Thirty-one years on the mat and in the cage, ring, and dojang. Twenty-four years coaching. One-to-one — built entirely around what you actually need.
Tap a focus area for the full breakdown of what's covered, how it's structured, and what it's built from.
The mental side of competing, coached directly — not assumed, and not left to sort itself out under pressure. Dafydd has worked this side of the game with professional fighters, including Dan Hooker, at the top of the sport.
Composure when a plan breaks down mid-round. Decision-making live, under fatigue, when there's no time to think it through. Resetting cleanly after a bad exchange instead of carrying it into the next one. Pre-competition nerves, turned into something useful instead of something to fight against.
Not a generic visualisation script. What's coached here is drawn from what actually happens on a world championship stage, across four disciplines — translated into something repeatable, whatever you're preparing for.
Technical and strategic work, mapped against a real competitive timeline — built backward from where you're actually headed, whether that's a grading, a fight, or a competition date already on the calendar.
Fundamentals proven first. Nothing gets pressure-tested until the underlying movement is sound — pads, speed, and live pressure only come in once the technique holds up on its own. From there, training is periodised: structured progression building toward peak performance on the day that matters, not just general improvement with no target.
This is the exact approach Dafydd used to plan his own campaigns across taekwondo, kickboxing, K1, and MMA — including multiple Olympic cycles — and it's the same approach that's taken athletes he's coached to Olympic-level performance themselves.
Conditioning calibrated for combat output, not a generic gym programme with your name on it. Built from thirty-one years of training and competing at world level, and matched to what your body actually needs in order to perform.
Fitness for combat isn't the same as fitness for its own sake. What matters is whether the conditioning holds up in the exact moments a round demands it — round three, not round one. Sessions are built around that standard, not around a generic set count.
Twenty-four years of coaching and a competitive career across four combat sports at world championship level — conditioning here is built from direct experience of what the body needs to hold technique together under fatigue, not theory.
Most coaches specialise because they only competed in one discipline. Dafydd's record is stamped across four — at world championship level in three of them.
Multiple Olympic campaigns. Coached fighters through to Olympic-level performance.
Competed for New Zealand at WAKO World Championships — light contact in 2006, K1 full contact in 2017.
Competed for New Zealand at IMMAF World Championships, fighting out of Auckland MMA. Has coached professional fighters, including Dan Hooker.
Karate All Japan Champion, competing in the international field. Māori Sports Person of the Year, University of Auckland, 2005.
This is not a shared class rate. This is direct, undivided time with a coach who has competed for New Zealand in four combat sports at world level and coached professional fighters — at a purpose-built, full-time facility.
One-to-one training, direct with Dafydd Sanders. Eagle DS, 17 Nandina Avenue, East Tāmaki, Auckland.
Email info@eagleds.co.nz