HSPLS site
Login
My List - 0
Help
Search
My Account
Databases
HI Newspaper
eBooks/Audiobooks
Learning
PC Reservation
Reading Program
Basic
Advanced
Power
History
Search:
Title Browse
Author Browse
Subject Browse
Best Seller Browse
Music Title Browse
Video/DVD Title Browse
Journal/Newspaper Title Browse
Serial Title Browse
Series Browse (includes Bestseller List)
General Keyword
Title Keyword
Author Keyword
Subject Keyword
Name Keyword
Series Keyword
Score Title Browse
Talking Book Title Browse
Awards Note Browse
Bib No.
Barcode
Refine Search
> You're searching:
HAWAII STATE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM
Item Information
Holdings
Summary
More Content
More by this author
Tat, Zochada, 2000- author.
Subjects
Ry, Oum, 1944-
Martial artists -- Cambodia -- Biography.
Genocide survivors -- Cambodia -- Biography.
Refugees -- Cambodia -- Biography.
Cambodia -- History -- 1975-1979.
Browse Catalog
by author:
Tat, Zochada, 2000- author.
by title:
I am Oum Ry : a cham...
MARC Display
I am Oum Ry : a champion kickboxer's story of surviving the Cambodian genocide and discovering peace / as told to Zochada Tat and Addi Somekh ; afterword by Michael G. Vann, Ph.D.
by
Tat, Zochada, 2000- author.
Los Angeles : DoppelHouse Press, 2022.
Subjects
Ry, Oum, 1944-
Martial artists -- Cambodia -- Biography.
Genocide survivors -- Cambodia -- Biography.
Refugees -- Cambodia -- Biography.
Cambodia -- History -- 1975-1979.
ISBN:
9781954600072 (paper over board : hardback) :
1954600070 (paper over board : hardback)
Description:
223 pages : illustrations, map ; 21 cm
Requests:
0
Summary:
"From champion to refugee to martial-arts teacher, a kickboxing innovator tells of his career, remarkable survival and journey toward self-understanding. "When I was 6 years old, my grandmother told me, 'The rice won't bear grain if it stands tall, but it will if it bows.' I have always followed her advice: 'Be calm, be kind, be brave.' To this day, because of my grandmother, I am not afraid of anybody." Oum Ry grew up on a Central Cambodian island in the MeKong River in a family of silver engravers. When his family couldn't afford his food or schooling, he lived with monks until seeking out masters of Cambodian kickboxing, a martial art called Pradal Serey. He was the smallest kid but would become national champion at 23 years old. Over 15 years, he toured Southeast Asia and without ever suffering a knock-out won more than 250 fights. After a young man's dream-life of stardom, parties, and girls, his new wife gave birth to a child in 1975, two months before the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and pushed the country into an abyss of mass executions, disease, and famine. Oum Ry survived the genocide though much of his family perished. He was saved many times from death in Cambodia due to fame, talent, and his resilience, but suffered a life-threatening attack during Southern California's epic gang violence of the 1990s. Earlier, as a refugee in Chicago, Oum Ry worked cleaning hotels, knowing no English. Within a few years, he had an investor and opened one of the first kickboxing gyms in the United States, and was raising a daughter, Zochada, who took her first steps in the ring. This book is his oral history and includes a historical introduction, maps, and photos. Like Muay Thai, Pradal Serey is used in mixed martial arts and the UFC. The book culminates with Oum Ry's return trip to Cambodia in 2022 with his daughter to reunite with recently discovered family and to pass on Pradal Serey traditions to the next generation"--
Copy/Holding information
Location
Collection
Call No.
Status
Hawaii State Library
Art, Music & Recreation
796.81509 Ry Ta
Checked In
Add Copy to MyList
Hilo Public Library
Adult Nonfiction
796.81509 Ry Ta
Checked In
Add Copy to MyList
McCully-Moiliili Public Library
Adult Biography
B Ry Ta
Checked In
Add Copy to MyList
Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9884
© 2001-2013
SirsiDynix
All rights reserved.