Help Canterbury's NZ Reps get to the Kendo World Championships

This year is the 17th Kendo World Championships - the "Olympics" of the Kendo world - in South Korea. It is a one in three year event and the Sei Tou Ken Yu Kai Canterbury Kendo Club is fortunate to have three members and a coach selected to attend.

As an amateur sport, the cost of attending this event falls on the individual. An initial estimate of expenses provided puts this cost at between $7000 per person. As a club, we would like to assist our members with this by helping out with fundraising.

About the members:

Blake Bennett, 6-dan

In 2016 Blake was announced as the NZ Men's Team coach for the 2018 Kendo World Championship. In February 2018, he coached the NZ Men's Team to victory against the Australian Men's Team in the 3-yearly Trans Tasman Competition. He has been the head coach and president of the Canterbury Kendo Club since he was 15 years old.

Masa Matsunami, 3-dan

Masa has been learning kendo since he was 5-years old. Now aged 18, he is the second youngest male ever to be selected to represent NZ at the World Champs and was part of the winning team against Australia in February. Masa is working two part-time jobs to raise funds to attend the champs, as well as training three days a week in the dojo.

Tania Butterfield, 3-dan

Tania first learned kendo while working as a teacher in Japan. She joined the Canterbury Kendo Club in 2016. After two years of build up, she was selected as one of 6 women to represent New Zealand. This is the first time in 6 years that NZ has had a women's team compete at the world championships.

Kai Edwards, 2-dan

17-year old Kai will attend the 2018 world championships as an apprentice to the NZ Men's Team. This apprenticeship is part of a development scheme to give potential future NZ representatives an insight into the team and its expectations. Kai is a full-time student at Cashmere Highschool and intends to work part-time to raise funds for the world champs.