"One of my rugby mates [at Auckland Grammar] reckoned I should try out weightlifting so I did that and I enjoyed it heaps - and I was doing light-as weights back then."
A lot has changed since,, including the weights Cordtz-Kawiti lifts.
Now Cordtz-Kawiti can get 130kg up in the clean and jerk and 102kg in the snatch during training.
Not bad for someone who has been doing the sport for only six months.
Cordtz-Kawiti's gold at the Oceania Championships this month showcased his major improvement, surprising himself and his coach along the way.
"I surprised myself ... I knew I wanted to get a competition personal best [but] that's all," Cordtz-Kawiti said.
"I didn't even know [I had won] until the end of the competition and Jake [Lawgun] said 'oh, you won gold,' and I was like 'what the hell'.
"I didn't expect it at all."
Cordtz-Kawiti's coach Jacob Lawgun said he was stoked for his athlete and that the young lifter had exceeded expectations.
"You always hope for the best," Lawgun said. "I just wanted them to do their best and anything else was a bonus.
"It was his first international competition after six months for Taiao so it was huge to even qualify.
"To be honest, I didn't expect them to go as well because you don't know who was going to be there and there were foreign names.
"On the day, you have a much better idea once you have a start list ... Taiao just brought it on the day."
Next up for Cordtz-Kawiti is this weekend's North Island Weightlifting Championships in Wellington, before hopefully some more international competition.
He said with the Commonwealth Games in the air it was only natural that a goal would be to look ahead four years until the next games - although Cordtz-Kawiti was realistic that there was a lot of work to be done before that goal would come close to being realised.
