APPRECIATION OF THAI CULTURE IN KOREAN MUAY THAI PRACTITIONERS

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study Thai culture and value express through Muay Thai among Korean Muay Thai practitioners and to study Korean value system that matches to Muay Thai value system. The quantitative and qualitative research mythologies were utilized in this study. The research conducted among 47 of both male and female Korean Muay Thai practitioners that have been training Muay Thai at Muay Thai gyms both in Thailand and Korea. They were selected by the purposive sampling technique. The quantitative data was collected through questionnaires from 38 Korean Muay Thai practitioners and the qualitative data was collected through interview questions from 9 Korean Muay Thai practitioners. The questionnaire was divided into 5 sections: The first one on demographic characteristic of the practitioners; the second one on background and knowledge about Muay Thai, third one on motivation in training Muay Thai, the fourth one on the benefits from Muay Thai and the fifth one on opinion on Thai culture and value express through Muay Thai. The overall result of the appreciation in Thai culture in Korean Muay Thai practitioners was a high level (3.72). Motivation in training Muay Thai (3.78) and benefits from Muay Thai (4.28) were all high levels as well, while opinion on Thai culture and value express through Muay Thai was in moderate level (3.07). In contrast, Korean value system matches Muay Thai value (1.71) and there is a connection between Thai and Korean value systems (1.71) were all low levels. However, there is a connection in paying respect to teachers, parents and seniors between Thai and Korean value systems.