, every style. It's as unique as, it's not uniform. It's like depends on the assembly line. And you get the same shape every time the machine presses down. It's so different. But TaeKwonDo, the only way I'd qualify it is it's Korean. And in Korea it is like their official martial arts. South Korea, I'm sure in North Korea too. I'm not sure. We won't know will we? So anyways but in South Korea, it's their official martial arts and they do use it to train up their special forces or law enforcement people. I think TaeKwonDo at its source in Korea is amazing. It's a bit hit and miss in America, but all studios are, so really the most important thing is not necessarily the style or the name. It's just when you go to look at that school, does that instructor and perhaps the supporting staff and what you're seeing in the other students, is that what you want for yourself? Or is that what you want for your children? And that's for me the litmus test and how it should be.

Will Loconto:

Well, and then you go back to the stereotype karate kid.

Jett Garner:

Right.

Will Loconto:

The two studio types basically contrasting and the evil studio. And it's kind of funny the way they portray that.

Jett Garner:

Well, and Daniel LaRusso was always the bad guy. And I love Cobra Kai series too. I do too.

Will Loconto:

Yeah.

Jett Garner:

But you know what, it's funny you bring that up because I was in Iowa, I had a uncle that lived in Iowa and my parents and I had gone out there to visit him. He was on my mom's side. And it was when DVDs, or no, not DVDs, VHS's, like recorders, Betamax had just come out and he had all these movies on VHS that, it was my first experience not having to see these things in a theater or being on a Sunday night with commercials.

Will Loconto:

Yeah, I remember that too.

Jett Garner:

And Karate Kid was relatively normal. And I remember me watching with my parents and my aunt and uncle and I was the only kid. And I remember at the end, everyone jumping up when LaRusso kicked Johnny in the face. I was so disappointed. Even as a kid, I thought Johnny had the right of things. But yeah. Right. Anyways, <laugh> such an, what a terrific movie that's had such a lasting impact on our culture. Everyone knows what it is.

Will Loconto:

Yep. It's such a good underdog movie.

Jett Garner:

And everyone in that film, even at the tournament, the writer, the director, the producers, the people line producing the day and so forth, they were all martial artists. And if you look at tournaments.

Will Loconto:

So it was done, it was done well.

Jett Garner:

Yeah.

Will Loconto:

It wasn't just a lip service.

Jett Garner:

The Kobra Kai guys looked legit. Even the one that was like student three, when they're in that dojo throwing punches and blocks, they are a hundred percent legit.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. Okay.

Jett Garner:

And the tournaments too. All the guys, the referees and the people running the tournament in the movie, they were all legit lifetime martial artists as well. Cool. So that added some

Cindy Bass:

Is martial arts dominated by men? I don't know. And that's not asking in a weird way. I'm just saying, is it mostly men and boys?

Will Loconto:

Mostly boys?

Jett Garner:

I would say when I first started in 2004, we were probably on a 70%, 30% ratio. But when I had my first black belt test, which included my wife in 2009, I had a teenage girl who was a senior, a teenage boy who was a sophomore, Vitalik and Jonna, and then my wife. So two out of three of my very first black belts were female. That's good. And I would say right up until Covid, we were probably at 55%. And this is both programs, kids and adults. 55% male, 45% female.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. There's still a good number of girls and women.

Jett Garner:

But I think with the signups we've had over the last year, we're getting more towards 60-40 again. That's great. More boys than girls. I'm

Cindy Bass:

Just hopeful that girls are participating more.

Jett Garner:

Oh, absolutely.

Will Loconto:

I'll tell you the craziest thing. Seeing those high school girls, will kick your ass.

Jett Garner:

They're malicious.

Will Loconto:

One of the things that blew me away when I first came and we were watching and just seeing these girls and thinking I would love for my kids to be this good and my son was that one of the first things that happened to him was he got kicked across the room by one of the black belts.

Jett Garner:

Oh, I remember that.

Will Loconto:

One of the black belts. Yeah. And he wanted to see what it was like to hold that pad with her kicking,

Jett Garner:

was it Mia?

Will Loconto:

Yes.

Jett Garner:

Okay. Yeah, Mia C. We won't won't put her last name out there.

Will Loconto:

Yes. But he still laughs about that because he literally moved across the room.

Jett Garner:

I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I totally remember that. I forgot about that. She's like,

Cindy Bass:

This must happen a lot in these classes because my oldest daughter, y they were sparring and the numbers weren't even, so she was the last one. And everyone's looking around like who's going to spar with her? And then one of the black belts, the female black belts, who's wonderful. My daughter says, well, okay. And she's like, are you sure?

Will Loconto:

And this was when she was cocky a little bit or no?

Cindy Bass:

Yes. Well, yes. She's cocky.

Jett Garner:

Your daughter?

Cindy Bass:

Yeah.

Jett Garner:

Okay.

Cindy Bass:

And so she sparred with her and she got clocked. Roundhouse clocked her little head. I thought maybe its an ambulance ride we were going to take, because

Jett Garner:

Right.

Cindy Bass:

That girl didn't back. She didn't back down

Jett Garner:

The black belt.

Cindy Bass:

Yeah.

Jett Garner:

Okay.

Will Loconto:

She did it for real.

Cindy Bass:

I guess this is what happens and it's good.

Will Loconto:

Well, some of it, you can't just fake it. Trying to teach them how to be prepared. Even when I was taking the Krav stuff, there's nothing like,

Jett Garner:

Which you should take again.

Will Loconto:

Yeah, I know. I, and I enjoyed it. I did. But it's hard to explain to somebody what it's like to hold one of those pads for somebody, and it seemed like as big as I am that every time I was there I'm paired up with people bigger than me. <laugh> Literally.

Jett Garner:

Or at least they hit like they're bigger.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. Yes. But some of those guys are some of, I'm six foot two, 200 plus and these guys are towering over me.

Jett Garner:

Yes. There was a time before Covid where the Krav class, somehow it was all these corn fed Texas boys and they're all like six two and above and 250 and above. And just ridiculous power. We still got a few of them, but also a lot of females in there and so forth.

Will Loconto:

And one of the things I'll go back to again is I like how you are conscious of everybody's limits.

Jett Garner:

Yes sir. Got to be,

Will Loconto:

You don't just say, everybody has to be this.

Jett Garner:

Right.

Will Loconto:

And you know, you've got 60 year old plus

Jett Garner:

two

Will Loconto:

guys in there that have been doing it forever and they're in great, I great shape it, crazy shape. And it just, it's was an interesting experience. And getting that confidence of just being there and taking the, you know, it's different if you didn't hold the pads for other people, it would be a different thing. I think

Jett Garner:

Holding the pads is a workout in itself

Will Loconto:

And it's learning how to do it and how to not get kicked across the room.

Jett Garner:

Right. And how to time putting the pad, just giving a little bit of movement towards the technique. Yes. So you're not taking

Will Loconto:

The brunt of it.

Jett Garner:

Creating a suspension system, if you will, in your arms.

Cindy Bass:

I was going to say that the three of my daughters went all the way to, they were able to take the black belt and they didn't finish. And I regret that as a mother, not to push them through that sometimes to

Will Loconto:

Have forced them to take the test

Cindy Bass:

Or not to go through further than they did. They were at the end of it. And I let them

Will Loconto:

Not take the final test,

Cindy Bass:

Not follow through with it. And that was my, as a parent, I made that decision because they were adamant, they didn't want to go any further. Were

Jett Garner:

They in high school at that time or They

Cindy Bass:

Were junior high-ish. Okay. And

Jett Garner:

How long had they been training at that point?

Cindy Bass:

I believe it was a couple years. And they did really good. But I can say with kids, if they're involved in so many other things, yes. It's hard for them with their level of energy with school projects. At school, any classes they take, any sports they play. And if they add the martial arts. So what we used to do was hone in on what the kids were good at so they can focus on it. I really feel like that is part of it. I mean, you can do martial arts and a sport of course, but if you start doing more than that, then the kids' focus levels are not there. Right. That's what I think. Yes. And I was wondering what you feel like about the people that get black belts and then they're done.

Jett Garner:

<laugh> the bane of my existence. So look, I got to break down how our go karate class is. For whatever reason, that was the only program I had from 2004 to 2010. And I could never get adults to sign up, which is why I started exploring the Krav Maga option. Cause I did want to teach 'em adults too. So I've, so we don't test in Krav Maga, there's no real system.

Will Loconto:

You're learning how to defend yourself.

Jett Garner:

There could be, but I don't feel like the adults where we're at, that's what they're interested in. They don't really care about orange belts and purple belts. They want to have a good workout. They want to get fit and they want to learn a few valuable skills. And also just the socialism of that group. Like the socialism, not as in a political, but

Will Loconto:

The socializing, the culture,

Jett Garner:

The socializing of that group. It's a really dynamic group. And people really like each other. Even the new guys or new gals, they come in right away and they feel part of it. But with some of it's on me because my messaging has not been good because I've had a lot of teenagers over the last three or four years. And some of it's, and just a collection of just life not being awesome for all of us, for the last three or four years that I'll get black belts and then they don't feel like there's anything left accomplish or there's nothing left to give back. And some of that's my own messaging. Cause we were so successful, unchallenged successful, just not really doing anything successful. Phone and emails always ringing successful before Covid that maybe I didn't mind as much if someone got a black belt in their junior year and decided not to train their senior year. But I hate it. It pisses me off because I know, because I'm disappointed because somehow I let them down in the messaging and setting expectations.

Will Loconto:

Well, because I would say one of the cooler parts of your teaching when I watch Yes, it is to see the older kids work with younger kids mentoring the younger kids. And it's part of it's, and that's the discipline and that's part of the messaging and it's very positive. And that whole idea of they're running the race and it's a finish line and you don't want it to be a finish line. Not at all. I just think that quitting just before or quitting just after are both equally bad.

Cindy Bass:

J maybe it's something like this. So when my kids were young, I spoke in a language of when you get your degree, so all three of my girls have college degrees. So it was never, if you go right, whatever it was when you get to, so when you talk to these your students, maybe you're saying the language of when you do this, if you get what I'm saying. Yes. When you come back and you are great mentor and let them visualize it and hear it. And it's not, there's never a, if you do, it's

Will Loconto:

When you do talking about the mentoring in an even more positive way and how much they actually can get out of the mentoring, but

Cindy Bass:

Actually that it's going to happen. Yes. So it's a way to train them,

Jett Garner:

Foster the messaging without it being so obvious. Right. Well,

Will Loconto:

Because I feel like that that's a crucial part of it is that willingness to have your son being a black belt there. Yeah. Training other kids. Yes. That's a cool dynamic. It's

Jett Garner:

Weird because it was yesterday when he was four. Yeah. He was first

Will Loconto:

Class. So

Jett Garner:

The fact that he's 17 already and he could probably to work on his less militant side in class. Right now he's all hardcore militant and there's a place for that. But there's also sometimes you got to smile or give a high five too, but he'll figure that out. But back to agreed. So brilliant words there. When you get your black belt, you're going to get to work with all these kids. And what does it say about a 15 year old who has a black belt with me? And it's hard. It's not easy. And it takes time. That can work with a seven year old kid with somewhere on the autism spectrum, maybe new. And then five minutes later they're working with a 14 year old that they go to school with. But that 14 year old, old is

Will Loconto:

A boy, is a white belt, like a

Jett Garner:

Blue belt or something like that. And they have to learn right away, this works here, but it doesn't work with this student. And that if I had a

Will Loconto:

Life skill, if I had

Jett Garner:

A corporation, that would be the kind of person I would want to hire

Will Loconto:

Because it's life skills

Jett Garner:

And just being able, and at that age, the level of maturity that takes plus just giving back to the dojo. And everyone wants to be around the black belt because they're the cool kids in the dojo. That's right. And it sucks when they get busy. And then this is the thing that they decide to cut out to cut versus another night of whatever, so to speak. And we've got classes seven days a week,

Cindy Bass:

But one of the casualties of it is the age. And they go off to college. That happens to be probably one of your disconnects. Oh, that

Jett Garner:

Sucks.

Cindy Bass:

So

Will Loconto:

I would hear, say, I was wondering that about the dance teachers at the dance studio and just any teachers anywhere, that's got to be a crushing thing every time. It happens every

Jett Garner:

Year.

Cindy Bass:

What would you suggest for a kid that's going to go off to college that is one of your students, what would you suggest while they're off to college? I mean, you'd say, go find a place. Place. Or would you refer a place And then

Jett Garner:

I would suggest, and I, I'm sure I've suggested this, but now we have Zoom. Yes. Which before Covid I had no idea.

Will Loconto:

And you do get people that come back and when they're in town, come back to the dojo and work with

Jett Garner:

You. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's a good question. I've found that for whatever reason, when I give advice to soon to be college freshmen, because they've asked, rarely do they take me, they always do the exact opposite. So I say to them all continue training. I trained on my own without my sensei talking to him on the phone once a week. But I trained on my own for two years before he saw me with EyesOn again. You can do that too. Or now that we have Zoom, which I would've never done without,

Will Loconto:

Not even considered it. Right.

Jett Garner:

We could do that too. I can carve out a day that works with your schedule and we'll have one-on-one when you come back for the holidays, we'll get a one-on-one class or we'll get you back into class. But no one has plus,

Cindy Bass:

This is a lifestyle. Yeah, this is a lifestyle.

Jett Garner:

And I don't think I've been, no, I don't it. No, that's not true.

Will Loconto:

Commitment to yourself.

Jett Garner:

Commitment to yourself. And it is a lifestyle. It is. And I've never had anyone quit because of sports who went on to become pro or even get a college scholarship. The numbers for that are so astronomical for

Will Loconto:

A kid. Oh, the odds. Yeah. The odds go you into the NFL or something. Yeah.

Jett Garner:

And if they're not on that level, by the time they're nine or 10, I'm not saying they shoot and compete

Will Loconto:

Or No, no, no. But you would know, most people would know

Jett Garner:

It already that they, they're definitely got something special. Well,

Will Loconto:

When your daughter was recruited for softball that I'm sure that happened younger than you would even imagine.

Cindy Bass:

Well, I mean, you go a couple of years before their, or a year before they graduate. Yeah. Yeah. But it is exciting,

Will Loconto:

But also

Jett Garner:

Awesome. But

Will Loconto:

Everybody knew she was awesome before that.

Cindy Bass:

Oh yeah. Oh my

Jett Garner:

Lord. I mean, it was obvious pretty early in her softball playing that she was operating on a different level compared to most kids she's playing with. Yes. And if they're not that by the time they're 10 or 11, I mean there's late bloomers,

Will Loconto:

Michael Jordan. Yeah. Yeah. But they hardly But general. Yeah, generally. Generally that is not going to happen.

Jett Garner:

But I love martial arts and I need to do, I will do a better job, I should say, on

Will Loconto:

Evangelizing it in a way. But

Cindy Bass:

That's laughing. But

Jett Garner:

This is a lifestyle, not just a trophy on a shelf. So That's right. Become the black belt. Just don't earn it. Anyone can earn it. It's so hard. In my dojo, I salute you.

Cindy Bass:

Be the black

Jett Garner:

Belt, but Right, right.

Will Loconto:

Becoming the black belt is not the finish

Jett Garner:

Line. Becoming the black belt is more than earning it internal

Will Loconto:

Becoming. It is better than earning it.

Cindy Bass:

What I loved about my experience with it, watching it is the respect that is instantly taught. But what I'm saying is it's expected the moment that you walk in and

Will Loconto:

Well, his kids have to bow when they go in the room, mind

Cindy Bass:

And out of the room. And it's just amazing to watch. And it's so good for the kids' minds

Will Loconto:

And their Yeah, it's not just the discipline, but the respect of the discipline is very, kids like that. I, they thrive in that kind of thing. That that's kind of one of the things that people don't necessarily talk about that much. But when there are rules and discipline, kids thrive in it.

Jett Garner:

They need structure.

Cindy Bass:

What I just thought of though is that participation trophies are, I don't believe in. Yeah. And I don't mind a kid getting a certificate that they were in a program, but sure. They don't need a trophy to say

Will Loconto:

They

Cindy Bass:

Just won something for doing nothing. But with martial arts, you are earning it level by level, step by step. You're earning it. It is kind of participation, but

Will Loconto:

But at every level it's an accomplishment.

Cindy Bass:

It's an accomplishment. And I think that's so good for a child's mind is to go through these levels, being respectful, honoring people above them, ranked higher the manners that you're taught. All of it to me is just the best thing a kid could ever be involved in.

Jett Garner:

Yes. Yes ma'am. Agreed. It's just me. Absolutely. Well, in the sense of accomplishment, like you had mentioned and setting a goal, those are more of the external physical things, I guess the trophies and the new rank and the new certificate. But how that affects the person on the inside and the mind and then they're sold their spirit, so to speak. That's where the real work should be aimed at.

Will Loconto:

And I think it does, because I can say for example, that by having those accomplishments in the martial arts, kids are, and I've seen it, but they are much more likely to say, I can handle this too on something else. I like, oh well, yeah, I'm able to do the,

Jett Garner:

I've been new before,

Will Loconto:

How that worked out, the confidence of it.

Cindy Bass:

But they're learning to control. They're controlling their body, they're controlling their thoughts, they're calming their mind at times. Yes. And they're engaging their minds. You could just go on and on about how this affects a kid in so many different

Will Loconto:

Ways. And it's interesting what watching Jet do it too, because he jumps between the marine drill instructor and then the the person that cares so much about the kids. And you walk a line between that. That is that I think you do it really well. Thank you. Because I've talked to other parents and everybody sees how much you care about all of those kids, every single one of them. And in their own unique

Jett Garner:

Way. Thank you very much.

Cindy Bass:

I'm going to throw something at him now. Yeah. So Wills son takes from you and he had a shirt on. He came in and had a shirt.

Jett Garner:

Oh, which one was it? This'll

Will Loconto:

Be good.

Cindy Bass:

Okay. So I always read everything on his shirts because he's so interesting. Yeah. Cause there's sometime really strange things, but it had words on it and it said trample the weak hurdle. The dead. Yeah. But this is going to be funny to you. As I read then I was like, what? Yeah. And I'm talking to Will and I said, that's a little harsh. And you don't know me real well, but you can tell. I mean, I will fight. I'm

Jett Garner:

A straight shooter.

Cindy Bass:

I'm a straight shooter. But yes, I'm not scared of anyone. Yeah. I'll fight somebody and you're not, anyway. Yeah. I'll gouge your eyes out with my fingers if I think you're going to hurt me or kill me. Yep. You're going to lose your eyes. Yes, ma'am. First. Yes ma'am. That's me. How mean? I am. But I read that and I thought trample the weak hurdle, the dead, which I know hurdling the dead, if you're in war, you're, you're moving with a group of men to take over and kill and you have to hurdle over them. And you have to have a warrior's mindset to go forward and fight. Yes. But just the weak part of that trample the week I had to get over it actually. Yeah. He had to actually process me through that.

Will Loconto:

I explained to her that it actually is kind of a quote that's a cliche about a wartime enemy battle. It wasn't, wasn't just saying, we don't care about weak people.

Cindy Bass:

No. But I looked at Will and I go, why would he put that on your shirt?

Will Loconto:

There's a context to it. Yeah.

Cindy Bass:

So I'm, what I'm going to do, I understand it now and it's totally fine, but I just thought you'd find that funny that me and him went back and forth with

Jett Garner:

This my shirt

Cindy Bass:

Back. But you talk about why you picked <laugh> that

Jett Garner:

Honestly so my parents, every time I get a new shirt with a new thing, because we're big on shirt backs and what we words design we put on there, and it's always, each year we get a new edition or two new colors, big into awesome shirts for the dough

Cindy Bass:

Show. I do, I love 'em

Jett Garner:

Too. But one of my buddies who I've sparred with for years here, he's big Jimmy, he's probably about an inch on me, maybe six, maybe 5 11, 5 11 and a half. And he weighs like two 80. But he moves. He's 140 pounds. He is fast, he's big, he's strong. He's an excellent martial artist as far as fighting goes and so forth. And one day I was just sending out a message to my black belt friends, which would include Jimmy, Hey maybe we'll have to move sparring guys until this weekend. I've got some things to do with my family. And he wrote back Trample the week, curl the Dead. And I immediately called him. I was like, because I laughed my ass ass off. And I was like, where the hell did you get that? He goes, oh, it's just something we say in the weight room. Sometimes I go, but is it from a movie or something?

He goes, no. He goes, it's just something I heard in the weight room at some point. So we just kind of say that at giving each other high fives. And I go, that is the most zombie apocalypse <laugh> line I've ever heard. So it is, yeah, it is. Definitely not go around and mess up people who can't fight as well as you or who are older than you or more frail than you. It was definitely more of a apocalyptic, it's World War Z type stuff. And if you a mindset and if you're going to get into the fight, if you have to get into the fight, then win. Right. But certainly not certainly literally trampoline weak people and then hurling over their dead carcasses. But I had a kid, I'm not going to go into a lot of details, but I had a kid who was about 13, this is about a year ago, who's at one of the trampoline places in Lake Travis, b cave area, west Lake area. And he had that shirt on. It was during the day, it was like summer. And he had that shirt on and he had some mom come up to him that he doesn't know. She was like, that is the most inappropriate shirt, just berating a 13 year old kid that she doesn't even know. And then he looked at her and he pointed at a pen that was on her shirt, and it was a particular political kind of culture pen.

And he goes, yet you wear that? And he walked away. Wow. So, wow. He was respectful. He was mature about it. But he also was called her out.

Cindy Bass:

Saw,

Will Loconto:

Put her in her place.

Jett Garner:

Course A little of

Will Loconto:

It. Yeah.

Jett Garner:

Yeah.

Will Loconto:

Wow.

Jett Garner:

That's okay. But a funny shirt that you have no idea what the context is. Yes. Offend you. Yeah. Wow. So I was really

Will Loconto:

Impressive.

Jett Garner:

I was disappointed he had to go through that cause Oh yes. I upset him a little bit. Right. Yeah. But I was also kind of impressed. And he didn't get all militant went or anything like that. He was just kind of matter of fact. And then he walked away.

Cindy Bass:

That's awesome.

Jett Garner:

Yeah. So yeah, I was quite pleased

Cindy Bass:

And glad that he could do that so quickly.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. Yes. Right. That's the thinking on his

Jett Garner:

Feet, honestly, pretty quickly. Absolutely. Yeah. But we do like our shirts.

Cindy Bass:

Yeah, I know. I just wanted you to know that little story because Yes.

Jett Garner:

Well, my parents wouldn't take that one. So every time we send I've, I meant to say that. So every time I get a new shirt, I'll take a picture of it or I'll send the actual artwork from the designer and they want it. And I sent them that particular shirt that we ran for about a year on different color schemes. And she's like, oh, we're too old to wear that. Too cruel. I said, all right. So they went on a two year hiatus too. I'm not getting shirts.

Cindy Bass:

Someone might

Will Loconto:

Come in. Well, it's interesting cause there's a quote that I saw the other day that we like a lot and it's, “Don’t prepare the road for the child. Prepare the child for the road.”

Jett Garner:

Boom.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. Isn't that a great?

Jett Gartner:

That is great. Yeah. What an amazing

Cindy Bass:

We've been saying that for a couple of days now. It's just,

Will Loconto:

Yeah. It's that thing. You don't bubble wrap everything for the child. You prepare them for all of the stuff that they're going to be facing.

Jett Garner:

Oh, that's good.

Will Loconto:

Because that's really what you're trying to do for your own kids and everybody else's kids. Yeah. I,

Jett Garner:

It's weird to me. When did it change? I'm assuming we were all kind of in the same generation. I don't know everybody's ages here, but when

Cindy Bass:

I'm the oldest. All

Jett Garner:

Right, well you don't look in

Cindy Bass:

<laugh>. That's

Jett Garner:

A good thing. Yes. But stuff happens to me as a kid. And I remember being a kid thinking my parents should be making a bigger deal of this. But they didn't. Nobody and nobody cared. My grandparents. And then I got in some trouble when I was in high school. And my maternal grandparents, I just loved, loved being with them. They were firm, but sensitive and fun and loving. And I could just feel their love. But I remember I got into some trouble when I was about a sophomore in high school and my grandfather called me <laugh> at where I was at. I wasn't in juvenile or anything, but I was in a place where I needed a little bit of assistance for a while. Cause I was getting a little crazy, not literally just teenager, crazy, but more so than normal. Cause I was dealing with a lot of insecurities and so forth.

And I remember my grandpa calling me and saying, and I was so happy to hear from him, but he was in militant mode. And he said, get your shit together. And at first I was livid. I didn't say anything to him because this was one of the most important male figures in my life. So it hurt you. But it ripped my heart out in for a week or two. But when I finally got past that, it was probably the most important piece of information that I had during that time because until then, explain it to us. Why yet? And I couldn't. But just the whole idea of get it together, no matter what was exactly what I needed from someone that I looked up to so much, I don't know how he became, because my real dad, we didn't have much of relationship. And my stepdad, he adopted me, but we were never been. I love him. And when you say how's your father, that's who I think of <affirmative>, my adopted stepdad. But I wouldn't say we were peas and carrots, it wasn't the same. But with my grandfather, my mom, you had you that bond, there was just that bond there. And that was what I needed to hear in the moment. And I've never forgotten that. So I tried to bring that into the dojo. Sometimes certain kids need to hear a thing a certain way, and maybe the next day they need to hear it a different way.

Cindy Bass:

But your grandfather knew that's what he needed to say,

Jett Garner:

But it wasn't no excuse. Oh, your real dad gave you up and your stepdad adopted you making excuses for me. No, just get it together and we'll see you soon. And then I didn't talk to him. And probably for another two, three weeks, because that's just the way it was. That's the way it was. Yeah. And And men were men. Yeah. And

Cindy Bass:

What everything happens for a reason. Everything you went through as a child, all the things you've overcome has put you in front of children and made you, you're building a legacy. I

Jett Garner:

Hope

Cindy Bass:

So. And you're connecting a big map that's going to reach far and wide and generational.

Jett Garner:

Yes, I think so. And

Cindy Bass:

So everything that you've come through in your life, even struggles, were there for a reason. Yes. And it, it's who you are. Yes. They made you who you are.

Jett Garner:

Absolutely.

Cindy Bass:

And I think that's awesome. I think that what you're doing in connecting with these kids in whatever capacity that they come to you with whatever skills they have, you figured that out and

Will Loconto:

Yeah. You're not kicking the bad ones out, discouraging them to be part of it.

Jett Garner:

Your kids too, in coordinated leave. No. It's like, yes, we can work

Cindy Bass:

With you. You're trying to make them whole and

Will Loconto:

Give them a leg up on something because

Cindy Bass:

Anything that they learn from you

Jett Garner:

Can

Cindy Bass:

Translate. Can translate. And it also improves them. Yes, ma'am. Even the smallest thing Yes, ma'am. Is could be

Will Loconto:

Monumental. And it may be a thing that they remember. You remember your grandfather. Yeah. You say, because I've seen the things you say to the kids. And a lot of times they'll open it up and ask what's bothering people.

Cindy Bass:

And they speak

Will Loconto:

And they do. That's the amazing thing. He's created a safe environment for them to talk about amazing things that with my son, when he had that homecoming incident, that was the year that all of the Westlake kids took him to their homecoming

Jett Garner:

As to make him feel better or that was where the bad experience was.

Will Loconto:

No, no, no. That's to make him feel better. I remember that. When was that before

Jett Garner:

I knew him.

Will Loconto:

It was when he was, was new, pretty new.

Jett Garner:

So he had just started. That was a fall.

Will Loconto:

Yeah, it was pretty, yeah. I'm pretty sure it was when he was a freshman.

Jett Garner:

I remember that now. And

Will Loconto:

He had the girl play the joke on him about the homecoming dance. And all of the girls at the dojo said, come with us to our homecoming.

Jett Garner:

Why? They never told me that

Will Loconto:

They did it.

Jett Garner:

I knew that happened, but I didn't understand the reasoning, the

Will Loconto:

Dynamic of it. So those girls were,

Jett Garner:

That's just goose upon me. Yeah.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. But that's the, oh wow. That's the environment that you foster there.

Jett Garner:

And they did that through a point of strength and confidence. <affirmative> not worried about, oh, well they're going to see me with this guy, this kid, and are they going to think we're a couple or,

Will Loconto:

Well, it's interesting because we were talking a little bit about the dynamic of these kids in high school that are not necessarily friends at school, end up in your dojo working on the martial arts, and then they become closer in school because of what they've gone through together

Jett Garner:

In your thing

Cindy Bass:

Together. And they support

Will Loconto:

Each other.

Jett Garner:

They support each other and they have each other's back. They do,

Will Loconto:

Definitely. They

Jett Garner:

Do. Even if they're not the best of friends, they would have each other's back at school or in public if something went down.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. Because they're a part of you. What you're doing is not just teaching them karate, you're teaching them some right and wrong. Trying to, and some judgment and some character. Yes, sir. Character's very important. And you

Jett Garner:

Stress integrity,

Will Loconto:

You stress that.

Jett Garner:

Yes. And these are things that

Cindy Bass:

Think, do you have a couple of success that you want to talk about? Not with names or anything,

Will Loconto:

Or I was going to ask you, you don't have to talk about it, but the boy that passed away. Oh, I know it was a gut punched you, but it looked like he's so important. Well,

Jett Garner:

Yeah. Vitalik Vitalik was adopted from a Ukrainian orphanage when he was six or seven. And his mom had gone, if I remember the story correctly, his mom had go there, gone there to adopt probably a toddler or an infant. But at some point when she was there, somehow Vitalik was introduced to her or cross paths. And Vitalik had something magical about him. Even when I met him at seven years old, there was something a little bit magical about him. That thing that you can't really put your finger on, but it's just kind of there. So whatever her plans were on that day, she ended up adopting Vitalik. And at that particular orphanage, because his mother who adopted him, said to the orphanage lady, the Ukrainian woman, what happens when they turn 18? She goes, well, we give them like $50 and then they can't stay a night past their 18th birthday. And usually we'll have various elements of Ukrainian crime hanging outside, waiting to get 'em because they know what time we let 'em out. And then they either use them for welcome to the family, maybe you could, you could run some errands

Will Loconto:

Or get 'em addicted to

Jett Garner:

Drugs or get them addicted to drugs and traffic them to some degree. But it would be a life of crime and probably early death. So Vitalik would tell me that a lot is we got to know each other. And he was like, my first student became a male student that actually went on to become a black belt. So he was like the prototype at first. He was my first black belt as far as the boys came.

Will Loconto:

Wait, from your point of view, you're looking at this and say, I did this successfully

Jett Garner:

This. And he always talked about being adopted from, there was a miracle. And I don't know if he shared those things with his mom because when I told that story at his funeral about a week or two ago I don't think she ever knew that. Oh. Because it was a very emotional moment when I finished that particular that he had said that you adopting had saved his life. And how disappointed is it that we're here now. And Eva was only 29. I mean, ugh, that's another conversation for another day. But he did die doing what he wanted to do. And that was active military for the United States Army. And that's something he dreamed about. He wanted to give back to the country that in his mind, saved his life. Saved his life. Right. But yeah, that was Sodevastating to have him go. He was my prototype. As far as the meals go, he was my cookie cutter. All right. And hopefully with each class of black belt males and brown belts, high school kids, like his thumbprints on all of them for me,

Will Loconto:

Because you saw what worked,

Jett Garner:

And my son is remarkably better than Vitalik was. Everything we do that's nothing against Vitalik and Vitalik was amazing that I'm better and the dojo's better at what we do than when Vitalik started and we were brand new. I

Will Loconto:

Feel like probably every kid that you mentor through to a black belt has their own.

Jett Garner:

Some have positive thumbprints, some of them have bruises

Will Loconto:

Cause they quit. But they all right. But they all have their own story that makes each one unique. Yeah. Is my point. So it's not like that was your cookie cutter because it was the first one. Right. And then probably, did you realize as it went along that the cookie cutter, it is an all cookie cutter.

Jett Garner:

Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. Exactly. So yeah like your son, his roundhouse kicks will never look quite like mine. Right. But that doesn't really matter. It does he throw a roundhouse kick that if he had to it at someone, would it be effective? Could it be effective? Has he thrown it with power? Is it better than it was five years ago? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yep. So we have standards of course, and ideas and goals in our minds of what we want things to be. But we also understand that I've got kids all over the spectrum. I've had, I've got a kid with Down Syndrome who's trained for 10 years now, and that's awesome. And he throws a roundhouse kick. You can find it on my Instagram, and it is, I, no, look, it is every bit as good as any student I've ever had. But then did just

Cindy Bass:

Try to but tag it on our,

Will Loconto:

Yeah.

Jett Garner:

Oh yeah. But then that'd be amazing. But then his punches aren't amazing. His kicks are, and so we just to try to make the individual better at everything, but we're not really comparing individuals against No,

Will Loconto:

You're comparing from where you were

Jett Garner:

To where are, it's more about where you were compared to where you are now.

Cindy Bass:

So the successes are sometimes small ones, but they're monumental and then there's some great ones. Yeah. It's just so many different successes.

Jett Garner:

Yes.

Cindy Bass:

That you have. And that's

Will Loconto:

Pretty neat. And it's not about dumbing it down for people either. Not at all. The thing is, you don't ke, you don't hold everybody back because one kid may not be as coordinated as the rest.

Jett Garner:

I was not a very good athlete growing up. And I somehow became one, I think, I don't know why I developed so late, but somewhere around 21, I suddenly became one of the most naturally gifted collegiate athletes that was in my circle. And it kind of happened overnight. But in high school, in grade school, middle school, I played baseball, I played sports. It was a big part of my life. And I was okay at things, but I was never the athletic kid. And I think that helps me because if I'd been the high school quarterback and I'd been, that was, yeah, well,

Will Loconto:

If you were a job,

Jett Garner:

Look at him, throw that in first grade. He's going to be the high school quarterback. I wouldn't know how to work with kids who didn't have

Will Loconto:

Thrown a ball in their entire life. Yeah.

Jett Garner:

So having that clumsy, I'm not as confident as all the kids I play baseball with. I'm not as fast. Having that experience with a certain level of athleticism helps me, I hope, reach everybody.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. And you can see yourself as those kids when you absolutely. Were

Jett Garner:

Younger.

Cindy Bass:

This is a weird question.

Jett Garner:

Yeah, no, I'm bet it's not. Sorry.

Cindy Bass:

Yeah. I ask a lot of weird questions. Do you ever visually see a kid start and become a bully?

Jett Garner:

Oh, that is a good question. Yes. Yes. Recently actually, I was thinking more teenagers and so forth.

Cindy Bass:

And I'm not meaning, yeah.

Jett Garner:

No, no, no, no, no.

Cindy Bass:

I'm saying that, that I've seen it myself to where they get so cocky just because they're in there taking lessons and it makes them more aggressive. And

Jett Garner:

I've never seen it in my high school students, but I do have a couple students now who are in grade school who have control issues, gotten into some scuffles at school, and their parents are very concerned. And they brought me in on these situations right away, A couple conversations. It still happened in both their cases. So now with the one, if you're having a good month, then since they will come have lunch with you at school once a month, and that'll be kind of your reward. I got a lot of students at that school, so my kids went there. So I'm a little bit famous in that grade school,

Will Loconto:

So So when you show up kind of a big deal. Yeah. <laugh> kind a big deal at that school. That's

Jett Garner:

Cool though. And then the other one he actually had a big brother. They did the big brother. This lady adopted two kids who had a hard story with parents and so forth. And the boy has control issues and just lashing out physically. And so he is really keen on the dojo. So my son and I are going to start, she unmatched the big brother. I'm not sure, big brother, big Sisters of America, whatever that group. Or a guy comes in and hangs out with a boy or yes, something like that. But I guess I just said, well, let me and Diego take that over because he knows this. And we have that martial arts thing in common, so I have to approach it differently with him. So now we're going to have to see about hanging out with me and my son doing this guy activity. Maybe we go to bowling or video games or just go grab a bite, maybe fishing, who knows?

Will Loconto:

Just to have him around and model for him

Jett Garner:

And do that once a month because his mother is adopted. Mother's a single lady, she's a great lady, but a single lady. And I don't think his birth parents are capable of raising them. And I think he's in second grade now, so he's a little more challenging because he's not at a point yet where he feels a lot of remorse when something

Will Loconto:

Happens,

Jett Garner:

Happens. Whereas the other kid, the other kid I was telling you about, where I go eat lunch with him, the moment I start talking to him about his situation, he's immediately in tears. The younger one, though, he's not hopefully he'll find it.

Will Loconto:

Yeah.

Jett Garner:

At some point. But he doesn't seem to be as remorseful. At least when I talk to him about it, he's not as bothered by the fact that I know about it and we're having this conversation. So yeah, that is one of the things I say, if this type stuff starts, you have to tell me because they're wearing my shirt. It's a small community, big community, but a small community and people know he's my student or she's my student and I have to know these things. I can't have you going around there representing our dojo yourself and your family, even your school in some instances and acting like fools this. It's just unnecessary.

Cindy Bass:

So are you asking you're a parent, but he was older when he started, like when they're young, are you asking the parents for interaction, like feedback? How are they doing? Is anything improving? Yes.

Will Loconto:

I anything, especially if there's a behavioral issue,

Jett Garner:

Right? If I have a student that contact is, well, my child has this going on and this is what we want to fix. We will definitely have check-in conversations and texts and emails and so forth. But I think just as a whole, I've been in a really, it's weird because I don't really put myself out there like that, but just over the years, I've just had so many parents call me over the years and say, this child of ours is not listening on this and we're having this issue. Hate to take up your time, but is there anything you could say or help us out and Well, I'm happy to do it.

Will Loconto:

Yeah, but that's because they see that you, number one, you gain the kids trust, you gain their respect. Yes, sir. And you model for them character.

Jett Garner:

I hope so. Yes,

Will Loconto:

Sir. And I think that's one of the things, and one of the nicer things too, I don't know if I've told you this, Cindy, but he's always asking these kids what they're doing. He's always asking what's going on in their life. He's always willing to, if they're doing a play, yeah, you'll go,

Jett Garner:

I'll be there Tuesday night. I got three students in it. So I got my son teaching class kids. If you're listening to this.

Will Loconto:

No, but I think that's amazing. And I think it goes, that's a little above and beyond thing that makes it better than normal.

Cindy Bass:

It he's bonding, he's building relationships with these kids and they're able to count on him

Will Loconto:

And not only count on him, but he has expectations for them. Yes. Yes. That's actually, and that, that's a constructive awesome thing to me.

Jett Garner:

Oh, I thank you, sir. Yes.

Cindy Bass:

But just like your grandfather said, get your shit together. You have that in the back of your head that

Will Loconto:

You're helping these kids get their shit together, helping.

Jett Garner:

I hope so. Some of them don't know not to put a fork down, a toaster if the bread won't come out. You know what I mean? Mean some of the things these kids don't know anymore. I just like what the <laugh>, so we got summer camps coming up. Right? Fine. I hope your son will help us with a few camps this year. But I have discovered that these kids, at least the ones in grade school, middle school, have no idea on how north, south, east, and west work. So I'll, I'll say, if you're facing north, what's on your left south, east. And then finally it'll be just crazy things. Yeah. So we are going to have on every summer camp, every week we have five days, nine to five, two hours of every week will be spent on geography, compass reading and directional. That's awesome. He doesn't know where you are in the world. Isn't that sad though? I know. They don't like, okay, what state this is is on Thursday, what state is south of Texas. They chew on that for five minutes and had no idea that it was just a trick question that it's an ocean below us. The might not be Getty thing. So

Cindy Bass:

Yet I owned a roller skating ring. I knew

Jett Garner:

You were going to, I love roller skating. You know what

Cindy Bass:

I'm going to say? Where? No, I don't have it anymore. But I built one new

Jett Garner:

In

Cindy Bass:

East Texas, Boston. I built it new. And my family, we ran it because I grew up skating. Me

Jett Garner:

Too. I was terrible at it. I was good at it. Roll arena. Yeah. Anderson, Indiana still there. <laugh>. Go ahead.

Cindy Bass:

On my Facebook is the owner of my skating rink. She's still on it. Awesome. Okay. Her son was my best friend. So I have these ideas that after CPS investigating with all the horrors that I saw and then private investigating, I decided to build a skating rink. And I'm only telling this story because it's similar to yours. The skating rink was a place that I owned, and when they came in my skating rink, they were mine. And all the parents knew when they dropped 'em off. This is Cindy's roller skating rink. And you've got to mine, Cindy. Yes. And they had to mine. And I'm not going to go into all that. I did. But Will can tell you Yes. That I had grown boys that were six foot tall in tears with my finger in their face outside telling them, you can't come in here. So that's the cookie. You can't have this cookie because of your behavior. So you're banned for two weeks. And when you apologize and when you bring your parents up here and talk to me, we'll see about coming back. And that's where they wanted to be on the weekends with all their friends. Nice. So I worked with them on behavior and it was interactive and it was tactile and hands on. And I was able to control it. What? I said I would turn the music

Jett Garner:

Off. You got to follow through.

Cindy Bass:

Yeah. But I'm just saying, what was I telling him? That the clock fuck the clock. See, he knows. Yeah, he knows everything. I think. Yes. This is crazy.

Jett Garner:

Oh, they don't know how to read a clock.

Cindy Bass:

Okay, so go ahead. Sorry. In my skating rink. Yeah. I had a huge clock.

Jett Garner:

In a normal clock.

Cindy Bass:

A normal clock. Yes. And it's up. And a million kids would come up every night. Cause I had certain different skates and dances and what time is it? <laugh> times. But the times that I would do it, right, they didn't know they're wanting that time to get here. So they go, miss Cindy, what time is it? And I would just turn around and motion, there's the clock. You tell me what time it is. And they were stunned and their eyes popped out of their head. And I said, they're not teaching you how to tell time, are they? No, we have digital clocks. They're not teaching how to tell time. I said, so Well, let me give you a lesson. Yeah. Because that's the clock I have in here. And it's a normal clock. And that's how you're going to know what time it is, is right by that clock. So I'm only bringing that up because,

Will Loconto:

And if you're ever in a place where a digital clock doesn't work or an emmp goes on, oh, a winding watch or a winding clock works <laugh>. Right.

Cindy Bass:

I'm just saying that something similar that we have. It's ridiculous. Another thing that I did when I was the kids were growing up is troubled kids. I would a attach to them. And this one boy was seriously troubled. He went to prison and everything, and it didn't really work.

Will Loconto:

But

Cindy Bass:

You tried. But I tried. Yes. So ma'am telling you this for a reason is I actually went to the school and out of my day, went to lunch with him.

Jett Garner:

Nice.

Cindy Bass:

With my children in the same cafeteria.

Jett Garner:

Oh dear.

Cindy Bass:

I went okay to him and sat with him while I could see my kids. And everybody in the cafeteria was, he's looking at you. Why is your mom sitting with him here? Not with y'all, but with him. But it made him feel so good, and it was wonderful. And I did have a bond with him. But you know, can't change the dynamic of what they go home to.

Jett Garner:

Everything. You can't change at all. No.

Cindy Bass:

All you can do is, but hopefully these things that you're doing jet with your studio and your outreach and your connection and your bonds, they matter. Well, I appreciate it, and I'm very proud to know that Yes. Know you and know what impact you've made on Wilson. And yes,

Will Loconto:

The comment that we got online, somebody actually wrote a comment that said, doing this podcast and doing the articles, somebody made a comment and just said, if you reach one person, it's worth your time. Yeah,

Jett Garner:

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Cindy Bass:

Absolutely. One of the last things I wanted to say to you is I started looking at the pillars of character and you know, don't go into your studio and just say, we're going to talk about pillars of character. You have to show it right. In a different way. But just these are the things that's missing in our world right now. I think. So is respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship.

Jett Garner:

Appreciation.

Cindy Bass:

Appreciation for

Jett Garner:

Anything. A thank you.

Will Loconto:

Gratitude for anything. Yes. A

Jett Garner:

Thank you. Yeah.

Cindy Bass:

Holding someone's door and they just look at you and walk in and they don't say thank you. Oh,

Jett Garner:

Don't

Cindy Bass:

Get me started by that. I know. That's a big one. Me, trustworthiness and citizenship. Yeah. These are the things that are,

Will Loconto:

The integrity thing is a big deal because you will not be successful in life without some sort of integrity generally, because people won't trust you. People won't rely on you. Yeah. Telling my kids, I told them a lot that you know, want to be the person that gets relied upon. Yeah.

Jett Garner:

I think culturally, I think we've had about 20 years where nec, that necessarily wasn't true, what you've just said as far as just career success and achievement. But I do think we're heading into culturally speaking a sharp turn where these things are going to become important again. Like integrity, honor, respect.

Will Loconto:

Yeah. We're getting away from the everything's okay. Culture.

Jett Garner:

Yeah. But just having some integrity. Well, where I grew up, there was a couple companies that kept dumping their chemicals and the only river we had in town because it saved them millions of dollars. But I hope we get to it back where we celebrate greatness and achievement and not vile behavior. You know what I mean?

Will Loconto:

Amen. Well,

Cindy Bass:

You just kind of made me think that, which is good for me because I need to have the positive. All this woke stuff and all these behaviors everyone has and what they're accepting. You just highlighted something that maybe it's getting so bad that we're going to have a sharp turn. We have to, because people are going to spend more time with their kids with these things to counter that. I hope so. This might be what you just said that

Will Loconto:

Time. Yeah. Because the country fails otherwise.

Jett Garner:

Yeah, you're right. Absolutely. You can't ke, you just can't keep going down this path.

Cindy Bass:

But as far as you, we'd like to just invite everyone to look at your website and your social media, and we're going to put some

Will Loconto:

Links. We'll have links on there. Yes. Yep.

Cindy Bass:

Where exactly is the studio? Don't

Jett Garner:

Got? Yeah, that's okay. We've got two low, well, we're basically in an area of Austin, which is West Austin. It's called Westlake Lake, Travis, BK area, where all those kind of come together about the same edge. So most of our students are from, again, Westlake Lake, Travis, BK area. We have some Spicewood, we have some South Austin folks. But yeah, I'm in a really lucky place as far as where, sounds like where I landed. And I didn't really know much about Austin and stuff like that. When I actually opened up my Dojo, I just thought, oh, this side of town's a little bit nicer. Yeah,

Will Loconto:

It is. Ends up being kind of centrally located.

Jett Garner:

It ends up being centrally located in just the economics of everyone out this way. Really successful families and so forth. So I'm very, very blessed. But I still hope that every student who walks out of my dojo at some point for the final time, we're a little bit better because they did it and we were a little bit better because they did it too. So that's great. That's

Cindy Bass:

Mission's been a cool thing to say.

Jett Garner:

Yes.

Cindy Bass:

And do you want to end it by inviting me? Is there any way you'd like to?

Jett Garner:

Yeah, they can. People, yeah, absolutely. Instagram, jet Gunner, martial arts Facebook, jet Gunner, martial arts website, jet Gunner, martial Arts. And I have a phone number on the website

Cindy Bass:

And email. Is there, what you were talking about earlier, is there a way for people to come in and observe?

Jett Garner:

Absolutely. I like to hear though, I don't like when people just show up because I don't know what the hell's going on. Yeah. Somebody you've never seen before, just kind of walks in. I'm a very distrusting person, so when people show up, and the reason is I'm going to tell you why right now, <laugh>, about four years ago, I was having this email series with this guy. I'm trained in slot and I've been trained by Russian Special Forces. And I always keep it polite and respectful. I don't know who these people are. I don't need them going online and badmouthing the dojo and everything. And I was just always like, well, yeah, you'd probably fit more in our, and I could tell he was a man, you'd fit more in our crowd, my God program. So occasionally he would email me over about three months. So I show up till Monday night class, and it's at our school, the Children's Center, Austin, on B Cave.

They have a gymnasium and it's a kid's class, like grade school. And I walk in and for some reason I got there a little bit early. So the actual school, the pre-K school wasn't closed yet. I would start my classes when they closed, but I got there a little bit earlier that day. And so I walk in and open the door. There's this guy in all black just sitting there on the couch in the lobby. But a few of my parents had walked in too, which usually that door was locked. So it was just kind of weird that they had walked in while the school was still open, so to speak. So at first I thought he was an uncle of one of the families that were there or something. So I was like, hello, how are you? And then he is like, oh yeah, we've been emailing each other.

And I thought I would just come. And so it took me a minute to get my, oh, this is the guy <laugh> trained all over the world, and he's in here in a class with five and six year olds. And so he's sitting there talking to me and he goes, yeah, I brought this. And he's got this rope pro strangulation. And he is brought all these different knives and weird knives. Not like steak knives not, I went to the hunting store and bought a knife, knives that you would have to blacksmith and hell had to design. There's just sharp edges everywhere. They look like torturing devices. And I'm like, so I step back a little bit and I'm like, you've got to put that away. Parents are going to leave. You're in a room. And he is like, oh, okay. We'll get these out when we get class started. And I go, no, there's not going to be any of that. And I said, come on. But I don't know how crazy is and maybe be done there and I don't want to make the news for that reason. Right. I'm

Cindy Bass:

Pretty sure a normal guy would see it's a kid's class and would leave. Yeah,

Jett Garner:

Exactly. And there's that too. He obviously was incapable of tap, taking the temperature of the room. So finally I said, come on man. We got to go. And fortunately, one of my black belts, he was a high school kid and his name's Sawyer. And he would always come, always come and help with classes. Super sharp, obviously

Will Loconto:

Helped,

Jett Garner:

Helped with cro, my God classes. And as I'm trying to walk this guy out and try to keep him cool, keep him from popping. Sawyer showed up and one Sawyer showed up. I think the guy felt a little more like, eh. Yeah. I don't want to, not that he thought I'm going to, going to dominate the sensei. It was just more like when there's another person,

Will Loconto:

Just put an uncomfortable situation.

Jett Garner:

Yeah. It was just, there's another person there. And now I should probably, so I did call the cops on that just because it was a really

Will Loconto:

Bobby bet. Sawyer would have a funny story about that if you asked. I

Jett Garner:

Wonder if he remembers <laugh>.

Cindy Bass:

I never appeared to

Will Loconto:

Him Walk it in and seeing you with

Jett Garner:

This guy. No, I took a picture.

Cindy Bass:

No emails

Jett Garner:

Ever again. No, no. Again, I took a picture of his license plate. I called the cops, I let the school know, because that was a weird thing with

Will Loconto:

All the weapons. It's

Jett Garner:

Weird. And he never in a strangulation rope that he thought we were going to train in. So it's like, dude, come on. Wow. But after that, I hate it when people just show up. Yeah. Yes. Pisses

Will Loconto:

Me off. Okay, well then

Cindy Bass:

There you go. You want to watch one of his classes? Get in touch with

Jett Garner:

Jet. Get in touch with

Cindy Bass:

Crier

Jett Garner:

Too. Don't bring your ropes or your funky Yeah,

Will Loconto:

Don't bring strangulation ropes. Well,

Jett Garner:

Assorted thing. Yeah. Thanks

Will Loconto:

Guys. Yeah, we want to thank you so much for coming on and thanks. Talk about this. I think it's very, very important and I think it does an immense service for these kids.

Jett Garner:

Yes, sir. I appreciate it. I'm lucky. I have a lot of great kids, a lot of great families. So it's a two-way street.

Will Loconto:

Yep. Well, thank you so much. Yes,

Jett Garner:

Thank you. All right. Nice to meet you ma'am.

Will Loconto:

You too. Guess that's it for us.

Jett Garner:

All right.

Cindy Bass:

See ya.