Kemptville’s Zach Marques started Muay Thai as a way to train for self-defence in his job as a security officer. But he stayed for the competition.
When the former competitive soccer player finished his Police Foundations training and entered the workforce, he said he needed a way to prepare in case a situation at work escalated.
Now after seven years of training, Marques will be competing against boxers from across North, Central and South America in the biggest fight of his career so far.
It’s all part of the Pan American Muay Thai Championship, which runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park.
More than a combat sport, Muay Thai has a strong cultural history that stretches around the world. Reporter Steve Zhang visits the Muay Thai Academy in Vancouver to learn more.
For the local competitor and Muay Thai instructor, the championship is part of a journey with martial arts that has spanned almost his entire life.
“I’ve always found myself to be a martial artist,” he told CBC’s Ottawa Morning. He did karate from age seven to 14, then transitioned to soccer. At 21, he tried Muay Thai — Thai boxing that’s been practiced in some form for thousands of years, and is now celebrated internationally.
“Once I started training, my inner competitor was reignited,” he said.
A rough road
It took Marques some time to transition his training in high-level soccer and apply it to Muay Thai. He said the game didn’t prepare him for the full-body effort needed for the combat sport, nicknamed the “art of eight limbs” for the use of hands, elbows, knees and feet.
In his fifth fight, Marques suffered a knee to his torso that lacerated his kidney. After six months of recovery, he continued.
“If you want to compete, you have to be ready for the pain,” he said.
He went on to win his division in the Canadian Muay Thai Open in Kitchener and also the TBA Classic, North America’s largest Muay Thai tournament.
Marques added it takes a significant amount of mental and emotional effort to manage oneself in the ring, but he does so by thinking about his family and those who have supported him.
When he does this, he says, it helps prepare him for other challenges.
“The mindset is required to get through difficult things translates to other things in life,” he said. “Dealing with an upset coworker is pretty minimal compared to what you’re dealing with in the gym or in the ring.”
Ottawa Morning7:15Local boxer competes at Muay Thai Pan American championships
Zach Marques is a Muay Thai boxer who teaches and trains in Kemptville. He’s going for the belt this weekend at the Muay Thai Pan American championships right here in Ottawa.