Belgian Judo Instructor’s Pilgrimage to Create Dojo in the Philippines

“It’s a project that I already wanted to launch four years ago. But during the Covid period, I stayed in Belgium with my two children, Zoé, 22 years old, and Téo, 20 years old.”

Since September 21, 2022, however, he has taken up his pilgrim’s staff and begun to climb the administrative mountain that stood in front of him to create this famous dojo, the place devoted to the practice of judo. “We often talk about Belgian administrative slowness but I can tell you that here in the Philippines, it’s something else again (laughs). More seriously, it wasn’t easy. I spent hours in office waiting rooms of all kinds, in 35°C weather. But I got there.”

The Q-Bagwis Judo Club was created on September 9. “The “Q” is the first letter of the name of the local mayor, Jose Arnel L. Quebal. I owe him a lot in the creation of this center, in particular the fact that the room is located in municipal facilities, and I want to thank him thank you for that. “Bagwis” means “wings” in the local language.”

On its own, Jonathan’s project is now flying. With fifteen apprentice judokas, aged 9 to 39, who assimilate the knowledge transmitted by Jonathan Galliaerdt.

“ Everything had to be put in place, step by step. I have a 25 square meter room available. It’s not huge. I give the lessons in English and my partner translates them live. The young people trained for two months without judogi (Editor’s note: the judo kimono) , quite simply because it costs €17 here and it takes their parents two months to save this amount. So they trained in shorts and t-shirts… Knowing that judo is a contact sport, where the grip is important, that complicates things. I also taught them a lot of simple hygiene tips: washing their feet before getting on the tatami, cutting their nails, etc. These are examples of the magnitude of the work that we accomplished in four months but of which we can be proud today.”

Jonathan and one of his young medalists last weekend. ©

Behind this pride, there is also, and above all, a priority objective for our interlocutor – who also works as a judo instructor in a high school. “We are in a poor neighborhood and the majority of these kids will almost never leave it. My goal, through the practice of judo, is that they can obtain the status of “school” , that is to say, joining a university at the age of 14 here in Manila. They would then have the opportunity to have a program to continue practicing judo but also English lessons, which is essential for finding work in the Philippines. Recently, I presented a first young person to a university, we are waiting for the response. It would be great if it was accepted because it would give everyone a boost, while giving meaning to my project. Now, I am not Abbé Pierre but I hope that it will work because it would allow social advancement for all these young people through meritocracy, through the philosophy of judo, full of beautiful values. If they can build self-confidence and an active, academic and social life, I will be the happiest of men.”

2024-01-20 05:05:24
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