Meggie Ochoa continues to impact Philippine sports — this time in the role of coach for the jiu-jitsu national youth team.
Jiu-jitsu World Champion Meggie Ochoa continues to give the Philippines pride even as she already retired from the national team, now taking the role of coach.
Ochoa, 35, continues to stay involved with Team Philippines as a mentor for the youth squad — a contingent that recently competed at the Asian Youth Games.
With two of her athletes winning medals — a gold and a silver — Ochoa is starting off her new journey on a high.
[READ: Asian Youth Games medalists to enjoy monetary incentives from PSC, POC, nat’l government]
Speaking to One Sports during the recent presentation of Asian Youth Games medalists in Parañaque, Ochoa underscored the impact of her new assignment.
“Well, it's a different role pero malaking privilege siya. One of the reasons why I retired was because of this role. I can't do both at the same time because I want to give 100%,” Ochoa said.
“So yeah, it's a real privilege and I'm really grateful to see that our youth is doing a lot better than in the past. And I'm excited din for the future.”
As a former national team athlete, Ochoa was also delighted to see more and more backing for the next generation.
[RELATED: Filipino jiujitsu star Meggie Ochoa finds new calling as coach in Asian Youth Games]
“Yeah, actually I'm really grateful that they're providing a lot more support. Pati nga may incentives, pati nga may iPhone. So I think malaking encouragement siya. And sana next time, lalo pang dumami,” she said.
All medalists were promised hefty financial incentives and other rewards for their commanding performance in Bahrain that set a new record for Team Philippines in the Asian Youth Games (7 golds, 7 silvers, 10 bronzes).
Of course, Ochoa also knows that it also needs to go the other way, with the athletes themselves needing to push themselves forward.
“Yung mga athletes now, sana they stick to up to the point that they get to the adult level. Para tuloy tuloy yung progress natin,” she said.
No one solution
With Ochoa still learning the ropes as a coach, one thing that separated her life as an athlete and now as a mentor is that there wasn’t really any regimen that she can follow.
Having to deal with different types of athletes and people in her craft, the 35-year-old said that she’s grown in her craft to adhere to what her athlete needs.
“For me, one of the biggest lessons is every athlete is different. You have to treat every athlete as a human being,” she said.
“Wala kang pwedeng gawing formula na pwede sa lahat. Kailangan talaga i-customize bawa't isa sa mga atleta. And kaya rin siya it's extra challenging pero it's totally worth it.”
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.