Taekwondo



True Spirit Taekwondo, founded and led by a member of staff, Mr M Bellanfante, offers two sessions a week at Calder High. Mr Bellanfante started the club in school in September 2004 and since then the club has flourished, attracting both staff and students. Club members have entered outside competitions, grading events and seminars. (See the True Spirit website for more information)

The club continues to grow with significant interest shown by Year 7s. Two sessions are held per week, Mondays and Thursdays after school. These are also open to the community for a small charge of £3.50 per person per hour. The age range is 4 years upwards, dependent on the child. The sessions consist of a warm up, stretching exercises, kicking, hand techniques, self defence, Korean etiquette, patterns, and a whole lot more. For further details contact Mr Bellanfante in school (email: mbellanfante@calderhigh.calderdale.sch.uk).

Promotion
100% success was achieved on 5 April 2008 by a Calder High staff member and four Year 7 students. The promotion event took place at Salendine Nook High School in Huddersfield and was attended by 40 students from different clubs with the majority from True Spirit. Taekwondo students at all Kup levels from white to red belts were put through their paces with patterns, self defence, sparring and power testing (and in the case of the adults, breaking boards). Judging was done by Mr P Payne, 4th Dan Black Belt.

Congratulations to:

If you're not sure what Taekwondo is like, have a look at the video link and view the activity. (Taekwondo is an Olympic sport which will feature in the 2012 London Olympics...for more on this see Sarah Stevenson's video on the BBC website. Sarah is a member of the Great Britain team performing in Beijing in the 2008 Olympics.)

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