Mansfield mum-of-six triumphs as Rainworth martial arts club stars at world championships

Sarah Harney has run Rainworth-based Endeavour Taekwondo as an independent instructor since 2020 operating in the Mansfield and local area.

During the pandemic, Sarah ran free classes for the community in village halls, in fields and in home settings when the guidelines changed.

It was a challenging time and she stuck with her students throughout training them in sparring, special techniques and other elements of the sport, with the benefits of maintaining training for her students mental and physical health paramount to her – Sarah travelled across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, from Newark to Chesterfield ensuring the welfare of her students.

Endeavour Taekwondo is a family-run club born from a desire to promote women and girls in the sport and to promote safer sport all round, with children and women often not getting the fairest deal in a male-orientated sport, something Sarah found the hard way through the previous 10 years as she worked through her belts.

She has gone from humble beginnings with a handful of students initially in one tiny hall trying to establish herself in the sport and the field to many times this number and across a large geographical area.

She has offered classes for women in self defence at local venues and visited local schools to teach primary school children self defence and valuable life skills, for free.

Sarah, a European taekwondo medallist in Poland four years ago, took 12 adults and children, some with less than two years’ experience, to the 2022 Open ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships in Scotland – and returned with five world champions in sparring and special techniques among a total of 20 medals from across the classes..

With a cross-section of students from primary school, teenagers and adults it was a huge win for England and the East Midlands.

The families who attended and saw their children attain their medals are immensely proud and the event brought the students and the wider Endeavour Taekwondo family closer together through this shared experience.

Now after this Sarah is looking for the next challenge for her club, the next success and the next future stars that she and her club can develop.