Karate instructor Jethro Hardinge, who will compete in the
Shukokai Karate Championships in Arrowtown this weekend,
trains in Dunedin yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Among the competitors from around the country arriving in
Arrowtown for this weekend's Shukokai Karate Championships will
be a new team from Dunedin led by one of Arrowtown's own.
When born and bred Arrowtown resident Jethro Hardinge (20)
left to study at Otago University, he took his passion for
karate with him.
Now the sensei of his own Shukokai karate club at the
university, he is returning home this weekend with a team of
seven competitors, including brother Luke Hardinge, for the
competition.
While it had been "a couple of years" since Hardinge
competed, he said he wanted to support the tournament which
is being organised by his father, Arrowtown sensei Glen
Hardinge.
Hardinge said his father had built the Arrowtown Shukokai
Club from small beginnings into one of the most powerful New
Zealand dojos within the Shukokai code.
"I am always hearing about all the new students and I would
put him [Glen Hardinge] in the top running to take the club
trophy this year.
He has so many students and trains them hard so they are
tough," he said.
As a first dan black belt, Hardinge will be both competing
and refereeing at the competition which has attracted
Shukokai karate enthusiasts from around Otago and as far
afield as Auckland.
Hardinge said the word Shukokai translated as "Way for all".
"It means we let anyone and everyone train," he said.
The discipline was highly technical and that meant it was as
good for mental agility as physical fitness.
"It is technically very complex. The guy who started it had a
physics and maths background which he incorporated into the
moves."
Having a father as a sensei has stood Hardinge in good stead
in his current role.
Having "inherited" the Dunedin club from the previous sensei
who went to Auckland, he has built up the numbers and
recently started a class for a group of under 10s who wanted
to learn.
"I love teaching the adults but with the kids you also get a
laugh out of it," Hardinge said.
Hardinge also has a number of other ambitions which could
combine his love of karate with a future career in the
sciences.
He hopes to visit the Antarctic next summer "and start up the
world's southernmost karate dojo" while also doing work
towards his double degree in zoology and geology.
But for the moment, he is concentrating on helping his
students, many of whom will be competing in their first
competition.
"By the end of the weekend I will be very proud of them,"
Hardinge said.
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