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Esmé has been selected to represent New Zealand in ITF Taekwon-Do! Help her get to Croatia in October 2025

  • 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.

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  • Thank you to everyone

      3 November 2025

    Dearest friends, family, fans and supporters!

    We’re on the plane leaving Doha now, on the way back to Auckland, so it feels like a good time for a quick update about how the Taekwon-do world champs in Croatia went, for Esmé, for the NZ team and for us!

    In the individual junior female power breaking event, there were 26 competitors from 15 different countries.

    The noise in the stadium was stupendous. Esmé was sixth to step up, and she looked like she belonged. She made all her first round breaks, thus moving into the second round tie break. She didn’t break the boards in the second round - it was a knife hand break, with much more thickness to break. She came sixth equal overall and left the ring with a mixture of disappointment, pride and a very bruised forearm. Her teammate actually won the gold medal, which was amazing.

    In the team junior female power breaking event, Esmé and her teammates all made their breaks beautifully but unfortunately one of them lost points for a technical fault. It was a bit unlucky and disappointing because the team was one of the favourites, but Esmé looks back on both the events with pride. She represented NZ and herself with great skill and presence, and she learnt a lot! So did we!

    Aaron, Lara and Esmé

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  • Links to watch Esmé compete in the World Championships

      26 September 2025
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    Hi folks,

    Four more sleeps and our adventure begins. The draw came out today - exciting! Esmé is competing on Day 2 and Day 4 of the four day competition, and is 6th on out of 26 competitors in her Individual Female Junior Power Breaking, while the Team Female Junior Power Breaking is on 7th out of 11 countries (pretty great spread all around).

    The pictures attached here give you all the info you need to watch (if you are keen to get up in the wee hours of the night!! Although you can of course replay in the morning :))

    The URL link below is for her individual Power event, NZ time Friday 10 October 1am - 4am

    https://www.youtube.com/live/g-mv3GtXoL4?si=_xYODMOZhA29JGBg

    Lara

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  • Getting real now!

      26 August 2025

    Hi lovely supporters, we have our last push for Croatia this month, with departure imminent in 35 days! Esmé competed in the National Championships in Auckland this weekend and gained SILVER in Power Breaking!! She's had a knee injury she's managing, and hopes to peak at the right time :) Here's a vid of her breaking for silver :)

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  • Keeping our page open until the actual day Esmé departs for Croatia!

      26 August 2025

    Hi everyone, we are going to keep Esmé's page open until the day she departs for Croatia - 30 September 2025! It's getting really close now! ...

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  • Official pics

      11 May 2025
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    Hi legends!

    Esmé just wrapped up a role in her high school musical, and now she’s back to a Taekwon-do focus. If you’ve ordered a pet portrait, she’ll be starting these in the next few weeks.

    Official NZ pics are here! And here’s a link if you want to check out the other team NZ members from around the motu.

    Thanks again everything for helping Ez get to Croatia.

    https://members.itkd.co.nz/events/tournaments/world-champs/2025-croatia/new-zealand-team.php

    🇭🇷 🇭🇷 🇭🇷

    Lara xxx

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  • 22% of the way there! Woohoo!

      23 April 2025
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    Dear supporters, thank you, thank you! We are 22% of the way to our $5000 goal - you're amazing, e hoa mā. Esmé continues to train 6-7 days a week (yes, we try to get her to take rest days) and is fuelled by you getting behind her. There are 161 days before we get on the plane to Croatia, and in those days, Ez will travel to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for weekend NZ Team training camps 8 times! It's certainly keeping us busy in all ways. Next fundraising activity is 'Pet Portraits' - if you know of anyone who might be interested in a high quality JPEG like the attached pic, please contact us. $30 for the sketch version, $50 with colour. We are offering this to current supporters first as she's had a lot of interest and can only do so many.

    Thanks again for your support. I'll be making sure you are updated regularly.

    Lara, Esmé's mum x

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