Yannis Papaioannou: One night of his life, our whole life – a bodyguard admits

Anastasia – Royal Column

04/11/2023 06:10

The Yiannis Papaioannou He is 41 years old and working 23 years But the nightclub’s safe bodyguard For VIPs. The “physician” He will not call or speak to himself Newsbomb.gr Refers to the duties, training, equipment, and procedures of safety aides.

He has been working at night for 23 years “His eyes have seen a lot» He was called to face difficult situations. “You live in fear in this job” O mentioned when “Your personal time is infinite.”

His career was attributed to the bullying he received as a child from a gang of minors. Movie “The Bodyguard” And Kevin Costner He revealed that he had a tattoo on his chest. He, among other things, noted Cooperation Some have both guardian and guardian Oddities They, or the bodyguards, can make life difficult. He does not hesitate to express the difficult Circumstances He was called upon to confront them while revealing them dreams of the future.

John, why do you describe yourself as a “bodyguard” and not a bodyguard?

“When someone hires you for their security, their whole life or personal life is at risk, you’re not just protecting a body, you’re protecting their whole personal life, their habits, their work, their family, it’s multi-dimensional. . A bodyguard protects you from psychological attacks, your morals. Or it’s more realistic to say that he’ll try to protect you from some attack on your honor as well.”

How many years have you been working in VIP Security and Night Club Security?

“I have been working in nightclubs for years as a security guard rather than a security guard. I have been in private security for about 12 years and I have been working in nightclubs since I was 19. In total I have been in security for 22-23 years. The VIP security job came through night work. As I go along, I share my own experience and talk about how I feel about the profession, while denigrating the profession of security and door-to-door staffing as “well done and blown”.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow your career?

“I would say the advice given to me by my mentor, Andreas Venidis, who has one of the most qualified defense training schools in Greece and Europe. “When deciding to do this profession, do it for the right reasons, to have the germ of philanthropy in oneself from childhood, that is, to see someone who is vulnerable and go without counting the cost. To help him.. I mean don’t do it for money or fame. It’s a noble profession, it’s an activity, if you are not God, if you think you are God, you may meet him much sooner than you think.

What training does a bodyguard undergo?

“The main training is about prevention, not repression, and if something goes wrong, of course you always have a suppression plan. You can plan the right routes and always have a plan. If something goes wrong, you have to quickly take the protecting officer and remove him.”

What relationship do you develop with the people you protect?

“I see the person I’m defending as a person, not as a client.”

Do you have personal time?

“I don’t have a lot of personal time, because when you work in a store at night and in the morning you might have an escort, and in between you have to do things, you only have a little time, try to make it up. . . I don’t have a lot of time.”

What inspired you to take up this profession?

“When I was a kid, my twin brother and I were bullied by a gang of teenagers and we had to hide for a month. This one month was the most traumatic and ugly thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Eventually some guys we didn’t know helped us, one of whom started the martial art I do today. He did, and the second reason was the movie “The Bodyguard” and Kevin Costner. I also have a tattoo. I loved the code of honor in the movie, ‘I will stand up for someone and destroy the fear of death.’

Are bullied new kids coming to talk to you?

“Kids who are being bullied come to me and I tell them that I will be with them and that they should not be afraid of this issue. It’s an epidemic, it can happen to anyone, and there’s no reason to be ashamed of someone who’s being bullied.”

Have you ever felt intimidated at work?

“I’ve always been afraid, and over time I’ve learned to subdue my fear and manage it so that it doesn’t consume so much energy in my thinking. The scariest scene I’ve ever seen was when I broke the glass in the toilet at one of the stores I worked at and hit another person and the walls were covered in blood.

What’s the most intense scene you’ve ever seen?

“Let me tell you the most stressful scene I experienced. When I was in a security company, I had to take a child to school every morning and pick him up afterwards.

Have you thought about leaving the space?

“I don’t think you can easily retire from this job unless you run your own company. At some point I would like to leave and continue my studies in music and open a Win-Chun Kung Fu school in Athens. It’s a martial art based on self-defense.”

I’d like you to comment on the scene in “The Bodyguard” where Kevin Costner gets in front of Whitney Houston and takes a bullet.

“It is the definition of self-sacrifice and selflessness, putting your own life at zero to save the life of someone you love without expecting anything in return. With the samurai mindset of “I don’t care about death, I don’t fear it, I respect it, when” shows the definition and meaning of what a bodyguard is. I think there is no other scene. It comes I will be there, I will not go” from there”.

What are the most difficult situations a bodyguard has to face?

“Everything is difficult, you have to have good cooperation with the person you protect, listen to you. You need to find your “steps” with someone you care about. He needs to put his ego aside and listen to you. You have to be flexible and communicate with the person you’re with.”

What did you want to do when you were young?

“When I was young I wanted to be a drummer, then I wanted to go to the police, EKAM.”

How do you see John in ten years?

“Ten years from now I want to have a house in Athens and Salkita by the sea, my school and teaching martial arts, a music studio. And if God blesses me, I want to get married and have a child. If I don’t have a child, my brother’s like my child. I want to see my son grow up.”

If your son-in-law came and said he wanted to do your job, would you stop him?

“I will not stop my son-in-law from doing my business. Being involved in safety is the first imperative because at some point you might save a life. I would say do it and try to see if he likes it. I will not stop him, I will discuss with him.

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