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Maryland Muay Thai Kickboxing
18777 N Frederick Ave Ste C
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
(301) 807-5655
Mike Moses' Evolve Academy of Martial arts is run by a fully certified Thai Boxing instructor, under Master Ajarn Chai. Master Mike Moses is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Evolve Academy teaches sport and street applications, as well as weapons and multiple attackers.
Muay Thai, translated into English as Thai Boxing, is the national sport of Thailand and is a martial art with origins in the ancient battlefield tactics of the Siamese (or Thai) army. It evolved from Krabi-Krabong, literally sword and baton, the hand-to-hand tactics of the Thai army. The early Muay Thai bouts pitted different companies within the Siamese army against each other with few rules and no weight divisions or time limits. They became quite popular and eventually were shown in stadia across the country. In the early 20th century, time limits, boxing gloves as well as a uniform set of rules were introduced. During the latter half of the 20th century Muay Thai was exported to many countries and is now practiced by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.
Muay Thai is known as "King of the Ring" in kickboxing circles. These fights feature punches, kicks, elbows, knees, standing grappling and head-butts to wear down and knock out their opponent. Thai training methods develop devastating power, speed and superb cardio-vascular endurance as well as fighting spirit. Muay Thai training as also quite safe thanks to sophisticated pad training that evolved to keep fighters healthy between fights. Muay Thai has also proven very effective outside the ring and has been embraced enthusiastically by practitioners of a variety of self-defense, sporting, military and law enforcement activities.
The Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. (TBA-USA), the oldest and largest Muay Thai organization in the United States, was founded in 1968 by Ajarn Surachai "Chai" Sirisute. (Ajarn is Thai for head instructor.) Ajarn Chai came to the United States with a vision to spread Muay Thai to throughout the world, and he is the first-ever Thai boxing instructor to teach Americans this art and he has worked tirelessly for more than 30 years to that end. We are indeed grateful to Ajarn Chai for his gift of the knowledge of Muay Thai.
The TBA-USA now has representation in almost every state in the USA and has expanded to establish affiliate organizations in more than 15 countries around the world. Ajarn Chai continues to promote Muay Thai through a busy teaching schedule.
For a small state, Maryland possesses a great variety of topography; hence its other nickname, "America in Miniature." It ranges from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with water moccasins and large bald cypress near the bay, to gently rolling hills of oak forest in the piedmont region, and mountain pine groves in the west.
Maryland is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania; on the west by West Virginia; on the north and east by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the south, across the Potomac River, by Virginia and West Virginia. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted on the Maryland side by Washington, DC, which sits on land originally part of Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state, and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. A portion of extreme western Maryland in Garrett County is drained by the Youghiogheny River, as part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, while the remainder of the state drains, via the Bay, into the Atlantic Ocean. So prominent is the Chesapeake in Maryland's geography and economic life that there has been periodic agitation to change the state's official nickname to "Bay State", a name currently used by Massachusetts.
The highest point in Maryland is Backbone Mountain, which is the southwest corner of Garrett County, near the border with West Virginia and near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac. In western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state, is a point at which the state is only two miles (3 km) wide. This geographical curiosity, which makes Maryland the narrowest state, is located near the small town of Hancock, and results from Maryland's northern and southern boundaries being marked by the Mason-Dixon Line and the north-arching Potomac River, respectively.
The Delmarva Peninsula comprises the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the entire state of Delaware, and two counties of Virginia, which together form a long extension down the Atlantic seaboard. One of the most noted features of Delmarva is Maryland's Assateague Island, on the Atlantic, with its herd of wild ponies accustomed to the seashore.
Climate
For a state as small as Maryland is, it has a remarkably varied climate. It depends on various factors like elevation, rainfall, and proximity to a body of water (most significantly, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean). The Eastern Shore region and part of the Western Shore are part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. This region gets hot, humid summers and cool to chilly winters, with a cool subtropical climate. This region includes the cities of Salisbury, Annapolis, Ocean City, and the southeastern half of Baltimore [1]. Beyond this region lies the Piedmont which has a warm continental climate of moderately hot summers and moderately cold winters where significant snowfall is an annual occurrence. This region includes Frederick, Hagerstown, and northern and western Baltimore. Extreme western Maryland, in Allegany County and Garrett County has a colder continental climate due to elevation (more typical of inland New England and the midwestern U.S.) with mild summers and cold, snowy winters.
Precipitation in the state is very generous, as is most of the East Coast. Annual rainfall ranges from 40-45 inches in virtually every part of the state, falling very evenly. Nearly every part of Maryland receives 3.5-4.5 inches per month of liquid precip. Snowfall varies from 9 inches in the coastal areas to over 100 inches a winter in the western mountains of the state.
Flora and Fauna
As is typical of states on the East Coast, Maryland's plant life is abundant and healthy. A good dose of annual precipitation help to support many types of plants, including seagrass and various reeds at the smaller end of the spectrum to the gigantic Wye Oak, the state tree, which can grow in excess of 70 ft. tall. Maryland also posses an abundance of pines and Maple almong its endemic tree life. Many foreign species are cultivated in the state, some as ornamentals, others as novelty species. Included among these are the Crepe Myrtle, Italian Cypress, live oak in the warmer parts of the state, and even some hardy palm trees along the coast and in the bay area. USDA Plant Hardiness Zones in the state range from Zone 5 in the extreme western part of the state to 6 and 7 in the central part, and Zone 8 around the southern part of the coast, the bay area, and parts of metropolitan Baltimore.
The 2003 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for the state of Maryland
The state posseses a great number of deer, particularly in the woody and mountainous west of the state, and overpopulation can become a problem from year to year. The state bird, the Baltimore Oriole, can be seen throughout the state and is a source of much pride for Marylanders. The Chesapeake Bay provides the state with it's huge cash crop of blue crab, and the southern and eastern portion of Maryland is warm enough to support a tobacco cash crop.
Lawns in Maryland carry a variety of species, mostly due to its location in the Transition Zone for lawngrasses. The western part of the state is cold enough to support Kentucky Bluegrass, and Fine Fescues, which are widespread from the foothills west. The area around the Chesapeake Bay is usually turfed with transition species such as Zoysia, Tall fescue, and Bermudagrass. St. Augustinegrass can be grown in the parts of the state that are in Zone 8.
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