2025 New Zealand Hapkido Festival and 4th Oceania Cup

We invite you to the 2025 New Zealand Hapkido Festival and 4th Oceania Cup Friendship Tournament, which is being organised and hosted by the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy, and run in association with the New Zealand Hapkido Federation Incorporated. The competition will run from Friday 26 September to Sunday 28 September.

The tournament is slightly different from your standard martial arts tournament in that there is more of an emphasis on the non-sparring aspect. We want the tournament to be more about demonstrating a wide range of Hapkido skills as well as networking and building friendships across different schools, styles and nations.

This tournament is aimed at New Zealand Hapkido practitioners, but other Martial Arts students may attend by invitation. Please contact Callum to discuss this.

We will again be visited by Grand Master Scott Seo and Master Ha, from the World Kido Federation / Hanminjok Hapkido Federation, there will also be a contingent of Australian Hapkido practitioners and possibly some others from further afield.

The Hapkido Dragons competition for 5 - 7 years olds will be held on Friday, 26 September at approximately 16:00.

The rest of the 4th Oceania Cup friendship tournament will take place on Saturday 27 September and Sunday 28 September.

There are three cups to be won:
- Junior Cup (7-12)

- Youth Cup (13-19)

- Oceania Cup (20+)

To be eligible for the Junior Cup you need to compete in a minimum of three events - chosen from Sparring, Self-Defence, Unarmed Pattern/Hyung, and either Jumping Side Kick or Rolling Break Fall.

To be eligible for either the Youth Cup or the Oceania Cup, you need to compete in at least three events - chosen from Sparring, Self-Defence, Unarmed Pattern/Hyung and Armed Pattern/Hyung.

Only your three highest scores are counted if you enter more than three events.

General seminars led by Master Seo will be run on the morning of Saturday, 27 September. All seminars will be at the competition venue. Proposed times are:

- Children (Tigers 7 - 12 years) at approximately 9.00 am for 1 hour.
- Hapkido seminar (13+ years) at approximately 10.30 am 90 minutes.

You must be a New Zealand Hapkido Federation student or a student from one of our guest schools to be eligible to attend any of the seminars.

The competition will commence on Saturday, 27 September at 13.00. The following events will be run*:
- Long Rolling Break Falls
- Jumping Side Kicks
- Unarmed Patterns / Hyungs
- Armed Patterns / Hyungs

At the conclusion of the first day, a semi-formal dinner held at Blend Bar. Anyone under the age of 15 attending the dinner must be accompanied by a paid parent also attending the dinner.

On Sunday, 28 September, the following events will be run*:
- Self-Defence Routines
- Demonstrations
- Sparring

- Ground fighting (Following NZJJF rules)
- Prize Giving

Tickets for seminars and dinner must be purchased separately from the main entry and are open to non-competitors subject to availability.

Fully paid-up members of the New Zealand Hapkido Federation Incorporated are eligible for a 20% discount on their entry fees. Please contact Callum for the discount code.

Spectator entry by Koha at the door.

*Timetable is subject to change depending on entries. The final timetable will be confirmed closer to the date.

We'll update this page with more details closer to the date and announce when registrations open.

To clarify the Belt Grade / Ranks, for Tigers and Adult Hapkido students they are as follows:

White Belt = 8.Gup
Yellow Belt = 7.Gup
Blue Belt = 6.Gup
Blue Belt, one Red Tip = 5.Gup
Blue Belt, two Red Tips = 4.Gup
Red Belt = 3.Gup
Red Belt, one Black Tip = 2.Gup
Red Belt, two Black Tips = 1.Gup

For Junior Black Belt, select 1.Dan as the Rank, and then choose "Junior Grades" for the Grade Level.