Jean Claude CALIMOUTOU, Master and wise head coach of KAIASSE

“Martial arts enhances you. It reveals who you are and what you are. You can’t practice it in a high level without real inner values. If you are not aware of those values you will not learn because it speaks to your inner self.

That art touches the heart. Martial art is philosophy.”

JEAN CLAUDE CALIMOUTOU is among the founders of KAIASSE and the association’s chief instructor for all disciplines. When he founded the association in 1996, he was already a formidable martial artist, renowned for his expertise in French kickboxing, savate, and the art of moringue. It was in the year 2002 that he discovered the Filipino martial art of arnis, also known as eskrima and kali. He realized that he had finally found the truth he had been seeking. Ever since then, Jean Claude has dedicated himself to learning and practicing the art to its fullest.

In 2003, he was given a brown belt in Rapid Arnis by Master Pat O’Malley and finished 3rd place in a championship in London. The next year, he went with KAIASSE to Cebu to participate in the WEKAF world tournament. Jean Claude fell in love with the country and his drive to master the art intensified. Training long and hard over the years, his efforts were finally rewarded in 2008, when he became the WEKAF world champion in both the single stick and double stick categories.

His training continued under the tutelage of the Grand Masters of Cebu. In 2011, he was certified by the Academy of Eskrima in its Basic, Intermediate and Advanced courses under the TESDA-certified curriculum. He was elevated to the rank of Black Belt 3rd grade, becoming the first Frenchman to reach this level.

Jean Claude has gone far in his pursuit to perfect the art. Supreme Grand Master Diony Cañete himself has seen a future master in him, and he is on the course to become one. He may very well be the first Frenchman to attain the distinguished rank.

In his pursuit of the truth within the art of eskrima, Jean Claude embodies the spirit of KAIASSE, continuously learning from the ways and cultures of his teachers, while passing on what he has been given to the next generation. It is through these principles that he guides KAIASSE as its chief instructor, strengthening the association and the bond its members share. This is one of the reasons for KAIASSE’s many successes, and why it continues to grow and spread throughout the years.

Jean Claude is a true martial artist, practicing and perfecting a formidable repertoire of styles that include Multistyle Doce Pares, Nickelstick Balintawak Eskrima, the Inting Carin system, Rapid Arnis, and Ming Dao Quan kung fu/wushu, the latter of which he has attained the rank of Master.

Jean Claude would like to sincerely thank all the people who have taught him and given him the values he is now proud to cultivate, carry and share with the next generation.

“Instruction is what you are given. Knowledge is what you have in your heart. That is what you must share also.”