Family affair, taekwondo style

Danielle Pelham bounced on her heels, then threw some kicks at a 15-year old.

A 1980s funk band played on an iPod as dozens of teens and twenty-somethings sparred around her. The atmosphere was casual but competitive in mid-June. Pelham wore a Nike T-shirt that said “World Famous.” Given time, she just might be.

Her father, Dave Pelham, walked into the cavernous Tukwila martial arts studio, Velocity Tae Kwon Do, carrying water and coffee. His shirt had one word on its front: “Practice.” It was as good a mantra as any, given the circumstances.

Danielle Pelham, an Everett resident, left for Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday to compete as part of the U.S. team in the 10th World University Taekwondo Championships, which is attracting teams from 40 countries. The 23-year old Everett Community College student was among eight women selected for the U.S. team.

Success seems hereditary. Her father, Dave, was chosen as one of the team’s three full coaches. The Pelhams hope to claim gold in Serbia, even as Danielle Pelham keeps an eye on the Olympics in 2012.

“We’re very familiar with the Pelhams,” said Bill Kellick, a spokesman for USA Taekwondo, an organization that helps guide the US Olympic effort. “Danielle’s been at the top of her weight class every since I came on board in 2004.”

Taekwondo is a technical sport that finds two opponents facing off on a 10-meter by 10-meter mat. Points are awarded over three rounds as two people kick each other’s torso or head, and throw punches to the torso. But if either toss flagrant shots below the belt or to the spine, they may lose a point.

The winner must either score 12 points or score the most points during three 2-minute rounds.

The sport has Korean roots, which makes it a fit for Danielle Pelham. She has a long-standing fascination with aspects of Asian culture. She also illustrates Japanese-styled comics for an Everett publishing house, NDP Comics, which she co-owns with her older sister, Nicole Pelham.

In fact, cartoons — namely the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — helped draw her to the sport when she was 11.

“I always wanted to do martial arts,” she said. “My parents finally gave in.”

This, of course, was before her dad, a firefighter with Snohomish County, got into the sport himself. He would go to his daughter’s tournaments and sometimes bend the coach’s ear, offering advice. They bristled, telling him he didn’t understand the sport.

“I said, ‘Oh, really?’” the 50-year-old recalled. “So I started.”

After learning it himself and dabbling in competition, he decided to coach, founding Velocity Tae Kwon Do with his daughter in 2005. The school has helped Danielle stay among the top tier of athletes.

“She’s very technical,” said Christian Valencia, a Renton teammate also headed to Serbia. “She likes to pick you apart, kind of break you down, more mentally than physically.”

Both Valencia and Pelham seem to benefit from having each other as sparring partners, Dave Pelham said.

“If you’re the only really good athlete, you’re only going to go to a certain level, and others try to catch up but the odds are you’re going to meet somewhere in between,” Dave Pelham said. “You’re going to stop getting better.”

Clearly, that hasn’t happened. Danielle Pelham has become practically a perennial on the U.S. collegiate circuit; she was selected for the trip to Serbia after winning at trials in Denver this May. Her skills have taken her around the globe — to Germany, Spain and Korea.

She even attended the Olympic trials this year, but the games use a more stringent weight restriction that hurt her chances, she said. Now, she’s got an eye on 2012, when she will be 27. That may make her among the older competitors. This year’s Olympic team ranges in age from 17 to 29 years old.

Still, while she will be a bit older, don’t consider her knocked out of contention.

“She’d be in the mix,” said Kellick.

Reporter Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or e-mail arathbun@heraldnet.com