Meaghan belts it out

The Premier Tae Kwon Do student, from Craigmarloch, has just been presented with her black belt after passing a gruelling three and a half hour test set by uncompromising trainers.

She has been training for more than six years and has even recently begun helping her dad teach some of his younger students at Airdrie Premier Tae Kwon Do.

Alan Sands, Meaghan’s dad, said: “I’m very proud of her, both as my daughter and as a student.

“She has worked very hard over the years.

“I think the drive of beating her older brother Gary (22) to be a black belt made her work even harder!”

Meaghan trains with Master Andy Brown at the Broadwood sports centre’s new state of the art martial arts facility.

She was put through her paces at a recent grading at the Ravenscraig sports facility, with candidates from all over Scotland.

The 14-year-old is one of the first black belts at the new Tae Kwon Do Scotland association, which has been set up by Master Andy Brown and Jim Tully.

Meaghan is pictured receiving her Kukkiwon certificate, all the way from Korea, with (from left to right) Olympic gold medalist Chu Mu Yen, Master Andy Brown, and her dad, and instructor, Alan Sands.