"I began training with Sifu Melillo in 1995, at his original school in Pompano Beach, the "South Florida Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy”,which later became “Authentic Wing Chun”. I found Sifu Melillo to be not only an extremely knowledgeable and gifted teacher, but also an incredible fighter, well versed in a number of martial art styles. I already held black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido and had trained in many other schools and styles before finding Sifu Melillo, but I feel that his teaching and knowledge brought my martial art skills to an entirely new level."
Paul Rogers, Black Belts: Hapkido & Tae Kwon Do
"This is my testimony of my experience with Mr. John Melillo; since I pretty much know talent when I see it. Back in 1984 I won the Golden Gloves in Philadelphia. I also train with some pretty good fighters at a well-known Brazilian Jujitsu school. I've known John Melillo pretty much about 20 years now. I brought my son at the age of 10 for John Melillo to train him. I saw the attention, and the dedication, Mr. Melillo, showed his students. He also had an adult class in the evening, which I decided to join. Mr. Melillo ran one of the best schools I've seen in a long time; not only did Mr. Melillo make the class fun, it was very competitive. Mr. Melillo and I sparred a couple of times. I can tell you from my experience I had with other fighters ... he's by far the best talent I've seen in over 30 years. I want everyone to know ... I learned more from John Melillo in 6 months than other trainers in the last 20 years. I would highly recommend to anyone that is interested in joining Mr. Melillo's school to do so. In my 30 years in the fighting business ... John Melillo is the most professional teacher I've ever been around. No question! I give Mr. Melillo my seal of approval."
Joe Mhilli, Golden Gloves Boxing Champ: 1984
"I moved to Florida in 1997. After relocating to the sunshine state I hoped to find a high level wing chun school to train at. I expected my quest to be difficult as I had an extensive martial art background which included study in multiple styles of Japanese and Okinawan karate at black belt level and Sifu status in a number of wing chun lineages. Because of my experience and skill level my standards were high. I had over 25 years of training behind me."
Sensei - Sifu Bill Smith
"I have trained in many different disciplines with many different instructors over the years and I thought I had a good grasp on martial arts and combat. All of this changed when I was lucky enough to meet Sifu John and I quickly felt like a beginner again. Sifu John has the uncanny ability to take vague martial art concepts and explain them in tangible ways. There is a definite difference in how martial art techniques should work and how they actually work. Sifu John teaches how the techniques actually work and renews faith in traditional Kung Fu. Sifu John is a true master of the arts and the best Sifu I know."
Sifu Mark Kaminski
"I began training with Sifu John Melillo at the very end of the 1990's, when I moved from Chicago, IL to South Florida. Prior to that, at the time, I had about nine years of experience in martial arts, as I had attained the level of black belt in Shotokan Karate and the level of brown belt in Aikido. During my training in these other two martial arts, one of my karate classmates introduced me to Wing Chun Kung Fu, which I found to be very practical, with respect to self-defense and actual fighting. I trained with John for approximately three to four years, and what I learned during my time with him is that he is not only a very capable and proficient martial artist in general, but a very effective Wing Chun practitioner and fighter. He is the rare breed that poses a triple threat; i.e, he understands the principles, concepts & theories of Wing Chun, and martial arts in general, which he knows how to apply in a practical sense, he can teach the art, and he can execute. Prior to meeting John, with my nine years of experience in two other martial arts, I thought that I had a good amount of knowledge and was a fairly capable martial artist. My years of training with John brought my ability to another level. By that I mean that because of my years of training with John, I found myself very comfortable with my ability to protect and defend myself, with someone invading my personal space looking to either cause me harm or injury."
Errol Torres, Black Belt: Shotokan