In the Clinch Vol.6

“In the Clinch”
By Coach Woodward

Welcome to ‘In the Clinch’ Vol.6, an up close, behind the scenes look at the Elite Fighting Team (E.F.T.) of Team Intense Martial Arts (TIMA). With Master Catalasan’s permission and support we will bring you inside the inner workings of the E.F.T. As we begin our descent on final approach to the Junior Olympics in Orlando, Florida.

With the Junior Olympics just 2 weeks away there’s much work to do and little time to do it. We hope you enjoy this blog as we attempt to make you feel like part of our family. Without your support and encouragement none of this would be possible. Today we continue with our 6th of 11 interviews of the amazing kids who comprise the E.F.T. We encourage you to share this blog with family, friends, co-workers and anyone else who might benefit or partner with us in doing what we can to give these dedicated athletes the support they need to accomplish all they’ve set out to do.

Please sit back, relax and enjoy being ‘In the Clinch’ with Chad Mertz.

I recently had the privilege of sitting down with Chad and getting to know him a little better. Chad is 14 years old and he’s been with TIMA for 2.5 years. This is his first year on the E.F.T. Chad is a yellow belt (8th gup) in Tae Kwon Do. He will be fighting as a green belt at Nationals, two levels above his rank.

Chad trains in Muay Thai and Tae Kwon Do with TIMA. He doesn’t take advantage of the Kali instruction offered. When asked why his answer was blunt and honest, “Too confusing. Too much brain work.”

Chad listed his closer friends on TIMA as Austin, Brooke, Jake, Seth and Chewie (Jenalyn) “maybe”. Yes, he did say ‘Maybe’. I don’t know why and he wouldn’t tell me. Perhaps you should ask him the next time you see him. ‘Maybe’ Jenalyn knows.

Chad’s family consists of mom (Carolyn), dad (Dave) and older sister (Kailey). If you know Chad at all you know he can be, well, rambunctious at times. I asked him if he ever picks on or beats up his sister. His response caught me a bit off guard. “No. She’s a buff softball player. Her arms are like two of my arms.” A funny response coming from a 14 year old boy who already stands 5’10” tall. To get the whole story I informed Kailey of Chad's claims. She confirmed she can kick his butt, but also defended herself against his claims that her arms are abnormally large. She placed it side by side with Chad's "twigs" (her words). I have to admit, though they're a bit bigger than Chad's, they don't really look like they were raised on steroids.

One of the things I learned about Chad is he tends to be regularly random, if that’s even possible. He’s also brutally honest. His teammates listed random more than anything else in describing him. As our conversation proceeded I began to see why. We would be chatting about a particular subject or person and out of nowhere he’d toss out a statement that didn’t seem to fit our topic. In keeping with Chad’s randomness I will now plug in a quote he threw out in the middle of our talk. See if you can recognize his brutal honesty and randomness.

“In all of my family I was first one to ever get suspended.” I asked him why. “I got in a fight”. Did you start it I asked, “No, but I finished it.” I can’t go into all the details as this is a family oriented blog, suffice to say, he confirmed deploying at least one of the kicks he learned while training with TIMA. For the rest of the gore hit Chad up for the entire story.

Back to our conversation. Chad identified the ‘Plank’ as his least favorite punishment, mostly because it’s hard on his back. Chad has back and knee problems (arthritis) which often interfere with his training. However, he never gives up and has overcome them to make his way to Nationals.

Chad’s most memorable moment isn’t what you’d expect to hear, but it’s entertaining none the less. Chad brought me back to this past summer’s TIMA teen camping trip titled ‘Boost’. “Me and Joseph got in trouble at boost and we all had to run. We were talking during laser tag.” Now, I have to give Chad credit for his honesty in admitting to talking during laser tag. However, he was a little weak in the details department. Fortunately, Guro was able to fill in the cracks. “Oh and just to clear up the little ’we got in trouble because we were talking’ incident at BOOST.” “If you call SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS ‘talking’, then I guess he's right. Ha-ha. “My one rule during midnight laser tag was ‘No yelling’ and sure enough, Joseph and Chad got so into it, they started screaming in the middle of the night, in the most quiet place I've ever been!” “But, the one thing that made me respect Chad more that night was the fact that he took it upon himself to apologize to each and every one of his teammates for making them all run.”

Chad said his worst injury from training was a broken toe. ”I kicked Sara and my toe got stuck in her hogu. I pulled it out and it went the wrong way.” Awesome.

Here are some fun facts about Chad you may not have known:

Favorite Fighters: Brooke and Austin. “They’re really good.”
Favorite Food: ”Spaghetti just cuz I don’t want to say pizza.”
Favorite Movie: “Dust to Glory” (It’s about the Baja 1000 race). “Cuz I ride” (A 2009 Yamaha YZ450)”One of my dad’s friends rode it and said I don’t know how your son handles this. It’s fast.”
Favorite Game: Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland:”On the game I can skate, but in real life I can’t skate. I almost broke my wrist.” (Random Chad quote alert) ”I broke my nose twice riding my bike.”
Biggest Fear: “I’m afraid of wasps. I hate em. Once I got stung on the bottom of my foot when I was 4 years old.”
Perfect Wife: “Megan Fox. She’s hot.”

One of my favorite questions to ask the kids is to tell me something about themselves that few others know. Chad’s response was funny, interesting and again…random. Here goes. “I was on tv during a nascar race in the background during an interview.” Apparently he was on television on another occasion. Check this one out. “I was on tv once cuz I got knocked out cuz a guy kicked me in the ankle and I fell and hit my head. The guy was drunk and hitting women so tv cameras shot it.” “I had to go to the hospital and wear a neck brace.” Chad was 10 years old at the time. I asked him if he suffered any brain damage. His response was classic Chad, “I don’t know”. Last bit of random unknown knowledge about Chad. “I’m allergic to cockroaches.” Huh? Apparently he’s not joking. He said he learned in an allergy test. Awesome!

I learned that Chad isn’t one to elaborate on anything without significant prompting. Although he occasionally say’s things he should probably keep to himself, typically he gets straight to the point and stops. I asked Chad if he had a hero. “My dad.” NO hesitation, no explanation. We were on to the next question. ‘Chad who are the 3 most influential people in your life?’ Chad replied, “Negative influence, Austin.” He continued, “Guro and I would have to say my sister on this one. She keeps me on the right path.”

Chad’s favorite thing about TIMA, “The atmosphere. It’s so kind and everything.” ”Everyone walks by when we’re in trouble and thinks I don’t want to do this. She’s (Guro) mean. But it’s the opposite.” Another taste of Chad’s brutal honesty.

Chad has some nice scars on his shoulder and hip from a recent bicycle accident. “I was riding on the handle bars of a bicycle with my sisters’ friend while holding Starbucks in my hand. She slammed into a speed bump and threw me off the bike. A prostitute, who happened to be standing nearby, asked, ‘Are you ok honey?’” I asked Chad how he knew this ladies profession. He said,”You could tell.” According to Chad the area this happened wasn’t the best of neighborhoods. He told me it was on Lincoln Avenue “near All In Martial Arts.” To be clear, TIMA does not offer this particular service in our neighborhood.

If Chad had 3 wishes he’d ask for, “A million dollars, a whole bunch of tools and whole bunch of money for my family.” Tools? Chad would like to be a motorcycle mechanic one day. That’s a great goal and a practical use of a wish.

Finally, I asked Chad about his thoughts on Florida. Keeping with our theme of unadulterated honesty Chad closed with these words. “Intimidating. The whole thing. The tournament.” You know what I find intimidating? A 5’10” 14 year old. Somehow, I believe that whoever Chad’s opponents are will feel the same way, as they should!

At this time I turned my attention to Chad’s teammates, coaches and family to find out more about the brutally honest, random young man sitting before me.

Mr. Mertz recalled a recent event that literally had us all on the floor in tears. He and Chad were in the garage. Mr. Mertz was passing the time snapping Chad with a towel. Apparently Chad had had enough. He turned towards his dad and launched a front snap kick. Mind you, he was only defending himself. Mr. Mertz assured me Chad's not into elder abuse. Unfortunately for Mr. Mertz, who stands at least 6'3" tall by my estimation, he is quite a bit taller than Chad's typical sparring partner. Chad's kick landed right where it would normally find the sweet spot on Ismaels hogu. Too bad for Mr. Mertz that placed the kick squarely in his "clackers"(Mr. Mertz's word). Hilarious as that is, it isn't the end of the story. As Mr. Mertz crumbled to the ground, Chad's base leg slipped from underneath him on the slick garage floor. They both crashed to the floor writhing in pain. What I wouldn't give to have seen that.

Nicolette Beltran, as usual, was not at a loss for words. “He’s crazy and funny. He’s a new species for humans.” Though I’ve been touting Chad’s brutal honesty, Nicolette had a different opinion. ”He beats me at connect four a lot. He cheats. Secretly he cheats.” She said he like to tease a bit as well, “He calls me tall cuz I’m not.”

I spoke with several of Chad’s teammates. The descriptions ranged from funny to random, to funny, back to random, to random, well you get the idea.

Viktoriya said, “He’s really tall for an 8th grader.” “He’s a good training partner cuz he pushes me to the limits” and “he always makes me laugh.” Jake said, “He makes weird random noises.” There’s that word again. Jake recalled this Chad story. “One time in his uncle’s pool they had a human hamster ball. We were both in it in the water. Chad fell on me and I almost drowned cuz I was in the opening and he was on top of me. He landed on me and didn’t know.”

Sarina had these memories of Chad. ”One time in Muay Thai he did a good imitation of Ismael’s kihap. It was hilarious.” Also, “He pretended to be an axe murderer at camp.”
Jake said as a fighter Chad,”Knows how to get out of way, he has good angles, and he does a lot of axe kicks cuz he’s humongo tall.”

Brooke described Chad as, “Hyper, cool and a smart aleck”. As a fighter she said he’s, “Angular, long legged and powerful.” She continued, “He chased me through dead trees at boost camp and gave me a scar on my shin. He was chucking rocks over our heads while on a hike.”

Coach Kaihewalu has been a close friends’ with Chad’s family for years. As you’d expect, he had much to say about him. Coach Kaihewalu said, “He keeps to himself, loves to ride (dirt bikes) and loves to ride.” Regarding Chad the fighter coach said, “He’s long and lanky, has power he doesn’t know, and advantages he doesn’t know or understand YET!” Coach continued, “I’m pleased to see him get into a team sport that challenged him. Riding comes naturally. This takes work. It’s what made me proud of him to see him stick to something that didn’t come naturally.” One of Coach K’s favorite memories of Chad was, “Watching him wipe out on his motorcycle. He went full bore A**hole over elbows in Joshua tree.” Coach talked about how Chad jumped from his old Yz80 (very small) motorbike up to a Yz450 (very large and powerful) motorbike. He compared the guts and courage to Chad jumping up from yellow stripe at States to fight green belts. “It’s his fearless attitude from riding that helps him here.” As for Nationals, “He needs to trust what he can do. Be as confident as confident can be and know that Uncle Jeff is in his corner.”

Guro said Chad has, “The best at angles on the team. He’s also very powerful with an intimidating stature.” She described him as, “A jokester, thoughtful and respectful (even though most people think he's not).” Guro said, “At Boost I got to know him a little better and I saw a different side of him. He's thoughtful and very caring. He OFFERS to help, which is something most teenage boys don't do. He's not lazy and he's always looking out for his teammates.”

I’m definitely looking forward to enjoying some of Chad’s randomness next week in Florida. I hope you enjoyed being ‘In the clinch’ with Chad Mertz. Please check back in a few days when we get ‘In the Clinch’ with Nathan Suvannakul.

For the Team,
Coach Woodward