All that being said, The Golden Kick, as it's been christened, is very distinct in one way.

And there are many other ways of kicking as well, developed throughout the world. There are innumerable Thai techniques for kicking, and there are kicks for different purposes and situations.

First of all though it should be said: there is no absolute 'right' kick.

Because it has that swerve after forward momentum I believe it kind of looks like it is going 'around' or outside the opponent, when seen at full speed, when instead it is often much more running up the frame of the opponent, and then veering through. Also, there is something of an optical illusion in the Thai kick itself. The name inspires us to think about how it goes 'round the opponent, from the outside, at least in certain teaching contexts. Part of the problem perhaps is that it is often referred to as the 'round' kick which certainly triggers us to think of roundness in the kick. The above is a big exaggeration of how the 'Thai Round Kick' has been, I believe, distorted in its translation to the west. Hopefully this will be built out by Sylvie herself, and maybe some more film study: In any case, here are some starting notes. And, as I've begun training in Muay Thai I've been working with it myself, as a knowledgeable beginner, I'm interested in this kick as some of principles below have definitely changed my own training and though process. Sylvie talked about it a little bit on the Patreon Supporters Facebook Page, and a commentor called the kick the 'Golden Kick', so I'm going with that, as it's reflective of a lot of the technique of the Golden Age of Muay Thai. But then in two Patreon Muay Thai Library sessions, neither of which have been published yet (one with Karuhat, one with Sagat) it rang like a big bell. 5 years in Thailand Sylvie's been working on her kick, she didn't see it. This needs lots of documentation and analysis, and this is just a start, only notes on something important that Sylvie discovered (and I guess I discovered in watching and talking with her) about the 'Thai Kick' that simply evaded our perception for years.

Simon bell muay thai