When Thames woman Ava Strong was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Wellington on June 28, her first thought was of how far she had come over her 40-plus years of hard work.
“I never thought a little girl from Coromandel would end up here, getting an award for getting in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame,” she told The Profile.
“I had that thing called the impostor syndrome, where you think, what have I done? [I] just felt very proud to have come this far.”
Martial arts crept into Ava’s life when she met husband Lance, an avid karate devotee, and took up training alongside him.
After searching for a system that would better reflect their personal philosophy, the couple decided to create their own, and in 1990 they founded Kiaido Ryu Martial Arts.
Kiaido Ryu is grounded in Okinawan karate, but over the years Lance and Ava have incorporated many different martial art styles into their syllabus. Their aim, Ava said, is a system which focuses on health and wellness, self-defence skills and growing self-confidence.
“We take from different systems and use what we think works,” Ava said.
“There’s lots of kata (training exercises) – every move you do is actually a self-defence move, so you learn it really well and it just happens automatically. When you get in close, there’s elbows and knees and throws, just basic jujitsu. And then judo, so you learn how to fall, how to roll, and weaponry.”
On the mind side, Kiaido Ryu uses the Warrior’s Wisdom, which incorporates meditation and skills like goal-setting.
From their first dojo in Thames 41 years ago, Kiaido Ryu has grown to include schools from Kaitaia to Taupō, with many former students becoming masters themselves. The martial arts scene has changed over the years, Ava said.
“There’s not as many women in the Hall of Fame. Obviously in the past it’s been something that males did. [But] I’d say with Kiaido Ryu, we’re probably 60:40 male:female,” Ava said.
“Nineteen of our students throughout New Zealand came down [for the awards], and there were seven female instructors of ours amongst it.”
Ava’s life has changed too, in ways she never could have imagined.
“It’s taken us all over the world, really. We’ve trained with Masters in America, Vancouver, Hawaii and, yeah, all over the States. Getting into stunt work was wonderful too. Xena and Hercules… The Last Samurai was the last thing that I did,” Ava said.
“They set up a scene where all the dead Indians or stunt crew were laying down here and Billy Connolly was on his horse up here, and he had to shoot the gun. He shot, and the horse trampled on our first stunt person… The horse went forward and came around, and still stood on me. It reminded me why I’d got out of stunt work.
“I did one for Greenstone Productions as well. I was a Māori in a village. I got shot again – I always get shot and have to die. But I would never have done any of that if I hadn’t been in martial arts.”
The best part of her journey though, has been watching her students grow.
“You see in the juniors, they’ll come in and they’ll have no confidence. And you just keep working with them and you see the change – even the way they stand and relate with other people,” she said.
“Running the women’s self-defence courses have been great too, so they can get their own confidence. It’s good to see the students grow in a positive way.”
At the award ceremony, Ava was presented with a ceremonial black belt and a greenstone necklace. She’s now in the company of Lance, who was inducted into the Hall in 2021.
“Without [Lance] pushing me, I wouldn’t have done any of this. Some people can’t work with partners, but we’re together pretty much every day,” Ava said.
“We’re semi-retired – we are looking at moving to Brisbane because our grandchildren are over there. But we’ll be still coming back for all the events that we have planned through the year, gradings and seminars. I don’t think we’ll ever stop. It’s become a way of life.”
