Interview in Kythera.News was granted by the martial arts master, George Zantiotis. The Federal Coach of the National Team in jiu jitsu, born and bred on our island (with a father from Karava and mother from River) brings to the Kythera the last four days of July the experience of the “Geobukan Tour & Training Martial Arts”.
This will be the fourth time that this event will visit Kythera (counting two trips to Santorini), with Mr. Zantiotis declaring himself confident of success, given the receptivity with which the average Tsirigotis is treating it.
For him, this is a very important link in the chain of sports tourism, an activity that «fits» perfectly into the energy footprint of Kythera. But, this is not enough. The appropriate infrastructure is needed, as well as the coupling - partnership between stakeholders and local authorities., so that the event can be internationalised.
«An indoor stadium that will host seminars, demonstrations and sporting events», would be the basis for us to be competitive in proposals from similar projects, both in Greece and abroad. At the same time, however, suitable outdoor spaces are also required, which will «touch» well-known energy spots of the island (castles, monasteries, waterfalls, beaches), where we plan to set up the tatami for our activities», explains George, who seems to leave nothing to chance. His train of thought reveals a fully conscious man who has calculated every aspect of the whole project. Besides, this project is part of a large and ambitious effort that has been going on for 4 decades. Therefore, when he tells us that plans to claim the patronage of both the Municipality and the E.O.T., he knows exactly what he's talking about. And, more importantly, how what he is talking about serves him in his overall planning for the day ahead.
Yes. George Zantiotis speaks in terms of the next day. You feel it, you perceive it, you get it from the first minutes of the conversation. It's no coincidence that he calls the whole project «athletic tourism». He knows that this can serve the needs of the local community, both in economic terms and in the direction of social and broader cultural interaction. After all, an interaction he himself has been serving for forty years. The sport for him is not just an amalgam of arts to which he has at times attached his vision. Karate, Krav Maga, Jiu Jitsu. It is not just trends in social behaviour to which he adapted it (competitive, traditional, disabled). It is all of these together, expressed as an attitude to life through the triptych of self-defence: Easy, fast, effective.
In the interview he gave us, George Zantiotis talks about programs that have come, that have stayed or are postponed for the future. He explains why a young person's involvement in the martial arts field sculpts him in such a way that his entire life is renegotiated on the basis of conscious goal-orientation. And he analyses the reasons why Tsirigo not only does not constitute a «barren line» in space but, on the contrary, can prove to be a cell of activation of a wider geographical arc, which, with the appropriate institutional touches, can extend its footprint outside Greece, with the ultimate benefit of a harmonious balance between man and the surrounding space in which he weighs his dreams.
