ABILITYKIA ORA!
Welcome to the Spring issue of the New Zealand Disability Karate Association newsletter.
The Final newsletter of 2025! What an incredible year it's been for our club! Let's take a moment to celebrate all we've achieved together.
Our karate family has grown so much, with more amazing members joining us to learn, train, and have fun.
This year, we launched our Saturday Classes in Lower Hutt, including our Karate Legends for 3 to 6 year olds. Giving even more people the chance to experience the joy and benefits of karate.
And the year is not over we still have one more grading and our special Christmas class!
Who has graded?
Since our last newsletter, we've celebrated two successful gradings. It was wonderful to see so many students progress. Looking ahead, our final grading for the year will take place in early December. We're excited to see a few more new belts in the dojo!
Here's the breakdown of our club's current belt ranks.
- 23 white belts (10th kyu)
- 7 yellow belts (9th kyu)
- 22 orange belts (8th kyu)
- 21 green belts (7th kyu)
- 5 blue belts (6th kyu)
- 6 purple belts (5th kyu)
Let's keep up the great work and see who will be ready to grade in 2026!
What is coming up.
Our plans for the next year
- Complete the illustrations for book six in the Rainbro series.
- Begin work on the karate coaching book manuscript.
- Have an awesome Christmas break.
- We are targeting businesses around Wellington for funding support.
- Have a stand at the DIA Christmas market.
- Grade our purple belt students to brown.
- Run our second tournament.
- Remember you can invite your friends along to class.
Our Festive Farewell!
Our final class of the year will be on Wednesday 17th December. We'll be turning it into a Christmas celebration with mince pies and festive crackers! For our Friday and Saturday students, your last classes will be on 12th and 13th December. And of course there will be plenty of treats to help celebrate the season.
Let's finish the year with smiles, fun, and a little holiday magic in the dojo!
Looking ahead to 2026: Our first class of the new year will be on 21st January. It's going to be another exciting year full of progress, learning, and achievements! Let's make this last class extra special and share in the holiday spirit.
If you can't join us we'll miss you, but we wish you a Merry Christmas and an amazing 2026!
Karate @ Manaaki
A massive thank you to Manaaki Ability Trust! Their generous support and the use of their wonderful facilities make it possible for us to deliver inclusive classes in the Lower Hutt area. We're incredibly grateful, and together we're creating something truly special for our community!
The Manaaki Ability Trust clients continue to train with fantastic energy and determination, achieving some truly remarkable milestones, including the Trust's very first purple belt before the end of the year! Their progress has been inspiring to watch, and the momentum just keeps building.
Manaaki's first class of 2026 will be on Wednesday 28 January. Friday classes will resume at the earlier time of 11am.
Look out for the Summer issue and feel free to share this newsletter with your friends.
Membership is free and open to anyone who wishes to take part in the martial arts training offered by the club. All the details are on our website. www.karatedojo.nz
Ngā mihi