Summer Camp 2005

Students arrived on the 19th August 2005 for what was going to be a very intense 3 day training camp which was being taught by Rob Poynton of Systema UK and Paul Genge of Russian Martial Arts Northwest..

The experience of the students was varied. For some it was their first taste of what Systema has to offer. Others were instructors in their own right.

The first lesson of the day covered breathing and basic Systema principles. This quickly moved onto the basics of mass attack and working in crowds. Drills and training partners were swapped regularly to allow people to meet and train with new people. After a couple of hours of training and sweating on what was a warm summers evening we took a break for tea.

It was also at this point that students had a chance to take in the beauty of the site and the accommodation. The site was on the site of the grade 1 listed building Bispham hall, which had been rebuilt after a fire destroyed it in the 1970’s. The area around the hall had a purpose built dormitory block which had showers, cooking facilities, indoor training hall and a lounge. Also there was over 60 acres of woodland and clearings to train in and enjoy.

After Tea Rob started a class on takedowns which used the movement of the waist to generate the force need to destroy the structure of the training partners body.

This was then followed by training in low light. Taught by Paul Genge, students learnt to apply short movements and strikes to neutralise attackers and had the chance to work in the dark against a variety of attacks. This work is important because the majority of real life attacks happen in low light environments.

Having completed over 5 hours of training students gathered for a 1st night toast in the lounge. Several bottles of Vodka later a very tired group of students and instructors dragged themselves to bed.

730 am some of the less hung over students joined Paul for an hour of exercise. Fireman carries, running, pushups and squats were all made more challenging by the effects of the toasts the night before. After this was a quick breakfast and shower before the main training started.