Sheila Stewart, 72, and Isabel Murray, 77, from Dalgety Bay, Fife are two of the oldest people in Britain who awarded karate black belts.
In 2015, Sheila started bringing her grandkids to karate classes and they both took up the same.
Watch their inspiring story below!
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Video credit: Rumble
They started at white and reaching the coveted black belts and went through twelve grades. Their instructor Sarah Queen created a class for them to improve their skill. After for years of sharpening their fighting skills at the Japan Karate Shoto Federation in Fife, Scotland Sheila and Isabel reached the highest martial arts rank. They were honored with black belts from Japan.
Sheila who is a former hairdresser said: ‘My grandchildren do karate and I went along and Sarah was willing to do a class for seniors, so I thought I’d give it a go. ‘We were a bit hesitant about our first grading but she [Sarah] thought we could do it and we passed, so we did the next one. ‘It’s just gone on from there – it’s been amazing.’
‘We never ever thought we’d get to the stage we’re at now,’ she added. ‘Words really fail me, it was just wonderful – we were ecstatic. ‘We couldn’t believe we’d got this far. If we could’ve done somersaults we would’ve done.’
Isabel who is a former delivery driver told: ‘It was exciting, something I never thought I’d achieve, but perseverance and hard work I got there – I’m quite happy.
‘At our age the brain sometimes likes to go to sleep. ‘It started off as fun and just a hobby, but we didn’t realize Sarah would take us further. It’s an achievement for her as well.’ ‘It’s fun, exercise and a bit of self defense. People say “I don’t want to get on the wrong side of you now.
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Sarah who was the coach of Sheila and Isabel for four years, said: ‘They’ve been fun to teach. ‘They’ve had to learn a certain group of techniques and come in and do them, which can be quite daunting at that age. ‘They’ve progressed pretty quickly through it. I’m glad to see them achieving black belt.’
‘Originally it was never an aim to achieve black belt but I pushed them to achieve it as quickly as they could. ‘You need to encourage them to do some things but it’s been good for them and for me.’
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