Becoming a trainer in Thailand

[Lollo]

Hi everyone I'm Lollo, I'm 20 years old from Italy and I'm new on this forum.

2 years ago I stayied in thailand for 3 months, training in singpatong, Phuket.

Now I'm planning to come back in thailand but phuket is too expensive so I will have to change gym and place. (I was thinking about going to pattaya, maybe at petchrungruang, wko or sitpholek). In my gym I always hold pads to other boxers. I really enjoy training other people and think I'm pretty good at.

So is it possible to both training, fighting and holding pads, in a gym that doesn't know you, getting a discount on training? I would really enjoy it so I can stay there long time, and when I'll come back in italy I can make some money out of that.

Hope my English is currect, thank you.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

So is it possible to both training, fighting and holding pads, in a gym that doesn't know you, getting a discount on training? I would really enjoy it so I can stay there long time, and when I'll come back in italy I can make some money out of that.

 

I've never seen someone train and also be paid to be a trainer, and I've seen both Petchruangrung and WKO. The first difficulty would be that pad holders aren't paid a lot of money generally, and tend to work long hours. But the bigger difficulty is that the few times I have seen westerners hold and train these were people who had been with the gym for very long time. They were part of the gym family. This takes a while.

That being said, Master Toddy's in Bangkok does have a trainers program, and I do know that he was looking for trainers at one point for a new gym that he had opened. Maybe contact Emma at Under the Ropes for more on that?

[Lollo]

Ok thank you, so it's as I imagined. I would have some more curiosities about thai trainers:

How they become trainers? Some were fighters at the same gym, some others were trainers at some other gyms. Do they have done a course? Where do these courses take places? I only know Master Toddy that organizes them.

same question about thai krus, how they become teachers? In italy you just have to pay for a low level course that take place in the weekend for maybe 5-6 times, give an exam and magically you are a muay thai kru.

I talked with a thai kru in italy, he told me that the way to become a kru in thailand is so much more difficult, he had to stay im the gym for more than a year I think, and fight at least 5 times for the gym and win 3, then there is the exam. (Something like that)

what do you know about that?

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

I talked with a thai kru in italy, he told me that the way to become a kru in thailand is so much more difficult, he had to stay im the gym for more than a year I think, and fight at least 5 times for the gym and win 3, then there is the exam. (Something like that)

what do you know about that?

 

A few western oriented gyms have Kru (trainer) certification, like Master Toddy's, but 99.999% of trainers in Thailand are not certified, and they aren't called Kru typically. "Kru" just means "teacher" in Thai, it isn't a special title like in other martial arts. It can be used, but in most circumstances it isn't. There are traditions and Kru formalities in older, Boran-type, circumstances, but gyms aren't really like that now, at least in the way that people think. I have no idea what your Italian friend did, but this isn't really the way that most of Thai gyms operate at all.

Trainers are just ex-fighters, or Thai people with passion about the sport. There is nothing formal about it. They are paid a pretty low wage.

[Finn Cartlidge]

The way trainers are hired in Thailand is just people they know I think - if someone opens a gym, they'll know a lot of people inside Muay and will just ask fighters who are near the end or at the end of their career (maybe ended a while ago), but I actually saw a trainer get hired from a facebook post lol. 

I've only seen foreigner padholders/trainers when they own the gym, or they're part of the gym family like Kevin said, so when the gym has a shortage of trainers or maybe they just want to hold for a thai, they will do it. I doubt a foreigner ever gets paid for this... I know Nugget holds pads at Eliteboxing in Thailand, but I don't know the dealo with that.

Personally, there is enough Thai's for a gym to find a padholder and frankly Thai's will be cheaper to pay. 

You could hold pads for a gym but I'd say don't expect anything back.

[Lollo]

Ok thank you very much. So i think I'll try to ask to do it for free, or just for a little discount on my training, just to make some experience. In fact I don't like certifications, I think the practice in thailand would be so much better, so if I stay there long time, when I'll come back home I can be a respected trainer. You think is ok like this? Will they allow me to hold pads?

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

You think is ok like this? Will they allow me to hold pads?

 

This would be highly unusual from what little I've seen. But Thailand is also pretty unexpected. You can always ask.

[Finn Cartlidge]

Depends on the gym and how you're perceived there, if its a small gym and you all get on really well they might appreciate a helping hand. Though I think it also depends on how many padholders are already there, if there's more than enough they probably won't want you to.

Also they'd probably only let you hold for the kids.

[Tyler Byers]

Everyone has pretty much said everything I would have lol. The certification Master Toddy has is pretty much his own thing that prepares people to start their own gyms, it often times gets confused with becoming a "certified trainer" (there is no such thing). He shows those in the course how to create a structured system to teach Muay Thai (much more important in a Western gym), how to hold pads, how to market your program, etc. As Kevin mentioned, the Kru title is nothing special, simply a Thai word.