Silsden taekwondo youngsters shine (From Craven Herald)

Silsden taekwondo youngsters shine

12:23pm Thursday 10th January 2013 in Sport

Silsden duo Liam Burdock and Jamie Kidd were among Quest Taekwondo members who enjoyed the privilege of training with international star Sarah Stevenson at the Great Britain Academy in Manchester.

And more than that, Bur-dock and Kidd were among those to win a Stevenson’s star of the day award, along with 16-year-olds Harriet Akeroyd from Settle and Jake Barnett from Baildon.

Other Quest members came from Bradford and Penistone, including 11-year-olds Daniel Moody and Luke Jones from the latter town, and Karl Harris from Cott-ingley.

They were invited to att-end the Sarah Stevenson Inspires workshop by Quest coach Rick Simpson in recognition of their progress and success in sparring competitions Stevenson, 29 from Donc-aster, is Great Britain’s most decorated talent, having competed in four Olympic Games (winning bronze in 2008) and winning two world and four European titles at senior level. She was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year in 2011 and awarded an MBE after becoming world champion, despite losing both her parents to cancer.

She remains an idol for many Taekwondo athletes and the chance to be coached by her was a big thrill for the Quest youngsters.

The session – which featured about 40 talented athletes up to the age of 19 from across the country – covered strength and con-ditioning, tactics, technical work and sparring drills.

At the closing ceremony of the training session, the star awards for those who had particularly impressed were presented by Great Britain coach Steve Jennings, Stevenson and GB competitor Martin Stamper, who was fourth in the London 2012 Olympics.

Stevenson said: “I would like to thank both the in-structors and members of Quest Taekwondo for their support at my recent Inspires Workshops.

“Coaches Rick Simpson and Master (Mike) McKenzie do an amazing job with their team and it is great to see them all progressing.

“Quest attended with seven of their members and four of them went away with awards for being my ‘stars of the day’.

“I really hope they enjoyed the workshop, learnt a lot and went away inspired.

“I am looking forward to seeing how the seven of them progress and develop.”

Jennings said: “The Sarah Stevenson Inspires work-shops are an ideal way of preparing yourself for training with the Great Britain Academy – either at cadet (12-13), junior (14-17) or senior (18 plus) level.

“I’m really impressed with the standard of Great Britain’s upcoming athletes.”

Barnett was recently selected for the GB junior development team and join-ed up with clubmate Natasha Burdock from Silsden.