Koepfer with students (photo: nycombatsambo)
The following is part of a series on training options in New York. This piece focuses on programs offered at New York Combat Sambo in New York City.
A large concern for training in New York is the potentially prohibitive costs. While the New York metropolitan area hosts some of the best coaches and facilities in the world, the area’s costs also cause it to host some of the highest training fees.
On the issue of money, Steve Koepfer, president of the American Sambo Association and head instructor of New York Combat Sambo, brought up one the more interesting programs for training available in NYC.
“If someone presents proof that they had been laid off, we give them one free class a week and use of our open matt time for six months.” The always down-to-earth Koepfer described the program as if it were a coupon rather than a progressive means for spreading training to those who could not normally get it.
“I know that my training is my mental health,” Koepfer continued. “When people are in a stressful situation you don’t want to deny them that.”
Since the inception of this program it has seen a healthy dose of media coverage. But, surprisingly, no one has yet taken advantage of it.
Apart from work done in New York, Koepfer and his students do get around. Upcoming events New York Combat Sambo will be participating in can be as close by as the upcoming national tournament in New Jersey or the slightly further away Sambo Summit in Texas this October.
Koepfer himself appeared as one of the coaches for the ASA’s Russian counterpart, the FKE, in the Sambo episode of Dhani Tackles the Globe.
“It [travel] helps to spread Sambo to areas that don’t necessarily have it, as opposed to New York that has lots of it.” Koepfer said.
Koepfer also expressed that he would like to hold more events in New York, but costs can be just as prohibitive here for those promoting an event as for those training for one. Also, due to New York State’s current ban of MMA, similar sports, such as Combat Sambo fall under heavy scrutiny.
“We did the Battle of Brooklyn for three years,” Koepfer described the now defunct event. “But it turned out to be too much of a hassle.”
While New York Combat Sambo has a number of classes geared towards MMA, such as no-gi grappling and kickboxing, as well as occasionally hosting MMA fighters looking to sharpen specific skills, Koepfer insists “We’re a Sambo school first. The people who come here want to learn that.”
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