A 38-YEAR-OLD woman from Blandford has become the youngest British master instructor in Taekwondo after achieving her 7th Dan black belt in the sport.

According to the International Taekwondo Federation, Kim has also become only the second female in Britain to be given the title of 7th Degree 'Master'.

Kim Robinson, from Blandford, has dedicated 32 years to the sport and achieved her recent grade in Leicester, having had her grading done by Grand Master Sahota.

Having picked up the sport age six, she now runs her own business called 'KR Martial Arts', teaching around 200 students in Sturminster Newton, Blandford Forum, Wimborne, Poole and Ferndown.

She said: “I started teaching when I was 17-year-old, helping my instructor. I enjoyed teaching kids and watching them flourish so went on to start my own coaching classes in 2001 at the age of 20-year-old.”

“Once I had enough classes I left my job and now do it full time, as I can sort out memberships, stock orders and organising programmes in the morning and teaching classes in the afternoon and evening.

“When you teach other people, you forget about your personal achievements because you’re so focussed on trying to help them to improve and make their grades.”

Having been introduced to the sport through her parents at a young age, Kim isn’t the only member of her family to have continued their involvement in the sport.

“My sister Karen Mayne did taekwondo until 2nd Dan and is now a 5th Dan in Kickboxing, my older younger brother Eddy Rimmer-Stokes is a 3rd Dan in Taekwondo and my second brother Gavin Marish is a black belt in both kickboxing and taekwondo.”

Kim has noticed, especially in recent years, that more people are join her classes having experienced bullying at school.

“I talk to them about their confidence and how they can transfer a lot of the skills they learn from taekwondo to confronting bullies,” she said.

“Around five years ago, I had a 13-year-old boy who told me he was getting bullied at school. I told him to continue coming to practice and I taught him how he can use skills that I teach him to help him, by standing to be strong and shouting out.

“Now he has achieved his black belt and is on a training programme to compete in the Olympics which is pretty impressive.”

When asked about whether she will attempt achieving her 8th Dan black belt, Kim remained uncertain.

After achieving their first Dan black belt, the student would have to two years to be graded for their second, three years for their third, and so on.

Therefore, to earn the right to be graded for her 8th Dan black belt, Kim would have to wait another seven years.

She said: “It’s a difficult one to say because when you get your 7th Dan, there isn’t anything else to learn. It’s about refining your skill set and perfecting your moves.

“Who knows, if my body is still in good condition at 45, I’m sure I will go for it.”