Maryland Systema Offers Local Law Enforcement Training in 5 Essential Skill Areas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Takoma Park, MD — March 25, 2023 — Local law enforcement officers and public-safety professionals can explore supplemental training through Maryland Systema focused on five connected skill areas: situational awareness, breathing, balance, movement, and physical control.

Maryland Systema announced the availability of specialized instruction for professionals interested in examining how these skills work together during demanding physical encounters. Training addresses changing distance, restricted movement, physical pressure, and the need to remain aware of other people.

The instruction supplements department-approved defensive-tactics training, legal instruction, firearms training, and established agency procedures. Participating organizations can discuss adjustments that reflect their responsibilities, equipment, working environment, and training experience.

Maryland Systema is accepting inquiries from individual officers, training coordinators, and organizations interested in introductory workshops, small-group instruction, or a series of focused sessions.

Supplemental Training for Local Law Enforcement

Physical encounters rarely develop under ideal conditions. An officer’s movement can be affected by nearby vehicles, furniture, uneven ground, confined spaces, duty equipment, or the presence of several people.

Maryland Systema’s approach gives participants opportunities to examine how their posture, breathing, positioning, and attention change under controlled pressure.

An exercise can begin with a simple task, such as maintaining balance while a partner applies a steady push. Additional movement, resistance, or uncertainty can then be introduced at a level appropriate to the participants.

For local law enforcement professionals, the purpose is to explore habits that affect physical performance while keeping judgment and responsibility central to the exercise.

Training topics can include:

• Recognizing changes in posture, distance, movement, and behavior
• Maintaining awareness of hands, exits, obstacles, and nearby people
• Managing breathing during effort and controlled contact
• Protecting balance during pushing, pulling, or grabbing
• Moving in confined or crowded areas
• Examining mobility while wearing duty equipment
• Moving on the ground and returning to the feet
• Maintaining awareness of a colleague or member of the public
• Adjusting physical effort as resistance changes

“Officers often have to make important decisions while working at close range and under considerable physical pressure,” said Jim Eglin, founder and Chief Instructor of Maryland Systema. “Our training gives participants another way to examine breathing, balance, movement, and positioning when conditions do not follow a planned sequence.”

1. Situational Awareness for Local Law Enforcement

Situational awareness involves continuing to notice relevant changes while completing an immediate task. Physical contact can make that difficult when attention becomes fixed on one person, one hand, or one movement.

Participants examine the relationship between where they stand, what they can see, and the space available for movement. A small change in position can alter the view of another person’s hands or reveal an obstacle that was previously outside their attention.

Supervised exercises can introduce questions such as:

• Where is the nearest available route of movement?
• Has another person entered the immediate area?
• Is a wall, vehicle, or piece of furniture restricting movement?
• Where is the training partner applying pressure?
• Can the participant maintain awareness while changing position?

The aim is to help participants recognize when their attention narrows and restore a broader view of the exercise.

For local law enforcement groups, discussions can connect these observations to the environments participants encounter while remaining within the scope of their agency’s approved procedures.

2. Breathing During Physical Effort

Maryland Systema uses breathing exercises to help participants notice changes in effort and tension.

During controlled partner work, participants examine whether they hold their breath, tighten their jaw, raise their shoulders, or interrupt their breathing when contact begins. These observations provide feedback about how they respond to the task.

Exercises can involve walking, changing direction, moving from the ground, or maintaining position against steady pressure. The instructor can adjust the pace so participants have time to notice their breathing before the exercise becomes more demanding.

The objective is to maintain useful movement while recognizing unnecessary effort.

Breathing practice does not guarantee calm decisions or eliminate stress. It gives participants a repeatable part of their physical response to observe during training.

Local law enforcement professionals can use these exercises to examine how their breathing changes between initial contact, sustained effort, and the recovery period after an exercise ends.

3. Balance and Body Position

Balance affects whether a participant can move, change direction, or respond to pressure without becoming fixed in place.

Maryland Systema examines balance through controlled pushing, pulling, grabbing, and changes in direction. Participants explore how foot placement, posture, and unnecessary rigidity affect their ability to remain mobile.

An exercise can reveal a tendency to lean too far, lock the knees, reach without moving the feet, or continue resisting in a direction that no longer serves the task.

Partners work at an agreed level of contact so these habits become visible without turning the exercise into a contest.

The instructor can pause the activity, adjust the starting position, or reduce resistance when participants need a clearer understanding of the problem.

For local law enforcement participants, balance training offers a way to examine physical organization under pressure. Any application to operational duties remains subject to departmental instruction and policy.

4. Movement in Restricted Spaces

Available space affects the choices a person can make during physical contact.

A participant who moves freely in an open training area can encounter different problems near a wall, beside furniture, or within a narrower space. Maryland Systema uses controlled exercises to examine those differences.

Training can address how participants turn, step, change level, and maintain awareness when their preferred direction is unavailable.

Duty equipment also changes the space a person occupies and the movements available. Where appropriate and agreed with the participating organization, exercises can account for those restrictions.

The emphasis remains on recognizing the environment and adjusting movement to the immediate task.

Local law enforcement training coordinators can discuss the available facility, equipment restrictions, and intended learning objectives before selecting exercises. This helps keep the session relevant to the group and manageable within the training space.

5. Physical Control and Measured Effort

Controlled partner work allows participants to experience another person’s weight, resistance, timing, and changing direction.

Maryland Systema uses this interaction to examine how much effort a task requires and whether that effort remains useful as conditions change.

Participants can observe when they become rigid, continue pushing after pressure has shifted, or focus so closely on one action that they lose awareness of the surrounding area.

The training partner provides a clear physical problem while maintaining the agreed boundaries of the exercise. Both participants share responsibility for controlled contact and communication.

The instructor can increase or reduce resistance according to the group’s experience and ability to maintain control.

For local law enforcement professionals, these exercises support discussion about the relationship between physical action and continuing assessment. Participants remain responsible for following applicable law, departmental policy, and their authorized training.

De-Escalation and Responsible Decision-Making

Physical training must remain connected to communication, judgment, and the circumstances of an encounter.

Depending on the situation, an officer’s options can include speaking, repositioning, creating distance, waiting for assistance, protecting another person, or using authorized physical control.

Maryland Systema’s supplemental instruction provides opportunities to examine whether participants can continue observing and communicating while completing a physical task.

For broader context, the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Office describes de-escalation as involving verbal and nonverbal skills, situational awareness, threat assessment, and decision-making. Its overview of de-escalation training also addresses communication, physical tactics, and organizational support.

That resource provides background for training coordinators reviewing their broader educational needs. Maryland Systema’s instruction does not replace an agency’s de-escalation curriculum, crisis-response procedures, or legal guidance.

Progressive Practice and Review

Exercises begin with a defined task, clear boundaries, and an agreed level of contact. Participants need to understand what they are practicing before additional complications are introduced.

As the group demonstrates control, the instructor can adjust resistance, speed, direction, or the number of factors participants must observe.

Progression depends on the participants’ ability to remain aware and work responsibly with their partners.

Review gives participants time to identify what changed during the exercise. Discussion can address when breathing stopped, where balance shifted, which obstacles went unnoticed, or when additional effort stopped helping.

For local law enforcement groups, this review creates space to connect physical observations with the session’s stated objectives. It also helps identify subjects that deserve more practice during a later session.

Customized Workshops for Local Law Enforcement

Maryland Systema offers several formats for supplemental instruction:

• Introductory workshops covering the five skill areas
• Focused sessions on breathing, balance, or movement
• Small-group partner training
• Multi-part programs with progressive exercises
• Private lessons for individual professionals
• Scenario-based movement and awareness sessions

Programs can be adjusted according to group size, available space, training time, experience, equipment, and desired contact level.

Training coordinators can begin by identifying the physical problems they want participants to examine. A focused session allows more time to explore a defined subject, while a longer program provides opportunities to revisit skills under changing conditions.

Agencies and individual officers can contact Maryland Systema to discuss the scope and suitability of supplemental instruction.

About Maryland Systema

Maryland Systema provides adult self-defense training based on awareness, breathing, movement, balance, controlled contact, and responsible decision-making.

Founder and Chief Instructor Jim Eglin began training in Systema in 2013. He earned his Full Systema Instructor Certification in 2019 under Vladimir Vasiliev and renewed his certification in 2022.

His broader training includes more than five years of Krav Maga through Krav Maga Worldwide, Krav Maga Global, and Krav OZ. He has also trained in Judo, Knight Jiu-Jitsu®, and Boxing.

Maryland Systema offers regular adult group classes in Rockville and Takoma Park, Maryland. Private lessons, workshops, and specialized instruction are available throughout the Washington, DC area.

For information about supplemental training for local law enforcement, visit Maryland Systema or contact Jim Eglin to discuss your group’s objectives, schedule, and available training space.

Press Contact

Jim Eglin
Founder and Chief Instructor
Maryland Systema
301-326-9146
jim@marylandsystema.com
MarylandSystema.com