PAUL COHEN, ASST. INSTRUCTOR, LACONIA, NH:
The International Combat Systema Association is extremely proud to announce the appointment of Paul Cohen as an Assistant Instructor. Paul began training in the martial arts at 6 years old both to deal with bullies and to improve his physical conditioning. His father was a collegiate boxer, and both older brothers were football and wrestling stars. Their early tutelage helped end those occurrences. As he progressed through school, his oldest brother trained him in Shotokan karate, which he studied while in college while his middle brother continued to teach him wrestling. Later, service in the Marine Corps exposed him to Marine HTH, as well as the Royal Marines' HTH system.

As Paul began his teaching career, he continued to attend wrestling coaches seminars, and also trained in kickboxing. He spent time as a bouncer in NJ, which helped soidify his fighting skills and showed him what worked and what failed in violent altercations. Concurrently, he served on the Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol for three summers, where he had cause to utilize grappling/submisssion skills both on the land and in the ocean to deal with unruly beach-goers. He began studying Japanese and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to help him coach wrestling, and has been exposed to Krav Maga as well.

Paul began Systema training when Vladimir Vasiliev released his first TRS tape in 1996. He attended several seminars in Canada and has studied under Sensei Azem since 2008. He has accompanied Sensei Azem on several trips to other martial arts' schools to assist in teaching others Systema. Earning Assistant Instructor status was a pinnacle moment in his martial training and Paul feels fortunate to have incorporated all aspects of Systema into his life. The journey has taken him towards continual improvement and has been most useful in his job as a football/wrestling coach. He has found the tenet "know yourself" to be invaluable in working with students/athletes. To continually grow as a person and martial artist is his lifelong aspiration, which enable him to understand what young people under his guidance  experience when faced with challenging mathematics curriculum or football play. He has been able to successfully utilize Systema tenets in both his professional roles and in his capacities as a husband and father.