Te Kura Awhio — known on the mats as Awhio MMA — is Gisborne/Tairawhiti's only Mixed Martial Arts academy, based at 16 Fitzherbert Street in Whataupoko, opposite the Tairawhiti Museum. Owned and run by Baz and Bev Kingi-Thomas, the school's head coach and manager, it is a collective of instructors and supporters with a shared passion for MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling, providing instruction in all three for everyone from complete beginners through to advanced.
The culture is the drawcard. Newcomers are told plainly: you don't have to dress up, you don't have to be fit and you don't have to be tough — you just have to be keen and bring a positive attitude, leaving your ego at the door before you get ready to roll. Join and, in the gym's own words, you'll soon become part of the whanau. Behind the welcome sits a serious pedigree: Awhio MMA carries a roster of competitive fighters, making it a real fighters' gym as well as a friendly one.
Training runs Monday to Friday. Adults can train BJJ in the gi on Mondays and no gi on Wednesdays and Fridays, each with dedicated beginner and advanced classes, plus wrestling on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and kickboxing through the week. Juniors are well catered for with age-based BJJ streams — Teina Tuatahi, Teina Tuarua and Tuakana — in both gi and no gi, and a Friday comp class for aspiring competitors. To join or find out more, contact Baz and Bev on 027 739 9556 or at [email protected].
On a quiet stretch of Fitzherbert Street in Whataupoko, directly opposite the Tairawhiti Museum, Te Kura Awhio — known on the mats as Awhio MMA — holds a distinction no one else in the region can match: it is Gisborne/Tairawhiti's only Mixed Martial Arts academy. The school is owned and run by Baz and Bev Kingi-Thomas, its head coach and manager, and operates as a collective of instructors and supporters who share a passion for MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling. Instruction spans all three disciplines, catering for beginners through to advanced.
Step through the door and the first thing you notice is what isn't there: no posturing, no dress code, no fitness test at the threshold. The gym's welcome is disarmingly simple. You don't have to dress up. You don't have to be fit. You don't have to be tough. You just have to be keen and bring a positive attitude — and leave your ego at the door before you get ready to roll. Join, say Baz and Bev, and you'll soon become part of the whanau.
Because Awhio is a collective of instructors rather than a one-person operation, members move between coaching voices and disciplines through the week. Each art gets its own dedicated slots, so after-school juniors, after-work adults and committed competitors can all find their place in the same timetable.
Training runs Monday through Friday, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the backbone of the schedule. Mondays are gi days for adults: beginners take the mats from 5.30 to 6.15pm, with the advanced class following from 6.15 to 7.15pm. From Wednesday the adult programme switches to no gi, keeping the same beginner and advanced split on Wednesday and Friday evenings. Kickboxing rounds out the striking side, with sessions on Tuesday and Thursday from 7.00 to 8.00pm and an advanced class on Monday nights.
Wrestling has its own evenings, Tuesday and Thursday from 5.30 to 7.00pm — a core pillar of any genuine MMA gym, and a demanding standalone discipline in its own right.
Families are at the heart of the kura. Junior BJJ runs in age-based streams named in te reo: Teina Tuatahi trains on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3.30 to 4.15pm, Teina Tuarua on Monday and Wednesday from 4.30 to 5.15pm, and the older Tuakana group from 4.20 to 5.20pm on Tuesday and Thursday. The gi comes out early in the week — Monday and Tuesday junior sessions are gi classes — before the programme switches to no gi from Wednesday onward. Youngsters with competitive ambitions also get their own session: the Junior BJJ comp class runs on Friday afternoons from 4.25 to 5.25pm.
Awhio MMA also keeps a roster of competitive fighters, and the team makes no bones about what that means: this is, in their own words, a REAL fighters gym. For members, that reputation matters in both directions. If you harbour competitive ambitions of your own, you're training alongside people who test what they learn. And if you're a complete beginner, you're learning techniques that are proven nightly on the mats — inside a whanau culture built to welcome people with no experience at all.
The academy sits at 16 Fitzherbert Street, Whataupoko, Gisborne 4010 — easy to find opposite the Tairawhiti Museum. Classes run on weekday afternoons and evenings, with the first junior sessions kicking off at 3.30pm and the last classes finishing at 8.00pm. To ask about joining, the timetable or pricing, contact Baz and Bev on 027 739 9556 or email [email protected] — full details are on the website at awhio.com.
Whether you're chasing fitness, confidence and self-defence skills, looking for a disciplined and welcoming after-school activity for the kids, or an experienced grappler hunting serious rolls, Te Kura Awhio has a class — and a whanau — waiting on the mat.