A highlight of this year for me has got to be 태권도 (Taekwondo) Club with 김선생님 (Ms Kim) on Tuesday lunchtimes.

Every Tuesday Lunchtime we would meet in the dance room and learn some of the basic Taekwondo moves, Such as punching, blocking, different stances and some 태극 (Taeguk). If you're wondering what a Taeguk is its essentially a pattern of attack and defence moves that are used to teach Taekwondo.

I came along to this club with little knowledge of Taekwondo but with a little bit of martial art experience from when I used to do kung fu, so I knew that I could try and pick up Taekwondo as I did with kung fu. I have worked very hard to improve my knowledge of Taekwondo and the hard work definitely paid of in the end. I've enjoyed the opportunity that Ms Kim has given me to learn Taekwondo and to immerse myself further into the Korean culture.

The best thing about going to Taekwondo club at lunchtime on Tuesdays was it gave me a break from my friends and a chance to focus on me and my mental and physical wellbeing as I was able to relax as well as have fun with Ms Kim and the rest of the group. This club also took away a lot of school-related pressure for me as I’m a senior the workload is quite a lot, so this club was also good to take out my stress as I had something else to focus on other than my school work.

My personal journey from the beginning to performance day has had its highs and lows. Some days I would be super motivated to do better and other days were where I didn't feel motivated at all to do better but eventually, I got there after a lot of hard work and dedication to wanting to be up on that stage performing showing everyone what awesome things Korean culture has to offer for you.