Greenwich Small Business Spotlight: Cho's Taekwondo

Every local business has a story worth sharing with the community. And that’s the belief behind this exciting series — to shine the spotlight on all our favorite local businesses, and to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well.

Business: Cho’s Taekwondo
Owners: Michael & Kelly Cho
Website: www.chos-taekwondo.com
Address: 5 Oak Street, Greenwich, CT 06831

How did you come up with the name?

Simply, our name is a reflection of our family name and the type of martial art that we teach. We decided on this because we truly envisioned our school to be a family business in which we want to have a closeness and wonderful relationships with all of our students and their families. We have definitely succeeded there, as our students are like a second family to us.

Why start a business in this town?

We started this business after initially being welcomed by the community into the “Afters” programs within the Greenwich Public Schools in 2005. Our after-school program had become so popular that we were encouraged by supporters to start an extension of our program on the weekends for our students. We did this initially at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich solely on weekends while maintaining weekday lessons within the district’s “Afters” program. Not long after that, our student base grew on weekends and we were searching for our own location to open weekdays too. Now we offer weekday and weekend classes at our own studio on Oak street while also maintaining “Afters” programs at several of the GPS elementary schools and camps.

What business are you in?

We are a martial arts school focused on the traditional Korean martial art of Taekwondo. Our classes are for all ages, starting at 3.5yrs through adults. We teach all aspects of the sport including Poomsae (forms), Sparring and Board Breaking. We also have enhanced classes for those wishing to train competitively and compete within the USAT** arena. (**USA Taekwondo is the national governing body of Taekwondo for the United States Olympic Committee and thus the United States’s official Member National Association of the World Taekwondo Federation.)

What’s the most difficult challenge you’ve faced as a business owner?

Our most difficult challenge has always been time. We always want to offer every student what they want and what they need. And we try our best to offer classes for everyone, every day that we are opened. And our goal is to never let a student feel like they did not have the opportunity to come and train when they needed it. In order to do this, we open our doors to our students always. Our class schedule reflects our normal class hours; however, we are constantly encouraging our students’ training and traveling with them to associated schools’ seminars, cross-trainings etc. after hours on Saturdays and many Sundays. Time is a challenge but we love what we do and wouldn’t have it any other way.

What’s been your proudest achievement since opening?

It’s impossible to pick one because our proudest achievements have always been the achievements of our students. We have watched a very shy student who was scared to try a first lesson, flourish into a confident black belt. We have seen our competition team students come home with multiple medals from USAT Nationals. We have watched as students have struggled (inside and outside of Taekwondo) and seen the support from an entire school to make sure that one student knew he wasn’t alone. Being a business owner in a business like ours, our biggest achievement is just watching our students grow. Our “Throwback Thursday” photo on Facebook a few weeks ago, was a picture from 2009 of our then demo team, six elementary school children, who have since grown into amazing, respectful, polite and strong teenagers/young adults, all of whom continue to train with us today and now teach as assistant instructors in our school. Being able to look back and be proud of the influence we have had on their lives, is our greatest achievement and we hope to continue on that path for years to come.

How does your business give back to the community?

One thing we have come to love in this community is our involvement in the Greenwich Relay for Life. Our entire school fundraises every year towards this cause and we have been participating in it since 2012. Last year, our team was given an award for being one of the top fundraising teams and supporters of the event. We love this event and what it stands for, so we encourage our students to rally for it and we are proud to say that each year the number of students that participate in the event grows. This year, the students planned a tag sale to help fundraise. They have also done a car wash, sold team merchandise and volunteered to raise money for the cause. Also to help make the event entertaining and encourage others to come out and enjoy (since the relay itself if amazingly fun... FYI- for those who have never attended, you should definitely mark your calendars for next year!), our demonstration team performs each year in honor of those they’ve loved and lost.

Would you like to see your small business showcased in this series? Email wendy.mitchell@ patch.com.