Bridport boy becomes one of youngest taekwondo black belts

James Kelly-Swallow has shown incredible dedication and discipline since the age of five when he first took up the sport.

The schoolboy is believed to be the youngest taekwondo black belt in Dorset and sits among the youngest in the UK.

The Powerstock Primary School pupil has now set his sights on Olympic glory.

Nine-year-old Bridport boy James Kelly-Swallows with his taekwondo black belt certificates (Image: Nikki Kelly) He said: "To become a black belt means the world. I bet my uncle, who was 11 years old when he became a black belt, that I would get mine before his. 

"I want to show all the nine-year-olds to follow their dreams as it comes true if you work hard and believe in yourself and never give up.

"My next step is to become a second Dan (second grade black belt) and maybe one day have my own class, and people to look up to me.

"I would love to be in the Olympics one day, but that would be hard."

James started taking taekwondo classes as his mum, Nikki Kelly, was keen for him to be able to defend himself.

But not only has James done that, he has also had to learn Korean as part of his journey to getting a black belt.

He added: "My favourite thing in taekwondo is learning my new patterns and how to defend myself and knowing I don’t have to fight as I have learnt the tenets of taekwondo and can control situations. 

"Taekwondo can be hard though as I need to learn Korean but I won’t give up,"

Nikki said she is 'so proud' of her son who has achieved the feat in the minimum time of four years after being coached by Dave Chalet at Axminster TAGB.

She said: "Taekwondo runs in the family as his uncle had at black belt at 11 and he wanted to beat his uncle.

"He has smashed it and he is such an inspiration to me and now that he is a black belt he learn and do more and one day he would love to be in the Olympics."