How a Mother’s Love Carried DLSU’s Ryu Godoy This Far

It takes a village to raise a child who will one day walk across a stage in a graduation cap and gown, carrying a diploma that represents years of hard work, sacrifice, and memories that made the journey worth celebrating.

But behind every victory Ryu Luis Godoy celebrated and every battle he overcame stood his mother—the woman who lifted his spirit, shaped the man he is today, and sacrificed her own dreams so her son could pursue his.

And perhaps that is one question worth asking after everything he has accomplished so far: Would one lifetime ever be enough to repay a mother for the countless sacrifices she made for her child?

A Love Without Limits
Long before Ryu learned how to compete, chase championships, or dream of a future of his own, his mother, Majalia Godoy, had already made the most important choice of her life for him: she chose him.

A graduate of economics from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, his mother once had an opportunity to pursue a promising career abroad.

Then she became pregnant with Ryu. And she chose to stay in the Philippines, unwilling to let her son grow up without his mother.

For Ryu, that decision would become one of the greatest examples of his mother’s love.

“Habang tumatagal na-realize ko na may mga dreams ‘yung mom ko na gusto niyang matupad para sa sarili niya. Pero, dahil nagka-anak siya, lumabas ako, kailangan niya give up ‘yun. Kailangan niya i-sacrifice. Pag naiisip ko ‘yun, gusto ko rin bumawi sa mom ko. Gusto ko i-repay ‘yung kindness na binigay niya,” Ryu told to ALL-STAR while holding back his emotions. 

For much of his childhood, his mother provided for him, made sure he received a good education and gave him the kind of childhood that allowed him to dream without worrying about what it took to make those dreams possible.

Ryu grew up with his parents on separate paths, and his relationship with his father was complicated during his childhood before gradually becoming more settled as he grew older.

Yet he never grew up feeling deprived of love. His mother and grandmother, Carmelita Godoy, filled his childhood with the kind of care that made him feel like nothing was missing or somehow different.

His grandmother, in particular, helped raise him in their home in Malabon before she passed away while he was still in elementary school.

The Love That Stayed
Although she is no longer here, Ryu still carries the values his grandmother instilled in him.

“Okay lang maging carefree, as long as masaya ka and at the same time di makakasama sa’yo or sa mga nakapaligid sa’yo. Iyon yung value na nakuha ko sa mama (grandma) ko. Grabe rin kasi talaga siya magmahal,” Ryu expressed.

Her love gave Ryu a childhood where he never felt like anything was missing. As he grew older, however, he began to understand just how much his mother had sacrificed to give him that same sense of security.

Ryu witnessed his mother work tirelessly through the years, from serving as a dealer at a government-owned corporation that regulates the country’s gaming industry to later venturing into a liempo and lechon manok franchise.

Whatever path she took, the goal remained the same: to provide for Ryu and give him a life he deserved.

For Ryu, all those years of watching his mother work, sacrifice, and put her children first ultimately left him with a simple realization: he could not have asked for anyone else to be his mother.

“Super thankful po ako kay God na siya po yung naging mom ko,” Ryu said.

Growing up, Ryu began noticing the smaller sacrifices that were easy to overlook when he was younger.

His favorite food was sometimes something she would give to him instead of keeping for herself.

She would talk about countries she wanted to visit, only for those plans to give way to something she considered more important—his own future.

The money that could have gone toward her own vacations or wants instead went toward his insurance, academics and the life she wanted him to have.

At the time, they were ordinary things. Looking back, they were anything but.

“Noong bata pa ako, hindi ko na-realize ‘yun eh. While growing up, simula siguro noong 15 years old ako, doon na talaga tumama sa akin na, ‘yung mommy ko talagang uunahin ako kesa sa sarili niya. Nagiging emosyonal ako kapag ganoon ang usapan. Grateful talaga ako sa mom ko,” Ryu told ALL-STAR Magazine.

The realization did not come from one grand sacrifice, but from finally seeing the pattern in all of them—the quiet ways his mother had been choosing him long before he was old enough to understand what those choices cost.

There were moments when he heard about his mother’s problems and could do nothing because he was still a child.

All he could do was watch his mother figure things out.

She always did.

And perhaps that is what stayed with him most: not a single grand gesture, but the countless little choices that told him the same thing over and over again.

Before she chose herself, she chose him.

Finding His Own Dream
His mother had once put her own dreams aside so Ryu could have a good path in life. Years later, Ryu would find a dream of his own—and this time, his mother would simply be there to help him chase it.

Ryu’s journey into esports did not begin with grand ambitions of becoming a champion. It started with curiosity.

In Grade 9, he picked up MLBB after seeing his classmates play, simply wanting to understand what had made them so invested in the game. By Grade 11, he returned to it after seeing his classmates regularly form five-man teams. This time, it was FOMO. He wanted to experience what they were experiencing.

Then came the defeats.

Instead of pushing him away, losing awakened something in Ryu—a competitive hunger to become better. What began as a way to join his classmates slowly became something he wanted to win at.

By 2022, Ryu was taking MLBB seriously and competing in small tournaments while studying Business Management at De La Salle University. He balanced practices and gaming with his homework and responsibilities as a student, which became one of the reasons his mother supported his decision to compete.

She celebrated his victories and supported his tournaments, but her biggest concern was never the results. It was his health.

Ryu often stayed up until four or five in the morning to play, pushing his mother to remind him that pursuing something he loved should never come at the expense of himself.

Ryu eventually found that esports could be more than a game. It became an avenue to test himself, chase excellence and turn the opportunities his mother had worked so hard to give him into something meaningful.

He became a UAAP Esports MLBB 2025 champion, an AcadArena champion and a Philippine Collegiate Championship champion.

Ryu also earned Honorable Mention, Gawad Lasalyano, Loyalty and Athletics awards.

All Things Come and Go
Four years of competing with the same group of teammates eventually brought Ryu to an ending he knew was coming but was never quite ready to accept.

His final season with the DLSU Green Aces carried conflicting emotions. There was sadness in knowing that something familiar was coming to an end, but gratitude for everything they had experienced together.

It was another reminder that nothing lasts forever.

And not the years a child gets to spend growing under his mother’s care.

Perhaps that is why the thought of his mother now carries a different weight.

Ryu has spent years trying to become the best version of himself. He has chased championships, balanced academics and esports, and taken pride in becoming someone his younger self would have looked up to.

But beyond the trophies and everything he has accomplished, there is one goal that matters differently.

He wants to give back. 

A Love He’ll Spend a Lifetime Repaying
Love was never meant to be a transaction. It was meant to be given, carried, and passed on.

Everything his mother poured into him—the sacrifices, patience, and countless little acts of love—took root in Ryu long before he was old enough to understand them.

Now, that love is finding its way back to where it began.

Perhaps that is the beauty of a mother’s love: she gives without asking for anything in return, yet somehow, it finds its way back. A sacrifice becomes gratitude. A lifetime of putting her son first becomes a son’s promise to do the same.

Ryu can make sure the years ahead are different. He can take care of her. He can put her first.

And one day, he hopes, he can give her the life she once dreamed of having for herself.

“Ingatan mo sarili mo. Ang promise ko talaga sa’yo na kung paano mo ako inuna, ganoon din kita uunahin habang tumatanda ka,” Ryu promised to his mom.

In those words, the roles begin to reverse. The mother who spent years putting her son first now has a son determined to do the same for her.

The love that once carried Ryu through childhood is now something he carries forward—not as a debt to be settled, but as a promise to continue what his mother started.

When people see Ryu in a graduation cap and gown, they will see a young man who earned his diploma after years of hard work.

But Ryu sees the hands that helped carry him there. He sees his mother.

He may never be able to repay his mother for everything she gave him. But he can spend the rest of his life carrying that love forward—through the man he becomes, the life he builds, and the love he gives back to her.

Love is never meant to be repaid. It is meant to come full circle.