George Borelli of Borelli Self Defense in Colorado Talks About Our 1st Meeting.
24 March 2014
I was on a business trip to Tampa and had the good fortune to be able to stop in and train with Jesus Revezzo, an instructor in training in Vladimir Vasiliev's Systema.
I found Jesus Revezzo on Vladimir's Systema HQ web site of Systema schools. I had first planned stop into Riverview Systema but they were closed for Spring Break. My good fortune.
I had just come from a weekend training with Martin Wheeler again and my head full and body sore. But the magic of Systema has fully infected me in a good way. In spite of having many years of training in many other systems, for me there is no other as efficient nor as limitless as Systema. I can't get enough.
In response to my email inquiry Jesus invited me to drop in for his Monday night class in St. Petersburg, Florida.
I was the only participant as luck would have it. So Jesus and I trained together.
I found him to be knowledgeable and professional.
Jesus started our practice with deep massage. Jesus clearly having expertise, was able to relax my muscles from my past two days of training.
We did standing and moving work with light touch. Much of our work together felt like a high level adaptation of tai chi push hands while dynamically moving and striking.
Jesus sharing his own personal efforts to improve his rolling which was helpful to my own Systema rolls. He detailed the roll without touching his head in the slightest.
We warmed up with moving off deep pushes.
The most valuable part of our time together was having someone advanced enough to do "moving and striking". Jesus did this work fearlessly, in spite of the fact that my strikes can be quite deep at times and I am a fairly large man.
I learned or rather got deeper insights into a number of Systema concepts.
For example, Jesus had a very good handle on Systema's multiple strikes with one hand.
Jesus also detailed a very effective and powerful concept where you initiate the strikes starting with the furthest joint in the arm. I hadn't seen this concept before. You initiate the traditional Systema strike by first only steering the hand and bending the wrist. Only after that, you then bend only the elbow. Finally the shoulder moved that entire unit. The effect was kind of an inside whip of the arm, having much more energy and nearly impossible to understand coming at you. He did that following Filipino-like touch-pass-extend of the opponent's striking arm. The effect is what I call the pull-push or extend-hit.
When we did Systema's "striking-while-moving" Jesus made extensive use of his legs. His steps were high, and from the high knee, he was able to easily do thigh stops on my forward leg. I will need to incorporate this into my own movements. I knew about them and taught them but never had someone use then on me in a flow. They are so effective and he did them in a manner that was hidden in plain view and yet also felt safe.
Before we started Jesus was teaching a class of young children. He clearly has experience teaching. With me he was very good and seemed quite at ease. I am a total stranger, more senior, and with my own school, potentially giving him reason to be nervous but appeared totally calm under my examination.
Jesus is clearly instructor level already. I've worked with many other Systema certified instructors and he is every bit as good as many. I fully expect him to be a fully certified instructor by the time I next see him. I would recommend Jesus Revezzo to anyone wanting high level self defense and Systema. I look forward to seeing and working with Jesus in the future.
Sincerely,
George Borrelli
Systema Colorado Springs
www.borrelliselfdefense.com
I was on a business trip to Tampa and had the good fortune to be able to stop in and train with Jesus Revezzo, an instructor in training in Vladimir Vasiliev's Systema.
I found Jesus Revezzo on Vladimir's Systema HQ web site of Systema schools. I had first planned stop into Riverview Systema but they were closed for Spring Break. My good fortune.
I had just come from a weekend training with Martin Wheeler again and my head full and body sore. But the magic of Systema has fully infected me in a good way. In spite of having many years of training in many other systems, for me there is no other as efficient nor as limitless as Systema. I can't get enough.
In response to my email inquiry Jesus invited me to drop in for his Monday night class in St. Petersburg, Florida.
I was the only participant as luck would have it. So Jesus and I trained together.
I found him to be knowledgeable and professional.
Jesus started our practice with deep massage. Jesus clearly having expertise, was able to relax my muscles from my past two days of training.
We did standing and moving work with light touch. Much of our work together felt like a high level adaptation of tai chi push hands while dynamically moving and striking.
Jesus sharing his own personal efforts to improve his rolling which was helpful to my own Systema rolls. He detailed the roll without touching his head in the slightest.
We warmed up with moving off deep pushes.
The most valuable part of our time together was having someone advanced enough to do "moving and striking". Jesus did this work fearlessly, in spite of the fact that my strikes can be quite deep at times and I am a fairly large man.
I learned or rather got deeper insights into a number of Systema concepts.
For example, Jesus had a very good handle on Systema's multiple strikes with one hand.
Jesus also detailed a very effective and powerful concept where you initiate the strikes starting with the furthest joint in the arm. I hadn't seen this concept before. You initiate the traditional Systema strike by first only steering the hand and bending the wrist. Only after that, you then bend only the elbow. Finally the shoulder moved that entire unit. The effect was kind of an inside whip of the arm, having much more energy and nearly impossible to understand coming at you. He did that following Filipino-like touch-pass-extend of the opponent's striking arm. The effect is what I call the pull-push or extend-hit.
When we did Systema's "striking-while-moving" Jesus made extensive use of his legs. His steps were high, and from the high knee, he was able to easily do thigh stops on my forward leg. I will need to incorporate this into my own movements. I knew about them and taught them but never had someone use then on me in a flow. They are so effective and he did them in a manner that was hidden in plain view and yet also felt safe.
Before we started Jesus was teaching a class of young children. He clearly has experience teaching. With me he was very good and seemed quite at ease. I am a total stranger, more senior, and with my own school, potentially giving him reason to be nervous but appeared totally calm under my examination.
Jesus is clearly instructor level already. I've worked with many other Systema certified instructors and he is every bit as good as many. I fully expect him to be a fully certified instructor by the time I next see him. I would recommend Jesus Revezzo to anyone wanting high level self defense and Systema. I look forward to seeing and working with Jesus in the future.
Sincerely,
George Borrelli
Systema Colorado Springs
www.borrelliselfdefense.com