Kru Aarron 'Juice' Veverka Promoted to Full Instructor

At the closing of the Pacific Northwest Thai Camp 2014, Kru Aaron Veverka was honored with a brief ceremony elevating him to Full Instructor for the Thai Boxing Association.   You can see part of the his instructor test in the video below.  Kru Aaron Veverka is the only certified Full Instructor in the State of Ohio.  In addition to this honor, Juice was recently appointed State Director of Ohio for the Thai Boxing Association.

GriffonRawl is very proud of its long association with such a dedicated and talented man and to have Juice as the Co-Head Instructor of the Thai Boxing program.

Congratulations Juice on this latest achievement!



Written by:  Bob Donaghy

Not Your Typical Summer Camp Experience

The Thai Boxing Association 2014 Camp is over.  For those of you unfamiliar with this annual event it’s five days of intensive Muay Thai training in the wilds of Oregon.  30 miles from the nearest cell tower, about 150 very dedicated Muay Thai practitioners set up tents and sleeping bags among the mountains, pines, creeks and mosquitos of the beautiful NorthWest.

Mosquitos and mountains are the least of the challenges.  Getting up before dawn (and coffee) every morning for the 3 mile run, then stance drills for an hour before breakfast, then 5 hours of constant training..  This isn't your typical Summer Cap experience, or even for those who just want to show up, this camp is invitation only.  Classes are taught by the highest professionals, including but not limited to : Grandmaster Surachai Sirisute(Founder), Ajarn Bryan Dobler, Ajarn Bryan Popejoy, Ajarn Rex, Ajarn Kim, Ajarn Greg Nelson, Khun Khru Scott Elliott, Khun Khru Sam Adams, Khun Khru Natalie Roy Brown, Khun Khru Scott Anderson.  You have to earn your way in.

This was the 9th year GR’s own Kru Aaron “Juice” Veverka attended, and recently he’s earned the additional right to bring a guest.  This year it was standout MT Assistant Instructor, Russ Herbert.  For the last two years GR has been sponsoring the experience, helping to defray some of the costs for the trip and fees.  Investing in Juice's skills helps everyone at GR.  The camp will be in Portland again next year, anyone thinking about upping their game in Muay Thai should think hard about attending.

At the end of camp this year Kru Aaron was awarded Full Instructor Rank in the Thai Boxing Association of America.  Juice is the only Full Instructor in Ohio.  Congratulate Juice when you see him at the Academy on his achievement.  The very interesting video of his test is below.



Juice shared with us a typical day at camp:  You start with a 1 to 3 mile run in the morning followed by stance drills, then an hour for breakfast. Then it is time for extreme drills and/or station training, then an hour for lunch. We received boxing training that took up between 1 to 2 hours a day immediately followed by station training. Stations are as follows: Heavy bags, Shadow Boxing, Thai Pads, Timing sparring and Plum (clinching). Often some of the stations were doubled or tripled.  Thai Pads were at least doubled daily, other times tripled. Every station was a minimum of four rounds at 3 minutes a piece. Other days it was 8 rounds per station. You can see where this gets a bit tiring after a while. After that we often did 3 on 1 drills followed by 8 count body builders. We did 140 8 count body builders alone at the end of the day after our workouts.

As far as camp, the weather was rainy for the first two days, then cleared and heated up on the third and fourth days.  The intensity level was incredibly high! On the first day after trading all day we did 170 8 count body builders!  We worked plenty of rounds on the stations, averaging 70 to 74 rounds a day.  Usually we have a heavy bag station, Thai pad station, shadow Boxing station (which is much harder than it sounds), timing sparring and clinch stations.  We had 7 people test for Apprentice, which is a new record for camp testing

Russ Herbert had a few notes also:  Thai camp was as grueling as it was technically  beneficial.  Learning from legendary Muay Thai and boxing legends such as Ajarn Chai Sirisute, Ajarn Leonard Trigg, Ajarn Greg Nelson, to name a few, was a privilege and honor .  4 days of intense technique, conditioning and discipline defined the camp...not to mention the 180 8-count body builders that ended the first day of camp.  Techniques covering stance/footwork, kicks, knees, elbows, and boxing were explained in detail, and then group stations drilled them into us for hundreds of rounds and reps.  Similar to running a marathon, just to be able to finish Thai camp is an accomplishment...and your conditioning, technique, and knowledge are greatly improved!  A great experience!!

GriffonRawl is proud to sponsor Kru Aaron Juice Veverka's annual trip to the Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. camp.  It's rare to have such motivated and dedicated coaches that want to not only improve the gym and its members but actually make the time to better their own skills and rankings nationally and GriffonRawl MMA Academy is proud to have Juice on staff.

Written by:  Bob Donaghy

Thai Boxing Association Level 1 Training Clinic Review

The Thai Boxing Association Level 1 Training Clinic is in the books.  The class was very well attended and enthusiastically reveived by the students.  The two hour clinic, led by Kru Aaron “Juice” Veverka, provided instruction leading to certification as a Level 1 boxer.  Level 1 testing will be scheduled for this summer, and there will be follow up seminars as well.

We want  to have Master Ajarn Chai at GriffonRawl MMA Academy annually to conduct these seminars. Fortunately “Juice” has been working his way up the ranks for years by training, traveling, and studying under Master Chai and through his efforts this can very well become a reality.

Thank you to Kru Aaron “Juice” Veverka for spearheading the effort to create this very exciting new seminar series.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

Aaron Veverka Invited to TBA Elite Camp

For the 7^th year in a row our Muay Thai instructor, Aaron Veverka (aka 'Juice'), has been invited to participate in the Thai Boxing Association's Pacific Northwest Muay Thai camp.

An annual event, tt's by invitation only and will be held in the mountains of Oregon, at camp Wilkerson from June 27^th to July 1^st.

It's international with people coming in from various countries, normally around 200 people from all over, Mexico, the UK, Barbados, Canada.

Aaron is allowed to bring students. George Comer has decided his game would benefit from exposure to the best of the best in Muay Thai and will make the trip West.

Camp trips like this benefit the entire academy, Aaron and George will bring back new techniques and a refreshed approach to MT training.

Useful links

Thai Boxing Association site

2011 camp review

2012 Camp Detail

Map to the Camp

View Larger Map

Written by: Bob Donaghy