Thank you for your history of the Fred Villari Studios.think Lapan's studio was well respected, Freddie certainly was.
I earned a 2nd black belt training in a Villari studio under Freddie Lapan in the 80s/90s. It was the best years of my life. We competed in tournaments in both fighting and forms. We were street fighters that could totally compete within the rules. I
I had heard rumors of Studio wars in the old days but I felt that when Villari Studios arrived at a tournament, we were regarded as if we had shown up in ten-gallon hats with 6-shooters.
From March 1974 thru August of 1975 I actively attended the Fred Villari's schools of self-defense. As such, I am qualified to answer several questions concerning the style, how it was taught, what it was, who studied it, etc. HISTORY:
Fred Villari originally studied in several styles, earning a black belt in kempo (or kenpo, depending on how you want to spell it) karate. For those unfamiliar with it, kenpo is a mismash of Chinese boxing, Japanese karate, jujitsu techniques, and a few other things thrown it for good measure. After opening a school in northeastern Massachusetts (during the late sixties to early seventies) he decided to expand his operations. Little did he know that he would expand, and expand, and exapand beyond anyone's beliefs.
The time he chose to expand, the early seventies, was perfect. The media was beginning to take an active interest in the martial arts - there were television shows making it the major subject matter, karate tournaments had been televised, in February of 1972 the legendary Kung Fu movie starring David
Carradine was shown. The following year saw the kung fu craze of 1973, with Bruce Lee becoming the official "king of kung-fu", his death adding fuel to the
fire. Anything with kung fu on it was bound to attract a crowd, a fact that Fred Villari intended to take full advantage of.
The area he chose to expand into, the prementioned northeastern Massachusetts,
was Sutter's mill all over again - a gold mine waiting to be exploited. The martial arts schools in the area were few and far between. Those that did exist were more into tournamenting or doing things "the oriental way" than teaching practical self-defense, facts not lost on Fred Villari. He was going to exploit the area to the fullest, take full advantage of the fruit just waiting to be harvested. Unlike others before him, though, Villari would do things differently - he would do them HIS way!
It is interesting to point out that Fred Villari was not the first to have attempted such a business in northeastern Massachusetts. An Okinawian karate instructor, one George Mattson by name, attempted to find fame and fortune via
a martial arts chain, only to end in dismal failure. The reason was simple, and hardly unusual - the martial arts (judo, karate, etc.) as tought were not meant for practical self-defense. It was true, kararate and judo were more oriented to sport than self-defense. There were known styles meant for self-defense (some forms of karate and aikido), but they took several months if
not years of practice before a person became proficient. People wanted to learn self-defense, not spend monotonous month after monotonous month puching and kicking. The martial arts instructors at the time never realized that, caught up in the mystic of the martial arts they were more inclined to do things simply because it was the "oriental way" of doing them, some oriental instructors openly joked that when it came to the martial arts, the Americans were "more orietal than the orientals!" Well, Fred Villari would have none of that. Rather than wait for people to adapt themselves to the martial art, he started adapting the martial art to the people. Students would not only learn how to punch and kick, but jujitsu defenses against grabs, chokes, and the like
and kenpo defensive manuvers using hand strikes, foot strikes, and flips. The end result was people who, within weeks if not days, wound up capable of defending themselves!
Fred Villari's schools spread like wildfire during the early thru mid seventies
(1972-1976). Eastern Massachusetts was honeycombed with Villari schools. Inevitably, it brought criticism from the other martial arts instructors, accusing Villari of being a fraud, of saying he taught one thing when he taught
another, or of teaching substandard techniques that "wouldn't work in tournaments", and used the fact that his students seldom attended tournaments as proof of his students poor techiques. Indeed, there were several differences in a typical training center (called a "kwoon") as compared to the
other schools. It wasn't uncommon to see students work out in street clothes, some actually wore (shock of shocks!) sneakers, breaking the unwritten code that martial artists must workout barefoot. There were reasons, though. Students were not required (at least the place I was at in Chelmsford, MA from
1974 thru 1976) to have uniforms simply because new students did not like having to buy them if they would lose interest in the martial arts after a couple of lessons. Training was modified so beginners would not have to go through a strenuous workout as would advanced students. After workouts, students were first put through their paces with karate techniques, followed by
drills, then came "kenpos" (the kenpo defense techniques), followed by the jujitsu techniques, followed by kata training or sparring. The style was more geared to practical self-defense than sparring, as a result the students never
developed interest enough in sparring to want to attend the open tournaments the other instructors spoke of. The reasoning was understandable - tournament competition would mean intense training, repetitive boring drills, and the realization that there WOULD be prejudice directed against them for being Villari students (the problem was nothing new in the martial arts, politics constantly caused problems in the tournament scene, they still do!). As students continued to study in Villari kenpo, they reaped other benefits. Advanced students were taught the use of their martial arts belt for self defense, they were allowed to wear special uniforms, some were even recruited to become instructors themselves! There was a high turnover at Villari studios, but unlike other martial arts schools this did not prove a problem. Villari had deliberately designed his program to take student turnover into consideration, he realized that for every 1,000 students that started the martial arts, only one would achieve the rank of black belt.
Time came and went, the Villari studios, expanded, and then came that fateful year of years, 1977. It was the year the kung fu craze ceased to exist, the year of reckoning, the year of great destruction. To martial artists galore, it was a time they do not like to be reminded of. Too many had spent too much money on studio expansion and advertising, not realizing that the kung fu craze
of 1973 was just that, a craze, destined to end after two to three years, as had all crazes. Lacking the business savy to realize that fact, they floundered! Money was lost, schools were closed, former martial arts instructor after martial arts instructor went bankrupt. The kung-fu craze,
at one time praised for giving so much attention to the martial arts, was now cursed for having caused all their woes, or attracting numerous flakes to the martial arts (I should know, I was one of them. Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!) that never took the martial arts seriously. One organization that had did not complain, though, was the Fred Villari organization. While schools were closing down right and left, Villari continued to expand. Not bothering to involve himself in the petty politics of the day, Villari proved successful time and time again, and has continued to do so.
In conclusion, there will always be those who criticize Villari. Sometimes the
crticisms will be justified (in an organization with several hundred brances you're bound to bad a bad apple here and their), other times they won't be, irregardless Fred Villari has had a major influences on the American martial arts scene, one that will continue to increase with the passage of time. The greatest compliment paid to him has been the teaching of practical self-defense
techniques by the very schools the once criticized him for doing so.
Fred Villari is a true leader in the martial arts.
I earned a 2nd black belt training in a Villari studio under Freddie Lapan in the 80s/90s.style" they used.
It was the best years of my life. We frequently competed in tournaments in both fighting and forms. We were street fighters with good manners that could totally compete within the rules. I think Lapan's studio was well respected, Freddie certainly was.
I had heard rumors of Studio wars in the old days but I felt that when Villari Studios arrived at a tournament, we were regarded as if we had shown up at the Okay Corral in ten-gallon hats with 6-shooters.
I appreciate your insight!
This thread does seem to have some difficulty resolving self-defense with martial arts. Martial arts is the skill of defending self ethically.
Colored belts start out yang with kicking and punching styles while learning ethics. Its a lost leader. By the time one earns their first black belt, they have begun to transition to the more advanced yin styles.
Sadly, in the stigma against femaleness, who would join a karate class knowing that they would finally learn how to really fight like a girl?
With circular yin, an opponent must attack, lending their power to circular redirection. In a fight, if one thinks - one has already lost. The survivors were in the zone of unconscious awareness acting in the eternal moment, and they do not know what "
Using a "style" puts a fighter at a disadvantage. "Styles" are just paths to learning martial arts. This is what I learned from fighting. The studio wars were street fights.
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