She is an Australian teenager and a 3rd Dan Taekwondo Black Belt.
Also, she understands more than anyone, what Taekwondo and training in the traditional martial arts can add to your life.
Grace has Autism and Functional Neurological Disorder which results in severe and ongoing seizures with associated memory loss and other neurological impacts. She and her mum Jo are currently living in Victoria so that Grace can receive the best treatment currently available in Australia for her condition.
As a result she has moved from her club Taekwondo Oh Do Kwan Byford Armadale Serpentine in WA (Byford – Master Neil Brickwood) and is keeping up her training with other clubs on the east coast of Australia including Musa Taekwondo in Sydney. Mum Jo says Grace benefits enormously not just physically but socially and emotionally through her training.
Early in 2020, Grace and Jo came across Pink Belt Project. They contacted Project Founder Kristy Hitchens with an idea to help out with fundraising. The sport had helped her so much in coping with her FMD that Grace was keen to pay the gift forward and help someone else in need.
Pink Belt Project is aimed at helping connect women aged 18 and over to martial arts but together, Grace and Kristy hatched a plan for Pink Belt by Grace – a special edition Pink Belt Scholarship that would provide a year of Taekwondo training to a teen girl who also had a neurological condition.
With birthday money and the support of her Taekwondo community, friends and family, in just a few short months Grace raised enough to cover a full scholarship worth $2,000. Awe inspiring!
Now she has decided to fundraise on an annual basis so that she can offer a new Pink Belt by Grace Taekwondo scholarship every year.