Taekwondo helped Aidan find purpose in life
Inclusive Taekwondo in Hastings is helping turn around the lives of people with disabilities. Aidan McCance struggled to find a place where he could fit in before he found taekwondo.
Now McCance, who has autism, is thriving: he’s soon to be a 4th-degree black belt, he’s been entrusted with running classes and a community gym and he’s helping to organise a promotional trip for the sport he loves to the United States.
McCance will lead a team demonstration in Florida in December of a group from the NZ ITF Taekwon-Do Centre on King St South in Hastings.
The aim is to showcase to the American crowd just how inclusive taekwondo can be.
It’s another notch in the belt for the 29-year-old, whose journey started when he was introduced to taekwondo at Fairhaven School in 2012.
He’s since travelled the world to places such as North Korea, England and Argentina, and competed and represented New Zealand in inclusive taekwondo, which started in Hawke’s Bay with instructor Ben Evans.
“I never used to fit in anywhere, but when taekwondo was introduced to me it turned it all around for me,” McCance said.
His favourite part about the sport is learning the patterns, which is something that is enhanced by his exceptional focus.
Taekwondo has helped him learn to deal with and manage his anxiety and autism. Evans says it has given McCance a purpose.
In August, he was chosen by Evans to take over classes and run the community gym on his own for two weeks when Evans left to compete in Kazakhstan.
McCance said he became upset when Evans left as the pressure of the responsibility had got to him, but he quickly settled into teaching the classes and running the gym.
“It was a bit of a challenge at first — hardly anyone showed up for my first class.”
At the time, he taught between 12
and 15 classes a week and worked with children and adults who were part of the inclusive and mainstream classes at NZ ITF Taekwon-Do.
He said the sport had helped him to become the person he is today. If he wasn’t competing and instructing, he would be “at home on his bed”.
Evans said McCance did not receive payment for his teaching work but his love of the sport was such that he was there even when he didn’t have to be.
At the recent Inclusive World
Championships in Hastings, McCance was among the golds as New Zealand secured 30 gold, 30 silver and 21 bronze medals, leading the overall country rankings.
England and South Africa came second and third.
In the NZ ITF International Open, New Zealand won 65 gold, 40 silver and 15 bronze medals, clinching the top spot, with Australia and India as runners-up. McCance will receive his fourth black belt title at the beginning of December.