One Ōmokoroa family has martial arts legends in the making, with not one, but three siblings recently crowned as national tae kwon do champions.

Carter Lenny, 14, Amerie Lenny, 12, and Beauden Lenny, 10, competed in the 2026 International Tae Kwon Do Nationals held in Hamilton on August 22-23.

It was the first time the three young yellow belts had entered a national competition, and they all won their respective age categories.

Their reactions? “I was very shocked because the person I was going up against was really flexible and I didn’t really know how to counterattack it, and then I won gold and it just hit me,” Amerie said.

Beauden said he was shocked as well. “Gold is pretty hard to get!”

“I felt very appreciative of my gold,” Carter said. “I’ve got other golds, but that’s probably been the biggest so far.”

Gold was the theme of the day, as they visited the Golden Arches to celebrate their success. “We went to Macca’s,” Carter said, after the siblings were rewarded with McFlurries.

New kicks

The siblings are relatively new on the tae kwon do scene and began training 18 months ago at The Martial Arts Academy in Tauranga.

However, they aren’t strangers to martial arts. “We all started with Muay Thai,” Amerie said. With three and a half years of Muay Thai training up their sleeves, the siblings said they had quickly bolstered their fighting and self-defence repertoire.

The Lenny siblings (from left): Carter, 14, Beauden, 10, and Amerie, 12. Photo / Kelly O’Hara

“I believe that Muay Thai has taken us a long way through tae kwon do because from where we started in tae kwon do to where we are now is not much,” Carter said. “It was really just the time we had to put in, because the Muay Thai we started with really helped us with fighting.

“We felt we needed to check out more technique, and tae kwon do was just that, and also to increase our palette with new kicks and techniques that we couldn’t learn from Muay Thai.”

Dedication pays off

Carter is a Year 9 student at Tauranga Boys’ College, Amerie is in Year 8 at Ōtūmoetai Intermediate School, and Beauden is a Year 6 student at Bethlehem Primary.

Outside of school, the trio train five to six times a week.

“We couldn’t get this far without our parents driving us to places or just driving us in total and pushing us to our limits,” Carter said.

He said their tae kwon do coach Scott Coburn was “a great teacher”.

The siblings enjoyed learning new moves.

“I like to start with a lead sidekick, and then turning it into a roundhouse kick,” Amerie said. Beauden also opted for the sidekick. “I find that very fun to do.”

“For me it would be the double kick,” Carter said. “You kick first, but then you retract it and kick again to the head.”

Amerie said she loves the sport. “I don’t know whether it’s the patterns or the sparring. I think it’s just really fun.”

Beauden said tae kwon do was “very disciplined” and you had to be well balanced to do it.

Watch this space

So, do the siblings have their sights set on international fighting mats?

“Oh, definitely! 100%,” Amerie said. “Absolutely!” added Beauden. “It’s in my cards,” Carter said.

For now, they want to keep making their mark at regional and national competitions. “I kind of have to give a thanks to my little brother Beauden, because he first brought up the idea – ‘Let’s do some martial arts!’” Amerie said.