Sunday, October 30, 2016

YMT at New Energy Demo Bouts



Thank you to New Energy Muay Thai for having us last night! We had 9 fighters on the card, making for the biggest team we have had in a long time. Each bout provided valuable experience for our athletes and we are grateful for the opportunities. York Muay Thai showed up in force to support their athletes and it was beautiful to see.

Great job to Rafa, Sahila, Carmen, Shan, Fritz, Peter, Misha, Alex and Kassim!

Special shout out to PCP for being a fighter warm up machine!

Check out some more photos here:
https://goo.gl/photos/GdisiB9HGS4uCDBD9




Halloween Party winners!

Check out some shots from our Halloween party below! The winner of the adult costume contest and 1 free month of training goes to Shalini (and Pc Patrick)! The winning pumpkin and 1 free month of training goes to Carmen and Jenny!






Saturday, October 22, 2016

Sparring at TKMT Downtown


Thank you to the TKMT Downtown crew for inviting us over to spar! We had a great time working with you. See you at the next one!


Saturday, October 15, 2016

Kassim repping at Kalsamrit

Shout outs to Kassim on his demo fight at Kalsamrit Gym in Bowmanville!  He stayed true to his training and showed a lot of class. Way to rep in your first bout with YMT!  On to the next!




Thank You Southside Muay Thai!



Huge thanks to our friends at Southside Muay Thai in Scarborough for having us over to spar this past Wednesday. It was a great experience. Our current roster of fighters are the new generation, and the opportunity to work with you has helped open their eyes and given them renewed focus. We can't wait for the next sparring date :)


Mom, Dad and Me (Kids) class keeping the energy high!


Just a few snaps from our Mom, Dad and Me class!  Every Saturday at 10:15 am, parents can train for FREE along side their children! There is always more than one instructor and assistants to get everyone the training they need. We were the first to offer this type of class for Family Muay Thai in 2010, and proud to continue delivering it to the North York community :)

This is one of the class finishers we like to do, where each child and parent takes turns choosing an exercise for the group to do. 



Friday, October 7, 2016

Thanksgiving Closure:

CLOSED SUN OCT 9 AND MON OCT 10

Saturday, October 1, 2016

PCP's Movie Pick of the Month for September: The Hammer (2007)

Sorry for the late September movie pick, it's been a hectic month for me. I know it's October 1, but I picked this movie several weeks ago so I'm calling it September's pick.

The Hammer (2008)

"They say you should never let go of your dreams. But if your dream is to be a Mouseketeer, and you're 45, you may want to let that one go. On the other hand, if your dream is to be a Wal-Mart greeter, you can hang on to that baby until like a year after you die." - Jerry Ferro



Boxing movies tend to be either intense character studies of real people like Raging Bull or Ali, or motivational under-dog stories like the Rocky movies or Cinderella Man. There have been a few boxing comedies like Diggstown and Grudge Match, but they mostly miss the mark if you ask me (Don't even get me started on the Barbara Streisand boxing comedy The Main Event). MMA has Here Comes the Boom as it's best comedy (and best overall movie actually, but with competition like Never Back Down, that's not saying a ton). Muay Thai has very little in the way of comedies, so I'm sticking with boxing examples for the moment. For my money, this month's movie pick, The Hammer, sits as the one of the best boxing comedies in recent memory.


 Jerry Ferro (Adam Carolla) used to be a decent amateur boxer as a teenager. He made it all the way to the gold medal match of the California Golden Gloves, but then he no-showed, giving his opponent the win by default. A decade later he's washed up, out of shape and scraping by working as carpenter. He still involved with boxing though, teaching beginner boxing classes at a local fitness gym. After getting fired from his job and losing his girlfriend on his 40th birthday, things seem like they can't get any worse for Jerry. But then, after knocking down a visiting high level pro-boxer in sparring, he is suddenly noticed by an Olympic boxing coach and is asked to try out for team USA. The prospect of making right on his past  motivates Jerry to get back in shape and get back in to training. In the process he experiences some competitive animosity from Robert, the other much younger fighter in his weight class, which leads to some amusing moments. At the same time he becomes involved with one of his students (Heather Jurgensen), with some awkward dates and funny dialogue. It's light, motivational, and fun. Also, the fight scenes are pretty convincingly choreographed, which is something I can be picky/snobby about. It's what ruined Southpaw for me.



The Hammer's message, standing in stark contrast to other movie's that I've picked (most notably The Wrestler), is simple. Don't give up on something if it's really important to you, and it's never too late to try. A homegrown example of somebody who didn't give up and tried despite his age would be Robin Hutchins, YMT's oldest fighter. Robin was 42 when they announced his name and he went over the top ropes into his first Muay Thai fight in 2012. And if you ask anybody who was there, they'll tell you that he had a war. I've always respected him for that. Trying out for the Olyimpics at 40 might be an extreme example, but Hell, people have even done that successfully. There are many real-life examples of immensely successful musicians, actors, athletes or entrepreneurs who started late or took a long time to achieve success. It's never to late to just try.

I could only find one trailer for this movie on YouTube, and I'm not posting it out of principle because it's edited really poorly and kills the comedic timing of most of the jokes. Seriously, it makes the movie look really bad. It's also not on Netflix, so you'll have to find it somewhere else if you want to see it.