On Saturday 24th March at the Bell Block Hall in New Plymouth the New Plymouth Taekwondo & Hapkido Club (NPTHC) hosted the Taranaki Multi-style Martial Arts Competition (TMSMAC). 72 competitors from 14 clubs and 6 different martial art styles from throughout the North Island (including Wellington, Manawatu, Whanganui, Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and of course Taranaki) took part in two fighting categories. We had both stand-up only fighting and Hapkido fighting. The stand-up only rules were straight out of the 1990 World Taekwondo rule book, affectionately known as the “power and combination era”. We changed the point allocation to reflect modern times and reduced the size of the competition area which resulted in a lot more action than normal. The rules also overlap with Kyokushin Karate and freestyle Kickboxing two other competitive based martial arts. The stand-up fighting was dominated by Kickboxing and Taekwondo fighters with Hapkido and Kempo also in the mix. The second category of fighting, Hapkido, was a combination of stand-up fighting, grappling, takedowns, ground grappling and submissions.. These fights also included leg kicks and head punches, this made the matches fast and furious with big some hits, however eventually most of these matches ended up on the ground at some point; incredibly exciting to watch. This was the second Hapkido competition ever in New Zealand and a precursor the Hapkido Oceania Championships which is being held in Wellington later this year. While we kept all the important competitive aspect of a competition we also included some fun aspects, such as commentary and music played between rounds and fights, so it was less formal. We also had trophies for “best stand-up fighter”, “best Hapkido fighter” and “Sportsperson of the competition” and ultimately the “best fighting team”. NPTHC was the only Taekwondo club to compete in the Hapkido divisions. They did extremely well combining their Taekwondo skills with Hapkido training; they were formidable picking up 7 medals including two first and second places, eliminating grapplers to get there. If you enjoyed the old school Taekwondo fighting, or would like the opportunity to truly test your skills against other styles, then add this competition onto your 2019 calendar; next year’s event is pencilled in for Saturday 23rd March 2019. Newspaper Article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/102557008/martial-arts-styles-come-together-in-taranakiSteve Drummond | Taekwondo