Riley Peters, Hayden Henry, Jacob Henry, Elijah Hunt, Ryder Henry, and Daneil Peters will head to Disney World in July for the chance to become a world champion karate fighter. Photo: Matt Dietrich Photography.
Wagga’s Forest Hill is home to six of the country’s best karate fighters, all of whom will travel to Disney World in July in a bid to become a world champion.
Riley and Daneil Peters, 16, Hayden Henry, 15, Jacob and Ryder Henry, 12 and Elijah Hunt, 8, will participate in the ISKA World Martial Arts Championships.
From 17 – 19 July, the martial arts stars from Infinity 8 Martial Arts, with their head instructor Shihan Terry Hunt will compete against the world’s best, with the chance to feature on world-leading sports broadcaster ESPN.
“Last year, they all competed through NSW and ACT championships and qualified for the World Martial Arts Championships,” Mr Hunt said.
“All of them finished in the top three at the Australian National Championships in their respective age divisions, which then gives them the invitation to join the Australian team heading to America this year.
“The boys are working hard at the moment with their training and trying to keep their conditioning up, their cardiovascular system, their endurance, everything has got to be spot on.
“They’ll all be gunning for the title.”
Mr Hunt runs a dojo at Forest Hill Public School and teaches nine students, three of whom are his own children.
“I’ve been doing it for 25 years now,” Mr Hunt said.
“My boys have seen me compete, and they kind of got the bug a little bit, and I held off with them competing too early, just so the bodies could adapt and learn and grow. So my eldest, my twins, they’ve been training for around 11 years now. On and off, it hasn’t been permanent, but for the last three years.
“My eight-year-old started because his brothers were doing it; he’s our youngest competitor going to America.
“He’s got a couple of national titles to his name as well from last year, and the twins have got two each. Hayden, Jacob and Ryder have also placed either second or third in their own age divisions.
“I previously, before moving to Wagga, did have a full-time dojo with the previous business partner, but we had different ideas on the business and decided to go our separate ways.
“That’s when I moved to Wagga and decided to teach my boys to keep them active and learn self-defence.
Mr Hunt’s three kids, twins Riley and Daneil, and youngest Elijah, qualified for the event with their friends Hayden and Jacob (also twins) and their younger brother Ryder.
“We are the smallest school dojo that will be competing,” he said.
“All the other dojos are full-time dojos that are running six days a week with six or seven classes a day. We run five days a week with one class a day.
“All the boys are very excited, but they’re still very nervous. They’re not sure what to expect because they’re going to be competing against kids they’ve never met or fought against before.
“But it will be the adventure of a lifetime that’s for sure.”
Be sure to watch ESPN on Disney+ or Kayo on 17 to 19 July for the chance to see Riley, Daneil, Hayden, Jacob, Ryder and Elijah in action.
