Episode 3. 40 Years of Isshinryu, Started on His 6th Birthday
The conversation
About Kevin Kumpf.
Kevin Kumpf sat down for Kumite Lifestyle. That conversation is episode 3, “40 Years of Isshinryu, Started on His 6th Birthday”.
Kevin wanted to start karate when he was two years old, but the instructor told his family to come back when he was six. He kept asking for four years, and he finally started on his sixth birthday, October 6, 1984.
That makes more than 40 years of continuous Isshinryu training. Kevin talks about waiting five straight years at the rank before black belt, and how that taught him to handle frustration and keep working.
Today he is also a dad to a 16-year-old daughter, and he says karate keeps helping him meet new challenges every day.
“I might have to work for a year to get a quarter inch of improvement”
“I was the rank before black belt for five straight years”
From the episode
- Karate taught him to delay gratification and keep moving forward.
- Be the same person in the dojo that you are everywhere else.
- Don't take any moment for granted.
- Discipline
- Isshinryu Karate
- Rank
- Black belt
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