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fter deciding to quit as a judo athlete three years ago, Joe Taslim, 31, who won a silver medal at the 2007 SEA Games in Manila in the Philippines and a gold medal at the 2008 National Sports Games (PON), has tried his luck in the modeling and movie world by starring in Gareth Evans’ The Raid.

“It feels so good to be able to be part of an action flick like The Raid and to read the rave reviews in a number of film festivals. This is my third movie after I performed in Karma in 2008 and Rasa (Feeling) in 2009.

In The Raid, I star as Tama, a SWAT team commander, who leads 20 cops on a raid to catch a drug lord named Tama.

 This (acting in this movie) is a real challenge for me as the film has 80 percent action and martial arts scenes.

I really needed to adjust myself during the production, trying to blend with the choreography, which displays lots of pencak silat techniques, while I myself was a judo athlete.

I did not know much about pencak silat, but both martial arts have the same root and power. I underwent two months’ training to master pencak silat-based fighting for scenes in the film.

Although I am not an athlete anymore, I still exercise regularly to keep me going. I cannot just sit back or lie low because I was used to joining the Pelatnas (National Training Camp) during my time as an athlete in which I had to train four times a day.

Doing nothing would stress me out. So I am still pretty much active practicing judo with my friends, who are former judo athletes, to maintain our fitness as well as the friendships among us.

 In my spare time, I usually go jogging around the Gelora Bung Karno stadium, or head to the gym.

You know, I am not the kind of man who limits his intake. I eat anything I like, especially when it comes to my favorite dish, pempek (fish cakes served with vinegar and soybean sauce), from my hometown of Palembang (South Sumatra). Therefore, I need to keep my body in shape and stay healthy.

I haven’t thought about being a coach right now, because it is not an easy job. Becoming a coach has to be in your blood.

There are hundreds and thousands of former athletes out there, but there are maybe only 10 people who want to dedicate their lives by taking on a job as a coach.

Not only a master, a coach should also be a brother or sister to his apprentices. You have to be totally 100 percent focused on what you are doing, you cannot divide your time with other jobs.

I am now enjoying my life as a husband and father of two kids. Having kids has been a turning point in my life because when I was still single, all I wanted was to impress beautiful girls. Today, I am a family man who prefers to spend time with my kids, playing with them.

I don’t want to push my kids to be athletes like myself, but at least I get them used to doing exercises regularly to nurture their physical fitness and train their flexibility.

The exercises are more gymnastic moves to get them to know about physical activities.

I have also introduced them to martial arts because the martial arts are actually a good way to strengthen one’s character and personality as in combat practice you learn a lot about how to deal with victory and loss.”

— As told to Triwik Kurniasari