Australian diplomat in Thailand takes up Muay Thai

[BahtandSold]

HOW A DIPLOMAT GETS HIS KICKS
Bangkok Post/Troy Douglas Feb 22, 2009

'I'm a bit embarrassed actually," says Glen Connell, a seemingly ordinary man in a suit sitting in a cafe drinking espresso. He's not shy about his day job, which takes place just next door at the Australian embassy, but about the extra-curricular activity that has earned him a spot in Brunch.

As Australia's First Secretary for Trade and Economics to Thailand, Mr Connell's love of muay Thai, or Thai boxing, has largely been a well-kept secret. But he sees the quirky intrigue it might hold for others.

"The idea of a diplomat with a black eye is, I know, a strange juxtaposition," he concedes.


This Australian bureaucrat may turn up at meetings with a black eye, but he's no bar-room brawler. He loves muay Thai (Bangkok Post photo)

Now in his second year of a three-year posting at the embassy in Bangkok, his affiliation with muay Thai began out of a natural attraction long before coming to the country revered as its heartland.

Originally from Mackay in Queensland, Mr Connell first discovered the sport as a youngster, training and participating heavily from when he was 14 until he was 16. Still harbouring a fascination which sprouted through active engagement in Australia, the now 33-year-old is philosophical about how it seemed appropriate that he seek out muay Thai again in Thailand.

Watching TV one day in his apartment he saw his former trainer in Australia on a commercial, at first barely recognising the man who had taught him everything. The German muay Thai guru Stephen Fox had since become one of the most famous practitioners of the sport. A former world title holder and champion, both in Thailand and abroad, he is now serving as the vice-president and international coordinator for the World Muay Thai Council, helping to further establish and promote the sport around the world.

In spite of all this, Mr Connell simply remembered him as a masterful teacher, demanding but with a unique brand of fun and humour. He didn't hesitate to take the ticket back in.

"I called him up ... it rekindled the passion," he recalled fondly.

Mr Connell resumed training with his coach at a private gym on Sukhumvit, soi 22, and began full contact sparring with a group.

Muay Thai carries a rich, historical tradition and is ingrained in the fabric of Thai culture.

It has featured in numerous battles and military training, and has grown to become one of the nation's most popular pastimes.

Known as "the art of the eight limbs", for its incorporation of many parts of the body, including the elbows and knees, muay Thai has the reputation of being more brutal and less restricted than many of its rival martial arts.

"My interest is in testing my limits," Mr Connell says. "It's tough physically and mentally - you have to wear some pain. But that's part of the mental conditioning."

What's really driving him since coming to Thailand, however, is a perception that the pastime is an "in" to Thai culture. From his Thai-language education days at Chiang Mai University, required as orientation for his role at the embassy, he has found a connection with Buddhist principles. Mr Connell stops short of saying he's a fully fledged Buddhist using muay Thai as a form of expression, but he admits the religious and spiritual nature of the sport, through its various rites and rituals, instils a deep admiration.

"The intermeshing makes it interesting," he said.

He smiles when asked about his own version of the wai khru, the pre-fight dance, performed as a symbolic homage to a fighter's ancestors and mentor. Given that he doesn't engage in professional bouts, he doesn't have one. "I still pay respects to Stephen," he points out.

For Mr Connell, work and muay Thai mutually coexist. It's an activity that continues to help him relate more closely with his colleagues and immerse himself in his surroundings.

"I love my job, it's interesting work and great people to work with ... it [muay Thai] gives a very good understanding of the underpinnings of Thai culture," he explains.

Mr Connell adds that as an unintended benefit, people even respect his kwam pen Thai, or Thainess, because of it.

Sometimes he turns up for trade or policy meetings clearly brandishing the after-effects of physical punishment.

"There have been a few times. I've tried to cover as best I could," he says. Family and work commitments mean he doesn't participate as often as he once did, for one thing because of the age factor. Many boxers are battered through short-lived careers in muay Thai and the fighters are usually much younger.

"Once you develop to a certain mental level you are there, but it's extremely taxing fitness wise, and it's a lot harder to recover now," he admits.

Still, you can regularly catch him training and running through the back sois off Sukhumvit road.

"It's for the discipline and it's like a drug," he says enthusiastically.

If he's not in the ring, he enjoys watching a live contest on a Friday night at Lumpini stadium, with his wife and sometimes his coach or friends from the gym.

"When I can get a babysitter," he adds, referring to his two daughters, aged four years and 18 months, who he plans to take along when they are older.

Mr Connell referred to the music, a blend of drums and cymbals which elevates in pace to match the tension of the fight, as "organic".

On special nights, such as the Queen's birthday on August 12 or National Muay Thai Day on March 17, he mixes the best of both worlds, while holding his job in high esteem. He'll enjoy the fight as always, yet often as a representative of the embassy, dressed in a suit instead of a boxing kit.

"Out of respect for the post," he says.
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