Thank you for your interest in: TEAM ONE Martial Arts   presented by Midwest Youth Programs / A Non-Profit Group (1)   TEAM ONE Martial Arts purpose is to provide the best opportunity to attend a mixed martial arts program at an affordable price.  What makes our training environment world class is our quality coaching staff, our proven training methods, our conceptual foundation, and the friendly, supportive training atmosphere (2)you'll find at our gym. All of these components come together to make a refreshing approach to training and fitness.   Our program is headed by head coach and trainer Shawn Terrance who has been teaching martial arts for over 9 years.  Rick Kraus (3)is our assistant coach for wrestling and western boxing, in which he has been training in since his youth. Our classes are filled with numerous amateur & pro competitors (4)plus those that are just interested in mixed martial arts.     Our Grappling / MMA classes encompass the wrestling and striking aspect of mixed martial arts.  Majority of the training is on the ground working the submission wrestling aspect of MMA with key days every few weeks training the Muay Thai Kickboxing aspect.  Classes include warm-ups, drills, expert instruction, and sparring (for veteran students.)  Guest instructors and pro MMA (5)fighters stop by regularly to train at Team One to add some new insight on training or just to say hello. Rank can be given by our affiliate instructor in the art of Jiu-Jitsu when our students achieve excellence in the wrestling aspect of our training (6).  Our affiliation with some of the top schools around the U.S. keeps us on top of the latest techniques and  training methods.

(1)  Shawn was investigated by the state for the deceptive practice of calling himself a non-profit agency when he was not.  Documentation attached.

(2) One of the instructors would not even make eye contact with me or my husband from day one. Shawn's explanation was that in youth sports, not all the coaches work with all the kids.

(3) Rick's name was deleted from the website after his fondness for posting drunken pictures of himself on his myspace page got him nicknamed the 'drunken Alsip firefighter' by local kids and also got him a reprimand from his department.

(4) When we were there, there were three people. One fought as an amateur one time and lost, causing him to go into a significant depression. \

(5) We've had two substitute instructors. A 15--yr. old (yes, he lets a child run class by himself) and a medically disabled individual whose highest rank is a green belt. He sat on a chair all night and said, "Y'all out rank me. I don't know what you're doing".  Yes, Shawn can claim Jason Chambers as a friend. He trained him when he was 14 and then lost touch with him for years. Jason Chambers has come to class a grand total of three times over a five-year period and was unable to participate during one of the times because he was starving himself to make a lower weight class. Gee, I wonder who told him to do that? He also claimed on his website at one time that either Randy Couture or Drew Fickett would be accompanying Chambers. He changed it to Fickett, but he never showed up. (big loss). He did, however make an appearance at the TFC the next night, publicly drunk and Shawn, the announcer, even acknowledged that from the ring. Shawn himself has never fought as an amateur or a professional.

(6) Shawn isn't capable of awarding belts in bjj.  He became a blue belt in 2004 and is still at that rank. The SBGI person that he says he trains under lives in Oregon.