Video: Martial Arts - Tiny Callum gets his black belt
He may not be tall enough to go on his favourite rides at Alton Towers yet, but young Callum Dalliday has already made a big impact on the city martial arts scene.
He may not be tall enough to go on his favourite rides at Alton Towers yet, but young Callum Dalliday has already made a big impact on the city martial arts scene.Despite being only seven and standing a pinch over four feet tall, the mini master has just been awarded his black belt through the Parker Tang Soo Do club.
The accolade probably makes him the toughest primary school pupil in Peterborough, but it still doesn't cut the mustard at his favourite amusement park.
Mum Clare said: "We are so proud of him to have achieved everything he has in Tang Soo Do at such a young age. We encouraged Callum to get into it when he was only four as we wanted him to keep fit and we were concerned about the rise in knife crime.
"We wanted him to be able to defend himself and now he has a black belt I am sure that will not be a problem when he gets older.
"It really brought it home to me just how well he has done in such a short space of time when I was measuring him to see if he was tall enough to go on the rides at Alton Towers.
"We are going again in a couple of weeks but he will have to miss out on the stuff he wants to go on as he is only four feet three inches which is well below what he needs to be so he was a bit disappointed about that."
But there were no glum faces last weekend when Callum completed a gruelling three-hour grading session to qualify for his black belt.
To make the required level Gunthorpe Primary School pupil Callum was put through a number of different disciplines including use of weapons and defending himself from a knife attack.
But the most satisfying element was clearly getting the chance to show younger brother Owen how it's done.
He said: "In one part of the grading I had to fight four other guys and Owen (6) was picked as one of them because he is pretty good too.
"But although he really tried to get at me he couldn't and I managed okay but it was really hard.
"I am really proud to have got my black belt so that when I grow up I can be safe in any situation.
"Hopefully I can get as good as my hero Master Chris Crudelli, who I was lucky enough to meet last summer. But that will take a very long time!"
Anyone interested in getting involved with Parker Tang Soo visit parkertangsoodo.co.uk for more details.
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Friday 03 September 2010
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