THREE years ago, Khrizzie Pabulayan was uncertain if her family could send her to college. And judo was farthest from her mind.
Fast forward to 2015. She joined the UAAP tournament for the first time and wrestled her way to the Most Valuable Player award as she led the UST Lady Judokas to back-to-back championships.
Before her triumphs, the Bacolod native had slim chances of completing a degree until she was introduced to the UST judo program as part of the athletes’ scholarship in 2013.
“Naawa [sa akin si ate Jilloue Mosqueda (former national team member)] kasi hindi kaya ng pamilya ko na makapagaral ako for college, so in-introduce niya ‘ko sa UST,” Pabulayan told the Varsitarian.
Lady Judokas head coach Gerard Arce admitted that Pabulayan was “recruited with zero knowledge in judo.” But he saw her courage and height advantage.
The 5-foot-3 Pabulayan honed her skills with the Lady Judokas’ Team B for two years before entering the league.
In 2013, Pabulayan trained for a month with former Judoka and Season 77 MVP Annie Ramirez and mentor John Baylon to master the basics of judo before joining the roster.
“Noong una ang hirap mag-adjust kasi ‘yung iba alam na nila ‘yung ginagawa nila. Masakit sa katawan, parang binubugbog ka lang. Na-down ako tapos inisip ko, ‘Bakit ganoon, bakit parang ‘di ako gumagaling?’” Pabulayan said.
Her skepticism vanished after she stormed the UAAP Season 78 with an unblemished 3-0 win-loss record en route to a gold medal in the -48 kg weight class and the MVP plum.
“Noong tumagal sinabi ko na kailangan ko talagang mag-focus, kailangan kong ipakita sa kumuha sa akin na karapat dapat ako sa mga binigay na benefits sa akin. Pinush ko sarili ko na maibalik sa kanila ‘yung binigay nilang opportunity,” said Pabulayan, now a third year Physical Education student.
In her semifinal match last season, Pabulayan was trailing behind by 11 points with only over a minute remaining. But the courage that Arce saw in her showed up in the dying moments as she scored an impressive takedown for an Ippon (whole point) victory.
Still, Pabulayan is keeping her feet on the ground. It is all about UST’s judo program, which took a chance on her and it paid off.
