Hi Chris,
I have no MA background, but I read an article in a
local free paper, the Village Voice, about 3 styles:
Wing Chun, Krav Maga and Systema. I was interested in
Krav Maga, but after reading this article (here's a
link:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0338/bastidas.php)
I became so fascinated with Systema, I couldn't stop
talking about it to anyone who would listen. At that
point I was still in physical therapy for runner's
knee, so I was hesitant to sign up for classes. Some
friends run a Kenpo school in Miami, and I asked them
to tell me more about Systema. There is a Systema
instructor by the name of Martin Wheeler who has given
seminars at their Kenpo school, and when I told my
friends that Mr. Wheeler was giving a seminar in NYC,
they told me I HAD to go. So I did, but just as an
observer. I brought my mother, who is 53 and also has
no MA background (except for watching Kung Fu movies,
which we both enjoy). Once we saw how gentle Systema
can be, we decided to come back for the 2nd day of the
seminar to participate. Rather than aggravating my
runner's knee, I believe it improved it considerably!
We signed up for classes at a NYC dojo where Edgar
Tsakouls teaches classes (fighthouse.com). So far we
have taken two classes, in addition to the Martin
Wheeler seminar. I am so glad to find this physical
activity that we enjoy together, as my mom does
resistance training with free weights and I am a
bicyclist, but she has never been interested in
aerobic activity, and I haven't been interested in
working with free weights, but I think, based on our
last class, that Systema is a good aerobic and
resistance-type workout, in addition to being a lot of
fun.
I ordered one of V. Vasiliev's videos, "NYC Seminars
2001" and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. If you
want to find a UK school, try RussianMartialArt.com
there is a list of the Systema instructors that Mr.
Vasiliev has certified. Also if you go to
MartialTalk.com and register, I think there is a
bulletin board to find training partners.
So that's how I became interested in Systema. It's
fascinating stuff, isn't it? I am still pretty sore
from Wednesday's class. I must have fallen on my butt
about a hundred times (we do not have mats!). But
that's what I wanted to learn, how to fall, and my
partners were more than willing to oblige!
*Vsego nailuchshego* (All the best),
Rachel


--- Chris Poote <christopher.poote@...>
wrote:
> --- In systema_group@yahoogroups.com, "rkxyz"
> <rkxyz@y...> wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I started this group...
>
> Hi Rachel. Happy new group.
>
> A friend and I are meeting regularly to go through
> his systema
> videos -- Vasiliev and Ryabko stuff. Really
> exciting. We're going
> to try to make contact with especially UK systema
> practitioners and
> see if we can get together at some point.
>
> I've got a varied martial arts background, involving
> Chinese internal
> arts like fa-jing dim mak and Jeet Kune Do concepts,
> and I saw one of
> those systema vids and thought straight away 'I've
> gotta know more
> about this!' So here we go. You?
>
> Chris
>
>


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