OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE NUS MUAY THAI TEAM! (PART 1)
Excitement rages through us as we venture out to the Nus Muay Thai team training!
First up, we met the people who were in charge! Namely, the president and the coach.
THE PRESIDENT. Kim Khai Ching (affectionately known as Khai by the other members)
THE COACH. Heavily tattooed strong arms.. o.O
Unfortunately, we weren't able to interview him due to his tight training schedule :(
Next, we observed the preparation for the training and the training session itself! Managed to take some pictures, talk to some of the members and conduct interviews!
Here's the team preparing for training! They are wrapping their hands with rope to protect their knuckles.
Funfact! In 18th century Thailand, in grudge matches between particularly keen rivals, the hands of fighters were bound with glue-soaked cotton or hemp and then dipped in ground glass to inflict further injury! OUCH.
Then we caught the beginner's group in their series of warming-up exercises. "Lift your knees higher!", said the Coach.
Here's where all the ACTIONS are!
Then we got to see some real contact sparring in action!
Although they were just training, it gave us a first-hand look at a Muay Thai fight. Watching them practice sparring made us realise that one of the keys to a good fighter is agility.
Okay our post ends here! This is just a glimpse into a training session of the NUS Muay Thai team. If you want to know more, you gotta watch out for the second part of our meet with the team! We will post up our interviews with a variety of people next and its surely gonna be an interesting read! Stay tuned!
Sorry for the countless exclamation marks, Boon Ee & Izzah
* my stories -8:29 PM
THE ORIGINS
Have anyone ever thought about the origins of Muay Thai and how it came about ? I was actually quite amazed by how Muay Thai came about. The origins of Muay Thai is actually entwined with all the history of Thailand and the way people used to fight in battlefield. Initially i thought it was only a sport that was invented by Thailand. haha .. This shows how shallow my knowledge about Muay Thai! =/ Before i went to looked up on the origins of Muay Thai, i used to think that its just a sport that is not widespread and popular. BUT ..... i was wrong! Muay Thai is actually very popular. It is not only popular in Southeast Asia countries but also in European countries such as German, USA and austria. It is actually known to the world and people usually link Thailand and Muay Thai together. In the past, in Thailand, Thai boxing was actually a part of school activities until circa late 1930s when the schools decided to remove it as it was dangerous and proned to cause injuries. In the very early stage of Muay Thai, the boxers do not wear any protective guards to guard themselves until the death of a Muay Thai boxer in the late 1920s that made it a rule to wear guards to protect themselves.. *xiaokai! =D p/s [[credits: http://www.horizonmuaythai.com/history.html#muay_thai_origins http://www.martialartsphuket.com/new/muaythaihistory.htm ]
