Speaker 1: Fencing literally saved my life.
Speaker 2: Fencing is known for being a notoriously white sport. Talk
Speaker 2: to me about what it felt like getting to the
Speaker 2: Olympics winning bruns.
Speaker 1: My mum always just said, just win and then what
Speaker 1: can they say? I'm the best Now I'm still the
Speaker 1: twelve year old kid, just six plove covern tattoos. Winning
Speaker 1: is great, but changing a sport is bigger than any
Speaker 1: Olympic goel I could ever win.
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, welcome back to on Purpose, the place you
Speaker 2: come to become the happier, healthier and more healed. Today's
Speaker 2: guest is not only a friend, but someone who I'm
Speaker 2: so fascinated to dive into his mindset. I love top performers,
Speaker 2: people who are operating at peak places and making incredible
Speaker 2: impact happen across the world in their field, and this
Speaker 2: is one of those people. Miles Chamely Watson is an
Speaker 2: Olympic medalist redefining the sport with his style, confidence and
Speaker 2: a vision that's pushing it far beyond what it's ever
Speaker 2: been before. Miles Chramlely Watson, Welcome to On Purpose.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you. It was an absolutely incredible intro. It's
Speaker 1: an honor to be here honestly before I kind of
Speaker 1: got to meet you. It's really nice to be a
Speaker 1: fan of your work, and I think you instill some
Speaker 1: incredible ideas on people made them feel better, which the
Speaker 1: world needs more than ever. So thank you for that.
Speaker 1: And it's an honor, dude.
Speaker 2: We met in the best way possible. I felt like
Speaker 2: we were on a boys trip, which is what I felt, right,
Speaker 2: and it just turned out to be like the easiest conversation.
Speaker 2: You guys like invited me into the wolf pack, which
Speaker 2: made me feel really, really comfortable. We played poker from
Speaker 2: eleven pm to seven am, three nights in a row.
Speaker 2: We were out on the water. It was amazing, and
Speaker 2: I just, you know, I know that I was kind
Speaker 2: of coming in fresh and new, and it was just
Speaker 2: you were one of those people. You and Spins, especially
Speaker 2: good chat out spins. You were one of those people
Speaker 2: that just made me feel like at home. So not
Speaker 2: only are you amazing at what you do, which we'll
Speaker 2: get into, you're a great guy off off as well.
Speaker 2: So I appreciate you, man.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I want to dive in by asking you, like what
Speaker 2: I heard from you, and I've been watching interviews and
Speaker 2: obviously I came to the event, which we talked about
Speaker 2: in a second, But I feel like you always felt
Speaker 2: like you didn't quite fit in. Talk to me about
Speaker 2: your earliest memory that reminds you of that feeling.
Speaker 1: I think being born in London, my mom was kind
Speaker 1: of the mom and dad that was kind of in
Speaker 1: my life. I was about eight years old, so I think,
Speaker 1: naturally you kind of rebel. So I think when I
Speaker 1: was playing football, running track and fields, I always felt
Speaker 1: like I was just different kind of my approach, my mindset.
Speaker 1: And then we moved to America when I was about
Speaker 1: nine or ten, kind of in between those years, and
Speaker 1: those years are very important, right or your friends are there,
Speaker 1: your family's there, So naturally, moving from London to New York,
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't want to be here. So
Speaker 1: getting into trouble, getting kicked out of my first school,
Speaker 1: public school. Then I got kicked out of my second school,
Speaker 1: and then my mother met someone that was on the
Speaker 1: missions program for private school was to give Twistion groans
Speaker 1: because we had money at the time, but as a punishment,
Speaker 1: I had to pick up tennis, fencing or abandmonton as
Speaker 1: a punishment because that considered mental sports and I was like, oh, whatever,
Speaker 1: sports are fun, and then I was like, wait, I
Speaker 1: can pick up a sword and like to stab you right,
Speaker 1: This is like the kid's dream. And then immediately that
Speaker 1: was my purpose because you put the mask on and
Speaker 1: you feel like a superhero. And I think that was
Speaker 1: the first time I realized like, Okay, this is going
Speaker 1: to be my way out whatever I'm kind of in.
Speaker 1: And then I was very add adhd and then fencing
Speaker 1: but kind of came my outall. And as I started
Speaker 1: to get better in fencing, I started to get better
Speaker 1: in school. So that kind of ended up being a
Speaker 1: double sided sword, which ended up being my job. I
Speaker 1: kind of got very, very lucky in finding fencing because
Speaker 1: I don't know where i'd be now if I wasn't,
Speaker 1: you know, a professional fencer, which is a crazy thing
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 2: You know, I feel like sports when you're young are
Speaker 2: so important. What was the difference Because everyone plays sports.
Speaker 2: I played a lot of sports growing older. You're obviously
Speaker 2: phenomenal at what you do. How quickly did you realize
Speaker 2: that this could be something you were actually really good at.
Speaker 1: I think it was immediately clearly picked it up right away.
Speaker 1: And Ellen Grayson, who I love her to the death. Hello.
Speaker 1: She was like, Miles Jude, you could be an Olympian
Speaker 1: and I was like, that's infensive, really, And I think
Speaker 1: immediately I felt this connection that was like nothing else
Speaker 1: in my life, and it was like my therapy. And
Speaker 1: I think nowadays it's like kids add ADHD first things
Speaker 1: like hey, we should give them a pill or give
Speaker 1: them a drug, and I'm like, find them something that
Speaker 1: they love. I think that's the key is. And the
Speaker 1: sports are amazing because the man, if you're rich or poor,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's it's who's gonna win, right,
Speaker 1: same sword in my hand, same mass on my head.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why sports are so incredible because
Speaker 1: they saved my life. I never knew at that time
Speaker 1: that it would be my you know, be or end all,
Speaker 1: but fencing literally saved my life. Wow, which is crazy
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I believe you. I can feel it. Just
Speaker 2: sit with you and you say that, I'm like, wow,
Speaker 2: that's like because I feel like so many parents today
Speaker 2: are wondering, how do I get my kid to be confident?
Speaker 2: How do I get my kid to like just get
Speaker 2: out there? And I couldn't do more that you only
Speaker 2: feel confident when you have some competence, like when you
Speaker 2: feel like you have a skill, where you have an
Speaker 2: ability and you have something to do beyond scrolling on
Speaker 2: your phone or you know, watching a show while playing
Speaker 2: video games or whatever it may be for you. Talk
Speaker 2: to me about what do you think life would have
Speaker 2: looked like if you didn't find fencing that early.
Speaker 1: I honestly don't know because we're hanging around the corner shops,
Speaker 1: you know, it's getting into trouble, stealing sweets, just kind
Speaker 1: of because we didn't really know what there was for us.
Speaker 1: And I think that's also very important having a father
Speaker 1: figure in your life. And think my mom found my
Speaker 1: stepdad Colin, who I say my dad to you because
Speaker 1: he is my dad raised me. I think that's also
Speaker 1: very very important, is because you need someone's going to
Speaker 1: tell you know when they can. And I honestly don't
Speaker 1: think I would be definitely not talking to you, and
Speaker 1: I definitely don't know if I would behind the bars
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, because I was just such
Speaker 1: a crazy little kid. My friends I grew up with,
Speaker 1: you know, the plumbers happy. I was kind of the
Speaker 1: only one out of us to kind of make it
Speaker 1: out and create a name for myself.
Speaker 2: Where did you grow up in?
Speaker 1: First it was Southwest London, and then it was Ealing
Speaker 1: and then it was Putney and then Kilbourne a little bit. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then we moved to New York. Yeah. And a
Speaker 1: really really funny story twenty twelve Olympics. My three friends Aaron,
Speaker 1: Adam and Blake that all brothers there were plumbers and
Speaker 1: they actually built the Olympic village. No, so yeah, first
Speaker 1: time I was saying that, Yeah, they literally built the village.
Speaker 2: That's so cool, and like, hey.
Speaker 1: Man, I'm building a village, Like what do you mean
Speaker 1: and like plumbing it and making it. And then they
Speaker 1: kind of got to see me compete or came. So
Speaker 1: that was a full soccer moment for me.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. That's so good man. Yeah, it's crazy and
Speaker 2: that just happened by chance. There was no connectivity or
Speaker 2: anything by chance.
Speaker 1: And I think life is obviously about Timing is everything
Speaker 1: in life, and I really believe that, and I think
Speaker 1: some things might be not the right time. Relationships, partner, sports,
Speaker 1: but sports. I think of the number one thing. If
Speaker 1: I have children, I would put them in right way.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to tell you to be a fencer.
Speaker 1: But I think just sports teach you how to lose
Speaker 1: what it feels like, integrity, listening, And I think that's
Speaker 1: what fencing taught me.
Speaker 2: I told you this before. I don't think we had
Speaker 2: a conversation about it. So I did fencing at school
Speaker 2: and I won some super amateur championships, are like fourteen,
Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen. I don't I don't, you know, maybe I'm joking.
Speaker 2: I could ever have been good enough to compete with
Speaker 2: what you do. But I loved it as a sport. Actually,
Speaker 2: I thought it was pretty It was really strategic, it
Speaker 2: was tactical. The fitness level was you know, it was challenging.
Speaker 2: I still remember it actually really well. We do it
Speaker 2: in the gym at school. Talk to me about the
Speaker 2: importance sort of a mentor though, because it sounds like
Speaker 2: you gave a shout out to someone there, and I
Speaker 2: was like, I think that's the difference. Like when I
Speaker 2: played a lot of sports at school. You've got to
Speaker 2: have someone who kind of takes you under their wing
Speaker 2: and like invests in you and makes you feel like
Speaker 2: you could go fine. I've found them in life. I
Speaker 2: found them in business. I found them in spirituality and
Speaker 2: meditation and other eras in my life, but sports is
Speaker 2: somewhere where I think a coach or a mentor is
Speaker 2: just the most important person. Talk to me about how
Speaker 2: you found yours.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. I think Ellen Grayson and Eric Rosenberg
Speaker 1: they working at the school at the time, and they
Speaker 1: saw my potential and they actually were the first person
Speaker 1: to say get your citizenship, But I didn't realize that
Speaker 1: was gonna be who I am to this day. Without them,
Speaker 1: I would never probably see my potential and seeing how
Speaker 1: far could take fencing. And then my coach, Simon Gershan
Speaker 1: became like my dad. I can tell him everything. He's
Speaker 1: kind of teaching me that you know that you must
Speaker 1: learn how to lose before we can learn how to win,
Speaker 1: which is a tattoo I have, which I think is
Speaker 1: so important because understanding the feeling of losing as an
Speaker 1: athlete is the hardest thing you know to kind of
Speaker 1: understand and swallow. But then you have to understand what
Speaker 1: that feels like, so when you do win, you appreciate
Speaker 1: that more than ever. I taught to him. Every day
Speaker 1: i'm not feeling good, he can sense it. So to me,
Speaker 1: having a coach and a mentor and a role model
Speaker 1: is so important. I think now that's why I love
Speaker 1: being that for the kids now, which is the one
Speaker 1: reason why I saw this league. But I love seeing
Speaker 1: kids look up to me, parents ask me questions, and
Speaker 1: I think if I can be a little bit of
Speaker 1: a catalyst or are kind of a helper for them,
Speaker 1: then that's probably bigger than winning any medal I could
Speaker 1: ever win.
Speaker 2: That's such great advice. Where is your Yeah, it's someone
Speaker 2: on here, Yeah, someone on? How many teys do you have?
Speaker 1: One hundred and fifty?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Mad?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Because I touched my hands because fencing were worn white. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know, I want to stuck out. And my
Speaker 1: mom hated it because she's, you know, a Brittish lady.
Speaker 2: Now, I remember when we were traveling as well. You've
Speaker 2: got these crazy ones on your shit as well legs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: when did you start?
Speaker 1: Twenty twelve? I got my first one in London. That's
Speaker 1: late at the Olympics. Yeah, and it says from London
Speaker 1: to London. And then I won more championships and I
Speaker 1: got the dates and I was like, I really like it,
Speaker 1: and then I just kind of went crazy with it.
Speaker 1: But they're all very very popersful, like they're not just
Speaker 1: random ones I've gotten just for the sake of it.
Speaker 2: What's the lose and win one again?
Speaker 1: Say that again, you must learn how to lose before
Speaker 1: you can learn how to win.
Speaker 2: I really like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's dope, And I really understood that when I
Speaker 1: lost at the Olympics. God we got fourth, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh wait four years and then I kind
Speaker 1: of changed my whole mentality. And then twenty thirteen it
Speaker 1: was one of my history and I was the first
Speaker 1: ever black American World champion in the history of of fencing.
Speaker 1: And I think if I didn't lose, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'd ever win. Weird thing to kind of say,
Speaker 1: but I think it's pretty poignant, and I think it
Speaker 1: is very important for just your character and just trying
Speaker 1: to be as humble and even killed as you can,
Speaker 1: because I never understand some athletes who reach a certain
Speaker 1: peak and they just change what they are. And I
Speaker 1: think if you can keep the little kid in you,
Speaker 1: then I think you'll be able to go through life
Speaker 1: with a lot more wins than losses.
Speaker 2: It's such powerful advice I remember I had. Obviously I
Speaker 2: never competed at any any level. But I remember having
Speaker 2: a football coach who'd always say to us, he was like,
Speaker 2: if you win, celebrate for a night and then get
Speaker 2: back to training. And if you lose, cry for a
Speaker 2: night and then get back to training. And he was like,
Speaker 2: all you have to do is get back to training,
Speaker 2: said everything else is irrelevant. You can celebrate for one night,
Speaker 2: you can cry for one night, but get on with it.
Speaker 2: Because his whole point was like, when we lose, we
Speaker 2: cry for a month, and when you win, you celebrate
Speaker 2: for a night. And that's why you remember the bad
Speaker 2: times more than the good times, because when you lose
Speaker 2: you get so deep into it. Talk to me about
Speaker 2: that loss that you had the details of what it
Speaker 2: felt like to lose in that way.
Speaker 1: Well, it felt like you're life is over. At that time,
Speaker 1: my nan was there, you know, she's an African, like
Speaker 1: my aunts were uncles. Everybody supported me, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I feel like I let everybody down and they don't
Speaker 1: care a little bit for who I am. But at
Speaker 1: that time, that was my biggest moment in sports is
Speaker 1: making the Olympics in twenty twelve in London, and I
Speaker 1: just felt like, oh, ho hometown and Shane and myself,
Speaker 1: and a really really beautiful moment for me was I'm
Speaker 1: in the village and the Bastle team walks in and
Speaker 1: Kobe walks in and he's like, hi you, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: hi you doing is that? I'm Kobe. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: know who you are. I'm Miles, I'm a fencer. And
Speaker 1: he told me this quote. I never forget it. I
Speaker 1: got tattooed my leg. He says the best athletes have
Speaker 1: the shortest memory. You win, you forget about it. You lose,
Speaker 1: you forget about it. When you've done your career, you
Speaker 1: can celebrate all you want. And I sat there and
Speaker 1: I was like wow, And immediately that grinn turned into
Speaker 1: a smile, and then I changed my whole mentality and
Speaker 1: then I won the next year I was able to
Speaker 1: tell him, which was really really beautiful. But I think
Speaker 1: when you meet someone like that who you look up
Speaker 1: to and they're just even more incredible in person, and
Speaker 1: he's just very humble and told me that from his
Speaker 1: coach and I never ever forget that. And I have
Speaker 1: a tattooed on the back of my leg with his face.
Speaker 1: So I think those moments are priceless to me, and
Speaker 1: I think if I would have won, would I've had
Speaker 1: that time with him, or would I have been able
Speaker 1: to do more on my sport. So I think everything
Speaker 1: has a reason to come into your life, whether it's
Speaker 1: positive or negative, and I'm grateful for these moments in
Speaker 1: life that you know incredible.
Speaker 2: That's such a great story and I never forget it.
Speaker 2: Kobe came on the podcast the first year of the podcast.
Speaker 2: It was brand new, we just started out, and he
Speaker 2: did exactly what you said. He walked into the room
Speaker 2: and he introduced himself as Kobe to my whole team,
Speaker 2: and everyone's like, yeah, we know exactly who you are.
Speaker 2: And my favorite memory from that day was that when
Speaker 2: we walked in, he was in his office and you
Speaker 2: could just see the silhouette of his head and his
Speaker 2: team was saying that he was meditating in there before
Speaker 2: he came to do the interview, and he said they
Speaker 2: said he did that every morning. When we finished the interview,
Speaker 2: this was a little clip. This clip, I've never put
Speaker 2: it out there because I feel it would be disrespectful,
Speaker 2: but at the end of it, he goes, I can
Speaker 2: see why you're number one, And I was just like
Speaker 2: that will like stay with me forever. He gave me
Speaker 2: the biggest hug, and yeah, I was so grateful to
Speaker 2: And that was like three months before his tragic passing,
Speaker 2: so it was like right then. But yeah, what an
Speaker 2: incredible role model, amazing energy, like so present, really humble
Speaker 2: everything you just said, Like just meeting someone at that level,
Speaker 2: that caliber, who was just so down to earth.
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk too much about it because
Speaker 1: obviously respect to him. But I was on set with
Speaker 1: Nike talking about him the day it happened. Oh, the
Speaker 1: day happened. Wow, And the Lowis actually texted me, I
Speaker 1: love every brother and I I love you too. But
Speaker 1: my phone was in the green room and I was
Speaker 1: talking about him has impact on me, and everybody just
Speaker 1: sudden silence, and I was like it was you know,
Speaker 1: and I think lots of than life is people and
Speaker 1: life's a brutal reminder, and I think it's just enjoy
Speaker 1: every moment you can, negatives or positives, and I think
Speaker 1: that's all we can do in life and just leave
Speaker 1: with love and everyone else will take care of itself.
Speaker 1: But that man was so special.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one of a kind.
Speaker 1: He was.
Speaker 2: It was one of the few athletes I knew that
Speaker 2: was peaceful in retirement.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was really happy because he was getting he
Speaker 2: won the Oscar for the short film that was teaching
Speaker 2: lessons basketball. Yeah exactly. But I was thinking about it.
Speaker 2: You mentioned something there, you said that you're the first
Speaker 2: black person in the sport to win. I mean that just,
Speaker 2: first of all, that is a huge accomplishment. Congratulations. I
Speaker 2: just want to acknowledge an honor just what a big
Speaker 2: deal that is. But fencing is known for being a
Speaker 2: notoriously white sport. Yeah, like that's what it's always been.
Speaker 2: I assume you can film me in the history a
Speaker 2: little bit, talk to me about even breaking into something
Speaker 2: like that, because I don't that's not normal. That doesn't
Speaker 2: sound easy. I'm sure there's a lot of things to navigate,
Speaker 2: Like walk me through that experience.
Speaker 1: I was in this group class and you know, they
Speaker 1: picked me one on a team we did like a
Speaker 1: first team of it was so three people in one team,
Speaker 1: us other three and every time I was pitted lost
Speaker 1: knowing I was not the worst one, and at the
Speaker 1: time you're kind of like, all right, this is this
Speaker 1: is weird, kind of looks like me in it. And
Speaker 1: then I started to realize that no one in the
Speaker 1: sport really made a mark on them. That was my
Speaker 1: color sides Peter Westbrook, who I have to give some
Speaker 1: homage too. And then my first ever Junior Olympics, I
Speaker 1: never forget it. I got five red cards for no reason,
Speaker 1: and I knew it was because I colored my skin
Speaker 1: because the next day I won the under seventeen. I
Speaker 1: knew it. And now I've seen the referee stole to
Speaker 1: this day and I still have this this. I was
Speaker 1: like a little kid, and it's just you don't know
Speaker 1: why things are happening to you. But then as I
Speaker 1: got older, I started to realize, but just because they
Speaker 1: colored my skin, because no one in that sport had
Speaker 1: broken that mold. And there's been countless times of referees
Speaker 1: and coaches that are just racial gestures that I've never
Speaker 1: really talked about because my mum always just said, just
Speaker 1: just win and then what can they say. I've had many,
Speaker 1: many occasions from probably fourteen till seventeen eighteen. Then I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm the best now, and it's unfortunate because
Speaker 1: now there's still racism in the sport. Right. It happened
Speaker 1: with this kid in Amsterdam, and I message him right
Speaker 1: away like, you know, I have your back and I'll
Speaker 1: talk about it in a post about it because it's
Speaker 1: you need someone's going to have your back, because it's
Speaker 1: a very lonely feeling when you're the only one that
Speaker 1: has felt this way. Once I started to realize that,
Speaker 1: I made it like a positive chip on my shoulder
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, and I never look at
Speaker 1: life as anything negative, whether it's you know, being racially
Speaker 1: profiled or losing. I always have a positive outlook on
Speaker 1: everything because it's never lost, it's always a lesson. And
Speaker 1: I think that was something that I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is going to be change in the sport and
Speaker 1: I will leave fencing in good hands because I know
Speaker 1: I've changed the sport for the best.
Speaker 2: How did you handle it at the time when you
Speaker 2: didn't have someone reaching out to you.
Speaker 1: The goodly about fencing is I can take my aggression
Speaker 1: out on my opponent, so it's a positive thing for
Speaker 1: the sport to channel it. Yeah, you know, you're crying
Speaker 1: in the locker room and never crying for my mom.
Speaker 1: You know, lucky with a mass gone, you you know,
Speaker 1: shake your opponent and put the mass back on. But
Speaker 1: I think at that age it's it's okay to cry
Speaker 1: and it's okay to let things out. Because of all
Speaker 1: coaches and parents who I've seen who have actually shun
Speaker 1: their kids for showing emotions. I've seen parents leave their
Speaker 1: kids in competitions because their kid lost to me, and
Speaker 1: actually the kid is actually my friend now, and it's
Speaker 1: just a shame that that parents don't realized how much
Speaker 1: pressure is on us to just win. So I think
Speaker 1: now seeing kids that look more like us, brown, white, whatever, girls,
Speaker 1: I just want to make them feel comfortable and happy
Speaker 1: and safe. And I think if I can be this
Speaker 1: beacon for them, then that's what I want to do
Speaker 1: in this.
Speaker 2: For well, that was so incredible when you launched the
Speaker 2: World Fencing League. I just got to attend in LA.
Speaker 2: I felt like you had people from different countries, different cultures,
Speaker 2: different backgrounds. I mean that was pretty epic. Man, that
Speaker 2: was amazing.
Speaker 1: It was honestly a dream come true. We sold out,
Speaker 1: we wrote records. I think over a million people live watching,
Speaker 1: which is more than the Olympics. And I think just
Speaker 1: seeing kids, I'm so happy that the sport is on
Speaker 1: the map. Was the best feeling I've ever felt in
Speaker 1: my life. So seeing all the little kids on the
Speaker 1: red carpet to all the fences inside telling me, man,
Speaker 1: I think you've done it, that was to me the
Speaker 1: greatest day of my life because it was just we
Speaker 1: really changed the sport on one day. Because now there's
Speaker 1: the audience of people that I've never seen it, like yourself,
Speaker 1: like people intagged people in sports, people that I've looked
Speaker 1: up to, to the fencing fans. To get the love
Speaker 1: that they deserved was incredible. Even I'm smiling because I'm
Speaker 1: generally so happy that it happened, and now the response
Speaker 1: has been so positive, so we can keep growing and growing.
Speaker 1: I just want to get fencing on a mainstream channel
Speaker 1: and platform, which is going to happen. But it takes
Speaker 1: someone like myself to know that it's going to be tough,
Speaker 1: but I can handle it.
Speaker 2: For anyone who doesn't really know that much about fencing
Speaker 2: where it's new to it, walk us through like what
Speaker 2: the regime is, what the fitness training is, what the
Speaker 2: skill is, what the art is, like how you train.
Speaker 2: It's almost like when people want drive to survive. That
Speaker 2: was when people realized what f one drivers did, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm sure you're working on a version of that for fencing.
Speaker 2: I see it, yes, And I feel like getting inside
Speaker 2: your mind is interesting to me because I'm like, I
Speaker 2: love knowing how people are performing at the highest levels.
Speaker 2: Figured that out because that's what I'm obsessed with, is
Speaker 2: knowing how you perform at that level and that peak.
Speaker 2: So what's the training, what's the focus, what's the patterns,
Speaker 2: what are the things that you have to do that
Speaker 2: might surprise us?
Speaker 1: I would say fencing is like physical chess right where
Speaker 1: it's mentally just as taxing as physically, because I have
Speaker 1: to think what you're going to do ahead and then
Speaker 1: react to what you're going to do as well. So
Speaker 1: I say the three main things would be being explosive,
Speaker 1: your reaction, and your timing. So if I have to
Speaker 1: react to you, and then my timing of hitting you
Speaker 1: before you can hit me, I would say is very
Speaker 1: very important. But then it becomes a beautiful dance as well,
Speaker 1: where I'm more of a feeling type of fencer where
Speaker 1: I like to see what you're gonna do. I have
Speaker 1: to look at your feet and to look at your mannerisms.
Speaker 1: But then there's guys that are very good too that
Speaker 1: are very mental and they'll just sit kind of more
Speaker 1: defensive and kind of pick you apart. I would say
Speaker 1: fencings like if boxing, taekwondo and one hundred meters had
Speaker 1: a baby, wow, because you have to be very explosive
Speaker 1: rafter gate. You have to be very very reactive, but
Speaker 1: then you have to have a feeling of kind of
Speaker 1: if things go bad, how do I change right away?
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like there's no real sport like
Speaker 1: fencing because it's so unique, and then once you see
Speaker 1: it in person, you're like, oh my god, the royal
Speaker 1: athletes don't let the parent trap you know, great movie
Speaker 1: brom like you know, people like oh yeah, I'm like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: people died fifty six years ago because it's an actual sword, right,
Speaker 1: I do of the foil discipline, But so I'd say it's
Speaker 1: it's like physical chess. Well, I tell people where it's
Speaker 1: just as taxing mentally as it is physically. It's such
Speaker 1: a unique sport because it is grip strength as well
Speaker 1: as core and your legs because you're in a squad
Speaker 1: the entire time, and I think you know, as you saw,
Speaker 1: it's so explosive and it can be over in five
Speaker 1: minutes or forty minutes, so you have to have a
Speaker 1: great view too as well. Get your heart rate from
Speaker 1: you know, one sixty one seventy back to the low
Speaker 1: seventies eighties. So yeah, it's it's a crazy sport.
Speaker 2: When you're training for a big tournament, What does your
Speaker 2: regime look like for how long?
Speaker 1: So I would say preseason, we're doing a lot of
Speaker 1: cardio and it's like similar to boxing, right, so we'll
Speaker 1: do ten mirounds on the salt buike because you know,
Speaker 1: twenty seconds on, forty seconds off ten times, and we'll
Speaker 1: do the ski ug and do sprinting. We don't necessarily
Speaker 1: need too much distance work, but it's more like high intensity.
Speaker 1: Get the heart rate down, get that right right back
Speaker 1: up again. And then I like to train four to
Speaker 1: five times a week Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday is big fencing,
Speaker 1: which is sparring kind of get the fencing stamina. And
Speaker 1: then Tuesday Thursday if you want to do Friday as well.
Speaker 1: It's more or a lesson, just one on one with
Speaker 1: your coach, which is how do I want to get
Speaker 1: better in this tactical movement? And I say that's kind
Speaker 1: of the building block for most fences. Yeah, whether you're twelve,
Speaker 1: whether you're my age, it's pretty intense at a young age.
Speaker 2: And then how much are you fencing? Like how much
Speaker 2: are you training different moves? And if that's even the
Speaker 2: right word, that's good.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm very crib so I like to make up
Speaker 1: my own moves by myself. I like to spend an
Speaker 1: hour on my own in the gym when no one's there.
Speaker 2: Well, that's why I find so hard about fencing is
Speaker 2: that when I saw it at the World Fencing League,
Speaker 2: to me, I was like, how do they predict anything?
Speaker 2: Because you could do anything, Like obviously the target mark
Speaker 2: is only the upper part of the body, right, you
Speaker 2: can't get someone's face, you can't get someone's legs, you
Speaker 2: can't get someone's feet. But even with that, I was like,
Speaker 2: the way the fences were moving there foil, I was like,
Speaker 2: how would you know what they're about to do? Because
Speaker 2: it's so unpredictable. It's not like it's not obvious. It's
Speaker 2: not like, oh, there's this move and this move and
Speaker 2: this move.
Speaker 1: Some opponents have like specific mannerisms, were like say, Italians
Speaker 1: are very good putting pressure on you you know, Russians
Speaker 1: and more tactical. French kind of have both. Oh it's
Speaker 1: by country kind of, yeah, I would say, yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a style in each country. And then the Asians have
Speaker 1: incredible footwork, like it's it's insane, So you can kind
Speaker 1: of know that within fencing your Korean you have to
Speaker 1: move your legs like crazy. I challenge you have to
Speaker 1: think a lot and react French to kind of have
Speaker 1: everything in one and then Americans are kind of unpredictable
Speaker 1: as well. We have our own styles. But I would
Speaker 1: say for the most part, actually, yeah, it is actually
Speaker 1: by my country, and I'm like it is.
Speaker 2: When you said people died in the sport how long ago.
Speaker 1: I would say sixty sixty five, seven years ago, because
Speaker 1: they didn't have the Yeah, so back in the day
Speaker 1: it was dry, so smiring off and were fencing and
Speaker 1: unfortunately the foil broke off and went through his eye
Speaker 1: and it kills him immediately. So nowadays, if it breaks,
Speaker 1: there's a light that comes up right away, but back
Speaker 1: in the day, it was dry, so you just have
Speaker 1: to hope it doesn't break. So it was real, real,
Speaker 1: like some warrior stuff back in the day. And then
Speaker 1: now it's obviously progressed and at a new tech, which
Speaker 1: we did in the whole league, but it is it
Speaker 1: is we're literally sword fighting. But I think people don't
Speaker 1: understand how hard it is until you see it, Like
Speaker 1: it's really really tough. Yeah, and I'll put you know, football,
Speaker 1: run track. I played tennis, but I think you do
Speaker 1: realize it is an intense sport. So if I can
Speaker 1: give that you know, kind of knowledge to the people
Speaker 1: that don't know to understand it more, I think that's
Speaker 1: a massive key. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I also feel like you bring your swag to fencing
Speaker 2: you just mentioned. Yeah, Like I'm like, you can go
Speaker 2: from like fencing outfit met garl at Street where I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm sure you don't see that a lot in fencing either. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think got your own Nike.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's the second one, you know. Yeah, honestly, those
Speaker 1: are dreams. I think, like I always knew that I
Speaker 1: wanted to do something different and like never be in
Speaker 1: a box, but like to be yourself and the best
Speaker 1: the airwork I ever says Miles, You've never changed. That's the
Speaker 1: best compliment. I can't even tell some of my teammates
Speaker 1: what I'm doing because it just sounds so ridiculous. And
Speaker 1: I won't ever come off as like as cocky or
Speaker 1: you know, I'm pretty humble if you meet me. So
Speaker 1: I think from like going from a competition in Istanbul
Speaker 1: to miamif one to the met to go and right
Speaker 1: into training. People think I don't I don't miss training,
Speaker 1: but I go from the airplane to training. So I
Speaker 1: think like it is a lot of pressure but also
Speaker 1: is a blessing. But what if I'm tired. I'm like, mate,
Speaker 1: look at your life, like you're doing some pretty cool things.
Speaker 1: They're all a blessing, but it is. It is a lot.
Speaker 1: But I try my best to take some time to
Speaker 1: you know, meditate. I'm trying to do that. I'm learning
Speaker 1: because I'm adds.
Speaker 2: Next time instead of poker. We'll do that with everyone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we should know, I reis yeah, or before even before,
Speaker 1: because I think people don't want to spend time with themselves.
Speaker 1: And for me, I love hell myself. It sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: but I love just being at home. I'm reading. I'm
Speaker 1: finishing the Onto the Tour right now. I'm reading, which
Speaker 1: is crazy to be on great book. Great book. Obviously.
Speaker 1: I love TV. I love shows and sports. But I'm
Speaker 1: trying my best now to like take a deep breath
Speaker 1: and try and shut my phone off at like ten
Speaker 1: thirty at home and just you know, take some time
Speaker 1: with myself and but how are you doing? Are you good?
Speaker 1: And then I'm like, yeah, I'm good. I'm generally a
Speaker 1: happy person, like actually happy, so like I'm good on that.
Speaker 1: But it was also just like all right, like take
Speaker 1: a deep breath and just relax for once. And I
Speaker 1: think that's my hardest part is the balance. And I
Speaker 1: think that's an ongoing battle. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I feel like we all think our worth comes from
Speaker 2: being busy and productive and always being on and it's
Speaker 2: a good distraction away from your actual thoughts exactly and
Speaker 2: what's actually going on inside. And then when you slow down,
Speaker 2: the thought the rises and you go, oh, gosh, I
Speaker 2: don't know if I can sit with this. Yeah, And
Speaker 2: that's what I always say that people. That's probably the
Speaker 2: hardest sport in the world is sitting with your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Like fighting with your thoughts is the hardest sport in the.
Speaker 1: World, honestly one because especially like as athletes, right, it's
Speaker 1: like joining the hotel room before and you can't help
Speaker 1: yourself but to think about tomorrow. So that I read
Speaker 1: this book about Samurais and it said you can't don't
Speaker 1: worry about what you don't know. And that's why now
Speaker 1: I never talk about fencing. I never watched fencing until
Speaker 1: the morning of I don't even know who I fence
Speaker 1: until the morning.
Speaker 2: So you don't analyze the opponent until Sometimes I don't
Speaker 2: know whom an de fence and to I'm on the strip,
Speaker 2: which is kind of crazy. Why because one time I
Speaker 2: knew and I couldn't sleep, and then I'm envisioning in
Speaker 2: my head and I wake up when I'm tired at
Speaker 2: the end of the day.
Speaker 1: If I don't know what I'm gonna do fencing, how
Speaker 1: the hell could you pen for me?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Right, So I realized that. So now I don't ever
Speaker 1: ever talk about fencing, think about fencing. I don't want
Speaker 1: to know. I didn't go to the venue that before.
Speaker 1: I just whatever city I'm going to kind of walk around.
Speaker 2: Definitely unique for an athlete.
Speaker 1: Oh it's crazy, like why are you doing that? But
Speaker 1: like that helps me. Yeah, And then that's like how
Speaker 1: I deal with with pressure, because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, pressure is a privilege, but it also comes
Speaker 1: with a lot of pressure, but also understanding now that
Speaker 1: like if you can have this understanding that like you're
Speaker 1: supposed to win competition, that's a gift. So if you
Speaker 1: can lean into that, like most people don't aren't supposed
Speaker 1: to win, so they've got no real pressure.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I think now understanding that's actually a gift has
Speaker 1: helped me be like all right, like just you know,
Speaker 1: lean into this. So I think just learning more about
Speaker 1: myself has given me more understanding of the sport of fencing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, talk to me about the road to your favorite tournaments,
Speaker 2: whether it's the Olympics, winning bronze, World champion, Like, talk
Speaker 2: to me. Let's talk about the Olympics first, because I mean,
Speaker 2: and you brought us the Olympic medal, which is incredible,
Speaker 2: which you're gonna that. I mean, I've never seen one
Speaker 2: in real life, like you said, everyone's wearing the fake
Speaker 2: ones when they're out or whatever in the pictures. Yeah,
Speaker 2: talk to me about what it felt like getting to
Speaker 2: the Olympics winning bronze.
Speaker 1: I would say, getting there, you know, points zero zero
Speaker 1: one percent of the population gets to go to the Olympics.
Speaker 1: I think it's like points to zero zero one get
Speaker 1: a medal, right, so unless your Phelps has got two
Speaker 1: thousand of them. But I think when you get there,
Speaker 1: at least my first one, I changed everything. I was serious.
Speaker 1: I didn't see my friends, which ended up being their
Speaker 1: own decision. And then the next year I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm going to enjoy this. I'm going to
Speaker 1: get dinner with my friend the night before and I won.
Speaker 1: That was me realizing that not everybody is the same athlete,
Speaker 1: and yes there's rules and techniques and routines, but like,
Speaker 1: I'm not like the next person, so why should I
Speaker 1: prepare like them? So then once I started to understand
Speaker 1: that I'm different, then that kind of led me up
Speaker 1: to Rio and I actually lived in Korea a little
Speaker 1: bit and I trained with Young Hoo Kim and I
Speaker 1: won the first Grand Prix of the season, But like,
Speaker 1: why is he going to Korea? I'm like, why not?
Speaker 1: And I won the first Grand Prix the season and
Speaker 1: I was like, that's why, because I wanted to learn
Speaker 1: something new. I think as athletes, change is okay, but
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to take that leap right. And then
Speaker 1: I made the Olympics and they had the best team
Speaker 1: fancy of my life and I was able to enjoy
Speaker 1: the moment, the process being real, you know, meet the
Speaker 1: other athletes, and I think that was when I realized
Speaker 1: you need to enjoy the journey because when you're done,
Speaker 1: besides of metal, memories to me more important and if
Speaker 1: you lose those memories, then you've lost, I think, the
Speaker 1: coolest part of the journey. So I think leaning into
Speaker 1: like the understanding and having fun was ultimately why I
Speaker 1: was able to, you know, go to three Olympics and
Speaker 1: have success. And you know, now I'm like, this kid's like,
Speaker 1: I'm so stressed. I'm like, what are you stressed about?
Speaker 1: Because you want to win? That means you care next thing.
Speaker 1: So I've been able to go through each of these
Speaker 1: ebbs and flows and have answers to most of them,
Speaker 1: which I think is the key to success. Right, everybody
Speaker 1: can be really, really good if you can unlock the mind.
Speaker 1: That's when you become a legend. And that's why I'm
Speaker 1: learning from people who are legends of you know, taking
Speaker 1: those risks and being crazy, because you know, it takes
Speaker 1: one person to change the world, right, this one person
Speaker 1: to change the sport, and I think if I can
Speaker 1: be that person. Then I've created a whole new roadmap
Speaker 1: for the next kids to oh wow, this's a different
Speaker 1: approach for me, which has been a blessing.
Speaker 2: I love that. I love the idea of you get
Speaker 2: a career learning a new school of thought. I love
Speaker 2: the idea of being this multifaceted individual because you're so
Speaker 2: right that whether it's sports or whether it's business, whatever
Speaker 2: it is, everyone thinks that there's only one way to
Speaker 2: do it right. And then you speak to all these
Speaker 2: founders and you're like, no, they all did something different.
Speaker 2: They discovered their idea differently, they built teams differently, and
Speaker 2: they took their human experience and put it into what
Speaker 2: they were doing, and that's what made it as good
Speaker 2: as it was. I've really been on this type of
Speaker 2: wanting anyone, whatever industry you're in, whether it's sports, media, business,
Speaker 2: whatever it is, finance, tech, to find what it is
Speaker 2: that makes you different and lean into that and not
Speaker 2: lean into thinking how do I look like that other
Speaker 2: guy who's doing it as well, because I think that
Speaker 2: time is gone. I think that time existed. Back in
Speaker 2: the day you had to wear the suit like that
Speaker 2: guy wore, and you had to wear the shit that
Speaker 2: you wore and you had to play golf like him
Speaker 2: or whatever it was. I was like, that's changed now.
Speaker 2: It just doesn't work that way exactly.
Speaker 1: He said it perfectly, because there's always this stick of
Speaker 1: one like I have to do a kind of a
Speaker 1: tattoo because I'm going to get a job. I told
Speaker 1: my mom I'll be the first ever. Not that money matters,
Speaker 1: but I'll be the first ever a millionaire of Fenser.
Speaker 1: It's like saying I'm gonna see unicorn because it's never existed.
Speaker 1: But I knew if I was just myself, it would
Speaker 1: figure itself out right, and I have tattoos. And then
Speaker 1: now this kids are getting tattoos because it's such a
Speaker 1: still elitist, uppity sport and you can't do these things.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, why not? You know, oh won't be
Speaker 1: in the meeting with CEOs and mostly sitting with the
Speaker 1: guy that made your phone and I myself right, So,
Speaker 1: like you said, I think it's that time is gone,
Speaker 1: but I think people are still so scared to take
Speaker 1: a risk. And I think that's the difference is so
Speaker 1: many people that are the same nowadays, which is I
Speaker 1: think the issue. And I think if you can just
Speaker 1: honestly be yourself, you'll figure out what life is for you.
Speaker 1: And I think I never wanted to be like anybody
Speaker 1: else in sports or life in general. And then there
Speaker 1: were those times when I was like, what's just the
Speaker 1: right decision? But I knew, keep your head down, keep
Speaker 1: being you, and things will happen for you, and they did.
Speaker 1: I used to think that fencing was like my kind
Speaker 1: of anchor. Oh he's a fencer, but that's actually my gift.
Speaker 1: I saw a lot of people, Oh yeah, I played basketball,
Speaker 1: you know, just like I believe it because if people
Speaker 1: were trying to make fun of me or trying and
Speaker 1: fight me or believe me in school, Yeah, because I
Speaker 1: was a fencer. Wow, because to them it was not
Speaker 1: a cool sport. And then now my Instagram is fencer
Speaker 1: and I'm like, that's what I'm doing. That's my purpose,
Speaker 1: right And Michael straighthand one of my great friends and
Speaker 1: mental always told me never mess up your main and
Speaker 1: keep that your main. I was like, fencing is my main.
Speaker 1: Everything else will come, but just don't lose like of
Speaker 1: what you were here on this planet to do.
Speaker 2: Did it affect you between when your father left, when
Speaker 2: you were eight, and then before you had your now
Speaker 2: dad that you mentioned like, did that affect you in anyway? Like?
Speaker 1: I think it did for sure. And I think there
Speaker 1: are times of like now that I'm old and I
Speaker 1: can understand it, like why you get into trouble? Why
Speaker 1: are you doing these things? Right? Think it probably does
Speaker 1: stem from trauma or stemming from something, because why else
Speaker 1: would I be acting up. My mom's amazing mom. She's
Speaker 1: giving me all the right lessons, like why is this happening?
Speaker 1: Obviously one of my best friend Lewis was but you
Speaker 1: need to attack that to understand that, right, like why
Speaker 1: is this happening? And I, you know, we went on
Speaker 1: a spiritual I went on a spiritual journey and understood.
Speaker 1: Oh wow. And I didn't talked to him for ten
Speaker 1: for over ten years.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, biological father.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then you know, I had this awakening, picked
Speaker 1: up the phone and called him. I said, hey, Dad,
Speaker 1: this is Miles. How are you? I don't know about
Speaker 1: the past, has everything going on? Because I also realized
Speaker 1: that kids don't realize that their parents are growing up
Speaker 1: as well. And that was like, oh wow, not saying
Speaker 1: right or wrong, but once I did that, it was
Speaker 1: like a and then I think I started to just
Speaker 1: understand way more about myself. So I think definitely I
Speaker 1: had trauma without even knowing it was trauma at the time,
Speaker 1: and then now it's like I've got such a clear
Speaker 1: understanding of that probably made me who I am, so
Speaker 1: I almost wouldn't want any other way. And then my stepdad,
Speaker 1: who is my dad, is the most amazing person, and
Speaker 1: he taught me how to be a man. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the coolest part is having this kind of
Speaker 1: roller coaster journey created you know, this person in front
Speaker 1: of you. But I think not having that grown up
Speaker 1: somehow helped me not take no for an answer and
Speaker 1: really knocked some doors down. So I think it definitely
Speaker 1: was a time when I had to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: why are you getting in trouble, Why are you getting arrested?
Speaker 1: Why are you doing these things? Did you get Yeah?
Speaker 1: One time I was a stupid competition and I was
Speaker 1: like throwing these like shampoo bottles down, and then it
Speaker 1: was just stupid. I got handcuffed and then my mom
Speaker 1: walked in, Oh, this is the worst story. And then
Speaker 1: my mom walked in as it happened.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, my god, you're more scared
Speaker 3: of your mom hundred percent. Oh my god at that
Speaker 3: age for sure. And then it was just like these
Speaker 3: moments of like why are you getting in trouble? Why
Speaker 3: get in the fights? Just you know, but I think
Speaker 3: you're all stemmed from trauma that I was like small
Speaker 3: things like I never.
Speaker 1: Had that, what's it the birds and the bees talk? Whatever?
Speaker 1: That is your parent or the small little things that
Speaker 1: I think are important, especially at that age. So I
Speaker 1: think that was definitely a reason for all of my
Speaker 1: negative antics. Was definitely probably because it was just my
Speaker 1: mom and she.
Speaker 2: Was trying her best.
Speaker 1: She was crushing it, but she never complained. I never
Speaker 1: saw her cry. I never saw her anything. And now
Speaker 1: she's hopefully living the life. But she is the strongest
Speaker 1: man and woman I know by far.
Speaker 2: What did your biological dad say when you called him
Speaker 2: after those ten years?
Speaker 1: I remember yesterday it was like a hello. I was like, yes,
Speaker 1: it's Miles. He was like hi, son, and then I
Speaker 1: was like, listen, I don't care about the past. Do
Speaker 1: you need anything? How are you talk for about? I
Speaker 1: want to say? It was like forty five seconds, I
Speaker 1: think I'm bossing on the song and then it was
Speaker 1: just like whoa. But it was like a really nice
Speaker 1: closing a chapter and then opening a chapter. I remember
Speaker 1: I posted about it because I was very scared, and
Speaker 1: especially like black men, it's very common you have a dad,
Speaker 1: oh you know, And I talked about it and I
Speaker 1: got so many lovely messages I'm gonna call my dad,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, I didn't realize it was
Speaker 1: such a big thing to talk about. I've gone through
Speaker 1: a lot of my life, but they're all blessings in
Speaker 1: a way. But I think it's so important to address issues,
Speaker 1: no matter how hard they are for you at the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and now you know, he's never seen me fence before,
Speaker 1: which is crazy. And now I'm like, maybe that's maybe
Speaker 1: that's a time. You know, who knows. I'm open to it.
Speaker 1: For the first time was back in the day, I
Speaker 1: was like, I'll never talk to you again, But now.
Speaker 2: It's like, well, opened you up to it.
Speaker 1: I think just understanding that everybody has their own issues,
Speaker 1: whether they're good or bad. I have to understand that
Speaker 1: as well. You know, there's something that he's gone on
Speaker 1: in his life that he hasn't told me, or certain
Speaker 1: things right, And I think just understanding that the parents
Speaker 1: are still growing up in front of your eyes. And
Speaker 1: then I had all the answers, was like, oh, okay, myles,
Speaker 1: Now I know the data will be when I have kids,
Speaker 1: you know. So I think that was really really eye
Speaker 1: opening for me to understand that you're going to cry.
Speaker 1: Cry made you know that's all right. I remember I
Speaker 1: didn't cry for like sixteen years. So I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, just stone call this and that, and
Speaker 1: I was like, that's all right, and there's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with that. I think it's such a stigma. And then
Speaker 1: now I was like, no, like you'll have emotions that
Speaker 1: that those are okay. So I think that was just
Speaker 1: a massive learning process for me, which helped me in
Speaker 1: my sports because now I was like, I couldn't do
Speaker 1: anything like harder. That was way Harderah, calling him was
Speaker 1: way harder than any training sers I've ever done in
Speaker 1: my life. I could have done my ever, I probably
Speaker 1: would have picked my everest over a phone call. I'm
Speaker 1: not kidding.
Speaker 2: I think people underestimate how much a lot of our
Speaker 2: physical and mental blocks are actually emotional. If we were
Speaker 2: to get past and do the emotional thing, then we'd
Speaker 2: be able to do physical and mental things that we
Speaker 2: don't even think is possible. But we're all blocking ourselves
Speaker 2: and limiting ourselves because there's some sort of emotional unlock
Speaker 2: that we haven't allowed, whether it's forgiveness, resilience, courage, fear,
Speaker 2: whatever it may be. And that's really powerful to hear man.
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1: It feels us good to talk about. You know, I
Speaker 1: almost forgot around the podcast was just having a chance,
Speaker 1: And I think that's the core thing is like emotions
Speaker 1: are your best friend. Right if you feel a certain way,
Speaker 1: you can lead into it. Just don't let that dictate
Speaker 1: your entire day. So I think that's something that I
Speaker 1: learned as well. I'm feeling this way, let it out
Speaker 1: and then move on. And then it all ties into
Speaker 1: just understanding who you are at the core, because I
Speaker 1: finally know now who Miles is because I have to
Speaker 1: take those you know, hallowt and mirror, figure out to
Speaker 1: take the losses with all the winds and now understand that. Okay,
Speaker 1: now I've got a clear path of what I want
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: How did you develop all these mindsets and principles? Where
Speaker 2: did you learn them from? Because you're like I'm not
Speaker 2: talking to a philosopher, no, but I mean I'm saying
Speaker 2: in a positive sensor you've got It almost feels like
Speaker 2: you've got these codes that you follow and you've programmed
Speaker 2: your mind to think in this certain way. Where did
Speaker 2: you pick them up from along the way.
Speaker 1: My mom said the same thing recently, and I don't
Speaker 1: really know where they've come from. But I just feel like,
Speaker 1: if you're going to have to do something right, why
Speaker 1: not try and do it with a smile on your face. Right,
Speaker 1: I've got to go to training from hungry or not,
Speaker 1: I have to do it anyway. And I think one
Speaker 1: of the biggest moments, which I'll talk about right now,
Speaker 1: which I don't like to talk about it norm really knows,
Speaker 1: but the first Olympic qualifier, I was on the way
Speaker 1: to a Believe Vegas to support Lewis for the race.
Speaker 1: My sister suffered a stroke thirty seven years old. That
Speaker 1: was probably the hardest moment I've ever had to kind
Speaker 1: of understand, and I fear with the Olympics all right.
Speaker 1: I flew to Miami, opened the door. I see my
Speaker 1: sister with a feeding tube and a breathing tube. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's the times when you have to
Speaker 1: just lean into it. And that was the first time
Speaker 1: I became a man, and it's the first time I
Speaker 1: ever saw my mom cry. Sorry Mom. But I just
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, this is happening. How do we find
Speaker 1: some type of silver lining in this moment? And you know,
Speaker 1: start in the hospital, writing things down, Journaling all those
Speaker 1: past situations prepared me for this. I was able to
Speaker 1: just be an umbrella for the for the family, and
Speaker 1: I think that was the moment where I was like, Okay, wow,
Speaker 1: I got this. You know, he's got two beautiful kids.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously this is you know, domestic violence, which
Speaker 1: is which is one thing which is awful. And I
Speaker 1: think this is my sister who as a brother, she
Speaker 1: understands what I want to do is, you know, is
Speaker 1: take care of my sister. And you know there's certain
Speaker 1: things that you know, she won't tell you all these
Speaker 1: things because she knows what her brother would want to do.
Speaker 1: And I was like, Okay, Miles, we're going to figure
Speaker 1: this out. And I was able to make the Olympic team,
Speaker 1: which probably the first time everybody's going to know while
Speaker 1: dealing with this, I would fly from Japan to Miami,
Speaker 1: spent the time in the hospital, help about with the kids,
Speaker 1: changing nappies for the first time, you know, just being
Speaker 1: there for my family and my mom and dad did
Speaker 1: the most incredible job I've ever seen of just becoming
Speaker 1: parents again. And I think that's where whether you believe
Speaker 1: in is testing you because you knows you can handle it.
Speaker 1: And I realized that I can handle anything, and it
Speaker 1: was kind of compartmentalizing. This is, you know, going from
Speaker 1: the hospital I see you to a competition and somehow
Speaker 1: doing well is the bigges accomplishment I could. I don't
Speaker 1: even know how I did it. To be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I've got no idea, so make any Olympics. I was like,
Speaker 1: that was nothing. So I think that's when you feel helpless,
Speaker 1: right and you feel like I can't do anything because
Speaker 1: I literally can't do anything but just give positive love
Speaker 1: and energy. And I figured out a way to in fact,
Speaker 1: I make my family a filities or smile, and you
Speaker 1: know that's going to help through this process. That to
Speaker 1: me was the first time I became a man one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. So now talking about it and you know,
Speaker 1: showing people what I had to go through, I think
Speaker 1: you realize why I go so hard, because there's nothing
Speaker 1: that will stop me or can start me. Because I've
Speaker 1: seen you know, my sister on those ICUs, which is
Speaker 1: the scariest place to be and as her brother, you know,
Speaker 1: making her smile and doing these things is why you're
Speaker 1: putting this on this planet Earth. And I think you've
Speaker 1: got people around you to talk about it, you know
Speaker 1: a little of flying and see my sister. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the most emotional thing I've ever been through, just
Speaker 1: time and support, knowing how busy he is and you know,
Speaker 1: spins just being there for me is like beautiful. So
Speaker 1: I think if I can take that and as like
Speaker 1: my dragon ball z and you know, build that up
Speaker 1: and give it to the world, we can do anything.
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing. How is she now?
Speaker 1: She's getting much better? Yeah, I think she's you know,
Speaker 1: she's actually in London that she can fly again, and
Speaker 1: you know she's obviously recovery. You know, stroke is very extreme,
Speaker 1: so she still has to learn speech stuff back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but she.
Speaker 1: Can function on her own and she's stronger than me.
Speaker 1: So and as you know, I'm still allttle brother, but
Speaker 1: I became a big brother at that time.
Speaker 2: I've seen people I know go through strokes and it's
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, it's one of the most scary things
Speaker 2: to watch someone you love go through.
Speaker 1: At thirty seven. Yeah, that's health. You send marathons. I
Speaker 1: can't run a marathon. Yeah, yeah, you got to you know,
Speaker 1: choose your partner right. And stress is a real thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it puts everything into perspective those moments.
Speaker 1: It's funny because at that time the Olympics is everything
Speaker 1: for me. When you get there, perspective is mad because
Speaker 1: it's like, that's actually the smallest thing you could accomplish
Speaker 1: in my life because it's obviously different things I want
Speaker 1: to do my life. But it's funny how like, at
Speaker 1: that time, it's got of making my life is over.
Speaker 1: You know, when they make it, you're like, I'm so grateful,
Speaker 1: But there's so much more to life than just that.
Speaker 2: Mars, what are you most proud of in your life?
Speaker 2: Because you talked about the hardest times, most difficult times,
Speaker 2: what are you most proud of so far?
Speaker 1: Never losing miles along this journey, I'm still the twelve
Speaker 1: year old kid, just six pip covered tattoos and changing
Speaker 1: my sport forever is probably the two things I'm most
Speaker 1: proud of. Winning is great, but changing a sport is
Speaker 1: bigger than any Olympic goal. But I could ever win.
Speaker 1: I got message recently that this kid used to get
Speaker 1: bullied in school, a black kid as well, from North Carolina.
Speaker 1: Mom sent me a message. He showed them pictures pictures
Speaker 1: of me at school and that changed, which is crazy
Speaker 1: to me. Right, So like that to me is so cool.
Speaker 1: If I can just be a beacon of light to
Speaker 1: these kids, I've done my job. I think that's one
Speaker 1: most proud of.
Speaker 2: You see, if I get an emotion about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I never thought, man, I never in my life
Speaker 1: thought I would ever have impact on these kids. Never
Speaker 1: because in fancy I never anyone that I wanted to
Speaker 1: look up to or be like. So if I can
Speaker 1: see these kids, you know at the league that come
Speaker 1: to me and they're like, I love you, I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's I love you too. But it's so
Speaker 1: beautiful to have this love from them. And the parents
Speaker 1: are like, oh, you're so nice and kind of normal.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, my parents raised me to be this way.
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, we're all
Speaker 1: human beings and as long as you've got a good
Speaker 1: heart and good core. I think that that's that's the
Speaker 1: most important thing.
Speaker 2: Definitely, definitely, And you're you're surround about that too. I mean,
Speaker 2: like you know, you mentioned Lewis there as well, Like
Speaker 2: he's so humble, he's so down to earth, like you know,
Speaker 2: you would never know, you would never know, Like you know,
Speaker 2: he's the most unassuming guy. And I feel like, who
Speaker 2: are the other athletes that you admire, that you talk to,
Speaker 2: that you picked their brain, that you try and understand
Speaker 2: their process as well and how they live life.
Speaker 1: Well, one was definitely Kobe, you know, like asking him
Speaker 1: questions like do you really watch like lions eating prey
Speaker 1: before you know? He's like yeah, And I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god. And just like that mentality is so rare.
Speaker 1: He wus why he's you know, mama mentality. That's one
Speaker 1: of them for sure. Michael Strahan as well. It has
Speaker 1: been an amazing person of transitional from athletes to post athlete.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's not that two men that spent too
Speaker 1: much time with We're able to like sit down and
Speaker 1: really kind of dissect You're busy.
Speaker 2: Everyone's got crazy schedule. Yeah, athletes have the craziest schedules.
Speaker 1: You know, understanding your time. Yes, there's not might be
Speaker 1: the wrong time, whatever, But I would say definitely obviously Lewis,
Speaker 1: Michael Kobe, those are kind of the people that are
Speaker 1: able to you know you as well. I'm not an athlete,
Speaker 1: like you said. You know, if you I think I
Speaker 1: understand your thoughts. Is the hardest sport, well, yeah it's
Speaker 1: not many I've really had the opportunity to spend time
Speaker 1: with beyond just Hi, respect what you do and best
Speaker 1: of luck.
Speaker 2: Mars Well, if I not asked you that you wish
Speaker 2: I did, well, if you're not shared whether you're not
Speaker 2: talking about great great questions, you're just curious. Man. I
Speaker 2: was like, you know, we just had fun last summer
Speaker 2: and that's all thanks to Lewis too, A big shout
Speaker 2: out to Lewis connecting us. But I'm like, we just
Speaker 2: had a good time. And I was like, I want
Speaker 2: to get to know this guy, you know, because you're
Speaker 2: obviously operating at a high level. But I didn't realize.
Speaker 2: And this is what I love about doing this, This
Speaker 2: is why I love this podcast so much, is because
Speaker 2: I thought the most interesting thing was what you did,
Speaker 2: and now I'm sitting with you, I'm like, no, what
Speaker 2: you've been through and what you've lived through and what
Speaker 2: you've learned is so much more interesting. And I think
Speaker 2: that's the reason why the podcast is called on Purpose,
Speaker 2: because it's people's purpose and their mission and their values
Speaker 2: and the belief is so much more fascinating than what
Speaker 2: we do for work. What we do for work is great,
Speaker 2: it's cool, But beyond that, there's a whole human you know,
Speaker 2: that lives and.
Speaker 1: Exists exactly exactly, and the human is like what keeps
Speaker 1: us going. It's the heart rates everything. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, we have these gifts in life
Speaker 1: and it's like, how are you going to use these
Speaker 1: in the best way possible? Right? So, from a little
Speaker 1: kid from London to having two Nike shoes never my
Speaker 1: life to creating a walk a fencing league. Is this
Speaker 1: All you need in life is self belief? And I
Speaker 1: have a tattooed right here that's all you need in life.
Speaker 1: If you have those you know, pinnacles and those beliefs,
Speaker 1: you can do anything. And I think you know, meeting
Speaker 1: you someone who've been a fan of before getting to
Speaker 1: know you, Oh, he's even more incredible person because you
Speaker 1: you're the same on camera and off camera, which very
Speaker 1: for people are like that, especially in the field you're in.
Speaker 1: I think that's the key is. And when people see
Speaker 1: me they're like, oh, you're nice and funny. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: well what do you think I.
Speaker 2: Was so yeah, you guys were a bad influence on me.
Speaker 2: I played poker for the first time in twenty years
Speaker 2: because of these guys. I hadn't played for twenty years
Speaker 2: and the fact that I won that now, I was
Speaker 2: pretty impressed.
Speaker 1: You smoked us. What do you mean you destroyed us?
Speaker 2: Why didn' Lewis go down? Was the best bit there?
Speaker 1: Like yeah, and he was like I'm buying again. I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, well send me some money, bro.
Speaker 2: I kind of played for twenty years, but I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, I want to bond with the guys. I
Speaker 2: want to stay out, you know, I want to hang
Speaker 2: out and say, you guys are a bad influence on
Speaker 2: me for sure.
Speaker 1: Now, but you're one of us now, you know, or
Speaker 1: a wolf pack. But it's That's what I'm so grateful for,
Speaker 1: is like collections beyond just you know, these kind of
Speaker 1: stuffers level like I know that if I was to ever, like,
Speaker 1: talk to you about someone, you give me an honest answer.
Speaker 1: I think that's the key is I never want any
Speaker 1: friends with people around me that it's like, oh, are
Speaker 1: you doing good? It's like, let me be real with you.
Speaker 1: I think that's the key is whoever is around you
Speaker 1: is a faction of yourself. So like you know, all
Speaker 1: the boys spends, all just amazing humans that pushed me
Speaker 1: to be a better person. I think that's the key
Speaker 1: to why we're so special in our crew is because
Speaker 1: we keep each other accountable, we support each other, and
Speaker 1: we generally want each other to win. I think is
Speaker 1: a very rare thing for people, especially men in general.
Speaker 2: I was about to say, that's what's so impressive about
Speaker 2: it is that it's a group of men who are
Speaker 2: killing it on their sports. They're doing incredible things, but
Speaker 2: at the same time have this like brotherhood that you
Speaker 2: guys have all built with each other. That feels like
Speaker 2: a massive, massive thing to be proud of, especially when
Speaker 2: right now men there's so much loneliness for men across
Speaker 2: the world, especially in the States. The loneliness statistics are
Speaker 2: so high, and men don't how to connect with each other.
Speaker 2: They can't pick up the phone to each other. What
Speaker 2: would you say to a manage lone he doesn't know
Speaker 2: how to pick up the phone to his friend and
Speaker 2: tell him how he feels. What would you say?
Speaker 1: This quote was, we're just passing through and a tattooed
Speaker 1: here where it's whatever moment you're feeling. No, that's not forever, right,
Speaker 1: And I think that's something to understand, is like this
Speaker 1: is not going to be forever. But also people want
Speaker 1: to know what is really going on with you, and
Speaker 1: I think it's not. You're not a burden. It's actually
Speaker 1: a gift to be able to like have your friends,
Speaker 1: you know, be honest and true to themselves about you.
Speaker 1: That's actually I love to hear that, Like it actually
Speaker 1: lightens my day, whether it's a sad thing. So I,
Speaker 1: oh know he really cares about me because he's coming
Speaker 1: to me as one of the last, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of resorts. So I would just say, you're lean into
Speaker 1: however you're feeling, but please just call your friends, like
Speaker 1: you're never alone. I'm grateful that I've never been that situation,
Speaker 1: but if I ever was, I know I could call
Speaker 1: any of my boys up, you know, get me through it.
Speaker 1: If you lose a race, lose competition, I'm gonna call
Speaker 1: you like bro, so I feel and then you feel better.
Speaker 1: Just know that this emotion is not forever. And it's
Speaker 1: actually beautiful to talk to your friends about it because
Speaker 1: it actually makes me feel good knowing that you're coming
Speaker 1: to me. So it's almost like a step for the
Speaker 1: both of us. So I think, yeah, just just talk
Speaker 1: and being lonely like it's and I want anyone to
Speaker 1: feel lonely. If I see a little kid at the
Speaker 1: club or a competition, I'll just go up to them,
Speaker 1: Hey man, how are you right? It takes two seconds
Speaker 1: and that might be like, oh he said high to me.
Speaker 1: That might change that everything. Also, I think knowing your
Speaker 1: your purpose and your celebrity in our mind the defencing world,
Speaker 1: those moments change lives, and I think seeing that is
Speaker 1: really really cool. You know, I'll be driving sometimes I'll
Speaker 1: just I'll just scream I love you. Why not? You know,
Speaker 1: there's a small little it's just nice and I think
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just generalely a happy person. But if
Speaker 1: I can as you really really, I'll leave you with us.
Speaker 1: Is Spinds message to me, And it was a quote
Speaker 1: was like, I make people feel better when they've left me,
Speaker 1: and it was the best thing I could, you know,
Speaker 1: I could ever he send it to me.
Speaker 2: That is the best thing that feels That's my favorite
Speaker 2: type of person, you know.
Speaker 1: Like that feels so nice. I feel good now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So if I can be that, please.
Speaker 2: Someonews walk us through the gear because it's going to
Speaker 2: bring back some memories for me of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I got you. So this is these are
Speaker 1: my babies here. So we have two masks.
Speaker 2: What's the difference in the mask just like just the
Speaker 2: swag Yeah yeah, and you can see through these yeah perfectly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's actually gift from you, gift to you to you.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, as one as that on my Olympic ones.
Speaker 1: I used.
Speaker 2: No, dude, that's very kind and I'm going to put
Speaker 2: it up in the studio.
Speaker 1: That's that's literally one I used.
Speaker 2: You gotta sign this for me.
Speaker 1: I used for and I and so that's that's what
Speaker 1: I want to do.
Speaker 2: That means a lot, man, Thank you so much. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: What on that? That's so cool? This is it?
Speaker 1: So this is a foil that I use and all
Speaker 1: of them are like customly made for your hands. Right,
Speaker 1: So this is molded specifically for my hand, and this
Speaker 1: is one that I trained with. And then this is
Speaker 1: the tip now, which which you know, but we used
Speaker 1: to have the rubber thing. Yeah. Yeah, so that's like
Speaker 1: what you would train but this is like what I
Speaker 1: practiced competition wise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course this is so this has been made
Speaker 2: specifically for your hand.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So you're gonna put your thumb toward the end
Speaker 1: of it, so right right towards the garden underneath it
Speaker 1: and the grip it that yeah wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the grip strength and that's.
Speaker 1: What has massive because it's like all grip strength. Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I have, like, you know, a bunch of them.
Speaker 2: Is there a difference in any of them or no?
Speaker 2: They just you just have multiple for.
Speaker 1: I'll like name them and like this is my baby
Speaker 1: number one whatever.
Speaker 2: But it's the same weight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, always same when trying me the same balance if
Speaker 1: you can, you can, you know, but the balance.
Speaker 2: What is the balance tell you?
Speaker 1: So like if it's more here, then it means it's
Speaker 1: more tip heavy. And then if it goes back more
Speaker 1: and it's more God heavy.
Speaker 2: So this is god heavy, yeah exactly, because it just
Speaker 2: keeps doing out. Yeah, so because my what difference does
Speaker 2: that make when you're fighting for me?
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. But like sometimes if you want to
Speaker 1: attack them more, then it's it's easier if it's more
Speaker 1: tip heavy. But for the most part, you can kind
Speaker 1: of just yeah, it's kind of crazy. This is my job. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I know this one is one that I one I
Speaker 1: forget which woke up with. But this is one that
Speaker 1: you're going to have as well.
Speaker 2: What you don't keep giving me.
Speaker 1: Gifts of those two, I want to give you something
Speaker 1: that's that those two are legitimate gifts for you.
Speaker 2: You're kidding, you have to do that.
Speaker 1: I want it. And then and then the tip broke
Speaker 1: off on someone, so there's a story behind it when
Speaker 1: when the mark on them as well, So you can
Speaker 1: literally say that, yeah, I almost it was older days
Speaker 1: and it might have went through them, but those crazy
Speaker 1: I'm want to give you.
Speaker 2: That's very kind. There's going to go up in the studio. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is such a cool.
Speaker 1: Bring like three or four with me. And then I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm gonna give ja gift.
Speaker 2: Thank you man. That's I am touched. I'm really touched.
Speaker 1: It's honestly a pleasure.
Speaker 2: Thank you man. That means a lot.
Speaker 1: And now I'm competing.
Speaker 2: Look, you have to sign this. You got to sign
Speaker 2: this for sure.
Speaker 1: Amazing, but yeah, this is this is yeah crazy, this
Speaker 1: is my world.
Speaker 2: And was it hard to decide whether you fought for
Speaker 2: America English?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Louis tells me every other day. But
Speaker 1: if you get me knighted, bro, we'll see.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well I didn't. I was going to be a professional offenser.
Speaker 1: I did it because we needed instead of two visa,
Speaker 1: we needed to just stay in the country. And then
Speaker 1: my little sister was born in New York and that's
Speaker 1: how we got a citizenship. And then I was like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, that was too late. Did they try to
Speaker 1: have me do media training? I was like to stretch
Speaker 1: my accent, you know, because I'm from London, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm like, I'm not going to change it,
Speaker 1: of course, but you know, obviously, you know, America's an
Speaker 1: amazing things for me. So I'm grateful for this country.
Speaker 1: But obviously I was born in you know, Samury's hospital. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you for these gifts, my pleasure, mate.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: I was like to come to someone and give someone something.
Speaker 2: No that's very very thoughtful. That's very thoughful. Yeah, Myles,
Speaker 2: this has been amazing. Honestly, I feel like I've got
Speaker 2: to know you and sech a deep level. This is
Speaker 2: the good thing about podcast too. Even when you think
Speaker 2: you know someone, yeah, you sit down and talk to
Speaker 2: them for like an hour and a half and you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: wait a minute, I didn't realize. We end every episode
Speaker 2: of On Purpose with a final five. These questions have
Speaker 2: to be answered in one sentence maximum. Okay, Miles Chumley Watson,
Speaker 2: this is your final five. Question number one, what is
Speaker 2: the best advice you've ever heard or received?
Speaker 1: It's never lost, it's always a lesson good advice.
Speaker 2: Question number two, what's the worst advice you've ever heard
Speaker 2: or received?
Speaker 1: That you should never show emotion?
Speaker 2: Oh that's a great answer. I don't think we've ever
Speaker 2: had that on the show.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: Question number three? What makes a good friend.
Speaker 1: Someone who you can call no matter what, who's always
Speaker 1: there for you, and who calls you not wanting anything.
Speaker 2: That's the best phone call when neither of you need nothing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, two hours of talking about nothing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I talked to my best man, who's my best
Speaker 2: and I'm already my best friend for the last twenty years.
Speaker 2: I talked him three times a week on the phone.
Speaker 2: We never catching up. I already know what's going on
Speaker 2: in is like there's not yeah, and never asking each
Speaker 2: other phone It's amazing. Question number four, what's something that
Speaker 2: you used to value that you don't value anymore.
Speaker 1: Something that I used to value is other people's attention.
Speaker 1: Something that I value now is people's time. You know,
Speaker 1: one thing I could think of is obviously that my
Speaker 1: league debut is and obviously having someone come there to
Speaker 1: support me, know how busy they are. Showing up for
Speaker 1: me and knowing how important your time is means so
Speaker 1: much to me because I know that that time was occupied.
Speaker 1: So knowing that your time is so important that you
Speaker 1: chose to spend it with me is bigger than doing
Speaker 1: anything for me.
Speaker 2: Fifth and final question we asked this every guest who's
Speaker 2: ever been on the show. If you could create one
Speaker 2: law that everyone in the world had to follow, what
Speaker 2: would it be?
Speaker 1: No matter the color of the person and skin, you
Speaker 1: give them a hug.
Speaker 2: It's a good one.
Speaker 1: I like it a hug and cute everything. How's your question? Yeah,
Speaker 1: what's the most thing that you're proud of.
Speaker 2: I'd say two things. One is when I get messages
Speaker 2: that say, you know, your work stopped me from committing
Speaker 2: suicide or helped me through my divorce or made me
Speaker 2: chase my dream or quit my job or whatever it was,
Speaker 2: and getting to message that person back and say I
Speaker 2: didn't do it, you did, Like I love that because
Speaker 2: I like reminding people that I don't have the answers,
Speaker 2: they already know what they want to do. I'm just
Speaker 2: glad that something someone I interviewed, someone I sat down
Speaker 2: with had that impact on them. And the second thing
Speaker 2: I'd say is that I feel like I'm really grateful
Speaker 2: that I get to be the postman for this five
Speaker 2: thousand year old tradition. So just as you're the face
Speaker 2: of fencing for me, I got to study this Eastern
Speaker 2: tradition of the Geeta the bug with guitar, which is
Speaker 2: a book which is five thousand years old, and I'm
Speaker 2: just today's messenger of it, and I'll be forgotten, and
Speaker 2: that's all good with the message continues on. And I
Speaker 2: feel so grateful that I get to be the messenger
Speaker 2: for an empire that is much bigger than I am
Speaker 2: and much longer lasting than I am, and how lucky
Speaker 2: I am that I get to be that person. So yeah,
Speaker 2: those would be my two. Wow, don't flip any more questions, Mars,
Speaker 2: know that was an amazing answer.
Speaker 1: My mom sends me more to clips and having them
Speaker 1: from you, it's amazing. But keep doing what you're doing man,
Speaker 1: and grateful to call your friend. But what you do
Speaker 1: is is remarkable.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, Mars. Everyone who's been listening and watching, make
Speaker 2: sure you clip this up, share it on social media.
Speaker 2: Let me know what resonated. Miles dropped so many gems.
Speaker 2: I feel like there were so many now gets a wisdom.
Speaker 2: He's been dropping more quotes than I did today, so
Speaker 2: make sure you click them up. I want to see
Speaker 2: what resonated with you, what connected with you, and of
Speaker 2: course if you're an aspiring fencer, aspiring athlete, aspiring anything,
Speaker 2: I think there's so many great mindset pieces in this
Speaker 2: episode that will help you get to where you want
Speaker 2: to be. A big thank you to Miles again for
Speaker 2: coming through. Excited to keep supporting you, keep building our
Speaker 2: friendship and let this be the first of many.
Speaker 1: So thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you absolutely man. If you love this episode, you
Speaker 2: Love my conversation with four time Grand Slam Champion Arena Saberlenka,
Speaker 2: where she reflects on her latest victory and the mental
Speaker 2: battles that almost broke her along the way. From me,
Speaker 2: success is the discipline that you put in.
Speaker 1: Be there every morning, every practice. Doesn't matter how you feel,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if you want it.