Cinderella Man - SBartlett's Blog

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Cinderella Man

Posted on April 24, 2011 at 08:49 PM.

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My heart outweighs my skill, and my passion will always best my talents. Yet, I wouldn�t have it any other way. My studies in Muay Thai will continuously prove challenging, and I enjoy every step of it. I stay hungry for the progress.

Carrying this black and red 2K Sports Jordan duffle bag filled with sports drinks, I walk to my gym to do my thing. Worn thai pads bearing faded logos of Team Sityodtong resemble remnants of my past four months of training - shins battered off heavy bags.

I walk up to the entrance of our training area barefoot, the tiles cold as the winter has chilled them for months. Cool drafts still power through the building. I wipe my toes on the mat, and tuck my chin down slightly as I bow, raising both palms together above my eyes.

I pull my black hoodie over my head and I begin to stretch out on the blue gym mats. I close my eyes, taking deep breaths as I attempt to relax my muscles. Kru Neil LeGallo walks in with a commanding presence, puts the music on blast, and we begin our warm up.

I begin to shadow box in the mirror that follows the wall for about 20 feet of our training area. I focus closely on my motions, repeatedly throwing them in the mirror, each time with varying degrees of correction and improvement.

Keeping my chin tucked, I naw down on my mouthpiece, tearing rubber out of the mold. I throw the right cross with my hips, trying to maintain my form and taking my time, keeping my body loose.

I close my eyes with head to the ceiling and jump in place as the timer goes off. Time to put in some work.

On this night, after all the weeks of repeating the same technique, and receiving the same instruction, my kicks finally came to form.

Nas� voice pumps out of the speakers in the gym, overlaying vocals over heavy hip-hop bass. I bounce on my toes to the rhythm and focus in.

When throwing a kick, it is important to remain loose, and carry dead weight behind the leg kick and through target. The tenser you are, the less heavy the kick will be.

I throw a right kick to the body. My instructor covers up.

�Again.�

I throw again, turning over my right hip completely, aiming my right shoulder to his chest on the follow through. Not good enough.

�Again.�

This time, I carry my weight all the way through his body, displacing him from his stance with such an effortless motion as I push my shin off his body.

He stops � satisfied with the kick and tells me, �That�s the kick right there. That'�s it. Do it again.�

And so I repeat, and it feels natural. I clear my head and throw the low kick, same thing � I�m getting it. My shins thud against my instructor heavy, as I push through on my follow through.

�That�s the sh*t that will make [Kru Neil LeGallo] impressed. That�s the leg kick.�

After this three-minute round, my kicks have suddenly become technically sound. I carry this momentum to the ring.

I bow and enter. I bounce ever so slightly on my toes as the timer hits and the pads are held for me to attack. I strike, but this time with more purpose. My jab is crisp as my leather gloves pop off the pads in the sound of a snap. It�s music to my ears.

I plant and throw the cross, after working for weeks on it, it now is thrown with conviction. I can hear nothing but the commands for the combos: 1-2, 1-2, hook, 1-2, thip (teep).

I�m in a full sweat, on the balls of my feet, feeling something like Kobe in the zone. My head is clear, and I am just throwing � the combinations rip off in succession and my technique is furthered by my conditioning.

I bow out of the ring waving my head to the music. The snare hits and Nas rehashes the hook over, over�and over.

�All I need is One Mic.�

The round is over � I praise my instructor. Man, feels good to be finally doing it. Progress.

Comments

# 1 ffyfe7 @ Apr 25

Great blog. For a while I wanted to get into boxing because I have Cerebral Palsy and I can't kick with any real force, but since there wasn't a place around which could accommodate I ended up going with Baseball. I know the exact feeling when taking batting practise and I can just hit it to the same part of the field without even trying, the satisfaction you get is overwhelming. Of course Muay Thai is more technical and I commend you for doing it. Keep it up.