Award-winning U of C athlete excels at rugby and wrestling while keeping marks up, because parents

She's just been named Canada West Female Athlete of the Year for 2017-18 after excelling at both rugby and wrestling, while in the running for a prestigious national sports award, but her parents make sure her marks stay up there.

University of Calgary student Temitope Ogunjimi moved to Canada from Nigeria at the age of 10, and it was a physical education teacher in her first year of junior high school that immediately saw potential.

"You should try wrestling, the actual sport," Ogunjimi told The Homestretch on Thursday of that teacher's encouragement.

"I think you would crush it."

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Then in high schoolshe was introduced to rugby.

"The moment I stepped on the field I knew. This is it. I am definitely going to love this one too."

But hold up, her parents told her.

"My parents are big advocates for education. I always wanted to pursue my sports. My parents said, 'Cool, but you have to make sure your grades are up to par,'"Ogunjimi said with a laugh.

She says soccer was the most popular sport in Nigeria growing up.

"Nigeria also has a thriving wrestling team, but at that time I had no clue that there was such a thing."

Sports a great way to integrate, she says

And now she's starting to get the recognition she deserves. She can now add Canada West Female Athlete of the Year to her resume.

"On the pitch, the Calgary native helped turn the Dinos into a conference power, winning back-to-back CW titles to end her career," Canada West said this week.

"As a wrestler, Ogunjimi was both a conference and national champion in 2017-18."

And she's now in the running for the national BLG award for U Sports female athlete of the year. She'll find out if she won the prizeJune 4.

"Sports are always a great way to get integrated with the community. My mom was really happy because I got to make some friends and not just sit around and do homework all day."

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With files from The Homestretch and CBC's Ellis Choe