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

Katie came along to the first series of three Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshops in 2010, trained hard and had a great time, “Sarah Stevenson is my hero and role model, it was fantastic to train with her and all the others! – I really hope she runs some more!” said Katie.

The Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshops marked a real shift in Katie’s attitude towards training and her achievements at competition. Her dad told us “Katie as always trained hard and been committed to her taekwondo, but after the final workshop in 2010 we could see her training step up a gear and it has really paid off in 2011”.

In the last part of 2010 Katie took double Gold medals in Cadets and Juniors at the Dorset Open. In February 2011 she went on to take her first Cadet A-class medal as she won Bronze at the Swedish Open, closely followed by her first Junior A-class medal with a Bronze at the Dutch Open. Katie met tough competition in the early rounds at the German and Belgian opens and did not place but didn’t let this stop her and went on in May to take double Gold medals in Cadets and Juniors at the Dutch Masters. From there she became Cadet National Champion in June at the BTCB National Championships, something she has been working towards for the last three years.

Following the Dutch Masters, Katie got the fantastic news that she had been selected to represent Great Britain at the European Cadet Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia in July. Whilst she normally competes in -41/-42 Katie was selected to fight in the -44 weight category, and came up against a giant Belarus girl. Katie gave everything she had in all three rounds and fought tactically well but just wasn’t able to better the Belarus which meant she did not medal but the national team coaches were impressed by her performance in the heavier weight category and named her “most professional” female in the team. Katie really enjoyed the experience and says “I had a brilliant time; it was great to be part of the GBR Cadets and train with the coaches and my team mates. We all supported each other and learned loads and can’t wait to do it again!”

During 2011 Katie was also selected for the fantastic opportunity to train with the England Junior Development programme at the National Academy in Manchester, consisting of three 4-day camps. Following her performance in Tbilisi she was also rewarded with the bonus opportunity to train with the visiting Korean Juniors team alongside the England Junior European team; “a tough few days but well worth it!” she says.

Katie has been attending the 2011 Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshops and hopes to be selected for the National Junior Talent Squad later in the year, working towards selections for the World Junior Championships in April 2012.

Most recently Katie improved her best Junior A-class result by winning Silver at the 4th British Open in Manchester and over the coming weeks will be competing at the Dorset Open, Croatia A-class and French A-class amongst others.

Sorry to announce that my Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshop has been cancelled for 23rd October.

It will be rearranged for a later date.

The 6th November session is still going ahead.

Jamie Abley took another step forward to achieiving his dreams when he was recently selected to join the full-time coaching programme at the Great Britain Academy in Manchenster.

Jamie followed up his attendance at last year's Inspire's Workshop with several great performances at International competions this year and his place at the Academy is reward for all his hard work.

Well done Jamie!

Saturday the 19th and Sunday 20th of February 2011 saw two attendees from last year's Excellence Tour represent their clubs and win medals at the 38th Dutch Open in Eindhoven.

This competition has always been one of the best attended A-Class tournaments in the European taekwondo calendar and this year the event attracted 673 entries from countries incuding Algeria, Brazil and Haiti.

After two very long days of competion (the medal ceromony on day one took place at 9.00pm), Katie Bradley (South Hams Taekwondo) and Hannah Mayes (Scorpion Taekwondo) were both sucessful in securing a Bronze medal; an excellent achievement and very well done to you both!

Katie Bradley - Bronze medal - Junior Female -42kgs

Hannah Mayes - Bronze medal - Junior Female +68kgs