shaolin kempo karate

[SKK]

It IS a Shaolin art, however only in the adavancced ranks. This is taught this way because an American can not walk in off the street and take Shaolin. Shaolin must be started at a young age, unless you'd rather spend your first 10 years training by standing in a Crane stance for 30 minutes.

See one of the higher Masters move (perhaps by taking a look at the DVD set) and they look NOTHING like karate. Fred Villari himself spent more times studying Chinese arts than Japanese.

It is just taught different than most shaolin schools in the begining ranks, because all a white belt is capable of really learning too fast is block and punch... so they teach block and punch.

[B-Rad]

This is taught this way because an American can not walk in off the street and take Shaolin.

Sure they can. In fact, they do it all the time.

[TenTigers]

Villari's is as close to Shaolin as paint by the numbers is to fine art. I think I should know, I worked for them, trained with their "Higher Masters", taught their "art" , before I got simply frustrated with the phonyness, and I also have been involved in real Martial Arts for over thirty years, and have been teaching "real" Chinese Martial Arts for over twenty of them.
I also would be very interested in knowing the difference between Chinese Boxing, and Kung-Fu, because he lists these as two separate arts.

[richard sloan]

It IS a Shaolin art, however only in the adavancced ranks. This is taught this way because an American can not walk in off the street and take Shaolin. Shaolin must be started at a young age, unless you'd rather spend your first 10 years training by standing in a Crane stance for 30 minutes.

sounds like a sales pitch and pretty fallacious.

[David Jamieson]

It is to Shaolin as America is to sushi.

example, "california roll"

lol.

doesn't mean it's not effective, just means it's copped stuff from a few different places.

The language mish mash is clue enough to know it is not intrinsically or extrinsically connected to shaolin except in perhaps the manner that they are both martial arts and perhaps skk borrows from some of the old shaoolin methods like many do.

[TenTigers]

I think the chinese characters written incorrectly and upside down on his old patches and brochure is a dead give away, as are his interviews, where one year he claims to have learned from a "French Legionaire named LaFey" and another year from the LeBlanc brothers. He even claimed that his father would hang several heavybags and he would hitthem, "much in the way a Wing Chun Wooden Man" is used. Or how he used to claim that he studied Chinese Boxing AS WELL AS KUNG-FU! (WTF???) The Pinan Katas are from SHorin Ryu, but he must have learned them from a book, because the sequences are backwards in some places, which doesn't mean a different interpetation, it means a lack of understanding of waza. And somehow, I have trouble believing that "Ancient Chinese Kata Number one, two, etc" are ancient, Chinese, or anything else for that matter.
Ninja, Pleez!
Look, the guy learned some kenpo,broke away, formed his own school, franchised it, and he's the Grandmaster. Nothing wrong with that. He's a marketing genius. But let's at least be honest.
All you need to do is a little bit of research. Open a book, for chrissakes.
sheesh!

[Hopping Frog]

Most people say that "kempo is just japanese for Chuan Fa", but I don't think that is exactly correct. It seems that although the literary term Kempo does equal the Chinese 'Chuan Fa', the martial art Kempo has branched off into many different styles of its own. There is no martial art Chuan Fa, at least not specifically like other styles. Chuan Fa is just the antiquated term for Kung Fu, referring to all Shaolin styles.

[richard sloan]

... because the sequences are backwards in some places, which doesn't mean a different interpetation, it means a lack of understanding of waza.

wow.


_____________________________________________

[FightingGorilla]

20 years ago, in Huntington beach, California, there was (and possibly still is, I don't live there anymore) a Fred Villari's martial arts school on the corner of Springdale and Bolsa roads.

The instructor there convinced me to sign up for a "$1,000 private lessons agreement up thru blackbelt." I was "supposed" to get unlimited private lessons up through achieving my black belt.

Two weeks after I paid the instructor (his name was Greg) my $1,000, he bailed. He moved to a school on the other side of Los Angeles. And with the L.A. traffic, it was impossible to commute to that school for lessons. It would have been a 2 hour drive one way at rush hour.

Also, the next instructor of the school was a brown belt, not even a black belt.

And he (the next instructor) had no idea about the lessons I had paid for to the previous instructor.

In fact, miraculously, NONE of the paperwork could be located. I had a receipt for my payment, but none of the documents that I signed only the week before could be found anywhere in the office.

I even took the matter to the 4th degree black belt "master" (manager of the chain on the west coast at the time) (seems like his name was "Paul?") and he offered no help whatsoever... he claimed all matters within each school must be settled within the school.. And since the instructor bailed after a very high-pressure sales technique to get me to buy the $1,000 private lesson schedule... and none of the paperwork could be found...

Basically, they screwed me out of $1,000... and the management did NOTHING to help...

And the brown belt would not give me private lessons... he claimed he knew nothing of the deal...

Please steer clear of this mickey-mouse martial arts chain.

*************

Please read the info on their home page very carefully and you will see where Fred Villari learned Shaolin (after you get passed the HUGE speel for the DVD set...more on that in a second...)... (quote) "...Fred Villari was initiated into the principles of Shaolin Temple boxing by his father at an early age. After mastering the techniques his father showed him, young Villari ventured out and worked with other martial artists of different styles..."

Evidently his father showed him his Shaolin skills... at least in this story this time... I would assume his father did not know much, because Villari mastered everything his father knew early on... sorry, but Shaolin is much deeper than that, and takes years to master... maybe a lifetime...

*************

I also encourage you to consider long and heard a few of the questions and answers posed (on purpose as sales techniques) in the "Common Questions" portion of their web site.

You will learn there that they sell the DVD set, and that you can take it home, and learn "in the privacy of your own home" and then... TO GET YOUR BELT AND RANK... all you do is video tape yourself and submit it to Fred Villari (along with $60 per rank) and VOILA... "you know Kung Fu"... ("woah...") [Kind of like when "Neo" learned Kung Fu in the movie "The Matrix" by having a rod shoved in the back of his head... and then a download from a computer mainframe very similar...] ""Woah... I know Kung Fu..."

This is the biggest bunch of horse$hit I have ever heard of in my life...

The entire business is set up for only one thing... to make money... and it has very little to do with authentic martial arts, whether it is some Mickey Mouse system Villari made up himself, or Shaolin anything, Kempo anything, or Karate anything... it's all B.S. for BUCKS...

Fred Villari's entire organization has to be the biggest sham on the face of the planet... (next to Amway, Herbalife, and Quixtar)... a convenient pyramid scheme of martial arts "masters" instead of some product you "start your own business" and promote to all of your friends... (like Amway, Herbalife, and Quixtar)

So....

When are we going to see Fred's DVD-trained black belts competing in the Octagon of the UFC to prove Villari's powerful DVD-trained style?

It won't happen...

So, ... I wonder... do they spar with the pillows off their couch when they learn "in the privacy of their own home????"

Maybe they spar with the family dog?

What a crock of bull-cookies....

********

here is how you can test for your next rank as you study martial arts only by watching DVDs, per a quote from the Villari home page:

"How can I test?

Simply record yourself performing the movements for the level that you are testing for and send in the tape. You will receive a certificate and belt based on your achievement."


yes, they are actually encouraging home-study... here's the quote:


"How effective is learning from DVDs compared to a school?

These are the only videos for learning Shaolin-Kempo-Karate. They have the best masters in the organization featured along with the founder. We have seen excellent results comparable with training in a school. The results will depend on individual effort, motivation and time devoted to training."

(in other words... B.S., B.S., B.S......)


Those two quotes are on the "Common Questions" page of their web site...

here is the quote encouraging "...become a black belt in the prvacy of your own home"

it's on the home page... just scroll down... it's there...

(quote)

"You could spend over $10,000 trying to learn all these techniques and practices in a school, but for just $149.95, you can receive all the knowledge necessary to become a black belt, in the privacy of your home."

What a crock of doo-doo....


Please steer clear of this school... the biggest rip-off in martial arts you will ever find...

Nice to find a thread to vent my true life experiences with these bozos after all these years. What goes around comes around, that's what I say... and it has been long overdue that I put this story in print somewhere.

Being ripped off of $1,000 was a very bad experience. I also did not make very much money at the time, and $1,000 to me was a LOT of money. It still is a lot of money.

The Villari school was also my very first martial arts school, and it could have had an extremely bad influence on me, had I turned my back on the martial arts because of this one event. There should be some form of retribution towards an instructor who "takes your money, then runs", but there is none. The instructor took the money and run, and I didn't get squat from what I had paid... except a "tough luck pal" from the Villari management.

I guess this is why we can voice our opinions on an open forum about the martial arts.

Please seek out any other school available, and NOT the Villari school

I challenge (quote) "Grandmaster" (cough cough) Villari to enter the Octagon of the UFC and prove the worthiness of his style. Just the publicity to do so alone would be worth millions in new students.

I'd love to see Shamrock or one of the boys wipe the mat with this complete idiot.

Or... better yet, let's see one of the DVD-trained black belts get in the Octagon...

Or... any idiot from their "best masters" of the Shaolin Kempo Karate" style...

Won't jappen... they are too busy ripping off people to actually take the challenge and prove that what they have is a viable martial arts system. It's not... it's basically a very viable way to pay somebody money to pump you up to pay them more money. I think I must have a black belt in the Villari style already... they got my $1,000... where's my belt?



FightingGorilla
(ROAR.....) <<sounds like King Kong...>> (see avatar)

.

[FightingGorilla]

Ninja, Pleez!

moooooooo----hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!



FG

[shaolin monkey3]

fightinggorilla wrote

20 years ago, in Huntington beach, California, there was (and possibly still is, I don't live there anymore) a Fred Villari's martial arts school on the corner of Springdale and Bolsa roads.

The instructor there convinced me to sign up for a "$1,000 private lessons agreement up thru blackbelt." I was "supposed" to get unlimited private lessons up through achieving my black belt.

Two weeks after I paid the instructor (his name was Greg) my $1,000, he bailed. He moved to a school on the other side of Los Angeles. And with the L.A. traffic, it was impossible to commute to that school for lessons. It would have been a 2 hour drive one way at rush hour.

Also, the next instructor of the school was a brown belt, not even a black belt.

And he (the next instructor) had no idea about the lessons I had paid for to the previous instructor.

In fact, miraculously, NONE of the paperwork could be located. I had a receipt for my payment, but none of the documents that I signed only the week before could be found anywhere in the office.

I even took the matter to the 4th degree black belt "master" (manager of the chain on the west coast at the time) (seems like his name was "Paul?") and he offered no help whatsoever... he claimed all matters within each school must be settled within the school.. And since the instructor bailed after a very high-pressure sales technique to get me to buy the $1,000 private lesson schedule... and none of the paperwork could be found...

Basically, they screwed me out of $1,000... and the management did NOTHING to help...

And the brown belt would not give me private lessons... he claimed he knew nothing of the deal...

Please steer clear of this mickey-mouse martial arts chain.





Dude sorry you got screwed over 20 years ago. Paul taylor and charles mattera were plotting to leave villaris at the time so thats probabley the person who was in charge at the time.
They change the name to ussd- united studios of self defense.www.ussd.com
I wouldn't go there if I was you.

[Shaolinlueb]

last picture i saw of fred villari he looked like he had an alchohal problem.

villari is a typical example of awesome marketing but bad karate. and it goes to show you you dont need to know much about martial arts to cash in on it.

[SaintSage]

FightingGorilla, how do you feel about Wing Lam and his correspondence program?

[xcakid]

This was my first foray into Shaolin Kempo: Ralph Castro

I then moved to SoCal and all I could find was Villari schools. The art itself is very good. There is a thread here about USSD you can read my comments about that.

As far as my experience goes. I like Ralph Castro's Shaolin Kempo much better. It is more closely to CMA than anything else.

[Shaolin Wookie]

I don't know....I saw some of their sets on youtube.com.......there's almost no mobility in the forms.....not a lot of footwork transition. Shaolin forms have plenty of lateral movement in them, being such as rooting/stances/and mobility are some of the most important elements of Shaolin martial arts. Even Shaolin-do (my main MA) has 20X more mobility in their forms. I'm starting studies in traditional Shaolin Chuan from a wushu instructor in North Atlanta..........plenty of mobility there, too.