# younggest muay thai player in championship



## grado (Nov 18, 2009)

THREE Penrith teenagers are looking forward to making their debut at the World Muay Thai Championships in Bangkok this month.

Cranebrooks Glen Purvis, 14, and Christina Jurjevic, 16, will join Rhyse Saliba, 17, of Glenmore Park, in representing Australia for the November 26-December 5 championships.






oop, really young !!


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## Jimi (Nov 18, 2009)

Look at the age of Muay Thai Fighters in Bangkok. 12 year olds train & bang away for years just to get to Lumpinee by age 18-20 or so. 

I have trained w/ retired former Lumpinee Stadium Camps and they were 23 and 25. Retired former stadium champs. 

They did not just walk into Lumpinee after 2 -3 years getting ready, they were banging in grade school. LOL!

I can see some people surprised at the youth of fighters in such a championship, but realise many in Thailand start very young. 

I was in Thai in 2004 on the island of Ko Samui. I was at Cheweng Staium, basiclly a bar in a warehouse with a boxing ring in it. Some of the fighters were 13 to 16 yrs old. The youngest fighters ( I called them Pee Wee Little League) and they were about 9-10 yrs old. Talk about your Pony League, that's young.

I hope these young fighters do well, they BANG (Fight Very Hard) away in BANGKOK. 
Not just a name but a reputation. LOL. Forgive the jest


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## Thunder Foot (Nov 19, 2009)

I like the idea of this. I think more countries should have their youth involved in competitions at young ages such as this. What an extremely positive way to teach our youth discipline and perseverance at a young age. I fully endorse this, and I'm going to ask around as to why gyms herein California are not as involved, hehe.


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## Akira (Nov 19, 2009)

Nice post Jimi.

The Thai kids in who get involved in muay thai do so because they don't have any other options.  The come from absolute povety and are sold to gyms by their families, or orphaned at an early age.  There are gyms in Thailand who just work with kids.  I sometimes call into Sor Ploenchit in Bangkok where my mate works and take the kids out to the water park, or to play video games or to get something to eat.  They can usually only afford to eat once or twice a day, even with their difficult training schedules and weekly/bi weekly fight schedules.  

It's different in the west, kids don't fight out of necessity.  Although the situation sounds sad, the kids in this camp still have a lot of fun and are always sporting that famous Thai smile.  After training they'll often play football in the gym, watch movies (last time I went there they were all crammed around a tv watching and reciting lines from Terminator 2) and do normal kid stuff.


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## grado (Nov 23, 2009)

Thunder Foot said:


> I like the idea of this. I think more countries should have their youth involved in competitions at young ages such as this. What an extremely positive way to teach our youth discipline and perseverance at a young age. I fully endorse this, and I'm going to ask around as to why gyms herein California are not as involved, hehe.



I agree with you, learn muay thai younger will quite useful, not just self-defense.


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