There’s a long-running private joke between Inspector Nick Thom and Nevan Stevenson, which we’re going to let you in on.
It has to do with the common professional and personal environments both find themselves in, and who is called ‘Sir’ in each.
Inspector Nick Thom is the Wellington District Operations Support Manager. He leads several specialist functional teams who support policing delivery both on the front line and in the background.
Nevan Stevenson is a long-serving Tactical Options Team Leader at the Royal New Zealand Police College (RNZPC). Nevan even trained Nick as a recruit. As Nick outranks Nevan at work, out of respect, Nevan refers to Nick as Sir.
The tables turn in a Hapkido training environment. Nevan has several black belt dans. In this setting, Nick calls him Sir.
It’s all very funny.
“Though the worlds we work and live in are different, they complement each other and operate well together," says Nick. "Outside of both, we’re just friends. It’s the discipline of knowing what’s appropriate in each time and place."
Hapkido is a Korean self-defence martial art based on how to counteract an attack.
Ready for combat action.
It uses a series of disciplines including wrist locks, pressure points and joint manipulation to control an opponent’s movements. Ultimately, it aims to avoid the use of brute force.
“Hapkido training is all about learning skills to keep yourself safe, very much in line with our purpose in Police, to be safe and feel safe," says Nevan.
“Working in a profession like policing, there’s great benefit in knowing this kind of self-defence craft. It can be an asset in front line contexts. It also aligns to our de-escalation approach.
"Where an incident is unfolding, we want to be able to bring it to a safe resolution with minimal use of force.”
Nevan first began to practise the combat art in 1999, and with his wife Susan has been running the organisation since 2008. Nevan achieved his fifth dan black belt in 2014 and is a master in the martial art form.
Together they run a Hapkido charter, leading and training people in New Plymouth, Tauranga, Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt. This includes a youth class made up of 7 to 14-year-olds and adult classes for those aged 15 and above.
Nick first got involved with Hapkido in 2014 because his two sons were enrolled in youth classes.
Inspector Nick Thom - two dan black belt in combat Hapkido.
“I went with my son and watched what they were learning," he says. "I was on PST at that time and could see benefits from a work perspective. It was also a chance to learn something alongside my sons."
Nearly 10 years in, as well as being a student, Nick is an instructor at the school. A fair but firm approach best describes his teaching style.
Nick says leading in both environments is the same: “It’s about building trust with the people you lead and enabling them to be their best. With the youth students it’s about explaining things in a manner that they can understand.”
In March this year, Nick successfully passed his second black belt dan.
The first dan takes a minimum of three years training to achieve. With two years of additional training under his belt, Nick was overdue to sit his second dan.
Nevan makes a point of highlighting that Nick passed this second dan with a very high grade.
“Not too many people go beyond their first black belts," he says. "What we start to look for after this is mastery. You need to be able to control emotions. This takes discipline, control, and physical restraint.
“The test is physical, but mindset is the key. There’s a lot of mental fortitude required to get through; not giving up and having the will to win is essential."
The test is four hours long and has a set syllabus. It starts with a 2.4km run, press-ups and crunches before getting into the required syllabus, punching, ground survival and kicking techniques.
Weapons disarming techniques for firearms, knives and blunt weapons is also assessed. The final component is sparring and fending off random attacks.
“The last part of the test is when your level of fitness (or not) shows. When sparring, the attacks keep coming at you regardless. In preparation for the test, I focused on mastery of the techniques because this keeps you going when physical exhaustion kicks in.”
Though pleased to have passed the challenging second dan test, for Nick it’s a commitment to continual learning. The skills, knowledge and experience gained create a positive and disciplined mindset.
“My sons are still involved, and it sends them a great message around being committed to a goal, and working diligently to achieve it,” he says.