Quest Taekwondo member Jacob Barnett has been called into the GB Junior Development Team.

The 16-year-old from Baildon, who attends sixth form at Sir Titus Salt School, started in the sport when he was six.

He has competed in various competitions across Europe from the age of seven but his most successful year to date was 2012, when he picked up gold medals at the Dutch Masters in Rotterdam and London International Championships in Crawley and a superb silver medal at the British National Championships, losing out to his new GB team- mate Shem Ehigie from London.

Jacob was also an award winner at the prestigous Inspires training workshops, led by Great Britain’s most decorated taekwondo athlete Sarah Stevenson MBE.

Through Quest Taekwondo, he has a route to being in contention for selection for a major championships, such as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Junior European Championships in Portugal or Youth Olympics in China, as Quest are part of the national governing body for Olympic Taekwondo in Great Britain.

Jacob's call-up means he will be training with his home club six days per week as normal, but will go with the Great Britain Junior Development Team for three or four days during every school-term break.

There he will be training with the most talented 14 to 18 year olds (junior category) for three three-hour sessions daily, and will be directly under the coaches and selectors for championships.

While Jacob has one eye on Rio 2016, his focus is still on his goals for this year, the main one being to represent Great Britain at the Junior European Championships in Portugal in September.

To do this, he will be competing at A-Class sparring tournaments across the continent, where he will continue to represent Quest Taekwondo, starting in Sweden (February), Germany (March), Belgium (April), Spain (April) and Austria (June).

The main barrier to achieving this is finance, as all these trips are self-funded by Jacob and his family.

Each trip costs Jacob about £400 in travel, accommodation and entry fees.

If anyone would be interested in offering a donation or any support to Jacob, please contact coach Rick Simpson on 07977-065357 or Rick@QuestBradford.co.uk.

Jacob will also be training with Silsden starlet Natasha Burdock, 15, who is also Jacob's clubmate.

She is also competing for a place in the Junior European Championships and will be accompanying Jacob, along with the rest of the Quest Taekwondo team, at these events.

Simpson, who is Jacob's coach at Quest Taekwondo, added: "Jacob has worked so hard to getting to where he is.

"He is an inspiration to all teenagers who want to get something in life, and Jacob has really committed himself to this.

"It is not just the training commitment he has put in for himself, but how he comes across too.

"All the boys in the club look up to Jacob and he sets a really good example to them - training hard, thinking positively, taking on feedback, improving all the time, helping others, he's just a pleasure to work with."