Maruyama Inspires Pupils as Swiss School Embraces Judo

Two-time world champion Joshiro Maruyama led a masterclass at Ecole Mont-Olivet in Vich, Switzerland, ahead of the Ecole Mont-Olivet Lausanne Grand Slam 2026. The session showed how judo has become part of daily learning at the independent Swiss school.

International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer attended the masterclass, watching pupils train under the guidance of one of Japan’s leading judoka. Ecole Mont-Olivet has welcomed Maruyama over recent months, giving its students access to his experience and technical knowledge before the first Grand Slam in Swiss judo history.

Founded in 1917, the school educates around 300 pupils from the age of three through to the Swiss Maturity Diploma. Its educational model is trilingual and places importance on personal development, respect, confidence and belonging.

Judo has been integrated into the curriculum through a partnership with the Swiss Judo Federation. Sergei Aschwanden, the federation’s president and an Olympic and world medallist, has played an important role in establishing and developing that relationship.

For these pupils, the tatami is part of their education as well as their sport.

During the visit, Vizer met students of different ages and answered their questions about his time as a judoka, his role as IJF President and the values of judo. He said that the sport had helped shape him through important and difficult moments in life, describing judo as a school of discipline and respect.

For school director Christophe Santschi, the visit was recognition of a long-term commitment to making judo accessible within the curriculum. He said every pupil can practise and develop both on the tatami and beyond it, while the school’s connection to the Lausanne Grand Slam offers another source of inspiration.

Vizer presented Santschi with an official IJF plaque, marking the relationship between the federation and a school that has made judo a central element of its educational approach. The visit also underlined the wider impact that the programme is intended to have across the school community, including pupils, teachers, parents and staff.

Aschwanden highlighted judo’s combination of physical, mental and moral qualities. At Ecole Mont-Olivet, those qualities are being developed through training sessions in which students learn more than movement and technique: they are also encouraged to focus, persevere, respect their partners and improve together.

The journey from a school dojo to the Vaudoise Arena starts with the same values.

The masterclass came just before a landmark week for Swiss judo. When the Ecole Mont-Olivet Lausanne Grand Slam 2026 begins at the Vaudoise Arena, the school behind the event’s name will already have experienced its own meaningful moment on the tatami.

Source: IJF.org

Image source: IJF / International Judo Federation