Jan van der Heijden is a judo icon. The 87-year-old native of Breda has been teaching at his own judo school for 65 years. Among other things, he indirectly saved the life of a boy. “After the holidays, a mother gave me a huge bouquet of flowers. They had been in a car accident in which their son was thrown from the car. By doing the judo roll I taught him, he survived the blow.”
Talk to Jan about his life and his enthusiasm grows by the minute. Like about his time in military service. “Now those soldiers have to work hard, but in my time they had a lousy job. I still had to work for another six months, but I was offered to work at a school. I was given permission to do so, but if there was an inspection, I had to report as quickly as possible. When that happened, I got into a taxi in my military fatigues, but I didn’t have a gun.”
Jan worked at school for many years, where he taught sports, among other things. In 1958 he also started his own judo school in Breda. “There was a factory building for rent and together with my wife I started a judo mat. She also had a black belt and taught judo during the day. I followed when I finished work. We built everything up quietly from the start. Things didn’t always go well, because when the Mark river flooded, for example, the entire floor was under water.”
“Judo has kept him on the right path.”
Thousands of children and adults have been taught by Jan, his wife or son Mark over the past 65 years. “Among them many children with a difficult home situation. I have once been approached by a man who thanked me for the lessons he received as a child. Judo has kept him on the right path. Judokas are disciplined and show respect for the opponent.”
He also remembers well that a 78-year-old man wanted to learn how to fall from Jan before a skiing holiday. “He was here for six weeks with his wife and a doctor. It turned out that he had shown how to fall on a billiard table at the Rotary club. Then suddenly sixteen registrations came in from entrepreneurs.”
For years, Jan even stood in his gym in the middle of the night. “My wife received a call from employees of the bread factory who wanted to exercise before their shift. However, I was not interested in teaching at four o’clock and told her to charge an impossible amount. However, that turned out to be no problem and we still earned a nice living.”
“I don’t put 200-pound men on my back anymore.”
Despite his respectable age of 87, Jan still teaches 16 hours a week in Breda and Baarle-Nassau. “I never really liked sitting at home. As long as it works physically and I enjoy it, I will continue to do this. I no longer put 100 kilo men on my back, but I can still demonstrate most things well.”