Personal Best: Kickin’ it in the Sunset
By: Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer
December 21, 2008
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True rewards: Ten years after winning the World Kickboxing Organization championship, Kru Edgerton Brown spends his time training fighters and running a training studio in the Sunset district. (Katie Worth/The Examiner)
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SAN FRANCISCO — Like many athletic teenagers in England in the 1970s, it didn’t take long for Kru Edgerton Brown to get caught up in the martial arts wave that swept the world around that time.
Brown had always played soccer and dabbled in boxing — two of England’s favorite sports — but he soon started taking karate lessons. It wasn’t long before he was exposed to Muay Thai — a kickboxing art that was and remains Thailand’s favorite sport, or, as Brown describes, “What they watch on TV instead of baseball.”
He fell in love with the martial art for its fluidity and grace, and devoted himself to training in the sport. Nearly two decades later, he won the World Kickboxing Organization’s championship, in a fight that was broadcast to 40 countries and ended with Brown knocking out his opponent.
Today, Brown has retired from the spotlight but not entirely from the fight ring. He runs 445 Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu, a martial arts gym on Judah Street near 10th Avenue. He continues to train professional fighters — and has helped five fighters gain championships of their own. But the thrust of his business is helping train people who simply want to get in shape or learn to defend themselves.
And this is some of Brown’s most rewarding work, he said.
“I just like watching people achieve their goals, like one of our students has lost 85 pounds in four months,” he said. “It’s really nice to watch that.”
Also rewarding is teaching self-defense and martial arts to women, who tend to be shyer about stepping into martial arts studios but often excel once they’re there, he said.
“A lot of girls come in and they haven’t got confidence that they can get good, and then they do, and you can see it. You can see them getting more confident elsewhere in their lives,” he said. “I think a lot of times, women don’t know their own power.”
Brown has a 9-year-old daughter of his own, who he hopes will explore martial arts as she gets older.
“I really think every woman should learn martial arts, especially young girls,’ He said. “Every girl has been in a situation at some point where someone’s trying to take advantage of them, whether it’s date rape or whatever. It happens to a lot more girls than people realize. They need to feel they can defend themselves.”
Gym 445
What: The gym is known for its Muay Thai instruction, but also teaches a variety of other classes for all skill ranges. Membership is $89 a month for unlimited classes with an $89 enrollment fee.
Who: Besides Kru Brown, other instructors include Bebe Etzler, another former Muay Thai champion fighter with a record of 15 wins, 1 loss and 2 draws; and Bret Bergmark, who is head Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor and a professional mixed martial artist.
Where: 445 Judah St., San Francisco
Info: www.gym445.com
