February 2014

In my first year spent training at Kiatphontip Gym in Bangkok, I became acquainted with two young western fighters. By young, I mean under 10 years old. They were both English boys, chaperoned by their fathers. The boys quickly adjusted to camp life despite the cultural differences and language barriers. They trained most sessions, played with the camp babies, and were recruited as minions-in-mischief by the young teenage Thai boys.

It wasn't until I came to Tiger Muay Thai last week that I witnessed a young western girl training Muay Thai. I saw her one day doing a private lesson after my own group session ended. Her name is Ellie Ali, and she's a 9-year-old English girl dressed in stylish Muay Thai shorts and a black sports top. This is her second of three weeks training at Tiger in Phuket.

From the sidelines, her mother Leanne watches Ellie hitting pads with a tattooed Tiger trainer. "She likes working with him in particular," Leanne says, "because he's one of the smaller trainers here, more her size."

Leanne tells me she would be training alongside her daughter, but she's due to deliver her second child in just a few months. Ellie grew up with two Muay Thai-loving parents, so trying her family's chosen sport was natural.

"I wanted her to try it because she's a bit shy," her mother tells me, "and it's worked. She's a different child in the ring. I was scared when she had her first interclub fight, though. So scared I can't even explain, but now I'm glad she fights. Everyone in the family knows how much she loves it, and everyone is behind her a hundred percent."

Ellie looks back during the middle of a round to see who her mother is talking to. She quickly determines I am of little interest, and refocuses on the training at hand. She's serious when she trains, and never do I hear her whine or complain.

Leanne gazes on with a proud smile, telling me how Muay Thai has benefitted Ellie. "It's given her goals and structure. She's quite the little teacher too—I've been told that on multiple occasions at school, Ellie has been seen teaching Muay Thai moves to lines of children in the playground."

She began training last year when she was 8, the same age as many of my adult Nak Muay friends. There's a reason Thai fighters are so damn good compared to Westerners—they start as children, and they have consistent access to training and competition over the years. They live in a fight culture, and it becomes not a side hobby but the main pillar of their lives. This 9-year-old English girl hitting pads on her family's vacation in Phuket could join the ranks of champion fighters like Iman Barlow and other top female contenders immersed in Muay Thai since childhood, despite living outside Thailand.

"She always tells me she wants to be a world champion when she grows up," Leanne says. "A world champion, and also a veterinarian."

April 2014

Two months later, I happen to meet Ellie's friend Aaliyah (another young Western girl) at Phuket's Singpatong Gym. She's training alongside 20 other young fighters, the only western child amid her Thai boxing brothers.

Aaliyah is only 6 years old, but this kid knows what she's doing. I take a seat next to her parents and watch her hit pads with the gym's lead trainer Num. I'm amazed at her coordination and focus. She stands southpaw even though she's right-handed. According to her father, her Thai trainer in England started her southpaw right from the beginning, saying she was young enough to make the adjustment easily.

Aaliyah clocks about four sessions per week at Kiatphontip Gym UK under the guidance of master trainer Jompop, whose sister Tar runs the Bangkok branch of Kiatphontip along with her English husband Rob Cox. Both the Bangkok and UK branches are known for breeding top fighters. When talented Thai trainers like Jompop work with western fighters as young as Aaliyah, they're not only raising the standard for Muay Thai internationally, but also bringing it to a new level in their home country as well. Worthy contenders from abroad will only strengthen the sport domestically.

"Has she had any fights yet?" I ask her parents, half-jokingly.

"Oh yeah," her father says, "she's already competed 27 times since starting Muay Thai two years ago, mostly interclub bouts, and only two or three of those were against other girls."

My jaw drops. I don't care if they're “interclubs.” Twenty-seven matches at six years old? Her volume of fights against boys reminds me of the already legendary Thai fighter Phetjee Jaa, a young girl known for fighting (and regularly beating) boys.

Her mother is a little less enthusiastic. "I'm glad she trains," she admits, "but I'm not so keen on her fighting. They can't hit above the neck until they're 15, but I still don't like to see her fight."

"In this day and age, though," her father adds, "I'd feel a lot better if my daughter knows how to fight."

After pads with Num, Aaliyah is paired up with a Thai boy for sparring. They quietly put on shinpads, appearing to be all business. Once the sparring begins, however, their childlike playfulness slips out. Back in England, most of her friends are boys from her gym. Nearly all of her female friends, like Ellie, are fighters too.

Muay Thai makes up Aaliyah's life outside the gym too. "She loves it so much that she wears old pairs of shorts to bed," her father laughs. "And the only way we could convince her to wear a dress to our wedding was to let her wear Muay Thai shorts underneath."

I imagine she's having the time of her young life on this current trip to Thailand. She's allowed to train twice each day for their two weeks here, sparring and clinching with all these fun new Thai kids just slightly older than she is. When not at the gym, she's playing on the beach with her family and doing all the fun touristy stuff Phuket is famous for. My typical childhood vacations were spent playing arcade games in Las Vegas while my mom played slot machines and my dad played chess. This family's holiday craps all over that. Kid, you're making me jealous.

I ask Aaliyah's parents how they'd feel if she wanted to move to Thailand permanently once she hits her late teens. Her parents both claim they would support that decision, though her mother seems a little more hesitant.

Most serious western fighters who want to be immersed in Thailand's fight culture have to wait until they're old enough move themselves, and often without the financial or even moral support of their families. But these girls' families provide every avenue for their daughters' Muay Thai development. The parents are willing to invest the time and money, and the daughters are more than willing to train and step into the ring.

There's another side to this: the difference between Muay Thai's status in Thailand vs. abroad. The vast majority of child fighters in Thailand come from poor families. Fighting is their livelihood. Some of them may truly love it—most of the boys I meet tell me how much they love fighting—but there's no doubt it's a sport for poor children, dictated primarily by monetary gain. Ellie and Aaliyah were born in a country where fighting is a rare career choice, Muay Thai training is an expensive privilege, and child fighters are a curious anomaly, not an essential contribution to a family's income.

The girls' love of the sport is obvious even at such a young age. Unlike their Thai counterparts, there's no financial incentive to fight, no cultural pressure. The support of their families and their own passion for Muay Thai is all they have to carry them through their long journeys to become champions.

"So," I ask Aaliyah's father, "you think this'll be a lifelong love for her?"

"I hope so," he laughs. "I've already put a lot of money into it."

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