CLYDEBANK’S karate kid is aiming to go far in 2017 – Bulgaria to be exact.

Emma Ruthven travels six times a week to the town for training from her home in Carluke and will represent Scotland at the Junior European Karate Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in February.

The 14-year-old has been practising the sport since the age of seven and has become a Scottish, Welsh and Irish champion in her field.

In the past year, she has competed across Europe and in New York.

With her dad Andrew and mum Alice, the family regularly make a 60-mile round trip from their home in Carluke to Kokusai Karate Club in Clydebank.

Emma, the youngest of five siblings, also attends a monthly Scotland Squad session in Ratho, near Edinburgh.

The teenager told our sister paper, the Evening Times: “Our club is amazing, we’re like a proper little family, I think that is why Kokusai Karate Kai plays such an important role in my life.

“Training and competing is like an addiction for me, it’s my passion.

“Being selected to represent Scotland has always been a huge goal of mine so to be blessed with this opportunity is amazing. I’m so excited to see what the future holds.”

Emma’s dad Andrew explained: “I used to do karate a number of years ago, I didn’t compete at a the level she does, but that’s what originally sparked her interest.

“I could tell from the start that she had something special, she stuck out from everybody else in the club.

“We moved clubs about a year ago to train with Billy Haggerty and Bobby Morton and Emma also trains with Stephanie Connell, she’s come on quite a lot.

“Between the three of them she’s in the right place.

“They’re the top coaches that’s why we moved. It’s her whole life basically.”

In the past 12 months, Emma has competed in the Scottish International Open, British Four Nations, British Open and New York International Open, among others.

Andrew added: “She’s holding her own up there. Everywhere we go she ends up on the podium. I’m so proud of her.

“It’s a commitment from us. We have to get her from Carluke to Clydebank but the biggest commitment is from Emma.

“I don’t mind at all taking her through.

“For the moment, there’s no funding for karate. It was accepted for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo so we’re hoping that will change things.

“All the trips we go to, training and everything, is paid for by us.

“We get a grant from West Dunbartonshire Council – they’re going to give us £150 because she’s part of their talented youth. And South Lanarkshire Council have come up with something similar.”

The family are hoping that the inclusion of the karate in the 2020 Olympics will result in more financial backing of the sport, like that experienced by tennis and cycling in recent years.

For now, Andrew is encouraging his daughter to stick in at school.

He explains: “School comes first – she needs an education before anything.”

“There are people high up in the sport that make money out of it but there’s nothing there financially to encourage her to pursue it just now.

“She’s certainly not in it for the money.”

Emma added: “Good things don’t come to those who wait, but to those who work for it.”