Hannah Glaister is a Brownie and the Great British under 13 Champion in Tae Kwon Do. Find out all about Hannah, the sport and what she loves about Brownies below.
What’s Tae Kwon Do? It’s a sort of martial arts, a self-defence sport. It comes from Korea [a country in Asia].
How did you start doing Tae Kwon Do? My dad does it. I went to a class with him one day and decided to have a go myself.
I’ve been doing Tae Kwon Do for a year and a half now. I started when I was seven so I was one of the youngest there. Now my sister’s the youngest, she’s six. I go to two lots of classes, one in Carlisle and one in Glasgow. There are some children at the classes but mostly it’s grown ups that go. I think I’ve got quite good because I practise against grown ups.
What colour belt have you got? I’ve got a blue belt. It means the sky in heaven.
There are six belts altogether. The first one you do is a white belt. Then it’s yellow, green, blue, red and black. Before you get a belt you have to do a tag, so first you get your white belt, and then you do your yellow tag and put it on your white belt, and after that you do your yellow belt.
How did you get to become the Great British under 13 champion? We went to the UK Tae Kwon Do Association British Championships. It was in a big hall in Sheffield and there were lots of children there – about forty I think.
I won the patterns competition. That’s when you do moves against an imaginary opponent so you don’t hurt anyone. I had to beat about forty people altogether. I was really excited when I won. I got a gold medal!
There’s another sort of Tae Kwon Do too called sparring. That’s when you do actual fighting. You get to wear hand and head protection so it’s safe. I like that too.
What do you enjoy about Tae Kwon Do? It’s really good fun. It’s good to learn to defend yourself
Are there many girls that do Tae Kwon Do?
Yes, it’s about 50-50. It’s hard sparring with boys ‘cause they’re a lot stronger. You don’t have to fight the really big boys though because your partner has to be the same height as you. The boys must think I’m good because I won the gold medal.
You’re in Brownies. What sorts of things do you like doing in Brownies? I really like going to the meetings and playing all the games. I’ve done lots of badges including two swimming ones, two first aid ones, entertainer, Brownie holiday and hostess. I’ve sewn them on my sash. For the Brownie holiday we went to Kings Wood which was lots of fun.
Finally, do you think there should be a Tae Kwon Do badge? Yes!
This website is for our Brownies to enjoy.
Parents and Leaders, please visit our main website
for information about our Brownies programme.
Brownies if you want to know
how to use the internet safely,
read our web safe code
