Arrowtown School is equally proud of its achievements in bringing five gold medals home. The dedication and determination of the pupils to achieve has flowed into other areas of their lives.
The seven Arrowtown School pupils, Joseph Swale, Nicky Morris, Madison Johns, Olivia Jones, Imogen McGregor and Anna and Michael Leat, travelled to Auckland as part of the Arrowtown Shukokai Karate Club team to compete in the Sugihara Cup.
The girls performed exceptionally well, securing five gold medals in their age-group team kata events and Anna won her age-group kumite, while the boys finished a very respectable fourth in the team kata.
The children said they had not expected to achieve so much - despite having dominated South Island competitions over the past couple of years and committing to extra training sessions during the weeks leading up to the event - as the international standard was higher than most of them had encountered before.
"There were black belts in every division," Olivia said.
"We were going for the experience," Madison said.
"In the South [Island] we can win easy . . . [but] we had no idea what to expect."
Having proved they are a match for people around the country and the world has a positive "flow-on effect" in all aspects of their lives - especially at school, Arrowtown School sports co-ordinator Paul Winders said.
Mr Winders said their success was due to the dedication of the parents and their instructors, but the school was also keen to support their endeavours.
"[Karate] lends itself to achieving in other sports and academically too," he said.
Once the children had experienced success they generally wanted to experience more and so worked harder in all other aspects of their lives.
"We are seeing the difference in the classrooms, as well as other sports - the skills of karate lend themselves across a range of activities."
Mr Winders said the school had been "immensely proud" of its pupils who had been "flying the flag" for their club, school and town in an international competition.
