Legion Muay Thai 4 Willow Avenue, Staten Island, New York 10305,

"I can honestly say that Legion Muay Thai has improved my life for the better; and it’s all thanks to the staff, coaches, and members that make it a great environment to be at."

"I’ve never done Muay Thai before but when I came here everyone made me feel like I was coming here for a while. Everyone is nice and the owner knows everyone, he immediately knew I was the new guy and took his time to help me along the way! It’s really motivating working hard in a comfortable place where everyone helps and uplifts you when you mess up, and no one acts as if they’re better than you they treat each other like a little family. This is definitely gonna be my gym from now on!"

"Staten Island Muay Thai is a relatively new gym on the Muay Thai scene in New York City. The gym itself is located across the street from a gas station and some businesses which provides ample parking - plus if you run out of gas you can just push your car across the street! The interior of the gym is wide and spacious. The layout makes the facility seem very open. The high ceilings and the design helps as well. A row of heavy bags line one wall and pads are placed neatly on the other. There is a small ring in the corner. The men and women's bathroom are spacious so it's easy to change and there is enough storage for bags and what not along the wall. The owner Vinny Scotto, is an experienced name in the Muay Thai game. He originally started in San Shou, a stand up sport similar to Muay Thai but with more throws. Scotto has a long running podcast called The Striking Corner which has interviewed a host of names in the game including Michael Chase Corley, Janet Todd, Gaston Bolanos and others. He is an active member of the Muay Thai community and dedicated to the sport. The classes run an hour long and are well designed. After an initial warm up students will go through a basic partner drill. Partner drills are an excellent way to learn spacing, timing, technique and rhythm. The drills are done at low power and are a great way to learn for experienced or beginners. The second class will be pad work which follows the drill class is the same drills. Doing the pads let's you refine the technique and really develop power as well. If you can't do the pad class don't worry the next day the drill class is at the same time so it's easy to switch back and forth. Each week a theme is run so it could be evasions and counters, then the next week would be forward pressure, the third week elbows in the clinch etc. An advanced class follows. Staten Island Muay Thai has the beginnings of a good fight team with boxers on the local regional shows including the USMTO, TBA's and Triumph Kombat amongst other promotions. The sparring was light but technical and under the watchful eye of Scotto. This gym has a solid curriculum that builds students from the ground up. If you put in the time you'll get results. Overall a welcome newer addition to the Muay Thai scene in America. I think we can expect good things from Staten Island Muay Thai."

"This is a special place, students range from people wanted to learn self defense such as myself , father of 3 , to those that want to be professional fighters. Everyone is treated the same and in this gym everyone is family. Coach Vinny is awesome , he will work you very hard and teach you the proper techiniques. Highly recommend this gym if you want to learn Muay Thai."

"Great gym, good group of guys and one hell of a coach. Vinny gives his time on and off the matt to help his students. I've never experienced such attentiveness from an instructor before. I'd recommend SIMT to all martial artists and beginners. Nothing but good vibes and hard work here. You will never leave this gym not feeling fulfilled in some sort of way."