Mum-of-three boxing clever

Nobody could accuse Frankie Leota of living a boring life.
The 30-year-old Featherston mother of three - Moana, 11, Mollie, 6, and Billie, 2 - has recently added kickboxing to a range of interests which includes art and singing and dancing in theatrical productions as massive as The Lion King.
And she's making a decent fist of her new-found passion having won both of her judged novice bouts to date by unanimous points decisions, the first of them in Auckland in February and the second of them at the "Rumble of the Rapa" Muay Thai kickboxing tourney in Featherston's Anzac Hal.
She went into her home-town event with some trepidation.A broken toe suffered during her Auckland success meant her training regime was halted for several months and she was concerned a 5kg increase in weight and a lack of fitness could count against her.
"There was no travel involved so I thought I might as well give it a go, I don't think I would have bothered had it been anywhere else," she said. "I wasn't as ready as I would have liked so I was just hoping I could do enough to get by, and I guess I did!"
Leota is at pains to emphasise her decision to try kickboxing had nothing to do with wanting to punch or kick the living daylights out of her opponents.
Rather, she was keen to find something which not only gave her a good excuse to get out of the house but which required a mix of concentration and discipline.
The fact a close friend in former world kickboxing champion, Sue Latta, was head coach at the Featherston club added to the appeal.
It didn't take for Leota to realise her decision was the right one with the vigorous training sessions not only significantly enhancing her fitness but also making her stronger in a mental sense.
"Everything is so intense. You know that you could get whacked and knocked down so you have to stay totally focussed. Let your guard down and you could be history."
Leota also quickly discovered that while the duration of her bouts - three 2-minute rounds - might seem brief on paper, it can be anything but in reality.
"It can seem forever when you are in the ring, and that's as much because of the mental stresses as anything else," she said. "You always have in the back of your mind what one mistake could mean, the adrenalin buzz is amazing."
Just when Leota will have her next fight has yet to be confirmed but she herself says it won't probably happen until her fitness is where she wants it to be, and that meant it would almost certainly wouldn't happen until early in the New Year.
"Right now I need to get the fitness up and that's what I'll be working on over the next few weeks," she said.
And what's the chance of getting her husband Willie, a former Wairarapa-Bush rugby rep who coached Wests in the Wellington premier club competition last season, involved in kickboxing as well?
"I can't see it, I think he'll stick to his rugby", she laughed.