There were lots of smiles over the last Saturday at Carnalea Karate Club. Children who had been practising, and subsequently demonstrated various karate skills were awarded merit badges. Badges awarded were: Front Kick, Side Kick, Belt Tying and Roundhouse Kick.

Coach and children's officer, Sam Lewis explained “We have been using the merit badges at Carnalea for over ten years. They are a great tool for developing confidence and basic skills for children and at the same time are good fun. For instance we have had children with dispraxia, and the belt tying badge helped them to learn how to tie their shoe laces. Other badges, such as self defence just give some timid children that little bit of confidence which sometimes can make all the difference. Long term, we believe that the building up of simple skills through these badges can be taken into many different sports.”