| Jeff
Jones: Please tell us a little
about your background and your training in the Martial Arts?
Rick
Tucci: A
native New Jerseyan, I was born on November 11, 1954.
I did some Martial Arts when I was young, some Shotokan Karate
and that type of thing. I was about eleven years old then. I lost interest
for some time, but later in high school, I became interested in boxing
and I trained some of that. Then
since I was eighteen years old I’ve been training nonstop. It’s been approximately
twenty-four years that I have been training Martial Arts, in one form
or another.
JJ:
When did you open the Princeton Academy or Martial Arts?
RT:
I
opened the academy in February of 1987, so we have been open ten years.
Before that, however, I was teaching martial arts in large a health
club in Philadelphia for nine years.
JJ:
Could you tell us a little about the academy, the arts and the
curriculum?
RT:
We
teach several arts — Jun Fan Gung fu, Thai Boxing, Pentjak Silat, Kali
Eskrima, Grappling, Boxing, Kickboxing are all part of the curriculum,
as separate classes. In keeping
with the basic ideas of the Inosanto Academy, we try to emulate Guro Dan
Inosanto by having several arts in the curriculum.
JJ:
How long have you been training Muay Thai?
RT:
I
met Ajarn Chai in 1989 and I have been training with him ever since.
JJ:
What rankings do you have in Muay
Thai?
RT:
I’ve
passed the associate level
test and have all the requirements,
and at this point it is just a matter or waiting for Ajarn Chai to issue
the certificates for people who have done the associate level test.
I passed the beginner
level test in 1990, as all of Ajarn Chai’s instructor-level students have.
JJ:
Tell us about how you started training Muay Thai, and how you feel
Muay Thai has benefited your personal training in the Martial Arts?
RT:
My
first exposure to Muay Thai was at the prompting of Sifu Dan Inosanto.
I thought, maybe I don’t want
to do the Muay Thai, because I was into the Jun Fan, Kali Silat and other
stuff. Maybe I didn’t want
to add another art or maybe I was not sure about the Muay Thai.
But once I got involved in Muay Thai I saw its benefits.
I also really liked Ajarn Chai’s teaching method and
personality.
I think Muay Thai has helped me in flowing from kicks and punches,
elbows and knees. I think
it contributes to the whole flow of stand-up fighting and strategies of
offense and defense, whether it’s going from a tie-up position or going
in with the elbows, kicks, punches and knees.
Also, the conditioning is excellent because it’s a type of
conditioning you can’t get in some of the other arts as far as
putting your whole body into the kicks and knees.
I think, it has also helped me with general toughening, timing,
mechanics, footwork and power, and has also contributed to what I view
as practical in a street situation.
JJ:
How do you feel Muay Thai could benefit a student?
RT:
I
believe that students can benefit and learn from Muay Thai in the same
ways that I have benefited and learned.
The thing I Like about Muay Thai for myself, as well as my students,
the whole idea of the Ram Muay and the Wai Kru, as well as paying respect
to your training partner at the beginning and end or each drill.
The whole way their culture is.
I like the idea of that.
Again, the way Muay Thai emphasizes the flow between the ranges
is something that definitely improves understanding of the fighting arts.
I also think it helps to have impact training — this way they feel
like they can take blows, whether on the Thai pad or focus glove or their
bodies and I think it gives student's a sense of realistic self-defense,
because at the same time they can do it in the ring or for street self-defense.
So they can train for several purposes — health, conditioning and
self-defense, or for ring fighting.
JJ:
Are there any particular training methods you like in Muay Thai?
RT:
For
myself, I like the combination training.
I think that’s my favorite part, whether it is on the heavy bag
or with a partner using the Thai
pads, or with a partner with boxing gloves and shin guards.
I like the combinations, again with the emphasis on flowing from
each of the different weapons that you use in Muay Thai.
JJ:
How many Muay Thai Instructors do you have at the Princeton Academy
or Martial Arts?
RT:
In
Princeton Academy there are six instructors besides myself who have passed
the beginner level test under Ajarn Chai —
You (Jeff Jones), My Wife Amy Tucci, Dec Burns, Paul Geller, Bernie
Dudley and Derek Riddick.
JJ:
When you are teaching, do you have a curriculum that you follow
for Muay Thai?
RT:
Yes, I don’t want to copy exactly Ajarn Chai, so what we do is
follow what he teaches and try to use some of the different counts that
he uses, whether it’s the 16-, 17-, or 18 count, and various countering
motions. Then we go off from
there and also create some of our own drills and try to develop the student
as Ajarn Chai would want. We
don’t try to imitate because it is impossible to imitate an instructor.
Instead, we try to follow his principles and guidelines and develop
a curriculum that works for us in Princeton.
JJ:
Do you train any of your students for Muay Thai competition or
ring fighting and is their training separate from the regular training
that students do in classes?
RT:
Yes, we have had several students compete in amateur Muay Thai
bouts as well as Kickboxing competitions.
The people that compete in Thai Boxing or Kickboxing train in our
regular classes, but then they also train separately.
We put together a program that is designed for the type of competition
they are doing. For Instance,
if knees and leg kicks are allowed then obviously they train with that
in mind, and if just kicks above the waist are allowed then we have to
train them for that kind of fight.
And the type of competitor that they will be facing will also be
a factor in their training. So
those people train more that the average person in the class.
Their training is much more difficult than average student’s would
be.
JJ:
What advice would you have for someone just starting out in Muay
Thai?
RT:
I
would say one of the main things is to work on the form,
to perfect the stance, to stay relaxed and to first concentrate
on getting correct form for the kicks, punches, elbows and knees.
Then you can start to go harder and harder.
The tendency for people in Muay Thai is just to go hard, to hit
the pads hard, to just sort of blast everything
but without form. It’s
not going to really work well without the form because the form is important.
Power, speed and timing are all enhanced by proper form and good
body mechanics.
JJ:
In closing, do you have any final comments you would like to make?
RT:
Yes, I can say that I really
enjoy training in Muay Thai, but
I specifically enjoy training under Ajarn Chai.
I think because of his teaching ability, his personality, and his
way of presenting material, these things separate him from other Thai
Boxing instructors, at least that I’ve encountered or have seen in one
way or another. I think he
deserves a lot of credit for the art and paving the way for other people
now who are teaching Muay
Thai.
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