We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kyle Curry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kyle below.
Hi Kyle, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
When I was younger, I was listless. I was a kid that didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere and I would have remained in that purgatory if I had not found martial arts. It was an outlet for all the confusion, pain, and loneliness that I had felt in my life. I had found a family. More than that, I was able to honor those that had taught me life’s most important lessons on and off the mat. Resilience, honor, mercy, and patience were just a few of the lessons that I had been gifted through being under the aegis of the finest people I have ever known. And now I have the privilege to pass along those lessons to people from every walk of life. I have become exactly who that young man needed so long ago and it sometimes catches me off guard that I now have the honor of paying it forward to the next generations.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Myself and the other instructors at Ichiban Martial Arts in Hebron Kentucky bring over eighty combined years of self defense and combat sport experience to the Tri-State area. Since 2003, Ichiban has been forging the finest minds and hearts in the fires of the martial arts world through Karate, Kickboxing, and now Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training with the help of Triple Crown Athletic and the Carlson Gracie Federation. Our mission is to provide our community with a comprehensive system of martial arts skills and techniques that grow our student’s resilience, confidence, discipline, and peace of mind in any level of physical altercation and in any struggle that life may throw at them.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
If I were to hone in on just three qualities that best exemplify what one needs or will develop by necessity through martial arts training they would be discipline, goal orientation, and a healthy familiarity with failure.
Discipline is required for anything challenging or worthwhile in life. There are always going to be days where the grind and tedium beat down on even the strongest of individuals. The discipline that we foster through martial arts training forces you into a level of grit and determination that leads us to be indominable in spirit as well as bold and capable physically. Discipline forces us to sharpen ourselves to become more than we ever believed possible.
The skill of goal orientation stems from the discipline that you develop from showing up even on the days that would break a lesser version of you. You begin to see the world as something that you can not just survive, but thrive in. Seeing your own progression while training your body and mind to reach new peaks of excellence by measuring yourself not only against your peers, but also against who you were yesterday. This teaches you to focus your eyes on the next great step in your personal journey and seize every opportunity with everything you have, both on and off the mats.
My final skill to practice for anyone wishing to try martial arts for the first time, anyone who is already training, or anyone just wanting to grow in literally any capacity is to embrace an appropriate amount of failure. It may sound odd, but the willingness to be bold enough to court failure means that you are in an arena that will test you. You will be forced to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. Mistakes, imperfection, and failure are all inevitable when striking out on a new endeavor but trees only grow strong from the right amount of rain. Be brave enough to be more.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
The finest people I have ever known have been some type of teacher. On the mats, in the classroom, or just pulling me aside to offer a kind word or guidance. If I had one decade of life left, I would be right here. I would be taking all of the lessons that have brought me through the darkest times of my life and made me who I am and spreading them to as many people as possible. Training martial arts has shaped and changed me irrevocably and it is a bastion for any and all. We all deserve to belong. We all deserve to be strong. We all deserve to have the opportunity to look back on the person we were yesterday and smile because of who we have become. My training has been a gift to me and I would spend my last breath sharing it with someone who needed it as much as I did.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ichibanmartialarts.com/
- Instagram: @ichibanmartialarts
- Facebook: Ichiban Martial Arts
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