Latest news with #Kman'sMartialArtsClub
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Club cleans up at e-competition
Cromwell martial arts competitor Anika Takimoana, 17, with the medals she won in an international e-competition. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED It seems anything can be done online — including martial arts competitions. Kman's Martial Arts Club head coach and owner Kman McEvoy said 11 students competed in the VI Open Martial Arts e-Championships, collecting a total of 14 medals. The championship was an online event contested by countries from all over the world with international judges. Gorge Borges, 9, with his nunchaku and medal from the weapons division of an international martial arts e-competition. "It is a great way to compete against the world without leaving your town, which saves competitors travel time, hassle and money," McEvoy said. The championship was a hard forms competition where martial artists performed a routine of martial arts moves, including strikes, blocks and stances, in a sequence like a fight dance. The routines were the core of most martial arts and called patterns in taekwondo, kata in karate, forms in kung fu, and were a way to practice martial arts techniques by yourself, he said. They were judged on form, technique, power, speed, precision, balance, flow and execution. The team was now training for the Auckland kickboxing championships later this month, the National Judo Championships in Christchurch in October and the World Taekwondo Championships in Puerto Rico in November. However, the club was not all about winning medals, McEvoy said. "Even though some members train for competitions, most train for self-defence, fitness and self-confidence." Gold medals were won by Kman McEvoy, 60, and co-coach Diego Hernandez, 31; silver medals were won by sister and brother Enora, 14, and Hoel Henry, 11; Anika Takimoana, 17; brothers Cian, 10, and Nate Driscoll, 6; and sisters Megan, 12, and Emerson Douglas, 10; and bronze medals were won by George Borges, 9, Reuben Brass, 11, Anika Takimoana and Megan and Emerson Douglas. — Allied Media
Otago Daily Times
30-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
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
