EP #8: Jiu-Jitsu: A Path to Confidence and Discipline With Tanner Rice
In this episode of the Redding Financial Advisors podcast, Chris Hall interviews Tanner Rice, a local Jiu-Jitsu instructor with a rich background in martial arts. Tanner shares his journey from childhood training in Jiu-Jitsu to competing at high levels, including his experiences in Brazil. He discusses the transition from being a competitor to a teacher, emphasizing the importance of Jiu-Jitsu for individuals of all ages.
Tanner also highlights an upcoming event focused on autism awareness and inclusivity in martial arts, as well as the new location of his academy, which aims to foster a supportive community for all practitioners.
To listen to more episodes, hop over to https://reddingfinancialadvisors.com/podcast/
To find out more about Tanner Rice, visit https://www.instagram.com/tanner_the_ginger_rice/?hl=en.
Transcription
Tanner Rice: I was a spaz. Like, I just needed an outlet. You know? So that’s important for kids to get in and just have that outlet burn some energy, especially now where, you know, it’s a big thing for parenting to stick them behind an iPad or a, you know, a video game, and that’s not good. I mean, we don’t see kids, like, going out and I mean, think about driving around Reading.
Like, how many times do we see kids riding bikes?
Chris Hall: Hello. This is Chris Hall, and this is the Reading Financial Advisors podcast. And my special guest today is Tanner Rice, with Rice, Jujitsu here in town, and he’s got a really cool, incredible story, and I just wanted to make sure you guys knew about it. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Tanner. Tanner, thank you so much for being here.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. I’m glad to be here.
Chris Hall: So, Tanner, I heard a little bit about your story just from friends. And, you know, obviously, you’ve been in town, you know, for a really long time. You were born here. Correct?
Tanner Rice: Yeah.
Chris Hall: Yeah. That’s what I thought. And so homegrown and, you got quite a story. So if you would, kinda tell me a little bit about what, you know you know, obviously, you grew up here. But, like, tell me a little bit about, like, you know, what got you into what you’re doing and and kinda your journey towards this.
Tanner Rice: So my dad started in karate. So he’s he’s a he has two black box in karate. And when UFC one happened in ’93, the year I was born, he started just trying to beat people up in the back of his hardware store, which was bargain bin back in the day. And Bargain
Chris Hall: Bin? Yeah.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So he he owned all of those. And then John Dill, he is a black belt that was training down south, but he was an airline pilot. And I don’t remember what airline, but it was one of the popular ones. And he had a house in Cottonwood and he walked into Bargain Bin.
And he heard like people hitting mitts and people wrestling around on these, like, raggedy mats. And John Doe was a purple belt at the time. And, you know, we didn’t know I mean, I was still obviously, I’d just been born, but my dad, he, you know, he didn’t know what was doing. You know, he just saw Hoist Gracie in UFC one, like, beat everybody up and, you know, made it popular and everybody, you know, wanted to obviously know what the guy was doing. And then John walked back there and he was actually training with Gracie at the time.
And he walked back there and I was what are you guys doing? John walked in and he was kind of like smaller than my dad. And he just like beat up everybody. So using jujitsu. And then like after that, my dad just trained with him for, I mean, as long as I can remember.
And then, yeah, that’s how it all started was just, you know, good timing pretty much. So
Chris Hall: That’s kinda funny. There’s a really good book called Outliers. Have you ever heard of that?
Tanner Rice: Yeah.
Chris Hall: And it basically talked about how like all the guys that are in professional hockey were born in a certain birthday. So like January, February, March because they when they do hockey as then they take them out of like the rec league into the junior leagues and stuff. They always take like the biggest kids, you know, that that are in hockey. And so they’re the oldest of the eight year olds. They’re the oldest of the nine year olds because there’s a cut off.
Same thing happens in soccer. So sort of, like, one of the things is, like, for you, specifically, like, you were just there, like, you know, and and you had this opportunity because, like, you guys were into it and it was as it was becoming big, you know. So how fun was that? So
Tanner Rice: No. Yeah.
Chris Hall: So you started training when you were six. Is that right? Yeah.
Tanner Rice: A little bit younger, but, yeah, I think, like, every day, like, when I was six.
Chris Hall: Yeah. So how does that work when you’re growing up? You know, I grew up in Redding, California too. So how does that work when you’re growing up and you kinda already at six years old kinda know how to work people around? You know, did the kids ever try to pick on you or just, you know, how does that work?
Tanner Rice: I got in a lot of fights in high school. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t and honestly, I wasn’t like a popular kid. I wasn’t like a not popular kid.
It was just I don’t know. I had the cauliflower ear, Like, you know, I think I got it when I was, like, 13. So, I mean, that’s like, you know, that’s just a sign. Like, people a lot of people think it’s from boxing or wrestling, you know, because those are the most popular things. But yeah.
Yeah. We get mean, it was just like football players just being knuckleheads, you know? And then I went ended up going to independent study because of fights. Wasn’t I mean, I was always defended by the teachers. It wasn’t anything against them or anything.
It was just I would defend myself clearly. And then, they’re just like, Hey, this isn’t a good fit. And then so when I started doing independent study, I went to Brazil when I was 15. I went there for, I think the first trip was four months long. That was hard because I had never been away from my dad or my family.
I’d never been on a plane. So that was like, that was weird. I like threw up before the plane, I got really homesick. I didn’t speak the language. So that was hard, you know, so it was pretty lonely.
So the only thing I really focused on was training. And then Yeah. Yeah. So I went there for like an old total now. I think I’ve been there for like two and a half years, you know, all in altogether.
I learned the language just because I kinda had to, which I mean, I’m glad I did. But when you’re submerged when you’re submerged in, like, you know, the culture like that, it just kinda happens on accident. I didn’t intend for that to happen. That’s for sure.
Chris Hall: What part of Brazil was it?
Tanner Rice: Manaus was the main part I went. Yeah. It’s like right in the middle of Amazon.
Chris Hall: Oh, nice.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So it’s a it’s a big city. It’s just like it’s kinda weird because you fly in and it’s like, all you see is jungle and then, you know, it’s like a lot it’s just a line. It’s just like, oh, this is a jungle? And then it’s just, oh, it’s a huge city.
It was kind of
Chris Hall: That’s fine.
Tanner Rice: Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Yeah. And then from there, I mean, I was competing all that time with my brothers. Yeah. And my dad taught most of us everything.
And then once he real like, felt like he couldn’t teach us anymore, then he started sending me places.
Chris Hall: Yeah. So now this you know, in jujitsu, the you know, Hoist Gracie is like the is that like so so is that the original, I mean, the real po g for this stuff? Or is it somebody even even if, like, somebody his dad or whatever?
Tanner Rice: Yeah. It’s it’s Helio Gracie, which would be Okay. The founding father. Yeah. And then, yeah.
So Hoist Crazy would have been his son.
Chris Hall: Okay. And then so what you were in that lineage though. Right? I mean, you were being taught from those types of people. Right?
That was, like, kind of the the tree that you’re falling under?
Tanner Rice: Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, we’re all under them. Right? So I mean Okay.
Yeah. We’re mean but I wasn’t like a direct because John John was teaching my dad and I was learning from my dad until I was about 15. And then he just kinda yeah, he just kinda threw me out there and like, hey, you gotta go do this on your own. So I was like, okay, well, you know.
Chris Hall: But I mean, like, so, you know, with, you know, MMA clearly, you know, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is like a big part of MMA. Mhmm. And so, I mean, you literally were learning Jiu Jitsu in Brazil?
Tanner Rice: Yeah.
Chris Hall: That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty cool. So you were there for about a year and then you came back. Did you came back home here, I’m assuming?
Tanner Rice: Yeah. I came back. Yeah. And I I learned a lot. Honestly, it it made me more tough than anything.
I mean, I was just getting my ass kicked for day in, day out, you know. And it was I mean, I don’t regret it, but it was, I mean, it was hard, you know, because they would try to show you something and you don’t understand nothing, you know, you don’t understand the language. So it’s like, can you just show me the move? Because they’re yelling at you, you don’t want them yelling. So it was just, you know, they would get frustrated with me.
I just got really tough, you know, and I did learn stuff, but I got mainly, just got tough. So Nice.
Chris Hall: So so then you you were competing this whole time. Right?
Tanner Rice: Mhmm.
Chris Hall: And then what at what point did you like, what was like the pinnacle of your competition? Like, where you know, wins, losses, like championships? Like, what was like the pinnacle of your career as far as that goes? I’m assuming you’re not still competing right now.
Tanner Rice: I competed about three months ago. I got second at nationals. Oh, jeez. Yeah. And that was my first one in a few years.
Chris Hall: Okay.
Tanner Rice: But yeah. My the pinnacle of my career, I mean, I got to, like, the biggest stages, you know, Europeans. I got to fight in Dubai in front of, like, the sheikh. That was kinda nerve racking. That was, I mean, a blast, but, you know so I I’ve been to the highest level.
I’ve fought, like, a lot of the best guys, but I had a friend of mine that that I would make it to the final with. And we trained together, but, I mean, he I could was, like, an eight time world champion. And I think I fought him three or four times. I wasn’t able never able to beat him. You know?
So that was probably, like, the pinnacle of, you know, where I got. It was just second place. So
Chris Hall: Now did you ever try to get into, like, UFC or Bellator or anything like that?
Tanner Rice: You know, I did MMA for a a while. I train just here locally, you know, nothing, like, crazy. And it was fun. I enjoyed it. To be honest, like, you like, the process well, there’s two things.
Right? I love jujitsu. Like, there’s so much to learn. There’s so much so much to still learn. So it’s just never ending.
You know, all these younger kids coming up are doing this crazy stuff that I didn’t learn until, you know, way later on. And they learned it at like seven years old. So, I mean, that’s Yeah, so the time they’re hitting like 18, 19 now, it’s like, geez, these kids are just insane. So, you know, that part is fun to me. So I’ve always loved jujitsu.
I don’t like getting hit in the face, you know, too much. It happens in jujitsu, but it’s not like, you know, somebody trying to literally knock the crap out of you. So, yeah, I I but I never had a desire to do it. Just and the second reason would be there’s just like, at the beginning levels, there’s no money in it. And you’re just risking your health, you know?
It’s like you see the local fights here, which we love them. I’m not gonna hack on them, but it’s like a lot of these guys, they just sign up. They just sign up and they’re like, they might even drink a little bit beforehand. They just jump in the cage and I’m like, That is not for me. That is not gonna risk my own health to do something I don’t really enjoy, you know, even though there is money in it once you hit to the top level.
But, I mean, it’s just a grind until then. So not yeah. I never had that desire. But I do help teach some of the guys at the gym now, and they they do MMA. Awesome.
Chris Hall: Do you know I mean, do you do you know a lot of the guys in those arenas, MMA, Bell Tour, things like that?
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So I just got done well, I shouldn’t this is about a year ago. I got to train with Fluffy Hernandez. So he’s in the FC now. He’s like top 10 contender.
So I’m good friends with his trainer, so we got to train. And then Takino, he fought for the belt. I fought him in jujitsu and beat him. Yeah. So, I mean, I know a lot of those guys.
They’re most of the guys that came through jujitsu are the humble ones. And because, yeah, everybody’s gonna lose. MMA, a little bit different. It’s a different kind of crowd. It’s a hard crowd for me to to get along with most of the time.
I like our guys, but, like but the MMA crowd can be a a hard crowd to get along with.
Chris Hall: Oh, I see that. Actually, it’s a long time ago, I got the chance to work with Rich Franklin.
Tanner Rice: Oh, nice.
Chris Hall: And he was a great guy. And I don’t know if you know his story, but he he was a teacher. And then he started, you know, fighting and stuff like that. And and one of things that I thought was really one of the things he said was, you know, when when you are training and you don’t think you can be beat, that’s when you should probably retire. Because if you can’t see where they can beat you, then you’re probably, you know, too too by too beyond yourself.
You know what I mean? Yeah. You gotta you gotta always look at it from the idea of, like, what can this guy do to me? And so it’s really interesting that, you know, he was such a such a nice guy. So that’s so it’s kinda cool.
Tanner Rice: Yeah.
Chris Hall: So what what made you transition to, you know, to teaching? You know?
Tanner Rice: I think COVID was a huge thing. And then the same year COVID happened, I my daughter was born. So Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, just I was on the track of competing, like, twice a month, and then COVID happened.
And then, you know, it just kinda took the wind out of my sails. And that was like, you know, I was doing really well in competition. And then, you know, nothing was happening. No competitions were open. So it was just, I mean, it was just a sign that like, I was already teaching full time.
My daughter was born, I wanted to spend more time with her. And, you know, I’ve done it. And 32 might seem 32 years old might seem young, you know, but and there is still people doing it older than I am. They’re on a lot of steroids, though, and they’re still not winning everything. So, you know, it just sometimes it’s time to slow down and kind of teach other people how to do it.
I have a lot of young kids that I had a kid this year. He won He’s a three time world champion. He’s 16 years old. Yeah. So he just turned 17, actually.
But So he won worlds last year, and then he won open weight, which is all the divisions combined, and his division this year. At least how much does he weigh? He weighs two he’s like my size, like two thirty five.
Chris Hall: Okay. So bigger guy. Yeah.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. Yeah. He’s a he’s a tough kid. So
Chris Hall: So that that was one of the things I heard, you know, about your guys’ academy, which is that, you know, like, you guys go places, you know, and, you know, this quote unquote little town out of Reading, you know, and you guys go places and you just clean house. You know, like, you just really show up and, know, you’re showing up against these places that are, you know, these big, you know, dojos that are in, you know, LA and they have, like, a hundred people and you’ll go in there and and, you know, and just wipe these guys out. Is is that kinda like is that is that pretty accurate? Do you feel like you guys do pretty well when you go to competitions?
Tanner Rice: The the yes. The smaller ones. The bigger ones, like, were outnumbered. So Yeah. There’s just no way, like, we’re waiting to do anything.
Like, I mean, we win, but it’s like Marco’s. Like, he the world’s world championships is the biggest competition. And, you know, we only had him win. We had another kid place. You know?
So it it’s it but we do good. Like, San Jose and North, I would say, we do extremely well. Like, most of the time, we get first place at tournaments.
Chris Hall: Okay. Yeah. I know. The one thing that I thought was really interesting when the whole MMA thing started kicking in was, you know, before, like, you you would see people and, you know, when I was in high school and you’d see dudes, they’d fight, you know, there was typically, you know, the bigger of the two guys was gonna win. You know what I mean?
Like, they were gonna, like, at some point, either get on top of you or, you know, this is just stronger or whatever. And I remember, like, thinking, like, when MMA became really popular, I thought, oh my gosh, this just changed everything. You know, you see people who are much smaller and they’re dominating guys that, you know, are twice as strong as them and weigh 50 pounds more. So I I think that’s one of the things you know, my friend said, he had a couple kids and he he has a couple kids and and then went to your academy and and he really enjoyed, you know, the way that you guys go. He said that, you know, you guys go super hard, when you train.
It’s not like you’re, you know, like there’s a lot of, you know you see, you know, on TV, you see karate classes and stuff where, you know, they’re kinda just doing a little thing, but he he said that you guys, like, really get after it. And I think that’s pretty cool because that, you know, at the end of the day, you know, when you’re if you do get into some sort of fight, you know, you wanna be able to, like, not just have to you can’t go slow. You gotta go fast.
Tanner Rice: So Yeah. No. And I think I yeah. That we we throw like, especially kids. I don’t know your friend’s name, but with kids, like, I mean, they’re not gonna get hurt most of the time.
Sure injuries happen, but they, I mean, they just need to go in there and figure out, like, you know, how to move their body and, you know, realize, like, this can be really tough. And and, you know, a lot of schools, even jujitsu schools, they they don’t even let you live train for, like, a year. I’m like, well, that is just that’s just, like, that’s I mean, sorry my language. I don’t know if I’m supposed to cuss, but it’s kinda horseshit.
Chris Hall: It’s fine.
Tanner Rice: It’s, it’s, yeah, I mean, you’re not learning anything. Yeah, you can learn moves, but you could do that, you know, in your living room on YouTube, you know? So it’s like, you gotta get in there and get thrown into the fire and figure out like, oh man, adults are my favorite part. My favorite part of teaching is kids because kids will listen. Adults, it’s mind boggling.
Like we see it every day. I mean, we get new people all the time. And I’ve been doing it for so long, so it’s so interesting when you see an adult that thinks he knows how to fight. And then he goes into fight, the ideas that they have in their head, like that you would would never cross my mind because I’ve been in it for so long, right? But I’m like, you thought that was a good idea to grab the guy’s head and just pull him on top of you?
Like, that’s not you don’t know how to fight. Like, I know you got big muscles, but that was just you don’t wanna do that. So it’s just, it’s fun, you know. I almost get a bigger kick out of seeing like brand new people trained than I do like advanced people because it’s like, I don’t even know where that idea came from or where you saw that or what Matrix movie you watched, but that is
Chris Hall: It’s all in Roadhouse.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. I’m like, yeah. Like, that was not a good idea. So, anyway, it’s just yeah. It’s fun.
Chris Hall: What’s what’s the youngest kid you’ve ever trained?
Tanner Rice: Oh, I mean, have some three year olds, but I can say four. It’s, like, when we started mostly.
Chris Hall: That’s pretty young. Yeah.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. Yeah, my daughter’s in it.
Chris Hall: Yeah. When your parent brings you as a three year old or four year old, are they looking to make this kid a master class jiu jitsu expert, or are they just trying to get him to get some discipline or or a little bit of both?
Tanner Rice: Or I would say a little bit of both.
Chris Hall: Mean great kid. I think
Tanner Rice: Well, you gotta remember, like, Joe Rogan and I mean, actors, all of these people are making jujitsu, like, mainstream. You know? Yeah. Like, he’s always just, like, talking about it. So all of these I don’t I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but a lot of parents bring their kids in for that exact reason, like, oh, he’s gonna be great at jujitsu, or or, you know, and and we do get a lot of kids like, hey, my kid’s just not listening.
You know, he needs some discipline, he needs to get rid of some of his energy, you know, so which is fine. I mean, it’s a great way to do it. So
Chris Hall: Yeah. My when my kids were little, me and my wife at the time and my kids, we all went to jutsu together. And, you know, they’d put them off in this area and we’d go to this area, but we’d all go same time. And I just remember, like, telling them, like, you guys, like, you have gotta get into this because, you know, this is like a superpower. It really is.
It’s like it’s the the really the only equivalent on earth to like having a superpower. Having a guy who is a hundred and thirty five pounds be able to take on a guy who’s two hundred pounds and and then really, you know, hand or handle him, you know. That’s that’s a superpower, you know. So so I tried to get him into it. We did it for about a year.
They just didn’t wanna go. And I I sometimes, I think it was because there there was a lack of competition. It was more about skill set and, you know, I I remember, me personally, I had to roll, you know, we had to practice rolls. And I mean, I had to roll for like six months and I have an inner ear disorder. So I was like literally sick every single time I went.
Within fifteen minutes, I was sick. And I had to continue the class, but I was willing to do it because I wanted to get to the next level and I swear it, like it just took forever before we were doing anything besides rolling and I was like, wow, this is really taking a long time.
Tanner Rice: Yeah.
Chris Hall: So I like that you guys get after it. You know what I mean? That’s that’s how you learn.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. And you have to make you have to get smashed first, you know? And no matter what the process, you’re gonna get smashed initially. Yeah. It’s just the way it is.
Chris Hall: Yeah. Yeah. I coach I coach football and, you know, one of the things I tell the kids all the time is you you gotta learn by getting on the field. You know, kids sitting on the sidelines aren’t learning football. I mean, they’re they’re they’re not they’re getting very little of that.
But they get outside and they get their tails kicked in, then all of sudden, they’re learning. And and I really feel like that’s huge in football, and I can see how it’d be huge, you know, what you guys do too. We learn through failure.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. And yeah. I mean, like, I was thrown I mean, my dad did not hold back. Like, he threw me in I mean, that’s how I met Andreas. Right?
He was a probably two hundred and eighty five pound foot or rugby player. And I was like, I think I met him when was like 11 or 12. You know? And I was doing pretty good. Like, I knew stuff, you know?
But I had to roll with Andreas. I always, you know
Chris Hall: You’re gonna help.
Tanner Rice: And he’s just like, he’s just smothering me. Just destroyed I always I always bug him because I’m like between him and my dad, was like, this is where these freaking ears came from. Is me just getting smashed.
Chris Hall: That’s funny.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. That And
Chris Hall: then and then you once you got the ears, then you were a target. Right? And everybody wanted to PC you?
Tanner Rice: Kind of. I mean yeah. I mean, like, I I again, I didn’t have too many, like, friend groups. Like, I was just at the gym all the time. So Yeah.
Yeah. I didn’t have too many friend groups going up.
Chris Hall: But what’s, like, the oldest person that you’ve worked with, like, on a regular basis? Not someone who just came in for a class or two, but someone who’s, like, you know, consistently come in?
Tanner Rice: 67.
Chris Hall: Holy cow.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. That’s awesome. 67. He he grapples. You know, he goes slow, of course, and everybody knows to go slow with him.
You know? It’s not like but he still gets, like, he gets after it. You know? He still goes hard and I mean, he loses, but I mean, like, nobody’s, like, being, you know, a jerk to him. You know?
Chris Hall: Yeah.
Tanner Rice: Well, I understand. It’s, kind of, like, when you roll with a woman, it’s, like, yeah, we’re not just gonna, like, use strength. We’re just gonna kinda move with him.
Chris Hall: Right. Right. That that makes sense. Yeah. Now I noticed that, like, one FC has sort of go into, like they have, like, grappling only.
Mhmm. And I think one of the places doing it right now too. But, like, do you think that’s gonna continue to be a trend? You think you you’ll see UFC do grapple only?
Tanner Rice: Well, I think UFC is. They have the the pre press or the pre event before UFC’s now that is on UFC fight pass.
Chris Hall: So you Oh, and they’ve been grappling only then.
Tanner Rice: It’s only grappling only. Yeah.
Chris Hall: Okay. Yeah. And so for those people that don’t understand what I just said, can you explain the whole grapple only part?
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So it’s just no punching. Right? And and so and they they also throw some combat jiu jitsu in there where it’s open palm strings, which gets pretty nuts. I I would rather get punched than slapped.
But anyway but yeah. So it’s just grappling only is just, like, it starts from your feet. It’s takedowns into submission wrestling.
Chris Hall: Can they can they can they kick?
Tanner Rice: Nope. They cannot kick.
Chris Hall: Okay. Yeah. Seems like I mean, I don’t watch a ton of UFC, but it seems like kicking has become a really big part. You know, striking with your, you know, your foot has become a really part. And it and it’s I get that it’s, like, hard, you know what I mean?
That, like, it really makes a guy, you know, submit, but it’s super boring.
Tanner Rice: Oh, yeah. I mean, if you that’s the thing is, like, which is cool. I like, I have the I sure. I mean, everybody loves Joe Rogan, but like he’s him pushing jujitsu, like, for however many years he’s had that podcast. And he’s always just like, everybody’s needs to try this because that’s this is what’s gonna you know, one, if you’re a dick, you’re not gonna be a dick anymore.
You know? And you’re if you stick with it. Most people that are jerks or egotistical, they’ll go in, they’ll lose, and they won’t come back. But if you’re able to push through, like, get like, you know, getting beat up by possibly a woman, and you might be this like a hundred and ninety, two hundred pound guy that goes to the gym every day, and he looks great, and he has the biggest muscles in the world, and I put you with a woman, she chokes the shit out of you, well, you have to swallow your pride a little bit. You know?
And Okay. And if you can push through that, I think it everybody should do it. Just just to know how to move your body and maybe manipulate somebody. If you do get in a fight, like on the street or if you have your family with you or, you know, it’s just a good thing. Like, yeah, a gun is great.
Right? But, like, we’re in California, one, and we can’t just shoot people. So, my goodness. It’s not the way the world works anymore. It’s not the Wild So, yeah, I mean, if you don’t want to get in trouble, it’s very easy to if they don’t know what they’re doing, to control them and, you know, hold them down until authorities do come or choke them unconscious and walk away.
Chris Hall: Right. There you go. Yeah.
Tanner Rice: I think it’s important that everybody will learn and just push past the I mean, I get it. I’ve lost to people that I thought I shouldn’t lose to. But, I mean, like, it’s just the way it is.
Chris Hall: It’s Well, I mean, you see that on TV. You know, you see where a guy is a clear favorite. Vegas odds are, like, completely in their favor. And, you know, they’ll get, like, a one punch and they’re out or the guy will get an arm bar on them and they like, you never saw it coming. So I I think that that’s why I think it’s cool about jujitsu is it is truly an equalizer.
It that’s, you know, it is in any given day, any given person kind of thing.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. I mean, that’s what yeah. I just think I mean, it’s just like anything. It’s just like owning a gun. Like, I think people should own a gun and have it in their house, you know?
Because I I also think you should know how to, like, to con to be able to control somebody and protect your family if needed. You know, so I think it’s just, it falls under the same category. But it does cost money, so I get it. And it does take, I mean, it’s gonna, you’re gonna figure out a lot about yourself.
Chris Hall: Yeah.
Tanner Rice: You know? Like, gosh, I don’t know how to fight. I just shouldn’t talk about myself this whole freaking time. So
Chris Hall: when you think the like, so we talked about, you know, you got some three year olds and four year olds that are rolling. Mhmm. Got a guy at 67 rolling. What are the what it is what is like, you know, the the vast majority like, when do you think a a kid or an adult should come in and, like, kinda get started? Like, what’s the ideal spot for that, or is it is it individualized?
Tanner Rice: I mean, kids with high energy need an outlet. Right? That’s one. I mean, if you’re older and wanna do something and not run on a freaking treadmill, I hate running with a passion. I hate hiking.
If I’m going to go somewhere, I’m going use my car. So I don’t but I think if you just want a fun way of losing weight for some people. Yep. And for kids, high energy kids, or maybe some self conscious kids, they don’t have a lot of self confidence. I mean, it gives kids confidence.
Like, we this other boy that I taught, he won nationals. I don’t even know how many times anymore. He I mean, he’s he’s 19 now. And the kid is just like when he he did a little interview for school, and he he and we didn’t tell him to say this or anything. It was just something I saw way later on.
He was just like, yeah, it just gave me confidence. Like I was scared of kids at school and I was able to just calm down. Like my anxiety calmed down and I was able just to, you know, be a normal kid and walk around. And I was like, and a lot of kids deal with that stuff. And I think it’s, I mean, I think we’ve all dealt with anxiety once or twice before, but I think it’s really important for kids to learn just some self control too.
Like if you don’t sit down and listen, I’m not going to send you to the office. I’m going make you do push ups or hold a medicine ball over your head until you do listen. You know? And because, I mean, even in public schools now, I mean, my daughter goes to public school and her teachers are great, but my daughter is also she listens, right? Like she understands like, Hey, you have to sit and listen and not like act out like the rest of these kids.
So she comes home with these stories about kids and like this kid threw a chair today and this kid punched a teacher and she’s five. This is in kindergarten. Jeez. You know? And I’m like, what?
And she’s like, I was like, well, what did you do? And she’s just like, oh, I just kept doing my drawings. Or she was coloring at the time and I’m like, that’s fine. Just don’t act like them. I think that every kid then there is some kids that, you know, the parents think he has ADHD and maybe he does.
But there is some kids that just are spazes. I was a spaz. Like you couldn’t I just needed an outlet, you know. So that’s important for kids to get in and just have that outlet burn some energy, especially now where, you know, it’s a big thing for parenting to stick them behind an iPad or a, you know, a video game. And that’s not good.
I mean, I mean, we don’t see kids like going out and I mean, think about driving around Reading. Like, how many times do we see kids riding bikes? You know? Like people I mean, we don’t think about it. People if we see kids outside, they’re on those stupid electric scooters.
You know? So everything is like these people need to like, you know, learn how to fight one, protect yourself, you know, and get some energy out, lose some weight, have some fun. I mean, it’s a great group of people that we have in there. Any people that don’t really fit in, it’s not like we push them out. They just kinda weave themselves out.
It’s like, yeah, I’m not fitting in because I’m kind of a douche. So they just kinda weave. So
Chris Hall: And so so you kinda said mentioned that, you know, judicias for everyone. Tell me a little bit about your event you have coming up here pretty soon.
Tanner Rice: So yeah. So it’s it’s in April next year. And we’re just it’s grappling for autism. And, you know, it’s just a way to like, for instructors to get together. And I’ve seen this at other schools.
We are not like this, but I’ve seen other Obviously a kid with autism, he has issues like fitting in. He can’t do everything that the class is doing. So you have to cater to them a little bit, right? Or a lot sometimes. And it’s hard for me I’ve been in this situation many times.
It’s like it’s hard for an instructor to kind of ignore everybody else because you kind of have to. Right? And focus on this one boy that needs more attention, which, you know, everybody understands. It’s not like people are upset about it, but we’re still, you know so we’re just doing a huge event. There’s gonna be seminars for these kids to come and learn and just have fun and play games maybe after seminars, maybe a tournament as well.
We haven’t decided that part yet, but there will be seminars. And they’ll just be like food and everybody having fun, and it’s gonna be in April in Ashland. So it’s gonna Okay. Nice. Just like and for instructors to get together and throw out ideas of, you know, of how to run a class and then how to also cater to, you know, somebody with special needs.
So Yeah. Well, I
Chris Hall: mean, you know, and I’ve had this conversation many times, but, you know, autism is not what it used to be. Right? You know, autism used to be, you know, a really tiny spectrum. And now we know that it’s a very large spectrum. You know what I mean?
That everybody is probably on it somewhere. But, you know, we know with what you’re talking about, it’s like trying to deal with the different levels of autism even, you know, in a classroom setting. Right? You know, some kids are gonna listen and and they’re not even gonna skip a beat and some kids are gonna have to stop and, you know, talk to them specifically and so, mean, that’s cool that you’re bringing awareness to that. And it’s cool that, you know, just by saying it out loud, hey, we’re gonna do that.
We’re gonna grapple for autism. In my opinion, it just sets the tone for people who have autistic kids. Like, yeah, we’re we’re here to welcome your kids. You know, you’re welcome here. And I think that’s that that in itself is pretty cool that, you know, that you’re you’re not like, hey, listen, your kid can’t be here.
You know, you’re you’re you’re the exact opposite. You’re like, we want your kids here. We want you know, we just we need to, you know, as a group, we need to, you know, develop our skill set with them, but we’re we’re welcoming to that. I think that’s pretty cool.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. And
Chris Hall: I think that Yeah. Go ahead.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. And again, it’s a great way of I mean, no matter what, they feel a little left out. Right? Like they’re not doing the same things. And that’s been we have to kind of cater to that.
And kind of went off on a tangent and I forgot to say what I was gonna say, but you see a lot of instructors, they’ll just be the they’ll and I’ve seen this happen many times, is they’re just like, they won’t pay attention to them at all. And because it’s uncomfortable. Right? You know? And they don’t know how to deal with the discomfort.
And yeah, it’s uncomfortable, but like you have to try one and you have to understand where they’re at. You know? Like you’ve gotta, I mean, yeah, but you can’t just push them off to the sidelines and then hopefully, you know, their parents keep paying their freaking membership and they just and you sit there and do nothing. I mean, it’s bullshit. Right?
So I’ve seen it so many times, it’s frustrating. So yeah, that’s why we’re gonna bring more awareness to it and also try to help some of the instructors, you know, deal with like, hey, it’s okay to go off to the side or maybe select a kid or a kid or an adult, whoever, out of the class, like, hey, rotate them in with that boy or kid or whatever to do the moves, help them out. Because, I mean, they’re also learning. Right?
Chris Hall: So it’s yeah.
Tanner Rice: It’s anyway, we’re gonna go through like a whole process and stuff. We’re still prepping for it. But, that’s in April. April of
Chris Hall: Ashland, you said. Right?
Tanner Rice: Yeah.
Chris Hall: That’s pretty cool. Yeah. So we we had a kid play football, you know, autistic kid, and, you know, he’s, you know, pretty high functioning kid. But, you you know, you could tell he was on the spectrum. And it was it was, you know, same thing.
You had to kinda, like, stop and talk to him individually. You couldn’t just coach, like, as a group. You had to say, hey. Listen. You, specifically.
You know? And and that that’s how you had to coach. And that does, you know, slows down the program a little bit. But, man, you know, we put this kid in the game, you know, we’re, you know, we were, being a team pretty handily, we started subbing kids in, and we put him in a d line and he just, like, ripped right past the guy he was supposed to and sacked the quarterback, like, immediately and you’re just like, geez, Louise, you know. And, like, what a moment for him, you know, what a moment for us, what a moment for the team, what a moment for his parents.
You know, it’s just like, you know, letting these kids put in situations where they can succeed and get that success, and I think that’s what it’s all about to me. And I think that’s what’s cool about what you’re doing as well.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. I mean, that is funny that you say that because, I mean, I’ve seen that happen, like, in the training room, like, everybody’s taking it easy or, you know, something, maybe on a teenage boy, he’s like 16. And all of a sudden they start trying really hard. I’m like, yeah, he’s strong, isn’t he? It’s hard.
He might not know what he’s doing, but he is freaking strong.
Chris Hall: That’s awesome. Yeah. Hey. So tell me, you guys got a new location. Tell me a little bit about what’s going on with that.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So we’re at on Eureka Way now where the old Out West Furniture used to be.
Chris Hall: What’s the place
Tanner Rice: again? Rice Brothers Jiu Jitsu Academy.
Chris Hall: Yeah. But where where where would what used to be there?
Tanner Rice: Oh, Atlas Furniture.
Chris Hall: Oh, okay. Alright. Got it.
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So yeah. Chris Resner, he bought the building a few years back, maybe maybe three and a half now, actually. But, yeah, he he did a lot of the designing. That guy has a knack for designing things.
Mean, he was I mean, you think it would be easy. Right? Like, Chris Resner? You would think it would be easy to design a gym, like, oh, you need mats, you need bathrooms, and that’s about it. Right?
No. But he like, But he like went in there and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, it got to the point where he was asking me for ideas because obviously, you know, we’re moving into that building. And I was like, Dude, you just do your thing because this looks amazing. And if I feel like I’ll screw it up if I tell you any of my ideas.
So anyway, it’s an amazing building. We have showers, locker rooms. We have a weightlifting gym in there. We have wrestling. We have MMA, kickboxing, jujitsu.
And, yeah, we I mean, we keep adding stuff all the time. So it’s a huge building. I think it’s almost 9,000 square feet.
Chris Hall: Holy cow. Now, you have a relationship with Chris? Does he roll with you guys or
Tanner Rice: Yeah. So Chris and his boys trained with us for a long time.
Chris Hall: Okay. Alright. That’s awesome. Well, that’s cool that he’s, you know, he not only rolls with you guys, but trying to take good care of you too. That’s pretty cool.
Tanner Rice: Oh, it was I mean, it was a I mean, it really was a gift. So I’ve I’ve tried to, you know, say thank you a million times to that guy, but he doesn’t he’s just like, yeah. You know, no problem. I’m like, dude, okay. Well, he’s he’s super humble guy and, yeah, we’re very grateful.
Chris Hall: Okay. Nice. So that’s pretty much all I had for you question wise. You know, I really appreciate your time. Is there anything that you wanna talk about before we go?
Tanner Rice: I think it’s good, man. I think we covered a lot.
Chris Hall: Okay. Good. Well, it’s exciting to to meet you virtually and and finally kinda put a a face to the to the name and and I think it’s just really cool, you know, people think about Readiness, you know, the small town and, you know, it is. It’s a small town still. We’re not a huge town and that’s okay.
But what’s cool about Reading is, like, there are all types of kinds of people here and, you know, it’s not like a one size fits all community and there’s a lot of success going on in this town. And, you know, I think you’re part of that. And I really appreciate you being here, and I really appreciate you pouring yourself into our community.
Tanner Rice: Thank you, man. So Yeah. Yeah. I love Redding. I hope it doesn’t get too big.
So
Chris Hall: Same. Same. Same. Alright. Well, Tanner, it was awesome having you on the show.
I appreciate you so much, and, thank you for being here. And thanks to everybody out there for listening, and I hope you guys have a great day. Alright.
Tanner Rice: Thank you.