STEVE DEMASCO

[Spackard]

Steve Demasco anybody have any info on this guy? hes a 10th dan and a high ranking villari master( I know hes with mattera now but he never got rank from him) Does anybody know why he left villaris?

I know he is running his own studios in ct right now. I use to work with him back in the day when he was with Villari's and united studios. I am on my own because of his bad business practices. He a good at his arts and is a great teacher.

Good info, Spackard! Might help fill in some important gaps for tigerclaw. How old is your info, Spackard??

My info is present. He has about 6 studios in ct. One just down a few towns from me

[sensei8]

Tigerclaw,

Possibly, the link below might give you what you're looking for...

http://sdssmartialartsoffairfield.com/

[vantheman]

While I'm sure that nobody was probably looking for a rant about DeMasco, I saw his name in all caps at the top of the Karate forum and could not resist.

USSD was initially Villari then Mattera broke off with DeMasco. Villari renamed his own studios after himself. Mattera and DeMasco used the USSD name until DeMasco spilt off, and he now calls his studios something like "DeMasco's Shaolin Studios of Self Defense."

People give Villari a hard time. DeMasco is a whole level more controversial.

DeMasco claims his art is even more Shaolin than Villari does. While Villari acknowledges the kempo karate in his art, DeMasco claims he teaches what the Shaolin monks teach at the temple. There are a few issues with this. First, he still calls his style Shaolin Kempo and teaches Kempo at his schools. Shaolin Monks do not train kempo, nor would they ever call their style kempo. He says he is a grandmaster in Shaolin Kung Fu, BUT HE WEARS A KARATE GI AND A KARATE BELT. I don't think the Shaolin temple arts have tenth degree black belts... He is also the only American to ever be named the US Ambassador to the Shaolin Temple. I believe it's because that position never existed until he came around. Some say he just paid a lot of money to enter the system. I can't verify this but given the legacy of controversial commercial practices of DeMasco and his predecessors (i.e. Villari), I wouldn't put that beyond him.

On a funnier note (and also with very questionable credibility), ALLEGEDLY, he changed his last name to sound Italian so he could enter into the kempo circles of the East Coast (which were dominated by primarily Italian grandmasters in the late 20th Century). I have no intent to libel DeMasco, and I have no verification of this claim, but the fact that a rumor like this circulates is mildly concerning to say the least.

In any case, from what I've heard (from my system's grandmaster, who is admittedly biased), he isn't particularly skilled at combat. I've heard he's a better businessman than a martial artist. I have watched some of his instructional videos. The techniques, from what I've seen, are subpar. In one of the videos, he nearly (correctly) calls a strike he does a thrust punch, but then stops himself and says it's a "dragon strike."

Once again, I have no personal experience with DeMasco, but from what I have seen, heard, and deduced, there are a large number of red flags.

To put it in other words, if you're at all suspicious of Villari and his practices, I would be eqaully, if not considerably more, suspicious of DeMasco and his practices.