I would suggest your son trys both of those Gyms. They both have produced excellent fighters in the past. Go to both and see which one he likes the best as that is the one he will continue with. Then it also comes down to how far you are prepared to travel, cost etc..

No, no, NO.

There are rules about getting martial arts training in Australia. You don’t go to a ‘gym’. You go to a ‘dojo’ run by some bloke with a Booney mustache who runs a panel beating outfit behind his mum’s fish and chip shop. By day, he’s in King Gee overalls with the arse torn out of them. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, though, he has a totally sweet black gi with flared pants and Adidas stripes down the sides. He has trained in Shotokan-fu Kyurindinkidi Jojitsudan – the authentic stuff, from Master Ron ‘Tommo’ Thompson, who was trained by Sifu Kev, who was a brown belt under legendary Dave ‘The Dragon’ Kingswood (that’s right – a brown belt from The Dragon was, like, fully fifteenth dan red belt with two white stripes and some Chinese letters in gold embroidery from a regular instructor), who was the only true Australian-born ninja, and was on a plane once with Stephen K Hayes.

Your training will involve standing on some blue mats in the garage. Booney will beat the sh.t out of you with a broom handle he’s spray-painted black with silver tape wrapped round the ends. You will rummage through the garbage at rival dojos looking for dirt on their instructors. You will watch Bruce Lee DVDs in freeze-frame while sinking VBs. You will talk trash about Bob Jones over chiko rolls, and talk about how you’re totally going to train in Japan after you’ve paid off the VR body kit. Your first grading requires you to kick through a fruit crate borrowed from Con Sitsoukadis’ cousin’s shop. Once in a while you’ll go on a retreat to Booney’s Dad’s property near Mudgee where you’ll sit cross-legged by a camp fire and make mystical hand signs designed to render you invisible. It will be, like, fully twelve to eighteen months before you’re a black belt and can take every second Tuesday’s under-10s ‘numbchucks’ class.

I don’t know anything about the Queanbeyan gym mentioned. Phoenix I can highly recommend. Aside from the fitness/kickboxing skills it will probably provide your son with a good attitude.

All the folks I know that do muay thai – both male and female – go to Phoenix. It has a professional reputation and has also produced some great fighters.

thank you everyone – will give phoenix a go.