February 13, 2025 · Bangkok, Thailand
2025 Asian Youth Championship
Gold — U14 Female · -32 kg · Gi
See what happened →
Bailey Heinsohn · Philippines
Representing the Philippines
Bailey is proud and grateful for every opportunity to represent the Philippines. Each time she is trusted to represent the Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team, the responsibility is the same: compete for something bigger than herself and give the country everything she has.
- Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team
- 4 international golds · 2025
- Gold in every international start
The opportunity
Chosen to represent the Philippines. Determined to give something back.
Representing the Philippines has become one of the most meaningful parts of Bailey's competitive journey. It connects her results to a team, a country and people who trusted her with the opportunity to compete on the international stage.
Bailey does not treat that place as something she owns. She sees it as something to honor with the way she competes, the way she represents the team and what she is able to contribute when the matches begin.
The medals matter. What matters just as much is what they add to the Philippines.
An overseas path
Her invitation opened a door that had not existed before.
Bailey's national-team coaches told her family that she was the first athlete living and training outside the Philippines to be selected for the Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team.
Her route into the program was different from the traditional domestic pathway. She was developing in the United States, but her competitive record gave the coaches enough evidence to invite her to represent the Philippines internationally.
According to those coaches, Bailey's selection also helped lead to a pathway for other overseas-based Filipino athletes. Trials were opened so athletes living abroad could come to the Philippines, compete for a place and earn their own opportunity to represent the country.
Bailey is proud that a path that began differently for her may now create opportunities for other Filipino athletes living around the world.
This account reflects what Bailey's national-team coaches told the family. The coaches are being asked to review the wording so the historical details can be preserved as accurately as possible.
What she has delivered so far
When the opportunity came, Bailey turned it into finishes and gold.
100%
win rate representing the Philippines
14 matches · 14 wins · 13 submissions
0
points surrendered across those matches
4
international gold medals in 2025
3
JJIF world titles in one championship week
The first time she represented the Philippines · February 2025
Four opponents. 3 minutes, 23.4 seconds.
Bailey's first championship representing the Philippines ended with four submissions, zero points surrendered and one gold medal — in 3:23.4 of total competition time.
Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team · Asian Youth Championship
3:23.4 total mat time
Cao Duong
Submission · Armbar
1:42.77
Kyra Victoria Abella
Submission · Armbar
0:30.10
Surangsiya Rittiruam
Submission · Kimura
0:23.60
Yen Nhi Nguyen
Submission · Keylock
0:46.93
Nine months later · JJIF World Championships
The responsibility got bigger. So did the challenge.
Bailey opened the championship week on November 9 in U16 Gi and then U16 No-Gi against older athletes. She won both divisions. Five days later, on November 14, she returned for her natural U14 Gi division and won a third gold. Her documented U16 run was six matches, five submissions and one win by points, with zero points surrendered.
The point was not to collect divisions. It was to make the most of the opportunity to compete for the Philippines — and to keep testing how much she could contribute when the level and the size of the challenge increased.
U16 Female -36 kg Gi · Gold
Division 01 · November 9 · U16 Female -36 kg · Gi
Gold against older athletes.
Bailey began her JJIF Worlds run on November 9 by moving up into U16 Gi against older athletes and won gold for the Philippines.
Thi Tuyet Nhu Giang
Submission
Mathail Alhammadi
Points · 12–0
Ghaiaheb Alrashdi
Submission · Armbar
1:59
Thi Dan Thuy Hoang
Submission · Cross-collar choke
1:11
Four matches. Three submissions. One win by points. Zero points surrendered.
U16 Female -36 kg No-Gi · Gold
Division 02 · November 9 · U16 Female -36 kg · No-Gi
A second U16 division. A second gold.
Later on November 9, Bailey entered U16 No-Gi and won a second world title that day for the Philippines.
Thi Tuyet Nhu Giang
Submission · Armbar
0:20
Thi Sinh Hoang
Submission · Armbar
1:19
Two matches. Two submissions. Zero points surrendered.
U14 Female -36 kg Gi · Gold
Division 03 · November 14 · U14 Female -36 kg · Gi
Gold in her natural age division.
Five days later, on November 14, Bailey returned for her natural U14 Gi division and completed the championship week with a third gold for the Philippines.
Duong Gia Han Cao
Submission · Loop choke
1:21
Yen Nhi Nguyen
Submission · Cross-collar choke
0:56
Thi Dan Thuy Hoang
Submission · Cross-collar choke
0:58
Yelyubayeva Yasmina
Submission · Armbar
2:25
Four matches. Four submissions. Gold for the Philippines.
Earning the next opportunity
The first opportunity had to be earned. So does the next one.
The Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team begins each new competition cycle with the responsibility of deciding who should represent the country. Bailey understands why those places must be earned.
She is not asking for past medals to guarantee her another selection.
What makes Bailey's path different is where the evidence is being created. Bailey lives and trains in the United States while continuing to compete internationally for the Philippines. Each time she has been trusted to represent the country, her performance has added to that body of work.
For the 2027 cycle, Bailey has been asked to attend trials in the Philippines alongside other athletes seeking the same opportunity. She respects that process and the athletes working to earn their place.
Her story also raises a larger question: how should an athlete's current international record be weighed alongside a trial?
A trial can show what an athlete is capable of on one day. International competition shows what an athlete has done repeatedly after being trusted with the opportunity. Bailey's record representing the Philippines is now part of that evidence: zero points surrendered, and gold added at every international championship she has entered for the country.
Bailey is not asking for a place to be given to her. She wants to keep giving the Philippines reasons to trust her with it.
Go inside the tournaments.
The evidence
Match records, divisions, finishes and championship context are preserved on Bailey's canonical result pages.
November 8–14, 2025 · Bangkok, Thailand
2025 JJIF Jiu-Jitsu World Championship — Bangkok, Thailand
Triple Gold — U16 Female -36 kg Gi · U16 Female -36 kg No-Gi · U14 Female -36 kg Gi
See what happened →Awards & recognition
The journey started being recognized at home.
2025 · Thailand
Siklab Award
Bailey received the Siklab Award during the championship week in which she won three JJIF world titles representing the Philippines. The formal award citation and presentation details will be added to this archive as they are verified.
Philippine Sportswriters Association
Tony Siddayao Award
Philippine News Agency reported Bailey among the young athletes selected for a Tony Siddayao Award, citing her Asian youth and JJIF world-championship gold medals.
Becoming part of the team
The relationships matter, too.
The Philippines chapter is bigger than match results. It includes the coaches who trusted Bailey, federation leaders, national-team officials, teammates and Philippine sports figures she has met along the way. As those photographs and details are added, this section will preserve the people and moments that have made representing the country meaningful.
From the coaches
From the coaches who trusted her with the opportunity.
Bailey's national-team coaches will add their perspective on why she was selected, what stood out in her performances, how her overseas selection fit into the team's developing pathway and what they believe she contributes to the Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team. Their video and exact quotations will be added here once recorded and verified.
Coach video · coming to the archive
Selection. Performance. Contribution.
Philippine National Jiu-Jitsu Team
Proud to represent the Philippines. Grateful for the trust. Ready to keep earning the next one.
Every opportunity to represent the Philippines is something Bailey wants to honor — with how she competes, how she carries the team and what she is able to give back on the international stage.