It turned into the focal part of their lives.
Now, a Dunedin mother and her two sons are back from Malaysia having had success on the world stage.
Emily, Riley and Keegan Hall won a medal each at the World Goju-Ryu Karate Championships.
Emily claimed a bronze in the individual kumite - fighting - while Riley (17) and Keegan (16) claimed silver in the team kumite.
They also had near-successes in the kata (form), while Keegan made the bronze medal round in the individual kumite.
It was a long way from 11 years ago, when the trio went along to a class and loved it.
"The boys were a little bit unruly," she said.
"My father suggested I take them to a karate class to get them some discipline.
"That was when we were living in Balclutha, so we took them to a karate class in Milton. It was a mixed class, it was all ages and anyone who was a beginner could go.
"So I just went, all three of us were in the same class."
They progressed to training six times a week and have all represented New Zealand on multiple occasions.
The world championships was the latest of those and the medals were great achievements.
There were more than 600 competitors from around the world across all the categories.
The kumite competitions were knockout-style formats, although everyone who lost to the eventual finalists would move into a separate bracket to contest the bronze medal.
Making it to the medal stages had come as a surprise.
"We kind of went over there thinking, we're from Dunedin, a little group and the rest of the team was from the North Island.
"So we were just like `we'll just give it a go and see how far we get'. I was going to be happy if we got through a couple of rounds."
The trio also run classes for a range of ages at John McGlashan College - where the boys go to school and Emily works - six times a week.
