Andy Apricot

 

This is Andy Apricot’s story in his own words:
Hi, I am Andy Apricot and I used to be bullied. There used to be a gang of boys at school who teased me and kicked me. It made me feel really sad and lonely. It gave me a real drop in my confidence and made me worried when they came near me.
One time they got me in the school toilets and they tried to hurt me but I ran outside. One of the boys caught me and they kicked me and punched me.
The leader of the gang went to a club outside of school and he was put in my group. When we were having problems putting a tent up, he blamed me and teased me. He threatened to bring a knife into school and stab me. This made me worried and I didn’t want to go back to school again.
It got all this sorted out by telling my friends and we told a teacher. They spoke to the bullies and sorted the bulling issues out.
I still had a major drop of confidence though. This is when I started Tae Kwon-do were I learnt to defend myself and it put my confidence right up. I am now a green belt and I have entered two competitions and won one trophy.
Andy could not understand why a group of children could be so horrible to him when he had done nothing to them. He thought that it was his fault, that he was doing something wrong. Bullying is NEVER the victim’s fault but it has taken Andy a long time to realise this.
Andy was very brave and went to his first Tae Kwon-do class in May 2008. He was very nervous and watched the first few classes before eventually joining in.
Since that time, over a year ago, Andy has gone to classes regularly two to three times a week and loves it. He now stands tall, shoulders back, with confidence and his self esteem has steadily increased.
His achievements include:
White belt grading September 2008 (Best in Grading)
Yellow Tag belt grading September 2008 (Best in Grading)
Yellow belt grading December 2008
Welsh Nationals, Deeside February 2009
English Nationals, Nottingham March 2009
Green Tag belt grading March 2009
Green belt grading June 2009
Blue Tag belt grading September 2009
The English Nationals in Nottingham was a huge event, thousands of entries and spectators. Andy showed off his pattern, Dan Gun, in front of all these people. That just shows how much more confident he is now!
If you are having problems with bullying and have lost your confidence and self esteem like Andy, please don’t suffer in silence. You CAN do something about it and there are people who would love to talk to you and help you.
You will feel better when you speak to someone. Try your parents, carers, family or teacher or click on one of the links below to find out more information about how you can stop yourself from being bullied.