Jago

At my gym in Seattle, all of our fighters learn our short Wai Kru before their first fight. We have a longer Ram Muay as well, but rarely ever see/perform it. I asked to learn the full routine, and my kru smiled and said yes. There are not a lot of pure Muay Thai promotions out here in my part of the US (YET!), so a lot of the time you will fight on a kickboxing or mma promotion. In most cases, they don't let you perform anything pre-fight. You get in the ring/cage, touch gloves, bang it out, and leave. There isn't much more to it than that, sadly. Even for the bigger, televised Muay Thai events, they won't usually do a Wai Kru. We had a fighter on Lion Fight 21, and they didn't want to spend the television time on anything besides the walkout and fight. There are some good Muay Thai promotions, and I love those shows. Wai Kru, mongkon, music...everything is on point. We just need more of them!

My wife and I just got back from a short trip to Thailand a few weeks ago, and we trained at Tiger while we were in Phuket. The training was pricy, and from what we saw, you didn't get much help from the trainers during group classes. We were alright working the bags by ourselves, because we've trained and fought in the US, but a lot of others would just stand by their bag awkwardly and throw a few punches. I understand that they should seek out a trainer and ask for help, but for what Tiger is charging, I don't feel that's appropriate. You do get ~3 rounds a class with a trainer, which is nice, but not enough attention for a 2.5-3 hour session. What Tiger does VERY well, is make the transition to training in Thailand as painless as possible for foreigners. They offer food, accommodation, and training all on site. Everything is translated for you, and most everyone speaks English. If you're nervous about leaving your country to train somewhere new, Tiger's got your back (and wallet).

Very cool! Best of luck, Gavin!! If you have questions, or need support, this is definitely the place to find it. Looking forward to following your progress.