Cutting the Coward Punch and Connecting With Teens

For two days, an anti-violence workshop has opened up for up to 120 South Auckland teens. They’ll learn the foundations of fighting, to prevent unwarranted aggression before it makes it to the streets. 

Walk Without Fear Charitable Trust Secretary Mike Angove told rova that making a difference at a community level is important, and programmes like this will be the instigator to progress at a governmental level.

“We don’t just want to be an empty bucket or an empty cart making a lot of noise, we want to make change,” he explained.

“As much as we want to change the laws, the most effective change is with children, you know, where violence starts. And influencing things well before they get to the need for an ambulance or a hospital at the metaphorical bottom of the cliff.”

After the death of a fellow Kickboxer, Angove and the Chairman of the Trust Eugene Bareman have been campaigning on stricter regulation and education across New Zealand.

30-year-old Fau Vake was killed by a coward punch in 2021. It’s an attack that is an unprovoked and unexpected strike to the head, often thrown from behind.

They promised to use their platform to drive real change, which meant working closely with a youth mentoring organisation, Blue Light, to roll out pilot programmes over the next two years. 

“As with any program, you develop syllabus and curriculum, you work in schools, you modify it, you test it, so to speak, and you continue to improve it,” Angove said.

“It’s a responsibility we feel deeply… Ultimately we’re coaches, and coaches are teachers, coaches are communicators. What is martial arts or sport without a drive to actually produce better people?”

“Being able to connect with the Blue Light national body has been a real bonus for us… It lays the platform for being able to roll out our message across schools across Greater Auckland, not just South Auckland, and eventually nationally.”

“That’s where you can really start making an impact. It’s at the coalface. It’s with kids before they’re in a position to be out on the street and perhaps making poor choices.”

Brendon Crompton, the CEO of Blue Light New Zealand, said this partnership is a worthwhile match; using education to grow and develop the young minds of the country. 

“We have seen first-hand how students respond to the message Walk Without Fear delivers in their school presentations and pilot programmes,” Crompton has said.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that enables us to roll that message out on a wider basis. We are working together to make communities safer.”

The first two-day-long workshop to commemorate this roll out starts on the 5th of May, in Auckland’s Morningside City Kickboxing school. It’s built around six modules: staying calm under pressure, responding rather than reacting, observing body language, maintaining focus, building self belief, and practical de-escalation strategies.