Ava: Warrior Princess

Ava Strong (59) Is A Former Stunt Double Named As A Member Of The New Zealand Order Of Merit For Services To Karate And The Community.

- Julie Jacobson

“I’ve been involved with martial arts for about 37 years now. I probably wouldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for my husband Lance. He wanted to get into it, so I tagged along. There were no classes in the Coromandel in those days, so we travelled to Auckland to train.

We brought what we learned back to Thames and developed our own system, Kiaido Ryu. It’s a full circle-type programme which combines a variety of self-defence skills with a holistic, family-focused healing syllabus. We started off in 1990 with one senior class and we’ve now got 13 schools across New Zealand.

Early on, we spent three months in Canada studying Arnis Mati stick fighting, and then we lived in the States for four years, where we learned jiu-jitsu and pressure point techniques. The main highlight there was training with four 10th Degree Black Belt Grandmasters, including Leo Fong, a first-generation student of Bruce Lee’s.

Lance and I would train with him, then go to Starbucks for a coffee and chat for hours. We heard the most amazing stories of life. It was awe-inspiring.