Orange County School of Martial Arts

For over 3 years, our family has been studying Tang Soo Do at OC Kicks (a.k.a. Orange County School of Martial Arts) and we’re so glad that we decided to enroll our son back in 2011! 4 of our 5 children (13 yrs, 8.5 yrs, 7 yrs, 5 yrs) now study at the «dojang» and we’re quite pleased with this school.
What we LIKE:
This school is quite different from other martial arts schools in that belts and rankings are truly «earned». Throughout Orange County, you’ll find many «belt farms» — especially in the Korean martial arts arena (Tae Kwon Do, specifically) — where you’ll commonly see 8 year old Black belts. The merit of a Dan candidate at that age is questionable (especially as a «norm»), and that’s what’s great about OC Kicks; they have a program for 4 – 7 year olds called «Team Turtle» wherein these young students advance in rank — but along a different belt system. Thus, when a child student graduates to «Jr. Kicks», they test for their Gold belt (9^th Gup) and enter the standard rank system.
Master Gilliland, Master Torchia and the other instructors take great care in preparing the students for their tests, and will only progress those students who are truly «ready» to test for the next belt/​rank. If the student is not ready, it’s common that this student will not be «invited» to the test — and that’s a good thing. My son was putting in minimal effort and was not invited to test on two cycles. While upset at the first, the second time helped him realize that it was he who needed to adjust his attitude and work harder at his training. The following test (for 6^th Gup Green/​White), he kicked butt and was even given an MVP award for working so hard and demonstrating great discipline.
We are also extremely happy with the discipline and self confidence that has been developed through their study in TSD and at this school.
What we DON’T LIKE:
There’s very little that we don’t like about this school (hence the 5-​star rating). We’ve referred many of our friends. If you’re a parent, and can’t handle someone critiquing and disciplining your child, then this might not be the school for you. By no means are the instructors overly strict; however, they do hold the students accountable.
Overall:
OC Kicks is a great school, with great instructors who are helping my kids learn self discipline while helping them develop strong self esteem — all while having fun! And trust me, there is plenty of fun (lots of school-​wide events, parties, etc.)

Very impressed with the training style of OC Kicks! Larry is real good when it comes to working with kids, as well as his other instructors. My kids have learned a great deal as a result of their training style. Not only do they teach self defense, they teach kids how to respect their peers-​something that is seriously lacking in our society.
I would highly recommend OC Kicks as your choice of martial arts studio.

My daughter attended this school and we never felt very comfortable here. There are very few teenage students. The owner comes across as very arrogant and seems to not really want you as a student unless you are willing to commit to becoming a black belt. The cost is also quite high for what is offered. We have since found a another school that offers a much more welcoming environment, lots of black belts of different ages, and much better instructor to student/​parent communication.

My son has been enrolled with OC Kicks for 2 ½ years. He absolutely loves it.
He started when he was 5 years only in their «Turtle» program. The instructors made the whole process so much fun for the little kids. Now that he is the «Jr. Kicks» program, he loves karate just as much and is learning so much. The instructors, Larry, Mike and Matt are so good with the kids and are very professional. They obviously love teaching martial arts a lot.