Meggie Ochoa is a jiu-jitsu star but finds her calling in life fighting against child abuse

HANGZHOU – After winning the 2015 IBJJF World Championships, the high from reaching the pinnacle of her sport quickly turned into a period of doubt for Filipina jiu-jitsu exponent Meggie Ochoa.

She had achieved her goal but suddenly there was a void in her life as she questioned what came after that.

“When you’ve already achieved your goals, it’s like, and then what? What do I do with this?” said Ochoa to The Straits Times in an interview arranged by Under Armour. “I had that question: What am I doing with my life? Why am I doing this?”

In order to go to the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation event, she had turned to crowdfunding and raised over US$4,000 (S$5,500) to cover her airfare, accommodation, fees and food.

That also made her mull over what her purpose in the sport was. She said: “That partly made me think that this can’t just be it, people are giving their own money for me to reach my own dreams.

“I felt so selfish. But it just felt that there was so much more I could do because I felt like I owed it to them, not just as individuals but because you’ve received so much goodness, you just want to give goodness.”

A few months later, she came across an article that covered the topic of child sexual abuse. She was horrified by what she read, but that also kick-started her journey in advocacy.

Ochoa, who is a devout Christian, came to the realisation that she was not just in the sport to win, but to use her platform to have a positive impact on those around her. The 33-year-old said: “I was really shocked, I couldn’t sleep. I’m like, ‘What am I doing with my life? I’m doing jiu-jitsu and these kids are suffering’.”

This led to Ochoa starting Fight to Protect, a movement that aims to fight against child sexual violence through jiu-jitsu, giving her a renewed sense of purpose in the sport.

It started as an initiative to raise awareness on the issue and now, Ochoa and her team work with shelters that take care of victims.

She said: “My dream is someday these kids will not just be like me but better than me.”

The organisation also supports these children in other ways, such as helping them prepare for their court hearings, treating it like a competition to give them confidence to face their perpetrators in court. She has also seen how going through adversity on the mat has helped many of these children build their resilience and face challenges off it.

Ochoa is not sure how long more she will be in the sport and said she is taking it one year at a time, but she still has unfulfilled business.

A first Asian Games gold, with the ju-jitsu competition starting on Thursday, is high on that list. So is winning the IBJJF World Championships as a black belt.

She clinched the Philippines’ sole medal – a bronze in the women’s under-49kg – in the sport at the 2018 Games in Indonesia, where ju-jitsu made its debut at the quadrennial competition.

Ochoa said: “It’s very important because it’s very important for the Philippines. Ju-jitsu is not in the Olympics so the Asian Games is the highest level of multi-sport competition that we can ever join...

“The impact of winning gold here is going to be huge, not just for me but for the country and for promoting the sport in the Philippines.”