Interview: Christie Kurrle, IPSF 60+ World Champion

Christie Kurrle 2016 World Pole Sports Champion in a bent leg handstand against a pole

Table of Contents

CHAMPION SERIES

Last September (2023) I had the privilege to interview 2022 World Champion, Aussie Poler, Christie Kurrle, just a few weeks before I headed off to my debut at the 2023 IPSF World Championships.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Transcript

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Welcome, Christy to the very first podcast on the Pole Dance directory.

Christie Kurrle
YAY

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
It’s very, very exciting to have you here as a World Champion as we head into the annual IPSF World Championships in October. Which will be in Poland this year.

Before we jump into that. Let’s hear about your story. Like your your back story. I’d love to know.

When did you start pole?  Why did you start pole?

Christie Kurrle

Yeah. OK. Be prepared.

So I started for when I was 49, it had been on my bucket list for years, and it’s just been one of those things that you see in the local paper. And there’s a photo of of someone, you know, doing something on the pole you think: Gosh, from an athletic perspective, how do they do that?

But you know, everything gets in the way and and then I had an injury, a running injury at some point. And I thought, Oh my gosh, I’m going to be half a century old very soon. I think I better just tick this one off the bucket list and I enrolled in a beginners course and like so many others; I’m sure you’re the same; That’s it. You hooked.

So yeah, 49 that was, that was my start and I’m still going. Much older than that now.

So yeah, 49 that was my start and I’m still going.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
So let’s let’s tell us. How old are you now, Christy?

Christie Kurrle
I am; actually have to think – what year is it? 2023? I’m 63.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
I think that it’s inspiring for all of us. I started pole even later than you at 51.

So it’s really inspiring to know that it’s something that can last for a long time.
That we can keep going, you know, through our 50s and into our 60s. And I know there are others like Greta Pontarelli who are still poling in their 70s.

Christie Kurrle
And still being amazing.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Yeah, it’s a sport with longevity, which I think is really important.
And yes, it should come with a warning that it’s addictive, I think. That’s very true.

Christie Kurrle
Yeah. Yeah, right.

Starting to Compete

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
So when did you make the switch from just training for fun, to competing?

Christie Kurrle
Look, I’ve been through quite a few years. And I’ve had, you know, times where I’d had surgeries and whatnot. So there were times off.

And then all the way through those times off, it was well, what am I gonna do with this? I’m naturally a competitive person. I’ve played competitive sports all my life. And so it just sort of morphed when you when I got to a certain level and I thought I want to compete. And that in itself took me a couple of years to figure out; where and how; because I’m not a pole dancer.

I have plenty of pairs of heels, but, you know, I generally fall over when I put them on.

So yeah, it took me a while to find a competition that catered for my style. More of a gymnastics and athletic style, and catered for my age. So that led me to IPSF and I competed in my first ever competition in Japan in 2016.

Christie Wins IPSF World Championships in 2016

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
2016 – that was that was a fair while ago.

Christie Kurrle
That was a fair while ago. Yes. 2016 and then went to London later that year for the World Championships there.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Lovely. And so let’s run through your amazing awards or wins. I know you’re currently the 60 plus women’s world champion from Switzerland last year.

Congratulations.

I saw that routine live. It was phenomenal and we will link it below this video for everyone to be able to watch you.
What else have you won? I know you’ve won other titles.

Christie Kurrle

Yeah. So, well, I guess I won the first one at the Japanese Open Championships. I set a world record in Japan, which totally knocked me for six and then went to London, set another world record and won the World Championship there in 2016.

Then the next one was 2019, up in Cairns, the Nationals and won that one, but I didn’t compete internationally that year and then 2021 and 2022, I won both the Nationals and the World Championships in both those years.

Christie Wins IPSF World Championships for the 3rd time in 2022

Christies Background

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory

That’s an impressive range of titles, so I think you’re very uniquely qualified to talk to us about training for a world championship.
So a little bit about again, your background.

What sort of sport background did you have before you started pole? You’ve mentioned a gymnastics style.

Christie Kurrle
Yes. Ohh look, I did gym as a child, but you know it was nothing like the gymnastics that happens today. I started gym when I was 14. That’s how it was. And you know, so I did gymnastics. I did diving. I was very much a running competitor.

So athletics, touch football and hockey were my big ones. And then later on competed in track and field and. And competitive swimming. And then, of course, you know, one o the other depending on which injury I was carrying. I’d go from running to swimming and and that sort of thing. So a fair range and which is why I just love pole.

Because I love dancing- I did dance as a child and I just loved it. And yeah, I really enjoyed that. You know, having music and yeah, it’s good.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
But not something you’ve done all your life. You haven’t been a gymnast all your life. You’ve not been a dancer all your life.

So coming into it at 49, it was like picking up your childhood again. – That’s how I feel.

Christie Kurrle
Yeah, it is. And that’s what I love about it because I’m always the oldest person in the room, always! without a doubt. And you understand that, when you’re the oldest person and yet nobody cares.

It really just brings your age right down, right down, because you’re working with and you’re falling off the pole and you’re messing up things and then you’re achieving some things, just as everyone else in the room. Yeah. Yeah. I think it keeps you going.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Ohh definitely definitely.

So what sort of training coming up to World Championships did you do?

What’s your secret weapon? Did you do a lot of cross training; strength training?

How did you balance that with your time on the pole? What are your big takeaways?

Christie Kurrle
Yeah, look…

I set out with my first competition. I made my decision 12 months before the World Championships. I said: Right this time next year I really want to qualify to compete in London.

And so it was a 12 month program.

The Struggle – choosing Music!

The hardest part is finding music. So while struggling for me personally, it’s the most important part and the hardest part. And so while you’re going through all of that agony, there’s establishing a fitness base, so you’ve gotta be strong.

You’ve gotta be reasonably flexible and you’ve got to have decent anaerobic endurance. Just just to keep going. So that goes on for a while. And then once you’ve got your music you start slotting things in as they happen. And as you choreograph them and as people help you choreograph them.

And then you just keep doing that.

There’s always cross training to prevent your body from totally breaking.

So you know, I wouldnt do something every day, but I would be on the pole probably four or five sessions a week. One of those will be just purely strength, and then it’ll be depending on how the body’s going. As to whether I’m doing combos or full run throughs or stuff like that.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
And that changes I guess over the 12 months as you get close to the competition, there’s a much bigger focus I think on surviving your run throughs because it becomes a very, very long 4 minutes I found.

Christie Kurrle
Incredible, isn’t it? It’s just! And you think when you look at it, you think, oh, yeah, I can do that. And you might do one combination in training. Ohh yeah, that’s good. I’ll do that again. But until you actually complete everything before and everything after it, you have no idea how difficult that combination becomes.

So yeah, I really feel for you as you are in your last, you know, four or five weeks of that full run throughs.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
I am.

Christie Kurrle
It’s hard.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Let’s come back to the hardest thing because I’ve found that the same too – choosing the music. IPSF is unique I think for pole sports in that it cannot have any lyrics and it’s a very defined length of time, 3 minutes, 50 to 4 minutes.

Do you have a process or do you just listen to tons of music and short list it?

Christie Kurrle
Look, I think my process starts with elimination, so I go through, you know having competed or watched lots of the championships and I then eliminate all the stuff that you hear over and over.

So you know, there will be a theme that happens each year. So I get rid of all of that. And then just narrow it down and think, well, you know, I have a certain style that I’ve always done and then it’s sort of well, actually, now let’s see if we can do something different this time.

So you just narrow it down and hope that somewhere along the line you’re going to have that light bulb moment and a piece of music. Just strikes you and you go with that.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Yeah, I was lucky my first year that happened to me. But this year it’s been more a case of close enough is good enough, I’m just gonna go with these.
And I’m coming to love it. So it’s it’s working out. Yeah.

Do you work with a theme with that when you’re choosing the music? Like a story? Because pole sports isn’t, strictly speaking a storytelling competition, but there are points for it.

Christie Kurrle
Yes, you learn that along the way. They want you to tell the story, they want you to have flow and balance and expression, and that’s all in 3 minutes 50 when you’re doing everything else, all the compulsories and everything.

So, yeah, telling the story is very different is very difficult, but I always find when I’m watching a route. it’s far more entertaining if there is a story, far more entertaining.

So for me, if I can, I will try to tell a story, and I certainly know in 2016 I didn’t do that. But you know, I’ve sort of learned since then and try to pick something out, which I guess that’s why you pick the music, because it sort of talks to you. So if it that music speaks to you, then you want to try to express it.

Yeah, it doesn’t always work though.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
So what else do you think you’ve learned between 2016 and 2022? That’s our listeners might enjoy.

Christie Kurrle
Ohh my gosh, there’s so many learning experiences every time you train, there’s some sort of learning experience.

I think you can’t take yourself seriously.

I think I have learnt, not to accept growing old, but not to push myself the same way that I would have as a 40 year old. To respect my body a little bit more.

I’ve learnt how to control, try to control the nerves, the absolute anxiety of competition.

I think I’ve yeah, learned to just take each day and make the most of it because you know when you start getting to this age as I know it has happened elsewhere in the world, you know, older athletes actually do have accidents and things aren’t so good. So yeah, I just enjoy. I enjoy it.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Yeah, that’s a good segue into training as an older athlete.

And I know one of the things I’ve really struggled with the last year or two is a lot of what they call Doms – delayed onset muscle soreness. Particularly relating to things like perimenopause and menopause, which affects, you know, ladies of my age, particularly.

Any hints or tips for training as an older athlete? Or is it really around just listening to your body and accepting it can do what it can do today.

Christie Kurrle
Yeah, yeah, I think absolutely listening to your body and cross training. 

Both of them. And when you cross train, you do nothing that’s even remotely the same. Yeah, absolutely. Go the other side of the planet. That helps. It helps mentally as well as physically and;

Yeah, I think you know, as you just said, you listen to your body today and I think that’s what you have to do. And there are sometimes where I’ll warm up. I might spend 25 minutes warming up and trying to get into the groove. And yeah, I’ll finish the warm up and I might try to do a move and I’ll say “Right, no, that’s it for today. It’s not gonna happen.”

And if I push it, then you know, something nasty might happen. So you know. You just accept it.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
That’s good good wise advice for any age I think actually, yeah.

Christie Kurrle
Well, I always remember and and you know, I know you’ve said oh, what about role models. Carl Lewis was one of my great role models – the 100m sprinter. And I used to when I did track and field, I would read all sorts of things from him – his training Diaries and stuff like that.

And he always said he would go out – his training quite often couple of times a week was to go out and run one 100 meters and that was it! Done! Finished for the day.

You know, this guy who you know, won so many Olympic gold medals and set records and he would do you know, just run once. So I always carry that with me, that it’s not necessarily the quantity of training. It’s the quality.

it’s not necessarily the quantity of training.
It’s the quality.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
That’s a really good tip. Yes, I like that a lot.

Yes, sometimes it’s just putting on the shoes, if that’s all you can do today. Yeah, I’ve followed that one too. So, yes, idols and role models.

Who are your pole idols these days? Who do you like to watch? Or do you try to stay away from it? I mean Instagram can be a real rabbit hole of comparison, which can be very hard for beginners.

Christie Kurrle
Yes, yes. Oh yes. And that’s the problem with insta and so many, other avenues of social media- there’s so much. There’s so much.

So I used to have, you know 1 or 2 polers that I would watch and now there’s no one in particular because I just go down that rabbit hole of Insta and I will always, I must admit I will scroll through if someone’s in a G string – I just keep moving through it because I think, well, I can’t relate to that. I’ll never be able to do that. So I’m not gonna bother with that.

I love watching the Men, one is Alberto from Spain. Alberto – I can’t think of his surname [ed: Alberto Almores]. Just incredible. You’ll see him, I’m sure he’s competing this year. Watch out for him -pint sized but man he is good.

Yeah, Oona Kivela. She hasn’t been around for a while, that I’m aware of, but she was always beautiful to watch. But yeah, it’s really not one person in particular.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Yeah, I can understand that.

And what about another favorite question for Polers:-

What’s your favorite move?

And what’s, perhaps, your pole nemesis move?

Christie Kurrle
I can start with the pole nemesis move – A phoenix. It’s definitely my pole nemesis move,
My favorite move, I think, it’s gotta be a reverse butterfly. I just; it’s a spin, a reverse spin

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
SP54?

Christie Kurrle
Is that itl? I don’t know. Yes, of course you’re doing it too.
So I love that. Yeah. Don’t know why, I just love it.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
It is a fun one. I like doing it too, actually. Yeah.
And have there been other nemesis moves in your past that you’ve conquered? And how did you get?

Christie Kurrle
I don’t think so!

Ohh gosh I don’t know. I mean, any moves that you start, any element that you start learning is a nemesis and you just keep going, I think.

One of them might have been the Russian split, that I tried quite early on when they first came out and were popular and I didn’t have the flexibility or the strength or the awareness to do it.

And so there were a lot of major fails and then, you know, later, in the last maybe four years, I took it up. I tried it again. And I thought, no, I’m going to get this. So I did finally conquer it. Not well enough to put in a world routine, but. Yeah, but it’s probably one, but too many, Fiona, way too many to mention.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Yeah, I get that. I get that.
Alright, that’s been really amazingly helpful.

Is any anything else that you’d you’d like to touch on? We’ve talked.

We touched on a fine line between overtraining and injury. The loneliness of training alone. I know that can be a big one for a lot of polers competing – it’s a very lonely journey.

Christie Kurrle
If you if you love it. You know I go back to what I said earlier on, if you’ve got a piece of music that speaks to you and you love pole, then that’s your focus. That’s your focus. And you train alone a lot. You have to. You can’t be distracted with too many other people and just be single minded and have that goal of whether it’s to, compete in the nationals or qualify for the worlds or get to the worlds. Or go as a spectator. But as long as you know where you’re going, everything else just falls into place.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Excellent!
So any last advice for a beginner for someone who might feel very intimidated and unsure about where to start.

Christie Kurrle
Ohh, look at me. There you are. I’m 63 and I still love it. 

Don’t ever be intimidated.

I will go to a studio and do a class and, you know you’ve got these gorgeous young things that can do so much – never be intimidated. Just you know, just laugh it out.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
It is a very friendly community. I think that’s something I was very surprised with, as I’ve found as I’ve visited a few different studios around the place. Yeah, you’re always just welcome. Just one of the gang.

Christie Kurrle
Yeah. And that will continue around the world too. And there’ll be people you will, you will meet and then you will continue to have contact with them and go visit their studios years later. It just gives me goosebumps. It is such a close tight community.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
Thank you.
I’m going to put you on the spot. One last question, will we see you back competing at Worlds next year?

Christie Kurrle
If my body holds together absolutely.

Fiona Caffin – Pole Dance Directory
YES! All right.