As part of the girls’ activity programme, Shiplake College has been working with Taekwondo instructor Jenine Hutchinson to teach our girls self-defence on Wednesday afternoons.
Jenine started Taekwondo when she was just nine years old living in South Africa. She was black belt by the age of 16 and currently holds the rank of 4th degree black belt. Having moved to England in 2016, Jenine represented the UKTA (United Kingdom Taekwondo Federation) which is part of the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF). Jenine also represented England at the World Championships in 2017 in North Korea where she won a silver and two bronze medals.
Taekwondo was founded and developed in Korea and is a self-defence martial art. Taekwondo is a martial art that will build the girls’ confidence as well as character and core strength. The girls are taught self-defence patterns, including sparring, breaking, choking and special techniques. All aspects of Taekwondo are unique and explosive, which makes this an opportunity our girls will benefit from.
Assistant Head of Co-Curricular Mr Alex Hunt has said:
‘While learning self-defence allows the girls to use the techniques in practice and feel confident in a threatening situation; it also creates awareness to avoid such situations all together. Though we hope the girls will never find themselves in a situation where these techniques are necessary, we believe that these techniques will help them to defend themselves effectively, if they are confronted with such a situation. This is also a great way for the girls to keep fit in a non-competitive and fun environment.’
Jenine truly believes this to be a great foundation for any young adult to defend yourselves as well as improve fitness; especially for young girls.