Urban Defense Martial Arts and Fitness Center Reviews

“This business and martial arts company will destroy your family. Lawrence Whitaker has acted like a predator on my mother whom I referred to him for martial arts services. He turned this into a sex and dating interest and has caused tremendous problems to the class. See the Better Business complaint I filed in 2019. He still meets with my mother who is in her seventies and is high risk for coronavirus. Why is he meeting with with her other than for money and sex. This predatory behavior has to stop and particularly in the pandemic. Make sure to not to refer your mother or other woman family members with this martial arts school. There is a lack of transparency, character, honesty, morals and ethics with the martial arts instructor. It is a shame that a martial arts instructor would take advantage of a woman (my family member) in her seventies and continue this for his own selfish reasons and because it is consensual. Although my initial experience with Urban Defense was positive, my last experience with Urban Defense had me knowledgeable of manifested inappropriate power dynamics, secrecy and manipulation. In addition, I experienced broken trust as a result of an inappropriate relationship. My recommendation is to not go to Urban Defense. I have issues with Master Lawrence's professionalism. I referred my family member to him in a crisis situation to receive martial arts training and in my opinion, he inappropriately pursued her to go to the movies and dinner and they have been have been going out for months when she was student. A martial arts instructor should not mix the an instructor/ student relationship with dating. I spoke with Master Lawrence on September the 9th about my first post concerning this inappropriate relationship with my family member and removed a post on that day that he was not happy with. He told me that he would not be training my family member anymore, however I realize he did this so he would not appear to be in a conflict of interest with his martial arts business. He had every intention to continue this relationship that is built on secrecy and deception. I asked him in August if he was with my family member on July 31 and did he spend from 6:00pm to approximately 1:00 am with my family member on Sunday night before she had to get up and go to work in 3 hours and he denied this. On Sept 9. he admitted it was him who was with her. He still continues to see and meet with my family member when family members are at work which is Wednesday, Thursday or Friday so their meetings can go undetected. They have still been meeting in 2019 in secret. This has caused undue stress and turmoil. Sex in the Dojo http://www.mettermartialarts.com/papers/sex.html? fbclid=IwAR3LOq31Ed2Oj1uUQ3t_hMLcnhQWPqEeGXh83xSO9SDWalHgRYEHynhYZLk To be a successful martial arts instructor, one must have the physical ability to deliver skills and the confidence to teach others. For some instructors, these positive attributes degenerate to the negative: selfish physical gratification and ego-building. These traits are given a vehicle for harassment in the superior-subordinate relationship. When the one in the power relationship abuses his authority for base personal desires, that is a breach of ethical standards. In the martial arts, this breach is especially severe for several reasons. Many women are vulnerable when they begin their study of martial arts; a recent divorce, a personal violent attack, or events in the community such as a serial killer at large are all common reasons for women to begin martial arts training. Therefore, an instructor who takes advantage of this sort of situation is essentially engaging in a form of emotional/sexual abuse.”