Taekwondo: Small club spawns world champions

Tauranga fighters Maddison Black, left, and Frances Lloyd helped New Zealand win the world taekwon-do title. Photo / John Borren

A small taekwon-do club in Te Puna played a key role in New Zealand winning the ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships in Jesolo, Italy.

Black belts Frances Lloyd, 15, Maddison Black, 16, and Jade Gibson, 16, scored 12 medals between them, including multiple golds, to help New Zealand finish ahead of the sport's powerhouses of Romania, Argentina, Germany and Russia.

The three athletes train under the expert tutelage of instructors Gwyn Brown and Shaun Skedgwell at the Silla Taekwon-do club based out of the Te Puna Primary School Hall.

Brown, who attended the tournament as an international umpire, said their determination made the difference.

"It is never the best student who wins, it is always the most determined. They train extremely hard and they all came home with medals.

"There are more talented students around but they are lazy and do not have the drive to get to the worlds. To beat the Europeans on their home ground is a big thing. This is the best the New Zealand team has ever done."

Lloyd attends Tauranga Girls' College and was the youngest member of the New Zealand team. She came home with an individual gold medal and team gold.

"I was not expecting to do very well because it was my first overseas tournament and you are supposed to crack under pressure ... it was quite scary and quite an experience. It was very intimidating and I was nervous, but when I got to the venue and it started I found it inspiring.

"Watching all the others go for their goals made me want to go for mine even more.

"It has been so much fun since I started when I was 7. Mr Brown has helped me achieve so many goals that I have set throughout my life in taekwon-do. It really helped me when I was being bullied at primary school. He helped me through that and gave me something to believe in."

Aquinas College student Black is from a family of taekwon-do champions and had previously been overseas with the New Zealand team at the 2013 world champs.

"I got two team golds. I didn't expect to do as well as I did because I had been in and out of hospital with lots of injuries in the six months leading up to [Italy]," she said. "I am planning for the next world champs now to be held in two years in Ireland."

Otumoetai College student Gibson's gold medal came in the junior female team pattern.