Rustam Saadvakass
We introduce you Rustam Saadvakass: athlete, boxer, trainer and inventor, but above all father of seven children, trained according to his inimitable method.
Rustam and his wife are sporting champions: he in boxing and she in gymnastics and acrobatics.
In 2013 one of their daughters, Evnika Saadvakass, became famous on the internet following the publication of a video of her during training, which received more than 3,5 million views. Many famous boxers, including Roy Jones and Mike Tyson, have become his supporters.
The children of this harmonious and sporty family grow up healthy and happy, they are full of talent and strongly determined to achieve their goals. Surely this is also thanks to the efforts of their super-dad, whose secrets we have decided to reveal: his unique recipe for the formation of true champions.
Hello, Rustam! Why don't you tell us what it feels like to be a father of seven children?
And the happiness. And I say this without exaggeration.
Was it different to be a father for the first time than to be a father after the birth of the seventh child?
Sure. It was different, but it's not that simple to explain. The fact is that when you are expecting your first child, you are filled with a sense of pleasure and you feel almost miraculous. The excitement at the birth of the first child is indescribable: it is with his birth that the first real day as a family begins.
My excitement grew more and more with each child being born. Realizing that the family is expanding is an incredible sensation, which is tinged with different colors each time, like a flooding river into which a new canal enters. With the birth of each child, the family becomes healthier, stronger and wiser.
Until recently we had six children: five girls and one boy. Our seventh baby was recently born. I tell you without exaggeration: I was in seventh heaven.
Are you all athletes in your family?
Yes. All our children enjoy sports and active games.
Do you cultivate a love of sports with your children or have they decided to play sports independently?
Of course I grow it! Life today is full of temptations: cartoons, computer games, and music often take over the minds of children. It is up to parents to understand that they need to make an extra effort so that their children are attracted to sports.
Let me share my observations with you: the best strategy would be to divide the process of introducing the child to sport into two phases. The first phase can be called "forced will", when as a teacher, you make sure that your children do not skip training.
The second phase is when the child develops a true love for sports, when the body begins to feed on the energy provided by physical exercise. At this stage it is important to teach him to overcome difficulties.
Sport allows children to better understand the laws of nature and to engage in a process of energy exchange with the surrounding environment. During training, for example, the child exchanges energy with sports equipment, with teammates, with the coach: all this is exciting for both the body and the mind.
Precisely this ability to exchange energy with the environment, be it objects or people, has an educational effect, which contributes to the overall development of the individual.
There is also a third phase that involves introducing a person to sport: money, the desire to entertain others, the willingness to demonstrate one's skills and show one's spirit; but the child must reach this stage by himself, after having become stronger and once he has become an adult.
Who in your family takes care of the sports development of the children?
I am lucky to have my wife: we are more than just a family, we are a team. I think I can call myself the head coach of the multidisciplinary team of the Saadvakass family (laughs).
My wife Anna provides us with everything we need, she takes care of the general state of each family member, including myself. If I am the heart of a training process, she is the circulatory system. Either way, all family members contribute to the training process.
In recent years a special contribution has been made by my eldest children: Anzha, Rush, Selyavira and Evnika. They support each other, and I have to say they do pretty well. One for all and all for one!
Are you strict as a coach? And as a father? Can your children afford to have the easy life, taking advantage of the fact that the coach is their father?
I certainly consider myself a tough coach and I want my children to see me as such, but what they really think I don't know. During the training sessions I have to be strict, but I don't always succeed, I happen more and more often to want to joke with them.
I think parents need to maintain a certain balance in the educational process. My wife Anna is a very sweet person, she is often indulgent with children, which is why I have taken on the role of the strict parent instead. Together we manage to harmonize everything.
As I see it, an important part of raising children is to create a certain atmosphere in the family, just like preparing the fertile ground for a plant: if an atmosphere of love and mutual understanding reigns at home, the child will grow up to become one. good, generous and honest person.
What is the importance of sport in raising children?
It is of extreme importance. I'll tell you more: doctors and teachers underestimate the influence of sport on children. If the training sessions are harmoniously introduced into the educational process, sport is able to train the body and stimulate the brain activity of the child. The educational process within our family rests on three pillars: sport, business and family.
Of the importance of work in raising children I will tell later, while with regard to sport, I can say that a father-coach is the perfect formula to support the desired atmosphere in the family. In fact, the activity of coach allows me to hold a short educational course in an hour and a half of training.
I can cheer children up, give a ten-minute educational talk, or even assign a few more exercises if I notice distraction or laziness. After an hour and a half in the role of coach I am tired of wearing the mask of the stern father. I don't even find it necessary, since all the "edification" work has already been done: I manage to be a more compliant father in everyday life.
Our mission, as good parents, is to introduce children to the environment that will help them adapt and be more competitive in today's world, and sport, no doubt, can help. Sport is a universal preparation system for life, which makes the body and mind suitable for any situation related to the surrounding environment.
How do you know what children really like?
The more time you spend with them, the better you are able to connect with their inner world. As for their growth, you don't always have to pay attention to what your children like or dislike. What they don't like today could fascinate them tomorrow, when they grow up. You should try to look through your children's aspirations and teach them the skills to use to achieve their goals.
We must not allow ourselves to be sidetracked by their temporary misunderstandings in the face of parental requests, and we must show ourselves very determined in wanting to give them all the best.
What's your biggest secret about raising children?
You know, everything I've said so far was our secret until today… (laughs). In addition, I can only say that our secret lies in the approach to growth, in the new way of seeing the parenting role within the family.
We have developed a formula that can protect the psyche of our children from negative emotions, often hidden behind the curtain, and which can accumulate during the entire growth phase of the child.
There are two unbreakable rules to follow. The first is: "allow the child to do whatever it requires if his desire derives from curiosity". The second is: “it forbids the child to do everything he asks if his needs derive from the will to do harm”. These rules allow you to analyze the child's actions and make the most useful decisions as a parent.
How it works: Satisfying the child's curiosity will help to train him, while avoiding being indulgent towards his "weaknesses" will teach him to give weight to his actions, to value the words of an adult person, and to trust the parenting experience.
What is the hardest job a father of seven faces?
The hardest work is to be equally good and bad to each child, making sure that the seed of discord does not develop between them. In addition to being a father and a coach, most of the time I also find myself playing the part of the judge: this is the role that I find most oppressive. The relationships that exist between my children are based on the decisions taken regarding the disputes that take place between them.
What are the happiest moments of being a father?
The birth of a child, his laugh, his first steps, the first word, the word "dad" pronounced for the first time: all of these represent moments of happiness. However, I recently discovered a new joy of being a father: recognition from the social environment.
After being called a "super dad" by you, I sang anthems from various countries all over the house (laughs). In these three days I have probably made more people laugh than in my entire life. I think it was one of the happiest moments of being a father.
Are your children forbidden anything? If so, what?
Usually our prohibitions are aimed at protecting our children or managing the relationships between them: we don't play with matches, we don't go near the kitchen oven, we don't get offended by the little ones, etc. It is also forbidden to resolve disputes with violence.
Among other things, I am proud that our rules are strictly respected. We have never received complaints from other parents that our children have harmed anyone, despite the fact that they are all boxers and could have easily resolved any dispute.
How did the idea of ​​founding the Saadvakass Family Company come about?
Years ago I invented a high-speed sports equipment: Evnik. From that moment on, I started using my invention for the education of my children. As time went by, my work got noticed by experts, and when I first published my daughter Evnika's video on the web, I received an avalanche of emails: people from all over the world wrote to me.
Many were interested in how I managed to achieve similar results and placed emphasis on Evnika's unusual movements. The Evnik Training Device is the basis of our physical training; that's why we decided to share our invention. We considered the mass production of Evnik sports equipment.
Since the development of sports equipment includes the whole family, we have decided
to call the company Saadvakass Family. Frankly, I wasn't sure I wanted to give the company our surname, worried that in many countries it would sound strange.
But in the end I decided that an unusual name would have a positive effect on the marketing of the product and I was not wrong at all. Today, hundreds of millions of people around the world know our surname by heart.
People love the name of the company, since our family is the engine of the company.
What does your unique methodology consist of? From what age is it used?
The essence of the methodology lies in its influence on the nervous and muscular system, and in the fact that it guarantees fast results. There is no comparison to the exercises performed with Evnik in the rest of the world, allowing them to release potential energy from the body. The sports equipment includes a children's model “Evnik for kids”, for adults “Evnik for Adults”, and two models for athletes “Evnik PRO-1” and “Evnik PRO-2”.
The load created by this tool depends on the athlete's primary effort: the tool makes the muscles work accordingly. Evnik works the muscles at an advanced pace, and it's a matter of minutes before the movement gets faster and more powerful.
With Evnik sports equipment, it only takes three minutes to receive an incredible load on your hands, torso and legs - that's great! A client of ours stated that in completing “The best hook” technique in three minutes, he realized that he had never received such a load in the usual hour and a half of training!
The Evnik model for children's training can be safely used with children from the age of three, and is the first real sports equipment designed especially for them. It is known that children get tired quickly, but thanks to the ability of the tool to quickly bring the muscles to the desired pace, it is possible to obtain excellent results.
Train and raise future champions, invent unparalleled sports equipment: what is the secret of your success?
To tell the truth it's very simple: if you love something, carry on your work with pleasure. I care a lot about my children, I love to train and observe the development of the body, I love to invent, and that's why I don't see anything special in what I do. My only merit, in my opinion, is to be able to combine everything I love, as in a system.
I have made my body my job, distributing core activities among my family members, including my five-year-olds who are included in marketing.
I was able on my own to understand and explain to my children that a person's happiness is like gold hidden in the bowels of the earth: it reaches those who make great efforts and those who have enough enthusiasm to extract such riches.
I can't be totally sure that all of my children will be happy once they leave the family nest, but I do my best to help them in their adult life, while also taking advantage of the skills learned as a parent. I understand that my happiness is closely linked to the happiness of my wife and children.
In fact, I only deal with one thing: taking care of my family, and that includes several aspects.
Do you have family traditions that you follow and pass on to your children as well?
Today our family is growing rapidly, and right now there is only one tradition: work (laughs). But seriously speaking, we are a young family, and at the moment it is difficult to identify our traditions.
It probably takes some time for some habitual actions to become firmly established and become traditions. Anyway, sport is certainly a tradition by now.
I can assure you that artificially introduced traditions do not survive in our family. Everything we do must be accepted by each member: traditions must mutually reinforce each other, in tune with the growth of the family.
How do you spend your holidays? What role do you play here as a father?
We love to spend the holidays with the family. Usually my older daughters, headed by XNUMX-year-old Selyavira, prepare flans, cakes and various delicacies.
I tend to work a lot in my office, located right in the house, and during the holidays it also happens that I have to work.
I am very pleased when my children come into the office with their pastas for me to taste, and then wait for my verdict. Sometimes I have to ingest dishes that are nothing short of inedible brought by my youngest daughters.
The last of these was a salad with carrot strips, raw dough rolled into a circular shape, and carefully cut slices of raw potato… Under the gaze of my little Khatshepsut I ate almost everything!
How do you spend the weekends?
We like to spend weekends outdoors. My eldest son Rush is 15 and has recently started helping me organize weekends and holidays, which makes me really happy.
We like to barbecue at home and cook shashlik. While my son and I run it out in the garden, the girls help my wife with salads and appetizers. We rarely spend weekends with a close family. We usually also invite our friends and we often meet in 16.
What tips and recommendations would you give to those struggling to become super dads?
First of all, don't be afraid. All information is contained in our DNA: love for children and the will to start a happy family will help you find the best solutions to face the growth process.
Second, learn not to listen to anyone, not even experienced youngsters like me. Follow your instinct.
Remember that up to now there are no absolute recipes in the world for the "perfect growth of children": advice will be useless if there is no paternal love at the base.
To earn the love of all your children, you must also fight for the love of your wife: she is the key to success with children.
Obtain the respect and love of your wife: without her you will go nowhere.
In raising your children, you and your wife should learn to repress your flashes of love: the wise man values ​​moderation above all. Excessive demonstrations of love to your children, as well as being too permissive and forgiving, will not bring any benefit to the growth process.
After the birth of the first child, get busy with the second: your attention will be directed to the newborn, which will improve the psychological development of the first child.
You should have an even number of children. I recommend doing at least four: this will, in my opinion, create a healthy environment for the overall development of children.
Above all, you do not see children as a form of entertainment or a toy. Do not make your child hostage to your fantasies by throwing him into the world of lightheartedness. As I see it, childhood is not the time to rest, but to educate.
Remember that children come into the world to be talented creators. Give your future creators all the strength they need so that one day, when they are building a happy life of their own, they can turn around and thank you. Let us thank you for your very interesting questions and for your interest in the creative process of being a father. I tried to be sincere and as honest as possible.
In conclusion, I would like to tell you what I say to my children every time, and I am glad if anyone will benefit from my words:
“Not everyone is capable of bringing benefits to themselves: this is how we men are, weak. The other can benefit himself and his family. The third is so strong that in addition to itself and its family, it is also able to bring benefits to relatives, friends, and the rest of the environment that surrounds it.
However, there are people whose strength is so great, and whose minds are so sharp, that in addition to worrying about their own lives, they will be able to inspire whole nations with their actions without major problems, change the time of history, and influence the foundations and civilization. Who you become is up to you. Strive to be the strongest. It is on how much strength you build up in your mind and body that the future of all humanity will depend on ”.
Now that you know, before any undertaking, always remember this definition of human strength.
Here is the video of the Saadvakass family at work:
