united studios of self defense (USSD)

[monkeyking]

Anybody know anything about these guys? Their art is shaolin kempo. I am looking into joining one of there schools and was wondering if any body has any experience with these guys?

[Ridge_hand]

Meh. I train at one of the dojos and the Sensei there is nice and does a good job. So it really depends on what you want to do.

[aword4you]

I am also looking in to beginning at a USSD school in Temecula.

Any advice or comments?

Thank you.

[Pacificshore]

I am also looking in to beginning at a USSD school in Temecula.

Any advice or comments?

Thank you.

Hi, glad to see you made here

[ninjamac]

I used to train with them. They are very expensive in my opinion. Its a $175 A MONTH TO TRAIN THERE AND ITS A YEAR CONTRACT.Test fees are $45 for yellow and orange belt, $60 for purple belt, $75 for the two degrees of blue belt, $100 for green and green stripe, $200 for 3rd,2nd, and 1st brown, $300 for black. Charles mattera (the head of the organization) study with fred villari from1972 white to 7th dan, then in 88 broke off and stared his own organization ussd. This was villaris orignale name when he opened in 71. In 1988 mattera teamed up with nick cerio and in 1990 eared his 8th degree(in my opinon 2 years of training in a new style to receive your new rank is pretty fast, exspecialy from 7th 8th dan) Ussd schools dont have as many high level black belts as villaris does. VILLARI LIST EVRY INSTRUCTORS RANK ON HIS WEB SITE https://www.villarisonline.com. USSD DOES NOT https://www.ussd.com. I have found ussd has a lot of low level instructors runing thier schools, even green and brown belts. Villaris only has one 1st dan runing one of thier schools. In a nut shell you would be better off at a villaris school or an independent school who in my opinion focus more on good training then$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[fallen_milkman]

Gah! Those advancement fees are insane! I am so glad I don't pay those at my school.

[P.A.L]

these guys been charging my grilfriend $175 per month , they gave her a yellow belt too and charged her for that, still can't punch, seems to be pretty McDojo.

[Natkungfu]

Hi guys,

I used to train at USSD also. I joined up without shoping around or finding out any of the history of USSD and got all the way to Brown belt, before I found out that the are some of the most expensive schools out there. I found out later that they had brown belts, and even blue belts teaching us disguised as a red belt. I've talked to other people who trained underneath them and found out that this is commen practice amonst them. I have found that USSD has a lot of break offs, and the instuctors who have broken off still teach Shaolin Kempo as well as other styles mixed in. I have heard that USSD instructors are not allowed to train outside of the organization or bring in guest intructors. I really like the variety that indepent schools offer and would really recommend that you shop around before you commit to anything.

Thanks,

Natalie

P.S. My instructor that I have now, who did break away from USSD, told me that the Pinions and Katas that they teach are not Shaolin Kempo but rather Shotokan forms, and the DM's are Kempo techniques not Shaolin.

[Sam]

I think anyone should be wary on obligatory contracts and high fees - generally the suggest something not quite right going on if they have to tie you down by making you pay.... there are actually a couple of forums that have reviews of USSD on them that arent too positive.... just google it with "USSD martial art review" or somethnig similar.

[tigerclaw2]

Watch yourself monkeyking and do some background checks on any school you join. Make sure the instructors have been studying for at least 5 years not some newbie who has 2 years of experience and a black belt. I've had not so good experience with the USSD organization and the fees that ninjamac posted are true. If you decide to train with them ask for a free week of lessions and if the instructor knows the true history and lineage of ussd. Not the crap that mattera put in his manuals or on the web site. He put grandmaster nick cerio as his chief instructor and makes no mention of grandmaster fred villari who he got his first 7 dans from. In my opinion you should not train at such a big organization where it could have problems keeping checks and balances.