Vivienne Wilkes is10 years old and attends Pennycross Primary in Plymouth; she trains at South Hams Taekwondo and is definitely a future star in the making!

In 2011 Katie Bradley asked Vivienne if she wanted to go with her to the Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshops in Manchester and although she didn't really know what she was letting herself in for she decided to make the long trip to Manchester and give it a go.

Vivienne says "It’s a long trip from Plymouth; my Dad says it's a 600 miles roundtrip, but I went to all three of the workshops and they were really good. I was a bit shy at first meeting lots of other athletes that I hadn't met before and I was nervous about meeting Sarah but I needn't have been!"

Vivienne goes on to say "I really liked Sarah, she is so nice and helps us and I can’t believe I get to train with someone who has won a medal at the Olympics and been World Champion so many times. My technique is better than before and I really want to do well in all my future competitions!"

In February of this year, Vivienne competed at the Swedish Open in Trelleborg; she competed there last year and although leading for much of her match was unsuccessful, admitting that she'd lost focus in the second round and managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and all she remembers is being very upset.

This year, however, there were only 3 girls in her group, Vivienne, her team-mate Josie and a girl from Ukraine. Vivienne's first match was against Ukraine and the Plymouth youngster eased to victory 6-2 and was very happy with her performance, but obviously this meant a date in the final against her team-mate Josie. Vivienne explains "Although it's not nice to fight against a team-mate, sometimes it's necessary and through a combination of hard work and focus I won a close final 2-0 and won the GOLD medal!"

Following her excellent performance in the final, Dean Leak, Development Manager for GB Taekwondo invited Vivienne to the GB Cadet Camp which was the perfect end to a very hard weekend.

Once again, it's great to hear these stories from our young athletes, so please keep them coming as I really enjoy sharing them. Keep working hard and I'll see you all soon!

Sarah x

My friend and Great Britain Psychologist Sarah Broadhead is running the Manchester Marathon on Sunday and she running for St. John's Hospice.

The Hospice is very dear to me as it was the facility that cared for my Mother at the end, and they treated her like an angel.

I know it's short notice, but if anyone could make a donation, however small, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sarah's just giving page is http://www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Broadhead0

Asia Bailey heads the list of some excellent performances from our “Inspires” athletes after securing a Bronze medal at the Junior World Taekwondo Championships in Egypt.

Mum, Angie, was naturally delighted. “I’m so proud of my daughter. She has grown so much as a player over the past nine months both within the Scottish National Team and the GB Taekwondo Junior camps, and she’s listened to and been inspired by Sarah Stevenson at her Inspire Workshops. It has all paid off.”

Asia also took the Gold medal in the Dutch Open in March after powering through her weight division to win her final 9-5 against Bulgaria.

This wasn't the only piece of good news to come from Scotland as there was also a Bronze medal for Jordyn Smith at the Belgian Open, despite being only 10 years old and competing in her first A-class tournament in the lightest cadet (11-13 years) female, -29kg division, and only weighing 26kg!

Inevitably her opponents were bigger and older than her, but this didn’t stop Jordyn who had three tremendous matches. In the quarter final Jordyn overcame a fighter from Germany, picking up a small injury but that was not to phase her! She then moved on to fight a tall Belgian producing an excellent match littered with high kicks and back kicks, to win with ease. She then moved on to the final to face another “Inspires” athlete in Holly Wray of England.

After a very hard fought match, Holly Wray took a well deserved Gold medal and Jordyn the Silver – We’ll need to keep a keep eye on these two as they progress through the ranks!

Elsewhere, there were excellent performances from Tyler Barwell, Tim Needham, Alex Needham, Leah Moorby, Connor Lill, Finlay Benton, Aneila Afsar, Jack Lockwood & Jordan Lill in Belgium.

Jordan Lill took his first A-class medal, competing -63 Junior Male. He defeated Latvia 9-5, Poland 8-3 then Belgium in a fantastic game 19-18 (after going 8 points down). He lost to the same player from Belgium in the French Open so did very well on this occasion. He lost 15-10 to Croatia in the semis.

Jack Lockwood took the gold at -53 cadets. He was untroubled as he defeated Poland 21-3, Austria 7-5 and beat Israel in the final 13-8. Well done Jack. A great follow up to Silver in the Swedish Open.

Aneila Afsar had a terrific championships to take the Silver. She beat the Croatian 5-1, Israel National Team 4-1, Germany 10-6 and lost out in the final to the Russian 11-7.

Chloe Morley of NTC had a fantastic run at the Belgian Open after winning several close fights, the Nottingham ace held her nerve to win the Junior -59kg category 4-3 against Croatia which was on the back of an excellent Bronze medal two weeks earlier at the Dutch Open, along with Jenifer Marjason who took the other Bronze medal after losing out to Croatia in a very close match.

Katie Bradley was another double medallist winning Silver at the Dutch Open and Bronze at the Belgian Open two weeks previously. The South Hams TKD player showed her consistency with two solid performances in the space of 14 days and is now looking ahead to showing her talents on the domestic front.

These are a fantastic set of results and show me that everyone's hard work is paying off and it also tells me that there are several potential Great Britain stars in the making. Keep up the hard work and I'll see you all soon!

Sarah x

N.B. If you want to be featured on this blog, please send any articles using the submission form.

Held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt the competition begins on Wednesday 4 April and concludes on Sunday 8 April 2012 and the team is made up of the following athletes:

Feyi Pearce -51KG Thursday

Amin Badr -55KG Friday

Jamie Abley -59KG Wednesday

Jack Herring -63KG Saturday

George Lee -68KG Sunday

Asia Bailey -42KG Saturday

Beth Worthington -44KG Sunday

Good luck to everyone and especially the Inspires Athletes!

Photo below is of Beth Worthington, Gareth Brown (coach) and Feyi Pearce.

Hello, my name is Jordyn Smith and I have been attending Sarah's Inspires workshops for the past two years.

I have found it really interesting and after every single session I have taken away more skills and information on taekwondo which I can then go home to Scotland with and my coach would ask me to demonstrate my new skills.

Since I have started training with Sarah and the rest of the athletes I have felt more confident after training and I have made lots of new friends so I have found going to competitions much more fun.

Sarah has always been my hero and a total inspiration to me and I just want to be like Sarah and compete at the Olympic games, and just this year i have found out I am going to be more like Sarah and I am now in the GB Cadet Team and I will start training at the Academy more often which i can not wait for.

Sarah has been a huge part off my taekwondo dream since I had attended a seminar in Doncaster with Sarah when I was only seven years old and I told Sarah then that i wanted to be like her. Now I am 10 I have won the British Championships twice and attended Sarah Stevenson Inspires for the last two years i hope i can attend the next inspires tour!

Several of our Inspires athletes made the long trip to Trelleborg for the 2012 Swedish Open in early February and I was very pleased to hear that all the hard work that the athletes have put in with their coaches and on our Inspires workshops is really paying dividends.

Saturday was opened with Owen Turner on first game in the first of the 2 categories he was competing in and at Cadet advanced -33kg Owen faced Vladimir Gristchenko from Russia. Owen took an early lead but the stronger and older Russian woke up in round 2 to take the game 7-4.

Tim Needham and Finlay Benton were both competing in Cadet Advanced -37kg and were both in great form. Tim beat Kostov from Bulgaria first round and then beat Barthochowski from Poland 2-1 to secure his place in the final. Finlay beat Bakr of Sweden 2-0, Bulgaria by disqualification and Vasileious from Germany on golden point to meet Tim in the all Ultimate Taekwondo final. Tim took the gold and Finlay the silver 4-0 in a great game.

Alex Needham was on next -51kg Junior Male Advanced. He comfortably beat Mende from Germany 10-4 finishing the match was a devastating reverse turning kick. He was unlucky with the draw in round 2 meeting the eventual gold medallist Salazar Dragustovis from Mexico. Alex played extremely well, probably his best performance to date, with the final score ending 7-4.

Jack Lockwood was also competing in this high level group. Jack was competing in the Junior and Cadet divisions. He outclassed Remo from Sweden 13-0 first round where he met his rival Koca from Germany in the quarter finals. These two met in the quarter finals of the French Open so tactics played a huge part in this game. Jack played a fantastic game and it finished 3-2. Koca was Junior European Champion last year so a great performance from Jack.

Aneila Afsar playing Cadet and Junior had a tough draw in her Junior -46kg division. She drew the very experienced Wongpattenakit from Thailand in the first round. Aneila was beaten and the Thai girl went on to take the gold without conceding a point throughout the tournament; better luck next time Aneila!

Owen Turner was then back on court in his actual category 9 -11 years -33kg. His first opponent was Israel player Nechemia in the semis beating him 6-4 and facing another Israeili player Segal in the final. Following on from his bronze last year Owen took the gold this year winning the final 13-6. Current British Champion Owen had a great day.

Tyler Barwell was unlucky – playing double categories Cadet and Minors but having to play both categories at the same time. His first game was in cadet against Taha from Sweden. Taha was awkward and strong and took the fight 1-0, however, Tyler found his form in his own category -32kg aged 9-11. He met Danish player Linds Renson in the first round. Renson is a talented and technical player so Tyler had to stick to his game plan throughout to win the game 2-0. He then beat Anderson from Denmark in the semi finals and met Moranduzzo from Belgium in the final. Moranduzzo was the gold medallist last year so it was always going to be a tough game. Tyler played well and took the gold medal winning the final 6-4.

Jack Lockwood put in great performances in cadet -53kg to take the silver medal. He demolished Kyriakou from Cyprus in the first round 12-2 and Arnason from Israel 7-0 to put him in the final. Jack had a close game with Elammar from Germany but had to settle for the Silver medal on this occasion.

Aneila Afsar put in a good performance -47kg cadet to take the silver. She defeated Germany then Sweden and met Zederfeldt from Sweden in the final.

Jordan Lill was fantastic -63 junior male. He met the very experienced Nicolas Kuss from Germany in the first round. Jordan played extremely well and it finished 7-7 before going to golden point. Jordan lost the golden point but had put in a great performance.

There were other excellent performances from Katie Bradley who beat Germany in her first match, and then lost to the eventual Silver winner from Norway.

Elise Johnson took the silver medal in her first major International Championsips -37kg minors female, she beat Russian Fomina on golden point to put her in the final against another Russian Khimelnitckaia. Ellie played hard but was beaten 8-1 by the much taller and much more experienced Russian player. A great start to your international career Ellie!

Asia Bailey, in her first ever A Class match, was drawn against Beth Worthington, who is the current European Bronze Medallist. Asia’s high kicking was very effective and she took the match 6-3. Beth is favourite to be selected for the forthcoming Junior World Championships in Egypt – this result gives the selectors something to think about! It was a very tough category and in her quarter final game Asia had to face the British Open winner Katrin Koppe from Germany. It was a very close game with the girls scoring at the same time with strong body shots. Asia’s high kicks missed by inches and the game ended up going to the German 4-2 but still a great first A Class tournament for Asia.

Jordyn Smith was moved up into the -30kg category despite only weighing 26kg! She was in a straight final with Albina Tukhvatulinna from Russia. Jordyn gave a stunning display which drew praise from watching coaches, spectators and officials. The Russian girl threw everything at Jordyn but was unable to connect as Jordyn’s footwork and counter attacks were superb. Jordyn scored with both feet, back kicks and spins and ran out a 13-1 point gold medallist. Still only 10 years old Jordyn has now taken gold medals in Luxembourg, Germany and Sweden.

Vivienne Wilkes was also in action with only 3 girls in her group. Her first match was against Ukraine and she scored a comfortable victory winning 6-2! Then in the final she had to face her team-mate Josie and Vivienne is the first to admit that it's not nice to fight your team mate, however, she opproached the match with true professionalism and securted a 2-0 victory to claim another GOLD medal for Brithish athletes.

These are really encouraging results guys and I'm so proud of you all - keep those stories coming in via the "contact" page and I'll make sure your news is shared via this website!

Sarah x

Thanks to www.taekwondoscotland.org and Ultimate Taekwondo.

My name is Jacob Barnett. I am fifteen years old and have trained with Master Mike McKenzie’s Quest Taekwondo since I was six years old.

I started taekwondo because I was always full of energy, I wasn’t really into football and my friend asked me to train with him, so I thought I’d give it a go. From that first lesson I knew Taekwondo was for me, with all the different techniques and dynamic movements that just amazed me and I wanted to be able to do them straight away! So I practised and practised until I could do the things that the black belts could do. I passed my first black belt grading when I was nine years old and passed my second Dan black belt grading in 2010, aged fourteen.

I competed as a pee wee and cadet in the Children’s International Championships in Germany in 2004, 2006 and 2007, where I won two bronze and two gold medals. When I moved up to the Junior category in 2010, I found it quite challenging being a young -68 player. I would often compete against people much older than me, as I was quite tall for my age. I didn’t win as much as I wanted to but I gained a lot of experience from these matches. In 2011, as a junior, I have had success and medalled in both Opens and 1-2-1’s. I think my best performances were at the Ultimate 1-2-1 in September, when I fought the British National, Silver Medallist (John Steele of Ultimate Taekwondo). Although I lost, I took him to 18 – 19. Another time was at the Ultimate Open in October, when I was up against the 2011 British International, gold medallist (Shem Ehigie of Bozdag Taekwondo) in the final, losing by only 2 points. I was very pleased with my performance against these tough opponents. I loved both of these matches, even though I didn’t win in the end, they were very exciting and challenging and it brought out the best in me.

During the past two years, I have increased my training with Rick Simpson, a brilliant role model and coach of Quest Taekwondo, to four times a week. Every lesson he challenges me to improve my skills and ability. I also train every day at home, to increase my flexibility and fitness.

I’ve got a very busy and exciting year ahead of me in 2012. My goals are to improve my ability even further, to perform well and medal at international competitions such as Sweden, Holland, France and many others. I want to improve my taekwondo game as a whole and go as far as I can with the sport. I am also in the last year of my GCSE’s at Titus Salt School in Baildon and I aim to get the grades that I need to study Maths and Science at A Level. It will be a challenge to do both my taekwondo and studies but I am very focused and extremely determined to achieve all of my goals. I’m very grateful as I get a lot of support from my club and my school.

In my spare time, I like to do the usual things, like spending time with my friends, watching films and listening to music. I love skiing and snowboarding but don’t want to risk injury as taekwondo is my true passion. I also play the guitar and I’m not too bad on the drums either!

I have really enjoyed and got a lot out of the Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshop and would recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their game and take their training to the next level. It’s a great atmosphere and good opportunity to train with people from other clubs that I wouldn’t normally train with.

Sarah is very friendly and welcoming and is a skilled trainer with lots of experience that everyone can learn from. If I am unsure about anything, I find Sarah and the GB coaches very easy to approach and to ask why or how I would do a certain technique. I felt really comfortable in the training environment and I would love the chance to train there again.

I’m really looking forward to this year and seeing what I can achieve in 2012. I feel that the Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshop has helped build my confidence and inspired me to want to be, the best I can be. Thank you to Sarah and the Inspires team.

Hello everyone,

Just a quick reminder that the next Session is on 8th January 2012 in place of the one that got cancelled earlier in the year.

Registration is at 9.30am ready to start at 10am approx, finishing approx 3.15pm. Please don't forget to bring a packed lunch, all your equipment equipment, please bring extra pads and gum shield is required.

Hope to see you all there!

Best wishes,

Sarah x

Emily Watson has attended the Sarah Stevenson Inspires Workshops for the past two years now, so we caught up with Emily to ask her how it had helped her career.

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - How has attending the workshops helped you?

Emily - It's great to be able to work with Sarah and some of the Great Britain coaches and it's also good to be able to train with athletes from clubs around the country who you wouldn't normally train with.

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - How is it working with Sarah?

Emily - It's great; Sarah is really friendly and does everything possible to make everyone feel part of a team - we always get free gifts like t-shits and pens and it's good to know that we can message her at any time if we need any advice.

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - Did you feel nervous the first time you went?

Emily - No, not at all. Because Sarah always signs autographs for people she already knows most of us anyway, so I just turned up, put my t-shirt and badge on and got on with it.

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - You've been coming to the camps now for a couple of years, how have you progressed during that time?

Emily - I was Cadet British Champion in 2009 and I've been very lucky to be able to compete at several international competitions where I won medals at the Kids German International (Gold in 2010 & 2011), Austrian Open (Bronze in 2010), Park Pokal, Germany (Silver in 2010), Dutch Masters (2 Silvers - Cadet and Junior in 2011) and The Cadet European Championships in 2011 where I won the Bronze medal.

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - It sounds like you've been very busy, what was it like going to the European Championships?

Emily - It was great! The competition was held in Georgia so it took forever to get there but the venue was great and I was very happy to win a medal for Great Britain.

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - Does this mean that everyone treats you differently back at your club now?

Emily - Not all, and if anything I have to work even harder now because and I've got a long way to go to be as good as some of my team-mates (Emily trains at Scorpion Taekwondo with Peter Adamsons).

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - So what does the future hold for Emily Watson?

Emily - I'm hoping to compete at the French Open in December, I'll be competing in Germany in the Springtime, they'll be loads of other competitions to go to and I have to make sure I get all my homework done as well as training, and I'm already looking forward to the Inspires Workshops - hopefully with an Olympic Gold Medallist!!!

Sarah Stevenson Inspires - Thanks Emily, and if anyone else would like to be featured on this website please contact us via the "contact" page.

Emily Watson's full results can be seen on her website - www.emilywatsontkd.co.uk