Knock-out new venue
Ben Evans has taken special needs and mainstream Taekwon-do from humble beginnings in Hawke’s Bay schools to the world stage. And now there is more to celebrate, with the grand opening of the New Zealand International Taekwon-do Foundation (NZ ITF) headquarters taking place on Saturday, June 6.
With around 400 members aged from three to 74, Hawke’s Bay ITF TaekwonDo has outgrown the Hastings-based venue the organisation has occupied for the past two years.
“Originally we were well supported by IDEA Services HB, but since our membership grew significantly, I felt bad for our wonderful people, I wanted the best for them, so I made the move up the road to 114 King St South, to support all of our members,” says Ben Evans.
Ben, who is a 5th degree international instructor and president of both Special Needs Taekwon-Do International and Special Needs Taekwon-Do Federation of New Zealand Charitable Trust, says the new facility has a unique area, which is much bigger.
“We can now fully provide everything and increased resources and development to our wonderful members.”
Ben says as membership grew, the space they needed followed suit.
“I felt we needed to give more to members. We really do have a crosssection range within our region for membership and what we offer. I want to offer a really nice venue members can feel proud to be at and have lots of resources, a well thought about set-up for all ages joining us, including our very own gym inside with near brand new gym equipment.”
Through the organisation’s branch in Feilding, Ben says he came across Jeremy from Able Axcess who wanted to sponsor the labour and materials for the building inside the new venue. “I was so amazed and cannot say enough thanks and appreciation. To my amazement they had a trade account with Bunnings so it helped them to support us.”
Ben says in return, the sponsor’s logo has been added to their website www. specialneedstaekwondo.nz as official partner.
“I will also get patches made of their logo for each taekwon-do uniform. We will continue to spread the word and publicity, as they deserve the recognition and support from the public.”
The new venue will also be more visible to the public, with signage added to the outside of the building.
“It looks amazing and highly professional. It was done by Sign It Up in Napier, who gave us a good price in support of the work we do,” Ben says.
NZITF is now a national organisation, with instructors also in Hamilton and Manawatu. In Hawke’s Bay, it is associated with the International Taekwon-Do Federation in Austria, with local members coming from Tamatea, Napier, Taradale, Flaxmere, Hastings and Havelock North. Among them are mainstream junior world champions in sparring, power breaking and special technique.
“We also have Special Needs TaekwonDo junior and adult world champions, with our country as a whole having never lost a world championships — we’ve been overall best since 2016 in England, 2018 in Argentina and 2019 in New Zealand,” says Ben, himself a double silver power breaking adult world medallist.
During lockdown, training continued most days for a handful of students online, and for the first time the organisation will be holding the Special Needs Taekwon-do World Championships online in November this year.
“The Special Needs Taekwon-do International has partnered with software developer IScore to enable this to happen.”
With Ben also teaching taekwon-do at an early childhood centre, he says hosting children’s parties and providing self-defence classes at the new venue are a possibility in the future.
“I am unsure how this would go, but the children love the training, so their parents might like to give it a go. There are many possibilities to host as we have the space.”