UFV alumnus Jasmit Singh Phulka fights for the future

“You’ve got to have some skin in the game,” said Jasmit Singh Phulka’s high school wrestling coach. It wasn’t enough to just show up for practice. Being part of a team meant being part of a community — taking care of your space, taking care of each other, and investing in the things that you love. For a young Jasmit, that included mopping floors after matches and mentoring younger athletes.

The Abbotsford local never outgrew his love for the sport, or the lessons that it taught him — at 31, Jasmit is now a world-ranked wrestler with an extensive volunteer record. In recognition for his exemplary contributions to his hometown, this UFV alumnus was recently announced as the 2024 winner of Abbotsford’s Community Champion Achievement Award.

Jasmit competed in the Freestyle Wrestling Canada Olympic Trials ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Abbotsford City Council grants the award to an individual, group, or organization who has achieved recognition or performed a noteworthy deed to benefit to the community.

“It’s not about what you have, but rather it’s about what you do with what you have,” says Jasmit (Dip ’23). “I have this platform, but if I’m not using it for a bigger, better purpose than myself, it’s not really worth anything.”

Jasmit’s been hard at work putting those words into action. He raised more than $100,000 through a yearly toy drive for Canuck Place and BC Children’s Hospital and dedicated four years of weekly visits to kids in palliative care. Jasmit donates monthly meals to the Salvation Army shelter, and mentored at-risk youth through the Abbotsford Police Department. He also regularly coordinates the largest youth wrestling tournament in BC.

Jasmit donated pizza to Abbotsford flood relief workers in 2021.

In a clinch, Jasmit goes to the mat for his city every time. During the 2021 Abbotsford flood he stepped up to send meals to flood relief workers, and did the same for healthcare professionals at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital during the COVID crisis.

His love for his community runs deep, but there’s a special place in Jasmit’s heart for helping youth – especially the underdogs. For him, investing in young people means building a better future.

“I’m living my dream,” he says with earnest gratitude. “If I was 10 years old and you told me I would be sitting here today, I wouldn’t believe it. I grew up as a kid with anxiety … you know, I was a mama’s boy and I had to overcome a lot of my fears. But that was through the sport of wrestling.

“I saw how powerful it is that you can start over here, and you can end up over there. And I think I can show that to kids: this is an ordinary person that had a dream, and they followed it. Hopefully that can change somebody’s life.”

As a recipient of the Community Champion Achievement Award, Jasmit’s name will be engraved on a paving stone along the Discovery Trail in Abbotsford’s Community Champions pavilion. On the path ahead, Jasmit continues to train with the Canadian national wrestling team, aiming for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“If I can change one kid’s life, I think it’s all worth it. Wrestling changed my life forever and I can never pay the sport of wrestling back; but if I can do that for just one kid, I think it’s priceless.”