Maria Sowden - Aged 30

I started training in Tae Kwon Do in December 2002. I had always wanted to learn a martial art since I was little but never seemed to get around to it! One evening I was attacked while out with friends and that was what pushed me to join a club. I realised that I was very vulnerable and needed to learn how to protect myself should anything happen like that again.
 
Walking through the door to the first lesson was nerve racking but I was soon put at ease, My instructor, Mr Shane Knight 2nd Dan told me 'everyone starts at white belt and knows exactly how you are feeling!'
That lesson we did Self Defence and line work and I loved it, my co-ordination with some of the exercises was terrible and I looked like a frog in a blender but I soon got the hang of it and I was later told by more senior grades that they looked exactly the same when they first started!
 
I have made a lot of good friends since starting training and I would recommend joining a club to anyone no matter what age or fitness level. It is the best thing I have done and helped me become a more confident person.  If anyone said to me 7 years ago I'd be standing at the front of the class assisting my instructor in lessons I'd have never believed them!