Earning a degree is always a challenge, but completing your studies while being a professional mixed martial artist and a national athlete is an endeavor of the highest difficulty.
Such was the case with Team Lakay’s Jenelyn Olsim.
The atomweight contender recently obtained her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Baguio but it was not just her books and internship that she had to deal with.
The 24-year old Olsim, during the final stretch of her senior year, had to prepare and compete in the 2021 Southeast Asian Games and for her return fight at ONE 158.
Nevertheless, the versatile fighter had more than enough perseverance to push through and achieve what she sought in both her scholastic and martial arts careers.
On top of obtaining her degree, Olsim captured a bronze medal in the vovinam competition in the Hanoi SEA Games and also a crucial split decision win over Julie Mezabarba earlier this month.
Olsim added she regularly talked to Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao and her mentors at Singa Law Office about what’s going through in her studies and career. This openness, subsequently, afforded her the support of her superiors.
Team Lakay is not just the home of Mixed Martial Arts world champions, it is also the hub of some of the most accomplished fighters in the world of academics. This gave Olsim role models not just in martial arts but also in school.
Olsim said Sangiao and former ONE lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang were her role models because of what they achieved in MMA and at school.
Folayang was once an English and Physical Education teacher after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of the Cordilleras while Sangiao taught at the same university’s Criminology department while completing his Master’s degree. “Knowing that they are champions and they all pursued their degrees, of course, I wouldn’t be left behind,” said Olsim. – ONE release
