We wanted to create a space in the community for ALL that focused on HAUORA (whare tapa whā model so all aspects of wellbeing - physical, mental & emotional, spiritual and social /whānau) and also wanting to be more connected to our community by being positive healthy Māori role models for our young people to aspire to here in Hauraki, so when we planned to expand our core business (the gym) in 2020, we decided to add a separate area in the build specifically for martial arts, and that’s how Toa Martial Arts Whitianga was born.
This was off the realisation that we had nothing in the area that was specifically focused on Hauora as a whole from a Māori perspective, with training martial arts (BJJ and Kickboxing) students are not only physically active, their mental and emotional state is being tested under duress with certain moves/combo’s that our coaches put forward to them, we put a focus on ‘being comfortable with being uncomfortable’ until they master that discomfort, something that is transferrable in life and can teach things such as mental fortitude, resilience and discipline.
We have continued to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for local tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau which reinforces our tikanga values. Our programs continue to expand, but our ability to attract and retain coaches who uphold our values enables a more personalised style of coaching even in our larger classes. No matter what the individual learning style of our students might be, we have the ability to identify and match our students and coaches accordingly. The connections made by students and whānau through martial arts is increasingly evident within the wider community. This wider community connection promotes positive social interactions and a common interest. The confidence and sense of self gained by our students is also evident in other forms of physical activity they choose to participate in.
We focus on the spiritual side of our students by encouraging a meditative state of training, our students are better when they are calm and clear minded to be able to think under duress, being aggressive and tense works against them, so we start our sessions with whakataukī about being together as one, one team – even though it is an individual sport, we rise together, we practise breathing and bringing our minds back to calm, and we always finish our sessions on a fun note.
The social and whānau aspect is key. We encourage our whānau to attend and watch their tamariki and participate in classes. Many of our parents are also practitioners in the adults classes which is wonderful to see students alongside their parents training when we hold open mat classes, intergenerational training and learning. We have a large volunteer base which we credit to the mahi we offer, our volunteers witness the benefits that martial arts create in our community and we currently have 8 unpaid volunteers to help run these sessions for our community – for the love of martial arts and the love of the benefits they can see blossoming in our young people.
We haven’t had to do any marketing or advertising, we let word of mouth do its thing and we have had a waitlist ever since we opened, we started with 40 kids and are currently at 82 kids, steady with our adults sitting around 40 from start till now, our kids waitlist is always around 10 deep each term and we get a lot of families wanting to join so have a nice run of family members through the grades. Our students come from Manaia, Coromandel, Te Rerenga, Matarangi, Kuaotunu, Cooks Beach, Whitianga and Coroglen giving us a massive reach.
Apart from the Mon-Thurs after school trainings and 6pm night training for adults, we also run self-defence classes for women, specific self-defence training for muslim women, diffusion technique training with corporate clients, self-defence classes for international language students, training bodyguards and bouncers with specific diffusion of conflict techniques and Whakamana (Empowerment & Anti-Bully) school programs.
