Five Prince George fighters named to Team Canada Muay Thai Team

“I’m just thinking about how cool it is to represent Kaiten and Prince George at the world stage. A lot of places probably don’t even know about Prince George, but we have a lot of good strikers. I’m happy to be one of the ones to go represent the city,” Seehra said.

“Just to be around those guys, and the high level that’s going to be there, it’s just a great opportunity to learn,” Flood said.

“I’m excited to just hit people, get hit, go out there and win hopefully,” Cole added.

Amandeep Seehra practicing strikes on a bag.

Cody Flood (left) training with Javier Hartgerink (right)

Hartgerink has competed internationally before, but for the other fighters it will be their first time at a stage this big, and with a big stage comes plenty of excitement.

“Bangkok’s huge, that’s the motherland for Muay Thai. That’s where all the legends are, that’s where it all grew up and went down,” Hartgerink said.

“It’s super exciting, especially when you get in that ring. It’s pretty terrifying, it’s one of the craziest feelings you’ll ever feel, to be honest. I just feel adrenaline. It’s pretty awesome,” Fox added.

Fox, alongside his fellow fighters, all said they’re staying focused on their skills and the fight itself, and while an event as big as the Amazing Muay Thai Festival can feel larger than life, they want to approach it with a calm mindset to keep control of what they can control.

“It’s a mix of embracing the adrenaline because you need that sort of adrenaline to do anything happens in any sport. And also just knowing you trained as hard as I could for this and, having the confidence that you can win,” Fox said, explaining his mindset before the event.

“I’m locking in a lot harder than I normally would. Usually I do just meathead things, like train a lot, but I’m really trying to stay locked in the entire time, just training smarter, still training at a high level, but not super brutal, not super hard on the body,” Seehra said.

For some fighters, opportunities like this can be a stepping stone towards even bigger dreams.

“I’m shooting for the stars stars, but I want to go fight in Thailand after this tournament. I want to move there for a bit and take as many fights as I can and hopefully that’ll give me a step towards like One Championship, or fighting in the Rajadamnern stadium,” Hartgerink said.

“I want to go professional in MMA, so this is just a step in that direction to get more Muay Thai experience. Compete in more Jiu Jitsu, hopefully get my black belt, and then go professional, come back to Prince George and open my own gym,” Cole added.

The confidence and energy is high in the gym, and the fighters will keep grinding in Prince George before representing Canada and our community on the international level in just four months.

by Tommy Osborne

Five Prince George fighters named to Team Canada Muay Thai Team

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