Coral Gables city manager’s side gig? It involves a judo dojo

Coral Gables admin June 26, 2026 0 Comments

Coral Gables city manager’s side gig? It involves a judo dojo

By day, Peter Iglesias runs operations in Coral Gables, a highly influential city with over 50,000 residents.

At night, the city manager trades his suit for a white uniform and moonlights as a volunteer judo instructor at Baragua Judo Kai, a dojo housed inside a warehouse near the Palmetto Expressway and Tropical Park. The nonprofit, founded by president and head instructor Alberto Fernandez, is dedicated to making the martial art accessible to kids and adults, including children whose families can’t afford to pay for classes or tournaments.

“Judo helped me to learn to work hard. … It really changed my life,” Fernandez told the Miami Herald.

Unlike other martial arts studios, Baragua is a nonprofit, which means all instructors are volunteers and every class payment goes back into the dojo’s operations and to help students afford classes, uniforms and tournaments, Fernandez said. He wants to help more students and is looking for sponsors to support children who can’t afford to practice.

He’s found a partner in his childhood friend Iglesias, a fourth-degree black belt who has helped pay for supplies and dojo renovations. The two first met as kids practicing judo at the YMCA in Allapattah.

They reconnected two years ago thanks to one of Fernandez’s students. At first, Iglesias, a longtime judo enthusiast, began attending Fernandez’s class for fun. Eventually, he became a volunteer judo instructor for the dojo’s adult classes.

“We pay to teach instead of getting paid to teach. It’s very rewarding,” Iglesias said.

The philosophy of judo — which focuses on discipline and non-aggression — is what Iglesias, an engineer by trade, says has helped him stay calm in difficult situations, including heated City Commission meetings.

The 71-year-old Iglesias said he’s thinking about retirement — and spending more time in the dojo — once he steps down in October from the city manager position, a role he’s held for about a year since he was fired and then rehired by different sets of commissioners. Iglesias told the Herald in a recent interview that his resignation is not due to political pressure and was simply because he felt like he had accomplished everything he needed to do — kicking off City Hall renovations, make changes at the Granada Golf Course, and establishing plans for a biochar facility and the Mobility Hub, a newly renovated city garage.

“Now I feel like I can move on,” Iglesias told the Herald.

But it may not be that easy for him to leave City Hall. The mayor and other city commissioners don’t seem ready to let him go.

“I’m trying to make sure that you stay,” Mayor Vince Lago told Iglesias in a June 2 meeting. “There’s too much work to be done, and we need a person of your caliber.”

“I’m in denial,” Commissioner Richard Lara said. Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson teased Iglesias that they may need to tie him down: “Do you prefer duct tape or rope?”

But Iglesias insists to the Herald that it’s time — as he looks to a future with more judo.

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Teaching judo

Iglesias’ friend Fernandez, a fifth-degree black belt and retired principal and special education teacher, has run the dojo at its current location, 4603 SW 75th Ave., since 1997.

He and Iglesias are two of the dojo’s four volunteer instructors. Another is Fernandez’s son Jon Paul, a fourth-degree black belt, who has secured several championship titles and snagged the No. 9 spot in the world championship. Jon Paul recently wrote, produced and starred in “Dojo,” a film that set a Guinness World Record for the most awards won by a live action fictional short film, with scenes filmed in Baragua Judo Kai.

As Jon Paul flipped a student onto his back on a recent weeknight. Fernandez and Iglesias walked around, correcting students and teaching them the proper footing and hand technique.

“Judo means the gentle way,” Fernandez said, describing it as a practice that teaches people to “use logic instead of force” and spend their “mental energy wisely.”

For Iglesias and Fernandez, every time they step onto the mat, it feels like a full-circle moment. They used to practice judo together. Now, they’re teaching alongside each other. One of their students is the 18-year-old granddaughter of Iglesias’ sensei, Roberto Sanchez.

“I can’t imagine not doing it,” said Braelen Cintron, who got a late start to judo and began practicing last year. The college student said she used to play other sports and decided to try judo last year while searching for a stress reliever. She’s hooked.

“You’re helping others to get to somewhere in life … and when you see that process happen, it’s a certain type of joy that you get as an instructor that you cannot explain,” Jon Paul said.

It’s what drew Iglesias to volunteer, too.

Fernandez’s “No. 1 theme is always the students and how to help kids … so that’s why I am coming here, to really help and see what we can do,” Iglesias said.

This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 10:45 AM.