We recently connected with Linda Young and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Linda, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

As a brown belt in karate I would help instructing in class as part of my journey towards my black belt. In honesty I never really thought much about it. I never really had self-confidence and was always nervous in front of everyone. My black belt instructor came to me one day and said I found my niche, where I belonged and that I was in my element. I didn’t really understand what he meant and that was when he asked me how I felt about teaching karate. It felt good and I felt like I had something to share. That’s when I realised I had gained the confidence I needed to not only teach in a karate class but to be brave enough to try so many things. Not long after I opened my own karate school where I taught for twenty years, until covid was a factor in closing the school. It was a risk but I had confidence in my abilities to share my knowledge. I even competed in world championships in Europe as part of the Canadian national karate team where I won silver and bronze medals. I was fortunate to have an instructor who long ago told me I was extremely good at teaching an that was where I was in my element.

The confidence I gained through the martial arts allowed me to go back to acting and to try my hand at screenwriting with my daughter who is also in the film industry as a stunt performer. We have joined together to write short and feature length films, as well as television series. We are new to screenwriting but our confidence in our abilities keeps pushing us forward. The confidence we have both gained through the martial arts.

Linda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My daughter was only four years old when I wanted her do be active and find a sport she liked. Once she started karate I wanted all of us to do it as a family. Karate went from a family activity to a life-long journey that proved to be one that would provide so much more than something twice a week. As a family my husband who is a fifth degree black belt, and both myself and my daughter who are fourth degree black belts have continued to provide self-defence instruction. Although our karate school was a victim of covid, we continue to teach self-defence lessons at schools and places of work. For women shelters it is offered free as part of a safety plan.

Self-defence for children includes basic techniques, anti-bullying strategies and being aware of their surroundings. For adults there is more in-depth strategies, basic to complex techniques and safety planning. As a family we provide the perspective of young adults, male and female, and concerns of a family. We work as a family to provide an engaging seminar to help others feel safer and more confident.

I am most proud having the confidence to help others learn to analyse their own needs and helping them gain confidence to utilise their tools in their tool box to stay safe. I taught a self-defence workshop for young children grade kindergarten to grade three with the first lesson being, if someone tells you to go with them and your parent has not told you so, scream “let go I don’t know you”, even if it might be a neighbour. If you haven’t been told by your parent, then you do not go. One student was sitting in a Harvey’s restaurant waiting for their parent to come back with their food. An adult sat right beside the four-year-old and reached over to tap them on the hand asking how they were. The child screamed “let go I don’t know you” and everyone in the restaurant turned and look over. The adult left the restaurant and the parent came over right away to the child. Whether or not the adult meant harm, the child did everything right. This is the moment that makes me proud. What I taught was remembered and the child had the confidence to keep themselves safe not thinking about being embarrassed or maybe being wrong.

Any advice for managing a team?

The word team says it all. Even when you have subordinates in your business take the time to listen to their concerns and their ideas. As a manger/business owner, I always took the time to hold power chats where I would give updates on the business, policies concerned and would be changed to, and then ask the other instructors for their input and their ideas. By doing this they felt like a team and would give everything in the karate class and for the business.

Watching and evaluating the instructors classes was helpful not only for the business, but more importantly for the instructor for their success. Even if it was not my class to teach and it appeared the instructor needed help, I would assist in class. But going into the class I would not take over but would rather say “where would you like me to help?” I left them in control and assisted only. This continued to help them with their confidence and the trust of the students.

When managing a team to help maintain morale it is important to actively be part of the team and not take control but rather also assist. Team members understand the power dynamic but will have the upmost respect for your assistance, having an open-door policy, wanting to be the assistant and valuing their input. It is a team after all.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

When I was younger I never would have considered taking karate. I wasn’t much into sports and I never had confidence to really do anything. It took a while, and thanks to my decision of having my daughter take karate, I too started my journey in the martial arts. I can never regret my decision and I am forever grateful I decided to take karate and start the karate school.

I still run into so many people I taught karate or self-defence to and they tell me how much it changed their own lives, giving them confidence to do other things, and the joy that it brought to them. Parents of children still give me hugs and tell me how well their children are doing.

If I can help one person, child or adult, to stay safe and have the confidence to protect themselves, then I know everything was worth it. Teaching karate and self-defence continues to be rewarding. If anything, I wish I had started karate earlier.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lindatyoung.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lin127da/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-young-042219172/

Image Credits
They are all mine. If I’m in them my husband took them or the professional ones, I paid for.