Meet or simply Gile, a legendary French

Filipino coach who has been living in

Serbia for more than 20 years. He runs a

chain of jujitsuademies across the

Balkans and trains with top Serban

fighters. He shared how Serbia in the

late '9s deeply shocked him how to earn

a real respect from Serbs and why Serbia

became his true home. I in 1999 I was

studying in Paris, France in a private

business school and that business school

they had uh exchange students from

Yugoslavia. So this was one year after

the bombings the NATO bombings in

Belgrade like many people in the world

had a very negative view of Serbs. I

thought oh my god man what is this

genocidal people because of the war you

know because of the CNN. And I was

watching CNN, French news, all that. And

I remember my first experience was like

I was like in the in the university and

I see this big guy, 2 m tall, bald head.

I'm like, what is this guy, man? Like

some like like a Frankenstein or

something, you know? And I remember

like, you know, I'm like, uh, I don't

like these people, man. Like they're

weird. But I remember one day I was in a

computer room. I started talking to one

or two of them and we started talking

about basketball. The conversation

started. Oh, yeah. I love basketball.

all like uh Vlad Divatz great player

also correction players Tony K coach

Dino Raja Dan Boda all those guys you

know I I knew all of them and we became

friends very very fast after 5 minutes

we're talking and they're like hey what

are you doing tonight I said oh nothing

special man you know he goes hey we it's

a Serbian new year like what's what the

hell is Serbian new year like oh it's 2

weeks after we're two weeks come with us

there's a party Serbian party in in

Paris we went there all the Serbs from

Paris there with with my friends from

university and I didn't speak a word of

sermon. I didn't know any song. And they

they treated me like like I was their

long- lost brother. And I remember it

was like midnight.

And then some random guy gave me a kiss,

three cheeks, three kiss. And like

I'm like I wasn't used to that. I'm like

these people are so nice. And I became

became friends with them, you know. Next

thing you know, I was their adopted

Serbian guy in the in the group, you

know. I was the only non-Serbian guy in

the group of friends. They they brought

me in, you know, and I just learned

everything. And then in the summer they

say, "Hey, you know, for summer, come to

visit us in Belgrade." Now, 2 years

after the bombings, I took the bus from

Belgrade to Paris. Imagine the bus 24

hours. Yeah, I went No, I had I had

money for the plane, but I went to

adventure. I was the only non-Serbian

guy in the bus. Gastab, you know, the

Serbian cast. They're so happy that a

foreigner come to visit their country

after all after all these years cuz it

was still under economic sanctions. So,

they were so nice like, "Yeah, when you

come there, you have to go this, you

have to do that." So we go out the first

night we go to Akapulko it's like a very

famous palab they took me out for the

whole experience and then we sitting in

a separe and then there was like the

famous b the famous football player Savo

Milosvich he was sitting with us he

played for Aston Villa Real Madrid all

that so we were talking I'm like hey man

Savo where are you going to play next

year I don't know bro you know it was it

was surreal man you like I was watching

Savos on TV and I'm hanging out with him

in in Belgrade club I was like the only

foreigner in the club

>> insane

>> yeah insane like you know people are

buying me drinks Hey, so I think they

were happy that there's a foreigner

there after all that happened, you know,

just to show them to show the foreigner

that they're not savages, you know,

they're going extra and being extra

nice.

>> Is Serbia open country for foreigners?

>> Yes, of course. The thing is, you know,

I've lived here for 20 years. So when I

first came here, there were not there

were not foreigners. And especially I

came here in the summer of 2000. This

was still under Milosvich. I think I was

one of the only foreigners. This was not

even Serbia. It was Yugoslavia then.

>> Yeah.

>> You know, so there there were no

foreigners there. And even like the

debe, that's bia the like the Serbian

CIA. They're like, "Who the hell is this

French Filipino student visiting us in

the summer? Like, what's he doing here?"

This was

>> They interrogated you.

>> No, they interrogated my my friend.

They're like, "Who is this guy?"

>> Really?

>> Yeah. Yeah. And I like uh

>> So they thought you're a spy

>> maybe. Yeah. That's usually how it is

when you come from when you're in

socialist country or some communist

country. You think ah this guy's

foreigner, you know?

If you watch

>> I've seen this

even I get that I live here you know I

meet a foreign guy I'm like this guy's a

spy man before there was no foreigners

and like what I noticed there's been a

shift in the last but there were

foreigners there were old foreigners

who've been here since the time of

communist time Tito times you know who

like from Africa from Libya who are

studying here and now they're doctors

and stuff like that they had those guys

and those guys are integrated in the

society and then I noticed like Since

Corona, there's there's been a new wave

of immigrants. Like this the first time

I saw immigrants, you know, like guys

who work in Vault and Globo delivery and

we never had drivers.

>> Yeah. Buzz driver, dude. You have

Filipino buzz driver, you have Indian

bus driver. I never saw that before. So

I guess it's like the it's evolving.

>> You think it's a good thing?

>> If those foreigners integrate in Serbian

society, learn the language, respect

everybody. Serbs, I think, will welcome

them, you know, just as long as they're

are hardworking people. You know, I

think Serbs are more open to that. What

I noticed about this this country

compared to like they say France cuz I'm

half French, half French Britain, they

never had colonies. So they don't have

this kind of like colonial mentality of

like ah you guys you were, you know,

you're below us or whatever. So after

after the summer, I had a crazy summer.

We were going out every time. Yeah. I

think we every night we went out going

out all this club. everything and then

go during the day we go to Ada and I I

met all kinds of Serbs you know from the

lower class to upper class that's what I

like about here it's a very I wouldn't

say classless society but it's you know

for example in the Philippines the rich

the ultra rich they don't mix with the

ultra poor never and for example France

France also it's it's more divided but

here it's like cuz you know they didn't

have like aristocrats here different

from Russia or France you had

aristocrats there they didn't they

didn't have aristocrats because they

were under the Turks you know they had

communism and all that so a lot of the

rich people in Serbia now are maybe

second second generation rich nova rich.

It's still not you don't have this like

like so snobbish Serbian people you know

like you have in France you have the

aristocrats in France they'll never

gonna mix with the guys from the ghetto

whereas here it's more okay you know

it's more mixed I like that you know

>> did you witness the remnants from the

bombing in

>> yeah what was the mood of people

>> Belgrade changed a lot now you know now

Belgrade has evolved since then you know

like boulevard Alexandra it was called

bulvar revolut before it was an old name

you know old communist name it's not how

it is now you know it was like a like a

boulak like a market. People were

selling stuff on the hoods of the cars,

selling CDs, selling socks, selling

food. The whole boulevard was covered in

that. People were changing money in the

streets. This is like very different

from what it is now. I saw one guy on

the hood of a car selling socks, right?

And I was in shock because this guy

looked exactly like my brother-in-law

from Paris, Mike, who's Scottish guy,

multi-millionaire, the same face. I'm

like I'm like man like what kind of

life is this? So like he was just born

in the wrong place at the wrong time

that this guy look like intelligent guy

educated man you know like look like a

professor or something to survive to

feed his family he's got to sell socks

you know I I almost cried. I'm like man

you know this is hard this is hard

to watch. So when I saw that I I felt

really connected to service man you know

one day I want to live here. My whole

childhood you know my my father he

worked in this big company. So we

traveled uh we were in different

countries and uh I was exposed to many

many cultures growing up. This is also

one of the reasons why I feel so at home

here in Serbia, you know, because I've

since my childhood, I know how to uh

deal with different cultures, you know.

So when you're grown up, then you go,

"Oh, I met I met a Russian guy when I

was a kid, Yuri. Yeah, we used to go

out. We had good fun." Okay. And oh,

where you from in Russia? Okay. And I

know a couple, you know. So that's how

I'm able to to blend in, let's say, in

this kind of like for foreign uh foreign

environment and especially if I find a

jiu-jitsu academy because it's a very

tight community. You know, it's a small

sport, but we all know each other that

really uh unites people. You know, you

can unite people through sports. You

know, politics divides, sports unites.

>> From your personal standpoint, uh don't

you think that earlier Serbia was like a

hidden gem that only you knew? Yeah.

>> And now it's for everybody.

>> I don't think it's for everybody because

not everybody wants to come here, you

know, like uh I have friends that tell

me, "Man, you live in Serbia? Oh my

god." You know, like it's it sounds

scary or something, you know. Are they

nice to you? They're like, "Yeah, man."

You know, I'm like they're super nice to

me, you know, but they don't they don't

they have no idea how it is here. I for

me it's still a hidden gem, you know.

It's it's not like, you know, like

Prague or something. It's full of

tourists. For me, the best thing in

Serbia are the people. You know, the

people are so nice, friendly. Serbs,

they they respect a strong leader. For

me, it's very complex because I don't

want to be a dictator and I don't want

to be too soft. I'm the nice, smiling,

relaxed guy, but don't with me, you

know? That's what I'm saying. Like,

don't don't don't mess me. Don't don't

don't mess with me, you know. So, I'm

I'm nice with everybody, of course. And

I prove myself in on the front. I'm a

45. I compete all the time. So, I prove

myself by competing. I prove myself by

uh rolling. We call rolling. is like

doing combat with my with my students to

they see that I I'm legit. I'm not that

fat coach on the sideline. Hey,

no, no, I'm not like that. I'm there. I

I show them I show them how to do it. I

lead by example. And this is why I think

I'm successful as a coach in Serbia

because people respect me. I'm a

foreigner, but I'm also Serbskazette and

I love Serbia. So, they they they see me

as a local. You know, I got my black

belt in Serbia. My jiu-jitsu is from

Serbia. people in the community, they

respect me. I'm seen as a local here.

>> Is it tough to earn respect of Serbs?

What's the best way to get respect from

Serbian?

>> Just be an honest guy. Just be honest.

Treat everybody the same. Treat

everybody with respect. Not just with

Serbs. I think with everybody. Be

polite. Be nice. Be patient. And learn

the language. If you're a foreigner

here, want to learn the language. Adapt.

Even if you speak bad Serbian, but

you're making an effort to learn the

language, learn the culture. They they

respect you right away. Man,

>> during your 20 years, have you ever

encountered uh racism here in Serbia?

Maybe misjudgments, maybe prejudices.

>> I don't think so, man. Honestly, listen.

I I have a view of about racism. I have

a very controversial view of racism. For

me, racism is fake. Racism for me is how

you perceive yourself.

Okay? Some guy can call you a dirty

n-word, dirty Chinese guy, whatever. If

you in your in your in your in your

vision, you think of yourself, man, you

know, I'm I'm a superstar. I'm a great

guy. I'm an awesome guy. What does this

opinion of some idiot, why would that

affect you? I know I'm good in

jiu-jitsu. If someone tells me, oh,

you're you're you're crap at jiu-jitsu.

I'm like, man, that's your opinion. I

know I'm good. So, if ever someone tells

me, oh, you're you're a dirty Filipino

guy or whatever, dirty French guy,

whatever, man. Okay, good for you. Have

a nice life.

>> You don't put him asleep. No man, no. If

someone attacks me, I I defend myself.

Yes. But no one's going to attack me.

And uh yeah, what I was saying, so when

I was younger, when I was less

confident, yeah, I was affected by

racism. Someone calls me Filipino, dumb

Filipino or something, like, oh my god,

I'm so hurt. Someone tells me that now I

don't care, man. You know, like, dude,

okay, cool. You know,

>> how many students do you have?

>> Uh, let me see. I don't really count but

I would guess between maybe around 150

to 175 students altogether

>> just at the moment.

>> Just in Belgrade. Yeah. Yeah. And then I

have affiliate schools around Serbia and

I have affiliate schools in Bosnia,

in Greece and Turkey. Yeah. We have a

>> a whole network. Yeah. Yeah. Balkcon.

Balkcon.

>> And all the training is happens how it's

in English, it's Serbian language. I

wanted to be all in it's all in Serbian

and then when we have foreigners who

don't speak I I'll explain the technique

once in English you know

>> and I also I have a lot of like foreign

students that who don't speak and I said

hey this is the perfect way for you to

learn Serbian

>> yeah actually

>> through this you know and many people

they learn very very fast I'm a

foreigner but I'm a Serba you know

Serbian patriot I love Serbia and you

know they gave a lot to me

Awesome.

Nicholas

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

The podium.

Yes.

Bishop

Francis

disrespect.

Yes.

Traffic

old school of a auto M3

concept. So concept of the

city old school.

>> Do you think during these 20 years Serbs

somehow changed?

>> I see I see a bit of change. Yeah. Cuz

the the environment is changing. You

know, like like I like like I said when

I was here, this is 25 years ago. This

was 2000. This was still under

sanctions, economic sanctions. There

were not so many foreigners here and it

was still Yugoslavia. It was still under

Milosvich. So there's been so much

change. I think the core value is still

here. You know, what I like about Serbia

is that they still have family values.

My family, my in-laws, my my wife's

family, her parents are like my my

second parents. I'm even closer to them

than than to many of my relatives. You

know, my sister-in-law, they have they

have sons and all. They're like we're

super close. The Serbs change. Yeah, for

sure. They changed a bit.

>> What's the biggest change, do you see?

>> Well, now there's immigration. There

wasn't before. There wasn't not so much

immigration, especially during

sanctions. There were not so many

foreigners here, man. You know, now you

have immigrants. You have guys who we

talked about this guys who work with the

vault uh from wherever it was Kyrgystan

uh

Syria Libya all that you know they're

here and it's it's a changing

demographics you have to adapt with the

situation it's the same this happened

after corona you have many people coming

in Nepal Filipinos all that you come in

that has changed and also I think the

place of Serbia in the role is also

changed you know before it was

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia was a strong

country respected by any now it's

Serbia, Croatia. These are smaller

countries, you know, and I think they

get they get trampled on by many of the

world powers. My view is when you're

when you're a smaller small countries,

you're easier to control. Whereas when

you're one big country, much harder.

You're going to look, you're going to go

here. You're going to open hug it. Just

give him a hug here. Okay? Look at your

ear is here.

>> Uh-huh.

>> And look, you just do this. Look here.

And the head pushing the head. Now look,

look at my leg. My head is going to

come. I'm gonna get heel to the heel and

just and then just drop him. It's

simple.

>> Okay.

>> Okay. So, ear ear here. No, just

>> lower this.

>> Head forward. See, he break his posture.

Now look.

>> Yeah.

>> Take your heel. A pet.

>> Wow.

>> Grab his heel. Get his heel and do this

>> and fall with him.

>> Let's go.

>> But kick kick kick kick your leg back.

Look. Circle this. Yes. and didn't drop

him. Yes.

>> Yes. Very good. Very good. Very good.

>> What kind of lifestyle do you leave?

>> More or less, I live I live a very

disciplined life, balancing family life,

being a father, being a husband, and

running my academy. I try to sleep every

night before 11:30 p.m. latest. I wake

up every morning 7:00 a.m., drive my

daughter to school, come home, do a do a

little workout in in the morning, kettle

bells, then I do work on my laptop, walk

my dog, and then at night, every night,

I'm in the academy teaching jiu-jitsu.

So, it's a very disciplined life. If I

don't have time to go to Kafana,

>> a lot of my guests they're speaking

about Kafana culture, drinking rakia.

Can people which are living healthy

lifestyle enjoy yourself in such country

as Serbia?

>> Yeah, absolutely man. This is a very

misconception about Serbian people. Not

every Serb smokes cigarettes. Not every

Serb drinks alcohol. You know, I look at

all these guys here in my academy. I

think nobody smokes here and very few of

them drink alcohol. And I think there's

a lot of people like that. Especially

now the people are shifting. They want

more healthy lifestyle. I mean, alcohol

in a moderation is okay, but if you get

drinking every night, beer, wine, all

that, man, that that destroys your body.

Long term, it's going to is bad.

Everybody has their way of blowing off

steam. My way of blowing off steam is I

go to the gym, I wrestle people, I

compete in jiu-jitsu. You know, I'm 45.

I compete in jiu-jitsu. I became uh

Serbian Cup champion in the adult

division at age 45.

>> Wow.

>> Against 20 year olds. It's never been

done before.

>> Do you meditate? Do you do brief

exercises?

>> I do a lot of uh diaphragmatic

breathing. For me, breathing is most

important. You know, when I fight, when

I do training, I breathe only through my

nose.

And this slows down your heart rate. It

uh it makes you more calm and this it

improves your cardiovascular system.

Breathing, meditation. Sometimes I'll

sit in the car for 10 minutes, close my

eyes, listen to some uh classical music,

and I'll visualize how I want my

training to go, how I want my

competition to go. Me, my hand raised

being raised, positive stuff. Sleep

well. Sleep is number one, you know.

some monstrous

Have you ever uh do jiujitsu on the

streets?

>> I do mental jiu-jitsu. So, for example,

let's say I go somewhere and the guy

wants a problem and he he goes this from

from Dagasan.

Say hello. Very famous fighter

>> Honda from from Dagistan. Makashkala.

Great fighter man. Buddhisto. So I do a

mentor. So a guy looks at me in the in

the street or whatever. He goes, "Hey,

what are you looking at?" Sorry, man.

I'm looking at your t-shirt. I love it.

Where do you buy it? Ah, okay. You work

your way around. I don't want no

trouble, man. You know, I think I

believe there's always a way to avoid

trouble by talking out of it. Give a guy

a compliment or something. You know, oh,

I like your shoes, man. You know, where

do you buy them? I I had a incident

once. I was with my daughter in the

street and then there was a guy on a

bicycle and the guy hit me with a with a

bicycle and I go, "Hey."

He said, "Stop." And he got in my face

like this. He got it like this, you

know. I'm like, "Hey,

but the guy doesn't know if you see

these kind of ears. These are

cauliflower ears. This is this a

fighter, you know. You're you're from

Russia, you know." Yeah. Yeah.

>> So this guy doesn't train anything. He

has no idea because if he has seen my

ears, he's okay. No, no. I get I get my

my aggression out in the gym, in the

academy by competing in jiu-jitsu. I I

have nothing to prove to anybody, man.

Jiu-jitsu is good for the managing your

ego because here you get beaten up all

the time. So you got nothing to prove.

This is what I teach my students also.

Just it's good to know jiu-jitsu but to

defend yourself. You know, you don't

want to use it on other people. You

don't want to be a bully. You have to

use it for good.

>> You go to France sometimes.

>> Yeah, I go. Yeah. What do you feel when

you come to France?

>> I love France, but I don't want to live

there anymore. Let me tell you about

French. You know, French get a lot of

bad rap in the world like, "Oh, French

people are like this." Listen, if you've

been to France, you've been to Paris.

Paris is not France. If you want to see

the real French people, you go outside

of Paris. Real French people in the

village, in a small town, in a smaller

city, they're nice, man. They're they're

like they're like Serbs in many ways.

They're family. They're they're close.

They're warm. They share. People in

Paris are stressed, you know. They're

not even if they're French, they're not

real French because they're they're

stressed. But I don't want to live there

anymore. Here in Serbia, I feel more

appreciated. Here, I'm interesting.

Here, I'm like a jub like just a normal

French French mixed race guy, whatever,

man. Same in the Philippines, you know.

I I love the Philippines, but there I'm

like a just another they call it

Eurasian. I I like it there, but I after

two or three weeks, I like, okay, I'm

done, man. I'm going going back to

Serbia. But I feel I feel much more

appreciated.

>> I know that in jiujitsu very important

to know where you are lost. It's

important to tap your partner before you

black out. How it works with famous

Serbian in

>> you got to break it. You got to break

their ego, you know. So some people have

a come here with a huge ego and there's

no other way but you have to smash them.

I'm a black belt. I've been training for

24 years. I think it's under control my

ego because I've gotten so beaten up so

many times with the enut is not for me

is like being hard-headed and you tell

him do this I won't do that sometimes

when I'm a coach on the mat I have to be

I'm the boss here so if I tell you to do

something you got to do something if you

don't want to do something you get out

you know and that's that's you have to

be respected you know but you don't get

this kind of people who come here they

want to learn

>> uh what is the most meaningful thing for

you here you found here in Serbia

>> family man my my for my family means

Without family, without structure or

family, I'm nothing. My wife and kid,

they go to Nish, you know, my wife is

from Nish, they go there for a week and

I'm here alone at the teaching at the

academy, I feel lost. I'm I'm I get

depressed. I'm like I have no structure.

I have no reason. I'm like, I'm at home

by myself like this. They're not there.

I miss the noise. I miss the, you know,

papa ta. For me, family is the most

important thing in the in the in the

world. You know, once I I met this guy.

I was in a plane somewhere and it was

like some British guy. He was like a a

mercenary, you know, he fought in

Bosnia. He fought in crazy places. And

actually the whole plane was full of

them. There were like 50 of them flying

from states and all that. And he thought

I was one of the mercenaries. He was

sitting next to me and I sit next to me.

He started talking bad to me. I'm like,

"Excuse me, man. Do I know you? Why?

Why?" He's like, "Hey, get the out

of here, man." He's like like, "Hold on.

You're you're you're not with you're not

with a company." I'm like, "What

company?" I was talking to my cuz my

mother was behind me. And I talked to my

mother in Filipino. I said, "Hey, this

is is trying something on

me." And he goes, "Oh, you're Filipino."

"Oh, my wife is Filipino. My kid is

Filipino." And then he he became so nice

to me after. And anyway, he told me

like, "Uh, where is your home?" I'm

like, "This is like this like 10 years

ago, you know." I said, I I was I was

like thinking, "Oh, my home is France,

Philippines, and Serbia." He goes, "No,

no, no, no, no. Where is your heart?" It

took me one second to answer. It's in

Serbia, man.