7 June 2000
The Press, Christchurch
by Tim Dunbar
Black belt Honor Davies says that starting karate at six years of age helped her become something of a sporting all-rounder.
"I think doing karate at an early age gave me lots of co-ordination for other sports when I got older," said the Marian College Year 12 student.
A karate black belt one month before her 13th birthday and a New Zealand cadet representative at the last year, the 16-year-old Davies is also talented at soccer, surf life-saving, and touch.
The conflicts between the sports have already emerged with Davies last summer forced to make a choice between representing Canterbury at under-18 level in touch or competing for North Beach at the surf life-saving nationals.
Despite her love for touch, she felt North Beach surf clubmates needed her more and that training would have been wasted whereas the super touch training was useful for school competition.
The decision paid off with her North Beach team picking up a bronze medal in the open woman's beach relay at Oakura Beach, New Plymouth.
She said that surf life-saving, and touch, kept her fit over the Christmas holidays.
In soccer, she represented Canterbury at age-group level in 1997 and 1998 as a left-side player and plays in a particularly youthful Rangers premier women's team.
Davies said it was very hard to fit in her sports with school and homework as well, and she had to do part-time jobs such as babysitting to help finance the travelling required. "Money is always a big thing," she said.
When she first started doing karate there were not a lot of other females involved - but the numbers had increased since she got older.
"I've always liked it," she said.
At only one stage did she get bored with it - "because we weren't really doing a lot of tournaments".
That changed when she joined Karate New Zealand, representing all the styles of the martial art.
She trains mainly at the Parklands Karate Club and her instructors are former New Zealand coach Pat McGregor and Steve O'Neil.
A first degree black belt, Davies is unable to go for her nidan (second dan) grading in her style until she turns 18.
Last September she collected two bronze medals in colts kata and under-16 lightweight kumite (fighting) representing New Zealand at the Oceania championships in Wellington.
But she regards her career highlight so far as the karate nationals held in the capital the previous July. "I didn't expect myself to do that well because it was my first nationals. I actually came back with quite a few titles and other things".
Davies won golds in the junior girls' kata and team kumite competition, and also picked up two other silvers in kumite and a bronze in the female cadet open.
She was looking forward to a possible match-up with Sophie Savill at the Canterbury Open last weekend, but the world-ranked exponent pulled out because of concussion.
Her next assignment is the 2000 nationals back in Wellington on June 18.
Her big goal at the nationals will be beating an old rival Suzanne Yee, 17, from Hutt Valley, who beat her on a referee's decision last year.
Both were in the New Zealand team last year. "She used to be the youngest in the women's team... but then I came along."
Yee came south for the Canterbury Open, and took the honours against Davies on that occasion.
Davies has been training five or six times a week, including weights and running, but has just started training in the mornings at school.
Wednesdays are reserved for the round-ball code, though, with school soccer in the afternoons and training those nights for the Sunday competition.
Her (main goals) remain in karate, and if it becomes an official Olympic sport going to the Athens Games in 2004. "That's a long way ahead, but that's pretty much my main goal (to challenge for)."
Footnote: Despite the temptation to link martial artist Honor Davies to Honor Blackman her parents were not thinking of the former Avengers television star when they named her.