The Dirt Wasp Podcast

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Cowboy up!  Karate is in the Olympic Games for the very first time in 2020 (the 2020 Games will be conducted in 2021).  With the Netflix series "Cobra Kai" enjoying immense global popularity, Karate is once again in the limelight.  Karate black belt, martial arts school owner, and lifelong martial artist and martial arts instructor Nick W. Smith joins us to talk about "old school Karate," the "Golden Age" of Karate competition in the 1960s thru the 1980s, the "Karate Kid Effect," and what the future holds for Karate as a competitive sport.  Nick holds black belts in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, holds Suffian rank in Silat Bela Duri, and is a Kali practitioner and instructor.  This episode is "Texas heavy," as Texas was once - and may be again - a Karate fighter Mecca.  The 2021 Cowboy Up Karate Tournament will be held in New Braunfels, Texas, March 5-6, 2021.  See www.CowboyUp-Karate.com for details!

Find Nick at: www.HCKarate.com
Texas Karate Organization: www.TKOLeague.com
North American Sport Karate Association: www.NASKA.com
International Sport Karate Association: www.ISKAWorldHQ.com
Team USA Karate: www.TeamUSA.org/USA-Karate
Cowboy Up Karate Tournament: www.CowboyUp-Karate.com

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Airline Captain Jay Seffern joins us to talk about the airline industry, its history, how it's changed over the years, and tips for those interested in an airline career.  If you have, do, or plan to fly on an airline, this will be an a very interesting show!  Jay is also known as Colonel Jay Seffern.

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Welcome to the third episode of our trilogy on the martial arts with Suffian Nick W. Smith, owner of Hill Country Karate in New Braunfels, Texas.  Mr. Smith is a lifelong martial artist and martial arts instructor, combatives instructor, and has an impressive martial arts resume including black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do.  He is a Suffian in Silat Bela Diri, is a Dog Brothers Martial Arts instructor, and has many, many more qualifications from his 47 years of participation in and as an instructor of martial arts.  Mr. Smith is also a certified combat pistol and duty rifle instructor.  Today we will talk about the difference between martial arts and self defense, as well as the importance of physical fitness!

Hill Country Karate: www.hckarate.com

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Welcome to the second episode of our trilogy on the martial arts with Suffian Nick W. Smith, owner of Hill Country Karate in New Braunfels, Texas.  Mr. Smith is a lifelong martial artist and martial arts instructor, combatives instructor, and has an impressive martial arts resume including black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do.  He is a Suffian in Silat Bela Diri, is a Dog Brothers Martial Arts instructor, and has many, many more qualifications from his 47 years of participation in and as an instructor of martial arts.  Mr. Smith is also a certified combat pistol and duty rifle instructor, and this we will discuss today.  Tune in to this very interesting show!

Hill Country Karate: www.hckarate.com

Email us at: [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter: @DirtWaspPodcast
Visit our website: www.TheDirtWaspPodcast.com
Check out our t-shirts and coffee mugs at: www.TheDirtWaspPodcast.com/shop

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Our guest this week is Suffian Nick W. Smith, owner of Hill Country Karate in New Braunfels, Texas.  Mr. Smith is a lifelong martial artist and martial arts instructor, combatives instructor, and has an impressive martial arts resume including black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do.  He is a Suffian in Silat Bela Diri, is a Dog Brothers Martial Arts instructor, and has many, many more qualifications from his 47 years of participation in and as an instructor of martial arts.  Mr. Smith is also a certified combat pistol and duty rifle instructor.  This is an interesting show and is the first episode in a trilogy with Suffian Smith!

Hill Country Karate: www.hckarate.com

Email us at: [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter: @DirtWaspPodcast
Visit our website: www.TheDirtWaspPodcast.com
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This week we talk with wrestling and football coach Gary Sirkel about the importance of contact sports in the development of mental and physical toughness, personal resilience, and leadership in youth.  It is said that hard times create hard men (and women), while soft times create soft men (and women).  In the scope of human history, mankind has never had it so easy in terms of raw survival.  Are we soft?

Gridiron (American & Canadian) Football, Australian Rules Football, Rugby Football, Ice Hockey, LaCrosse, boxing, wrestling, MMA and other combat sports and martial arts teach invaluable life lessons.  Sitting and looking at a device or computer screen is hardly a difficult, challenging, obstacle laden lifestyle, and it is devoid of the capacity to develop "true grit."  Our ancestors would laugh at us.

Coach Sirkel is a long-time youth sports coach, and while primarily a football and wrestling coach, he has coached soccer, baseball, and softball.  Gary is the married father of four children and is a grandfather.  He is a Leadership Coach on the John Maxwell Team and is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Email us at: [email protected]
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The John Maxwell Team: https://johnmaxwellgroup.com

The U.S. Marine Corps: https://www.marines.mil

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Join me and Guro Edwin Rodriguez of Texas Defense Academy to talk about the Filipino Martial Art Pekiti Tersia Kali, or P-T-K!   P-T-K was founded by the Tortal family in the Philippines in 1897.  It is based on the traditional Filipino bladed-weapons martial art of Kali. P-T-K is the hand-to-hand fighting system of the Philippine Marine Corps, and forms the basis for the hand-to-hand system taught to Texas State Troopers (state police) in Trooper Recruit School.

Guro Rodriguez's martial arts background includes Tae Kwon Do, submission and catch wrestling, combatives, and the Keysi Fighting Method.  Check out TDA's website at:

www.TexasDefenseAcademy.com

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Follow us on Twitter: @DirtWaspPodcast
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Happy New Year!!!

In our 2021 New Year's Day message to you the Colonel reads the 1850 poem, "Ring Out, Wild Bells," by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), a most appropriate and fitting poem to send 2020 off into history. The Colonel also reads another fitting poem, "Harken the New Year."  Thank you for listening to the podcast!!!

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"Ring Out, Wild Bells" is in the public domain.

"Harken the New Year" ©2020 by Todd K. Hulsey

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 iFeliz Navidad!  Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas 2020 message to you.  The Colonel reads the 1823 poem, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," by the American poet Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863).  You may know it in its adapted version as "T'was the Night Before Christmas."*

A Happy Christmas to all!

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*This poem is in the public domain.

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Join me and retired U.S. Department of Homeland Security Senior Special Agent Tom Morgan, a veteran polygraph examiner, to demystify the mysterious polygraph (lie detector)!  Tom talks about the history of the polygraph, the science behind it, it's uses, and things to think about if you have to take one.  Tom is a graduate of the U.S. Department of Defense Polygraph School, and since retirement has operated his own polygraph practice.  Did you know that one of the founders of American polygraphy, William Marston, was also creator of the comic book character Wonder Woman. Remember her "lasso of truth?"

Tom's polygraph firm: https://alliancepolygraph.weebly.com

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Follow us on Twitter: @DirtWaspPodcast