BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

When Trey Treadwell first stepped into a martial arts gym 20 years ago, he was just a kid drawn to shows like “Dragon Ball Z” and averse to traditional sports — now, he’s leading students of his own in Cassville through TCB Missouri.

“I started martial arts 20 years ago,” Treadwell said. “I never liked basketball, baseball, any of that stuff. I was super uncoordinated.”

Treadwell said his journey evolved with an introduction to teaching not long after earning his black belt.

“I got my black belt when I was 15 years old, and in that style, that would kind of start introducing you to teaching when you reached brown belt,” Treadwell said. “By the time I was 16, I was running my own classes.”

For Treadwell, martial arts offered more than just physical training — it became a lifeline during difficult times.

“I was having extreme alcoholism issues, and my dad reached out to Aaron [Kimball],” Treadwell said. “Aaron contacted me, and we got to talking, and he helped me stay sober for quite a few years.”

Now sober and teaching again, Treadwell is helping build TCB’s Cassville location under the leadership of Aaron Kimball, who owns the TCB gym in Rogers, Ark.

“We’ve been looking for another location, and I just heard about a building coming available,” Kimball said. “I checked it out and it was perfect.”

TCB found its new home in the old American Legion building, a space with history and room to grow.

“The Legion building, we have that huge open floor at the top, which is great, “Treadwell said. “We have a cage up on the stage, and then downstairs, we have a heavy bag room. We have a jiu-jitsu room in construction, bathrooms, showers, kitchen — all that down there as well.”

Kimball said while the expansion came just as his family faced a personal health crisis, the gym community stepped up to keep things moving.

“My wife got this cancer diagnosis, and my big family’s been making it work,” he said. “Everybody’s putting in time. We’re going to do the same thing there that we’ve done in Rogers, and we’ve had great success there.”

Kimball said TCB’s training philosophy focuses on much more than competition.

“Everything we believe in is physical, mental, spiritual — and just becoming better men and women,” he said. “On the process of staying true to the mission, we grow champions as a side effect.”

That mission often starts with individuals who are looking for more than just a place to work out.

“People think it’s just a bunch of savages looking to learn how to hurt people or fight on the street,” Kimball said. “That’s completely backwards. Most people find us for family, a sense of belonging or purpose. They come to battle stress, addiction, anxiety or depression.”

The gym’s motto is “find your fight,” a reminder that personal growth looks different for everyone.

“Whatever you’re fighting, it’s about being able to turn that place and that experience into a vehicle for growth,” Kimball said. “Ultimately, it’s about competing with the guy or girl in the mirror and just learning discipline, consistency, work ethic and integrity.”

Treadwell said that first step into the gym can be intimidating for newcomers, but it shouldn’t be.

“Don’t expect to come here and get beat up; it’s not that type,” he said. “You’re going to learn how to stand, your stance, the basic strikes and combinations, just very, very basic martial arts skills.”

Despite public perceptions, Kimball also noted martial arts is one of the safest athletic pursuits.

“What we do — boxing, kickboxing, MMA, jiu-jitsu — it’s statistically safer than every mainstream sport,” he said. “I’ve got kids in wrestling programs who’ve had multiple concussions in a season. I couldn’t tell you the last time we had one in training.”

Classes are currently available for children ages 4-6 and 7-13, with adult sessions also offered. Treadwell said that age 13 is a bit of a gray area depending on the size and maturity of the student.

“For the Cassville gym, it is $100 a month — kids and adults — and you can come one night or all five nights,” Treadwell said. “Every family member after the first is half off.”

The training incorporates a wide range of martial arts styles and practical disciplines.

“The main thing would be taekwondo, jiu-jitsu, boxing and kickboxing,” Treadwell said. “We also have knife fighting, gun self-defense, wrestling and takedown defense. If it’s efficient, we use it.”

The Kimball family has deep roots in combat sports, stretching back more than a century.

“My great grandpa started in 1909, and my grandpa picked it up in 1939,” Kimball said. “Timmy was the father of Tommy ‘The Duke’ Morrison, who is a really well-known heavyweight champion boxer.”

Kimball said his family’s history and passion for martial arts have helped them create something lasting.

“It was something that always I returned to, no matter what I did in my life,” Kimball said. “It saved my life in a lot of different ways, and it’s saved a lot of our lives in a lot of different ways.”

That commitment shows in the real-life transformations he’s witnessed among students.

“I’ve seen really powerful stories over the years,” Kimball said. “We have people who’ve lost 100 pounds or more, kids from broken homes who found purpose and even national champions who started from scratch.”

One standout event in 2025 took place at the Arnold Classic, where TCB’s small-town team won 11 national championships.

“The next closest team in the nation had three gold medals,” Kimball said. “All those people have been homegrown, built in our program.”

That includes students from Cassville now competing on the global stage.

“Darrin Horton from Cassville is fighting in Guatemala City for Pan Ams,” Kimball said. “Brendan Seufert, also from Cassville, is fighting in Abu Dhabi. His grandpa is a lifelong Cassville resident.”

Kimball’s son also won the first gold medal for the U.S. in 20 years, since Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson won it last, and two of his daughters are competing in Pan Ams and in Abu Dhabi.

Beyond competition, TCB is focused on building leaders through mentorship.

“We have kind of a silent mentor program,” Kimball said. “When we have a new kid start, someone on the team adopts that kid as their immediate point of contact.”

The program has had particular success with at-risk youth, something Kimball said he hopes to expand locally.

“In Washington County, Ark., we worked with kids on juvenile probation,” he said. “We’ve had a really high success rate for kids in our program of not getting in trouble again. I’d love to implement that here, too.”

The culture they’ve created, Kimball said, changes lives both inside and outside the gym.

“A lot of my old students now have successful businesses, are entrepreneurs, self-starters,” he said. “What they carry into the world are things they learned right there in the gym.”

Kimball said the Cassville location, which opened in May, is already building momentum.

“We already see a lot of progress happening,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and we have a really good blueprint for team-building and development.”

As the team grows, Kimball said he’s found something special in the Cassville community.

“I love Cassville,” he said. “I love the people. It reminds me of how I grew up in a small-town vibe. My kids all love being there.”

Whether for sport, discipline or community, Kimball and Treadwell said the gym is open to anyone looking to find their fight.

“We’re excited about the path we’re on,” Kimball said. “And I think the best is yet to come.”