Muay Thai schools in MN, anybody know some?

[The_Reaper56441]

Hey, I'm trying to get into MMA fighting, but I really wanna start a striking style to compliment my grappling, and I really wanna take Muay Thai, but I can't find any schools that are close enough so I can go more then once a week, does anybody know of any MT schools in Central/Northern MN, or at least close enough to where I live to make a trip a few times a week(zip is 56441)

[Little Apple]

Not really sure where that Zip code is, but there's two school near the Cities, one run by Khru Greg Nelson, and one by Khru Rick Fey (SP?) and one in Duluth run by Khru Drake (insert last name here). Not sure other than that. Oh, we do MT here at the college on the UMD campus too, heh.

[The_Reaper56441]

Well I live near Brainerd if you know where that is, I've looked at the Minnesota Martial Arts academy, but that's one of the ones that is almost a 2 hour drive away, pretty much anything in the cities is a little too far for my liking. Duluth is almost reasonable as it's a 100mile straight drive Northeast

[yenhoi]

Rick Faye is worth the drive.

[Little Apple]

He's right about that. Khru Rick was Khru Drake's teacher, he has more experiance, and a better equiped gym. I've only ever seen him around at seminars, but I believe he's the regional director for the Thai Boxing Association. Not going to lie, Khru Greg Nelson is worth it in my oppinion too. Now, I could be biased, having worked with him a little at camp and when he came around helping Ajarn Chai at seminar, but I would go to him before Khru Rick. Again though, I've never been in one of Khru Rick's classes.
I could give you directions or something to Khru Drakes gym, heh or you could probably join us on campus if you like. I've only ever trained with my big bro, and he volunteers his time there. Anyway, if you're just casually training, Khru Drake would be a good person to talk to, he was Rick Faye's student, like I said, and all the standards will be the same. Even so, the two in the cities are worth checking out at least once.

[The_Reaper56441]

Well, I don't really consider it casual training, as I'm hoping I'll be able to get some MMA matches in the next few years or so, but you do have a Muay Thai Club at UMD? Because I'm a Junior in highschool right now and UMD is one of the schools I'm thinking about attending after high school.

[Little Apple]

OK, here's the deal:

We have a mixed martial art club that meets 5-6 days a week. We usually do Muay Thai from 6-8, and if we can keep the room, we do an hour of something else from 8-9. My bro's a good teacher, (though I could be biased, heh) but because we get these two random rooms from the school, we don't have a heavey bag, which was a problem last year before camp. We do have pads, and we use them a lot, but there you go. Drake's gym will have all the equipment it should, he's a good guy, and I've heard his rates are reasonable (our club is free).

Don't rule out the cities gyms forever though, they've got a bigger setup than anything up here, and for pete's sake they're run by Khru Rick Faye, and Khru Greg Nelson!

Whichever way you go, make sure you tell the instructor that you want to be a fighter, it'll probably make at least a little difference with how they train you. Think about it, heck visit all the gyms you're interested in, and let me know if you need directions or contact info to any of these places.

[The_Reaper56441]

Well if it turns out I can't find a good closer school for the time being, I'll probably just join the boxing gym in the neighbor town so I at least have some striking skill, and then once I graduate I'll start Muay Thai instead, and keep practicing Camarillo Jiu Jitsu

[Little Apple]

not a bad plan. A warning though: the UMD martial arts clubs are run by students, and we'll be graduating here around the same time you'll be graduating highschool. We're pretty hard core and dedicated now, but it'll be up to whoever's left when we're gone. I only mention it because you'd said you were thinking of going to UMD. That's great! But I'd hate to see you bring our club into your decision making only to find there's not much left when you get here. (though there could be)

Seriously though, don't rule out Khru Drake's gym, at least check it out dude. If you want to be doing Muay Thai, there's no reason not to at least look.

[Scott Bolinger]

my best advise for ya for a striking art is, do one year as a amateur boxers. There's plenty of boxing clubs on MN. Get used to a full contact sports just using your hands, get at least 5 fights and at the least , quailify at a state meet, then start in on a kickboxing style