Cambuslang Muay Boran club first in Scotland

Feb 3 2010 by Will Henshaw, Rutherglen Reformer

THIS week’s sports club of the week is the Sitchinawut Muay Thai Boran Camp in Cambuslang.

The club, which only opened in its new premises in Cambuslang’s Somerville Trading Estate this month, is the first of its kind in Scotland.

Muay Boran is a traditional martial art from Thailand, which the modern equivalent of Muay Thai is derived from.

The word Muay, which means boxing, comes from the Sanskrit term mavya, while boran or boraan means ancient in Thai.

The art differs a great deal from the very popular art Muay Thai. Muay Thai is often called the "science of eight limbs", Muay Boran is said to make use of nawa awut which means nine weapons and refers to the hands, legs, elbows, knees and head.

Assistant master of the gym, Jim Richardson, said: “It’s based on the warrior art that the Thai warriers used.

“What we teach is an ancient style of boxing, which Muay Boran is, along with the modern Muay Thai concept which is the sporting side of it.”

The camp also enjoyed a visit from Kevin Lloyd, who is an assistant grand master of the style and is the highest graded non-Thai master in the world.

His visit was to officially open the camp, and as Jim reports, was a huge success: “It was a fantastic course and it was a educational seminar on traditional Muay Boran. It’s part of the celebration of opening our Muay Boran camp, the first of its kind in Scotland.

“We got a salute from the king of Thailand, Rama the fifth, who sent us a personalised picture, which is uniquely numbered.”

Jim has been practising Muay Boran for 25 years and claims Muay Boran can not only teach you how to defend yourself but will also get you fit:

“The system we teach is geared towards self defence rather than fitness but we do incorporate a fitness aspect to it.”

A typical training sessions includes a warm up of stretching and aerobic movements to get the body pumped up and ready for action. Then it is on to the fundamental moves of maemai and lukmai. After that they practice the self defence moves and then finishes off with some sparring and conditional work.

The martial art is highly effective, and a novice can become proficient in a matter of months.

Jim added: “With regards to going from a complete novice to self defence competent, it takes a matter of months. It’s very effective in terms of exercise and fitness. I’d say it’s one of the best in terms of getting you fitter.

“You’ll lose weight, it’s not one of these arts where you’ve got to get fit when you start. You build up your fitness levels as you go and you lose weight as you get fitter.

“We do a lot of meditation as well as we’ve stuck to the traditional principles of the martial art laid down by the grandmaster in Thailand.”

The club also caters to older people who are looking to take up a martial art. One of the participants in the club is 60-years-old.

The club trains Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7pm to 9pm and on Saturdays they run an open gym from 10am to 3pm.

For more information visit the club’s website on www.muayboranscotland.com.