IT took a little over eight years for Reece Fretten to progress from not knowing a single thing about martial arts to becoming a national champion.
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But it all happened through the most unusual sequence of events that have to be traced back to a specific day.
The 15-year-old was first introduced to the sport as a seven-year-old at a mate's friends' birthday only to discover he didn't turn up.
So while Fretten was at the party, he figured he had little option other than to participate in the games that were being played.
"I wasn't even originally invited, but one of my mates was and he said he wouldn't go if I wasn't, so I got invited and it turns out he didn't even turn up," he said.
"They played games that involved kicking and punching stuff, I enjoyed it and won a free three-week training session."
That three-week training session planted the seed in Fretten's head that martial arts could be the sport for him.
I was never really into basketball or football like everyone else is, so this is one thing that clicked for me.
- Reece Fretten
"I was never really into basketball or football like everyone else is, so this is one thing that clicked for me," he said.
"I'm still not sure why, but I find it more enjoyable now I'm older and I understand what I'm doing more.
"It's not just for the fun aspect, it's because I know it will improve me."
On December 1, he became the 13-15-year-old full contact lightweight continuous sparring and 13-15-year-old point sparring contact champion in Port Macquarie.
His success at the Australian titles earns the MacKillop College student a place at the World Martial Arts Championships in Portugal in May next year.
It was his first title since taking up the sport as a seven-year-old.
"That's the extent of my success in tournaments you could say," he said.
"I was actually quite surprised because there was a lot of tough competition and the fights were very close."
Over at world's it will be more for me to gain experience because you'll never know if you've done enough training if you don't go and find out.
- Reece Fretten
But the teenager is remaining grounded.
"Personally, I don't really care that much about the national title; I don't brag about it because there are many people out there that are better than me," he said.
"Over at world's it will be more for me to gain experience because you'll never know if you've done enough training if you don't go and find out."
As for the future, the Sancrox teenager was leaving his options open.
"I've got no clue what I want to do when I grow up; I don't know if I want to have my own school or anything like that so I'll keep going until something happens."
