A Tauranga Muay Thai club is travelling to Thailand to learn from the best of the best.

Before they head to Phuket in June, the club has brought Thailand to Tauranga, training with professional high-level Muay Thai coach Withaya (Kru Wit) Khamlert.

The Tauranga club has 21 students preparing for the intense training camp in June, and they are preparing for it with Khamlert and The Martial Arts Academy owner and coach, Scott Coburn.

Khamlert has been a pro Muay Thai coach for 13 years, teaching in the UAE, China, Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

The Martial Arts Academy coach Scott Coburn with Kru Wit. Photo / Brydie Thompson

Coburn said it is a big deal for the Tauranga club to be trained by an athlete of such prestige.

The Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA Training Camp will take place during the school holidays from June 27 to July 12.

“I just wanted to give them the authentic training experience in Thailand,” Coburn said.

“In New Zealand, we teach Muay Thai a little bit different to how they do it in Thailand.”

While in Thailand, the students will train outdoors, battle the heat of Phuket and train with world-class trainers.

The Martial Arts Academy athletes Aaron Hu and Roman Jervis doing the Muay Thai catch and sweep. Photo / Brydie Thompson

“One of the biggest challenges for them over there will be dealing with the heat. It is going to be 36 degrees [Celsius]. We don’t really have to train in those sorts of conditions over here, so that will be challenging for them.

The students range in age from 11 to over 40. Coburn hopes they will learn from the whole experience, not just the training camp.

“It’s an opportunity for these students who have been learning the theoretical things about Thailand and about Thai culture and go over there and actually experience it for themselves.”

The training camp involves two sessions a day, six days a week, for two weeks.

The Martial Arts Academy athletes Roman Jervis and Katie Abbott doing the Muay Thai spinning elbow. Photo / Brydie Thompson

Coburn believes the younger students will get two terms’ worth of training out of the two weeks and the adults will get three to four months’ worth.

Outside the training camp, the club will experience the culture by going to Thai Fight, taking an island tour, going to an elephant sanctuary and doing some tourist activities.

The trip costs $4000 per person, and they have all been fundraising to get themselves to Phuket.