Esmé has been selected to represent New Zealand in ITF Taekwon-Do! Help her get to Croatia in October 2025
We are proudly helping our 16 year-old daughter Esmé get to Croatia in Oct 2025 to take on the the best at the ITF Taekwon-Do World Champs.
Dunedin, Otago
Esmé is 16 and has just been selected to represent New Zealand/Aotearoa in ITF Taekwon-Do! This year (2025) the World Championships are in Poreč, Croatia - the other side of the world :) Accepting this position in the elite team of 42 athletes comes at great expense as it's not a sport that is funded in New Zealand.
Esmé has been doing Taekwon-Do since she was eight years old and recently graded to blackbelt in 2024. She has been selected to represent NZ in two disciplines - power breaking and sparring, and will take on the best in the world whilst in Croatia. We are sure she will represent our country with skill and great pride.
If you have any spare coin that could help her achieve this goal, she would so appreciate it.
Lara Liesbeth's involvement (page creator)
I am so proud of Esmé, who is my 16 year old daughter. I want to to whatever I can to support her in this elite sporting dream that she has a chance of realising.
Use of funds
Expenses are many! Flights to Croatia, accommodation in Croatia during the tournament, NZ uniform, sparring gear ( needs to be new/at standard), fees, monthly NZ camps in 2025 in Wellington & Auckland. If partially funded, all money will go to above.
Latest update
PS 3 November 2025
Post script: we went to Ireland after Croatia, and Esmé contacted an instructor at a Taekwon-do club in Dublin. She was invited to go to the dojang and join the class, and ended up leading some of it, inspiring some of the female students, and showcasing breaking technique. It was a real buzz!
Mostly, we want to say a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU all for your moral, verbal, emotional and financial support. Esmé couldn’t have gone to the World Champs without your backing. It was an incredible experience, and life shaping, for Esmé and for all of our family.
PS. For those who have commissioned pet portraits: Ez will be working on those after NCEA exams, which finish in mid-late November.
Latest donations
Thanks Jen and fam! Xxx
Dear Jillian, thank you so much! We really appreciate it, e hoa.
Oh you lovely things. Thank you, dankjewel, gracias!
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