Alfredo Sotelo

Alfredo Sotelo's work as a judo teacher at Wolkang in Asunción ran alongside his Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition. In July 2013, ABC Color reported his victory at a CBJJO club-world tournament in Niterói, in the brown-belt 100kg, super-heavy class. Injury had made his participation uncertain, he told the newspaper, and he credited his faith after the result. He was already preparing for a Pan-American jiu-jitsu event in November. Sotelo's signed 2011 account for Wolkang traced his judo to La Paz, Formosa, in 1987: first Marciano Cespedes, then Marciano's son Nelson, who taught technique and tactics. A brown belt teaching children in 1993, he became the school's first judo black belt in 1994. From June 1996 he taught in Asunción at the Japanese-Paraguayan center, military institutions and universities. Supporters helped him establish Wolkang in October 2010, conceived as a community whose members helped one another. Wolkang's teaching essays explained what such a community was meant to involve. A July 2011 discussion placed the teacher within pupils' family and community life. It proposed different work for different learners: helping children explore movement, increasing technical demands for adolescents, and fitting adults' instruction to their age and daily routines. The teacher's role included understanding the lives pupils brought with them to training, as well as what they needed to learn on the mat. An essay published the following day made the tactical work more concrete. It connected visualization, mentally rehearsing an exchange, with repeated practice in standing and ground work. Examples included combining foot or leg techniques in several directions and recognizing the space available to act. Repetition was presented as preparation for responding within an exchange, while recognizing that each contest would develop differently. It was a way of thinking about practice and decisions, expressed through the school's judo and groundwork teaching. Gracie Brasil RS's account of Pedro Braga credits him with developing Sotelo and Francisco Lefebvre at Assuncion Fighter Club in Paraguay. The two also appear together in Wolkang's March 2014 announcement of Nova União's development in Paraguay through Marcos Broa's connection. It named Sotelo and Lefebvre as directors of that work, with six affiliated gyms. Academia Lefebvre and Wolkang were among the Asunción bases, alongside affiliates in Central Department. The project extended beyond one teacher's room: the announcement described a network for Brazilian jiu-jitsu and submission grappling. That August, Wolkang's students organized a seminar led by Sotelo at Training Comp, inside the Ameliano club. Across 9–10 August 2014, practitioners from judo, BJJ and sambo, including visitors from Formosa, completed seven hours of competition preparation. The school's report described the gi, the training uniform used in these sports, as a teaching tool. It framed grappling through throws, positions and submission holds, bringing several disciplines into a shared training setting. The school's biography dated 10 September 2015 described him as a BJJ black belt since 2013. His judo work also included technical leadership of Paraguay's team at Medellín in 2010 and cup events in 2011 and 2013. The same account recorded seminars and training camps in Brazil, Japan and the Netherlands, placing continued learning alongside his coaching and competition. A practitioner's account gives another view of his influence. In a May 2016 Última Hora interview, mixed martial artist Carlos 'Chicho' Irigoitía named Sotelo among his judo influences. Irigoitía identified Francisco Lefebvre and Guillermo Hansen as his jiu-jitsu references, distinguishing the contributions of people working in different disciplines. CBLP's August 2016 professional gi world results placed Sotelo first for Nova União in the Senior 1 men's black-belt division over 100.5kg. Wolkang's published class program gives that range of teaching a practical form. It lists Sotelo for BJJ, judo and sambo, with Juan Baez providing additional BJJ sessions, including classes for children. In judo, the program stresses the individual athlete's technical and tactical needs and provides separate children's sessions. The school describes instruction adjusted to the learner, alongside opportunities to train in more than one grappling discipline. Deportivo Sajonia's program also names him for BJJ from age twelve, scheduled on two weekdays and Saturdays. Its judo groups separate ages five to twelve, thirteen to seventeen, and adults. Wolkang's report from the 2019 Sajonia anniversary judo event named Rebeca Reinoso and Ruben Alvarez among its winners. Sotelo used his closing remarks to thank the whole group. He praised their attachment to the school and willingness to meet fresh challenges, expressing pride in every pupil.