I realize that this may make me unpopular, but I also have a mixed review.
I would second what ABN said: it was great to meet up with all of my Systema friends from the board and community, and get some good work in with them. That alone made the trip worthwhile, and was the high point of the seminar for me.
Likewise, the downsides that I saw with the seminar were also of a "personal preference" nature, and certainly do not neccessarily apply to any other participant, or as a reflection on Martin's teaching style.
First: 1 out of the 4 hours was spent on excercises.
I wish we could have known in advance what would be covered. Some people were without training knives, and the whole seminar was knife work. Also, it does affect whether or not I will attend a seminar, if there is an area which is being covered, on which I know I need to work.
I agree that there seemed to be a lot of explanation time, versus
time to actually "do the work", which I found frustrating. At one point, Martin showed something, had us do pushups, and then went on to show something else.
My pet peeve is when you get into a flow for a brief moment and you have to stop for twice as long, before you've had a chance to really "get the movement into your body". I suppose I should be grateful that Martin took the time to explain, but it felt like there were brief interludes of work interjected into a lecture/demonstration. (Versus the other end of the spectrum: say, a Vladimir class where there is a 30 second demo and then you're told, "Now you do it"
) Every instructor has their own
teaching style.
I also had a little trouble reconciling all of the work we were doing with our legs against a knife-wielding attacker. While I understand that you should work with your whole body; Martin demonstrated a lot of work trying to use only his feet to counter his knife-wielding attacker. It wondered why the persistent footwork was shown, when at times it seemed neither the most efficient response, nor was it (repeatedly) successful.
Also, working against stabs to the legs (which I considered unusual as a realistic attack scenario... I don't often hear about guys walking up to strangers on the street and stabbing them in the thigh as a first preference attack, but I don't have as much experience as many.) However, I understand that it is good to be prepared for such a thing if it were to happen.
I had trouble "waving" my legs out of the way of the oncoming knife, when it seemed more obvious and reasonable for me to just step out of the way, thereby removing my leg from the path of the knife and not compromising my form. For me, I found that drill to be somewhat counter-productive and a step backwards, but then, I tend to try to do more Ryabko Systema.
Also, I was surprised to see that a puta kapala (sp?) (arm over head throw) was being taught as a Systema technique. I believe (and I may very well be wrong about this) that it is Kali (?). Still, it's all good.
What did disappoint me: I did witness a few unpleasant exchanges between individuals who either instisted on teaching their partners some other MA exclusively (much to their partner's frustration), or who fancied themselves as the embassadors of Systema and made a point of berating less experienced participants in a fashion which I found non-constructive,
counter-productive, audatious, and simply uncalled for. But you see that at any seminar (MA or otherwise), and in any genre.
I did enjoy my few minutes of sparring with Martin, knife vs empty hand; that was very enlightening for me, and one of my high points.
And of course, Edgar and Peggy were very accommodating! The new place looks fabulous and it was a great working environment.
Overall, I can't say I didn't get my money's worth: I was sore for days from the intense workout I got with ABN, Jackal, and Dave (to name a few).
I look forward to catching up with all of my fellow Systema practioners as soon as I can to do this again!
Jennifer
We're looking forward to seeing you guys tomorrow.
:btg:
