A pint-sized martial artist is using her skills outside of the ring to fund her dream of earning a black belt in taekwondo.
What really sets Samira George apart, aside from her driven nature, is her age. George is nine-years-old and a red belt in taekwondo.
"When she first started, she was just one of those firecrackers who just steals your heart," her coach Phil Power told CTV Atlantic.
Power is helping prepare George to earn her black belt at an international competition being held in South Korea.
"It is probably the biggest pinnacle of your martial arts career and a life goal people have their entire life," Power says about earning the distinction.
The roughly $5,000 trip would deter many, but not George.
To fund the trip, George is spending her free time outside the ring busking on a Halifax pier, playing classical and Celtic music on her fiddle.
"I like how it makes people smile," she said. "I can't really talk when I am playing so I give a nod and a big, big smile. But if I stop playing, I say thank you."
Her desire to see her dreams through has inspired family members.
"What inspires me about Samira is that she has a no-quit, can-do attitude," her mother Shelley said.
As for George, when asked how she's managed to get so far in taekwondo at a young age, she says the answer is pretty simple.
"I practised and practised and practised and I just put my mind to it," she said.
With a report from CTV’s Todd Battis
