Vital Point Martial Arts

**TomMack** · Posted On: 12/14/2007 11:43am

Vital Point Martial Arts

We are a small school located near Buffalo NY (5222 Transit RD in Depew NY). The foundation of what we do is JKD concepts. We teach a blend of JKD concepts, Filipino Martial arts, Muay Thai boxing and grappling. My goal as an instructor is to have rounded students who can kick, punch, trap, grapple and use or defend against weapons. I know that it is quite a challenge to train in multiple areas but I believe that it makes for interesting training and makes for better self-defense
We do spar with contact but use equipment such as mats, boxing gloves and headgear to keep it safe. We spar a number of different ways, boxing, kickboxing, grappling, mixing grappling/kickboxing together and weapons sparring
Our main focus isn’t competition but we have participated in grappling and Muay Thai events.
About myself the instructor I’m certified to teach JKD concepts and FMA under Guro Dan Inosanto and certified to teach Muay Thai under Ajarn Chai Sirisute . I also have brown belts in Judo and Vee-jitsu and a red glove in savate
Our club has Heavy bags , a speed bag , double-end bag focus gloves , Thai pads , Kicking shields and Mats for grappling

Check out our web site http://vitalpointmartialarts.net BTW I haven't rated my dojo since I it's my place and I'm bias but I do feel that we are the best place to train in the Buffalo NY area
I'll have someone else rate it

Tom Mac

**variance** · Posted On: 12/15/2007 4:22pm

you certainly sound/appear quite legitimate.
I hope someone can visit your school soon to review it properly.

**TomMack** · Posted On: 2/04/2008 9:22pm

I've gotten a Sambo Class started on Thursday w/Boyd Ritchie http://www.usastorm.com/instructors.htm

**knocka** · Posted On: 5/01/2008 12:21am

just my two cents.

Sifu Mack is the real deal.
I met him when I started going to the boxing gym where he taught.
I had previously been training in KunTao with IndoChinese, but he moved to the boonies and the trip was getting to me.
The boxing gym was right around the corner, and I wanted to keep training.

I saw the way they were training, and I could tell right away they were legit.
A classmate of mine was looking for some sparring, to test his skills, so without really knowing TMack, I asked him if he'd be willing to let my man spar with some of his students.
He didn't even hesitate to say yes. That said a lot right there.

I started training with him November of '06. I love the stuff he teaches! He has trained with some very legit people.

We had a full contat Mui Thai "exhibition" match with a local rival school about a year ago. I barely did okay, but our school did well overall. At that time, I only had a few months training in.

Classes start off with some boxing/kickboxing combos, working with a partner.
Then he moves on to maybe Mui Thai.
Then he moves on to maybe Kali.
And then he might end the class with some grappling/wrestling.

He's definitely a tough teacher and really nice guy.
The people at the school are really cool too.

It's a really complete school.
If you don't have equipment, there are plenty of gloves, bag gloves, sticks, knives etc.

He has a couple of bags, double-end bag, speed bag, pull-up bar, weights and more.

I know I sound like a commercial, but I can't say enough about the school, it's a great place to train.

The only negative I can say is that I wish it was open more days, but I can't really complain about that. He has a day job (protecting our sorry asses!).

**knocka** · Posted On: 5/01/2008 12:29am

oh, and the only reason why I gave the size rating a 7 is because the place really isn't big enough to put a ring or a cage in there, but the class size is small enough so that we always have enough space to train.

**Odacon** · Posted On: 5/01/2008 5:24am

You didn't read the rating guidelines at all did you?

Dojo Reviews Ratings Examples - No BS Martial Arts

**GoldenJonas** · Posted On: 5/01/2008 10:45am

Knocka, please read the rating instructions before giving the outrageous scores you gave. You now force me to rate bomb it to bring in into more reasonable range given the information provided and given my personal experience with Vee Jitsu.

(My scores are lower than what I actually think just to bring the overall score into a reasonable range given the info provided)

Mr. Mack, under who did you receive your Brown Belt in Vee Jitsu. I hold a Brown Belt in Dantor Ryu JuJitsu under Daniel Torres, a direct student of Prof. Vee. So I'm just curious.

My experience with the grappling instruction under the Vee Jitsu setting is that it is far less technical that that received in BJJ or even Judo Ne-waza. Vee Jitsu grappling instruction, in my opinion, only scratched the surface of the depth of technical knowledge it takes to be a competent grappler.

This is not a criticism, it is merely an observation as to the focus that is placed on this particular range in this particular style. After all, it would seem you are teaching a fairly well rounded system, which means you can't focus on the intricacies of side control transitions as much as say a BJJ school will. Thus, from an objective stand-point, your grappling cannot be a 10.

EDIT - Mr. Mack, you can check out my Vee Arnis article here if you are interested..http://www.bullshido.com/articles/vee-arnis-9.html

**TomMack** · Posted On: 5/01/2008 3:32pm

I'm not going to put my grappling at a 10
I will say that we are not a Vee-Jitsu school , I got my start in Vee-Jitsu under Sensei Paul Kininski ( spelling ) in (Flushing )Queens , NY during the late 80s and early 90s
I also have a fair amount of Judo training( 2cd Brown ) and like many JKD concepts instructors I have crossed trained in BJJ and other grappling systems including catch and Shooto

All in all we are a JKD concepts schools and try to be the best example of one we can be

Tom Mac

**knocka** · Posted On: 5/01/2008 9:24pm

Originally Posted by GoldenJonas

Knocka, please read the rating instructions before giving the outrageous scores you gave. You now force me to rate bomb it to bring in into more reasonable range given the information provided and given my personal experience with Vee Jitsu.

(My scores are lower than what I actually think just to bring the overall score into a reasonable range given the info provided)

Mr. Mack, under who did you receive your Brown Belt in Vee Jitsu. I hold a Brown Belt in Dantor Ryu JuJitsu under Daniel Torres, a direct student of Prof. Vee. So I'm just curious.

My experience with the grappling instruction under the Vee Jitsu setting is that it is far less technical that that received in BJJ or even Judo Ne-waza. Vee Jitsu grappling instruction, in my opinion, only scratched the surface of the depth of technical knowledge it takes to be a competent grappler.

This is not a criticism, it is merely an observation as to the focus that is placed on this particular range in this particular style. After all, it would seem you are teaching a fairly well rounded system, which means you can't focus on the intricacies of side control transitions as much as say a BJJ school will. Thus, from an objective stand-point, your grappling cannot be a 10.

EDIT - Mr. Mack, you can check out my Vee Arnis article here if you are interested..http://www.bullshido.com/articles/vee-arnis-9.html

Understood. My apologies.