Michael Strong talks with five-year-old Alana about placing third in her jiu-jitsu tournament, winning three of four matches. She credits "The Way of the Warrior Kid" for inspiring her to train and says she feels both strong and confident when she competes. Alana thinks bullies avoid her because she looks strong, and that both strength and confidence matter when standing up to them.
Good, how are you?
I'm well. I understand you had another competition yesterday.
Yep, I won, um, second place, I think.
Third place.
Oh, third place I won.
Congratulations. Was it hard?
Yes, the girls that was in that I was fighting was actually pretty more aggressive than me.
Really? Um, so did she beat you a couple of times, or she was just the hardest?
I won my first one and my third one. And my, um, fourth one. But I lost my second one. That's the only one I lost.
Okay. She lost the semifinals to the eventual champion. Uh-huh. She did very well against that very tough competitor. Her father is exceedingly proud. Good, good, good, good. Congratulations, Alana.
Thank you.
You're welcome. So I wanted to ask about stories. Do you read very many stories?
Yes, I do.
Tell me about some stories you read.
Um, I read Dumbo and Pinocchio and like other stories that are like chapter books that are stories.
Wow, you are reading chapter books. That's really impressive.
I can finish them in, uh, a day or 4 days. This one's my favorite chapter book, The Way of the Warrior Kid.
Oh, tell me what that one's about.
It's about a little boy being a wimp and turning into a strong mark.
And do you— why do you like it? What makes you like it?
Because when I didn't know, like, jiu-jitsu existed and this book knew it, um, it told me that jiu-jitsu existed, and that gave me the idea of wanting to do it, and that's why I love it.
I see. Would you say that that book inspired you to do jiu-jitsu?
Yes, I would say that.
Okay. And did jiu-jitsu— what did jiu-jitsu do for that boy, the boy in the book?
Well, he helped him defend himself from the bully in his school.
Do you think it made him stronger or more confident or both?
Both. I think it made him both. Because first he was not strong and not confident, and now he's strong and not— and confident.
Do you think in terms of fighting back against bullies it's more important to be strong or more important to be confident?
Um, I think it's like to be more confident and strong.
Okay, would you say that when you go into a tournament you are both strong and confident?
Yes, I would say that.
How about skills? Do you think in addition to being strong and confident you also need jiu-jitsu skills?
Yes, I think so.
Is there anything else you need to either— well, actually, that's an interesting one. Do you think it takes the same things to do well in a competition as to fight back against a bully, or do you need different skills?
Um, maybe when you fight a bully you'll need different skills to like try not to hurt him, plus he's like in your class. Maybe you should do it hard but kind of like I don't know, gentle or something. But on bullies that is not at school, or maybe at school, maybe school you could do it a little bit more hard. But on playgrounds, um, when bullies are really bothering you, do it really hard.
I see. And have you ever had to fight against a bully?
Well, not really. I never did because they— bullies usually just attack on— they know that people is strong. So I'm pretty strong, so I don't think they're gonna bully me.
And we had a funny— I missed something you said. You said when you do what?
Like, they count on people that are weaknesses, that have weaknesses, like, and they don't count on people that have, that are strong because they are, are afraid that they'll get, um, attacked by them because they're, because they attack other people.
That's why bullies probably wouldn't bother you.
They probably won't because they probably know that I'm strong. That's why.
Okay, that makes sense. So, um, Congrats again. I think what we will start to talk about Pinocchio. You tell Michael that there's a poor connection and you're having a hard time hearing.
There's a pause. There's a poor connection, so we cannot really hear you.
