THAI BOXING ASSOCIATION OF UK

Instructors:

Associate:

Ewen Campbell

Patrick Davies

Apprentice:

Jay Gibley

Leigh Richardson (AMAG)

Peter Richardson (AMAG)

Tim Harding (Northampton)

Fraser Kyne (Cambridge)

Ross Turner (AMAG)

Mo Coles (Northampton)

Carolyn Ewan (AMAG)

Bill Mutch (AMAG)

Haydn Ward (Northampton)

Sid Siddiqui (MKG - UK)

Chris Moir (AMAG)

Ajarn Chai UK Seminar 2010

Surachai Sirisute, known to his students as "Ajarn Chai" (Ajarn means head instructor), is the founder and President of the Thai Boxing Association of the USA.  The son of a prominent Bangkok lawyer, the young Chai Sirisute was encouraged to follow in his father's footsteps.  But Sirisute had a fascination with Muay Thai and would kick his father's heavy bag whenever he could.  

Sirisute's Muay Thai teacher, Ajarn Suwong, made a lasting impression on him.  Ajarn Suwong had had a prophetic dream, and stated flatly when he met the six year old Sirisute, "This is the champion that will spread Muay Thai to the falang [to the foreign lands]."  Whether that was Sirisute's fate or an internalized message from a cherished mentor, that mission became Sirisute's life's work.  It remains one which he has pursued with an almost spiritual zeal.   

As a boy Sirisute studied both Muay Thai as well as Karate and earned his black belt in Shorin at the unprecedented age of 12, an age at which he also started to fight in the ring in Muay Thai.  Sirisute fought over 72 fights in Muay Thai.  After he retired as a fighter he came to the United States in 1968 to teach in America.  As he would soon find out American 1960s culture was very different than the Thailand fighting circuit.  With hair mid-way down his back and in rock-solid shape he stepped off the plane and shortly thereafter wound up at the Woodstock rock concert. 
Nonetheless, Sirisute had a vision of spreading Muay Thai that he was determined to pursue.  The early years were lean ones during a time in which public knowledge of Muay Thai was non-existent and hostility from other martial arts was fierce.  He defended almost weekly challenges from Karate and Kung Fu experts.   

Many of Ajarn Chai's early fighters, such as Mike Goldbach, Reggie Jackson, Glen Hernandez and Don Boyd, came out of a backyard training environment.  It was this core of fighters who Ajarn Chai lead to Thailand in 1982 to enter the first American team to compete in the Muay Thai World Championships.  

Sirisute also fought battles with the martial arts establishment over fighting procedure, specifically the Wai Kru ["respects to the teacher" dance before a fight], uniform and use of knees & elbows.  "They told me that my fighters couldn't wear the short pants to fight but had to wear a Gi," growled  Sirisute.  Shaking his head, "They used to laugh and ridicule Thai Boxing [fighters] when they would do the Wai Kru.  But they don't laugh any more because we always knock 'em out."  Thanks in part to the early efforts of Sirisute Muay Thai fighters no longer have to struggle against this kind of indifference.  

In 1978, Sirisute met a high school teacher named Dan inosanto. Inosanto trained as a student in Ajarn Chai's backyard during these years and the friendship that grew up between these two men in those years has served both well over the years.  Already well known in the U.S. Inosanto introduced Sirisute to teaching seminars, which greatly helped Ajarn Chai extended awareness of Muay Thai in the U.S.A. as well as internationally.  

Sirisute has worked tirelessly to teach Muay Thai seminars to eager students around the world.  The organization he founded, the Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. has also expanded to 19 countries around the world.  And Ajarn Chai continues on his path of spreading Muay Thai around the world from his home in Southern California.