Today we’d like to introduce you to Lau Gatoloai.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Growing up as a Pacific Islander in New Zealand, I and many of my friends were profiled as a troubled youth that wouldn’t amount to much. It’s a dim future when society makes it out that you either make it as a professional athlete or be lucky to land a dead-end job, living paycheck to paycheck. Most impoverished households in New Zealand were made up of Pacific Island Families.
With this negative narrative surrounding my people, it’s no wonder that most of the crime in New Zealand was committed by Pacific Island youth. With no one to believe in us, how could we believe in ourselves? I was a kid who always carried around his rage, frustration, and hopelessness. I’ve made many poor choices growing up but I have been fortunate enough to have found a positive outlet for my anger, frustration, and fixed mindset when I discover martial arts for the first time while attending BYU-Hawaii.
I was invited by a good friend Andrew Ormond (also from NZ) to attend a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) class back in 2017. At first, it was strange to me seeing grown men rolling around on a mat hugging one another. But I quickly learned that BJJ was no joke. For months I found myself getting caught in arm locks, shoulder locks, choked out, and tapping out from these more experienced BJJ players. For the first time in my life, I felt completely and utterly broken.
However, it was a different kind of broken, it was a humbling experience. As more months passed by, I found myself getting better and better and it became an addiction. My friend Andrew and I, for a year straight, would train together three times a day, six days a week. As I learned how to better control my opponents on the mat, I found that I had also learned to better control my anger, and in turn learned by experiencing that even though in the beginning I was utterly useless at BJJ, I discovered that I can learn new things and I can do hard things and that my only limit was my mentality. With this newfound outlook on life, I desired to give back to the many young men and women who may also be suffering from issues I was familiar with.
This led me to pursue a Master in Public Administration at BYU with an emphasis in Nonprofit. Since 2017, I have trained in BJJ, Boxing, and Kickboxing and I am working toward establishing a nonprofit where I can help troubled youth and children develop self-confidence, self-discipline, and a growth mindset, through the vehicle of combat sports. My hope is that this new outlook on life will help build self-respect to help kids reframe from bullying and strong minds to combat mental health. I know what it’s like to be treated poorly and be looked down upon, I know what hopelessness feels like, and I know what rage feels like. If I can help even one child out of that pain and suffering, how great will be my joy?
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Upon graduating with my bachelor’s in Graphic Design from BYU-Hawaii, my wife Berit, from Germany, and I had to return home to await news on my application to the BYU MPA program. I wasn’t able to work in Germany to save up for school and my wife wasn’t able to come with me to New Zealand due to COVID restrictions, we were forced to be separated for 9 months.
One of the hardest things I have had to endure was being away from the ones I loved most. I had to complete my first semester in the MPA program without my family as we didn’t have housing situated before the program began. Not only was I missing my family, but it also affected my performance in class and made life more difficult.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been a Media Production Specialist for six years now starting back in 2017. I spent my first 4 years working for the BYU-Hawaii Media Production Department. A year doing contract work with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Pacific Office located in New Zealand. And I am now working for the Marketing Department in my MPA Program creating media production content for them. The reason why I have such a passion for media production, filmmaking specifically, is because of the power of stories.
I believe everyone has a unique and powerful story that needs to be told and heard and now I have a new added skill to help these stories to be heard and told through martial arts. I have found over the years that those I have shared the mats with, and exchanged punches and kicks with, I have immense respect for, and the feeling, I believe, is mutual. As this mutual respect is exchanged I have found that personal stories have been shared with one another more freely and that respect deepens. I believe martial arts can become a safe space where people can share their difficult stories, to begin that healing process that is vital to our happiness.
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is found in the growth and the progressive improvements we make each time we decide to work on something we struggle with. Success is never giving up. Many see failure as the opposite of success, but for me, failure is merely a part of a process called success.
Pricing:
- $120 for four sessions/month
- $160 for six sessions/month
- $180 for ten sessions/per month
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lausy30mma/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laauli.gatoloai
