REVIEW - Alex Kostic Sydney- Australia Systema Seminar

[Peter Aftanas]

The Alex Kostic Sydney Systema Seminar
6 hours Saturday 5th and 6 hours Sunday 6th April, 2008



Introduction

My name is Peter Aftanas and this is the second time that I have posted on this Forum.

I have a small Systema school in Sydney, Australia ( www.RussianMartialArt.com.au ). In February we were fortunate enough to have Vladimir send Maxim Franz to us for a two day seminar. That was a great seminar for all who attended.

Just before Max arrived I received a call from a martial art practitioner James Sumarac who lived in rural Victoria about 1,000 kms south of Sydney. James had trained with Alex Kostic over seas in Serbia and was hosting his trip to Australia. After holding two seminars at his training facility he was looking for a venue in Sydney and asked if I could help.

I, of course, was happy to help. We have a training gym and I knew that the Sydney guys were still “hot” from the Maxim Franz seminar. So I felt confident that I could make the seminar happen successfully.


The Seminar

The Seminar was organised as a two day event 6 hours each day. We had 22 people attend and it was a great weekend for everyone. Additionally everyone at the seminar had had some Systema training before. I think this gave Alex an opportunity to show us more that just the basics.


The First Day - Saturday 5th April

Alex started the day with some joint rotation work as part of the warm up then moved to ground work. We spent the next hour or so with various drills concerned with movement and transitions on the ground. Followed by the various types of rolls etc. All great work to start softening and relaxing the guy's.

From there we moved to joint disruption and take downs. We started with the neck, then shoulders, body, hips, knees etc. There were constant reminders to “help your partners” and “don't damage your training partners”, etc.

As time moved on we progressed from drill to drill. We moved form the simple to more complex work. Alex moved us through take downs by joint disruption, balance control and disruption, we covered movement in form disruption, we covered movement in all things Systema. Then there were the various types of kicks and their defences, head attacks and evasion, and much much more.

The training was hard, relentless and very, rewarding. I think there must be something therapeutic about willfully allowing your various training partner's to throw you to the ground repeatedly all day. The first day ended with a circle with every one eager for a rest and also more training.


The Second Day – Sunday 6th April

The second day started in a similar manner to the first. The drills consisted of more variations on take downs, strikes, timing and distance work for kicks, strikes and much more form disruption work, There were many different types of striking drills, as well as many drills for escaping from holds of hands, arms, body, head etc. And of course there were lots of exploration of the different principles within Systema.

In the two days we had covered long work, wave work, ground work, striking, short work, very short work, escape from holds and grabs, strike absorption, breath work, etc. After each topic Alex allowed us to use lots of “free play” as he called it to more fully explore each topic. This gave the training a more realistic feel and allowed us to develop our understanding of the work to a greater depth.

Finally Alex was asked by a few people to demonstrate some strikes. Alex took them up and allowed them to feel a few real Systema strikes. This was great to see but very bad for the guys receiving. There is no doubt that Alex Kostic is a very impressive Systema Instructor.

This brought us to the end of our two day Alex Kostic Sydney Systema Seminar - two day and 12 hours of great training. After the circle and goodbyes Alex had to rush off and was on a plane back down to Melbourne that afternoon and home to his family in Serbia the next morning.


Final Note and Thanks

I find that I have a few people to thank for this successful Systema seminar.

Firstly, I would like to thank James for finding me and contacting me. This has given the Sydney Systema group the great opportunity for another fantastic Systema seminar.

Secondly, I have to thank all of the Sydney people who attended the seminar. Five weeks earlier they were at Maxim Franz's seminar and now Alex Kostic. They have had to pay twice in such a short time. I think this shows their level of dedication and keenness for Systema. Thank you.

And finally, I need to thank Alex Kostic for a wonderfully constructed and beautifully delivered seminar. Thank you for being such a passionate and dedicated Systema teacher / Instructor, and thank you for being such a nice guy.

I have said before that Systema is in its infancy here in Australia, however I now see Systema is starting to grow and I feel it will flourish very well here - Down Under.


Kind regards,

Peter Aftanas.

Please visit our Sydney - Australian website: www.RussianMartialArt.com.au
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Please visit our website at: www.RussianMartialArt.com.au

[Tim Cleary]

I'm happy to second everything Peter has just said..

This seminar was a) incredibly well constructed and presented; b) very, very effective in changing the way people worked, and; c) a huge amount of fun.

Alex's emphasis was on delivering the methodology of Systema - exploring the body and psyche through the medium of martial art.

I found myself giggling during a few of the demonstrations I was being chucked around for, as Alex's movement was so relaxed and powerful that even though I was expecting what was going to happen, there was no moment of tension or any break in the 'flow' to allow me to re-orient and after a while I started to feel like we were playing 'Tim stands up, Tim falls down'...

As always, a big thanks to Peter and to James for giving us access to such a wonderful seminar; and a big thanks to Justin and all the other demo 'volunteers' for being softer than me so I got to watch more demos than I was involved in...

An old fear came back - I found myself not attacking properly, the old fear of hitting strangers appeared and even though Alex repeatedly told us "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you" it was a bit of a stumbling block... I was too controlled and fearful to commit fully...

Now we just need to convince the visiting teacher's that Peter is tougher than we are and can take a lot more punishment than we can...

A few points Alex made that really stuck with me:
Taking the balance is about creating and/or removing tension.
Move in all three dimensions while working.
Use play and playfulness while exploring your work (the image of Alex 'wandering around' pretending to be drunk while dispatching multiple attackers springs to mind).
Make your training and work appropriate to your limitations. Don't destroy yourself or your partners.
Maintain your awareness of your own body (all of it - I was working with my fingers just flopping around like dead meat and Alex asked me to put some awareness and length back into them - my work became better instantly..)

And lastly (for now at least):
Shaved Serbian heads make fantastic weapons... After a few tries, I just didn't want to put Alex into any kind of choke any more..

But the single best thing was that everyone's work changed over the course of the days - everyone became softer, more controlled and every single person's work became more 'Systema' than before.

Training 'Above the Clouds', 2009, anyone?

Tim..
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Breathe in, Breathe out...

[Chris Misek]

Great seminar!
Alex' work is very interesting and it is quite an inspiration.It never ceases to amaze,what one is capable of when the body and psyche are "free".
We did a lot of work exploring mobility of joints and just how important it is.
Personally,it was yet another reminder of how Systema work really does start from the inside.I find this especially significant in some of the slow,flowing drills.

It was great to see the guys again and how they had developed so quickly from the last seminar.This is thanks to Maksym Franz,Peters school and also their sheer hard work.What stuck out for me was watching big Dmitri moving so so so well in the demos and watching Peter,Tim and "Big Peter" doing some free work-some of which was actually quite deep.

Aleksandar,thanks so much for your weekend with us-the hard work and sincerity of your teaching.
Again,thanks to James Sumarac and his wife for bringing Alex up to Sydney,Peter for organising the gym and importantly everyone who attended for great work ethic,attitude and memories.

On funny note,we had dinner party the following weekend at a Czech restaurant/beer cafe.The weather was great that night so we were all outside.All kinds of rich food,beer and slivovice were consumed.There was not as much mayhem as previous party's though
Dmitri,again,proved a classic...
He is a bit musical.After learning Czech work for beer (pivo) he decided to sing version of Elvis song "Viva Las Vegas".But,it was instead "Pivo Las Vegas".God only knows why,but the people at other table (who understood) were thouroughly amused.Excellent!!!