THE HARD WORK

We train 5 days a week not just taekwondo – we do strength and conditioning sessions with our trainers from souljah fit fitness and apparel twice a week in Upper Hutt and 3 days on taekwondo at our club capital city taekwondo in Lower Hutt where we work on our sparring and ring craft skills with our instructors in preparation for the junior world championships. There are a lot of sacrifices with doing sport at this level and it wouldn’t be worth it if we didn’t love it… at least our trainers give us the weekend off with a catch… unless we are competing or travelling to NZ training camps, or to other instructors DJ at Manawatu Taekwondo for special training… sooooo not to many weekends off 

School is another factor to add in, as we are all doing NCEA (Max LVL 1 Cole and Honestly LVL 2) and keeping on top of that and our training is a struggle, as of today we are all doing well in that regard thanks parents and teachers.

MAX
2014 – North island gold medallist, New Zealand open gold medallist, selected to represent New Zealand in the bi annual Oceania Championships Sydney Australia August 2014, Australian open gold medallist and Oceania gold medallist.
2015 – New Zealand open gold Medallist, Hutt City open gold medallist, TUNZ open gold medallist
2016 – Selected to represent New Zealand at the 2016 junior world championships in Canada in November via selection tournament in March, Tawa open gold medallist

COLE
2014 – North island gold medallist, New Zealand open gold medallist, selected to represent New Zealand in the bi annual Oceania Championships Sydney Australia August 2014, Australian open bronze medallist and Oceania silver medallist.
2015 – New Zealand open gold Medallist Australian open bronze medallist Hutt City open gold medallist, TUNZ open gold medallist
2016 – Selected to represent New Zealand in the 2016 junior world championships held in Canada in November via selection tournament in March, Tawa open gold medallist

HONESTLY
2014 – selected to represent New Zealand at the 2014 Junior world Championships Taiwan top 16 finish, New Zealand open gold medallist (junior and senior), selected to represent New Zealand in the bi annual Oceania Championships Sydney Australia August 2014, Australian open gold medallist and Oceania gold medallist.
2015 – New Zealand open gold Medallist (junior and senior), Australian open silver medallist Hutt City open gold medallist, TUNZ open gold medallist (junior and senior)
2016 – Selected to represent New Zealand in the 2016 junior world championships held in Canada in November via selection tournament in March, Tawa open gold medallist

THE WATENE FAMILY HAS 3 REPRESENTATIVES IN THE WORLD JUNIOR TAEKWONDO CHAMPIONSHIPS IN CANADA!

WHO?

We are – Max Watene 15 Cole Watene 16 Honestly Morete-Watene 16

And we are cousins yay … We have been selected to represent New Zealand at the 2016 junior world taekwondo championships to be held in November in Vancouver, Canada. We aim to be the 1st New Zealanders to medal at a world taekwondo federation world champs event – junior or senior level it’s never been done before.

We started our journey in taekwondo 10 years ago in 2006 aged 6,6 and 7 progressing through the ranks to black belt, starting out in local tournaments where we progressed to north island champs then onto national champs and finally international tournaments in 2014 and have been competing in top level tournaments ever since. We were first selected for our country in 2014 – Honestly, junior world champs in Taiwan, Max and Cole, Oceania champs Sydney Australia.

WHAT IS THE FUNDING FOR?

Taekwondo like many sports is self-funded and the cost for this trip is likely to cost in the vicinity of $12000 for our flights, accommodation, uniforms and equipment. Our parents have been great and have got us too many events, both here and overseas over the last 4 years which we really appreciate but this cost is quite significant, and we have been fundraising by selling hangis which has helped a lot but as you can see there is still a way to go.

We would really appreciate if you would consider making a donation – every little bit counts!

Thanks for taking the time to read about us

Max, Cole and Honestly Watene