HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY OMEGA SPRINGVILLE

My Dear Omega Family:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! This year, at Omega Springville, we reached a very significant milestone – we celebrated our 20 th Anniversary of being able to teach, mentor, and provide a safe refuge for anyone who wants to take the amazing journey of learning martial arts. As I reflect on how far we have come, how many people we have been able to interact with, and how many blessings God has blessed us with, there is only one word that immediately comes to mind – GRATITUDE! I would like to take you on a little journey and mention some of the more significant moments we have had over the past 20 years. There are SO many I would like to mention and so many people who have been so influential; however, I am constrained by time and space on this paper.

JUNE 1, 2003 – I vividly remember the day we opened – the many hours, the late nights, and all the hard work leading up to our Grand Opening. Kim, my wife, was 9 months pregnant and her poor feet were so swollen. She hates it when I tell this story, but I have this image burned into my mind’s eye of how swollen her feet were – I literally thought her flip-flops were being swallowing up by her puffy feet. LOL!! I laugh (and cry) thinking about this moment. Kim was on a ladder painting
the walls of the studio with a huge belly and probably not feeling so well. This is a picture into the heart of the woman I married. At the time, she was not a martial artist – but she believed in ME and the dream I had of opening a martial art studio. Two days later, on June 3 rd , 2003, we welcomed Ethan, our first baby into our little family. Oh, what a time this was!

The first location for Omega Springville was an old building at 220 S. Main Street, Springville. We rented this space for 4 years. I remember the 3 evenly spaced blue support posts that were in the middle of the gray carpeted floor. There were many collisions with these polls while we sparred and did self-defense. I remember the cold walk to the bathroom in the very back of the building (the heater never seemed to work back there). I was 26 years old, been married for two years, had our first baby boy, Kim was working full time supporting our family as I still had one more year left at BYU to finish my business degree. We were so busy and so tired – but we loved each other, and I loved OMEGA and what I knew in my heart it could be and do for so many people – including my own family. These were very sacred times, and I will always be forever grateful for the people and the God-given circumstances that surrounded the beginnings of Omega Springville.

APRIL 26, 2007 – We finished building the new Omega Springville studio and we got occupancy! Back up… around May of 2006 I got a call from the landlord of the building we were renting. He informed me that he was NOT renewing our lease and gave us notice that we needed to move out within the next year. My heart sank! So many questions started flooding my mind: Where are we going to go? How am I going to afford the current price of rent? My mind was racing and, quite frankly, I was scared for our future. We had grown our student base to be around 175 – 200 students. I felt very determined to not leave them without a place to practice their marital arts. It wasn’t looking too good. We had searched all around south Utah County to rent another space and either they were too small, or they were too expensive. I was at a loss. Sometime during the summer of 2006, I received a call from Kim. She was driving north on Springville Main Street and noticed a “FOR SALE” sign on a piece of property. Her words were, “Hey, we have exhausted our resources on finding a place to rent… why don’t we just build the studio we always wanted?” When she suggested this idea it was like a light illuminated a pathway pointing us in the direction Omega needed to go. Then the doubt set in. How in the world could we afford to build a building suitable to be the home for our Omega Family? I looked at our finances and then I looked at how much the projected cost of building the studio was – needless to say, there was a very large gap in this equation. On paper, we couldn’t afford to do this.

However, the feeling of moving forward along this path was so strong that we decided to press on. Here is where the miracles started happening. On the way to signing the paperwork for the construction loan I remember calling my mom. I was very nervous about putting this much money on the line and possibly putting my family’s financial well-being in jeopardy. She asked me one question, “Rich, are they worth it?” Meaning, are your student’s worth it? The answer was a resounding
“YES!” Here we are, 16 years later from taking occupancy of our studio and I can honestly say that building our Omega Studio was one of the BEST decisions we ever made. It took faith and a lot of hard work, but everything that is worth doing requires a tremendous sacrifice.

NOVEMBER 20, 2014 – It was 7:30 AM – my brothers, my sister, and I were gathered around the bed of our angel mother as she passed away. Being by her bedside when her spirit left her body and moved on to be with her loved ones and her Father in Heaven was, and forever will be, one of the most sacred experiences I will ever have. I won’t say too much more about this experience, as I hold it very close to my heart. I will say this… Shihan Jan Davis was and always will be one of the
great ones. She is an example of someone who filled the measure of her creation and was then called home. I feel it a great honor that I was able to call her “Mom.” This sacred event forced me to grow in ways that I never thought were possible. I came to truly understand that “Every Master’s Master will pass away.” And if I wanted to step into the next stages of my martial art journey, I needed to learn what it meant to be a “Source of Martial Arts.”

JULY 17, 2021 – Ever since we started Omega Springville I had been known as Kwanjangnim Richard. On July 17 th , 2021, I was awarded my 7 th DAN Black Belt and the title of Shihan. This was, and still is very difficult for me. The reason for this hesitancy is that when my mom passed away, she was a 7 th DAN Black Belt and carried the title of Shihan. How in the world was I to live up to her? One night after this advancement I remember feeling very inadequate. I remember feeling a very
warm feeling come over me and in my mind I heard my mom’s voice say, “Don’t try to be me – BE you!” I needed this!

What my students and Omega needed was not my mom, her time had passed. What they now needed was the best version of me I could possibly give them. Now, I am very acutely aware of ALL my short comings and mistakes. But I can honestly say that I love you all and I will always give you my very best.

JUNE 1, 2023 – Our Omega Springville 20-year Anniversary! Where did the time go? I would like to honor and show respect to all of you – our Omega Family. This journey would not have been possible without the love, dedication, and commitment of all the Omega instructors and students of the past, the present, and for those who will yet come. There are no words that can express the depth of love and gratitude I have for you and for this journey we have taken together. It is far from over… but today I honor where we have come from and the God-given miracles we have all experienced to get where we are today. My “WHY” in martial arts is… YOU! And will continue to be so as long as I have the privilege to be your Shihan.

JULY 15, 2023 – We presented the MOST Omega Black Belt candidates in the history of Omega Springville. We have 30 testers alone testing from our studio. I remember when my mom tested for her Black Belt – she had 2 testing. When I tested for my Black Belt – there were 4.

I love you all with my whole heart and please have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Shihan Richard