Book 3: Initiate, Chapters 1-3, 'Kickboxing,' 'Media Matters,' and 'Iron Forearm Boy' Summary

Matt goes home to America for Christmas while the monks tour Thailand. Matt's friends take him to several rough bars, hoping to see a fight, and Matt realizes that he is still not confident he could win an actual fight. When he returns to Shaolin after Christmas, he tells the leaders that he wants to train in sanda, Chinese kickboxing, with Coach Cheng. They arrange for a kickboxing team to be set up, using Matt's money to pay a stipend to the athletes on it. In other words, everyone on the team is an expert except Matt, who has bought his way on instead. He knows the others will hate him for this and that he will have to...