Sirota’s Alchymy: A Doorway to inclusion

A local man is nothing short of a pioneer when it comes to inclusion. Master Michael Sirota has been teaching Taekwondo and Hapkido to the disability community for over 20 years and feels there is nothing they can't accomplish through the practice of martial arts.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Sirota’s Alchymy: A Doorway to Inclusion

 

00:05

We are back with DDA's Encouraging Abilities podcast. I am your host, DDA Communications Manager, Evan Kelly. Today is part two of our Accessible Sports series, and today we're joined by Master Michael Sirota. He owns and operates Sirota's Alchemy, which trains students in the martial arts styles of taekwondo and hapkido. I think I'm saying hapkido correctly. They operate in Richmond and in Steveston Village and Victoria Drive in Vancouver.

 

00:32

Straight from his website, Master Sirota began his journey in martial arts in 1983. Since those humble beginnings, he has immersed himself fully as a martial arts practitioner, athlete, instructor, coach, global pioneer of therapeutic martial arts, and facilitator of global empowerment. He is, but not limited to, an eighth degree black belt in taekwondo, a fifth degree black belt in hapkido, a master instructor, sorry, a master instructor.

 

01:01

certification for both styles and for our particular audience He's got his instructor license in International Disabled Self-Defense Association and International Disabled Self-Defense Association Black Belt now He's received many awards for his efforts in the community and with the Paralympics and the autism community You can find that list on his website website at Sirotasalchemy.com I'll spell that for you. It's S I R O T A S A

 

01:30

LCHYMY.com. Master Sirota, it's great having you here today and thank you for coming into the studio. Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you. Now tell me a little bit about yourself. Why did you get into martial arts back in the early 80s? Well, I was a child and like most kids...

 

01:48

I had low self-esteem and no confidence, so it was an opportunity for me to, or for my parents to see that I needed something. So I started with martial arts at that time. I really didn't know anything about it. And I just kept going. I never stopped. You just fell in love with it? Yeah, absolutely. And was that taekwondo? It was taekwondo, yes. And so what's the difference between taekwondo and hapkido? Well there's thousands of different martial art systems and styles.

 

02:17

it uh... the marshals is just a little general umbrella for what the split very specific styles arm

 

02:25

You know, I always tell the parents and the students that come to our schools that it's not so much important the style of martial arts, but the school and the philosophy and the methodologies and what they teach and what, if that's in line with your own philosophy and what you want for your child or for yourself. But generally speaking, I would say it's the most popular martial art in the world in terms of number of participants. It's an Olympic sport. It's the most globalized martial art as well. There's a lot of kicking, punching. It's more aerobic.

 

02:54

more skill development, coordination, physical fitness. Hapkido is more of a self-defense martial art. So utilizing more joint knocks, joint manipulation. So we teach it from a defensive point of view where someone, let's say, grabs you or attacks you, how to get away, and then necessarily with kicking and punching. Now, you've got two locations. So how many students are you servicing these days? Right now, between seven to 800 kids or students. Oh, wow.

 

03:22

Wow, that's a lot. Now, COVID must have.

 

03:26

and it hurt you when that started and people stopped going out. Are things sort of back to normal for you guys? Yeah, we're back in full swing. And COVID, of course, it was a... We all had to adjust and adapt and how they say, pivot. And we pivoted instantaneously. So I remember we were... The news came out that we had to shut down. And I think it was like a Tuesday or Wednesday. And then the following day, I had a staff meeting.

 

03:56

we were doing all classes of zoom. Oh wow. And we didn't, you know, that time I had no idea what zoom is and you know and we had to like, you know, I had to go and buy computer screens and you know laptops and everything like that and we just uh you know had to figure out how to use the system and uh you know within two three days we were offering 100 virtual classes. Now do you still offer virtual classes for those people who have a difficult time getting? Uh we don't. Over the months and years we gradually

 

04:26

the virtual classes, it just wasn't any interest. And yeah, but at one point in time, everything was virtual. But right now it's all in person. Okay. So it's clear on your website that working with the disabled community is high on your list of priorities. Why is that?

 

04:44

I believe that's what I'm here to do, that's my path. In a way, when I was running the schools, when I was much younger, I never really thought about, or actually I didn't even know anything about the disability community or what is autism or what's spinal cord injuries, nothing like that. I had...

 

05:09

This was in the 90s, we had some kids in our classes that I felt that they had some challenges and they needed extra support, but I didn't know what kind of support and then I was really oblivious to all of that. Never had any exposure. And, but I knew that martial arts is really beneficial for them. And, but the environment that they were at in, you know, there were too many kids, they needed different type of support. So we decided, I decided to start, you know, a little class for them

 

05:39

get more individualized support and more adaptive to their needs and then from there it just grew exponentially. So how many, is there a certain amount of percentage you would say of your students that are in the disability community? We are at full capacity for quite a few years. We have a wait list for our private lessons for the last, I would say five years plus.

 

06:01

Guessing we'll probably work with about 200 to 250 individuals with various diagnoses. Oh wow, that's actually a fairly significant number. I mean I guess if there's a waitlist as a business owner, that's a good problem to have in a sense. Yes, now the challenge is having enough staff to accommodate the needs. Right, right, of course. Now one of your many accolades, and if you go onto his website, you see all these awards and accolades that Master Sirota has...

 

06:31

has received one is para taekwondo pioneer can you explain what that award is and how you want to come yet so it uh... i don't focus too much on the awards uh... no i appreciate it and i'm grateful for that uh... but years ago i always believe that the marshall artists should be for all

 

06:50

And so I had a vision or a dream that I worked towards manifesting, which was globalizing martial arts for everyone. So I decided to go global and discuss and bring it to the forefront of the, with the World Tag Window Federation at that time and see how we can bring Paratype Window to the Paralympic Games. So I've, at that time, spent a lot of time traveling

 

07:20

over the world bringing my expertise and passion to everyone and try to get the the international support community open their eyes and minds and hearts to people with various challenges and you know

 

07:38

special abilities. And so, Pera Taekwondo is now in the Paralympics? It is, yes. Is that the only martial art in Paralympics right now? No, they have judo as well for people who are visual impaired. Okay, that's interesting. Now, you talk a lot about, I mean, the list of...

 

08:00

services that you provide to to the cognitively cognitive impairment is actually quite long like you'd deal with a lot of different conditions now what is your connection to the world autism festival or the autistic community in general well um...

 

08:14

Most of our students in our therapeutic martial arts program are autistic. I would say maybe 80, 90 percent or maybe even higher. That wasn't what we went after, that demographic. There's just so many more individuals with autism compared to cerebral palsy or down syndrome or spinal cord injury. So we do provide programs for that demographic just because there's more kids.

 

08:44

We're truly, I believe we're all inclusive. We will provide programs for everyone.

 

08:50

So to us, to me personally, it doesn't matter if it's an intellectual impairment or a physical or a sensory, we welcome everyone. So martial arts in your mind is the great leveler of the playing field. Yes, I believe that if it's done properly it will greatly benefit on the physical level, emotionally, develop the self-control, the impulse control, all that kind of stuff.

 

09:20

you've got some high functioning and some is not as high functioning. Is there a specific process that you sort of use for autism or is it really more of a case by case basis?

 

09:32

Yeah, so how it works is, let's say if a family has a child with autism or any other diagnosis, the first step is that we do an informal assessment. So the family comes in, or if it's an adult, an adult will come in, and then we meet him or her, meet the family, just figure out what's the best environment for the student. We offer private lessons, we have group lessons, we have group lessons for younger kids, for older youth, adults.

 

10:02

we kind of determine what's the best path for the child. If they need one-on-one support, then we recommend the private lessons. If they're ready for group integration, then we will recommend that. Now, do you see that as, I mean...

 

10:21

You know, in terms of treating kids with autism, there's lots of different therapies. I mean, we've talked about music therapy and one-on-one therapy. Do you find that martial arts really helps them sort of come out from under the shadow of autism? I believe so. Now I can only speak on what we do. If it's done properly, where we place the emphasis on life skills and place emphasis

 

10:50

and create an individualized approach where it's adaptive to the child or the student, where I strongly believe that martial arts has to be yielding, blending, and adaptive to the student's needs and where they're at their stage of development. And that's what we promote in our school and that's what we implement in our schools. So if we are teaching...

 

11:12

not that where you know it's a mold and everyone has to fit into the mold and yeah it might not be suitable uh... but if we are there's no really mold and we adapt to it uh... it can be extremely beneficial

 

11:26

Obviously, we're not just talking about people with autism. I assume there's other conditions like Down syndrome or CP or something like that. How do they do in your program? They do great. Full stop. You're awesome. They just have...

 

11:45

I truly believe everyone can do it. So I don't put any restrictions. I don't work, and our instructors don't work within any, in the way parameters are within the box. So whatever we believe is applicable, it can help the student, we will apply it.

 

12:02

Fantastic. Now, what is some of the response you get from parents of this particular community? I believe it's all very positive. We have been doing this for, I'd say, about 24 years now, specializing in the special needs programs. We have a fairly large population of kids and youth and adults.

 

12:28

you know i think the best is to every every family will have their own experiences and uh... i wanna you know talk on their behalf but i i do believe it's all very benevolent now what are uh... some of the personal experiences we've seen in outcomes in students with developmental disabilities can you can you identify like one sort of uh... student without naming names of course who like

 

12:50

became, you know, overcame? Generally, well, we have so many positive experiences, but I think that the main thing is the sense of accomplishment, self-confidence, self-esteem, that our facility provides an atmosphere where they can all shine. And that's what we really, that's what I wanna see in the long run, where they become more independent, they become, you know, they feel proud of who they are, they are, you know,

 

13:20

trying to in a way change them we're trying to like okay you have all these skill sets that we let's let's help you become you know better at it and overcome your whatever your imbalances are. Yeah and for your typically developed students are they embracing the the sense of inclusion as well? I feel so we like we do have separate classes depending on the you know we have look for young kids for older like you know beginners intermediate advanced that we

 

13:50

So we have different programs, but when we have events such as rank testings or tournaments or any kind of events, it's all inclusive. So everyone is included. So if you come to our school, you might see someone in a wheelchair, you might see someone with a walking cane, we'll see a lot of kids with autism. That's just who we are. Now, and you mentioned wheelchair, obviously you're going to be a whole other sort of adapted program.

 

14:19

for that. Correct. So we, you know, if they are, if they can't walk, let's say spinal cord injury, so then we will create a program for them where they're utilizing more of their upper body. Oh, I see. That sounds good. Now your website, your website has a page dedicated to disability training, even sightless training. Can you tell me a little bit about that program? Yeah, so,

 

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Many years ago I was, I wanted to expand and I felt, okay, let's...

 

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let's bring the visually impaired community into martial arts, because I feel it could be very beneficial from the self-defense point of view, you know, and just, you know, just martial arts is for all philosophy. So I've created a program where I call it sightless self-defense, where it's based on, not sight, but it's, you know, a tactile, so there, it's more hub-keto based, so there, you know, more sensory, to, you know, people grabbing and, you know, working on self-defense escapes. So, but to me, it's,

 

15:22

If it's adaptive, people with facial impairment can absolutely do martial arts. Now, hap-ki-do, is that what like, I may have asked you this earlier, but I can't quite remember. Now, what's the difference between tai-kuang-do and hap-ki-do? So it's more...

 

15:38

self-defense oriented. So the individuals that say, like we offer, the Sightless Self-Defense Program for, you know, we have in the past where, let's say, a group of adults or we go to another organization or partner with another organization where we, you know, I will go there and actually run the classes. So it's more, like we'll do the striking and the kicking, but, you know, we focus more on the self-defense of where, you know, someone, let's say, grabbing you and how to get away, or someone's grabbing your wrist or grabbing your shirt or things like that.

 

16:08

Mm-hmm, I said that that's what have key dose or the more focus. That's what we teach us. Okay, okay so Use your judge your Jojo's getting they get involved in tournaments We at the moment we focus primarily on like we offer like in-house tournaments like for our students where we'll have our own our own, you know events we in the past we have taken our students to

 

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provincial, national, and even competed internationally as well. And even in the past we would bring some of our paratagmine athletes to international events as well. And so everybody is included in that? Absolutely. No issues whatsoever? No.

 

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Now, you offer one-on-one training for students who may need that assistance. I hate to ask the question, is that more expensive? It is, yes. And what does that cost? So the private lessons, depending on who the instructor is, I would say it's about $95 to $100 per session. And each session is 50 minutes. 50 minutes a session. Seems kind of standard for anything private. That's good.

 

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ages of 6 to 19, then they could use the autism funding for our programs as well. Oh, that's a good point to make. I mean, that funding is through, I guess, autism? It's through the ministry, the provincial government. Is autism the only one that's supported, or can anybody with a disability? At the moment, yes. And I know there's been some talks, and I truly believe it should be for everyone who needs the support.

 

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for now hopefully things will change and there has been some talk about changes but I'm not involved in the political side so I'm not You're just here to teach martial arts Yeah and make a positive difference in the world through martial arts Absolutely now you've got two locations which one opened first? The Richmond one The Richmond one, okay and how long has that been open? So in Richmond we've been since the early 90s

 

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redevelopments in the city and the Vancouver one, we've been at the same location for about, I'd say about 12 years now, maybe even more. Any thoughts about expanding even to more? I would love to, you know that's always, or has been on my mind for quite some time. It's just, my challenge is staffing, you know it takes a lot of time, a long time to develop the positive staff and

 

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experienced staff and so that's the challenge. Well that must be a greater challenge. I mean you're not just hiring anyone off the street. They have to be an expert of martial arts in order to teach it, I would think. They have to have the martial arts skills plus they have to have the, you know, it's very personality based, what we do, so they have to be able to connect with the children, with the students, they have to be able to inspire them.

 

19:17

and motivate them and at the same time provide the discipline, the structure associated. So there's a lot of skill sets involved to be, I feel, a good instructor. Now speaking of training, did you receive any training in teaching people with autism or other disabilities or anything specific? So I'm self-taught.

 

19:40

So like I said earlier, in the early 90s, we had some kids with, I assume, with special needs. I didn't even know what autism was or what. I had like absolutely zero knowledge. And I started doing my own research and this is like before Google or anything like that. So it was like going to like chapters. You had to go to a library? Or libraries. Yeah. There were such things as libraries. And just doing my own research. And then.

 

20:05

and then start and go from there. And then like you mentioned with the visually impaired or people with spinal cord injuries who are in wheelchairs, you know, I would, when I decide to have a program for a visually impaired, I would blindfold myself and figure out what works, what doesn't, and then wheelchair send things in the chair and like decide, you know, figure out how we can teach. And then...

 

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experiment on my own to develop the programs. That's pretty unbelievable. Now when it comes to your own staff, do you provide training for them? Yes, so we do a lot of internal

 

20:41

training. We also, you know, I have traveled to various countries and I have taught other and certified other instructors, other martial arts instructors, on how to teach like therapeutic martial arts and paratheque window. You know, we have a, we even offer an online certification program. We probably have, I'd say, people from about 30 plus countries that have taken our courses and are teaching our philosophies and methodologies. So we,

 

21:11

other than what we offer.

 

21:13

So you're pretty unique in this field around the world. Yes, correct. That's unbelievable. I'm actually quite surprised, pleasantly surprised. And so how many countries have you been working with and where do you go to teach? So pre-COVID, I traveled quite a bit. And then when I was working on the international level, you know, bringing globalizing paratech window, I went to quite a few different places. And then I kind of moved away from that and then started focusing more on our schools

 

21:43

our staff, our students. But I, through martial arts, through Taekwondo, I'm guessing it's been through to 20, 30, maybe 30 countries, maybe more. And spreading the information on therapeutic martial arts. Teaching seminars and presenting anything from, you know, a 10 minute talk to,

 

22:07

I typically would have done 16 hour courses, like a Saturday, Sunday, 8 hours each day. Wow. I mean, I know you said you're not a big awards guy, but I think there should be some more awards in your future. How about the Order of BC or the Governor General's Award? This is all amazing stuff. So how do people get in touch with you?

 

22:29

So we have the two schools where social media were there. Like you said, our website, we have sarosalkimi.com. We also have same websites, martial arts for all, like with the number four. So it's just a little bit easier for people to find it. So if they type in martial arts number for all.com, that's also, I'll go to our website. I wasn't aware of that. That's good, good. Because most people have a hard time spelling alchemy and stuff like that.

 

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our cirrhosis. Is there anything else that you wanted to discuss that you think is important that I've missed or anything? Well, I greatly appreciate this opportunity to share what we do at the Alchemy, our passion, our vision, and we continue to.

 

23:15

want to provide more programs and more services for our inclusive community. So it's a great honour and I feel that there's still a lot more work to be done to truly make these positive changes in our community and our global community. Well it sounds like martial arts is an easy way to do that. Everything you've told me just sounds absolutely amazing.

 

23:42

so i think that covers it uh... you have been listening to dvds encouraging abilities podcast our guest has been master michael Sirota taekwondo and hapkido instructor and owner of sorority alchemy and we've been talking about martial arts programs they offer for people with physical and developmental disabilities it's extremely extensive and as we've learned sort of groundbreaking around the world which is amazing you can check out their website uh... sororities alchemy dot com as well as martial arts

 

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Master Michael Sherwood, thanks again for being here. My pleasure. Thank you for having me here. I am DDA communications manager Evan Kelly Thanks for tuning in. See you next time