AllStar Kung Fu

I have been learning Taichi for two years here. My two kids are learning martial arts in Mountain View location. It is great learning experience for us.

My oldest son has always been a very active and strong kid, so when he turned 3 I was looking for a workout discipline. All the kids gyms were too kiddish. Allstar min age is 3 yrs. He started at 3 yr 2 mos and now a yr later he has pass 3 belt tests.
He loves it and I love watching him.
Each master is very good fun and patient. Schedule is super flexible so you can always work around your busy week/​weekend.

After our first year, we did renew. Our little guy loves going multiple times a week and it’s amazing how his concentration has improved with learning all the complex sequences. We continue to be impressed with Master Jack and Master Daniel and Master Cooper, they are always so patient (but strict) with the kids.
The cost is not insignificant. Every so often there is a belt level, a weapon or what not that the kids need. However, given the level of devotion my son has to this (he asks every day if he can go to kungfu class), it’s been worth it.

I enrolled my two children at Allstar last summer after visiting a couple other kung fu schools in the area. My daughter never really took to it, but my son absolutely loves his lessons.
What I like best about this school is that it isn’t as «militant» as some of the other studios. We had our kids take a trial class at another studio, and the instructors were hollering at them and slapping their hands when they didn’t position themselves properly — all during the first 5 minutes of kung fu instruction of their lives. Now, I know that this could be considered normal kung fu teaching, and I will admit that my children were not bothered and the slaps didn’t appear painful. But still, I wanted a more friendly atmosphere in which my children would learn.
Allstar Kung Fu turned out to be just the place. The instructors were gentle but firm during the trial lesson. My son has now been taking lessons for about 9 months, and the instructors’ demeanor and attitude continue to be positive. For younger students, such as my son, they take them time to walk them through new techniques. They give praise when appropriate, which helps encourage students to work harder. With the older students, who should be more focused and disciplined, they are definitely more strict and less tolerant of disruptive behavior, but they still make it a fun experience.
Another thing that is nice about this school is that there is a lot of flexibility in the lesson times, at least for those in the early stages (yellow belt and below). Basically, you sign up for a certain number of lessons per week — for example, one lesson per week — and you can show up whenever there is an class that is appropriate to your child’s (or your own) level. That is, you don’t have to choose Saturday at 10:00 as your fixed lesson time — you can show up on Saturday morning on one week and Sunday afternoon the next. If you go out of town for a week, you can make up the missed class by simply going twice in a single week. At higher skill levels, there is less flexibility, probably because there are fewer students that persevere to these higher levels of achievement.
The school is conveniently located in Sunnyvale, across the parking lot from a decent Asian grocery store (King’s Seafood; see my review for that place) and across the street from Sprouts Farmers Market. So while your child is taking his or her lesson, you can get a bit of grocery shopping done.

My kid started his Kungfu class here last summer, and he really likes it. The instructors are kids friendly, understand how to keep kids’ interest in learning. And they give great flexibility in class time, which makes life easier. I’m thinking to try their adult class for myself now…

My daughter has been practicing Kung Fu at the AllStar Mountain View studio and really enjoys it. I had to drag her to tennis lessons, but she makes sure I take her to regular Allstar Kung Fu classes.
When the masters told us about the new location, we decided to try it out. The studio is much bigger, so the students can practice different long weapons at the same time. This is a big advantage since they can focus on individual practice levels. Last weekend my daughter was practicing broad sword and another boy was drilling down on long staff. And they did not wipe each other out. :-) Nice place…

Yah, you folks reading these fake reviews by the studio’s students or employees or even the instructors themselves, read between the lines. The reason they have so few students is the rates are exorbitant! I asked and was qouted, what, like 180 bucks a month for 3 meetings a week? Ridiculous.
Hell the reason they offer a free class is to guilt you into signing up.
Lower your prices. Not everyone in Sunnyvale is a rich hi-​techie that can afford it. It is a nice place but for that money I can join two studios.
I also love how their website doesn’t offer rates either. Even they know their rates are outrageous.
And you’re nuts if you sign a year long contract with them. If they ever tank then you just blew your money.
Interesting that about 5 or 6 reviews by first time reviewers just evaporated after I posted this.

Before joining AllStar Kung Fu, I never really thought of martial arts as anything more than just an activity I spent a part of my weekends doing. I have been practicing kung fu ever since second grade, but it hadn’t really grown on me yet.
However, after joining AllStar a year ago I also joined their wushu team and, I have to say, have learned so much more in that one year than all the years I’ve spent doing kung fu combined. It’s a great stress reliever, plus it’s a great workout as it works all parts of the body. Wushu has definitely grown on me; a weekend now is not complete without having at least one session there. I am now a sophomore in high school, and going to AllStar really helps decrease the stress that builds up during the week. Plus, I’ve made many new friends; what more could I ask for?

My daughter joined the Kung Fu practice at the studio and really enjoys it. Since there are many boy and girl students & the masters are friendly, the studio provides a fun yet disciplined training environment. The Master runs the studios like a big family and everybody is very friendly and encouraging. Since the Sunnyvale location opened this year, she has been a regular there 2 times per week.

I haven’t officially joined this school yet, as I am in the process of finishing up the remaining lessons from my other school. I’ve posted a while back that Ben’s Kung-​fu is decent. And in fact it still is. But I’m always looking to better myself as well as meet people of the same age group.
After trying out at AllStar and seeing some adults as crazy as I am in wanting to improve skills, I find that it fits my current needs. While I am sure that I want to improve my skills in this area, I am afraid that my recreational abilities stretched (excuse the pun) to it’s physical limits.
We’ll know when I completely immerse myself in this school. But so far, this school has been more than what I expected. The new school provides a community like feel. I’ve already made a lot of new friends there and hope to continue to do so.
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Gawd…what was I thinking of? Is there a way to refund at least ½ of my 1-​yr contract? I’ve never sweated so much before (well, except standing around doing nothing in sweltering Taiwan and Thailand). But here in California, everything just dries up – except in that class. My shirt has been completely soaked after every session! I am able to wring the sweat out of the shirt. Can I walk? Not really. But I’m still gluten for punishment… Sigh.