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MORE ABOUT LOTUS
THE BEGINNING: LOTUS was created by "Ajarn" (the Thai word for teacher) Precha Mahachanavong in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand. Ajarn Precha named his unique martial art after the lotus flower. The lotus flower is widespread throughout Thailand. The lotus flower is used for medicinal, religious, and cooking purposes. It is very popular in Thailand and has its own festival once a year. The branches of the lotus flower branch out into many different directions, but the lotus has a strong inner core. This is like the martial art LOTUS, which branches out into techniques of Judo, Kajukenbo, and Aikido, but has the solid Muay Thai foundation. LOTUS was created during the time of the Vietnam War. United States Air Force soldier Robert Price was a black belt under Ajarn Precha. According to Price, when he arrived in Thailand from South Korea, Price joined Mr. Park's Tae Kwon Do class on the military base. Price had just left Korea and obtained the rank of black belt in Tang Soo Do. One evening, Price and a few other American soldiers went walking through downtown Ubon, Thailand when they came across a Kenpo Karate class taught by Mr. Precha Mahachanavong. Price was very impressed with what he was seeing in the class. He saw students simulating breaking arms, throwing and sweeping the attacker, forward and backward rolling and doing breakfalls. Price said he did not learn those techniques in Korea and wanted to study them to add to his Tang Soo Do training. Price and a couple of his soldier friends joined Ajarn Precha's class and started studying Kenpo Karate. The class consisted of nine students, including Price. It soon became apparent to Price that what Ajarn was teaching contained more than just the Kenpo training that he had received while studying under Master Tony Lasit. Ajarn Precha was blending his hand strikes and katas from Kenpo, sweeps, throws, and wristlocks from Judo and Aikido, and elbow strikes, knee strikes, kicks, blocks, and hardcore conditioning and training from Muay Thai in his teachings. According to Price, Ajarn asked him one day, "What do you think of my style?" Price said he liked it but didn't think it was strictly Kenpo. Ajarn agreed. Price says he then encouraged Ajarn to develop his own style based upon his present teachings. Ajarn mentioned that creating a style was a lot of work and that he wouldn't do it without the help of Price. During an interview with Price, Price stated that he helped Ajarn with the organization of LOTUS. An interesting side note is that at the time, late 1960's and early 1970's, Thai boxing was being continually challenged by outside martial arts. December of 1973 saw the first of "leading exponents" of Kung Fu from Hong Kong knocked out in the first round. The defeated fighters claimed to be at a disadvantage by having to wear gloves and being unfamiliar with Muay Thai rules. A revenge match, this time allowing bare hands, was accepted by the Thai's, and that match took place on January 22, 1974 as part of the Chinese New Year celebration. Five Kung Fu experts from Hong Kong arrived bare fisted and were quickly devastated by the Muay Thai boxers. The fights lasted only six minutes and twenty-two seconds (0:06:22) total! All the Kung Fu fighters were knocked out in the first round. (Roy Harrington stated that even when he was training in Thailand, LOTUS was continuing to evolve with more and more emphasis placed on Thai Boxing.) It is easy to see that Muay Thai boxing was being viewed not only as a devastating martial art unto itself, but equally devastating against other martial arts as well. Ajarn Precha may have recognized this being a professional Muay Thai boxer himself, and having a Muay Thai boxing school in addition to the LOTUS school. So, the birth of LOTUS came about as a result of Ajarn Precha's training with Master Tony Lasit, personal knowledge and experience, as well as the outcome of many now historical bouts, along with some encouragement from Robert Price. An interesting story is told by Price that at the time all martial arts came under the control of the Thai Ministry of Education. Control was at a local level, and at that time, the person was Mr. Parks, a South Korean 6th degree black belt teaching Tae Kwon Do on the United States military base in Ubon Ratchathani. As the story was told, Mr. Parks complained to the Thai Ministry of Education about Ajarn's school (possibly feeling threatened monetarily or otherwise), and tried to have Ajarn's school closed. Supposedly what was commonly done at that time was a person or persons were sent to observe the class and it was then determined what was to be done. Price said that often they would observe for a short period of time (20-30 minutes) and then decide right then and there. Price was at class that day when the "powers-to-be" came and observed. Price said that they stayed the entire class and were so impressed with what they saw that they asked Ajarn to do a public demonstration of LOTUS. (It can probably be said that what was presented by Ajarn at that particular class was not only of excellent quality, but more importantly, it represented a new Thai art that was uniquely Thai and possessed Thai customs, heritage and would help promote Thailand in its own unique way.) Also, as a result of that observation, the control of martial arts at the local level was placed in the hands of Ajarn. Supposedly this committee would have shut down Mr. Parks class if Ajarn had so desired. However, he did not and instead requested that Mr. Parks be limited to teaching on the military base only. The public demonstration turned out to be the black belt test of two Thai nationals and two American servicemen: Robert Price and Henry Badgett. The public demonstration/black belt test occurred in October 1972. This test was done in downtown Ubon with the mayor, Provincial Governor, the police chief and many other dignitaries in attendance. As circumstances would have it, Price tested in place of Henry Badgett since Badgett had broken his leg before the test and was unable to test. Badgett was awarded his black belt, but it was Price who was the first American to actually test to black belt. LOTUS IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY: Since the creation of LOTUS in Thailand, LOTUS has spread to the United States. Robert Price was the first American to open a LOTUS school in the United States. He opened a LOTUS school in Adelanto, California in 1974. Today, there are LOTUS schools in Atlanta, Georgia; Abbeville, Louisiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; Salem and Bend, Oregon; and Spokane, Washington. Most of the head instructors of these schools were direct students of Ajarn's in Thailand in the 1970's. |
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