Timaru tai chi martial artist, shigong (honourable master) Dave Thew has been inducted into the Australasian Martial Arts Hall of Fame and the World Karate Union Hall of Fame.
Thew was the only New Zealander to be inducted this year and plans to just carry on doing what he has been doing.
‘‘I will just take each new path as it becomes apparent. I want to keep thinking of creative ways to help people help themselves through the art that I do.
‘‘Even though Iwas inducted, I look at it as I’m representing everyone that does tai chi rather than it just being a personal accolade; it’s about everyone, not just me.’’
Thew started his martial arts journey with judo in the 1970s, but a workplace accident left him with a broken kneecap which developed into arthritis.
‘‘I decided to look for something that was a bit more gentle but still had the martial art characteristic.’’
Living in Christchurch at the time, he heard about tai chi and a Chinese master who was teaching classes at six in the morning.
‘‘It was winter — I pushbiked there to meet him and that was the start of my journey.’’
Thew would dedicate himself fully to the art and end up being his master Hu Loo Chi’s first student to go out and teach.
‘‘I can clearly remember him saying to me ‘now you must go out and teach and spread the benefits of tai chi to the people that need it and want it’.
‘‘I have humbly taken that on as a lifelong goal. I look at it as carrying on his legacy.’’
Thew does demonstrations for schools and public groups as well as running workshops.
‘‘I look for different ways I can promote the benefits of tai chi.
‘‘It can be for anyone — it has many health benefits like balance, strengthening and flexibility. The meditation side also helps you become calmer as you practise it.’’
Practice was the most important part, Thew said.
‘‘It’s not really a casual thing you can just go and follow someone to do. You need to take on the movements and that’s when you start getting the benefit from it, by actually thinking about what you are doing and experiencing the form for itself.’’
He originally started tai chi for the health benefits, but eventually found the competition side of it.
‘‘A friend from Auckland asked if I’d ever thought about competition — I didn’t even know there were competitions.’’
Thew started competing nationally and was then selected for the New Zealand team and began competing internationally.
‘‘It’s taken me different places all around the world and I’ve made some great friends.’’
Throughout his career competing, Thew won a total of 24 gold and seven silver medals in national and international competitions.
In 2019, he held the world’s longest tai chi marathon, at 30 hours and 15 minutes, and in 2022, he became the first tai chi master to be inducted into the New Zealand Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
‘‘It was an honour to carry on my teacher’s legacy and take tai chi to the forefront and put it up there with the likes of karate and taekwondo,’’ Thew said.
Last weekend, he received an even greater honour, an induction into the Australasian Hall of Fame.
‘‘Peter Shaw from the local taekwondo club nominated me, which was really wonderful.’’
He travelled to Sydney for the ceremony, which took place on August 19.
They had to do a fiveminute demonstration and hold two seminars that encapsulated their art, he said.
‘‘It ran all day, so you got to try out different martial arts and get an understanding of how they did it. It was a great day of sharing.’’
They had the induction ceremony in the evening.
‘‘It was quite cool; it was black-tie, like the Grammy awards but better.’’
Overall, it was an amazing time, Thew said.
‘‘It was really nice to be accepted and inducted.
‘‘The camaraderie with the other inductees was phenomenal — I’ve made lifelong friends and look forward to going back next year.’’
