ALTAMONT — On Saturday, five of the people competing for black belts in taekwondo under the watchful eye of their teacher, Robert Traina, were from the same family: parents Bill and Samantha Cleveland; their elder daughter, Molly, 12; and their 9-year-old twins, Olivia and William.

The family’s sport began with Samantha, now 46, who had previously practiced taekwondo and earned a blue belt. Fourteen years later, she decided to return to the sport and took classes at Altamont Martial Arts, run by Robert and Catherine Traina.

Her children soon followed. The last to put on a white gi and learn the high kicks and quick moves was Mr. Cleveland, now 70.

“My son pushed me,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Dad, you can do it.’”

Mr. Cleveland had retired from 40 years of work as a union electrician. “I retired to be Mr. Mom,” he said, so he followed his kids’ lead.

Saturday, he was breaking boards with the best of them. Seven inch-thick boards had to be split. “I broke three with a palm heel,” said Mr. Cleveland, explaining that involves plunging “straight down with the palm of your hand.”

He went on, “I broke two with a front kick, and two with a rear-leg side kick.”

The Cleveland kids learn in a junior class and their parents in a senior section but they enjoy a family class together on Saturdays. “It keeps everybody together,” said Mr. Cleveland. Values like courtesy, self-control, perseverance, and having an indomitable spirit are taught, as well as the physical aspects of the sport.

“It’s good for self-defense but you do everything else instead,” said Mr. Cleveland. “You’re capable if someone takes you on. You’re respected.”

He gave an example of how the training had helped his children.

“Some of the older boys would bother Molly on the school bus,” he said, describing his daughter as “meek and mild.”

“They’d tap her, hit her on the head,” Mr. Cleveland said. She followed her taekwondo training. “They teach you to say ‘stop’ loudly several times, not to be an instigator.”

The strong words did not stop the behavior. “So one day, William sat with her,” said Mr. Cleveland. Molly’s tormentors were in fifth grade; William, who is asthmatic, was in third grade.

“They started in,” Mr. Cleveland said of the bullies on the bus. “William finally stood up and said, ‘If you don’t stop, you’ll tangle with me,’” his father recounted. The boys had seen taekwondo demonstrations William had given.

Mr. Cleveland described his son as “flexible,” and said, “He has a lot of power.” He described the way, if someone comes up behind William, he can kick that person by lifting his leg straight up and over his shoulder. “He can drop to a complete full split, right on the floor.”

“They knew what he could do,” said Mr. Cleveland of the bullies. “They backed down and said, ‘OK, we won’t bother her again.’ And they haven’t.”

Molly is a caring person, her father said, and, in order to raise money to fight childhood cancer, she had her head shaved as part of a St. Baldrick’s fundraiser. Her mother and sister, Olivia, did, too.

Mrs. Cleveland works as a nurse in Albany Med’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit. “She sees a lot of cancer,” said Mr. Cleveland. The females in the family each had their heads shaved last month when a St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser was held at the Westmere firehouse. “They raised tremendous funds,” said Mr. Cleveland.

The family practices taekwondo together in their Schoharie Plank Road home. “We do it here, in the living room,” said Mr. Cleveland. “We just enjoy it...It’s been a challenge. It’s been exciting.”

Part of the excitement comes in being tested to move up to the next rank. After four years of working at it, Molly on Saturday earned the status of recommended black belt. Mr. Cleveland and the twins each earned first-degree black belts, and Mrs. Cleveland earned a second-degree black belt.

The kids have also qualified for AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) Taekwondo national competition “with flying colors,” their father said, but the competitions are too far away from them to attend.

So, after a weekend of flying kicks and breaking boards, where were the Clevelands on Monday? Happily back in class at Altamont Martial Arts, working towards earning the next degree.