Episode 1148 - Cara Crisafulli
In this episode Andrew chats with Cara Crisafulli about her starting Kenpo later in life, cross training, and the community martial arts creates.
Cara Crisafulli - Episode 1148
SUMMARY
In this episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, host Andrew Adams interviews Cara Crisafulli, who shares her unique journey into martial arts, starting from yoga to achieving her black belt at age 44. Cara discusses the importance of community, especially for women in martial arts, and her experiences teaching and mentoring others. She reflects on balancing family life with her passion for martial arts and how her career as a physical therapist complements her training.
The conversation also touches on her favorite and least favorite aspects of training, including the challenges of creativity in techniques and the importance of self-defense training. In this conversation, she also discusses her experiences with cross-training, competition, and the influence of pop culture. She emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and motivation in martial arts, as well as her recent promotion to Sifu. Cara advocates for more women in martial arts and highlights the joy and community found in the practice.
TAKEAWAYS
Cara's journey into martial arts began with yoga.
She achieved her black belt at age 44 after six years of training.
Community is vital for women in martial arts.
Balancing family life and martial arts is a challenge.
Martial arts has greatly impacted her personal growth.
Her career as a physical therapist enhances her martial arts training.
Cara enjoys running through combinations in class.
She dislikes creative techniques and takedowns.
There's so much out there that you can see and do.
She just likes learning.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
02:48 The Path to Black Belt
06:05 Community and Women's Empowerment in Martial Arts
09:01 Teaching and Mentorship in Martial Arts
11:57 Balancing Family Life and Martial Arts
14:59 The Impact of Martial Arts on Personal Growth
17:49 Cross-Pollination of Skills: Martial Arts and Physical Therapy
20:53 Favorite and Least Favorite Aspects of Training
23:50 Weapons Training and Self-Defense
27:06 Conclusion and Future Aspirations
28:01 The Journey of Learning and Cross-Training
33:32 Experiences with Competition in Martial Arts
35:48 Pop Culture's Influence on Martial Arts
38:05 Motivation and Longevity in Martial Arts
44:26 Recent Achievements and Future Aspirations
To connect with Cara Crisafulli: Facebook
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Show Transcript
Andrew Adams (00:09.482)
Welcome, you're listening, or maybe you're watching another episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. And today I'm excited to sit down and chat with Cara Crisafulli. Cara, we're gonna get going here in just a second. But in case you're new and this is your first episode, welcome. Thank you for being here. Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, the largest and number one ranked traditional martial arts podcast in the world. You can go to Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio.com to find out all about this episode. You can get transcript, pictures, contact information, all of that stuff.
And for all of the over eleven hundred other episodes that we have, you can find all of that information there. You can also subscribe to our newsletter. We're not gonna send you a ton of emails. You're gonna get two emails a week because that's how many podcasts we do. We send out two emails a week for every episode that comes out. You won't miss every any one of them. And if you want to find out about all of the other stuff that we do at Whistlekick, you can go to whistlekick.com and you can find out about the events that we host. You can
Cara Crisafulli (00:39.585)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (01:06.378)
Maybe you want to purchase some sparring gear or some apparel, all of that stuff you can find at whistlekick.com. Okay, I think that's everything. Cara, how are you today?
Cara Crisafulli (01:18.806)
Finally took us a little while to get this rolling, but yes, I'm here. I'm good.
Andrew Adams (01:21.898)
That that's right. We were we were struggling a little bit getting all of the technical aspects together, but like martial artists, we persevered and we made it through and we found a way to make it happen.
Cara Crisafulli (01:33.602)
Yes, I am here.
Andrew Adams (01:34.412)
Yes. So why don't we start at the very beginning? If nothing else, Julie Andrews taught me that that's a very good place to start. So let's talk about your initial entry into martial arts. How did you get going at the very beginning?
Cara Crisafulli (01:53.037)
Laughed when I thought of this because I'm like, it was yoga. Yoga started me on this. So it's very funny. in my town, a husband and wife opened up a yoga studio and they had yoga for a little while, and I would go. My neighbor wanted to go, so we would go to yoga. Well, it turns out the husband and wife had background in BJJ and Moy Toy. So the they started doing more of that stuff, and the woman ended up doing a marsh women's boot camp in the morning.
Andrew Adams (01:56.182)
Cara Crisafulli (02:20.39)
she would kind of combine a little kickboxing, a little yoga, a little moi toi in there, and we'd do fun stuff. One day she said, Does anyone want to go to an MMA fight with me? And I went, sure. Why not? What is it? I don't know what it is, but let's go. So I went and I was like, Wow, this is kind of fun. This is cool. You know, at the time I'm in my 30s. I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna be fighting an MMA match. But I was like, you know what? Let's go, let's see. Met a few people, kind of like
Liked a little bit of this world. It was kind of cool to see. So I was like, all right, you know, how do I figure this out? And then the yoga studio, the kickboxing, the boot camp that we go to, the woman had to close. So I'm like, all right, what do I do now? So at the same time, my son was going to karate because a friend of his, the mother was like, Hey, so-and-so goes to karate. Would your son like to go? And I would bring him. He was about, you know, fourth grade at the time. So I'd bring him to to karate down the street, Kepo Martial Arts.
And I would pake them and my son's a little on the high functioning type of, you know, had a little trouble back in the fourth grade with the classes. So he would do privates. So with privates, I would bring them and and the instructor, Daryl, was like, why don't you come? Why don't you join? You know, and I was like, you know what? Okay. I needed something to do. You know, I'm, you know, in my 30s. I'm not a gym person. I can't, you know, running is not a good thing for me. So I was like, all right, why not? So I went.
And I went to class and you go to class and you start to learn a little bit more and you start to learn a little bit more and you're like, you know, this is kind of fun. And then you end up really with like a group of friends, group of people you would never ever have met. You know, never I wouldn't have been friends with this guy or that guy, that guy had I not been there. So I am the most uncoordinated person. Takes me a long time to learn. You know those learning styles of seeing it, feeling it, writing it down, touching it, whatever. That's me.
It that's me. So I just kept going, keep going, keep going. We we're Kempo martial arts, so we're Kempo. We have combinations, numbered combinations, then numbered campos after that, and then forms, and they're all numbered. I can remember something that's numbered. So if you teach it to me, I practice it, I practice it, I practice it, I can get it. And each you know, each time we'd get a belt, and I was like, you know what? Hey, I I can do a little bit more, I can do a little bit more. This is kind of cool.
Andrew Adams (04:34.1)
Mm.
Cara Crisafulli (04:46.208)
And definitely like kept going, kept doing it. And you know, I'm the the token Jane Doe, you know, mother, wife, got my two kids trying to raise it, trying to find something to do, and I just kept going and kept doing it. And and I enjoyed it. And it took me six years, but after six years, I did get my black belt at age forty-four, because I started at age thirty-eight.
So at 44, I got my, I don't know, maybe I did the math wrong. But at 44, I got my black belt. And kind of that sort of opened up my world because then I was like, all right, I got the basics down, I got everything down. I I'm here. And I'm like, wow, this is kind of fun. And and I love my instructor. I love my school, Kempo Martial Arts in Denham. And Daryl Hinthorn is an amazing instructor, amazing person, very patient. If you can teach me, you're wearing your instructor badge in heaven, because I take
quite a long time to learn something. And and I'm purely persistent. I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep doing it. If I want to do it, I have moved heaven and earth to get myself there to work on something. So in 2020, 2012, I got my black belt. And I'm gonna continue because there's a more to the story that's kind of expanded the world here. In 2012 I got my black belt and a friend of the family,
Andrew Adams (06:05.782)
Sure, please do. Please do.
Cara Crisafulli (06:12.864)
Another woman who married one of my husband's cousins, she had also gotten her black belt in a different style. And she said, Read this book. And I'm like, What's the book? She goes, Smile at Strangers. I don't I don't I think it's upstairs. Smile at Strangers by Susan Shorn. And it was a woman's story about her journey through martial arts. And it kind of was inspiring because in my school, yeah, there's one or two female, one or two other women. There's not I I didn't know that there was me, my type of person there.
So I read her story, and in that book, she talked about the National National Women's Martial Arts Federation. And at the time, there was about to have. So I got my black belt December 2012. So the end of that, the next year, 2013, I actually went to a seminar with the the woman who introduced the book, introduced me to the book. They were having the seminar in the next year, but 2014, she had also
Roseanne had also invited me to a Bill Wallace seminar. And I'm like, I don't know who that is. Who's Bill who's Bill Wallace? So I went and I'm like Googling. You know, Google, we Google things. So I Googled and I found, you know, who he was, what he was, and then I also found some local instructors that know him and it and are part of him. And it was Christina and Terry Dow. And
And they were having there was like a seminar in New Hampshire at the Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, like a couple of months after that, I did that. So I was like, all right, let me go to that. And then I went to the Bill Wallace seminar. I'm like, this is kind of cool. Then I went to the the martial arts symposium in New Hampshire, met all kinds of people and all kinds of styles and all kinds of stuff. And I was like, wow, this stuff is cool.
And then I went to the National Women's Martial Arts Federation one that was in Chicago in the July. So kind of like March, April, July. And it was like, whoa, who are all these people? Who are all these people doing the same thing I'm doing that enjoy this? So I was like, you know what? This is kind of fun. And to be able to meet people and see all these styles and see all this stuff. And I was like, Wow. I I'm enthralled. I'm I'm fascinated. It's like
Cara Crisafulli (08:33.384)
I can I wish I could be like these people, which is why I laugh when you said, Do you want to do this interview? I'm like, I'm not those people. I'm like the regular Jane Doe that's just here, that just loves to do this. And and I'm gonna talk about the story that I mentioned right before. It's like, you know, I I sat there, I'm like, I what am I gonna interview? What what's my story? But at the same time, I was listening to a podcast of somebody
Talking about women's self-defense classes and how kind of misleading is it is and how it needs to be marketed a little better. And my my thing is in my school, I'm the one woman in the room. Unless another woman comes who came over from a different school. I'm the one woman in the room. So we need more women in the room. So they were talking about how it needs to market be marketed more and how it needs to be, you know, we need to get more women to come in the door. It's it's it's a good place. We need to learn some stuff.
And your message came over. Do you want to be interviewed? And I sat there going, hmm I don't know. And then it went, that's a sign. I should. I should be, because we need the average Jane Doe to come walking in the door. You know? I call I I it takes a long time to learn, but you do it, you enjoy it, and you meet so many friends and so many people. I'm gonna steal from somebody else who I don't know if he wrote it first, but you have a community. There's a huge community that we
Andrew Adams (09:37.973)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (09:45.076)
Hm. Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (10:01.004)
become part of and you know enjoy every minute of it. So is that long and drawn out but was that was I'm gonna stop there for a minute. I'm gonna breathe for a minute.
Andrew Adams (10:08.18)
No, that was that was great. That was great. Yeah, no, I I I totally get it. So when you first started, you're thirty-eight years old, your son, I think you said your son was was training and he was doing privates. What about you? Were you doing private lessons or did you jump right into a a group class?
Cara Crisafulli (10:27.566)
I jumped right into class and I started going and then I kept going. My son stopped for a while. You know, school gets in the way, he has to stop. He stopped for a little while. I kept going. I got my black belt in the twenty twelve. A couple years later I said, You're going back. So we got him back in. So he started going and then he finally got his black belt twenty twenty two when I got my fourth degree.
And then he got he just got his second degree in June last month. So it kind of pushed him to keep going. But yeah, I I jumped into classes. And then ended up with privates after a while. Cause what we do in our school is we we do group classes. And then once you get to where you're gonna go towards your black belt, it makes sense to do privates. Because you do privates so that you can learn a little bit more, get more of those forms, more of those details down, you know, to learn to get ready.
Andrew Adams (11:03.69)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (11:27.274)
Now here's here's a question. So your son started and him being there kind of was the impetus for you starting to train. And then he stopped and he came back in. Do you think you were a bit of a motivating factor for your son continuing? Because it doesn't sound like he was doing it 'cause he had to.
Cara Crisafulli (11:51.136)
I kinda said you go back. You can s you know.
Andrew Adams (11:52.821)
Okay.
Cara Crisafulli (11:57.667)
You know, duke it out once in a while, you know, bec it kind of fun. So I just he needed something to do. He needed some activity in his life. And and that's what martial arts is kinda the for the kids who can't do sports, who the those of us who aren't a little you know, who need not necessarily the team, but to be part of something that still work on your own. You know.
Andrew Adams (12:25.94)
Now you mentioned that you went to the the women's symposium in in Chicago. That's a big jump, right? You you I I understand, you know, you live here in New England, you got connected to Christina Dow and Terry Dow. They're local. You went to their events, they're close, they're local. Getting on a plane and going to Chicago, it that's a big jump.
So what made you decide that there was enough worthwhile in it for you to go?
Cara Crisafulli (12:58.808)
I wanted to see. I go to things I go to see things twice. I go once 'cause I learn about it and I want to see what it's about. And I go back a second time to see if I really hated it or I really loved it and I really want to go again. So I was reading it and then Googling and looking it up, going, you know what? What harm is it? What harm is it? my mother lived in Buffalo at the time. It was a halfway point, so I visited my mother and then I kind of went a little further, you know. So it
It was was a why not? I wanted to see. It it it had enough interest of me to see what it was about.
Andrew Adams (13:37.684)
Mm-hmm. And I'm not completely familiar with that event. Is that a women's only event? So
Cara Crisafulli (13:44.835)
Yeah. It's a women's only event and then on Saturday they do invite men. So it's a sa open s open Saturday or something like that. I haven't been in a long time. I went like maybe twice and then it just didn't work out for the timing of it.
Andrew Adams (13:50.485)
Okay.
Andrew Adams (13:54.753)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (13:59.565)
Sure. Now how did that how was it different for you? How did how did it feel different for you training with coming from a place where you admitted you were the only woman in the room, going to a room where everyone was a woman? How what talk a little bit about that difference? Because the dichotomy of that is very different.
Cara Crisafulli (14:15.726)
Swan.
Cara Crisafulli (14:20.436)
It it it was one of those like Wow, we could do this for a long time. You know, there was women of all ages, young kids all the way up into their eighties. So it was like an eye opener that women can do this too and are doing this and are doing it for a long time and are high up and high ranking. Because I had only seen, you know, the what I knew of the small world, the the ranking of my little people.
And then kind of progressed a little bit more to a little more people and just was like kind of like, wow, this is cool. I'm part of something bigger than me. You know? So it was kind of neat.
Andrew Adams (14:59.66)
Mm.
Yeah. Definitely a difference, you know, for sure. obviously I can't say I've experienced that. I've not I'm not a woman, so I can't pretend to understand what that is. but I can understand that it would be a very different type of feeling.
Cara Crisafulli (15:05.004)
Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (15:10.582)
Mm.
Cara Crisafulli (15:18.156)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (15:20.064)
So all right, awesome. Now, so you got your black belt in two thousand twelve.
We often talk in the martial arts, those of us that have been in it a long time, of recognizing a time where you realize you were, and if you're not watching on YouTube, you're gonna miss it. I'm putting it in air quotes, you were bit by the bug, right? Where you just realized this is what I'm meant to do. Do you have a moment that you remember that that happened for you? Cause you could have easily gotten your black belt in 2012 and said, I'm done. A lot of people do that. You chose not to.
When did you get bit by the bug? Do you remember?
Cara Crisafulli (16:01.71)
If it's necessarily bit by the bug, but knew I was hooked. So well, a couple I I have maybe two, two that might kind of jar this. So I and I said this to my instructor last night and I was talking to him about it. And I said, you know, there was there's a memory, there's one memory I have, we have pictures of the colored belt, a pa piece of paper of the colored belts and the things that you're supposed to learn to reach them. And I think after one of the tests, I'd gotten
I had gotten my belt and I'm looking at the board for the next one. And I'm like, I'm never gonna get that. It was like green with brown, you know, next one was brown with something. I'm like, I'm never gonna be able to figure that out. I'm you know, I'm happy here, I'm happy here. And then I got it, and then I kept going. And I'm like, all right, I can, I can, I can do this. the other one was sparring. Sparring used to be on Thursday night before COVID. I'm sparring, I'm trying to beat up these guys, and I'm like,
Why am I trying to I'm fighting this real tall guy trying to, you know, there's no way I'm getting up there. And I'm like, why am I doing this? Just learn. Just just learn. It's teaching me how to take a punch, block a punch, kick, block. It's teaching me how to be hit and not and not get hit. So I'm like, I kind of was like, this is kind of fun. You know, this is this is keeping me going, keeping me one active. I'm best shape of my life.
But you know, keeping me active, keeping me going, and and just sat there like, just keep learning. This is this is something I can keep doing and enjoy, you know? So this the bit by the bug was just like every time I see a technique, every time I see something, going, that's cool. How do I do that? How do I learn that? How do I get that? You know? So I think it's coming from that.
Andrew Adams (17:45.707)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (17:49.547)
Yeah, I I get that. That makes sense. Now, where did or when did teaching come into play for you? Do you do you like how much of that do you do now? And let's talk about that transition because I always find it really interesting that transition from being a student to starting to be a teacher. That's a really pivotal moment in a lot of people's training.
Cara Crisafulli (18:13.016)
So Darrell's running for himself. But there's a quarter of us, myself and two other two other guys that blood belts that are there all the time. So when you're there all the time you start to teach. So for Darrell running the place by himself, like after a few years back, you know, kinda was like w he had somebody else to do Saturday class.
He said, You want to do Saturdays? So I did Saturdays for a long time until my husband sort of said, Hey, I want to do something Saturday. Can we, can you not be here on Saturday? So I stopped doing that. But and I liked it. I, you know, teaching the adults on Saturdays was good. You know, it was fun. I could teach them the lower stuff and the basics. so I did that for a long time until I switched. Now I'm teaching, I'm there, I'm that extra body in the room.
Andrew Adams (19:07.722)
Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (19:08.044)
Because I had that kid that if you didn't have a second person to be there, you you lost him. You lost him. So I'm not I'm I'm teacher by default because I'm just the nut I'm parent mode. I'm in the parent. I'm the parent in the room, the helper, the, you know, right place at the right time where Daryl needed help because somebody was struggling with this and and and I could be there to do this. so it kind of is
Andrew Adams (19:22.368)
Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (19:38.381)
I'm a home physical therapist. I'm kind of teaching all day with people, people, people. So I kind of was like, you know what? I'm in teacher mode now. I can do the basics. I can teach some of the basics. I'm learning the it's teaching me the words. It's learning teaching me how to s teach back and say it. I'm really good at those lower combinations that all these kids have from repeating it, repeating it, repeating it. But just it kinda I don't know, I don't want to say it was easy. I'm you know, the anxiety.
I had to do this Saturday 'cause I had to cover the adult class Saturday. So it's like always that anxiety of like, my God, I have to who's coming in the room? Who do I have to do? But just remember that, hey, I'm I'm up here. You know, I c I can I'm I can do this 'cause I I got here. I know the stuff. It's just a matter of how the other person perceives it and if they, you know, are nice and respectful and they you know, it's gonna be fine. You can do it, you know.
Andrew Adams (20:35.274)
Hmm. Yeah. Now you mentioned that you are a home physical therapist. Did you start doing that as a profession before martial arts or after? Okay.
Cara Crisafulli (20:46.818)
Before. I I've been a I've been a home physical therapist for
Thirty years?
Andrew Adams (20:53.642)
Okay, so let's talk about the the the cross pollen pollinization the cross pollinization of those two things, right? How did your martial arts or did your martial arts help your being a physical therapist? And conversely, how did being a physical therapist help the martial arts? Now I think that way will be easier to understand, but I but let's talk about those two things.
Cara Crisafulli (21:21.176)
So I call this the greatest skill I hope to never use because I'm in a different house every hour. I am walking through a neighborhood. I am in Boston. I'm in the areas that, you know, people are like, why are you going there for? Well I I know how to I know where to go, where not to go, what to do. I've I've I
know when to go to certain people you know, when to go to certain neighborhoods. So I I figured it out. But what the what the martial arts has taught me is awareness, alertness and awareness. You know, you keep an eye on things. You look at people, you figure out where where you are in space, you know, just to just to do. But I'm i it's sort of being able to teach somebody how to move their body kind of works back to martial arts. You know, we it goes back and forth.
I'd love to run an elderly martial arts class, you know. It'd be kind of fun someday if I could fit that in. I did I always ask patients their jobs. And one year I met a guy. I I met two guys that were martial arts in the past. And it's like it'd be fun to do your therapy because I know what you're trying to do. You know, I know what you ni what you need to get that crane kick in, that, you know, high step, you know. So it's it's kind of it helps in terms of knowing how to move and knowing what to do.
Andrew Adams (22:16.758)
Sure.
Cara Crisafulli (22:41.218)
But it also helps me and because I need to be aware of where I am and where I'm doing my visits. I'm in a different house, a different culture, a different language every hour. So I I kinda am smart about it. And I hope to never use what I'm learning every day. hopefully not.
Andrew Adams (22:53.662)
Mm. That makes sense.
Andrew Adams (22:57.952)
Hopefully not. Hopefully not. Now you said something else that I want to pick out of here a little bit. You mentioned that you were teaching on Saturdays and you were your husband came to you and said, you know, I I I I don't want you to I don't want you to be here. Now using the word here implies that he was there as well. Does he also train? No.
Cara Crisafulli (23:18.422)
Mm-hmm.
Started, my my son started, I started, my daughter was in it for a little bit, she didn't last long. and I just kept going. But and I'm there, I'm there all the time. I'm there every Saturday. My kids, my family know that I'm there. And if they need to find me, mom's a karate, mom's a karate. So finally he said, you know, one to Saturday, he's like, you know what? Hey, can you not be there every Saturday? Can we do some stuff? So
If I'm at a seminar, it mean or a class or at something, it means it worked. If I'm not there, it meant my family won and I have to do family stuff. So that is my balance. And and though the home physical therapy, I live by a Bible. I live by my date book. So that's why it's like I am constantly trying to puzzle piece people in my schedule and my calendar and my and my thing. So if it if it were if I'm somewhere, it worked. I made it there. I got there.
So he doesn't do, he used to do Pilates, he plays he played tennis in the past, but he knows he's very good about, you know, letting me go do letting you know, mom's a mom's a karate again. Mom, you know, you're there, that's fine. But I also have to balance life out. And that's the hard part.
Andrew Adams (24:36.183)
Sure. And and and people will get that, you know, we we understand. We because we all have to do that, you know. now there are lots of different aspects of karate and and martial arts, you know, you you mentioned you go to different seminars and things, so you're learning other things. What is your favorite part or aspect of your training that you you walk into class and you're like, I hope we do this tonight. What is that?
Cara Crisafulli (24:39.362)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (25:05.623)
For you.
Cara Crisafulli (25:08.642)
Just a get running through the combinations. Running through trying to we've our bunch techniques are a combination. Yeah, we have a number of combinations. And I know that I know it will. But then it's like when you don't do them for a little while because you're doing the younger the older stuff, we have to go back and do them. So it's like getting to run through them again. Get get through the numbers, get through get through what I have to remember again. And
Working it on a different person each time. Trying to you know, fit it. How does it work on this guy who's this tall, on this person who's this tall? You know. So trying to work out what I already what I already know and how to make it work better.
Andrew Adams (25:52.682)
Mm. Mm. Now, conversely, what's the aspect that you leak that you like the least? Now, I wanna be really clear with this question. I've asked this of other people and they're like, I love all the parts of martial art training. Okay, I love pizza. Okay, I love I love pizza. Where's my hat? I don't have my hat with me, but but if I have a choice between pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza, I'm gonna choose the pepperoni pizza because I like it better than cheese. So I would put cheese
further down the list. Of all of the different aspects of things you could train in class when you get there, what's the thing that you would like the least? That doesn't mean you don't like it, but where would you put the last thing?
Cara Crisafulli (26:35.618)
When we have to get creative, when he makes us like tells us, work last l what we did last night. Take one of our combinations, work it off a front punt, work it off of everything. And you have to get creative and you have to figure it out. We did it off a punch, right punch, left punch, front choke, back choke. We worked it off of everything. And when you have to get creative is when you're like, I don't wanna do that.
But you do it and you have to figure it out. But I I I that's the part I do hate. I hate it when it gets gets creative on us. We're like,
Andrew Adams (27:14.443)
Ha ha ha.
Cara Crisafulli (27:16.267)
Alright, we do it.
Andrew Adams (27:20.14)
Now how about
Cara Crisafulli (27:20.352)
Or fall well okay, wait a minute. I'm I'm gonna clarify. The the real part of I don't like is falling. All the time. The takedowns. All right, I'm gonna clarify. Takedowns I hate. But we do all the time.
Andrew Adams (27:26.503)
sure.
All right. Yeah. And some argue it's one of the most beneficial things we can train because it's you know the especially us living in New England where we get snow and ice, you're gonna fall, right? So I get I get that. Yeah. I had a question that I was gonna throw weapons. Where do weapons play any part in your training at all?
Cara Crisafulli (27:45.591)
Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (27:50.36)
Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (27:57.655)
We at our school we do defense against weapons. So we do defense against clubs, against knives, against guns. We do the defense part. We also do the the bow. You know, so we're doing the bow the bow bow forms using those. I'm trying to learn sticks.
Andrew Adams (28:01.11)
Okay.
Andrew Adams (28:08.097)
Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (28:17.152)
I'm trying to learn arnis and I'm trying to add that. We were adding it in for a little bit and then it faded away because of COVID and people and so I'm trying to reach out and find that into to add into my training. So that's my Tuesday or Thursday night head up to somewhere else to go get it go learn that stuff. So I'm adding it in. And I and I've been wanting to add that in for a long time when I saw it at the first symposium, somebody do it.
Andrew Adams (28:37.549)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (28:45.942)
And I've been trying to kind of find who I wanted to teach me and I figured it out. It took me a while to get there. But I've I've been able to again fit that in my date book, my calendar, and my schedule. If it fits there, it fits. If it doesn't, that's it. I can't do it.
Andrew Adams (28:54.039)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (28:59.967)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (29:05.601)
Yeah. Now, so you got your black belt in 2012, you're training in in Kempo karate. You also right now you're doing Arnice as well, but at what point did you say, I definitely wanna l consciously make an effort to learn other stuff? When did you start cross-training?
Cara Crisafulli (29:26.186)
After I got my black belt, I started to meet other people. And I started to learn other things and what el what else is out there. And don't get me wrong, I absolutely love where I go. It's been 20 years of still learning, and my instructor's been 46 years at it and doing it forever. It's just once in a while I'm like, hey, what is out there? What what else can we add in this? And it's not that I'm gonna learn anything at these other things, but it's keeping me, it's I I'm gonna quote somebody else who taught me a long time ago you're just your toolbox.
Andrew Adams (29:29.185)
Mm.
Cara Crisafulli (29:55.267)
You have your toolbox. What are you adding into your toolbox? What are you adding? And it's just, hey, I'm gonna learn a little bit of something. I might not remember it, but I'm gonna watch it and it's gonna be very cool. And I'm gonna see what that is. and see how I can make my stuff work better with what I've just learned from you. You know? Was that the question?
Andrew Adams (30:19.083)
Yeah, I mean no, I I I think that that makes a lot of sense. I I have had the same question asked of me. I used to run a monthly advanced training session where we would have a different instructor come in every month and teach a two hour class. And and I had a very high ranking instructor ask me at one point, why? Why do you do this? Like you're gonna have someone come in and learn and teach you judo for two months. I mean, not for two months. You're gonna have someone come in and teach judo for two hours.
Cara Crisafulli (30:40.282)
Great.
Andrew Adams (30:48.395)
Why? You're not going to train judo. You're going to continue to train your karate. So why do the the judo? And my answer was very similar to yours, right? It's enjoyable. Like I'm having fun doing it. Does it mean I'm going to start training judo all the time? No, but I got a little understanding about what they do and how they do things. And that can't hurt me. It's not gonna learning a two hour two hours of judo isn't gonna hurt my karate. So why not?
Cara Crisafulli (31:16.867)
Mm-hmm.
And I and I and I love going to seminars. If I'm at a seminar, I wanna be at a seminar. And I go to seminars because I like watching how people teach. I wanna see how they teach that. I wanna see how they get their point across. I'm not gonna learn any I'm not gonna be able to do what you what they're doing after that one hour, but I wanna see how they do it. I wanna see how they how they get it to be able to kinda people to grasp what they're teaching.
Andrew Adams (31:23.597)
Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (31:46.639)
You know, that's part of one of the reasons why I am starting this one class because every time I'm at a seminar, I don't understand what they're doing. But I said, you know, to this second class that I'm doing, it's like, teach me from the beginning. And they're teaching me from the beginning so that when I do go to that seminar, I have an idea of what it is because I I need to learn it again. And and that's helping because it's it's just, you know, there's so much out there that you can that you can see and you can do. You just have to figure out.
How to how to get it and where to fit it in. It's fitting it in.
Andrew Adams (32:17.996)
Yeah.
Now, how does your instructor, Daryl, feel about you cross training? Obviously he's okay with it, but was he okay with it from the the get go?
Cara Crisafulli (32:29.238)
Yeah, yeah, I mean it didn't stop me from going. I'd you know, I would go. And it's not like I'm trying to bring everything back. It's like, come on, we're gonna we're gonna you know, it's just I'm just going for me. He knows I'm social. I go out and I you know, meet people and talk to people and and and half of those guys he knows anyway. You know, he knows a a handful of from his years of training. You know? So it's more of like just I'm just being the social person.
Andrew Adams (32:53.431)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (32:58.433)
Sure, yeah. Now did he do cross training? Do you know? Because I've found that instructors who have also branched out into other things are a little more receptive to that for their students. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (33:10.124)
bit. No, I don't think he did much. You know, he's got his own business to run. It's hard to get out and do other things when you're when you're doing it yourself and you're doing camps and you're doing school, little school things. So I don't I don't
Andrew Adams (33:21.26)
Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (33:24.852)
He feels like he's got enough to learn, enough to practice. But he does have he as a primary instructor that he'll go to as well.
Andrew Adams (33:26.861)
Sure. the we all have.
Mm-hmm. All right, how about competition? Did competition ever play a part for you in your in your initial foray into martial arts? boy, that's a f Okay guys, you have to go to YouTube and watch. That was really good.
Cara Crisafulli (33:46.543)
Well, okay. One year we all decided we were gonna do it. There was the one at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. One year we all decided, I think it was a brown belt, there was like 10 of us that were gonna go. We showed up at 9 a.m., which is when they said you were gonna do it. 9 a.m. We'd sat there all day. Finally, about four o'clock, they put on the adults. It was about 20 people. I was
40 at the time. There was a bunch of 18 year olds, bunch of guys, they put me first. First. I'm like, ugh. I can I can if you put me in the middle or towards the end, I've had a chance to watch and see and figure out how it works. When you put me first, that's it. I fell apart. I'm like, I can't do this. And then I got to go again because that's what happens. So I think that.
deterred me. That deterred me from doing it. If it like that ruined it for me. And I I I've done it a couple times. Like I have friends who are in the main circuit. So what I've done a couple main main ones with them just to see if I was if it was any better, it was any different. We're not a huge competition school. We're not, you know, that's not something we need to do. If you want, we could do it. We are part of a school that does do a competition up in New Hampshire. But no. No, I do this for me.
I do it for myself. I don't really show people what I do. You know, I don't I'm not out there kinda I'm just you know, my once in a while picture of hey, this is what I did today. I don't want yeah. It's for me. I don't need to compete to anybody.
Andrew Adams (35:29.889)
Yep, I get that. you know, it's I have found that in most cases it's either something that students really enjoy doing or they're very ambivalent to it. So I I get it. I get it. how about pop culture and movies?
Cara Crisafulli (35:48.697)
So everybody talks about all the martial arts movies. And one day I did sit down and I was home by myself and I watched what's the big Bruce Lee one with the scratch? Enter the Dragon? I watched that. I'm like, my god, that's corny. But it but it was funny. And then I watched another one. And I watched what's the one with the sword and Michelle Yu is flipping through the air? Rouching Tiger. And you know, it was kind of fun.
Andrew Adams (35:58.912)
Enter the dragon. Yep.
Andrew Adams (36:10.839)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Cara Crisafulli (36:16.0)
I tried to YouTube or Amazon Prime, the one with Get David Carradine for a little while. Kung Fu. I'm like, alright, this is cool. A lot of people die in it, you know? So it's there, it's fun, but
Andrew Adams (36:22.221)
Kung Flu. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (36:32.845)
All right. I mean if you're thinking the new one with with David Cardy, that might have been Kill Bill. That's one where a lot of people died.
Cara Crisafulli (36:39.36)
No. No. I like but I do like the karate kid movies. I mean who doesn't like karate kid movies and Cobra Kai? I mean, come on. Yeah, we all loved we all love that. We all fell in love again. I love the music. The eighties music really got me.
Andrew Adams (36:49.549)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (36:54.253)
As a musician, I completely agree. For sure.
Cara Crisafulli (36:56.386)
But it was Yeah, yeah. It's all about the the tunes.
Andrew Adams (37:02.315)
Yep. do you like to have music playing when you train?
Cara Crisafulli (37:06.4)
No. No. And I laugh because the class I go to, they have it. I'm deaf in this ear. So if you have the music on in the background, my ears are going to that. They're going to the music. I can't I can't focus. I can't and that's that's when I go to therapy, when I do patients' houses. I go into my patients' houses and they got the T V blaring. I'm like, can we turn that down? Because that's all I'll hear is the music. So no. No. I'm not a music person.
Andrew Adams (37:23.021)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (37:33.301)
Now, are you training your Arnece in private or are you doing group class? Okay. Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (37:38.466)
The group class.
Yeah. I'll head up there shortly.
Andrew Adams (37:44.391)
the next thing I want to chat about is what keeps you going, right? You you've been doing this a long time. I I suspect you're gonna tell me you don't see an end, right? Most of us that have been doing it as long as you and I have, there's no end. We're just gonna keep going. But what keeps you going?
Cara Crisafulli (38:05.144)
like it. it shocked me. It's like I've been 20 years. 20 years doing this. And I kind of went, wow, holy crap. But I like it. I like doing I like going to help me with the kids' class. I see old all day. I I'm, you know, going to people's homes. I see old, isolated and sick. And I don't want to be that. I don't want to do that. So this doing this
keeps my mind going 'cause I'm trying to remember a combination or remember something. Keeps me active and mobile. keeps me learning something. My brain is kind of a mess right now. Little brain fog. And so it's like trying to keep the brain going, keep the mind remembering something and working on something all the time. so I I do it just 'cause I I like it and
I I keep going, why am I do why am I doing this? Like I keep going, why am I going to a martial arts class? Why don't I be going to a women's boot camp or a yoga class? And I'm like, 'Cause I what I'm opposite, you know, I'm a Sam Samsung person all the way. I don't do iPad Apple. So I'm always the opposite. So I kinda was like, you know what, let's just keep going and and and there's more to learn.
There's so much more to learn. I laughed because I one of my brother's friends, his kid was doing karate and I said, how's it going? How's it going? He goes, I got my black belt, I'm done. I'm like, you missed the point. You're missing the point. There's so much out there. And every time we turn around, it's something new, something different. You know? So I'm like, I I I like it.
Andrew Adams (39:38.926)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (39:44.844)
Yeah. Do you have any events on your schedule coming up that you're excited about?
Cara Crisafulli (39:52.407)
I don't think I I think I'm actually kinda I I think I laugh because in January I did a tribal class. February I don't remember what I did. March was March was
Not March. April was Terry Dow's. Yep, the symposium. May I went to Saratoga Martial Arts Festival. That was very fun. And that's another good one that I enjoy going to with a group that I like. And then I had then there was nothing. I had another tribal class, but then there was nothing. And I'm like, right now there's nothing. And I'm like, what do I do? Because what it was funny, because when Jeremy asked for
Andrew Adams (40:13.462)
Mm-hmm. The symposium.
Andrew Adams (40:19.65)
Okay.
Cara Crisafulli (40:39.542)
slogans of different things to put on the tr on shirts. I was sitting there, I was Googling and I was looking up something and I think it was January. And I had found the the one in Atlantic City, the big event in Atlantic City. I found an event in in North Carolina. I found an event I'm like, okay, don't mind me. I'm just sitting here like trying to figure out how to get to all these seminars, how to get to these things. You know, don't mind me. I'm just sitting in the corner trying to figure out when to get to the next seminar or to the next class, the next big event.
And I go and I'm like, why am I going to this? You know, I there's not my you know, I I'm not gonna bring it home. I'm not gonna be a master in this, but I go because it's fun. And I go because it's like something to see, something to do. And like I said, I watch. I wi I I'm I you know, I'm in there. I I wear my whistle quick sweatshirt with the T-Rex on it, going, Yep, I'm just here in my sweatshirt walking around. You don't know that I'm
Andrew Adams (41:28.897)
Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (41:33.772)
you know, where I'm at in my school, but I'm not. I'm I I know nothing in your school, but I just wanna learn it. I wanna hear what you have to say and what you have to do, you know.
Andrew Adams (41:43.917)
Yeah, one of the things I enjoy the most about going to seminars and things, the two things. One, I enjoy watching how people teach, not what they're teaching, but how they're teaching. I I really enjoy that. as a as an educator full time, you know, teaching music, I like to see different people's teaching methodologies. I so I enjoy that.
Cara Crisafulli (41:56.022)
Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (41:59.939)
And absolutely.
Andrew Adams (42:12.184)
But the other aspect that I love is the social aspect. We're all one big family, right? There's we talk about this on Whistlekick all the time. There's way more that connects us as martial artists than divides us. You do Kempo, I do Shor and Rue. Yes, they're both karate styles, but there's still way more that connects us than it does divide us. And so I think that social aspect that you get from these events, I I think shouldn't be overlooked. And I I know you don't overlook them, but
you know, for people listening and watching, you know, keep that in mind when you go to these events.
Cara Crisafulli (42:46.574)
Yeah. And and and I like it same thing. I love how watching how people teach. If I'm in your session, you know I like how you teach. You know, if I you know, to those guys out there listening, if I'm in front of your class and I'm if I'm in your seminar, I enjoy you and you are doing a fabulous job because like I say, anybody who can teach me or show me earns their instructor badge in heaven.
Andrew Adams (43:09.58)
Ha ha ha.
Cara Crisafulli (43:10.048)
And and it takes me so long that if you have the patience to show someone who really wants to be there and really wants to learn it, to show them stuff, you know you're a good teacher. You know you're you're you're doing good and and and I can tell. I can tell those people and and that's what I'm learning. I'm learning that, you know, there's a lot of good people out there and they're really good and they love what they're doing and they're they're there for a reason because they want other people to learn.
They want other people to see this. And that's that's inspiring. Inspiring. You know, I'm I I said to somebody, it's like, you know, I'd like to do a seminar someday. I'd like to get up there and do it. I'm I'd be scared to death. Anxiety will sit here or there. But I want to, so I watch to see how you do it. How do the people pick up their ideas, pick up, get people to see what they're teaching and pick something out to teach it. I want to know how you do that.
So that's what I'm watching for. I'm watching to see what you are picking out. And someone told me, well, we are doing one of the accommodations, but we're breaking it down. I'm like, well, that's kinda all right. I get it, but how do you do it? How do you get somebody to do it? So I just like to watch and see how people get out what they're getting out.
Andrew Adams (44:20.813)
Mm.
Andrew Adams (44:26.134)
Mm-hmm. Now you mentioned before we started recording that you recently had a bit of a promotion in your school. Talk a little bit about that. Like this is your chance to brag a little bit.
Cara Crisafulli (44:37.656)
Brag a bit. So I got promoted to Sifu. I don't know what that means. No. so again, my instructor, we're a very so small school, kind of like a tight-knit group. We are if if Daryl is giving you something, it means something. So he gave myself Sifu for teacher because I'm there all the time, I'm helping, I'm teaching, I'm I'm there all the time. He gave two of our other black belts mastered.
And they're they're four fifth and sixth degree. I'm fourth degree. So that's where C Foo came from. So that's big for us. That's big. We are old school. Daryl's we are working, you know, we are a small group. And for that is kind of nice. That's that's an honor, you know, to be able to say, Hey, I I mean, I'm not gonna sit around and go call me Sifu. But but it's kind of cool. And like people like, my god, you're like you're this. I'm like,
Just 'cause I'm there, you know. But it's it's it's an honor to be given that title, especially in our school. Because we don't we don't call each other sensei. We're Daryl, we're Joe, we're we're Brian, we're Kara. We're not we're not strict in the introduction in the beginning. But it's funny because all the with the when I help it with the kids' classes or the toddler's class, you know, they're like, Master Kara, Master Kara And he finally went.
Andrew Adams (45:40.12)
Mm. Mm.
Andrew Adams (46:00.919)
Yeah.
Cara Crisafulli (46:02.802)
We finally we laugh at each other. I'm like, I'm not a master. So at least it's a title to kind of say, No, I'm this instead which which would be a little bit more you know, more appropriate, I guess.
Andrew Adams (46:09.515)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (46:16.182)
Mm-hmm. So you're doing Kempo karate, you're starting to work on some Arnisse. Where do you go next?
Cara Crisafulli (46:26.367)
There's a next. There's a keep going. There's a keep it going. I'm a keep it going. where do I go next? You know, when when I'm ready, when he feels like it, you know, I never to get black belt was amazing. To get second degree was holy shit. To get third was like, whoa. To get fourth, I I I I So before between third and fourth was COVID.
Andrew Adams (46:28.782)
I mean, you're gonna keep going.
Cara Crisafulli (46:52.588)
So our school kind of shut down for sh not shut down. Darryl was always there. He was always there. He was doing privates. We could go in, we could do private lessons, we could work. And then when nothing else was open, that's what all I could do. I'm going to class. I'm going to class. I'm going to class. So between those two, those years, those two belts, is I worked my butt off. I went over everything all the time. So I was able to, you know.
Honestly say, yes, I earned this belt. I'm I'm here because I worked at it. So now it's like, will I go any further? Maybe. Fifth degree'd be kind of cool, but I don't have to. I'm I you know, fifth degree would be like, whoa, that's kind of neat. Friends of mine are like, my god, you're gonna own your own school someday. I'm like, no, that's too much work. It's too much work. I just like learning. I just like being part of it and learning it. So I think that's
That's, you know, am I gonna go any further? I'm gonna keep going what I'm doing. You know, I've I've grandeur dreams of like moving south because I'm tired of the cold. So if I go south, if I go somewhere else, what am I gonna work on? My interest, if I do leave and go somewhere else, a different state, I do want to do something different. I want to do Filipino martial arts. That's what I'm trying to work on because I've been watching a lot of those guys and
and and very interested in that. So if I did leave, I would start all over again. I would start somewhere else. But I'm gonna why would I stop doing what I'm doing to do? I'm just trying to merge it in and add it and find time to practice it. So it's the finding time to practice all this stuff.
Andrew Adams (48:27.876)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (48:33.845)
I can relate. I get it. let me work on that.
Cara Crisafulli (48:35.308)
We need more hours in the day.
Alright. If you've got y hey, you fixed me you got me on the computer, so you could probably fix that. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (48:42.467)
That's true. That's true. We did get you going here. how can people reach out to you if if you you know you've said something today that really resonated with them and they want to reach out and connect with you? Is there a way that they can do that?
Cara Crisafulli (48:56.692)
I'm a Facebook addict. So it's it's it's Cara Call. My main name's C A L L Chrissa Foley I'm on Facebook. I also I also do our Kempo martial arts Facebook page. So we have that too. I'm I'm trying to be informative of getting ours out there and getting our name out there. Problem in denham is there are five martial arts schools in our town. So it's like you gotta try to stand out somehow. So we're trying to
Andrew Adams (49:19.576)
Mm-hmm.
Cara Crisafulli (49:24.706)
Yeah, we try and figure that out. We get kids. We get people in there. It's keeping them which is what trying to be the social and the activity and try to keep people going is what tries to keep people in the door. You know.
Andrew Adams (49:36.109)
Mm-hmm. And we'll we'll put all of that stuff in the show notes so people can can take a look at it. I want to thank you for being here, Cara. This has been a lot of fun. I'm I'm gonna gonna throw to you here in just a second to to close us out. But if you are listening or watching, you made it all the way to the end, thank you for being here. We appreciate you. if you were unaware, we have over eleven hundred other episodes. You can find them all at whistlekick martial arts radio.com.
Find out all of the information on all the other guests that we've had on the show. You can also go to whistlekick.com to find out about the events that we host. you know, we talked quite a bit today about some of the seminars. We host events all over the country, so check it out and see if maybe there's one near you that you can attend. You can also purchase stuff there. Maybe you want to buy a uniform or some sparring gear or some apparel or a training program or books, all of that stuff you can find at whistlekick.com.
Cara, thank you so much for being here. How do you want to close us out today? What do you want to leave our audience with?
Cara Crisafulli (50:39.934)
two things. I used to say, well why can't I? Why can't I? Why can't I do this? Why can't I be here? And we need more women in the room. I'm gonna reference Hamilton. Women in the room. We need, you know, it's not it's not that we're all gonna be we're just gonna be there. We're just gonna work on this stuff. We're gonna learn something to help to hope to never use. And then but just it's fun. It's act it's activity. It's keeping us going. So I'm
Want more women in the room with me.