McCutcheon, Taekwondo's Mr. Miyagi

During his first years coaching taekwondo on the island of Oahu, Brian McCutcheon’s life was hectic.

A welder by day, McCutcheon would hurry over to the 1,000-square-foot space in which he taught in the afternoons, scrub some of the grease off his face in the gym’s tiny washroom, and then head out to the non-air conditioned mat room to lead his classes.

“The biggest paycheck I ever got from running that gym was about $300 for a month,” McCutcheon said with a laugh.

The coach’s hard work and dedication to his athletes has paid off, but life is no less hectic.

In the 16 years since he has gone into business for himself, McCutcheon, a master instructor and owner of the Oahu Taekwondo Center in Aiea, Hawaii, has coached U.S. national champions and U.S. Open champions at the senior and junior levels. He has guided a Junior Olympic team each year since 1995. He has also coached a team at Senior Nationals every year since 2002. He also served as the head coach of the Marshall Islands team at the 2008 Olympic Games. All of this he has done on his own time, without extra compensation.

In March, the U.S. Olympic Committee named McCutcheon its Volunteer Coach of the Year. The award will be presented formally on June 17 during the National Coaching Educators’ Conference in Savannah, Ga.

“I never saw it coming,” McCutcheon said of the honor. “In this sport, and maybe this is consistent with other sports, a lot of coaches try to make it about themselves. But I have really pushed away from that philosophy. I’m the coach, but these kids deserve all the credit.”

When McCutcheon started coaching taekwondo, he didn’t have children of his own. Instead, his students filled that role. Some of his top students today began working with McCutcheon as toddlers. Now they are competing at national and international events. McCutcheon views them as family. Now he is the father of three children of his own.

“The guys who have broken into the senior level, I’ve had them since they were 4 or 5,” McCutcheon said.  

“They’re with me six days a week, and I’m there for their sisters’ first birthdays, for their graduations, for their whole lives. It’s a very personal relationship. That’s the thing that keeps me sacrificing everything.”

The 41-year-old coach has driven the same Dodge Ram truck for the past 13 years. He, his wife of 16 years Tamara, and their three children squeeze into the same two-bedroom condo McCutcheon purchased in the early 1990s. He tries to keeps his expenses low so he can put everything he can toward his athletes.

McCutcheon estimated his team travels about 200,000 miles a year going to competitions on the mainland and around the world. Few of his athletes can afford such expenses, so it’s up to McCutcheon and his assistants to raise the funds to make sure everyone has a spot.

Fundraisers such as wine tastings, car washes and bake sales are routine events in McCutcheon’s weeks. He serves as salesman, marketing coordinator and financial counselor for his athletes.

“That’s the thing: If I could just train my kids, man that would be nice,” he said with a sigh. “But I’ve got a great team of people around me. They carry a huge amount of that burden, which really frees me up.”

McCutcheon earns his living teaching the basics of taekwondo — discipline, respect, self-defense — to children at his center.

Once he took over the gym in the mid-1990s, membership rose from about 40 athletes to more than 100 in less than six months. McCutcheon likes to think his superior taekwondo abilities were what drew people in, but even he knows better.

“My brilliant coaching strategy back then was to get an air conditioner,” McCutcheon said, laughing. “That’s what made the difference. I’ll be honest. It was really bad. Can you imagine practicing taekwondo in Hawaii without air conditioning?”

That AC unit proved to be a worthwhile investment. The latest Oahu Taekwondo Center is a 5,000-square-foot facility with 3,000 square feet of practice area.

But it’s seeing his athletes succeed that means the most to this coach. McCutcheon recalled watching his first athlete reach the podium at a major event.

“That was a huge deal. Her name was Kelly, and it was only a green-belt division. That had to have been probably close to 15 years ago,” McCutcheon said. “And that was it. Once I saw her up there, that was kind of the point we realized we could do this.”

Early on, McCutcheon and his wife would run from podium to podium, taking pictures of McCutcheon’s handful of athletes as they earned their medals. These days, McCutcheon is bringing upward of 50 kids to competitions, along with a team of 10 coaches or more.

McCutcheon has lived in Hawaii since he was in the third grade. He knows his job would be easier in a state such as California, where high-level competitions are a car ride away and where taekwondo black belts are a dime a dozen.

But Hawaii is home.  

“It’s not like I get athletes at a very developed stage,” McCutcheon said.

"I have to get them into it at a young age and get them fired up and show them the skill sets they need to move on. Sometimes I’ll joke with my kids and be like, ‘I’m leaving. I’m gonna go start a gym in California.’ But they see through it. I love Hawaii too much. I could never leave.”

McCutcheon further cemented his Hawaiian roots when he recently bought a four-bedroom home in which he and his family can spread out and settle down. The property is in escrow, and with Junior and Senior Nationals on the horizon, it’s going to be tough to find time for the move.

After two decades of coaching, life’s still hectic for McCutcheon. And that seems to be the way he likes it.

 

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Annabelle Tometich is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.

Tags: Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Brian McCutcheon, Oahu Taekwondo Center, Taekwondo, U.S. Olympic Committee, Volunteer Coach of the Year