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Leaving military, onto Thailand?

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cocopuffs Nong

cocopuffs

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I've taken a strong admiration for Muay Thai since I started my training summer of last year. I would love to continue and eventually fight; however, my military schedule just isn't working for me and my personal goals, so I'm getting out the end of this year. At first, I was considering taking my savings and rushing off to Thailand to find a camp and fight --- but I'm a 6'0 female and I doubt many Thai women would be my size anyway lol. Is there any advice on this? I really don't know where to start, but I have a strong compulsion to leave everything behind and start anew, start with doing something I enjoy for the rest of my life. So, is Thailand the best place for me to try and live and train, or are there other locations that would work and give me more options to fight?

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Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu Community Regular

Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu

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I've taken a strong admiration for Muay Thai since I started my training summer of last year. I would love to continue and eventually fight; however, my military schedule just isn't working for me and my personal goals, so I'm getting out the end of this year. At first, I was considering taking my savings and rushing off to Thailand to find a camp and fight --- but I'm a 6'0 female and I doubt many Thai women would be my size anyway lol. Is there any advice on this? I really don't know where to start, but I have a strong compulsion to leave everything behind and start anew, start with doing something I enjoy for the rest of my life. So, is Thailand the best place for me to try and live and train, or are there other locations that would work and give me more options to fight?

 

What is your walk around weight, if you don't mind me asking?

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cocopuffs Nong

cocopuffs

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And how experienced are you? Asking just so I could look around and see how realistic fights might be for you.

You're fine, you can ask anything! I've been training since summer of last year, so I wanna say it's been almost a year I've been at my gym, minus some weeks I was inactive because of out-to-sea periods. I haven't been able to fight yet.

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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu Fellow Traveler

Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

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It's going to be impossible to find Thai women your size to fight, but matches are made with compromises and attempts toward balance all the time. So, if you're okay with fighting someone much smaller than yourself, likely with her getting the experience advantage, then it's a reasonable thing to attempt. I'd recommend Phuket, just because that's the place where I've seen precedent for what obstacles you're facing.

Training-wise, so long as you have a tough skin around being reminded of your remarkable-ness all the time by Thais, it shouldn't be a problem. Very large men make do in gyms all over the place and it's likely that at your size they'd be cool with you training with the men, although you'd have to prepare yourself for being thrown in with very skilled folks when you're not yet at a matching level. There's no other place in the world with better Muay Thai or training than Thailand though.

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cocopuffs Nong

cocopuffs

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It's going to be impossible to find Thai women your size to fight, but matches are made with compromises and attempts toward balance all the time. So, if you're okay with fighting someone much smaller than yourself, likely with her getting the experience advantage, then it's a reasonable thing to attempt. I'd recommend Phuket, just because that's the place where I've seen precedent for what obstacles you're facing.

Training-wise, so long as you have a tough skin around being reminded of your remarkable-ness all the time by Thais, it shouldn't be a problem. Very large men make do in gyms all over the place and it's likely that at your size they'd be cool with you training with the men, although you'd have to prepare yourself for being thrown in with very skilled folks when you're not yet at a matching level. There's no other place in the world with better Muay Thai or training than Thailand though.

 

Sounds like this is gonna be a humbling experience. Thank you for the input, it's very much appreciated! I won't mind the staring and gawking; I think my biggest fear was putting all this effort into training, and never being able to test it in the ring because I'd never find an opponent. I'll research Phuket, thank you again!

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Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu Community Regular

Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu

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Sounds like this is gonna be a humbling experience. Thank you for the input, it's very much appreciated! I won't mind the staring and gawking; I think my biggest fear was putting all this effort into training, and never being able to test it in the ring because I'd never find an opponent. I'll research Phuket, thank you again!

 

We asked Teresa Wintermyr who is at AKA in Phuket and she said that there is a girl there now who is 6'0" and about 80 kg so at least there is one woman your size. She doesn't fight much I think due to opportunity, but at least they have experience with her, which could help.

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cocopuffs Nong

cocopuffs

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We asked Teresa Wintermyr who is at AKA in Phuket and she said that there is a girl there now who is 6'0" and about 80 kg so at least there is one woman your size. She doesn't fight much I think due to opportunity, but at least they have experience with her, which could help.

 

I'm assuming the only way to increase my chances are to cut weight, be willing to fight more experienced females, and come back to the US ready to basically fight at any time? I'm at the point where I'll go where ever, so long as there's opportunity and a chance to grow mentally, if that makes sense.

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Tjthethinkingman Nong

Tjthethinkingman

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I say GO FOR IT! I served 6 years in the military myself so I know how the apprehension of getting out and going back into the civilian world can be, but just remember in life ,you HAVE to take risk! My wife and I had great jobs ,a huge house ,two small kids and we left it all behind to do what we wanted to do in life and trust me,it was the best decision we've made! The area where I live in Thailand has fights every weekend,I don't have a tenth of the experience in Thailand that Sylvia has but from what I've seen in the last 7 months of living here is that, if you WANT TO FIGHT and you're dedicated and won't make the gym look bad, they'll find you fights! Idk if the experience levels will be exactly the same but they will find someone to get in there with you. At the end of the day just trust yourself, decide to LIVE and not just EXIST! Hope this helps,God bless !

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cocopuffs Nong

cocopuffs

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I say GO FOR IT! I served 6 years in the military myself so I know how the apprehension of getting out and going back into the civilian world can be, but just remember in life ,you HAVE to take risk! My wife and I had great jobs ,a huge house ,two small kids and we left it all behind to do what we wanted to do in life and trust me,it was the best decision we've made! The area where I live in Thailand has fights every weekend,I don't have a tenth of the experience in Thailand that Sylvia has but from what I've seen in the last 7 months of living here is that, if you WANT TO FIGHT and you're dedicated and won't make the gym look bad, they'll find you fights! Idk if the experience levels will be exactly the same but they will find someone to get in there with you. At the end of the day just trust yourself, decide to LIVE and not just EXIST! Hope this helps,God bless !

 

Your story sounds amazing! You're absolutely right. I've been looking into several gyms, but I'll mostly hop around for a few weeks or so when I get there. I can't wait, thank you and God bless.

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