I wanted to know what the differences were for the American Shaolin Kempo Karate Schools and the Villari Shaolin Kempo Karate schools. I've only been trained in the Villari version of Shaolin Kempo Karate. Is the American Shaolin Kempo school systems similar?
It's hard to tell whether there is any difference between these two systems. Hey it's even hard to find out about thefirst asthere are tons of permutations of the name. Fred Villari has been running a chain of schools selling ''unbeatable'' techniques for maybe 40 years. There was a big split in the past and he changed the name of his chains. The othe name may just be people who were frustrated with his financial arangements and went their own way. I don't know what the school you went to was like but having looked at Villari's and another ''10th'' dan who was an ex student of his I didn't see anything that would make me want to attend either. You are in Salem Oregon? Fred King was a pretty good kajukempo/kung fu/etc etc guy back in the 1970's/80's.. think he teaches at Steeles karate one or two nights a week still Salem Oregon. When I used to go to Washington/Oregon there always seemed to be tons of people doing a whole range of martial arts. Might be worth keeping your eyes open if you are thinking about changing arts. LFD
I am aware of 2 guys that were 6th Degree black belts in Villari's school many years ago, but left, went to China to the Shaolin temple for a few years and then self promoted themselves to 10th Degree black belts and then opened up USSD/United Studios of Self Defense. But sometime after that, I found out that there were 2 or 3 other students, out of the blue, got promoted to 10th degree black belts by someone and started their own Shaolin Kempo Schools. As far as I know, Villari has now self promoted himself to a 12th degree black belt and promoted his 9th degree black belts to 10th degree black belts. I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the help.
