I did a small interview with the University of Leiden.
I got my Masters degree there. They were interested to see where I ended up.
Here’s the post they shared on social media:
“During my masters I decided to make my living out of my passion: Jiu-jitsu.” 💪🏼
Daniel (26) was born and raised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He studied Crisis & Security Management after finishing his Public Administration bachelor’s. Nowadays he’s a professional Jiu-Jitsu athlete and coach. Questions for Daniel can be asked in the comments!
“During my studies I acquired several skills, such as doing research, reading, interviewing and writing. I think these skills are for me the most helpful and valuable things I learnt during my master’s, as I’m still using them today. I use those skills, to for example find out the best way to train, teach and compete. Besides, I’ve also written a travel guide for training Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil. 🇧🇷
My greatest hobby is Jiu-Jitsu. I train and teach Jiu-Jitsu. It is similar to judo and is probably the most effective martial art around (fight me in the comments). The goal is to use technique and leverage to make your opponent give up. Since we’re all pretty tough, you know that your opponent is not giving up easily.
At the moment I’m in Brazil to train Jiu-Jitsu. Normally, I go back and forth to the Netherlands to teach Jiu-Jitsu to my classes over there. Unfortunately, due to the corona crisis I’m not able to teach my classes back in the Netherlands. I do really hope I can teach them very soon again and I also hope to open my own gym in 2021! 🤩
Although it is very cliché, my tip for other students would for sure be to follow your passion! Halfway through my master, I decided that I wanted to make a living out of my passion, instead of working with what I studied. Two years later, I’m very happy with my decision and don’t regret it one bit.” 💙