Esme Liesbeth Blaker and Cody Thompson have headed to Croatia to test their skills among the best practitioners of the sport at the ITF world championships.
It was a first time trialling for, then making, the New Zealand team for Liesbeth Blaker, a year 12 student at Bayfield High School.
But Thomson had been through the process once before and was helping her, she said.
"He is awesome to work with and the whole team is an awesome environment to work with, honestly."
Liesbeth Blaker got started in the sport after her mother encouraged her to learn some self-defence.
She was hooked after breaking her first board.
"I got to break a board just having it held on a machine and I really loved it, so that spurred me to keep on going."
When she is training at her peak, she breaks about 80 boards every session.
She enjoyed breaking boards because she loved the science of it. She could break through four boards in one go.
The sport required the pair to travel a lot and miss out on many social occasions.
But they both agreed the sacrifice was worth it.
Thomson had moved to Dunedin from Middlemarch as a boarding student at Otago Boys’ High School.
He said he wanted to try something a little different and gave taekwondo a go.
Thomson’s coaches saw he had great technique and helped him hone in on learning taekwondo patterns.
He was looking forward to showing his technique to some of the best in the world.
The pair travelled to Croatia with 46 other taekwondo specialists, including fellow Dunedin athletes Ava Sheehan and Lachlan Ellis.
