Teen boot camp shows 'remarkable' results

After nearly a year of Glen Hardinge's (front right) exercise and discipline-based boot camp, 13-year-old Wakatipu High School pupils (from left) Caleb Bradshaw and John Roche have seen the benefits and are gaining an appreciation of the place in which they live. Photo by Felicity Wolfe.

The mix of martial arts discipline and outdoors skills training has made a big impact on a group of boys - for which the school was running out of options last year.

It was struggling with disruptive pupils who had been aggressive towards teachers and fellow pupils.

Now, the boys are gaining enthusiasm for the activities they are involved in, and learning respect for their boot-camp mentor - karate instructor Glen Hardinge.

He said the key was exercise - and plenty of it.

"I find they need an hour of hard physical exercise a day," Mr Hardinge said. "Then there is a feeling of calm which falls over the group."

Wakatipu High School principal Lyn Cooper agreed the exercise had made a remarkable difference in the boys' attitudes at school and their learning.

She had heard of similar programmes starting around the country but said the success depended on the person running it.

Having taken on the challenge of providing a good male role model, Mr Hardinge is enthusiastic about the attitude changes he had seen in the group.

"They are not perfect," Mr Hardinge said.

"They might have a couple of good weeks and then one of them will blow out and get in a fight or be caught lighting a cigarette [at school].

"But their referrals are way down on last year."

Mr Hardinge believed most of the boys would have been referred "about 20 times already" before his boot camps.

The experience has moved from the dojo to the outdoors with Coronet Peak helping the group by providing ex-rental ski gear for their mountain trips and Mr Hardinge using his kayak business to teach the boys water skills.

"They love it," Mr Hardinge said. "When they first started they were very unsure [on the mountain and the lake] and were dragging their feet.

"But now they are keen and they keep asking what we will do next."

As well as doing better in school and behaving better in the classroom, the boys are also discovering how lucky they were to be growing up in Queenstown.

"They are realising that people care, and that they live in a pretty amazing place," Mr Hardinge said.