Meet Jason and Kelly Byrd of Geist Martial Arts

Jason and Kelly Byrd of Geist Martial Arts.

My son has been taking karate classes at Geist Martial Arts near Fox and Oaklandon Roads and just loving it. I had a chance to interview the owners, Jason and Kelly Byrd, to learn more about them and how they ended up here in Geist.

How did you two meet?

We met after a late morning service at Grace Community Church in Noblesville in April of 2000. We still attend Grace.

What degree of black belt do you intend to conquer Jason? Kelly?

Jason: I intend to keep going as long as I’m able and the Lord allows. The highest rank in our style of Taekwondo is 9th degree.

Kelly: I am on hold right now with a baby coming, but we’ll see what I am able to do after that.

When did you start your training?

Jason: I started at the age of 16 (beginning of 1993). The school was owned by a husband and wife (Robby and Jenny Lacy) and was about an hour drive from our home. My parents started lessons with me because I was too nervous to go by myself.

Kelly: I started fitness kickboxing classes during the summer after we met. I had three more years of school in Maine to finish my degree and did not begin Taekwondo lessons until after school, wedding, and board exams in late October, 2003.

What made you decide to move to Geist from Fishers?

Jason: We moved to Fishers from Virginia in early 1997 and took over a school that my instructor had helped get started in late 1995. A student of that school began teaching at his own school in Noblesville in summer of ’98 and we decided to combine the schools at the Fishers location in 2000. In 2008, after much prayer, Kelly and I felt led to start a new school in this area near our home and near where Kelly grew up. I sold my share of the school to my business partner and used the money to pay for the start up of this school in Geist.

Rough estimate of your most popular ages in ratio form, i.e. 10% adults, 20% teens, 50% tweens, 20% little ones?

• 75% are kids in 5 to 10
• Approximately 15-20 adults attend kickboxing classes
• A combination of 15 adults and teens attend taekwondo
• 10 are 3-4 range

The majority of our students are part of families that attend together.

Did you both graduate with degrees in higher education? If so, what are they and what made you decide to go for the karate instruction?

Jason: I have an Associate in Science Degree in Engineering. I was planning on completing my next two years for a bachelor’s degree in engineering when my instructor, who I worked for during college, offered me the opportunity to move to Indiana and run my own martial arts school. My parents advised me that if I had a chance to make a living doing what I liked, then I should give it a try while I was still young and had no family to support. If it didn’t work out, I could return home and finish school at Virginia Tech.

Kelly: I have a master’s degree in Physical Therapy and practice at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital in Elwood four days a week. I was very happy to find a job that would allow me to be able to practice as a physical therapist, but also be able to take care of my family and help my husband run a business.

What are the benefits from attending your karate and kickboxing classes?

Taekwondo: Improves a person’s mental and physical focus, builds confidence and coordination. While we teach perseverance and self-defense in all our classes, we tend to teach kids and adults with different focuses. For kids, we focus on courtesy, self-control, and a “never give up” attitude.” Adults are a bit more focused on fitness and self-defense.

Fitness kickboxing is focused mostly on the work out. We teach a practical approach to boxing and kickboxing fundamentals, mixed with personal defense techniques.

Can ANYONE (unfit people) do your normal classes?

Jason: By all means! We try to get people focused on what they are learning. If a person experiences something that’s fun and engaging, the journey to what they want to accomplish is just that much easier.

Do you offer private lessons/classes?

Jason: Not at this time. We believe in giving our students extra help in our classes with lots of personal attention.

Can you give us a brief overview of what you want to accomplish with your students?

Jason: When I first began teaching, I was very focused on making great martial artists with the whole courtesy and self-control thing a secondary benefit. Over the years, though, when parents would mention their kids doing better in school, sports or just life, I began to think of martial arts as a vehicle to teach people things that carry into their everyday life. I know that’s not an original idea by any means, but most martial arts instructors I know still happen upon the character developing benefits of what we do as something expected to happen as people develop in their training. I believe it’s very important to start instilling self-control, determination and focus, especially with kids, right from the start. It’s the difference between knowing what you should do and doing it consistently. Although it may not make sense at first, you must really learn to respect and take care of the people you train with. You can’t get very far without the help and cooperation of your fellow students. You need one piece of iron to sharpen another, so it’s always to your benefit to “invest” in the people who work with you. Conversely, many schools get “over run” by a couple of “bullies” who actually lose out on any increasing development in the long run because they chased off a lot of the people who could develop and challenge them to get better. In our classes, we do require students to test for their belts even though it might mean they will not always pass on the first try, particularly at upper levels. This concept has fallen out of favor with many schools, but we believe this philosophy provides a better training ground for life as it is one thing to talk about perseverance and another to provide opportunities to practice it.

Geist Martial Arts
11629 Fox Road
Indianapolis, IN 46236
(317) 213-5276
www.GeistMartialArts.com