Muay Thai no longer so popular with Thai kids?

[chiangmaibruce]

My son has a great Muay Thai teacher, extremely patient as well as competent. It's a rough and ready looking facility but provides a great service. Anyway I was speaking to this fellow, Khun Nook, about his other students. I noticed that his younger students seemed to be mostly luuk krung, so I asked him about this. He agreed and commented that increasingly the 100% Thai kids (who were into active recreation rather than net-based games) were turning their backs on Muay Thai and preferred karate or judo etc.

I was just curious as to whether other TV members had noticed this trend, and had any thoughts on the subject.

[MrWorldwide]

Not sure, but do middle-class Thais want their kids in contact sport / martial arts ? Conventional 'wisdom' is that the best MT fighters are the poorest - it's a potential way out of the poverty trap, just like Western boxing in Mexico, Cuba and the PI.

On a lighter note, many of the Youtube warriors seem to have moved on to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Krav Maga - I guess wannabes might as well be as hardcore as possible

[Jingthing]

Yeah I also think of it as a thing for poor kids.

Anyway ...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/10/03/sandra_hoyn_fighting_kids_looks_at_muay_thai_competition_for_young_children.html

[Kudel]

Ever seen Thai boxers after their carreer?Most have serious health problems and former Thai top fighters havent got a dime to show for it because of dodgy managers and contracts.

And those pro MMA guys i think some of those guys have some issues with steriods and need some anger management training.

Better to get youre kids a good education then getting brain damage at an early age.

[InsideOut]

Interesting, would like to hear about this as well

[jaffacakes1]

Ever seen Thai boxers after their carreer?Most have serious health problems and former Thai top fighters havent got a dime to show for it because of dodgy managers and contracts.

And those pro MMA guys i think some of those guys have some issues with steriods and need some anger management training.

Better to get youre kids a good education then getting brain damage at an early age.

It's a good job that Manny Pacquiao's parents didn't wrap him up in cotton wool. $26m for his last fight? MMA will eclipse Boxing in the next few years.

Muay Thai is a sport and not a alternative to education - much better for kids to be spending time after school at the MT gym than on Playstation.

[MrHammer]

Muay Thai is seen as a lower class sport, like boxing in the west. More people train karate, judo etc than boxing in the west too.

[MrWorldwide]

Ever seen Thai boxers after their carreer?Most have serious health problems and former Thai top fighters havent got a dime to show for it because of dodgy managers and contracts.

And those pro MMA guys i think some of those guys have some issues with steriods and need some anger management training.

Better to get youre kids a good education then getting brain damage at an early age.

It's a good job that Manny Pacquiao's parents didn't wrap him up in cotton wool. $26m for his last fight? MMA will eclipse Boxing in the next few years.

Muay Thai is a sport and not a alternative to education - much better for kids to be spending time after school at the MT gym than on Playstation.

For every Pacquiao. how many kids would you estimate never got out of the barrio ? Even 'success stories' like Tyson seem to end up as cautionary tales, and it's hard to find anyone from Ali's era who can still string a sentence together. While I don't completely agree with Kudel's post either, I suspect that the people who do very well from fighters are the managers, promoters and bookmakers. I seem to recall that at least one regular here claims to have spent months in Muay Thai camp - he may be able to give us more insight - but Western boxing has one of the worst reputations of any sport and that isnt likely to improve with internet betting now an industry worth billions.

[aTomsLife]

Ever seen Thai boxers after their carreer?Most have serious health problems and former Thai top fighters havent got a dime to show for it because of dodgy managers and contracts.

And those pro MMA guys i think some of those guys have some issues with steriods and need some anger management training.

Better to get youre kids a good education then getting brain damage at an early age.

It's a good job that Manny Pacquiao's parents didn't wrap him up in cotton wool. $26m for his last fight? MMA will eclipse Boxing in the next few years.

Muay Thai is a sport and not a alternative to education - much better for kids to be spending time after school at the MT gym than on Playstation.

For every Pacquiao. how many kids would you estimate never got out of the barrio ? Even 'success stories' like Tyson seem to end up as cautionary tales, and it's hard to find anyone from Ali's era who can still string a sentence together. While I don't completely agree with Kudel's post either, I suspect that the people who do very well from fighters are the managers, promoters and bookmakers. I seem to recall that at least one regular here claims to have spent months in Muay Thai camp - he may be able to give us more insight - but Western boxing has one of the worst reputations of any sport and that isnt likely to improve with internet betting now an industry worth billions.

While I agree with what you've written, I think it's beyond the scope of the thread. It's my impression, the OP is discussing MT and martial arts in the context of a hobby.

As for your initial question: Even if the kids you refer to never escape the barrio, for every Pacquiao, I suspect there are hundreds and hundreds who stay off drugs and out of gangs thanks to martial arts.

[jaffacakes1]

Ever seen Thai boxers after their carreer?Most have serious health problems and former Thai top fighters havent got a dime to show for it because of dodgy managers and contracts.

And those pro MMA guys i think some of those guys have some issues with steriods and need some anger management training.

Better to get youre kids a good education then getting brain damage at an early age.

It's a good job that Manny Pacquiao's parents didn't wrap him up in cotton wool. $26m for his last fight? MMA will eclipse Boxing in the next few years.

Muay Thai is a sport and not a alternative to education - much better for kids to be spending time after school at the MT gym than on Playstation.

For every Pacquiao. how many kids would you estimate never got out of the barrio ? Even 'success stories' like Tyson seem to end up as cautionary tales, and it's hard to find anyone from Ali's era who can still string a sentence together. While I don't completely agree with Kudel's post either, I suspect that the people who do very well from fighters are the managers, promoters and bookmakers. I seem to recall that at least one regular here claims to have spent months in Muay Thai camp - he may be able to give us more insight - but Western boxing has one of the worst reputations of any sport and that isnt likely to improve with internet betting now an industry worth billions.

Muhammad Ali is 70 years old so any professional boxer from that era may not be the most coherent. I would be more interested in examples of fighters that retired in this millennium that are the cautionary tales.

[chiangmaibruce]

ATomsLife: You're correct. It's interesting how people immediately assumed that those interested in Muay Thai intended making it a career rather than simply a fitness activity.

Assuming popularity in Muay Thai is waning amongst the younger generation, and that may or may not be the case, is it about class consciousness or is it about cultural cringe (i.e. Thai traditional activities, foods, etc are old-fashioned and uncool) ... or might it be a bit of both?

I wouldn't want to extrapolate too much from our limited experience, but the most of Nook's students are from international schools. Might it be that luuk krung kids were drawn to MT to explore their 'Thainess', whilst Thai kids were drawn towards alternative activities by their perceived foreign-ness and/or western cachet.

Edited October 4, 2013 by chiangmaibruce

[krisb]

Muay Thai...pfff...thats so 2012.

[Bender]

to make it simple, there are actually 2 kind of muay thai school.

The first one for the "poor" thai. Usually they start at 6 years old, start training at 6 am, and train hard. Its not really seen as a past time.

All hope to become professional, and make money of it.

Most of parent will not send their child to the "butcher".

The second one for the thai middle class and foreigner. Most start learning late, usually in their teenage age or later, and do it for fun or get some fighting skills.

As a said, most parent are reluctant to send their child, because elbow and knee strike can really harm you. The brain damage are quite important, and they aware of it.

[Mangosteen1]

A English muay thai guy who have been in Thailand for a long time told me that: Thai people cant understand why we westerners so badly want to pay and comes to Thailand to learn muay thai and fight in it. for them its a poor mans thing, actually its a "Job" he said that taekwondo is more popular in Thailand and more people practice it than muay thai.

Ive met many people who practice taekwondo. perhaps its more convenient training times and more of a hobby than a job. no need to wake up 6 am and start jogging.

[AYJAYDEE]

A English muay thai guy who have been in Thailand for a long time told me that: Thai people cant understand why we westerners so badly want to pay and comes to Thailand to learn muay thai and fight in it. for them its a poor mans thing, actually its a "Job" he said that taekwondo is more popular in Thailand and more people practice it than muay thai.

Ive met many people who practice taekwondo. perhaps its more convenient training times and more of a hobby than a job. no need to wake up 6 am and start jogging.

because professional muay thai has been completely corrupted by the gamblers, its image is suffering and it will continue to lose popularity with thai people.

[daoyai]

Seems logical, given the choice of learning to damage, hurt your sporting partner with knees, elbows etc (.MT) or learning to use finess and leverage to score points (Judo). As Thailand evolves, hopefully, the more sophisticated sport will dominate.