As the Olympic Games get underway in Paris, our participants have been trying their hand at some martial arts a little closer to home, at the National Taekwondo Centre here in Manchester.

The event, aimed at exposing our young people to a new sport and new opportunities, was also attended by British Paralympian and silver medallist Beth Munro and Caden Cunningham, who will be representing Team GB at the Olympics.

The youngsters enjoyed an action-packed afternoon, sampling a variety of different Taekwondo challenges with a little help from special guests Beth and Caden.

“I take my position as a role model for the sport really seriously,” Beth said. “An event like today can be so powerful in terms of inspiring these youngsters to get involved with a sport they perhaps haven’t tried before.

“Beyond that, through these sessions they’ll have built confidence in social interactions, which may have been a big thing for some of the kids here today, so well done to them. It was great to see them throwing themselves into the activities – some of their kicking really packed a punch! They did really well and I’m very proud of them.”

“When I was younger, Taekwondo helped so much with my discipline,” Caden added. “I’m in a blessed position now to be able to pass on my love of the sport to the next generation and show how you can develop so many fundamental skills simply by taking part. The kids seem to have really enjoyed themselves today and that’s great to see.”

As part of our work in the inclusion space, our team is always looking for new ways to engage participants. This event came as a culmination of six weeks of in-school taster sessions for the 50 children present, who came from across six SEND partner schools.

Jason Mayoh, a club Taekwondo coach and former British champion, led the sessions in the school as part of British Taekwondo’s community engagement work.

“At this level, we just want give the kids the chance to sample the sport and learn the introductory and basic skills around Taekwondo,” he told us. “We give them tutorials to understand what Taekwondo is all about, before slowly introducing them to basic techniques and activities.

“I focus on the combat side of Taekwondo, so I’ll explain about what the athletes wear, how points are scored, how to attack and counter, along with basic footwork exercises. It helps them to feel that they are getting into it, without taking on anything too advanced to begin with.”