30-05-2025
Martial arts club moving into Frankton
Queenstowner Diego Hernandez, who won a gold medal at the recent World Taekwondo Championships in the United Kingdom. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Queenstown's newest martial arts club is getting ready to open its doors.
Kman's Martial Arts Club — established in Cromwell in 2023 — will launch a second club in Frankton on June 9.
Owner and head instructor Kman McEvoy, a multiple world champion and 5th Dan Black Belt, says he's been getting an increasing number of requests to open a club in Queenstown, noting many of his students already travel from Queenstown to Cromwell for training, and others "want to travel to Queenstown ... for extra training".
He says the club's a friendly, family-oriented one, with members ranging in age from 4 to 63, some of whom train for self-defence, fitness and self-confidence, along with competition.
Classes include Taekwondo, judo and kickboxing — McEvoy says they've already produced multiple regional, national and world champs, including assistant instructor Queenstowner Diego Hernandez, a 3rd Dan Black Belt, who's a Taekwondo national champ and was one of five gold medal-winners at last month's World Taekwondo Champs, in the United Kingdom.
The club also brought home seven gold medals from the recent Canterbury Judo Champs.
McEvoy also has high hopes for his team of 20 fighters competing in next week's Otago Southland Regional Karate comp, being held in Dunedin, and will take a team to the national kickboxing champs, being held in Auckland, and the World Taekwondo Cup, in Canada, next month.
The Queenstown club's new home will be at 1085 Frankton Rd, within the Frankton Village complex — for more info, see
