Thank you to the YMT family for the beautiful gift basket in honour of Nai Khanom Tom day. Very special thanks to Imtiaz for organizing and speaking on behalf of the students to the rest of the community!
Shout outs to Marcus "120" Persaud on his first demo fighting out of YMT. In the short time he has been with us, he has proven to be a hard worker, receptive student and a humble martial artist. He had a very hard match which he pushed through, and showed us his heart. We are happy with the progress he has made and excited to use this demo's experience as a launching pad for more growth.
“No matter where I go, I know where I came from”- Jennifer Lopez, from the block.
A big part of traditional martial arts culture is paying respects to your teacher. In Muay Thai, we are reminded of this every time there are fights. Traditional schools will have their fighters learn and perform the Wai Kru Ram Muay: a dance which pays tribute to one’s spiritual beliefs, hometown, family, and most importantly their teachers. It’s a ritual that you don’t see in a lot of martial arts, let alone ring sports. Fight culture is often perceived as being all bravado and brutality...It’s not often associated with a sense of respectful meditation. Most people who aren’t accustomed to the Wai Kru Ram Muay are confused at first, but then become appreciative of the values it embodies once they learn more.
In fact, as the legend goes,Thai warrior Nai Khanom Tom had bewildered his Burmese captors with his own Wai Kru Ram Muay back in the 1700’s. When the Burmese sacked the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, they took many prisoners including this man. In the celebration of their victory, the Burmese King pitted Nai Khanom Tom against his own warrior in hand to hand combat for sport. Nai Khanom Tom first performed the Wai Kru, then proceeded to defeat his opponent handily. The Burmese had felt the Wai Kru was an unfair advantage, claiming it had distracted their warrior...so they proceeded to pit 9 more opponents against Nai Khanom Tom. In the end, he defeated all of them. The Burmese king was so impressed by this feat, he granted Nai Khanom Tom his freedom. It was seen not only as a victory for him, but a victory for the art of Muay Thai.
Today (March 17) is Nai Khanom Tom day. We reflect and pay our respects to this man, and all those who have helped pass on his legacy: Muay Thai.
When I think about this legend, and the significance of the Wai Kru, it becomes clear to me why this culture has persisted for so many years...even through to non Thai students like myself. We honour the brave spirit that it took for Nai Khanom Tom to be victorious. For if he had failed or given up, we would not have what we have today.
The Wai Kru honours this same spirit. Our teachers, who sacrifice so much of what they have to pass on their knowledge of the art, are worthy of our respect. They are also incredible motivation for us...knowing that someone has put so much of their energy and faith into you is a powerful thing.
So on this day, I’d also like to honour my Krus. In the fight game circle, you may see a lot of “dick measuring” and ego. People are often busy talking trash about everyone else’s credentials, experience and knowledge. What they don’t see is that a real Kru puts the needs of their students first. A real Kru finds the best opportunities possible for their students to grow, even if it means sleep lost or nights hungry. A real Kru channels that same determination that Nai Khanom Tom had into building other people. It’s been 9 years that I’ve trained under Kru Jen to date. In those 9 years, we’ve seen a lot of hard times, but at the end of the day she’s proven to be a real Kru. Of course, we can’t forget that she has been training for over 15 years, and was a professional champion. This isn’t about that though. This is about how we have built the best version of our gym to date, and we are only going to keep getting better...but that couldn’t happen without her sticking with it through the harshest of times. That couldn’t happen without her putting me first, putting her fighters first, putting her gym first….and now (with MuayThai Ontario), putting the sport first.
I see the costs. The amount of work, especially with trying to balance the needs of the government and the needs of the community to get Muay Thai full recognition is incredible. Add that to being a mother to a newborn. Add that to being a business owner and manager. Add that to training fighters and instructors. Yet she’s doing it. She’s still in the gym, running classes and putting our needs first. Don’t get me wrong, we have a fantastic team helping out. But we wouldn’t be anywhere, nor nearly as unified, without her leading us.
So, Khup Khun Khup Kru Jen. Happy Nai Khanom Tom Day.
There are also some other Krus/ instructors I have to thank:
PC Lindor, PC Patrick and PC David,
PC Constantine, Kru Nick, Kru Jay, Kru Kosta, PC Natalie, Tanachon Yingwitiyakun, Kru Mikey, Kru Miami, Kru Clifton, and of course Ajahn Suchart. All of these people have helped me in some way during my Muay Thai journey, without asking for anything in return.
I’d like to invite you to take a moment, and think about all of those who have helped you too.
Congrats to our own Shanks for winning at Destiny Fight Night! It was a very hard fight. Shanks managed to fight stronger in the 3rd round with clinch knees, which helped sway a decision his way in such super close match.
The kind of grit both fighters needed to finish the fight is the best experience they could have gotten from it. Great job to them for putting on a show.
Thank you to all the of the Krus, PC's and students who helped during training camp and came out to support!
Lastly, a thanks to Destiny Fight productions for having us and Muay Thai Ontario for sanctioning the event. The main card was phenomenal.
My apologies for not posting a movie pick for February, it was kind of a hectic month for me with moving and work related stuff, but don't worry, I've got a good one for you this month. This one about the shear willpower and determination that an ordinary person is capable of when placed in an extraordinary situation.
127 Hours (2010)
" Don't lose it. Aron, do not lose it." -Aron Ralson
127 Hours is
director Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Aron Ralston’s book, Between
a Rock and a Hard Place. It tells the real-life story of that fateful week in 2003 when Ralston got trapped in a Utah Canyon for *spoiler alert* 127 hours, and the lengths that he went to in order to survive.
In the film, 127 Hours, Ralston is portrayed by James Franco in what I would argue is the best performance of his career, earning him a best actor Academy Award nomination. He takes up the majority of the screen time but still manages to craft Ralston into an engaging character; a reckless, carefree adventure seeker who is forced to confront his mortality, frequently in closeup while recording the entire ordeal with a video camera, essentially including the audience in his experience. We witness him going through several stages, and see the effects on his mental state as the situation gets more desperate, supplies start running low, and exhaustion and delerium start to set in. Now, for those of you who haven't seen this movie, you've probably heard of it or at least have a passing knowledge of Ralston's story. It has somewhat of a negative reputation for one extremely graphic scene (which in all fairness only lasts for about 2 minutes of it's 94 minute run-time), but there's way more to it than that. 127 Hours is challenging to watch but ultimately uplifting if you can make it through. It is a harrowing depiction of the willpower and determination that one man found when he dug deep down in his soul and saw what he was made of.
This movie had me consider several things. With some of the other movies that I've picked, I have been able to draw parallels between themes mental toughness as it pertains to fighting, something that we as Muay Thai students have the option of engaging in. But 127 Hours presents a situation in which a regular guy who had no idea what he was going to go through when he woke up that morning. So I ask you to consider this. Would you do what it takes to survive? Hard question to answer. It is easy to say what you would and wouldn't do in Ralston's position but it is impossible to know for sure what would happen if it was happening to you. Similar to a fight that you are watching from the crowd, the armchair critics can run their mouths and talk trash, but when it comes right down to it, they don't actually know. It's different when it's you, and only those who have been through it can know.
127 Hours is not on Netflix, sorry, but I still encourage you to sit through it if you can find it. Also, Aron Ralston's book Between a Rock and a Hard Place is available at the YMT library.
Just Announced for Destiny Fight Productions at the Woodbine Racetrack, Saturday March 12!
"UNDERCARD MATCH
Shashaank Sreenivasan of YORK Muay Thai takes on Quentin Kelly of Simcoe Martial Arts in a C class Clash!! Both fighters are ready to put on a show March 12!!!!"
