Muay Thai in America

During the past week, two important birthdays took place.  One, on 6 April, was for Healer Sis, which brought back memories of 2009, when we celebrated her birthday here.  The second, on 9 April, was for my "Baby," #2 son, Big S, father to Princess Butterfly.  He just turned 43.  Big gulp here. 

Via the wonders of Skype, for which I eternally give thanks, I was able to speak to him.  He has been extremely busy these past months.  It sounds as if 2010 may be a breakthrough year for him.  Keeping fingers very crossed here and lighting candles to all the Powers That Be ... !

His most recent project, which looks to balloon into something major, given the rising popularity of this sport, has been filming the event "Muay Thai in America."   The event was held last Saturday evening, 3 April, in Santa Monica, California before a sell-out crowd.  Trailers for some of the videos shown at the event can be found here.  Here is Big S at work.

Of course, Unenlightened Mom didn't have a clue what muay thai is and first heard the phrase as "moy toy."  Yes, the hearing is going too, I'm afraid.   Many heartfelt thanks to Google for helping with the enlightenment.  It turns out that the phrase is pronounced more like "mwee tie" (the thai pronounced like the "thai" in Thailand).  No surprises there.   Muay thai is the national sport of Thailand and is also known as Thai Boxing.   It is a martial art that is similar to other Indochinese styles of kickboxing.  The word muay derives from the Sanskrit mavya.  Muay Thai is referred to as the "Art of Eight Limbs" or the "Science Of Eight Limbs" because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight "points of contact", as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (hands and feet) used in sport-oriented martial arts.

This sport has ancient origins, some dating back over 2000 years.  It was originally used in warfare as a practical fighting technique for soldiers once they could no longer use their weapons, either because the weapons had been lost or damaged or were no longer effective.  It also developed as a competitive event for spectators to watch as entertainment.  In 19th-century Thailand, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (son of the King described in "The King and I"), muay thai functioned as a means of physical exercise, self-defense, recreation, and personal advancement.  King Chulalongkorn took a personal interest in advancing the sport as an art.  Later kings codified rules.  Fighters were originally bare-fisted, but later began to wear lengths of hemp rope around their wrists and forearms.  This technique was used until there was a death in the ring, after which time it was decided that fighters should wear gloves and cotton coverlets over the feet and ankles.

The 3 April event was described by one attendee, a devotee of the sport, as "by far the best Muay Thai production any of our team had attended in the US.  It was an authentic, exciting and classy tribute to Muay Thai – overall, a well-crafted introduction for Americans ... ."   Of course, as a Proud Mom, my favorite part of the review was this sentence: "A top-notch TV crew filmed the entire event, and each match was preceded by inspiring video interviews of the upcoming nak muay (practitioners)."   Along with the live filming of the event, Big S had also filmed at least some of the "inspiring" video interviews.

The event was also the launch for a search for contenders for an upcoming reality TV show "Muay Thai in America" to be sponsored by the International Muay Thai Federation (IMTF) and Atma'sphere Entertainment.  It appears that Big S will be involved with filming that same reality show and that there are other promising opportunities in the works.  Great balls o'fire!