Dr. David Curby

The life of Dr. David Curby has had wrestling as a central focus. He has been a competitor, teacher, coach, administrator, and sport scientist. Dave graduated from Ann Arbor Pioneer High, and then went to the University of Michigan where he wrestled for Rick Bay and then Bill Johannesen. He graduated in Education from the University of Michigan in 1975. He earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology from Northern Illinois University in 1993.

As a competitor, he was a Junior National Champion, FILA Junior National Champ, and a four‐ year starter, Big 10 Champion and team captain at the University of Michigan. Dave was a Junior World team member, placing 4^th, and also a National Open Runner‐up.

He is a USA Wrestling Gold‐level coach, and is a member of the IWCOA Hall of Fame (Illinois). As a member of the National Coaches Pool and has helped to take delegations of USA wrestlers to France, Poland, Bulgaria, China, Morocco, Mongolia and Iran. Curby was Greco Roman coach for the Jr. Pan Am competition in Venezuela.

Curby is founder and director of the International Network of Wrestling Researchers (INWR) and editor of their official publication, the International Journal of Wrestling Science. In 2011 he received the United States Olympic Committee “Doc” Councilman Award for scientific contributions to coaching.

Dave was Director of Beat the Streets‐Chicago, and coached a youth club at St. Sabina Parish in Chicago. He received the William Scherr Award for Outstanding Contributions to Wrestling by the Midlands Foundation – 2013

In 2014, he was the recipient of the Alan Rice Leadership Award from the Greco‐Roman USA Wrestling Hall of Fame and in 2015, from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame – Illinois Chapter the Outstanding American Award.

In 2017, Dave was the Grand Marshall for Illinois High School State Meet. Later in the year he received the Professor Rayko Petrov Trophy (for scientific contributions to wrestling) at the World Championships in Paris.

From 2010-2017 Dave and the Curby family directed the Jacob Curby Foundation in memory of their son who was a member of the US National Greco Roman Team. The foundation conducted the Jacob Curby Cup, a premier Greco Roman competition. During this span the foundation spent almost $200,000 for the Jacob Curby Cup and youth wrestling activities in Chicago.

It is in the area of wrestling sport science that has been Curby’s avocation. He has tried to bring more science into the sport of wrestling. He has amassed one of the largest holdings of published scientific research in wrestling from all over the world (over 2,900 articles) and regularly responds to requests from around the world for information on a wide variety of wrestling topics. He has also written extensively on a wide variety of wrestling-related subjects.

Selected Keynote Addresses and Conferences

A Review of the Current Research in Wrestling: Application of findings for the development of our athletes and the promotion of our sport. FILA Advanced School of Coaches, Yerevan, Armenia. October 2009.

Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées (FILA) Proceedings of the FILA Scientific Conference

A Vision of What Sport Science Research can do to Advance the Status of Wrestling, Moscow, 08 September, 2010

Development Of A Testing Program For Maximum Wrestling Performance FILA Advanced School for Coaches in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Lecture at the FILA Advanced School for Coaches, 16-19 December 2010 Lahti, Finland.

GROWTH AND MATURATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT OF WRESTLERS-A Description of the Lifespan of an Elite Wrestler. Paper delivered at the 2nd INTERNATIONAL TRADITIONAL AND OLYMPIC WRESTLING SYMPOSIUM, Kahramanmaras, TURKEY, 14-15 September 2012.

Presented a keynote lecture at FILA Advanced School for Coaches-Lithuania, November 2012

Delivered the opening Keynote Address at the International Scientific Symposium for Wrestling, Tehran, Iran. May, 2014.

Organized the conference: The Wrestling Tradition in Africa: From The Distant Past, Its Widespread Presence Today and The Challenges It Faces In The Future. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA, January 5, 2015)

Most recently was invited to Baghdad, Iraq to present at a nation-wide coaches training course (May, 2018).

Member of UWW Expert Working Group for the development of a Coaching Pathway.

Founder and first chair of American College of Sports Medicine Interest Group on Combative Sports.

His International Network of Wrestling Researchers is the largest academic support group for any sport in the world!  The INWR was first conceived by Curby while at the FILA Advanced GR Coaches Course in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2007, as an organization that could be a source of scientific expertise for our sport, provide a means for collaboration and collegial support, as well as providing important camaraderie in our work that relates to wrestling.  The group has grown to almost 500 academics, scientists, doctors and wrestling professionals, from 80 countries who are involved with the sport of wrestling.

In 2010 he organized the FILA Scientific Congress for the 2010 World Wrestling Championships in Moscow, and then the same for Istanbul in 2011, Budapest 2013, Tashkent 2014 and Las Vegas 2015 (and will be hosting a scientific conference in Budapest 2018). In Tashkent Curby was presented with the title of Doctor-Professor from the Uzbek State University.

Curby spearheaded the efforts which are responsible for the establishment of a Scientific Commission within United World Wrestling (UWW) and the resulting Scientific Commission was formed in April 2013 with Curby named as secretary of this commission. He also has been chair of the USAW Scientific Committee.

In 2011 Curby launched the publication of the International Journal of Wrestling Science. The International Journal of Wrestling Science is a peer-reviewed journal for all those professionals working in the field of wrestling sport science. Issues will be published quarterly. Topics include training science, physiology, psychology, sports medicine, biomechanics, pedagogy, history, sociology, and sports management. Regular features of the journal include: Original Papers, Review Articles, Technique Analysis, Scoring Analysis and Case Studies/Profiles. Articles can be accessed at the INWR website: http://inwr-wrestling.com