The Spanish Judo Federation he chose the Coruña Eduardo Galan as the best teacher of the year, an award for his career as a trainer at Edukajudo, but also as one of the parents of the famous Miguelito Trophy.
How did you feel when you received the award?
I feel it more like a recognition of Galician judo in general and judo from A Coruña in particular. The prizes are collected by one person but they are the result of team work. I am lucky to participate in a project of the Galician Federation that we have been running for 25 years. I would like everyone to feel part of this award that I was lucky enough to collect.
What is the difference between a coach and a judo teacher?
Everything is mixed up a bit, but the coach looks for an immediate result, because there is competition in the middle, which is the objective, while a teacher goes a little further, he is not in such a hurry to obtain a result and assesses and plans things. more in the long term, more like a life project. Being a teacher allows you to delve deeper into the intrinsic values that judo has, such as respect, discipline, self-improvement… go adding every day without trying to be better than anyone else but yourself. It is more than a sport.
Many don’t even compete.
I have been a competitor, but I have dedicated all my professional part to developing the school methodology and the staging of that methodology in the Miguelito Trophy, which is dedicated to covering that space for judo practitioners who do not like to compete. A judoka has every right to be a champion as well as not to be. For those who do not want to be champions, we developed a methodology that at the time changed the paradigm of traditional judo.
How does a good judo teacher have to be?
He is the one who enjoys being on the tatami having the opportunity to teach the sports part and the values. Both. He is the one who goes beyond the sports discipline itself and understands teaching as something global.
How does the practice of judo benefit children?
What judo teaches above all is to respect the partner. Because it is very difficult to win or be on the podium and very easy to lose. That makes you respect because you know that today you win but that tomorrow you can lose. In addition, we use projections a lot to knock down our teammates and that teaches you that it is very important to get up because you shoot as many times as you fall. That is a good philosophy of life. Every day you will have good and bad things and you have to continue.
Do they also suffer with parents?
Parents introduce their children to a sport that meets the values and physical condition they expect. Starting from this premise, I understand that parents who enroll their children in judo are already looking for something more than just a sport practice. We admit children from 3 years old and the teacher will accompany them until the end. We are teachers from the moment they enter until they form a family. Some have even brought their grandchildren to us. And the more years you have in judo, the more satisfaction it gives you. We are lucky to work with children. Because they make you excited and renew yourself day by day through them, have new challenges. It is very rewarding. They transmit tenderness, youth and future to you. And we contribute our grain of sand. The Miguelito Trophy is an example. It is incredible and it fills me with pride and satisfaction to see the children in a competition where no one wins or loses. And also to see the stands, with the moms and dads, especially the grandparents, with tremendous joy. Gives incredible energy.
Is the Miguelito Trophy like a son to you?
Miguelito was my partner when he passed away in 1988, a wonderful partner. Our teacher, Miguel Ramos, had the idea for him to last. And I was lucky to be there from minute one, to see him grow, to see him expand and above all to remember Miguelito in a wonderful way that has turned our city into a social movement that has gone beyond sports. It is a pride. In its day it was a paradigm shift and is crossing borders with many federations interested in copying the project.
Did they imagine they would go this far?
We started it with great enthusiasm. The feeling of remembering Miguel was mixed a lot with the need to transfer to the children a project that would excite everyone. And he took on extraordinary dimensions in our city. We have been improving it year after year with enthusiasm. For the children. They are our true motive. We didn’t think about it, but it is true that from the first edition, in the Riazor Poliderpotiva, they already told us that we had to do it in a bigger place and we went to the Coliseum in 1992. That’s when we realized that it was a social movement and we started to believe it.
How many generations of Coruña have passed through the Miguelito?
It’s a feeling wherever you go. There is no family that has not had a reference because a relative or a neighbor has practiced it. On the day of the Miguelito Trophy, A Coruña is flooded with kimonos and I believe that the city has a special affection for Miguelito and Miguelito owes it all to the magnificent reception he received.
The Miguelito did not stop during the pandemic. How did COVID affect the practice of judo?
We suffered a lot from the pandemic but thanks to the federal effort and the work of the clubs we were able to continue, but there was a setback in the student body. Now we have almost recovered the numbers from before the pandemic, we are very close to returning to normal.
