Motu Trego is the man behind East Coast Muay Thai, the small gym in Whatuwhiwhi which has produced several young champions already.

East Coast Muay Thai is a gym focused primarily on kids, with a whole lot of success occurring so far.

Motu Trego’s two sons – Sonny (10) and Lfah (13) – are both Junior NZ Muay Thai champions. Lfah won the IKBF New Zealand Junior Featherweight title in December last year, whereas Sonny won the inaugural AMTA Junior Korimako Weight title at Arena Wars 10 last Saturday.

In addition to the Trego brothers, East Coast Muay Thai also boasts another champion: Manu Freedom Tepania (pictured below) who is 15 years old.

Fight News’ Harry Greenfield caught up with Motu Trego to ask him a few questions about his small gym full of young champions.

Hi Motu. Tell us about the beginnings of your gym.

“There was a group of us that started our own club. Our gym was specially made for kids, aged from 9 to 18 years old, that needed a new direction and pathway to follow towards a positive life. We started our gym at home; training out of our garage, where we opened our house to all these kids.

We had 35 kids that were registered. That was the beginning of our gym in 2017; currently, we only have 10 kids all up, my four kids and another six kids.”

Did you have a fight career of your own? How many fights?

“Yes, before I had a motorbike accident ended up with a head injury. I had three wins with no losses under Jason Suttie at ETK gym. I trained with Jason when I was 15 years old and very skinny, a very long time ago.

Back then we had our gym up under New Market bridge, so I’ll say my foundation started there.”

What do you think it is that has allowed such a small team to produce so many champions?

“Me as a coach, putting time, effort and endless hours into training the kids, giving them a safe haven with somewhere to be and something to do while being here. Also, looking forward to accomplishing the short-term goals that they set out from when they first started here.”

Both of your sons are Junior Muay Thai NZ champs. How proud are you of them?

“I'm not surprised, as they are very hard workers, they train very hard and with hard work you can accomplish anything in life and like any dad we only want the very best for our sons. So yeah that tells you I'm very proud of anything they achieve in life whether it be Muaythai, Kickboxing, school etc.”

How much of your life revolves around Muay Thai?

“To some people, Muaythai is a sport but to me and my family, Muaythai is a life-style. It’s not all about fighting, it's about the traditions that revolve around Muaythai: respect, discipline, honour, loyalty and friendship; all positive aspects of Muaythai.”

With such a record of accomplishments already, what does the future hold for your club?

“The future holds many more accomplishments within the team: Oceania titles,

South Pacific titles and one day to turn professional to fight worldwide, but first and foremost the focus is on school.”

Thanks for taking the time Motu. All the best for you and the team at East Coast Muay Thai.

You can follow the team at East Coast Muay Thai on their Facebook page. Stay tuned for the next title challengers for Motu's three champions!