Episode 1123 - Martial Things with Jenni Nather
In this episode join Andrew in whistlekick’s Martial Things series. This week he sits down and chats with Jenni Nather with a plan to talk about……. nothing. No plan, just a conversation to see where it takes them.
Martial Things with Jenni Nather - Episode 1123
SUMMARY
In this episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, Andrew Adams and Jenni Nather engage in a candid conversation about their martial arts journeys, the importance of connection within the martial arts community, and the challenges of organizing events. Jenni shares her experiences training with her family and the physical challenges she faces. The discussion highlights the universal language of martial arts and the joy of creating connections through shared experiences.
In this conversation, Philly Jenni Nather discusses the importance of community in martial arts, her love for reading as a self-care practice, and the role of music in training environments. She also shares her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated field, highlighting the challenges and progress made in creating a supportive atmosphere for all students. The discussion emphasizes the need for open communication and understanding in martial arts, as well as the positive impact of role models in encouraging participation among women and girls.
TAKEAWAYS
Training with family can be a unique experience.
Adapting techniques is essential in martial arts.
Physical challenges can lead to personal growth.
Connection in martial arts creates a supportive community.
Creating forms together fosters collaboration and friendship.
Martial arts events can enhance self-confidence.
Learning from others enriches one's own practice.
Being part of a community is vital for martial artists.
The journey in martial arts is ongoing and evolving.
Community events enhance learning and connection in martial arts.
Women in martial arts face unique challenges but can also lead change.
Open communication is essential for progress in martial arts training.
Role models can inspire more women to participate in martial arts.
Creating a supportive environment benefits all students.
Diversity in martial arts schools can lead to better representation.
Martial arts can be both serious and enjoyable.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
03:30 Personal Martial Arts Journey
09:15 The Importance of Connection in Martial Arts
16:25 Organizing Martial Arts Events
18:44 The Importance of Community in Martial Arts
20:06 Reading as a Form of Self-Care
21:27 The Role of Music in Training
26:26 Challenges of Being a Woman in Martial Arts
31:38 Creating a Supportive Environment for All Students
To connect with Jenni Nather: books@whistlekick.com
Join our EXCLUSIVE newsletter to get notified of each episode as it comes out!
Subscribe — whistlekick Martial Arts Radio
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it. Don’t forget to drop them in the comment section down below!
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Andrew Adams (01:15.718)
Welcome your listening or perhaps watching on YouTube another episode of Whistlekick martial arts radio. And today I'm joined by Jenny Nather. Jenny, how are you?
Philly Jenni Nather (01:26.529)
Great, Andrew, how are you?
Andrew Adams (01:27.692)
I am lovely. I'm excited that we get to get together and chat about some stuff. What stuff are we going to talk about? I don't know. We're going to find out. We'll see. That's one of the hallmarks of this Martial Things series is that we don't come in with a script and we're going to find out where it takes us. But in case you're new here, I want to let you know whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com is where you can find all of the episodes that we've done over 1100 of them at this point, all for free.
We don't put them up behind a paywall. want you to be able to listen or watch all of them. So that's where you can go to find all of the episodes we've done. can find transcripts, show notes, photos, all of that stuff you can find there. You can also join our exclusive newsletter. And if you go to whistlekick.com, you'll find out about all of the things that we do. Whether it is training programs or whether you want to purchase some apparel or maybe you want to buy some sparring gear, or maybe you want to purchase some
Books I think we might talk about books. We'll see we'll find out why But all of that stuff you can find at whistlekick.com and if you use the code podcast one five You can save yourself a little bit of money on almost everything we do Some of our events you can't there's no discount on those but a lot of our events are free and you should go check those out there at whistlekick.com That's a mouthful. my gosh
Philly Jenni Nather (02:53.319)
It was. That's great. That's more words than I am tall.
Andrew Adams (02:57.968)
That's for those that don't know. Jenny is a lovely person. If you've never met her, you are missing out. She's lovely. If you're watching video, you can see she's sitting on a couch, but she is vertically challenged.
Philly Jenni Nather (03:05.076)
I am.
Philly Jenni Nather (03:14.204)
I'm, yes, like a kid. My feet are not touching the floor right now from my couch.
Andrew Adams (03:20.892)
Well, there you go. Now, does that affect your martial arts at all? Like how to... Okay.
Philly Jenni Nather (03:28.284)
Not yours, Lily. In the beginning, sure, because I would look at things like that would never work for me. But when you play around with the stuff that you're learning, you figure out how to make it work. And in some cases, being short can actually be an advantage for me. So people with long legs, if I get really close in while they're sparring, they can't use their legs, right? So.
You find things that work for you.
Andrew Adams (03:58.278)
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Learning how to adapt, which I mean, that should be a hallmark of everyone's martial art, right? You have to learn how to adapt. you've had to learn it at a maybe a slightly earlier, not age, but earlier in your career of martial arts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There we go. Yeah.
Philly Jenni Nather (04:08.551)
Yeah.
Philly Jenni Nather (04:15.529)
Training age, yes, an earlier training age. Yeah. And I think that for a while, I didn't have a lot of people who would understand, but lucky for me, I got to train with a lot of kids. So, at least I always had partners who were my size.
Andrew Adams (04:30.576)
Hmm.
Andrew Adams (04:35.132)
Yeah, I was going to say at least, you know, same height as you, so that's good. Now, what's going on in your world, martial art wise, right now? Because like, you know, like I said, martial things, we don't have an agenda. So let's just talk about what you're doing in the martial arts space these days.
Philly Jenni Nather (04:54.984)
I mean, outside of the whistle kick stuff. Well, as far as rank and advancement, that is not in the cards for me. I'm not worried about doing that. So I'll get that out there right away. I do enjoy training because of the rest of my life and the busy schedule I lead. I train once a week right now with my school, which is literally mine and my husband's school. My husband and my oldest son.
Andrew Adams (05:15.976)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (05:24.867)
are my instructors and we have a blast. So for a few hours on Saturdays, I get to kick him around and not get in trouble for it.
Andrew Adams (05:39.292)
Yeah, that is unique, you know, that when you are a family of martial artists, you do get to, you know, when you're not a family of martial artists and you just kick each other, that can lead to some problematic scenarios.
Philly Jenni Nather (05:53.243)
Sometimes, yeah.
Andrew Adams (05:56.327)
So are there certain things that you're working on now that you were really enjoying or getting a kick out of? No pun intended. No pun intended.
Philly Jenni Nather (06:05.701)
Yes, it was. Take credit for that. That was beautiful. So other than the stuff that I'm absorbing from my students and things like that, I get to work with folks and learn that way. And that's that's great. That's my my life in my school. I am also working on getting towards my superfoot black belt. I would love to be able to participate in that this year. So I will need to do a little bit more activity.
So I guess where I should take this first is, okay, obviously I have a bum foot right now, but that's temporary. But I have also been dealing with some lower back pain and issues in my sciatic joint. And I can take that back to when I was pregnant with Lilith and training. It didn't bother me while I was doing the training, but after I had Lilith and things were healing back up again, they didn't quite heal properly. So.
Andrew Adams (06:40.444)
yeah.
Andrew Adams (06:45.064)
Hmm.
Andrew Adams (07:01.97)
Hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (07:03.297)
the wrong muscle groups were doing jobs that they were never meant to do and it eventually snowballed and led into the pain that I was having. So luckily I have an amazing physical therapist and he's been working with me since February. We are almost ready to graduate me to an at-home program so I'm making progress there and once I'm ready to jump back into more frequent training and things like that for the super foot stuff I will
Andrew Adams (07:22.824)
Mm-hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (07:32.548)
I will be right on top of that and working hard towards that. yeah.
Andrew Adams (07:37.246)
Yeah, having a bum foot doesn't make the superfoot stuff any easier, that's for sure.
Philly Jenni Nather (07:43.97)
That is true and you would know.
Andrew Adams (07:45.001)
I would know. Yeah, for those that don't know, I also have a bum foot right now. It's been actually a year and a half, a year and a half ago or so I had surgery on my foot and it healed, but it's not the same. And I can't do things on my foot that I used to. It is not quite right. I, it caused me to miss out on my next super foot test. Actually, I would have
been eligible to test for my second time, but there's no way I can. So I can feel your, literally feel your pain.
Philly Jenni Nather (08:22.148)
Do you think that you and I could end up in the same test together?
Andrew Adams (08:28.328)
It's possible. Yeah, it's possible. Now, is it your right foot or your left foot that's gimpy?
Philly Jenni Nather (08:31.096)
That would be fun.
It's my right foot is my bum foot. But.
Andrew Adams (08:36.648)
It's also my right foot.
Philly Jenni Nather (08:40.614)
hoping that this is very temporary. So this is a thing that I just did over the past weekend and it was my oldest son and I, we took what we were doing in class and we kept going with it and we just kept saying, well what if, what if? And of course there was a lot of, you know, ground stuff that we started incorporating and at one point I was laughing too hard and didn't notice he was about to do another thing and as he wraps up my legs and starts basically turning me into a pill bug,
Andrew Adams (08:42.024)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (08:52.456)
Mm-hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (09:09.79)
my limbs are just flailing and my baby pinky toe caught the mat and it was not fun. When it first happened, my toe was still like out to the side and everything else. I was just like, my gosh, my gosh, this is not good. But I have since assessed it is not broken, just badly sprained. The husband helped me put it back in place.
Andrew Adams (09:15.496)
Mmm.
Andrew Adams (09:33.544)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Those cracks in those mats, can be dangerous.
Philly Jenni Nather (09:37.921)
Yes, it's awful. you know, and I was still like laughing about it. I feel bad because I think my son feels bad. I said, it's not your fault. You know, exactly. It's my job to protect me when we're doing this stuff, right? Like if I get kicked during sparring, it's you know, what's the first thing my instructor says to me? Wear your hands up.
Andrew Adams (09:47.912)
Sure. Yeah, mom should have been paying attention.
Andrew Adams (09:56.732)
That's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I get it.
Andrew Adams (10:05.254)
Yeah. Good point. Yeah. And, and I think that, mean, we're joking about it, but I do think there's an important lesson there, which is, when you are training and working out with someone, mean, you do have to pay attention and be, you know, have the wherewithal to notice what's going on around you. Like, I don't want to throw you onto the bus here, but I know we're joking, but it is your fault. Like you weren't paying attention. You admit it, admitted it. So yeah, yeah, I get it. But it's a good.
Philly Jenni Nather (10:07.136)
Hahaha
Philly Jenni Nather (10:25.12)
That's fine.
I totally own it.
Andrew Adams (10:32.936)
good message for people listening or watching. If you are watching, make sure you hit that like and subscribe button on YouTube. We appreciate that. Yeah, please. Oh, that's funny. Now you also, I know that you attend at least a few martial arts events and have traveled as far as California to attend some events. So let's talk about what you get out of that.
Philly Jenni Nather (10:36.286)
Yes.
Philly Jenni Nather (10:40.895)
Please do.
Philly Jenni Nather (10:51.369)
here.
Philly Jenni Nather (10:55.581)
Yes. Yes, I have.
Andrew Adams (11:01.34)
Right? mean, obviously, I mean, the dumb answer is, well, I get to learn stuff, but I know you and I know that it's more than just that. So let's, let's go there for a little while.
Philly Jenni Nather (11:01.744)
my goodness.
Philly Jenni Nather (11:11.889)
And my big shtick is being able to connect with people and in a way sharing kindness and the love and the passion for what I do. And that helps create this gigantic circle of people who are united by something they share in common. And ultimately, the whole world is going to be a better place for having connected in this way to something together. And like you said, California, shout out to Matt.
Andrew Adams (11:34.738)
Sure.
Philly Jenni Nather (11:41.314)
And I got to go to one of his retreats and hang out with his students and the way that he does things. so much of what I do in my own school is the same as what goes on in his school. But it was different things like terminology or a different approach to how they do it. Maybe they lift their foot a little higher or something doing a technique or scoot their foot out a little bit more or something.
Andrew Adams (11:53.682)
Mmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (12:10.479)
something subtle, but it's essentially the same technique. And I loved being able to connect with them and participate in everything they did without feeling lost. And the martial arts allowed me to do that with them. And I came away with a bunch of friends and folks that I can't wait to get back to California and see.
Andrew Adams (12:21.48)
Mmm.
Andrew Adams (12:31.834)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's one of the things that I think is pretty cool about what we do that it's fairly universal. know, like even, I mean, I have never, I've never, okay, pause, Andrew, go back. So most of my training is in Okinawan or Korean, Okinawan or Japanese styles of martial art. I've never been to Japan or Okinawa and done martial arts training.
I've been to Japan, but I didn't do any training. Funny story. Go back and listen to my initial interview episode. You'll hear all about it. You can't help but laugh. my gosh. But I have to imagine that if I had been able to train, I wouldn't have felt completely awkward and out of place because I would have had a grounding in what they were doing, even if I didn't speak the language, which I don't speak Japanese.
Philly Jenni Nather (13:11.078)
you
Andrew Adams (13:29.646)
Although that's not really a fair thing to say because a lot of the things that I learned in my classes were taught in Japanese. So I know the Japanese terminology for things, but I don't speak Japanese. But I could go to Germany and do a karate Japanese style or a Kanau style karate class and feel not as awkward as if I were to go do a
Philly Jenni Nather (13:42.808)
Right.
Andrew Adams (13:55.453)
You know, Kung Fu class, for example. I haven't done Kung Fu, so that's going to feel awkward. So it's kind of one of those universal, putting this in air quotes, languages that you can go and do anywhere.
Philly Jenni Nather (14:05.571)
Yes. Exactly. And for my school, we do Korean based martial arts. And when I was out hanging out with Matt in his school, they do Japanese based techniques. And he even does the Escrima. So there was some of the Filipino stuff going on. But if I was really confused, I could watch the body movement and still be able to translate it into something for my style. And there were times when we would do that, like...
Andrew Adams (14:26.962)
Mm-hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (14:33.068)
We did the drill where you basically create a form together and the stuff that they were doing, I was doing the Korean way, you know? And it was fun. It was fun to see that difference. And they all enjoyed watching as I was doing things slightly different too, because they learned something.
Andrew Adams (14:36.029)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (14:41.784)
Mm, sure, sure,
Andrew Adams (14:51.844)
Exactly. Yeah. And that's, think, one of the most largest, most large, I guess I don't need most. One of the largest benefits to doing cross-training is that you get to see what other people do and how they do it. And they get to see how you do it. Right. And it's, it's really great for everybody, which is pretty cool. Yeah. That making up of a form can be really cool. I know that you have done it multiple times because I know we do it at all in weekend, which
Was it all in weekend was this past weekend everybody you missed it. I'm sorry to say you just missed it
Philly Jenni Nather (15:30.421)
It was amazing.
Andrew Adams (15:32.317)
Yeah, I mean, we can't really tell you what happened because peek behind the curtain, we're recording this before the weekend, but it comes out after.
Philly Jenni Nather (15:41.72)
I've already talked about messing up my foot last weekend. So if you say that all in weekend was last weekend, you're gonna give everybody the worst impression. It's not like that. All in weekend is incredible. And I'm sure when everybody's watching this, I'm sure that it was an amazing weekend. Yes. And I can't wait. can't wait.
Andrew Adams (15:47.112)
Ohhhh
That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a good point. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Adams (15:59.705)
Yes, I don't know what will be. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (16:05.276)
But we've done it there a number of times and it's interesting because, you know, we all have this commonality. We're all there together. We've all done martial arts of various different kinds. So we have that commonality, but the way we do things is very different. And we all as a group, you know, have made up a form and everybody gets to add a different move and they do it their own way. And it could be a really cool thing to see how it all comes together.
Philly Jenni Nather (16:08.823)
You can.
Philly Jenni Nather (16:32.681)
Yes, it really is. as you're compiling all of those techniques, each person gets to add one of the moves and they'll add it from what they know. So you're picking up little elements from other styles as you go through. it's really amazing. there's something very special about continuing to practice that form and feeling that connection to all of those people again later.
You I mean, you can learn a traditional form that every student in your school learns and everybody gets to do it. And that's that's one thing. But when you've helped create the form, especially with friends, that's magic. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (17:06.034)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (17:14.176)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And there are obviously you had to other events as well I mean for those that don't know we joked about books earlier Jenny is our book division head with whistle kick and also hosts your own martial arts event down in in the Philly area and I know that that's coming up in I mean, it's a number of months away, but it probably feels much closer
Philly Jenni Nather (17:30.611)
Yes.
Philly Jenni Nather (17:40.199)
do not have enough time. It is in September, September 19th, free training day Mid-Atlantic. And if you guys go and find me, you'll be able to get information on this stuff. And I'm sure we'll talk about how to find me later. But the beginning stages are just so many, so many balls are juggling right now. So many things are happening. And I can tell you that we are
scheduled for September 19th at Chichester High School. Doors are opening at 8 a.m. and from there there's a lot of things that I want to tell you but I haven't finalized the details to say it.
Andrew Adams (18:22.482)
Sure. Yeah. So my question, Jenny is, and this is your fourth year, is that right? So my question is why? Year one, what made you decide to do this? Because this, you and I, I know more than probably people listening, but everybody knows if you're hosting a martial arts event, it's not going to be free. It's going to cost you money to do.
Philly Jenni Nather (18:30.739)
Yes, it is.
Andrew Adams (18:52.174)
So why, why did you decide to do it?
Philly Jenni Nather (18:57.077)
So back in, I want to say it was 2022, the Phoenix Rising Tour, we were doing the stops on that and I had you and Jeremy come down and host a seminar for that.
And my anxiety survived the experience of booking that and I had fun. And I saw the potential for my own growth and my self-confidence improving. So there is that aspect.
But the way that I was able to get that group of people together, some of them who I had only known a name until that day.
That was magic. That was the day I fell in love with that connecting together. That let's get together, let's talk about the thing that we share, and let's do it together in whatever way we do and teach each other.
And I went to, it was still just Free Training Day Northeast that year. And I taught a class up there. And being able to be a part of that event made it so much more obvious to me. I definitely needed to have a free training day event down in Philly. So not just the seminar that we did, it was only a couple hours long. But I want to have the multiple.
Andrew Adams (20:04.028)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (20:18.952)
Hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (20:25.564)
classes offered and get a whole bunch of people together to teach what they do and share it for free and everybody learn for free and just have a blast doing it. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (20:35.581)
Yeah.
No, that's great. And I think there's something to be said for that community aspect of, and that's kind of where I was going with that question is not just our events, Whistlekick events, but like all martial arts events, like there's going to be a community aspect to it. You're going to meet new people and, you know, stepping outside of your own school can help grow you as a martial artist because you do get to meet all of these
other people. yeah, I love that. I love it. You're doing books. Do you do a lot of reading? Do you read a of martial arts books?
Philly Jenni Nather (21:12.368)
Absolutely.
Philly Jenni Nather (21:21.026)
martial arts books, but a lot of books. I have read martial arts books and there's a few that'll get intertwined from now on, you from time to time. But the just the idea of reading for me is very comforting. It's part of my daily self-care routine. And at the end of every day, even if I fall asleep while doing it, I will make sure that I sit down and open up my book.
and go through a few pages and just sort of drift off into a different world for a little while. it's almost meditative and it helps you release a lot of stress and it comforts me and gets me ready for bed. But it's also something that I can do all day long. I have always loved to read and there are days when I can just, nothing else is on the schedule today? Cool. And I will read a whole book in a day. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (22:13.896)
This the same way for some people it's music or it's video games right to them. It can be a stress reliever and something can let go of everything about their day. You know for me it was was music in a lot of ways. Music brings up something we've talked about with a few people and I'm curious your thoughts. What are your thoughts on music in the dojo or in the training space?
Philly Jenni Nather (22:19.279)
Yes.
Philly Jenni Nather (22:29.582)
Yes.
Philly Jenni Nather (22:42.031)
I love it. I love it. Yeah, absolutely. For me, training is not always super serious. We're not drilling the military. We're not going to battle. What we do needs to work in a real life situation, but we don't need to be so stiff about it. And being able to play music in the background allows you to sort of
Andrew Adams (22:43.686)
while training.
Philly Jenni Nather (23:11.72)
Slow yourself down, really think about it, understand what your body needs to be doing, how to get it to do what it needs to be doing, and it adds that element of fun. And there are often times when we all are sitting there singing along to whatever's on the radio at the time, but it also gives us that energy, you know? It subtly affects our energy too, so I love it.
Andrew Adams (23:18.184)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Andrew Adams (23:31.336)
Mmm.
Andrew Adams (23:35.4)
Interesting. So as a professional musician, I don't like music in the dojo.
Philly Jenni Nather (23:39.509)
Peace.
That's amazing! Same work.
Andrew Adams (23:45.405)
Yeah. Yeah. So, and I suspect it has to do with, it was never something in any of my schools when I was learning, when I was a student. I suspect it stems from that. And I have, I have been in schools that do it. And for me, I just, feel like, and you know, actually maybe it's because to me, I feel like it's a distraction.
Philly Jenni Nather (23:57.633)
Mm-hmm.
Philly Jenni Nather (24:02.221)
you
Andrew Adams (24:14.92)
But now that I think about it, I am a musician. So I am keyed into listening maybe in a slightly different way than other people are. Maybe, I don't really know, it's hard for me to focus on, like a lot of people, like my wife can do this. She can have music on or a TV show and kind of just going on in the background when she's working on homework or whatever, or doing a craft or whatever.
That's a lot harder for me because I can multitask, but I can't really pay attention really to two things at once. So maybe that's it.
Philly Jenni Nather (24:56.032)
Wow, I play music. I play music while I'm reading. I know. What a nightmare for you.
Andrew Adams (25:00.135)
my gosh, that would kill me.
I would read the same page 25 times.
Philly Jenni Nather (25:07.563)
That's crazy. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, it's completely opposite that I would have thought for you. But your reasoning, I can see that. It makes sense because your brain is... You're used to, like, the rhythm and the beat and the flow of the music. And your body is going to start following that instead of what it's supposed to be doing. So...
Andrew Adams (25:15.794)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (25:26.406)
and I'm keyed in on different things.
Andrew Adams (25:32.445)
Yeah. Yep. Now I will say when I was younger, did, I do remember, just for funsies. mean, I was in high school, creating my own form. And I remember, and I've talked about this, I think in the past that, I created my own weapons form with Sai. and I remember not telling anybody about it because I didn't want my instructor to be mad at me. So like, I never told my instructor, but.
Philly Jenni Nather (25:40.393)
Okay.
Andrew Adams (26:02.906)
I remember doing it to music. remember like choreographing a martial art form to music and having it line up with things. So that would have been a good marriage of the two, but outside of that, yeah, I can't do it. I mean, I can do it, like I don't like to do it.
Philly Jenni Nather (26:19.882)
us.
That's a challenge. Yes, that's crazy that that's the way that... Now, for my head, you can probably hear in the way that I talk to you and the way that I've been having this conversation, my head goes all over the place and my brain is always flying in different directions. And I think for me, having the music helps me tune out some of the extra noise and allows me to focus. So, yeah.
Andrew Adams (26:43.304)
Oh, Oh, interesting.
Yeah. And for me, it allows me to focus too much on the music and then I miss other things.
Philly Jenni Nather (26:51.337)
Thank
Philly Jenni Nather (26:55.943)
Yeah, wow.
Andrew Adams (26:57.48)
Interesting. Yeah, I dig that. there is another... Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's an event coming up in a couple weeks that you're coming up to Vermont for. Is that right? Not all in weekend?
Philly Jenni Nather (27:13.993)
for our Halloween weekend? Not this year.
Andrew Adams (27:15.824)
Okay, I'm confused with a different event. Okay. Okay, nevermind. Now, one of the things that if people don't know about you, we've already talked about that you're short. We've talked about that you're petite. You're also a woman.
Philly Jenni Nather (27:18.323)
Yeah, it might be a different thing. Yeah. Yeah, but that's okay.
Philly Jenni Nather (27:34.086)
Yes.
Andrew Adams (27:39.017)
We have had on a number of people on the show who have talked about the challenges of being a woman in martial arts in a very male dominated industry. And I think it's slowly starting to shift, but it's still not there. So what has that been like for you? Have you had challenges in that regard?
Philly Jenni Nather (27:53.69)
Right.
Philly Jenni Nather (28:02.673)
Some. I have heard nightmares from other women. I have been very lucky. My first school, I feel like I had the opportunity to help guide that instructor how to train with women and things like that. We're not just talking about white uniform pants for those who are wondering. That's, you know, clearly if somebody had that concern, they could go to the instructor and say, listen, I'm not comfortable doing this.
And, you know, ask what your instructor will let you do. Like in our school, in MNSA Martial Arts, if you don't want to wear white pants, just let us know. We'll get to black pants. It's not the end of the world. Uniforms have a place, but if you need to be comfortable by training, while training so that you can learn how to do things effectively, I think that's more important. So then in my first school, I know there was a lot more of the...
tradition and they were worried about making sure that they did things exactly how they were taught to do them and things like that. And by having women in the classes, I was one of the first grown up women that really advanced, you know, far up to a black belt in that school. It gave a lot of opportunity for conversation. And sometimes it landed, sometimes it didn't, but
Andrew Adams (29:24.582)
Mm, yeah.
Philly Jenni Nather (29:30.246)
Progress is progress and having that conversation will allow that seed to be planted and more conversation can happen later. So I'll take all of the wins that I got from it. Let's give a for example, and it's a super simple one, but one summer the instructor did a contest and he wanted to encourage folks to,
Andrew Adams (29:31.251)
Sure.
Philly Jenni Nather (29:57.401)
don't just sort of walk through what we're doing in class. I want to see the effort. So he did this thing where, you know, if you can sweat and your jacket is soaked in sweat and stuff like that, and this, you know, if you have a sweaty jacket at the end of class, you get, you know, credit and whatever towards the goal. And when people achieved the end of the goal, it was, you met the challenge.
Women don't always wear a jacket directly on bare skin for obvious reasons. There's things going on here that most of us are a little bit more modest about. yes, this is true. Absolutely. Yes. So that gave the opportunity for me to pull the instructor side and say, listen, I sweat on.
Andrew Adams (30:25.862)
Mm-hmm, sure.
Yeah, Yep. Well, and to be clear, a lot of men wear an undershirt as well, right? But women, certainly, for sure.
Philly Jenni Nather (30:46.254)
tank tops, it's not on my jacket like that. You know, like I have layers on, it's gonna go through the layers first. And we devised a system to show that, I can still tell that you're working hard. You don't necessarily have to soak your jacket in sweat. And you know, he adjusted the whole measurement system. You know, so it was, it was cool to be able to evolve that, that line of thinking.
Andrew Adams (30:48.744)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (31:05.03)
Mm-hmm. Sure, that makes sense.
Philly Jenni Nather (31:16.035)
As a male instructor, that's not something he would have thought of, you know? So now he gets that perspective by having some of us in class with him.
Andrew Adams (31:25.66)
And sometimes it's just a matter of, like you said, not something he would have thought of. And sometimes it's just a matter of someone mentioning it and being like, okay, got it. That makes complete sense, you know? And just being that reminder sometimes.
Philly Jenni Nather (31:43.371)
Yeah, absolutely.
Andrew Adams (31:45.993)
And there's nothing wrong with that, you know, if you're an instructor listening and, you know, be open to that. Because how can you possibly think you would think of everything?
Philly Jenni Nather (31:52.491)
Right.
Right, you can't, which again, this comes back to the idea of the community getting together and sharing what they know and what they do because there are so many sides to everything. You can't do it on your own. You have to pull from other people's perspectives because they've got different background. They're coming from a different place. They see everything differently. You can think I understand what somebody is doing or thinking or experiencing, but unless you've been in their shoes.
You know what I mean? You're not coming to the same place with your thinking as they are. So stealing that from one another is a great way to help that grow.
Andrew Adams (32:25.746)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (32:34.832)
Absolutely, absolutely. Now, the student demographic in your school, does it lean more 50-50 in terms of between boys and girls or men and women, or is it still heavily skewed towards men?
Philly Jenni Nather (32:51.497)
It is pretty 50-50 right now, I believe. And that's of all ages. The majority of our student body is like teenage and younger at this point. But our adult population is growing and that gives me so much hope. We don't have enough people starting as adults. And for folks like me, that means there are fewer adults to practice with.
Andrew Adams (32:53.212)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Philly Jenni Nather (33:18.632)
Which is why I beat my kid up every weekend, you know?
Andrew Adams (33:20.296)
Well, apparently last weekend he beat you up. You're the one that got hurt. But the reason I asked that question though is the school is owned by your husband and you. So you are a female helping in being there as a role model for the other students, as a black belt in the school, running and owning the school. And so I think
Philly Jenni Nather (33:25.822)
Listen.
Philly Jenni Nather (33:32.96)
you
Andrew Adams (33:49.469)
There's something to be said for that, that your student demographic is split 50-50. And I think that I have found, and I don't have any statistical evidence of this, but in my anecdotal evidence is that most women that I speak to who run schools or are a part of running a school has a much higher demographic of women or females involved in their school than
Philly Jenni Nather (33:51.934)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (34:18.447)
schools that don't.
Philly Jenni Nather (34:21.023)
It's similar to any industry where as a little kid, if you are looking up to whether it's a political figure or some other famous person, if you connect with them based on what they look like or whatever, it's a lot easier for you to picture yourself doing that thing. And for me, I feel like I do that for our student body as well. They can see...
Andrew Adams (34:40.968)
Yep. Yep.
Philly Jenni Nather (34:49.53)
There's a woman out there. There's a female out there and doing this stuff. And then when I step off the mats, I'm still a loving mother. I'm not a brutal fighter. You know, so it's possible for both to exist, you know? So I can I can kick the crap out of somebody. Yes, absolutely. And I pride myself on that because, you know, I'm short. People don't expect it and I got to be able to do it right. So what I do works and I know that it works.
Andrew Adams (34:52.018)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (35:00.455)
Yep. Yep.
Andrew Adams (35:12.85)
Hehehehehe
Philly Jenni Nather (35:19.527)
But I'm still nurturing. I'm still mom. I'm still, you know, even my students in our school, that's another family for me. Like that's another opportunity for me to take care of people. So that's, it's fun for me to do that. And a few of the students have actually passed on that they are so grateful to see me out there doing it. And in classes on Saturdays recently, a lot of the girls have been
Andrew Adams (35:27.72)
Sure.
Andrew Adams (35:31.709)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (35:42.728)
Mm.
Philly Jenni Nather (35:48.816)
fighting to be my partner when it's time to rotate partners. And that makes me so happy. I am so thrilled to see these girls enjoying what we're doing. And hopefully that means that they'll stick with it long-term and help it grow, you know?
Andrew Adams (35:53.146)
Yeah, that's great.
Andrew Adams (36:01.545)
Now, are you sure they didn't want just want you because you were shorter than they were? Okay.
Philly Jenni Nather (36:07.534)
It is possible. I'm not going to overlook that. Get it? Overlook? But...
Andrew Adams (36:12.136)
You're not overlooking much This has been a lot of fun Thanks for coming on the show if if if people want to reach out to you Maybe they're interested in getting involved with the book division Or something you said resonated well with them or maybe something you said really pissed them off. Maybe I don't know How how can people how can people reach you?
Philly Jenni Nather (36:34.684)
I'll take that too.
Philly Jenni Nather (36:38.694)
Let's start with the email. It's books at whistlekick.com. B-O-O-K-S. And if you want to find our school, MNSA Martial Arts, you can connect with me through the school. So if you're in the Newtown Square area, just stop in, come on in and talk to us. We love that. So introduce yourself and we'll have a chat. Yeah, I guess you can follow me on social media too.
Andrew Adams (36:42.642)
There you go.
Philly Jenni Nather (37:05.979)
You can find me at JennyNather397 on Facebook and Instagram and I can chat with you that way too.
Andrew Adams (37:12.488)
Cool. And maybe they want to attend your free training day Mid-Atlantic in September. That would be great.
Philly Jenni Nather (37:21.24)
That would be wonderful. Email me and I can hook you up with the information for that event.
Andrew Adams (37:25.446)
Awesome. Jenny, thank you so much for coming on. This is always a blast. I'm really excited that you were at All in Weekend last weekend and you hurt yourself two weekends ago. Thank you so much and to everybody listening, thank you for being here. If you made it to the end, I appreciate it. If you made it to the end on YouTube, go in the comments and write the comments, dubbed Toe. And then we'll know.
Philly Jenni Nather (37:34.584)
Yes, it was amazing!
I did, yes, that was two weekends ago.
Philly Jenni Nather (37:53.198)
Yes, please.
Andrew Adams (37:54.673)
And then we can all pick on afterwards that you all heard how she stubbed her toe.
Philly Jenni Nather (37:58.618)
my gosh. Usually we try to see how many short jokes we can make, but now we're going to be talking about the toe. This is great.
Andrew Adams (38:07.208)
Yup, but thank you so much for being here listeners or watchers viewers If you're on YouTube go to the page like and subscribe like this video subscribe to our channel get notified of all of the episodes when they come out Mars Whistlekick martial arts radio comm to find out about all of the episodes We've done because we've done a lot go check them all out Whistlekick comm to find out all of the things we do you can find out actually information about the free training day event in Mid-Atlantic as well as
Marshall Summit in November, free training day Midwest, which is happening out in Kansas, or free training day Upper South, which is going to be down in Kentucky. So we are all over the place. So thank you so much for being here, Jenny. Until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great
Philly Jenni Nather (38:49.772)
Yes.
Philly Jenni Nather (38:55.276)
Thank you, Andrew.
Philly Jenni Nather (39:00.738)
great day!
Andrew Adams (39:05.095)
Yay!