Mountlake Terrace tae kwon do coach teaches life lessons

Published 10:45 pm Wednesday, March 3, 2010

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — When students of Brandon Richards’ tae kwon do classes ask why he started learning tae kwon do, he tells them he did it for two reasons.

The first, he says, is because he was raised by his father, a Whatcom County deputy sheriff who was always busy working. The second is that he had a Korean nanny from ages 4 to 12, who introduced him to the sport.

“I had a father who was looking at how his son could learn to protect himself and a Korean nanny who was used to most boys going into martial arts, so tae kwon do just tied in perfectly while I was growing up,” he said.

While Richards was taking classes, an instructor told him it was his job to teach tae kwon do while he went to college. When it was time for Richards to go to find a job, he remembered how his instructor turned something he loved into work. He decided to do the same and in 1992, started teaching tae kwon do. In 1993, at age 19, he opened Seattle Tae Kwon Do at 22803 44th Ave. W., Mountlake Terrace.

As the school’s director, Richards, now 37, said he enjoys offering opportunities for his students to give back to their community. The students and families donate food to food banks in November and toys to the Toys for Tots drive in December. Throughout the year, the school offers free classes, such as preventing child abduction, to people in the community.

So it seemed only natural to find some way to help the families of slain Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton of Marysville and the four Lakewood police officers who were shot and killed less than a month later.

After Richards heard a local talk radio program in late November, he found a way he and the nearly 400 students at Seattle Tae Kwon Do could help.

“They did a morning show about how there was a music group who had made some really derogatory shirts about cops,” Richards said. “They asked people to design shirts commemorating the officers and put them on sale for the public.”

The proceeds from each $20 shirt would go toward the families of the slain officers. Richards liked the idea and put a fishbowl in the lobby of Seattle Tae Kwon Do to collect donations in order to purchase the shirts.

Donations started filling the bowl.

“There was this one little girl, and she said she didn’t have much money and asked if there was a minimum, and I said no, it’s just whatever you’ve got,” Richards said. “The next thing I hear is her emptying change out her pockets. I was just really touched she was trying to give whatever she could.”

Students donated $400. Richards doubled the amount and the school purchased 40 of the white T-shirts to give to the Mountlake Terrace Police Department.

Students placed handmade thank you cards on each shirt and presented each one to Christina O’Brien, chairwoman of the Police Community Advisory Board, and other board members during their Feb. 23 meeting at the Mountlake Terrace Police Department.

“I know that Brandon, the kids and their parents all worked pretty hard,” O’Brien said. “It was an awesome moment. I know the kids had a blast. It made me feel good too.”

Seattle Tae Kwon Do students were excited to present the shirts and cards, Richards said.

“It was fun,” said Rhiannon Lovin, 9, a fourth-grader at Lynndale Elementary. “We drew cards. I wrote ‘Thank you’ and ‘You’re the best.’ ”

Mountlake Terrace Elementary first-grader Leonardo Diaz, 7, said he colored a picture of his school and of the police who keep him safe every day.

“They keep me safe in my neighborhood too,” he said.

After he graduates from a Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, program he’s taking once a week, Richards said he’ll encourage students who need community service to earn their black belt to take the class. The school will also offer a free CPR and first aid class on April 3 to those who register for the class.

“We do these things to help on a regular basis because it’s necessary,” Richards said.

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.