What a treat to watch two of my coaches get to know one another. To joke around and connect. I tried to get a candid here but they caught on. Jarrett brought a team of fighters from my home town of Richmond, Virginia to get some training and sparring in with the @8limbsacademy team this weekend. When I started training at @richmond_bjj_academy in 2007 I was actually afraid of the man on the left. I was brand new to Muay Thai, only trained on Tuesdays, and Thursdays and only went if @aiden.studio carpooled with me. Took me a while to get brave enough to go by myself. Jarett Church was the capital “H” capital “C” Head Muay Thai Coach. I don’t know when things started to shift for me exactly, but I had already fallen deeply in love with Muay Thai by the time Jarrett asked me when I was gonna fight. I’m sure he wouldn’t remember this small moment but I protested with the usual “I’m not ready...blah blah blah.” He said “we’ll MAKE you ready,” and then told me not to be chicken! Don’t worry, it was in a sweet, teasing way. A way that conveyed how much he disagreed with my assessment. It was the perfect push — challenging me while cluing me in to the fact that he believed in me. I registered for my first fight shortly after that. When I got to Philly five years ago and linked up with Charlie and Kate I started to realize that I could be training and fighting at a much higher pace. With Charlie as my coach I’ve been able to accomplish and grow exponentially more than I ever expected. He’s pushed me hard over the years, sometimes to the point where I forget that I actually like Chuck. But he always cranks the hardcore jams, cracks jokes, yells loud and keeps me going. I would not trade this for the world. Thanks guys for selflessly sharing your knowledge and your emotional energy with me over the years. For literally being in my corner. I throughly enjoyed this collision of worlds. #yescoach #bondsoffriendship #muaythai #8limbsacademy #viii #richmondbjjacademy #saturdaytraining #oi (at 8 Limbs Muay Thai Academy)
