What began as a way to constructively deal with an energetic 4 year old became a journey for a Maple Valley family that spanned more than five years and ended in all four earning black belts in tae kwon do.

Billy Woodcock was enrolled in martial arts by his parents, Bill and Christine Woodcock, at the tender age of 4 because “my family wanted to teach me discipline,” the now 10 year old explained.

His dad, Bill, found Phillips Tae Kwon Do (though it was known by a different name then) at Four Corners.

“We were looking for something constructive to suck up the excess energy,” Bill said.

Typically, Bill said, the school doesn’t allow students to enroll until they are 5, but John Phillips told Bill and Christine to bring their son in so he began in January 2004.

After a year of learning how to spar, how to kick, basic forms and other martial arts skills, Billy wasn’t so sure he liked it enough to continue.

His parents, however, liked what Billy was getting out of the experience and wanted him to stick with it.

“We asked John, ‘What can we do to keep him interested,’” Bill said. “He said, ‘Join yourself.’ The next month we were all signed up.”

So, the Woodcocks became the family that did tae kwon do together, all four of them — Billy, Christine, Bill and then 11 year old Amanda.

“We’d been watching it for a year at that point, so, I thought it looked pretty fun,” Christine said. “But, I was also a little apprehensive. Amanda was meek. She was shy, pretty quiet … a super smart kid, but, not outgoing at all. So, it was a pretty big step for her to do tae kwon do at all.”

Tae kwon do has had major impacts on both kids, Christine explained, but in completely different ways.

“It’s made (Amanda) much more self confident and outgoing,” Christine said. “Whereas with Billy, it has kind of done the opposite. What he’s gotten from tae kwon do has been learning respect, learning self control, learning discipline. They both went through the same experience, but, they both got value out of it in very different ways.”

As time passed, they all moved up in rank in the belt system, and they all competed at the national level. All four members of the family have been national champions in their respective age and weight classes over the years.

As 2009 came to a close the family qualified to test for black belt status.

On April 24, all four of them went through a grueling nine hour test, part of a group of 17 who tested that day for black belt at Phillips Tae Kwon Do.

Prior to taking the test, Billy said, they had to be able to run 6.3 miles and went through a variety of pre-test training exercises as well as writing a paper on what earning a black belt meant and taking a written test that covered the history of tae kwon do among other things.

Bill said in preparation for the test he worked on the basic moves as well as forms because he felt more comfortable with sparring.

“We had to learn 14 forms and we were tested on 12 of them,” Bill said. “For me, that was the hardest part, the forms. I love to spar and that was never a problem for me.”

Forms were challenging for Bill because of the flexibility required as well as the ability to be flexible, something he said is easier for his children.

For Christine, she focused on building her endurance.

“The black belt test was over nine hours,” she said. “I was really concerned about the ability to just physically get through it.”

Amanda said she has really enjoyed every aspect of tae kwon do, so she focused on the big picture rather than one particular area to work on prior to the test.

“I feel like all of it can be worked on and all of it is about the same level,” she said. “I really liked concretely learning about the mental and emotional aspect of tae kwon do as compared to the physical aspect we’d been learning.”

As he was going through the test, Billy said he “just got through it” by focusing on the end goal of earning his black belt.

“My mental state was always positive,” he said.

Christine coped by being vocal when the opportunity arose.

“When I start to get tired … I get louder,” she said. “I just get a lot louder and I get angry and that for me is what helps me power through when I’m tired and I want to go home.”

Amanda also focused on the end goal, reminding herself “after tonight, I’ll be a black belt.”

“For me, it was just like, ‘This is it. This is something I’ve been working on for five and a half years’,” she said.

Her dad, on the other hand, “was pretty psyched to take the test.”

“For me, I looked to get through those next five minutes, those next 10 minutes, that next set of kicks,” Bill said. “I would focus on that end goal and that’s how I got through it.”

When the whole thing was over, Bill said, he thought to himself, “is it really over? Did I get through it?”

“I don’t know if it’s actually hit me yet that we’re actually through it,” he said. “The whole day seemed surreal.”

After it was all done, Billy was relieved it was all done.

“I was just thankful that it was over after six and a half year of waiting and preparing for the black belt test,” Billy said.

In some ways, it was almost anti-climactic for Christine.

“The most fun parts of the test are at the end, the sparring and the breaking,” Christine said. “What went through my mind was a little bit of disappointment that it was over.”

Amanda gave in to a little bit of emotion.

“It was really surreal for me,” she said. “After it was done I was crying. Like my mom, I was almost a little sad that it was over.”

But, really, the journey isn’t over.

This is just the first level of black belt, and, if they like they could test again for the next level in about two years at the earliest.

That’s something of a change, Christine said, because up until now they’ve tested for a belt every three to six months.

But, there is a perk to being a black belt — Bill got to teach his first class on May 5 by himself.

The biggest perk, however, was the experience they shared as a family.

“You look at how busy families are and they’re running one kid in one direction and another kid the other direction,” Christine said. “The fact we do it all together the fact we all enjoy it, that ensures the majority of the time we’re not at school or work, we’re together because we’re doing the same activity.”

Bill explained in some ways the end result of the test was not about the next level in tae kwon do.

“The biggest thing for me was not necessarily the belt itself but was … for the four of us to be able to do it together,” he said.

It meant more to him to be able “to experience that with my children” than to earn the belt.