students and trainers

after my recent fight in newcastle and my trainer not turning up after saying he would. i have had clear the air talks with him yesterday. unfortuantely they didnt go quite as to planned. he said if i wanted to fight under his name i would have to sign a contract and pay for the extra training sessions and cover all expenses for his travel. basically i just want to know is this something that other clubs do or is he just trying to extort more cash out of me. the way i see it is if i want his support i have to pay for it. personnaly i dont think its right.

cheers jamie

surely the promoter pays expenses, for your trainer to take you to the show.
the rest sounds a bit naff

patch him

Who is your insructor ???

And yeah sling him.

basically i have to orginise all my own fights the agreement originally was i do all the leg work he will train me. the travel expenses have been covered but he wants his food drink hotel(if needed but i would be staying anyway so 1 room) all paid for.

doesnt sound like much of a coach to be honest. does he not realise if your doing well then it bodes well for him i.e more people coming thru his door to train with him.
thers loads of good coaches out there, they dont need to be your pal but they do have to want the best for you.

yeah he did say from the start that if i wanted to fight then thats fine. but he wasn't overly interested in becoming a fighting gym. he just let me do it because he knew i could do it. i have been with him for 5 years. he is a good coach but yesterday he showed his true colours. i know he is trying to run a business to certain degree but think that is taking the piss a bit. and to leave me to travel down to newcastle from inverness on my own wasn't exactly good for mental preperation. i'm just greatful to the folks from pheonix in newcastle for helping me out.
i did mention to him yesterday that it didn't look good for him for leaving in the lurch last minute his answer was i dont think people in newcastle wouldn't be that bothered.
i said to him maybe so but its the people in inverness that are going to find out and think its out of order.
basically he is willing to let me go and fight elsewhere and still do my normal training with him aswell. to a certain degree im thinking about doing that because i have a lot of good training partners and i love the hard workload that i get with training with him. but when i think about it the other way then i think why should i give him my money to train if he isn't going to support me.

Jamie, we spoke about this on saturday when he didnt turn up mate, im glad you said your peice to him. its fair enough if he doesnt run a 'fighters club' and doesnt feel confident in training and preparing fighters, and to be honest, if he doesnt want to he shouldnt have to. however, you have your own ambitions and after seeing how well you handled the situation on saturday and how well you coped mentally with it all (as well as putting in a good account of yourself in the ring) you should really go for it. this might mean finding a different club mate that can accomodate what you need, its not fair on either you or your current instructor to have to do things you are not comfortable with.
your a really good lad and i hope things get sorted out for you. good luck x

i dont think that he is isn't comfortable with training fighters, i think he just doesn't want the fighters ethic in his classes. thank you for your kind comments marianne they are very much appreciated. i think i will just have to bite the bullet and it may be time to part ways with him. 5 years is along time to just through away although the training i have had from him is certainly going to help me in the future. i would of liked to think that after 5 years he would have a bit more respect and be a bit more willing to help. if he wasn't interested in letting me compete then he should have said from day 1 instead of leading me on.
just feel really let down by it all.

just try and take all the positives away from it Jamie. you said yourself you had 5 good years with him, it would be a real shame to leave on a bad note and judging from your performance on sat, he has taught you well. i know you feel let down by him as anyone would and it was a nightmare for you to begin with on saturday, but im sure he feels bad about it all too. that said, you have to think about yourself but just try and move on with no bad feelings (i know thats easier said then done), you will feel much better for it x

yeah it is very true. i have already spoken to my housemate who was fighting in hamilton at the weekend too and he says i am more than welcome to go and train with him and rung and the guys there. so that may be a good plan as rung has a wealth of knowledge in the sport. and could certainly help plus i know he supports his fighters very well.

One door closes another door opens !!!

theres two sides to the story jamie, i'm a fighter/nearly retired - and a full time coach and ive seen both sides of it. I personally take no money for taking fighters away to were ever we end up apart from the travelling expenses we get. So if my fighter gets 300 plus ticket deal, then thats what he gets. And he/she deserves it cos they fought and trained hard for it.

Now if as a coach you provide say morning coaching consisting of 5-7 rounds of pads, conditioning and exercises monday - friday for free - thats consistent with 5 private lessons coming to £125 a week.
I know this cos I do it FREE of charge for Darren and Alex at the moment.

Maybe you could sit down with the next coach you go with and put the cards on the table and say i'll pay you a monthly and percentage of your purse.

i can see where you are coming from i dont mind paying the travel expenses as i can get most of that back and covering the hotel if needed but he was also wanting me to cover the costs of any classes that he misses or at least most of it. i am fighting c class and its not the biggest of purses. i am not doing it for the money im purely doing it for the enjoyment and the thrill of competeing. i just think he is taking it a bit far and saying that i have to pay to use his name. i still pay him for my normal training times of 4 hours a week.

Jamie, like i said on sat find another coach, one that is interested in training fighters and wants to go down that path, if thats what you want for yourself you have to move on. I know its hard but you gotta do whats right for you. Trust me i know what its like after leaving my old club of ten years to start my own, its not easy, but if its right you will find yourself feeling more comfortable than ever.

Well done for the fight by the way, was a good show, shame it finished the way it did.

As crazylegs said there is two ways to look at this,but whatever way you choose to go Jamie try not to forget your roots(it doesnt sound to me like you will)often things your teacher has put into you will last you a lifetime so respect where respect is due even if you move on.

Best of luck Jamie(good fight Saturday by the way:))

When you climb into the ring, it can be a lonely place, but the fight starts LONG before that.
For me, having a great team, that you trust, that you believe in, that believe in you. A team/coach that are there in the training gym pushing you, encouraging you, travelling with you, warming up with you, wrapping your hands, ensuring your safety fighters records, gloves, weight ect) as well as sorting out the fights (& purses) themselves makes (IMO) the Fighting MUCH easier, especially when your just starting out and learning the ropes.
Having those things in place can help the Ring seam like a much more fun place.

If your coach don't enjoy the fighting side, to some extent its his loss but ultimately its his choice and he does have a business to run.

Leave, but leave with a handshake, a smile, a thanks and a "see you again" Surround yourself with positivity, enjoy the training, learning & fighting for as long as you can/want to.

I know some more "fighter orientated" gyms do take a cut of your purse, that's down to the choices you make in your gym/coach selection & if your getting what you want out of it.... then it may not be such a bad thing.

Anyway Choke Dee in your fighting.

Good post Crippler:)

If your in Inverness you should get yourself to Rung's gym. Your current coach sounds like a money grabber.

well guys i have to say thats very much for all the advice. but you are right. i think its time to break ties and and look to where i want to progress. i feel it will be better for me. i just feel he has shown his true colours though in the fact he doesn't seem interested in anything else other than the cash. but thats business i guess.

mikeyr thats what i am planning i have spoken to vernon who stays with me and trains with rung and he has said to come along. i did speak to rung breifly when i was coming back from newcastle stopped off at hamilton to see how they got on and he also said to pop round.

last post cos you've made your mind up IMO the right choice i think - is if your training to get fit and learn muaythai in a fighters gym you can become a great thai boxer without ever fighting - but you can not become a great fighter in a gym that doesn't fight! the atmosphere - the training - everyone pushing each other on when one or two of them have a fight - the club following you and supporting you.

Also like crippler so elequently put it its not just the training its the banter warming up, the massage, the pads, the words of encouragement, the smack across the face round 3 when your tired to make you finish 4 & 5 strong when all you want to do is go the pub :-)

Also rung will help you acquire a drinking ability so i'm told x

haha yeah rung has a very good drinking ability. think he showed it again down in hamilton again.. further to my post it turns out that my soon to be old coach has lied to me about his reasons for not being able to make my corner last weekend.
so it has just made my mind up even more.

hi jamie m8!
go train with rung! defo the most experienced fighter in scotland!
and if your already m8s with vernon? thers nothing to stop you!!!
join up with them and get down to my show in may m8!
mescho

I agree with Crazylegs....fighters these days put so much more training in, you cant afford to piss about with 1 or 2 nights a week. I expect a lot of time and effort from my fighters, its not about money....and in return I put in alot of time and effort for them !!! Its a team game, even though theres only one guy in the ring fighting.

...which is why when Ive not been able to attend a show Ive left my guys in Si's more than capable hands for all then reasons he mentioned above !

well it shows that my coach didnt have much of a team spirit when it came to competeing. thats why as of next week i am going to train elsewhere. if i want to progress i need someone there that is willing to help me. so next week a new adventure starts. once again thanks to all the guys and gals that have given me some great advice and i will update next week when i start training again.

cheers jamie

Jog him on, his loss

I love craig hanuman x

Theres SO much love in here!!! xXx

:-)

WWW.SWERVEHIM.COM
Good luck

I love you too Si...Brad loves you even more, must have done something special with the massage !!!.x

well i said i would update and when i was back to training i have just finished my second week on light training with rung in inverness and everything is going smoothly. thankfully my legs are now healed well sort of the shin is still a bit tender. but overall the new club seems to be going good. the technical knowledge of rung is somthing that i missed in my old gym. but then i was never really training in thai.

once again i would like to thank all of you for the advice and it seems this could be a long and properous relationship at my new club and hopefully i will see some of you soon.....


jamie

good for you Jamie, it sounds like you feel happier which is the main thing. good luck for your fights too mate x

Good luck Jamie..

Cant go wrong training with Rung and Vernon!!

(just dont go drinking with them after!!)

good post above from Craig .... team sport - both fighter and coach have to put the work in - couldnt agee more

Crazylegs correct-serious coaches and trainers ALLWAYS put their fighters first(imo)!!!We did 37 shows last year junior through to adult all over country someties with no expenses, just so the guys can get expierience...most of our pro fighters train for nothing(pads included) sometimes spliting commissions....iv been drinking with Rung after he ko'd mike showers...v/messy..

the only down side to it is when the fighter starts taking the pee and coasting in the gym late, half heartedly hitting pads etc etc. we all have off days but when they do it on a regular basis I can't be arsed and tell him go running - wasting my time. We all lose focus and im here to focus them again, but some just cant see how good they could be if they dug that little bit deeper - it's the most frustrating thing i've come across......