Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy Director & Instructor

How do you teach kids discipline and self-defense? How do you succeed in a male-dominated, aggressive field?

In this conversation, Aliya talks about teaching, admin work and creative opportunities in her role. Like any good teacher, Aliya reminds us, “There’s no 'I don’t know's', no 'I can’t’s'. It’s just, 'I need to learn.'”

Guest Bio:

Aliya was born in Kazakhstan and moved to the states as a kid. Being an immigrant gave her a different perspective on life and responsibilities in comparison to her peers. Growing up, she always wanted to join the military specifically military psychology but due to immigration issues that was not available, so she ended up getting a part-time job in college working in a Pre-K class and loved teaching.  Before she knew it, she was 10 years in as the head Pre-K Teacher in a private school. During her time there, she started teaching at the jiu jitsu school where she was training and before long she changed it into her full time. She absolutely loves the world of jiu jitsu and the skills learned on and off the mats whether it's physical or mental. She gets to enjoy traveling and organizing camps all over the world and to meet amazing people from all walks of life that are bound through jiu jitsu. One of her big goals is to continue representing jiu jitsu as a way of life that can be for everyone and is not as scary or intimidating as some people may believe it to be, especially for women.

Discussion Questions:

Do you want to work in an industry that is mostly male or mostly female?

Do you like working with kids?

How would you enforce the rules at your workplace?

Why do you think Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has become so popular?

What made Aliya's career change successful?

Please send suggestions for future guests to projectlaborpodcast@gmail.com. 

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Music by Brotheration Records

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Transcript

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Danny 1:24

When I was a kid growing up, karate was very cool, very exotic. Kids would go around lying about what belt they were, saying they're a blue belt, a red belt. No one said they're a white belt. I told people I was a green belt, even though I never even went to karate. But uh I've always been fascinated by you know someone getting to be a black belt as pinnacle of achievement. So what does it take to be a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt? Discipline, precision, self-improvement, working hard without getting the final product right away. Well, Aaliyah Alpasova is a black belt in Brazilian jujitsu. Since she was peeling potatoes at the age of nine at her mom's store, Aliyah developed a skill she'd use later in her career in the world of martial arts. In this conversation, Aliyah talks about teaching, administrative work, the creative opportunities in her role, as well as the physical effects of martial arts. Like any good teacher, Aliyah reminds us there's no I don't know's, no I can'ts, it's just I need to learn. My first question is what jobs have you had in your career?

SPEAKER_02 2:29

So I have predominantly been an early ed since probably I was 19. Uh, my first job was peeling potatoes at my mom's uh store. So that was at nine years old. And so I've worked in retail, I worked at Staples, in the copy center, I worked at KFC and Taco Bell. And then once I be got into college, I started working in early ed. So it was private schools, mainly in pre-K classes. And the first teaching job I had was an all-Korean school, and I was the pre-K teacher and teaching the kids English predominantly and everything else to get them ready for kindergarten. And then since then, I've always worked in schools, always private schools. And the last place that I worked in was about for six years. It was a Russian-speaking school. And because I do speak Russian, so I was kind of helping the kids again learn English, but also get them ready for kindergarten. And towards the last few years of that full-time job, I was working part-time at my academy where I'm at now, where now it's my full-time job as a program director.

Danny 3:45

So you're at at Silver Fox? Yes. You're that's your full-time job?

SPEAKER_02 3:49

That is, yeah. I've in the jiu-jitsu world, I've hit the lottery where I've turned jiu-jitsu into my full-time job. So I've been here since March 2020. It was like March 13, 2020, right when we shut down. That was when I first started working part-time. And then the last two years I've gone full-time. Because one of our guys, he went down to Florida, opened up his own school, and I took his place.

Danny 4:15

So what what was COVID like? Uh what I know you just started at right right around the height of or the start of COVID. Uh so what was what was that like trying to do like a really uh you know intimate thing, right, in people's faces and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

I always say my f my first time teaching a kid's class was via Zoom, which is very difficult to do for jujitsu because you usually need two people to do jujitsu. So it was kind of the first lesson was trying to kid teach the kids how to make themselves a stuffed person out of their ghee and a pillow and stuff, so they have somebody to train with. And then it was just creating a lot of solo drills for them. And I having the previous experience with early ed really helped out because I knew how to keep their attention and constantly be like working on my feet and switching it up. I think the administrative side was the hardest part of it because I had no experience with it and kind of just being thrown in. And I was working with one of the other full-time academy directors, so he was helping me out understand it as quickly as I can. But people were going through a hard time, you know, financially speaking. The last thing that's on your mind is, oh, I'm gonna pay for something that's closed. But thankfully, you know, we had really great students that didn't want us to shut down, so they helped us out like constantly paying, you know, they were participating in Zoom. So it kind of made me actually really appreciate like, wow, this is a lot really important for people being able to have this in their life. So throughout the years, that's been the best part about it is just kind of seeing the effect that it has on everybody, and especially during COVID, people felt like they were losing their mind.

Danny 5:58

Yeah, definitely. People that are trapped inside, no, no one to uh, you know, hug or or meet up with or meet new people or you know, just get your stress out.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Yeah, and thankfully we opened up within about three months, and we were just very, very cautious of you know how many people uh were training and how many training partners people had. And I had I used Signum Genius to set up people with their their allotted class schedule, so it was a lot of work, but it definitely just threw me in and just got me uh actually really to love it because I just was expecting myself to start and just to teach kids classes, but having the administrative work, I was like, Oh, this is fun. I like the administrative side.

Danny 6:42

How how would you describe Brazilian jujitsu to someone that it is growing in popularity, it's pretty well known now, but like how would you describe it to someone that was pretty unfamiliar?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

It's a mental vacation. That is the best way for me personally. That's how I signed up. It's not because I had an interest in bus being physically fit or to protect myself or any of I I found it, like it was I step on the mats, I don't think about anything else. I'm not thinking about any emails I have to do, I don't have to think about what I have to do at home or who I have to call. I'm just focused on what I'm trying to learn that hour, and I'm hanging out with my friends. So you kind of develop a lot of relationships that are that you become very close to, and because you are putting your life in someone's hand, you know, you need you're trusting each other that you're gonna take care of one another when if you tap because you feel pain, that person's gonna let go of that submission. There's a lot of trust that you give to somebody else, and it's you're able just to kind of let your guard down and just be present in the moment and actually really enjoy what you're doing, which is really hard to do with every day that's going on. People are always are on the go and next thing, next thing, but this kind of makes you slow down, which is nice.

Danny 7:58

Yeah, it's a it's a fast-paced sport and activity, but it actually is pretty uh a mental mental thing as well, and a sort of a meditative process.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Exactly. And there's, you know, with other martial arts, I've never done any other martial arts. I played tennis for years as a kid and in high school. I never did anything else. And a lot of martial arts, there's only one speed. Like you go wrestling, you know, wrestling, you you go. Judo, you have to go hard. For the most part, as you get older, there aren't martial arts that you can either go really fast and go hard, or you can go super slow and flowy. And like jujitsu, there's some partners that I have that they're really good training partners. I could train with them for an hour and a half nonstop.

Danny 8:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

And we're fine, like we're not beating up the next day and we're learning. And then there's the roles that you have that you could only go for five minutes and you're both huffing and puffing and you need to catch your breath. It's it's a listen, being it we call like flow rolling when you're able to it's a skill to have. There are there are black belts I know that do not know how to do that still. It's a skill, it's a skill that you learn to do. But once you learn it, it is very peaceful, very relaxing. It makes you enjoy it more and you learn a lot more that way as well.

Danny 9:17

Could you walk me through your your career?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

My when I usually start at the day, it's a kids class I'll have. And then afterwards, the kids class, I go in the office, and that's when I'm doing billing things, I'm reaching out to new students, I'm working up on new programs or different events that we're having, all the business end of it. And then a lot of the other days, I'll have a lunch class that I teach. And so, for instance, today is a Wednesday. My class, my day started here at 12 o'clock. I taught my lunch class, hung out with some of the guys here, you know, troubleshooting their stuff after class. And then I just uh did some errands for, you know, buying new supplies, and now I have a kids' class later tonight, and then I'm gonna train, and then I get back in the office and I'm gonna start to do some of our plan our events for June and things like that. So, but in between that, I also do the social media for the academy, which is really fun for me. Like I get to do all the reels and get to be a little silly and like have a little creative outlet, which is nice. So throughout the day I'm always constantly on our social media responding to DMs or messages or comments that are people leaving or creating content for social media, which is a task in itself.

Danny 10:35

Yeah, different skills. Um, like like you mentioned, like being a dirt program director or doing marketing is different than uh teaching, uh, and is different than like you know, a physical expertise as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Yeah, and like we have a YouTube channel, for instance, on Friday, so my Fridays start at 10 a.m. because we film live on YouTube. So I'm the person behind the camera and I'm doing all the video and the and then afterwards, you know, doing everything in the YouTube side, breaking down the episode and promoting it and doing everything with our app for the episode. So it's kind of nice that it's not a boring job. There's not one day that's the exactly the same.

Danny 11:15

Yeah, that is nice, and similar to teaching in general, but this one even sounds like even more customized to a schedule that that you want that you like.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

And I also do try to create cool t-shirts. So if you're very creative, this is something that's for you. This is one of my I am a little I like doing my art sometimes, and I'll use the art skills that I have just to create the t-shirts or the rash guards, which is like the compression clothes that we wear. So it's kind of cool making sweaters and stuff like that, especially for raffles that we give out to parents or the any new students that are visiting. And then day-to-day stuff is just making sure that you know the mop head is clean and that we have enough bleach and soap and all that stuff.

Danny 12:00

So you have some sanitary concerns with cleaning the the mats and equipment, right? That's part of the the work.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Oh, yeah. It's very like our Professor Fox, he's a big germophobe. He likes everything to be very clean. I myself, knock on wood, I haven't ever gotten, you know, well, when you're on mats, like wrestling mats or anything, there's always a lot of skin conditions, got for where you get. So we are really big on making sure everything is super clean, sanitizing the sinks, making sure the bathrooms are all clean, the front desk area, anything where a lot of people are getting around, you just always want to clean it, especially the mats.

Danny 12:37

And people are barefoot or socks?

SPEAKER_02 12:40

They are barefoot. Okay. They are barefoot. When you come in, you just leave your shoes and socks right by the front door. That's one thing that some people always get. They don't like it. Me personally, that is also one reason I didn't. I was like, there's sweat and there's feet. I'm like, this is disgusting.

Danny 12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

But you get over eventually.

Danny 12:59

Is there sort of like an unwritten rule that everyone's supposed to come clean, you know, be as clean as possible before.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Oh, we we have it written. We have it on their wall of rules. Oh, okay. Clean gis, make sure your nails are cut short. Um, no crazy fingernails for girls, you know, no jewelry just for safety because if somebody gets pulled. But you need to always have a c if somebody does not have a clean ghee, we will tell them.

Danny 13:25

Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Same thing with no gi stuff, showering. And it's we have showers in the academy, which is not a lot of pe schools have that, but it we recommend everyone take a shower after training because you just don't want to sit in the sweat. Yeah, it's not hygienic.

Danny 13:43

What do you think are some of the benefits of Brazilian jujitsu for kids?

SPEAKER_02 13:49

I think the biggest one is the confidence, is the silent confidence that these kids have. A lot of them are so used to being told exactly what to do constantly. You can't do this, you can't do that. Here, you have to troubleshoot your problems right in the moment. And you learn, okay, this worked, this didn't work. And when you know, like, oh, okay, even if it didn't work, I'm I'm okay. Like, I could try again. That's I think that's my favorite part is seeing the kids have that confidence and not be like let down that, oh man, okay, that takedown didn't work. Okay, I couldn't escape that position. They don't go, I'm never doing this again. Like, okay, I'm just gonna try. What did I mess up on? So be having them be able to actually like self-regulate and like monitor their thought process and being able to walk themselves off the ledge, especially when you know it is pressure. Someone's on top of you, someone's trying to submit you, someone's trying to break your arm or going for a choke or they're trying to take you down, being able to have that control and like knock wait, I'm okay, I could do this. I see it resonate a lot in other parts of their life because I'm very close to the kids here, especially the ones, you know, like I'm going to their sweet 16s or I'm going to their plays that they're doing at school. So it's kind of see nice to see them really open up and have that confidence on the mats, and they're taking it off the mats as well.

Danny 15:15

That's beautiful. That's uh I have a friend who he's like six feet tall, and his daughter's like three feet tall, and you know, she put him in an arm bar submission on their kitchen floor showing him what she's learning uh in class, and you could see the the the pride and the confidence in it. That's that's really nice.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah, like I have a I'm a big you know, some of them would be like, Oh, I can't, I don't know how to do this, I can't do that. I'm like, kid, when you first walked in here, you didn't know how to do a breakfall, which is like step 101 of ju ju jitsu. So I'm like, we're just gonna learn. There's no I don't know's, no, I can't. I just need to learn, I need some help. That's it.

unknown 15:50

Like, all right.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

So it's kind of nice to see that. And they have they develop their own little community, which is really nice. I think for kids it's important to be able just to have their people, you know, like they have their family and friends at school or wherever else, but it's just nice to have how connected they are here and they celebrate each other's stripe or their promotions, and it's not just thinking about themselves, but being able to be happy for somebody else, which is nice.

Danny 16:18

Yeah, that's so valuable. I I've heard of a concept called like a third place, like the idea that you have work or school, you have home, but like it's important to have another outlet too.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

And it sounds like uh you're what do you call it a gym or so may many places do call their jujitsu schools a gym. My professor and he's taught me is we call it an academy, we're a place of higher learning.

Danny 16:45

Yeah, that and that's that that's fair. That that makes sense. So at your academy, uh people have their third place where they're exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

And you know, people and people need a support system. I've had kids where you know, I've like, oh, where's so and so? And I text him out like, hey, I haven't seen him in class, everything okay? And literally mom goes, oh, his dad passed away recently. So I was like, okay. I was like, let's get him back on the mat, you know, let's support him. I stopped by, dropped him off like a t-shirt just to chat. And it wasn't like, oh, I'm so sorry that your dad passed. It's just like, hey, kiddo, I haven't seen you in a bit, you know. And then eventually he opened up to me, told me everything, and he got back to training. He's been here now three years, and he's just the happiest kid, just super supportive of everybody. And it's just kind of nice that he knows that he has a safe space outside of school and home, and he can come and talk here. One thing with jujitsu, you know, the mental aspect of it is so big, especially for kids. But when talking about that close contact sport, especially, you know, self-defense or anything, the one of the biggest benefits of it is when you are exposed to it. If Lord forbid you have to actually defend yourself, that initial shock of somebody being in your face, that somebody being that close to you and invading your personal space is gone. So there's no delay in your reaction. You're so comfortable with somebody being that close that you you're you can think. That's when your fight or flight starts to react, and you don't that's where the muscle memory kicks in. So it's really good for the kids to have that because I've done the self-defense class for the kids and I've done like Stranger Danger, where I've had parents come on the mats and pretend to be a stranger and go through it. And you know, I had the kids practice screaming, and they're but you would think kids would be no problem screaming in that situation because an adult grabbed them, they froze, and they're like, Oh, even though they know this person kind of, and it was interesting to see like the little mental aspect of it for them to register it and get over that initial discomfort of that moment.

Danny 18:52

Have have you ever had to deal with any inappropriate things uh at the academy, like people being too rough or um you know, getting angry at each other or anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 19:04

It's very rare, uh, especially getting angry at each other, because again, with with training, there's a mutual level of respect and understanding. So also the coaches know some people, you know, they only have one speed, but they'll just they could only go hard, you know? Which is fine, like that's that's on them. And there's some people that could only go one speed where they're just gonna go slow, and you know, that's where the coach's job it's to make sure there's the right pairings. So there'll be sometimes people that we know would not mix together and we're like, you know, why don't you go with this person instead? And we'll split them up because we know everyone's temperament, we know everyone's skill level for the most part. So we just for safety, we just try to separate it and link them together. Now, if somebody's ever too rough or they're going, as we like to call balls to the wall, that's when you have the mat enforcers. That's the beauty of jiu-jitsu.

Danny 20:02

What is that?

SPEAKER_02 20:03

So it's a designated person, usually on the mat. Sometimes you have a few people on the mats. Those are the people that if let's say someone new is trying out the school, or maybe some guy is just having a bad day and he's training with the female, but he's going really hard, you go, Oh, Frank, why don't you go with him today? And when Frank is being told, Why don't you go with him? Frank knows, oh, I need to go hard on this guy to simmer him down. And then, and then afterwards the coaches will talk to that guy that was going too hard. So those are the mat forcers. The mat enforcers protect the mats.

unknown 20:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Whoever needs to beat down to get it.

Danny 20:44

Yeah, that's uh probably a very good idea to have it as a backup.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Oh yeah. And we have it for men and women. I'm I personally am the female mat enforcer if I if there's a female that needs to get put in.

Danny 20:58

Why do you think that you know UFC is super popular and and then that's turning into the growth of these academies and gyms? A growing number of uh martial arts places and and like uh regular gyms too, like workout gyms or like independent ones that are cross-fit type stuff. But why do you think people are are interested in like self-defense or just getting in really good shape?

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Yeah, I think a big factor in it is just one, we're living in a scarier world nowadays where people are doing absolutely nothing unprovoked and getting attacked. So I think people are almost everyone has had some kind of experience with that, which is where they're like, wow, I really don't know what I'm gonna do here. And I do intros in the academy, and you know, as a person who's never had any experience, they do like a 30-minute private with me while there's a regular class running. And that's always my first question is when why are you here? Like, why'd you make the call to try it? And especially for females, it's I just want to learn some basic self-defense. And even some of the guys nowadays, when I first started doing intros, very rare will a guy tell me, I want to learn some self-defense. It's always, oh, I love UFC, or oh, I used to wrestle back in the day. Now more and more men as well are like, oh, I'm working in the city, or oh, my job roots changed, and now I have to walk through this, or they had an incident, or I was at the bar and something happened, and people are starting to feel unsafe in their day-to-day life. So they kind of want that little security blanket of no having some sort of experience with it. I definitely would say George St. Pierre is a big factor, but I think uh Who's can you say that name again? George St. Pierre. He's one of the goats in UFC, and he uh was just, I think a lot of times for people to understand that the fight ends on the ground for the most part. It's very rare that you'll see just a one-hit wonder and like they get knocked out immediately in the UFC. Most of the time they will end up on the ground. And I think people having that interest of what is happening when it's on the ground, that's been contributing a lot to people having an interest in jiu-jitsu. And you know, you'll have a lot of guys that a lot of them have their black belts in jiu-jitsu, Jose Aldo, they're all black belts in jiu-jitsu. So, and you see it. That's how they're getting the the submissions, the rear naked show. They're getting the arm bars, they're getting Americanas or Kamoras. That's all jujitsu. So I think because and I we I notice it when there's a UFC fight, you know, I get the notifications online who's been on the who has an interest in trying out a class. And UFC night, it'll be like at midnight, 1 a.m. People are online looking us up and they're having an interest to try out the class next week.

Danny 23:47

Our next question is from one of my multilingual students.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Is there any movement that is not to hurt the person but to make it clear to him not to mess with me if talking is not a good option?

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yes. So a good body lock is good, especially standing. I will definitely say first, you know, use your words, everything else, but a good solid body lock, you have real good control of their body and you can take them either forward, back, side to side, and you can control how hard they go down. So you don't have to worry, there isn't as much of a risk of them hurting hurting them while they get taken down. And then just in getting into a top position, we call it mount, and just where you're laying on top of them and you get head and arm control, they're not going anywhere. And the last one I would definitely recommend, especially if you're a little bit smaller, it's a little bit easier to get to their back. Having full back control. It's hard to defend something when something's on your back, you can't see them. But having really good a lot of videos that you see in self-defense, like at the subway instances or any like that, a lot of them they end up on their back, and they're just either fully controlling them on the back or just on top of them with head and arm control. And you know, just keep in mind just head control. You control someone, you control their head. It's very hard for them to move their body without their head. I have I have a one little story, which is one of my favorite stories. So it was going out once and somebody thought it'd be very funny, somebody that kept bothering me throughout the the night. That was very funny just to show off of how strong they are by picking me up. When they picked me up, I just threw a guillotine where you wrapped their head. I wrapped his head, I told him, Put me, put me down. And he got so scared because it is a choke, but I didn't want to choke him and get have him pass out. But I hit it enough that he did feel the choke and it made him panic and put me down and he just w ran away from me.

Danny 25:50

Yeah, I I bet that uh worked very fast.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Yeah, yeah.

Danny 25:56

We have another student question here.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

I am now a wrestler and I high school student. How many fights have you won? And how many have your last and what was it that uh drove your attention to this sport?

SPEAKER_02 26:15

All right, so I have competed. I usually compete uh about three times a year, so I've competed about 30 times. And out of the 30, I have probably lost way more times than I've won. It is a mental game when it when it comes to competition. And I think the best loss I ever had, which was my favorite loss, is the girl was just ver much more skilled than I am, I was. And it made me realize like I need to step up my game. And that's what made me not go, oh, all right, this is not for me. It's like uh if she can get that good, I can get even better. So, you know, as as a cliche might sound, you win or you you learn. It is 1000% true. And all of my wins, I'll be honest, I don't remember any of them. Maybe the one because I almost broke almost broke the girl's shoulder because she didn't want to tap, and that just traumatized me. Uh but my losses, I remember them very vividly, and I remember my mistakes that I did and the feeling of like the terrible feeling that you feel where you just want to go and cry and you're like, why am I doing this? But then you just have to the next day you have to get back on the mats and you keep pushing through it and figure out what the mistakes were and you're gonna fix those mistakes and not make them again.

Danny 27:35

Really a brilliant mentality to have. I I like that you either win or you learn. And yeah, it's you can get so competitive that you get down on yourself. Oh yes. Um or you start hating the other person or whatever, but that's such a great mentality to to persevere and keep going and and to learn from what happened.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

I would recommend, you know, when you go and have a goal. It doesn't have to be the goal isn't to win. Like I've had competitions where I'm like, my goal is to get a takedown today. And I'm like, I focused on my wrestling, I focused on what I'm gonna do. And when I got I'm like, I might have lost, but you know what? I got the takedown, I got my two points at least. Or oh, I didn't freeze up in this position like last time. So those little progressive movements, that's what helps you. And the last few years that I've competed, I've been winning more, and I think that's been benefiting it.

Danny 28:26

Yeah, I love that. I I love that idea. That's that probably applies to a lot of sports or any maybe other categories of stuff too. But just being able to, you know, I have one goal, it's probably it's hard, but it might be achievable, and I can consider it a a win if I, you know, try.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Exactly. Yeah. So my f the first time I ever tried it out, there was an event at my academy, it was uh Buddy Night, and I had a friend that was that was a blue belt here, and they convinced me to come come through, they're doing raffles. I'm like, okay. At that time I was teaching um three and a half year olds, and I had a lot of kids that weren't diagnosed. It was just a really rough year. You know, I had like 36 kids, three teachers, and I remember that it was St. Patrick's Day, and I was like, I want to go home and go to sleep and forget about this day. But I was like, I need to do this buddy night. And I go, and I was so lost, I was so confused. I didn't know my left arm from my right leg. I just felt like, what is this? But there were, you know, there's very basic stuff that we were doing, like escaping somebody on top of you, like mouth, all this stuff. But it felt like such a good real like physical relief, like trying to figure problem solve this thing while using my body. And because I was so focused on it, I just completely forgot about all the stuff that happened earlier in the day where I wanted to quit my job and just leave that classroom. I left, I was like, oh man, like it really de-stressed me today. I was like, okay, like this is for me. Because I was like, if it could de-stress me today where I was about to quit my job and never come back to that school, I was like, it'll de-stress me every day, and the next day I signed up.

Danny 30:10

Um, do you I know some people have uh dreams about their work, and I know that um I've had dreams about teaching. Do you ever have dreams about um uh your work?

SPEAKER_02 30:23

Yes. Usually the dreams that I have is more administrative-wise. It's not too much of jujitsu, uh, but when I'm competing, I have dreams about competing, that's for sure. I've my I've re play my matches again and my roles, and I'll re have those in my dreams, but a lot of it for me is administrative or the social media part where I might have posted the wrong thing. So it's things like that. But overall, jujitsu-wise, it doesn't pop up in my dreams too much. I think throughout the day I'm on the mat so much that it just gets out of my brain by the end of the day. But the administrative things things definitely stick around.

Danny 31:04

That's funny. Yeah, somet that that kind of being a representative of a place, you know, that's that's a lot of labor, you know, that's a lot of responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Yes, and we know we have a huge um following internationally. My professor we tra one thing I don't I probably didn't mention. I get to actually really travel a lot. I've been to a lot of countries because of jujitsu.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

And um, my professor when he teaches in Italy or in Costa Rica, we do camps, and I'm the one that organizes the camps. So we'll have people from twelve I had a guy from New Zealand fly out to Costa Rica to train with us. So having that kind of responsibility in different time zones that I'm working with, that pops up into my head a lot of times.

Danny 31:49

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Yeah, like we did a camp last September for two weeks in Japan, and I'm very fortunate. My professor takes great care of me, he pays for, you know, part of my job, and not a lot of people get those benefits. And I always say, me personally, I don't feel like I work. I'm doing jujitsu, I'm making sure my teammates are happy, I'm making sure the you know, the the lights are staying on and the business side is good of things, I'm getting to travel. It's a I got to turn a hobby, a passion, into a career, which is the best part about it.

Danny 32:24

That's that's tough. That's hard to find for them. What uh what would you say is like the best thing and the worst thing that happened during a class?

SPEAKER_02 32:35

The worst thing is for sure having a guy accidentally post and dislocate his elbow. That was very disgusting to see. That was, and then we had a guy that he had a little like something with his rib or his heart, and he passed out. So it's it's always been the medical stuff, which is thankfully very, very rare. But having the medical things, that's always the worst part. Everything else could get resolved, but having your what seeing your teammates get hurt, that's the worst part. I think the best part, I again, because of my teaching background, I have a preference and you know, soft spot for the kids. I just love seeing the kids that were scared to get on the mats and would just hide behind their parents, actually run into class and be excited and talk to people and tell me about their day and get excited when we start sparring. That's the best part.

Danny 33:28

Yeah, that sounds so that sounds so fun, so cute to see them um grow and come out of the show and get more confident.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Exactly. We had a kid, uh student, he didn't talk for three years. I didn't hear his voice for three years while he was here. And one day I was asking a question, and I just I'm like, voice is that I've never heard this voice. And I was like, wow, we've made progress. It took three years.

Danny 33:54

So you speak other languages besides English?

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yes, I do speak um Russian because I was born in Kazakhstan, so I speak Russian. My Spanish is pretty decent, where I've I could for the most part communicate in Spanish, and then I know very basic words in like Turkish and in Korean.

Danny 34:12

Oh wow, a bunch. So have do you ever get to use commands or or uh you know command words in in these languages or other words?

SPEAKER_02 34:21

Yeah, yeah, I do, which is actually always especially with with newer people when they come in and I hear them talking and and or if they see my name, they see like this my last name, it's immediately just something to bond over. Or even if it's not that they speak Russian or Spanish or anything, I think people see my name and they just feel like, oh, okay, like you maybe understand this because they're they're an immigrant themselves, or maybe they're very subconscious. I've where we live, it's a very mixed population. So that kind of definitely helps out. But I we I've definitely had a lot of people come in and they just speak Russian, or maybe just the parents speak Russian, and it's easier just to be able to communicate with them.

Danny 35:03

Do you have a favorite uh UFC fighter or a boxer?

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Yeah, definitely to this day, always and forever will be George St. Pierre. He actually is the reason why I respected the sport.

Danny 35:15

What do you like about him?

SPEAKER_02 35:18

So there was before I ever even contemplated doing jujitsu, I watched a Hulu documentary. It was him versus Carlos Conduit, and they were just, you know, documenting how they were preparing for their fights. And there was just a certain level of respect that they had, especially George St. Pierre, for the art of martial arts and for it's not like, oh, this is my opponent. I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna break him down. It's like, no, I'm gonna go and show what I have, and this is who I'm gonna show it against. And there's just this respect and something that just is lacking a lot of times, I feel like, and there is no trash talking from George St. Pierre. He just puts in the work. He's not the number one striker, he's not the number one any of the other martial arts, but he just learns how to use his skills against the number one striker, the number one wrestler. And he'll out wrestle them or outstrike them. So that's always being able, he always adjusted his game to make it fitting for what who he's going against.

Danny 36:20

Yeah, that's a nice uh nice series of characteristics that he has compared to some other people. Do you have do you have any UFC fighters that you really dislike?

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Yeah, definitely uh McGregor.

Danny 36:34

Con uh what's his name? What's his first name? Connor McGregor, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

I just I just don't like I really do not like the trash talking. I understand it makes money. I'm just not a fan of it because it is a martial art at the end of the day, and respect is a big part of it.

Danny 36:48

Yeah, he does seem like just a mean, angry person that got good at fighting.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Exactly. Yeah, and there's just all the other extra drama that he got into it, where I'm like, at the end of the day, I know you don't sign up, but you are role models for people, you're a role model for the little kids. Yeah, like Khib is another one that I absolutely love, and is just very much of get down to work, do what you have to do, and be respectful.

Danny 37:15

Even people in Ireland don't like Conor McGregor anymore.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

Yeah. For giving them a bad rep.

Danny 37:21

Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about what it feels like to be a woman in in the combat sports?

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Yes, it's definitely um beneficial. It has its challenges for sure. Because you have, I you know, at our academy where we have a lot of females, which is very rare. Like some I've been to schools where some of the guys have never rolled with a woman before. So they don't know how to manage it. And then some of them, that's when their ego gets hurt. I'm like, oh, and you know, or some of them are very like, oh, this is fun, like, oh, I finally have somebody that I could work with and it's not trying to rip my head off. But it's definitely a very male-dominated field, it's changing for sure, but I think it's something that is definitely needed for the change. And I have a really good rapport with a lot of the guys and a lot of their respect. But I think the beauty of jujitsu is if your jiu-jitsu's good, a lot of people will respect you. And it that and that isn't meaning like they're gonna respect you on the mats, they respect you off of the mats. So when I'm talking to them business-wise or anything else, I could feel that respect that they give me because they've seen my skill level. So I think it's really important if you are working administrative side of jujitsu, it is really important for you to have a passion and love and desire to keep getting better on the mats. Like I train with everybody on the mats. Like I'll train from white belts to black belts at any time. I have no problems with it. And because people have rolls, me, not that I beat them up, but just the fact that I rolled with them or maybe help them or sub them or what they have that rapport and it makes everything else easier. So especially like business size where I'm like, hey, we need we're having issues with payment or whatever else. They're not quick to get angry or you know, defensive. So it's it's good important to have that. But I will say it has its little moments sometimes, but they're very far in be between. But it's definitely gotten a lot better, and I've gotten much much more confident in my role.

Danny 39:32

Yeah, how that's that sounds like it sounds like you're echoing and mirroring some of the things you like about George St. Pierre as well.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Yeah, definitely trying to live live by his example. My professor actually used to train with him too, so he always speaks so highly about him. Like, okay, what I saw on TV is what who he is. So I would hope all the kids, when they get older and they're picking their careers, they pick something that they have a passion for. And one thing I'll definitely say is you have to pay your dues. You have to do the grunt work, you have to do the the stuff that isn't necessarily fun. And then you're gonna feel super lost and confused, and I was super lost and confused, and with the right guidance and patience and not being so defensive, like, oh no, I couldn't make a mistake, like, oh, I made a mistake, okay. How am I gonna fix this? Carry on, like not being dwelling on the mistake, but moving forward. That's such a game changer, I think, in any kind of job that you have.

Danny 40:32

Can you talk for uh uh a couple moments about like the effect on your body and how to take care of your body and how it's a I you know, I imagine a very tough, physically tough job to have, actually.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

Yeah, it's a lot of man it's a definitely a m management skills of and listening to your body because I do train six, seven days a week, most days twice a day, plus lifting and everything. So being physically fit is very important, but also being giving yourself the right nutrition and taking the time away sometimes when you need it, just going easy with your roles is really important. You know, I don't like to call out of work. You know, if I my professor, for instance, he's always banged up, you know, he's had long history, but you'll never see it. And he's always professional. So I've just kind of learned from him. There are times that, you know, my neck is aching or my hips are killing me or my knee. Like I've had times where I've blown out my knee. Modify everything. I've done one-legged jujitsu, I've done with my arm in the sling, and uh I had it in my gi, and I was teaching or training with just one arm, but that's where you have to slow really slow down and be aware, like, okay, I am injured. I cannot do what I normally do. And you kind of have to be more attuned with what you're doing, and it benefits you because I've had, you know, again, like every day I try to get all my protein and everything, but you'll have a freak accident. And when I've had that, like one of my favorite submissions is a kamor, which I need to use with my hands, and I messed up my arm, and my arm was in the sling for a little bit, so I couldn't use my both my arms. So I had to use my legs, I had to be more engaged with my legs and do more submissions with my legs, and which they got a lot better. And by the time that my arm was healed, I could go back to doing kamoras, but now the submissions that I do with my legs are way better as well. So it benefited me. People don't like to slow down, they feel like, oh, I should be doing more. Like you're doing just enough by being gear.

Danny 42:34

That's that's a really good mentality, too. Wow. Yeah, well, uh I uh Aliyah, I really appreciate this. Um, I I learned a lot, and I think that everything that you said is gonna be really valuable to anybody listening, whether it's uh a young person, uh someone that knows already a lot about martial arts, or or somebody that maybe is just interested, or anybody who you know wants to find a career that is uh involves something that they're passionate about.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

I I I appreciate that. This is awesome. Thank you so much for reaching out.