Tooheys put their own stamp on a martial arts franchise

"Honor is a gift I give myself!" shouts a small, sandy-haired 6-year-old boy on command. His tae kwon do instructor, Brandon Toohey, nods approvingly.

"Honor is a gift I give myself!" shouts the next boy, a 3-year-old named Carmine. He keeps asking Toohey if they can play dodgeball and says his favorite part of taking lessons at Round Rock's TaeKwonDo Plus is "doing my punches."

For a group of 3- to 6-year-olds, Toohey's students are surprisingly disciplined and well-behaved. Then again, Toohey said, that's the point. The classes, he said, are designed to teach not only martial arts, but life skills.

Every lesson starts with a centering message and students often have to recite information that has little to do with how high they can kick in order to attain a new level. To earn certain stripes on their belt, for example, the younger students have to be able to recite their address and telephone number.

"It's like a lifestyle more than a hobby," said Desirae Toohey, Brandon's wife and co-owner of the school.

The couple has certainly made the school their life. Both Desirae and Brandon used to work in what Desirae called "the corporate world," but said it didn't work out for either of them.

"I don't think the job world suited either of us," Desirae said.

So when an opportunity opened up for Brandon—who has been training in martial arts since he was 10 and teaching since he was 17—to take over his own school, the couple left the corporate world behind.

The school is part of the Tiger Rock Martial Arts franchise, a group of martial arts schools with hundreds of locations throughout the country and dozens in Texas alone. But the Tooheys put their own touches on TaeKwonDo Plus.

For one, Toohey, who was home-schooled himself, caters to home-schooled children, which has attracted some parents.

"There was that connection there," said Delana Gilbert, who home-schools her children Ian, 6, and Isaac, 4. "He knew what [home schooling] was like."

The Tooheys offer three different tiers of classes for different ages: Tiger Cubs (3–5 year olds), Juniors (6–12 year olds), and Teens and Adults (13 and older). Regardless of age, classes are either $99 per month per person or $189 for a family of two or more. Either option entitles students to attend as many classes as they would like in either tae kwon do or jiu jitsu, though there is an add-on fee if someone would like to take both styles.

The classes are tailored for each age group. For example, part of the Tiger Cub classes' escape and defense lesson is shouting out "Stop stranger, don't touch me. You're not my mom or dad!"

Carmine, the youngest but certainly loudest member of the class on this day, shouts his stranger warning with such force that it's hard to imagine anyone attacking the pint-sized warrior.

Then, of course, he asks to play dodgeball again.

"It takes a lot of patience," Toohey said of teaching his youngest students, "and a good sense of humor."

TaeKwonDo Plus, 1920 Sam Bass Road Ste. 400, 246-9559, www.texasma.com