Seminar. Charlotte, NC Nov 15&16

[Mark Jakabcsin]

RUSSIAN MARTIAL ART SEMINAR

NOVEMBER 15TH & 16TH
Featuring Vladimir Vasiliev

Location: Marriott Executive Park 704-527-9650
5700 Westpark Drive, Charlotte, NC
http://www.marriott.com/dpp/map.asp?marshacode=CLTNC

Cost: Pre-register $185 ends 10/24/03 (price includes Sat. evening banquet)
Registration: $210 October 25-November 14th *
Door Price: $275*
One-day Price: $110*
* does not include banquet
Extra Banquet tickets: $25/person

CONTACT: Dean Stewart at 704-895-1070 or [email protected]
www.systema-nc.com

Transportation & directions: I-77 exit 5(Tyvola Rd). Call 704-527-9650 for free shuttle from Airport to Hotel.

Training Hours: Friday 6pm-8pm, Saturday 10am-4pm (fruit provided for lunch), Sunday 1pm-5pm


Hotel Rooms: For reservations call 800-228-9290, ask for Russian Martial Art Seminar Rate. Special rate of $69 if reserved by 10/24/03! Normal rate is $109, book early you can always cancel.

Recap: Pre-registration ($185) buys- 2 days of training with Vladimir Vasiliev, 2 hours of additional training Friday night with a guest instructor, lite lunch of fruit on Saturday and Saturday banquet (sourthern style buffet with a cash bar). Throw in free shuttle from the airport and reasonable hotel rates at a very nice Marriott.

 

[bug]

Great seminar this weekend in Charlotte with Vladimir. Never having seen him before, I was completely blown away and I learned a lot too. Anyone who has not seen him in person really needs to. Great job by Dean Stewart in organizing the whole event and running it so smoothly. Thanks Dean and Vlad for a great weekend.

 

[Jay Bell]

Glad you had a good time!

 

[Klondike93]

It was great Jay, just got back today and I'm now in the process of icing my leg (thanks Sonny). Some of the knife work we did on sunday was stuff I hadn't seen yet and it was pretty cool stuff. There were a few drills we did over the weekend that were new to me as well that I'll be working with (just have to remember them now).

On sunday all I could really say though was, "poor Sonny, poor Sonny" or "Sonny, you ok?". Vlad really demonstrated some good (painful) stuff on him and ended the seminar with Sonny using an AR-15 and Vlad disarming and beating him with it (oohhh,that's going to leave a bruise )

 

[Mark Jakabcsin]

I was traveling the northwest all last week and didn’t have a chance to throw in my 2 cents about the seminar……. so here goes. Of course Vladimir was great, although some how he seemed a little different to me this time. Not sure exactly what, just a little different, in a good way. More relaxed if that is possible. Anyway a big thanks to Vlad for sharing and showing so much, it is always a privilege and a delight to train with you.

Also, big thanks to Dean Stewart for all his hard work and risk taking. Organizing such large events is always a huge undertaking in time and finances. Thanks for your dedication.

Thanks to Sonny for leading an awesome class Friday night. What an excellent way to start out a weekend of training. Finally, a giant thanks to all those who attended. The students of North Carolina appreciate your support and opportunity to train with new people. I have always felt one of the more important ingredients to a successful seminar is quality participants. Everywhere I looked over the weekend I saw quality and I want to thank each person who attended. Great attitudes ensure great training.

As for specifics from the seminar I always find that difficult. There is so much swimming through my head it is darn near impossible to fish out long lists of specifics. Hence I won’t even try to rehash the entire seminar, I will simply write a few personal items that I learned and hope to take away from the seminar.

Vlad had demonstrated moving from kicks. We have all seen this drill before and also seen how easy Vlad makes it look. I had thought this was one of my better drills and I had thought I had a good grasp of how to move for this drill. Luckily Sonny was my partner for this drill and he gratefully shattered those silly beliefs of mine. While I wasn’t doing bad, Sonny pointed out that I was constantly stopping to equalize my weight over both feet, 50/50. Even though I was only doing this for very short periods of time he pointed out that it is much harder to move from a 50/50 stance than from 80/20 or 70/30, etc. By not equalizing my weight across both feet/legs I would be in constant motion. Even when standing still the beginning portion of moving is already accomplished, hence speed and fluidity are increased. I have been playing with this concept in class and really like it. Thanks Sonny.

I worked on striking with Peter A. and had several light bulbs go off. Unfortunately I didn’t write any of it down so several of the bulbs have gone out. I look forward to me next trip to the West Coast of Florida so I can get a refresher. The one thing that stands out is the visualization for striking. Peter urged me to visualize striking or grabbing a target well behind the person I was hitting. While I have been told this in the past and have done it in the past Peter seemed to explain it just right so I hope it will stick this time. He also worked on my shoulder motion when striking, i.e. to eliminate it. Thanks Peter.

During a different striking drill Vlad had us moving and striking our attacker with our motion. He came over to me and said I was in too much of a rush to strike my attacker. He demonstrated that hitting the attacker during their intended motion is less successful than striking the attacker during a transitional movement. At least that is the best I can explain it in words. He showed that as we transition through moves our bodies tense, which makes strikes move affective. Of course this had to be felt so Vlad hit my partner and I. Good stuff and I have already been having a tiny bit of success with this concept in class. Thanks Vlad.

Another cool thing Vlad showed me occurred during one of the knife drills. He didn’t like the way I was attacking and said something to the affect that I was trying to hard. He grabbed the knife and said something like, ‘Don’t try to cut them, just cut them.’ He then proceeded to cut my jugular vein repeatedly. I tried to move but that darn knife just kept slicing me. When my partner snickered he got carved as well. I played with this last night in class. My partner was moving very well during a knife drill so I thought it was a perfect time to experiment. When I changed my mental decision from try to cut to simply cut I was able to carve him up with some degree of ease. Funny thing is I was moving slower than when I was ‘trying’ to cut him. I realized that my body motions had gotten much smaller and I telegraphed far less, hence he had less to work with and a harder time seeing what was happening. To me, this seems like an incredible concept that has many applications. Thanks Vlad.

One of the most amazing things I felt was one of the demos I got to do with Vlad. We stood facing each other, each with one fist on the others chest. We then both tried to wave and push the other…..well I tried, Vlad did! I felt like a puppet on Vlad’s string. I swear he not only pushed me with his fist but his chest muscles were wiggling and pushing me as well. I never did move him but enjoyed myself so much I started laughing. It was either that or cry from the feeling of helplessness. I can’t put into words what I was feeling from Vlad but I have some ideas of what was going on and some new goals for my training. Thanks Vlad.

On a personal note I had success working on my breathing during the exercises. I have been working on not breathing too deeply, which causes tension. By breathing just enough I was able to stay more relaxed and more efficient. The cool thing is that after doing the hold your breath exercises (push-ups, squats, sit-ups) I found that I wasn’t gasping for breath, it was actually easy. This seemed like a break through for me and was happy to see some results.

On the vanity side I was also pleased and extremely surprised that during the seminar I was able to do my first extended arm, one-arm push-up. On one of the videos I saw Sergei (I think) knocking these push-ups out like a machine, since then I have been dreaming of doing them myself. While explaining this dream to someone before the seminar I went to demonstrate my inability to do extended one-arm push-ups and low and behold I knocked a few out. Shazam! Several times during the day I had to do them again just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Now if I can learn to do that darn wall squat down and back up. Always something to shoot for.

Well, enough rambling for now. I believe Vlad has updated his site with many of the seminars for 2004. For those with even a tiny bit of interest I recommend checking out the list and trying to attend one. Although I do caution that they Vlad seminars are highly addictive.

Take care and happy holidays.

mark

 

[arnisador]

Thanks for that review!

 

[dean stewart]

I wanted to personally thank everyone who attended Vladimir’s seminar in North Carolina. The quality of participants was phenomenal. What can you say about Vladimir?
Wow! He did an excellent job of teaching the 4 pillars, as well as explaining in detail, through drills, the difference between ball and wave movements.
A special thanks to all who broke my whip in, you know who you are.
Looking forward to November 6th and 7th 2004!