On Tuesday 21st March, Systema Mid Wessex was invited to teach two classes of Systema to children at the wonderful Embers Learning Community in Copythorne, on the edge of the New Forest. It was a humble opportunity to share at a basic level, the knowledge that  both Paul Robinson and I have learnt over a decade of Systema training, to children who initially had no real concept of what Systema was all about.

The first class was taught to 9 year olds and above, and lasted 45 mins. This consisted of movements around a circle, crawling through tunnels, crawls, wave strikes, balance work and breathing. The second class for 5-8 Year olds was of a similar mix & duration, but with the tunnel & wave strikes replaced with ball catching & squats. All the children really enjoyed themselves with a number of the drills resonating with them afterwards.

The Support staff were fascinated too, and enjoyed just watching the proceedings. We very much hope (based on post class discussions and social media feedback), that we will be invited back to hold more sessions in due course. A very enjoyable afternoon all round.

Rob Hodgkinson – Lead Instructor