Emerald City Tae Kwon Do

I have a seven year old daughter who is attending her second year at Emerald City's before and after school program. She loves the program and it is helping her blossom socially. Ron not only teaches the skills needed to be successful in the sport, but also teaches manners and a good work ethic. He is fair and patient with the children and they respond well to him. We have left her with local daycare facilities in the past and she always dreaded going there. This is not the story any longer. When we pick her up, often times she is disappointed that I am interrupting her activity. This is a good group of kids and they enjoy and look out for each other. more

Our Daughter has been attending Emerald City Tae Kwon Do for nearly two years now. When she first started she was very difficult to teach. She was so shy and reserved that Ron could barely get her to go on the floor for instruction. He showed great patience with her and never got frustrated or raised his voice. He wanted to help her gain the confidence to get on the floor. He even suggested one of us attend class for a month free to see if we could get her to engage in the lessons. This worked very well. Now she has gained two belts and has much more confidence in herself. She also attends his summer camp. It was her choice to go there over her previous day camp because she felt more comfortable with Ron and liked his program. We have always found him to be very fair and patient with all his students. He does expect all students to focus and be respectful. If they are not he does not raise his voice or get angry. He asks them to do pushups or wall sits and explains to them calmly why they received the corrective action. We have asked our daughter what she thinks about Ron and she only has good words for him. She now looks forward to attending his class and is disappointed if she can not go. We have never seen him show anything but respect for all his students and their parents. If our child were to have gone to any other instructor it?s highly unlikely she would have been allowed to continue due to how difficult she was in the beginning. He truly cares about his students. more

I have three children and my oldest loves Master Ron and Emerald City Tae Kwon Do. My middle child is ready to start asap and she loves going to visit her sister at the dojo. As a mother I am so glad for the format and the discipline and structure of the classes. Some parents may be surprised that their kids can't just get away with anything because its an environment of respect for the sport and for eachother. We love it and we want to tell anyone considerint Emerald City that we love it. more

My name is Jesse and my daughter and I go to Emerald City Tae Kwon Do in Covington WA. I can't say enough about what a positive experience this has been for me and my daughter. My daughter is 6 and she is learning to focus better and the Tae Kwon Do home rules have improved her enjoyment in the daily activities at home with her brother and sister. Master Ron is the same with ALL students, adults and children; his honor for the sport and for its participants is evident and he is a kind and compassionate person and a great teacher. The other teachers are GREAT with kids as well. I HIGHLY RECCOMEND Emerald City Tae Kwon Do. Please feel free to follow my email address on this link and ask me any other questions you may have. Thank you. more

Emerald City Tae Kwon Do really does a great job. Their before and after care care, which is a healthy and fun lternative to daycare for kids, has been great for my children. We had them in Day care where they sat and watch the same video day after day, etc. Master Ron at Emerald City works with the kids and engages in fun activities that uplift my kids-they love it. The owner Ron operates from a heart of respect and care for the kids. Thannk you, Ron and Emerald City TKD! -David from Kent more

My son was enrolled briefly in these classes and I personally witnessed the owner (Ron) holding 2 students to 2 different standards. After showing favoritism towards one child on multiple occasions, he then proceeded to promote just that child to the next level after a ""belt test"" where both children taking the test made the exact same mistakes. When I called him on this he got extremely defensive and I could hardly get a word in edgewise because he rambled on without taking a breath. He talks too much during class which causes the children to get restless while they stand there and then he punishes them with push-ups for not paying attention. I will not allow my son to be ""taught"" in this fashion. And after I cancelled he did not stop the automatic debits from my account. This guy is not honest! Beware! more

I stopped by Emerald City simply to check into their classes for my son. He has been doing TKD for 2 years and has worked hard for his 3rd belt. TKD is perfect for my son because he has learning disabilities that affect his sensory processing. When we walked into Emerald City, the owner incessantly and frantically told us about his school, at one point even admitting that he was talking in circles. I couldn't get a word in because he was just blabbing on and on about why his school is so much better than other schools. He proceeded to ""quiz"" my son, who was simply a bystander to the onslaught of crap coming out of this guy's mouth. Because my son was unable to answer the question immediately and confidently (due to the verbal assault), the owner proceeded to tell him that this would have gotten him 20 push-ups if he was attending his school. He then laid into him about how he didn't deserve the belt that he already had. At the end of his rant, he asked my son if he understood, to which my son replied, ""I don't think so."" I told him it was OK and that we were leaving anyway. I then told the owner that he didn't understand learning disabilities, to which he replied, ""How was I supposed to know?"" I told him he didn't need to know, you don't talk to kids like that. We promptly left. TKD is the first sport that has worked for my son and he absolutely loves taking classes and testing. He has developed high confidence over the past 2 years and it was scary to see how quickly that could have been destroyed if I were to allow that awful man to have any impact on my son's life. Thankfully, I have a backbone and won't allow anyone to mistreat my children. Another thing that the owner said was that he punishes kids for bad behavior in his after-school program by making them do more TKD. Since when was TKD supposed to be punishment? He's definitely got some issues and should not be teaching children. Beware of this ""school"". Pros: None seen Cons: Abusive type of behavior more