For Cherie and Ricky Jackson, taekwondo is not just a sport, it is a family outing.
Between them, the mother and son combination have more than 10 years' experience, a drawer full of medals and two black belts.
At just 11-years-old, Ricky has to be one of the youngest, if not the youngest, black belt holders in Dunedin.
The Abbotsford School pupil followed his mother into the Green Island Taekwondo club about five years ago and decided he would quite like to wear a black belt one day.
He got the opportunity to grade for a black belt this month and to get it he had to do patterns, break boards and fight five black belt opponents for a minute and a-half each.
It was exhausting but the pint-sized martial arts exponent emerged largely unscathed.
"I only got a little bruise that looked like finger marks," Ricky explained.
It was not as intimidating as he thought because he had sparred with his opponents during training at the club and felt confident they would respect his age and size and exercise control.
Cherie (38) was not one of Ricky's opponents.
"I was just in the audience being a mum that day," she said.
With a black belt now firmly around his waist, Ricky has set his sights on grading up to second dan black belt.
It is going to take another three years, but then he has plenty of time on his side.
He also has to wait until he turns 15 before he can wear a completely black, black belt.
At the moment it is half red and half black until he comes of age.
Ricky focused on getting his black belt this year, but he won gold medals at the South Island championships in his category in 2007 and 2008.
He also placed second in his category at the national championships in Christchurch last year.
