Masters Alliance
9th Dan BlackBelt and Olympic Gold Medalist Herb Perez visit with the best and brightest to bring clarity to the future of Martial arts.
Masters Alliance
Trinity Osborn: From Olympic Aspirations to Leading the USA Masters Taekwondo Team and Cultivating Community Excellence
Have you ever wondered what it takes to transform a passion into a lifelong career? Join us as Trinity Osborn, a former Olympic Training Center athlete and the CEO of the USA Masters Taekwondo team, takes us through her incredible Taekwondo journey. From being scouted by Coach Han Wan Lee to her transformative experiences at the Olympic Training Center, Trinity's story is filled with pivotal moments and mentoring relationships that shaped her into the elite competitor and leader she is today. Discover how Taekwondo has built her character and confidence, and how she continues to give back to the sport she loves.
Our conversation doesn’t stop at individual achievement. Learn about the vibrant community spirit at NW Sport Taekwondo, exemplified through their enriching bi-annual training seminars in New York and Texas. With contributions from past national team members like Michelle Smith and Jeff Pinerock, and a focus on core values such as courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit, these sessions offer invaluable experiences for aspiring athletes. We discuss how the pathways to joining the traveling team and competing in the USA Masters Cup are open to all who share this dedication to excellence and community.
Looking ahead, Trinity shares her aspirations to become an elite performance coach, emphasizing the importance of positive mental performance for athletes. We delve into the lifelong pursuit of Taekwondo and how personal experiences can inspire and uplift others. Whether you're an athlete, coach, or martial arts enthusiast, this episode offers a wealth of insights and inspiration. Find out how you can get involved with the USA Masters Team and stay updated on upcoming events and training seminars. Trinity's unwavering dedication and her ability to inspire others make this episode a must-listen for anyone passionate about martial arts and community building.
Welcome to the Masters Alliance podcast Uncut. I'm Herb Perez. Today, I'm joined by my good friend, ms Trinity Osborne. She was an Olympic Training Center athlete who competed and trained for the USA team spots and runs a business up north as well as the creator and CEO of the USA Masters team for taekwondo. Her passion for service goes hand in hand for her passion for our sport and she continues to deliver on that promise for athletes both past, present and future. So strap in and learn more about Ms Trinity Osborne's continual efforts to grow what we do and her passion for how she does it. Well, today we're joined by an amazing individual that I had the good fortune to spend some time with during a training session. Ms Trinity Osborne, how are you doing today?
Trinity Osborn:Great sir, Nice to be here.
Herb Perez:Well, it's great to see you as well. You've had an impressive Taekwondo journey that spanned over 30 years. Could you share a pivotal moment or experience that solidified your dedication to this martial art?
Trinity Osborn:I can honestly say ever since I started taekwondo I was immediately hooked. I wanted to know more. I was just like a sponge. I wanted to grow, learn, refine myself even more. So I think it was more so my instructor at the time just kind of believing in me and me seeing this new martial art but thing that I could grow personally in character growth as well as in skill and sport, and it just appealed to me and I was immediately hooked.
Herb Perez:Well, that's great. I mean you. You have so much energy, so much passion, and I can only imagine why you were scouted by coach Han Wan Lee for the Olympic training center. That's a remarkable achievement and really a testament to who you were as a competitor. How did that experience shape your athletic career or your personal growth?
Trinity Osborn:Well, it really was. It was in 95, and I just turned 15, just going into high school, and I think at that time I was the youngest OTC athlete to be scouted and then to be a resident, and so it was a big step. Of course, my mother had to take a big leap of faith in sending me, but that's all I wanted and it really did shape me and pour into me as being an elite athlete at that time and I was very driven. That's what I wanted. I wanted to get to that next level and I was just excited and humbled to be asked and ready to take that next step in my athletic journey.
Herb Perez:Can you share anything from that time that was extremely memorable, or how it changed your view of what the sport was? I mean, you went from training locally to all of a sudden you're at the Olympic Training Center and back then that was really something. I mean it's an amazing facility.
Trinity Osborn:Yes, it was, and I think some pivotal times there was, just those that I was with and surrounded myself with. That's where I met Grandmaster Bell and just became an immediate friend and mentor to myself. But it was a glimpse into seeing what elite athletes did to prepare themselves, and it wasn't just Taekwondo, there was plenty of other sports that were there. And I think when you put yourself and you rub, you know like iron sharpens iron. So when you see other athletes aspiring for these high-level goals and being amidst them, that it really did take me to a new level. The facilities was amazing, did take me to a new level. The facilities was amazing and everything that was provided to us really poured into us as who we were as athletes at that time.
Herb Perez:And then you transitioned from being a competitive athlete to a coach and a mentor, and this is a common path. But what motivated you to continue your involvement in Taekwondo through coaching and instructing?
Trinity Osborn:Well, I think, just because Taekwondo has always been a strong, had a strong meaning in my life and an impact that it's always been a part of me. And so after my time as an athlete and then becoming a mom and having a family, my daughter wanted to get back into something. Daughter wanted to get back into something. I wanted to get back into shape and the only thing I thought of was like the best thing to get me into shape is Taekwondo. So I kind of got back into that. But through those times it's what impacted me most of wanting to be a Taekwondo coach or mentor is really what Taekwondo did for me.
Trinity Osborn:I share this with people that I meet about how Taekwondo has this amazing opportunity or way to kind of strip you down wherever you are. If we're like bullies, you know it'll make them humble People that maybe need confidence. It'll give them courage and it's an intrinsic thing that I can't really describe as much as it's in this martial art that it will test you and challenge you and meet you where you are maybe not as efficient and then you have this kind of crossroads of whether to pursue it further, to persevere, and that, to me, is a beautiful part of Taekwondo and so of all that it's given to me in my journey and my life. I feel just a dedication and honor to also share that and give that back to the students that walk into my dojang and or the athletes that I meet along the way.
Herb Perez:And I think that's obviously notable, but worthy and, more importantly, just memorable. I like people that give back, and we hear from a lot of people during our podcast that do give back, but in addition to this, you have recent achievements in the master's category that are outstanding. I mean, how does it feel to continue competing and winning at this stage of your career?
Trinity Osborn:It's exciting. I'm more so, I guess, for me. I'm just grateful that I get to step onto the mat. I know some at my age can't and I'm just grateful for the breath in my lungs and the two feet. They get to step on that mat and compete. And the competitors that I compete with, they're doing the same thing at my age getting out there, staying healthy and fit and setting goals for themselves. That's really an excitement to it, but more so as master class athletes.
Trinity Osborn:It's not like we're trying to bring back the glory days. At least I'm not. I think you get to a certain point where you know you've had. I almost feel like I have these pockets of life I had this pocket of life of living at the LTC and pockets of life of of these other journeys in my life and and um, so being able to, as a masterclass athlete, just to come back and do it in a nice selfish way for myself to say you know what? I'm going to stay fit, I'm going to be healthy mentally and physically and I have this strong urge and itch to compete and I um want to still pursue that. And so getting out there and doing that, just it's exhilarating. Uh, for some of us that that love to compete um to be able to still do so. And then, just again, taekwondo brings um people in your life that have friendships and relationships that you grow and you'll see 10 years from now and still be good friends with. So I love meeting the people that I do meet through Taekwondo.
Herb Perez:You wear many hats, from coach, mentor to CEO and founder. How do you balance these diverse roles and what continues to drive your passion for each of them?
Trinity Osborn:Good question. Although they are quite different, I find that they're all the same and for me, I love to be a part of something. I love to lead and help and serve. So I guess servant leadership is a big thing in my life and as a coach, I can lead a group of athletes and help serve them in the way, to help see where they are at and what they need to grow. As an athlete, both personally and in sport, mentally I love the idea of mental performance and helping them and really coach and mentor to me is kind of the same thing. So being able to speak into someone's life in a positive way, that fills me up and I like to do those things. And then, as a CEO and founder of the Masters team it's a nonprofit that I started and really, um, it's about servant leadership as well.
Trinity Osborn:It started off as a group of of buddies that heard about this master games in Italy and like, oh, let's just go and have fun and do this. But when we came back, it was. It was really amazing because it was athletes that had lost 80 pounds just to get be able to go came back from back surgery. Um had a fake hip and said you know, oh, doctors say I couldn't do anything. But when I exercise a little bit, hey, I can actually kick. Still, I'm going to go out and just kick. And so to me, that was a way to serve another group, which is my colleagues, if you will, and those of my own age, and and help them, um, to be able to do something and pursue a passion that they still still had well, you have a diverse skill set and certainly, like many martial artists, you have other interests and they are bound in other things that are external but complementary to the martial arts.
Herb Perez:You have your educational background in studio arts and natural science. Illustration is intriguing. How do these artistic skills, or the things that you are used in those arenas, how do they complement your current taekwondo career?
Trinity Osborn:Well, as an artist, I think a lot of it is actually just creative problem solving. And as a martial artist, we're problem solving, at least I. I am um. As a coach, you're looking for ways and problem solving and and as a um, an athlete, you're doing kind of that same oodle looping in the ring. But as an artist, I think where I find it blends really nicely is there's this thing called art of slowing and to look at something, to have the patience to look at something, observe it, want to know more about it so that you can render it better. Seeing the way light falls on something and its form, I'm slowing down to appreciate. I'm slowing down and not being like in this fast kind of pace world. And that same kind of idea kind of encompasses what I think contributes to me as a martial artist as well that I always have something to learn. I will never know enough, that it's good to slow down and appreciate, to observe and to grow. Just those attributes kind of to me kind of blend well.
Herb Perez:I mean, and that art of slowing I mean. Every time I do a podcast and I speak with somebody, there's something that I take away, and certainly for me, I like that term and I like the idea of what you said, because I think that is crucial in what we do, as we study and we practice. It's the idea that we can take the time to analyze something, we can take those details, whether it's your arena of art or it's our arena of taekwondo, and and what do we see differently? By taking that moment to not grasp it in its whole, but in its entirety, in smaller parts, and then reassemble the deconstructed smaller parts. I think that is certainly going to be one of my takeaways.
Herb Perez:I want to talk a little bit more today about the USA Masters team nonprofit, because that was the thing when I met you. I was like wow, that's a lot of passion. Having trained in Korea for many years, I realized that Koreans stop training, they just stop. They're done competing, they're goal oriented. They stop. Whether they win or they lose, they stop, and, in fact, a great one stop, and so I was always perplexed by that, because that certainly wasn't what my idea was. Certainly, in this situation, your passion and your creation of the USA Masters team, what are your aspirations for it and, ultimately, what and how and what do you envision as its impact for the Taekwondo community?
Trinity Osborn:Well, our mission is to really inspire and enable masterclass athletes the opportunity and resources to pursue their competitive goals and desires and as a master's community, it really is about sharing that. It's never too late to encourage and to come around. And as master age athletes, it's not like we have to train harder, we just train smarter. To provide resources for nutrition is different for us. Our pliability and the way that we warm up is different, but we can still perform quite impressively on the mats. I mean, if you see footage from our US Masters Cup and you watch Korea and Spain master teams go at it, you'll really see that it is still quite remarkable. But as this level, it really is neat because when we first went to Italy at the master games, we met a European masters team. They were from Spain and just friendships budded and we kept in contact and more so, we were able to do training camps and then attend their master games in Madrid and through that master's team. In fact, europe is a little different because their master's teams actually travel with their national team. So while the national team has a circuit, their master age athletes have a circuit as well. So it really isn't.
Trinity Osborn:You're not done after 30 or so. But there is more that you can pursue in the competitive arena of Taekwondo, and the Spain Masters team also had friends with the Netherlands players and then they now just formed recently a Netherlands Masters team. And we actually have a Korean Masters group as well, the Taekwondo Co-op, and a wonderful group of Korean Master athletes that are kind of those that still want to pursue competitive sport are training together in Paju, korea. And then we also have, I believe, a small group in Cuba and Mexico that are starting to rise up saying oh, there is these other people out there that still want to compete, and not just recreationally, but we want to be warriors on the mat, friends off the mat, but we want to get to it and have fun on the mat. And that's the beautiful part is seeing that this community is growing and growing and we're able to inspire others and ignite these passions and impact lives.
Herb Perez:And so, ultimately, if somebody wanted to get involved as part of your, who have a passion for the martial arts, whether they competed way back in the day when we all competed, or they're just masters level age, so what can they do to get involved and how would they find you to either support you or get involved?
Trinity Osborn:Well, the best way right now is through our website, usamastersorg, and it has all our information about us and kind of just shares a little bit about our community and our group.
Trinity Osborn:And then if you want to step into the waters, if you will and dip your toe. We have training seminars and we hold two a year. One is in New York and one is in Texas, kind of trying to get a little bit across the nation. And it's just a great environment where past national team members, michelle Smith and Jeff Pinterock and other elite players, they also believe in our mission and they show up to run seminars for us. We also have great Pumse athletes as well and that's just a way to get to know us a little bit better. And then, if you really want to pursue and be competitive, we do have a requirement now that where you would attend a seminar and go to our USA Masters Cup and at the Masters Cup, if you podium first, then you're able to then make the traveling team where, if we can get sponsors which we've been able to slowly kind of get those sponsors and help we can give back and provide warmups or different types of uniforms and things and then send a team to these other countries to represent USA.
Herb Perez:Well, that's great. I see you're wearing a Muto shirt and I'm wearing my Muto shirt. I'm assuming that Mr Kim is one of your sponsors. If he isn't, he should be, and he definitely. We're going to call him an unofficial sponsor of the Master Alliance podcast because I use his product. I only use two companies' products I use his and obviously I use Century because I have a lifelong relationship with them and they do amazing work in the industry as well. So hopefully more people will step up and sponsor. But I want to transition a little bit back to your personal thing, which is you co-own nw sport taekwondo and you're shaping the next generation of athletes and you yourself, at 15, being scouted to go to the olympic training center and train and compete at that level, and I saw some of your medal results, which are just amazing as well. What values and lessons do you prioritize in your coaching approach to those young athletes?
Trinity Osborn:Well, I think any student that comes through our doors I share with them and their parents that it's not about just kicking and punching that you're going to learn here, and it really is about the person, that you become the person and becoming the best version of yourself. And I do really infuse all of the tenets of Taekwondo within our program, so courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, normal spirit, and we talk about those and they're a big part of who we are as Northwest sport um Taekwondo athletes and and um martial artists, and so I think that's a huge part of our dojang is that we're, uh, really about who you're becoming, um, and that's more of the forefront than just your ability to kick and punch. But that's the thing about Taekwondo is by learning kicks and punches by I can't do it now, but I can, you know eventually or struggling here in memorization or those things with Pumse, that we're refining those character qualities that we're trying to teach in the youngsters that are coming through our doors.
Herb Perez:Looking back on your extensive career along those lines, what advice would you give to young athletes aspiring to achieve greatness in taekwondo or or any other endeavor ever?
Trinity Osborn:um, I say I would share with them that, uh, it's really who you surround yourself with as well. No man is an island and you can't do it all by yourself. The beautiful part of our sport is that it is yourself in the ring, you're making those decisions. It is all you kind of performing, but in order to get into that ring, you couldn't do so without a coach, without a trainer, without the athlete putting on the other hogu to do drills with you, and so it really is a community, and I would say, if you're aspiring this, that it's who you surround yourself with. So be mindful of who you do surround yourself with those that believe in you and can pour into you and pour the right things into you, and really it truly comes down to kind of diving into believing in yourself and if you really wanted to pursue it and outlasting the others. But I really think it's about who you surround yourself with and those that pour into you.
Herb Perez:Finally, what are your future goals and aspirations, both personally and maybe professionally, within the world of taekwondo?
Trinity Osborn:Well, no matter if I try to hide from it, I think taekwondo will always be a part of my life and I welcome that. And so, where I see myself, I would love to eventually learn and become a better coach, an elite performance coach. I do love the idea of positive mental performance. I think it's something that lacked when I was a young athlete. That can really help our athletes become even better and sharper and take them to the next level. But more so, just pursuing Taekwondo wherever it leads me, helping those that just find our sports and just find our martial art to understand that it is something that is this beautiful thing that you can can learn and grow in. And those that are have been in it, uh, to share fond memories with and, um, to continue just to spread the word about our martial art.
Herb Perez:You know, when I met you and I spent some time with you, I was aware of you because you know we communicated, maybe through Facebook and stuff like that. But then one of the things that I found intriguing about you, and I remember when I called you and asked you to do this podcast, you were slightly reluctant because you saw the others who had done it and I was like you are perfect for the podcast. And for the same reason that when I first met you, there are people that do what we do and they understand the nature of what we do, but they transcend the physicality of what we do into the other realms of what we do, and so too often we speak of mind and body and spirit, but people get caught up gospel, if you will and they don't actually fulfill it, either as instructors or as practitioners. But you're doing that constantly and for the right reasons, and so I wanted to say that because I wasn't going to share that story, but I think it's worth knowing.
Herb Perez:You are the perfect individual to have on our podcast because of your experiences in the sport, but, more importantly, for the experience that you continue to grow in the sport for others, and so I'm hopeful that you will continue this amazing journey that you're on. You will inspire others to see what you're doing and celebrate what you do doing and celebrate what you do, and so that others can celebrate their passion for what we do and realize that competition and challenging yourself is not over at 30 or 40 or 50. And it continues to be something that you can do but, more importantly, enjoy, relative to where you are at that particular point in time. But I wanted to give you an opportunity if there was anything that I missed. I know your time is precious, but if there's anything that I missed, I'd love for you to share with us. Otherwise, I want to make sure that you still continue to share with us how we can get involved and the website again.
Trinity Osborn:Absolutely Well. First of all, I'm a deep bow because I'm completely humbled by your words and grateful just to be on the show with you and, like you say, you're bringing it up, but I really was. I was like, well, who am I to be here? And I am truly humbled and just I guess after you had mentioned no, it's OK, I really did think about it and it was about what Taekwondo has done for my life and if I could inspire someone else in that area, I would just be blessed to do so. So I am really grateful for those words, thank you.
Trinity Osborn:As far as USA Masters team, you can again reach us at usamastersteamorg. If you need to email us, it's info at usamastersteamorg. If you need to email us, it's info at USA masters teamorg. And if you look us up on Facebook that's probably the best way because of social media you can find out the dates of our training seminars. The US Masters Cup coming up on January 7th through 18th of 2025 in Houston, texas. It will already have Team Korea, team Spain, team Mexico, team Cuba and all of us USA athletes that are wanting to bring it to these other competitors. So it really is. Last year, it was the largest Masters athlete event in the US, and we're just a small group of us Really, it's just a handful of us running it but we're here to help and serve and create this great experience for new practitioners in our art and those that still have been in it for a while and still want to pursue it.
Herb Perez:Well, again, thank you on behalf of the Masters Alliance podcast on CUT. But, more importantly, if I decide to come out of retirement and gear up again, right now I'm training, but I'm only fighting six-year-olds, so I'm up to six-year-olds and they give me all I can handle. I won't fight with my son or daughter because they're way better and faster than me, but I'm glad for the inspiration that you bring and the bright light that you shine for all of us. So thank you again and I look forward to seeing you shortly.
Trinity Osborn:Thank you, sir, I appreciate it.
Herb Perez:Well, I told you that was going to be an amazing podcast with an inspiring and dedicated individual who is not only good at what she does, but spiritual in her approach to it and her life. Spiritual in her approach to it and her life, ms Trinity Osborne continues to inspire others, both younger, older and even older than herself, to continue in their passion for this amazing martial art that has changed her life and the lives of others. We need more good people like her to continue to do more good work, exactly like hers. So please reach out and join the USA Masters and find a way to support them, either financially or with good thoughts and good spirit. Again, this has been a Masters Alliance podcast, and I'm Herb Perez. Check out our other podcasts and videos on YouTube.