the misadventures of

How it should be.

Pictures at Cool Hearts Muay Thai

I absolutely do not update this thing as much as I should/want to. So Im gonna start picking it up a bit. A couple weeks ago I went to watch Kru Rigel Balsamico and Justin Greskiewicz fight, Both had amazing TKO’s and boosted the name of Cool hearts muay thai to another level. You dont see too many Kru that still fight and it was amazing to watch, very exciting. Heres a couple pictures of the fights themselves. Just a warning, the camera on my phone is AWFUL and doesnt pick up things that move so in order to have your picture taken you have to stand perfectly still for 15 minutes as if you are a civil war general.

I want to start off by saying I have never had any particular interest in BJJ (No offense to any of my friends). I just didn’t have much interest in any form of grappling at all. Yet I work at Maxercise, which has a very strong and rich history in Jiu Jitsu, almost every other BJJ school in the area came from ours.

Saturday was an in house tournament and I volunteered to help out, and they stuck me at a judges table. Let me just say that I have neither seen competitive BJJ, been to any BJJ tournaments, or even knew whatsoever how the scoring system worked. I was thrown under the bus so to speak. Throughout the course of the day I kinda figured things out, and discovered a new found respect for the art. Its much deeper and complicated than I first thought.

So I decided that since I have the resources I should give Jiu Jitsu a try. Today was my first class, we worked on passing and I stayed after to roll around with a couple people. The cardio is something entirely different then it would be for Muay Thai, I was finding myself getting pretty tired while rolling. My muscles are all achy as I type this. It was definitely very engaging and I am absolutely going to pursue it, maybe not as frequently as I do Muay Thai but I definitely give the art full respect in all regards.

Every practitioner of Muay Thai knows that it is a dangerous sport. I myself have broken my nose on several occasions, broken foot bones, and permanently damaged my knees and elbows. Never have I ever felt actual danger when in the ring or on the mat though, and absolutely never in my lifetime would I have imagined anyone could be fatally injured in the ring. Monday, July 26th Adrienne Simmons passed due to her injuries sustained during the IKF Kickboxing Tournament over the weekend. This is a very tragic event, but just keep in mind thats what it was and learn from it. Here is a bit of the email that I received this morning that I feel was the most important and meaningful.

“She was a dedicated Nak Muay Ying; she took the silver medal in this tournament in 2008; and she had the heart of a lion and wouldn’t quit. It is important for people to understand that Muay Thai as a sport is not barbaric, and does not readily put lives at danger. All who compete and love the sport understand the risks and take them willingly in order to attain something from this sport that nothing else can give them. Chike, Adrienne’s boyfriend, commented on WFTV that Adrienne fought because, “she wanted to feel stronger, because in past she hadn’t felt so strong.” The sport of Muay Thai inspires so many to be better people and to learn about themselves. Anyone who has any experience in the Muay Thai community knows that Muay Thai is not meant to kill or maim. Muay Thai is meant to express beauty and dedication, for self-actualization. So many people take so much from this sport it would be unfair to label it based on the terrible events of the World Classic Weekend. The risks are known, and we will keep fighting. We will always remember Adrienne Simmons and we will learn from her. Remember MMA fighters, Judokas, Jiu-jitsu fighters, Nak Muays and Nak Muay Yings…when you are broken and beaten, when you feel like quitting, you remember not only Adrienne Simmons’ courage, but every champion’s courage who paid the ultimate price in the ring for us to learn from. Adrienne would never have quit and for all those who enter the ring, or the cage, honor her memory by behaving the same. Never give up, and always learn.”

Joe Miller - WFighter.com