Hikurangi axeman emerges from bout of depression with new gratitude

Jason Semenoff competes - and wins - at the Paparoa Show back in 2008.

For many people, a serious bout of depression is something you'd wish had never happened but for Hikurangi's Jason Semenoff it has allowed him to emerge with a fresh gratitude for his two passions in life — his family and woodchopping.

It has been five years since Jason's bout with depression — a condition that developed after he sustained a head injury during a game of rugby, but he still remembers the lows he felt.

The 39-year-old beef farmer and axeman said he first noticed something was wrong when he couldn't turn the key on his motorbike.

I felt powerless with depression — I was fighting for my life. Thankfully, I was able to see that I needed help. I had to put the selfish idea of feeling ashamed aside and get help.

"I had been knocked out in rugby real bad. And this one morning afterwards, I just couldn't do it — I didn't know how to.

"For the next year, I felt powerless with depression — I was fighting for my life.
Thankfully, I was able to see that I needed help. I had to put the selfish idea of feeling ashamed aside and get help," said the father-of-five.

"It was hard telling people that I was crook. I had been working from 4am to 6.30pm every day and never took a rest but I needed to slow down."

Now out the other side, Jason said he has a new perspective on life, one that involves spending more time with family and enjoying fun activities ahead of work. He has also quit playing rugby.

Jason is a grandson of the great axeman and world champ Pero Smith, while his father Selwyn is still winning woodchopping contests in his 70s, most recently taking gold at the Kaikohe A&P Show earlier this month, where Jason's woodchopping teenage son Tyton came second.

Jason has been nominated for the Federated Farmers Contribution to the New Zealand Rural Sports Industry award by the Northland Axemen's Club for his work to boost the sport in the region.

Last year, the Semenoffs constructed a purpose-built woodchopping arena at their home, where Jason trains young adults, including his teen sons Tytan and Johnson.

His daughter Tahlia, 14, is also starting to show some promise with Jack and Jill saws, which is no wonder, given her rural sports lineage.

Jason said the physical challenge of the sport was exhilarating, while the chopping was a great social sport and a good way to de-stress.

"It might only take 28 seconds to chop a 300mm log, but it's explosive and exhausting."
Jason said he was grateful to get the word out that Northland woodchopping was on the rise, but it needed some sponsorship.

"I'm training a handful of lads for next winter's NZ Under 21s. We train three nights a week. When I started out there would be 60 axemen at a show, now we get 24. We can do better!"