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A spiritual son of mine, Benjamin Schmitt, got into the ring after only one month of Muay Thai training

and he won his fight even though his Thai opponent had more experience and fights. He truly did fight like a champion with a humble heart, a calm royal respect and the determination of a Siam warrior. “Siam” means “dark skin”, so back in the day they were the best fighters and of course they are from Krabi!

Ben is originally from France. His family started a business here last year and he actually tried Muay Thai at the age of 9 years old. He is 10 years old now and he told his dad, “I do not like Muay Thai and I will not do it anymore.” then I met the family and they discovered I love, I fight and train in Muay Thai from the old ways of the tradition which means … let us have some fun as we learn this amazing sport with honor and respect. Ben got to train with me and I had a blast with him and then he

told his dad he wants to train in Muay Thai again. You see, Muay Thai really depends on who and where you train and the best place to train is the place you have fun at and you feel like family.I took him to the stadium to start to train more because there are young fighters there his age and I wanted him to experience the real deal in Thailand. Now this is even more interesting because Ben does not speak Thai and he can only speak a little English too, and the Thai fighters and trainers only speak Thai. That is what makes Thailand amazing … especially in Muay Thai … if you commit and take the time to be in the culture you can learn anything in the land of smiles - but you have to smile too!

After the stadium trainers had Ben for a couple of weeks, they asked him to fight. They said he could do it. Ben asked me what I think and I told him it was up to him because he is the one getting into the

ring but I did say to train for the fight at least 4 more weeks. IT turns out that Ben is a natural at Muay Thai, he has so much energy and makes me with that I was 10 years old again!

Ben got ready at the stadium for the fight just like all the other Thai fighters. They massaged him as a warm-up and greased him down with Thai oil so he was like a slippery pig. This is a traditional way to get ready for a fight and Ben just accepted everything they did for his pre-fight preparation.

Ben then came out to the ring, he was ready, I was able to pray for him and most Thai fighters pray over 10 times before and during their fights. Ben did the tradition pre-fight ceremony of sealing the ring, wai-khru and then the “ram muay”. This is the showing of respect to Muay Thai teachers and then performing the stadium gym “Muay Thai dance” to show everyone

who trained him. Ben said he was more nervous about the ceremony than he was fighting and I told him to have fun and let the ceremony be your pre-fight warm-up. Ben did a great job and the crowd clapped with approval as he finished his pre-fight ceremony.

Now the fight is on! The first round Ben acted as if he was experienced, he was a champion and actually he really took his time and relaxed. The first round was a good warm up but we saw something that concerned us - his Thai opponent came to fight. It was going to be truly the “real deal” and Ben was going to really reach into his heart and Thai fight.

The second round was 50/50. The Thai fighter got a good flying knee into Ben and it knocked him down, but Ben came right back with a hard kick, clinch and knee strikes. We had seen that the Thai fighter was better on the outside and distance

fighting, so Ben strengths were his close clinch and knee fighting techniques. The same thing went on in the third round. Ben actually hurt his opponent with some strong knees but Ben did not know it and we all were screaming … “go go go Ben … go for the KO … you hurt him!” Ben just stayed humble and did the fight as it came to him.

Round four - traditionally this round is the one to win. If you win this round you have probably won the fight, so both fighters came out hard. The fight was in Ben’s favor because they went right into the clinch and then when his opponent got free, Ben got in some big punches and kicks and then went right back to the clinch. Ben’s opponent was feeling the consistent knee attack, Ben hurt him again but this time kept going and then the referee stepped in and announced Ben as the winner.

There is nothing like this experience. Watching a young man at 10 years old going into a fight in Thailand and fighting at heart levels beyond human understanding. That is the real deal. That is Thai fight. That is what true Muay Thai in Thailand promotes. It really is not about your skill level, it is about you showing your heart and allowing yourself to go to a higher divine level of living. Ben is truly our Ao Nang Muay Thai champ and now his is back in France teaching and training with other young men as “iron sharpens iron”. The biggest thing that I think Ben learned was to be humble, honorable and yet fight with a Siam warrior heart.

Contact me if you want to go to the fights. I will give you a tour of the gym, the stadium and show you how the fighters are getting ready to fight. Plus you can take as many pictures and videos as you want as long as you promise to share them with others.

You can watch Ben’s fight on my YouTube channel at http://youtu.be/v4mzhvoqfjw http://www.youtube.com/user/docThailand

If you want to learn more about Muay Thai or even take a lesson please feel free to contact khru “doc”. docThailand@gmail.com – cell 087-810-2177

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