Articles
The First Fight
One Student's Path to the Ring
When Chris first arrived at the gym I asked him where he was from. "I'm from Canada and I'm a Tree Planter" was his matter of fact reply which gave me immediate inspiration for his new nickname; "The Yeti". Before I continue, I must explain that everyone who comes to the gym is christened with a nickname. )
Some nicknames prove to be more apt than others, and later on I found out that "The Yeti" was the perfect name because when Chris punched and kicked, he made gruffly grunting type noises to accompany his hard blows.
Now I don't know how diligent Yeti's actually are, but when everyone else was resting, Chris was at the gym. When everyone else slept, he was busy clocking up his weekly 40km; a distance usually attained by running up the local mountain.
A month or two into training at the gym Chris asked what I thought about him fighting in the ring. My answer was a definite "No." and with that the Yeti headed back to some bag-work with a sad look on his face. Despite my blunt reply Chris seemed to change down a gear or two and started to train extremely hard in a bid to show me that he could fight. In my mind, a small seed of possibility suggested that maybe he could do it, maybe he could fight.
During the following four months, the Yeti trained morning, noon and night, as hard as he could. He asked me again: "Will I be able to fight?". This time I asked Chris why he wanted to fight - "Because it's cool and I want to say that I've fought in Muay Thai" was his honest reply. My response was instant - "No." Naturally Chris wanted to know why I'd said no, so I told him that the reasons he had given were not good enough reasons to fight. This time the Yeti got really mad, but before he returned to work on the heavy bag I told him that if he had a better reason to fight then perhaps he could. )
"I will do everything you ask of me" was his response, to which I replied "Just keep training hard and we will see".
A month later and training was progressing very well. Chris's effort and commitment were paying off, his skills and fitness reaching an impressive level. Again he came to me: "Am I going to fight before I return to Canada or not?", and yet again my answer was "Keep training hard and I will let you know when you are ready".
By this point, my strategy was paying off. I wanted to make sure that Chris had reached peak condition, but more than that, I wanted to create an incredibly strong desire inside Chris, taking his mind to the point where he wanted to fight very badly.
)
Finally after six months of training with me, and many discussions starting with "When will you let me fight?", and many answers like "You are not ready", I decided to take Chris to fight for the first time.
In March 2004, Chris "The Yeti" stepped into the ring with full conviction, top endurance and a mind strongly focused to do the best job he could do. The result? Chris "The Yeti" won by first round knockout against a very skilful and strong Thai fighter.
After the fight the Yeti gave his prize money to his Thai opponent. Whilst shaking hands and exchanging respectful smiles, the Thai man gave Chris a Buddhist necklace made of wooden beads.
The team went home having learned something; that the reasons behind our actions are more important than the outcome, win or lose.
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