Muay Thai in North America is has been on the upswing the past few years. North American based fighters are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve, so we figured why not shed some light on the men behind the fighters, their trainers. Here in the Coach's Corner we will be interviewing North American based trainers so fight fans can familiarize themselves with them. The first coach we interview is Canada’s Jason Fenton.
Name: Jason Fenton
Gym: Iron City
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Pro Fighters: Sean Kearney, Dejan Kajic
MTA: How did you get started in Muay Thai?
Jason: I started training Muay Thai in 1993 when I was 15 years old in Calgary. I was not interested in doing a "traditional" martial art so I found a Muay Thai gym that one of my friends trained at and I made the choice to go there and give that a try.
MTA: When did you start teaching?
Jason: I started assisting with teaching classes 2 years after I started training and another year later I started teaching classes on my own.
MTA: Did you fight before teaching Muay Thai?
Jason: Yes I had my first fight after only six months of training, so by the time I started assisting with classes I had already had close to 15 fights.
MTA: What was the gym you trained or fought out of?
Jason: I first started training/fighting and teaching at Mike Miles National Kickboxing and Muay Thai in Calgary under Ajarn Mike Miles. Then after 10 years I moved out to Vancouver and started training and fighting with Mr. Vince Jauncey, who was a great fighter from the UK and now, owns one of the top Kickboxing gyms here in the greater Vancouver area. I also started teaching out of Vince's gym WKX - World Kickboxing/Xtrm Fitness.
MTA: Why did you decide to start teaching?
Jason: I originally started teaching more to help out rather than a desire to begin teaching. After a few months I noticed that teaching acutely helped me with my training and the improvement of my technique as a fighter.
MTA: What is your favorite memory from your fighting days?
Jason: I started training Muay Thai in 1993 when I was 15 years old in Calgary. I was not interested in doing a "traditional" martial art so I found a Muay Thai gym that one of my friends trained at and I made the choice to go there and give that a try.
MTA: When did you start teaching?
Jason: I started assisting with teaching classes 2 years after I started training and another year later I started teaching classes on my own.
MTA: Did you fight before teaching Muay Thai?
Jason: Yes I had my first fight after only six months of training, so by the time I started assisting with classes I had already had close to 15 fights.
MTA: What was the gym you trained or fought out of?
Jason: I first started training/fighting and teaching at Mike Miles National Kickboxing and Muay Thai in Calgary under Ajarn Mike Miles. Then after 10 years I moved out to Vancouver and started training and fighting with Mr. Vince Jauncey, who was a great fighter from the UK and now, owns one of the top Kickboxing gyms here in the greater Vancouver area. I also started teaching out of Vince's gym WKX - World Kickboxing/Xtrm Fitness.
MTA: Why did you decide to start teaching?
Jason: I originally started teaching more to help out rather than a desire to begin teaching. After a few months I noticed that teaching acutely helped me with my training and the improvement of my technique as a fighter.
MTA: What is your favorite memory from your fighting days?
Jason: I have so many great memories from my fighting days, from representing Canada all over the world to meeting some of the greatest people that I now have the honour of calling friends. But I guess my favorite memory was getting to fight my idol Jongsanan "Wooden Man", I lost a 5 round decision.
MTA: How was the transition from fighter to teacher?
Jason: The transition was not that difficult because throughout the majority of my fight career I was still teaching full time. I guess the biggest thing now is I can concentrate 100% on teaching my students without any interruptions.
MTA: Where do you teach out of now?
Jason: After teaching under the banners of other gyms for 12 years I finally opened my own gym (Iron City). It is located in Vancouver Canada I opened the doors September 4th, 2008.
MTA: As a trainer what are your goals with your fighters?
Jason: As a trainer I have 2 main goals for my fighters. The first is I want to make sure that they get the same opportunities to travel and represent Canada that I had when I was fighting. The second goal is to do everything in my power to make sure that all of my fighters one day surpass my achievements in this sport.
MTA: What is your best memory thus far about being a trainer?
Jason: I have so many great memories some for training both fighters and non fighting students. The best as a fighter trainer would have to be just seeing the growth and improvement of each of my fighters from fight to fight and knowing that they trust me to help with that growth and improvement. I would have to say my best memory for training my non fighter students would be seeing the growth of each of them. To see people come in for the first time and being shy and even timid and watching them gain confidence thru the sport that I am teaching is an amazing feeling.
MTA: What is the worst or hardest memory from being a trainer?
Jason: I guess the worst memories I have as a trainer thus far would be watching one of my fighters lose. It is not the loss that is the hard part because every fighter will lose, but I then second guess the training we did for that camp and I feel the loss is my responsibility as the trainer.
MTA: How important is the relationship between fighter and trainer and why?
Jason: I think the relationship between the fighter and the trainer is very important. The fighter must be willing to put all of their faith in their trainers not only to make sure that they are in the best possible shape they can be but to make sure all their weapons are as sharp as they can be when it comes to fight time. In my opinion it is similar to a parent/child relationship. The trainer wants their fighters be growing past where they were when they fought and learn from the mistakes that they made.
MTA: What are your thoughts on the current state of North American Muay Thai?
Jason: The talent pool in North America is deeper than it has ever been. North American fighters have proven over the last couple years that they deserve to be on the world stage. There are a lot of great promotions that are starting to get television coverage from Push Kick Promotions and Lion Fight doing Muay Thai and Glory for Kickboxing. Mark my words we will start seeing more quality World Champions (WBC, WMC, WPMF) coming out of North America over the next couple years.
MTA: Any words of advice for people looking to get into the sport of Muay Thai?
Jason: The advice I would give to people who are just looking to train, learn some new skills and have fun I would just say find a place that you feel comfortable and enjoy spending time. If you are looking to fight and compete is do your research, look deeper into the trainer and their lineage, not only if they were fighters themselves but also have they produced the kind of fighters that you want to become.
MTA: How was the transition from fighter to teacher?
Jason: The transition was not that difficult because throughout the majority of my fight career I was still teaching full time. I guess the biggest thing now is I can concentrate 100% on teaching my students without any interruptions.
MTA: Where do you teach out of now?
Jason: After teaching under the banners of other gyms for 12 years I finally opened my own gym (Iron City). It is located in Vancouver Canada I opened the doors September 4th, 2008.
MTA: As a trainer what are your goals with your fighters?
Jason: As a trainer I have 2 main goals for my fighters. The first is I want to make sure that they get the same opportunities to travel and represent Canada that I had when I was fighting. The second goal is to do everything in my power to make sure that all of my fighters one day surpass my achievements in this sport.
MTA: What is your best memory thus far about being a trainer?
Jason: I have so many great memories some for training both fighters and non fighting students. The best as a fighter trainer would have to be just seeing the growth and improvement of each of my fighters from fight to fight and knowing that they trust me to help with that growth and improvement. I would have to say my best memory for training my non fighter students would be seeing the growth of each of them. To see people come in for the first time and being shy and even timid and watching them gain confidence thru the sport that I am teaching is an amazing feeling.
MTA: What is the worst or hardest memory from being a trainer?
Jason: I guess the worst memories I have as a trainer thus far would be watching one of my fighters lose. It is not the loss that is the hard part because every fighter will lose, but I then second guess the training we did for that camp and I feel the loss is my responsibility as the trainer.
MTA: How important is the relationship between fighter and trainer and why?
Jason: I think the relationship between the fighter and the trainer is very important. The fighter must be willing to put all of their faith in their trainers not only to make sure that they are in the best possible shape they can be but to make sure all their weapons are as sharp as they can be when it comes to fight time. In my opinion it is similar to a parent/child relationship. The trainer wants their fighters be growing past where they were when they fought and learn from the mistakes that they made.
MTA: What are your thoughts on the current state of North American Muay Thai?
Jason: The talent pool in North America is deeper than it has ever been. North American fighters have proven over the last couple years that they deserve to be on the world stage. There are a lot of great promotions that are starting to get television coverage from Push Kick Promotions and Lion Fight doing Muay Thai and Glory for Kickboxing. Mark my words we will start seeing more quality World Champions (WBC, WMC, WPMF) coming out of North America over the next couple years.
MTA: Any words of advice for people looking to get into the sport of Muay Thai?
Jason: The advice I would give to people who are just looking to train, learn some new skills and have fun I would just say find a place that you feel comfortable and enjoy spending time. If you are looking to fight and compete is do your research, look deeper into the trainer and their lineage, not only if they were fighters themselves but also have they produced the kind of fighters that you want to become.
I also love kick boxing. Women should learn this as it is very much help ful for self defense.
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