Mike & Matthew - budding Muay Thai champions of Remuera !

Speed, power, balance !
Mike sparring with Nut

And look at that power !
Matthew sparring with Kob.

I have been thinking about what last topics I want to capture as we will leave Koh Phangan in less than 2 weeks now - we will be back in NZ in about 3 weeks.  I know once we get back to NZ anything left un-blogged will remain un-blogged !

One of these things is Muay Thai.  Not that I feel particularly qualified to say much about it as this has been Mike's gig.   However it has been a significant feature of our family stay here and I feel my musings wouldn't be complete without something on it.  So this is my take on Muay Thai, from listening, watching at the gym and some Q&A with Mike.

The ring, with the gym on the right.

Mike has been regularly going to Kobra Muay Thai (sometimes they call them gyms, sometimes camps).  Well before leaving NZ he had identified that this was something he wanted to use this time for - combining a uniquely Thai experience and a new skill, with fitness and weightloss.

Muay Thai is the traditional boxing of Thailand.  It means 'The Art of Eight Limbs' because there are 8 possible parts of contact (rather than just one i.e. fists).  To watch it appears to be the only form of boxing which virtually has no rules - you can use head, fists, elbows, legs, feet and knees.  As far as we know the only thing you can't do is knee/kick in the balls, but anything else goes !  There is very little of the protective gear that you would see with any sort of boxing in Western countries

Not long after arriving here, Mike (with me in tow) drove around to check out 3 or 4 of the local Muay Thai gyms and their offerings.  Most concentrate on group training sessions and you pay a weekly or monthly fee, regardless of how often you go.  However Kobra, which also happened to be the closest to us, had a more personal offering which was one-on-one training and a pay-as-you-go system.  Surprisingly the fees were probably about the same wherever you went - it is 300B for 1.5 hours (i.e. about $12NZD) - great value for one-on-one.  

Shub ! Shub !

Mike goes along about 4 or 5 times a week, when he has been here, and is not injured (he has had a couple of weeks away with 2 work trips to Sydney and Singapore).  He trains with Kob who is the gym owner and was, in his day, a champion fighter - he is now also in his 40s.  Or if not Kob, then one of the 3 young (20-ish) Thai guys who live, work and train at the gym - this is the traditional way these places have worked - hence called a 'camp'. 

Kobra Camp

The training session starts with about half an hour of fitness (a run, or skipping, jumping on tyres), then some stretching in which the trainer helps (sometimes too much - Mike was injured the other day by one of the young trainers pulling his leg up too high).  They then have their hands strapped and move onto shadow boxing and after that sparring. 

Matthew being stretched by Nut

And hands taped.

Every so often they take a break for a drink of water and the trainer will give a rub down with a cold wet cloth and a bit of a massage.  Mike does press ups at various intervals and usually finishes up with sit-ups.  Right now he has just walked in hot, sweaty and exhausted !  He also usually has to walk or run to the Muay Thai gym and back as I have the car to take the kids to school and to get to my yoga, which is much further away.  

A cool down and stretch in between bouts.

There is quite a bit of a sense of community around the gym, especially on a fight-night.  Mike has enjoyed the interaction with the local guys and also the longer term Farang trainees.

Fight Night line up.

The young guys who work at the gym, and some of the better/younger Farangs will also take part in a fight every so often (Mike hasn't been invited yet!).  There is an organized Muay Thai fight night on Koh Phanagan about every 3 or 4 weeks, with different gyms taking turns to host it and the fighters being put forward by the various gyms also.  In the couple of days preceding the fights, trucks drive up around the island advertising the fight line up -  probably 5 or 6 fights on one evening, including some between women, and also kids as young as 8 or 9 years.

Mike has been along to a couple of these nights and really enjoyed them - being there with a bunch of people he has met at the gym, knowing one or two of the guys fighting, seeing their pre-fight intensity and focus, cheering loudly for them along with the crowd of 200 or so, soaking up the atmosphere and observing the bets being taken.  

One of these was on Samui, and just happened to be on a night when we were there before Matthew's birthday.  Samui is a 'bigger deal' as far as fights are concerned - more money, prestige etc, and then Bangkok is the big centre.  Mike was there at the Samui stadium with Kob, the fighter and one other and enjoyed the close association with the team and being right in the corner by the ring with the water bucket, liniment, and sweat.

One of the aspects of these nights that he has really appreciated, and didn't anticipate, is the ceremonial commencement of each fight.  There is wai-ing, prayers, blessing of each corner of the ring and a ritual dance that each of the fighters perform.  It displays respect for the history of the sport and the danger involved.

Go Matthew !

Matthew has also been along to Kobra and had trained about half a dozen times since we have been here.  He is really enjoying it too.  I can tell because he comes home constantly practicing his kicks and punches on anything that looks like a good target.    Annabelle and Matthew are both very interested in Mike's tales of the fight nights.  We have made the decision not to take them to a fight, as it is so very violent and the crowd encouraging this behavior is not something we want to really expose them to (and they start at 9.30pm and finish after midnight).  They have seen a little on TV however.  It is a fine line, given Muay Thai is so much part of the culture, also with Mike's involvement, and that some of the kids at school go to them.  However, I suspect Matthew's curiosity has been piqued enough that he will revisit it at some point later in his life.  He is looking forward to practicing some of his moves on his cousins when we get home!

After 2 months here and his committment to Muay Thai, Mike has definitely acquired some new skills, some weightloss and increased fitness.  He has also learned that there is a gym in Mt Eden, Auckland which holds Muay Thai sessions - so maybe he will continue with it!

We are about to re-watch the film 'Beautiful Boxer' written by Desmond Sim (the brother of our lovely friend Philamae) which will be great cultural context, especially when we get the subtitles working.

Lastly, a few more pictures (with thanks to Mike for allowing me to publish!):

Knee...

Fists...

Legs...

Like that, Kob ?

Shadow boxing !