Most of you have probably seen a little dog around our gym, greeting those who arrive early or curled up taking a nap in the equipment room during class. Ninee (pronouced “knee-knee”) loves to come to the gym and visit all of her friends there, although it may just be that she likes the treats Jennifer always manages to sneak her or licking the salt off of Jordan’s stinky glove hands after a good workout.
What a lot of you may not know is that Ninee was named after the famous Lumpinee Stadium in Thailand. Rich in culture and history, if the walls of this stadium could talk I’m sure we would all want to listen. Short of that actually happening, this documentary by Chira Wichaisuthikul looks like a good place to start for a peek at what it’s like to be a young underprivileged boy growing up in Thailand and how training and often living at Lumpinee Stadium can be the way out of poverty and the ticket to a life with more hope and possibility. It also shows just how young kids are when they start training (comparable to hockey in Canada) and how ingrained MuayThai is in their lives and culture (again, comparable to Canadians and hockey).
It looks like the full documentary should be released mid 2011, so until then you can watch the trailer below… along with a shot of the Kwest mascot in all her glory.
