Meet Vinson Villena of Flying V Martial Arts in Oak Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vinson Villena.

Vinson, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I moved to the United States, I was determined to open my own Taekwondo school. Like many immigrants, I did not have the money to start this venture. I had to find an alternate way to do this. So, I decided to see if I could run successful satellite schools first.

I began by implementing my program at the park districts in Rolling Meadows and River Forest. I heard that LifeTime Fitness was opening up a new location in Vernon Hills. When I approached them with the idea to start my program there, I presented myself as if I had a big established program already. I approached the Edgewater Athletic Club in the same manner.

While running those satellite programs, I saved enough money to open my own studio. In October of 2009, I opened my studio in Forest Park. At the end of the first year, I had twenty students, which caused me to reevaluate my program. Being a former Philippine National Team member, I thought I could run a successful Taekwondo program easily. It made me consider what was most important for this generation of students. It was then that I really developed the heart of my program- character development: focus, respect, discipline, self-esteem, and confidence.

During this time, I continued the programs at the satellite locations and added a program at St. Frances Xavier Warde School in River North and took over the martial arts program at Flying High Gym in Countryside.

As parents were seeing the value of my program and that we were serving the students well, more students joined the studio through word of mouth and the school really began to grow. Towards the end of the second year, we outgrew our first location and needed to find a bigger space. I had to wait a year before expanding to finish out the contract, after which I found a new location in Oak Park. This location was three times bigger than the original space.

Before moving to the new location, one of my student’s parents noticed how we genuinely cared about our students and asked if I would consider teaching a Taekwondo after school program at her child’s elementary school. This started my first set of after school programs because upon hearing about this, other schools contacted me to set up after school programs with them as well.

Today, my studio is filled with students having fun learning martial arts while their parents are happy they are developing their characters and learning valuable life skills they will use in the future. It is also filled with students who are state champions that have competed at the national and even international level. I have added after school programs at several local schools and I still run numerous satellite locations.

Has it been a smooth road?
There have been different struggles along the way, but I have approached them with positivity, which has helped me get through them. I try not to focus on the struggles, but spend my energy getting through them with grace. Everything happens for a reason, and I wouldn’t be where I am if it were not for those roadblocks. Looking back, I realized that growing up in a different environment, there are cultural differences between the Philippines and the United States. I had to learn how to adjust and adapt to what is important to this generation of students.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Flying V Martial Arts – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Flying V Martial Arts empowers students. We emphasize their character development: focus, respect, discipline, self-esteem, and confidence through martial arts. We train students who are highly competitive in the sport. We have students aspiring to become state and national champions and those who aspire to become repeat champions. We also help students with their overall fitness. To note, one of our students lost over 50 pounds through our program. We help students really embrace the tenets of taekwondo: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit. We have students who are cancer survivors that genuinely applied the indomitable spirit principle during their fight.

Whatever our students need, whether it’s fitness, training at the competitive level, becoming more mentally or physically fit, building their confidence and self-esteem, or becoming more disciplined and focused, we are there to help them achieve their goal.

I am most proud of our students who are able to grow because of our program. We have seen students who came in as incredibly shy individuals, overcome their fears. We have students who have developed as leaders. We have students who are now part of the USA National Team. We have students who now give back to the community. We are proud of students who are working hard to improve themselves and striving to always become their better selves while remaining humble as they achieve their goals. We are proud of our students who are doing better in school now and have good grades. We are proud of our students who got accepted into great colleges because of the character they developed through taekwondo. We are proud of the students who show respect to their family and friends.

What sets us apart from others is that we love what we do and we truly care about our students. We are here to serve them. We want them to leave as more enriched individuals than when they started.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the people of Chicago. Chicago is so rich with culture and history. You meet people of so many different backgrounds. Chicago is fun ultimately because of its people. Also, I’m a sports fan by nature, but I have been a Bulls fan as long as I can remember. Since moving to Chicago, I have become a big Bears fan as well. Also, it was amazing to witness the Cubs break the 108-year streak. I appreciate that this made me see a parallel with how I teach my students about not giving up and to keep on fighting to achieve their goals.

Growing up in a tropical climate, it was hard to adjust to Chicago days when it was cold, snowy and extremely windy. But I have to say, it is great always having a season to look forward to.

Contact Info:

• Address: 111 N. Oak Park ave, Oak Park, IL. 60301
• Website: www.flyingvmartialarts.com
• Phone: 708-524-5425
• Email: vinson@flyingvmartialarts.com

Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.