Auckland · Est. Eagle DS · Combat & Human Performance

We Don't
Teach Sport.
We Build
People.

Elite pathways from first pad to national competition — and beyond.

Eagle DS is Auckland's only full-pathway combat sports academy built around measurable outcomes: technical mastery, leadership, mental resilience, and the high-performance habits that define successful people across every field.

Led by Dafydd Sanders — 27 years teaching and coaching, NZ representative across four combat disciplines at world championship level. This is not a gym. This is a development system.

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Our Philosophy

The Habits of
Elite People
Start Young.

"The most successful people in the world — in business, in sport, in leadership — share a set of non-negotiable habits. We teach those habits through martial arts."

Every great leader, athlete, and high achiever operates from the same foundation: discipline, pressure management, focus under stress, and a relentless drive for self-improvement.

At Eagle DS, martial arts is the vehicle. The destination is a young person who is technically excellent, mentally strong, and built for whatever comes next — whether that's a national podium, a top university, or running a company.

01
Technical Mastery

Precise, measurable skill development. Every student has clear milestones — nothing vague, nothing arbitrary.

02
Mental Resilience

Performing under pressure. Managing failure. Staying composed. The skills employers and universities pay a premium for.

03
Leadership

From follower to leader. Advanced students coach, mentor, and carry responsibility — building real-world capability.

04
Elite Habits

Punctuality, preparation, self-accountability, respect. The invisible traits that separate good from exceptional.

The Eagle DS Pathway

A Clear Road
from Beginner
to Elite.

Unlike activity programmes with no direction, every Eagle DS student enters a structured development system. Parents can see exactly where their child is, what they're building toward, and what comes next.

Ages 7–11
Martial Arts Foundations

Technical fundamentals, coordination, discipline, and focus. The bedrock everything else is built on.

Mon–Thu 5–5:45pmMeasurable Milestones
Teens & Adults
Gateway Pad Classes

Boxing precision and kicking mechanics. The entry point to combat performance training.

Mon & Wed 6pmElite Technique
Performance Track
Combat Performance

Kickboxing drills, sparring, and MMA grappling. Tactical mastery and competition preparation.

Mon–Thu 7pmCompetition Ready
Advanced
Young Adult Coach Leadership Academy

Young adults are trained to coach junior students, develop real leadership capability, and earn formal certification. Weekend intensives.

Weekend SessionsCertified Coaches
Elite
Elite Athlete Accelerator

Personalised multi-discipline coaching. National and international competition readiness. For the athlete who wants everything.

By ApplicationNational / Intl

Term Schedule

Every Session.
Purpose-Built.

Live timetable straight from our booking system. Tap any class to view details and reserve your place. Held at 17 Nandina Ave, East Tāmaki, Auckland.

Who Eagle DS Is For

Not Everyone.
The Right People.

🎯

Parents Who Invest in Outcomes, Not Activities

You want your child to develop discipline, resilience, leadership, and focus — not just burn energy. You understand that the habits formed between ages 7 and 17 determine the kind of adult your child becomes.

  • Families who value structured, measurable development
  • Parents who see training as a long-term investment
  • Families for whom excellence — not participation — is the standard
  • Anyone seeking a rigorous, outcome-driven pathway
🥇

Young Athletes Who Want to Compete at the Top

You're not here for a social session. You want technical precision, competitive experience, and a pathway to national or international performance. Eagle DS is built for you.

  • Teens and adults with competitive ambitions
  • Athletes seeking structured, outcome-driven coaching
  • Those aiming for national selection or international competition
  • Fighters who want elite technical development, not just sparring
🧠

High-Performance Professionals

The same mental skills that win fights win boardrooms. Stress management, composed decision-making, resilience under pressure, and physical peak state — this is what our corporate programme delivers.

  • Executives and senior leaders seeking peak performance tools
  • Teams that need to perform under sustained pressure
  • Professionals who want the habits of elite athletes
  • Organisations investing in human capital
👨‍👧

Families Ready to Train Together

The Parent–Child Performance Intensive is not a fun family activity. It is a structured shared challenge — real martial arts skills, real communication development, real growth for both of you.

  • Parents who want to model high-performance habits for their children
  • Families seeking genuine shared challenge, not passive observation
  • Parents looking to understand and support their child's training
  • Families who want a lasting shared pursuit of excellence

Specialist Programmes

Beyond the Mat.
Human Development
at Every Level.

Flagship · Ages 7–11

Martial Arts Foundations

The most important programme we run. This is where the habits, discipline, and technical base are built. Everything else in the Eagle DS ecosystem starts here.

  • Technique, balance, coordination, applied martial arts
  • Measurable skill milestones at every stage
  • Character: respect, focus, composure, accountability
  • Clear progression into teen performance tracks
Leadership · Advanced

Young Adult Coach Leadership Academy →

Young adults are trained to coach junior students. This isn't a reward — it's a demanding leadership curriculum that produces genuinely capable people ready for life, work, and responsibility. Built on the Eagle DS Coaching Course.

  • Coaching methodology and communication
  • Mindset mastery and self-regulation
  • Entrepreneurial and organisational thinking
  • Formal certification upon completion
Elite · By Application

Elite Athlete Accelerator

For athletes with serious competitive ambitions. Personalised, multi-discipline, relentless. National and international competition readiness is the only target.

  • Striking, grappling, MMA, and mindset
  • Personalised performance targets and tracking
  • Direct pathway to national/international competition
  • One-on-one access to Dafydd Sanders
Corporate · Flexible Delivery

Corporate Combat & Wellness

High-performance habits for professional teams. The mental and physical tools of elite martial artists, applied to the demands of professional leadership.

  • Resilience, stress mastery, decision-making under pressure
  • Team cohesion through shared physical challenge
  • Focus, productivity, and leadership development
  • Available as 9–5 or after-work intensive format
Family · Term Dates

Parent–Child Performance Intensive

Train together. Grow together. A structured programme that develops real skills and real connection — not a passive activity for spectators.

  • Real martial arts technique for both parent and child
  • Communication, focus, and mental resilience
  • Shared performance challenges with measurable outcomes
  • Lasting skills your family can practise beyond the gym
Competitive · Open Entry

Combat Games Series →

Controlled competitive application of technical skills. Real pressure. Real evaluation. Our national light-contact circuit, uniting 50+ clubs across New Zealand.

  • Safe, structured competitive experience
  • Skill demonstration and performance evaluation
  • Resilience under real competitive pressure
  • Pathway to external competition and national events

Your Coach

Dafydd Sanders
"David Eagle"

Founder · Head Coach · NZ Representative · Four Combat Disciplines

There are coaches with experience. There are coaches who have competed at world level. Very few have done both across four completely different combat disciplines.

Dafydd has spent 27 years teaching and coaching across the full spectrum of combat sports — not as a specialist, but as someone who has competed at the highest level in all of them. He represented New Zealand at the IMMAF World Championships 2019 in MMA, the WAKO World Championships in light contact kickboxing (2006) and K1 full contact (2017), and was named Karate All Japan Champion 2010 — an international title with competitors from across the world. In taekwondo he peaked at World #10, competed across two Olympic campaigns, and won the WTF Oceania Championships in 2006. He was named Māori Sports Person of the Year at the University of Auckland in 2005.

That breadth is not incidental — it is the foundation of Eagle DS. When the system covers six styles, sets a contact standard across all of them, and trains coaches and referees to one consistent level, it does so from lived experience inside every discipline. Dafydd's system shapes every class at Eagle DS — delivered by a hand-picked coaching team trained and graded to one standard.

IMMAF
World Championships 2019 — MMA · NZ Representative
WAKO
World Championships — Light Contact 2006 · K1 Full Contact 2017 · NZ Representative
KARATE
All Japan Champion 2010 — International Field
TAEKWONDO
World #10 · Two Olympic Campaigns · Oceania Gold 2006

What Dafydd Teaches

1
Technique Before Power

Precision builds the foundation that power is then built upon. The other way produces limits, not athletes.

2
Pressure Reveals Character — and Builds It

Controlled adversity, applied correctly, is the fastest path to mental strength. We don't protect students from discomfort. We teach them to use it.

3
Every Skill Has a Standard

No ambiguity. Students know exactly what they can do, what they can't yet do, and what the next benchmark is.

4
Leaders Are Made in the Dojo

Every advanced student learns to lead. The gym is a leadership laboratory — and the lessons transfer directly to life.

5
The Habits You Build at 10 Run You at 30

This is the most important thing we teach. The highest-performing adults in every field built their operating system early. We're in the business of building that system.