Dynamic, driven and determined Scholtz has managed to achieve in less than one year what most athletes take decades to achieve. She accomplished this feat after joining Scorpions Martial Art Academy & Two Brothers Combat Institute in George.
Given her recent accomplishment, Scholtz had the incredible honour of being selected to join the South Africa martial arts squad which will be competing at the World Championships in Orlando, Florida.
It all started earlier this year when Scholtz was going through a hard time in her personal life. "Instead of sitting around sulking, I thought, why not tackle my emotional heartache by building myself up physically?"
When she then 'by coincidence' noticed some hard-bodied men in a shopping mall in George, she approached them and learned that they were from Sors Grobbelaar's Scorpions Martial Arts Academy.
"The first time I went there it was an incredible experience and I became addicted almost immediately. Make no mistake, it was quite hard, because you practise against men, but coming from a family where we all used to get up at night to see Gerrie Coetzee fight, I just fell in love with contact sport!" gushes Scholtz, who now sports a trim and muscularly defined body.
"Hard to believe I used to weigh 107kg, huh?" she flexes. "I was on my first diet at age seven already. My mum was an athlete. Because of dieting I became an overweight little girl because it completely screwed up my natural metabolism. I began smoking in matric to try and lose weight. My weight has been a battle until I was about 35 when it slowly began to stabilise," Scholtz explains candidly.
"I used to climb on the scale every single morning because I just lacked any belief in my own self-worth. But that has all changed now!"
Despite now being a medal-winning ring fighter, she has lost none of her femininity and found that training physically somehow also empowers one emotionally.
"One of the most amazing things I have learnt is that the stronger you become physically, the more sensitive it allows you to be as a person."
Scholtz was one of four children growing up in Schweizer-Reneke, and she was always the one who got 'dared' by her siblings to try things first.
"I was the tomboy who also loved make-up and girly dresses, but if someone was going to be pulled in a boxcar behind a motorcycle, I would always have to be the first Guinea pig!" she laughs.
Scholtz initially wanted to become a medical doctor working in trauma "to save lives". She ended up studying pharmacology for four years in order to eventually qualify to enter medicine studies, but life caught up with her before this could be realised.
Today a wiser, happier and determined Scholtz says she doesn't regret the journey she has been on.
"I'm truly grateful for all the c**p over the years, because it has made me strong and every experience has helped to mould me into the person I am today - a person of such inner strength that I am able to really love others and myself!"
Versatile in her talents, Scholtz is also an artist (Jeanne de Art), sometimes helps to rehabilitate drug addicts, wants to create an employment project, and says she has had a passion for people since childhood.
"I grew up in a conservative community, but today I'm joyfully one of the frontrunners in this rainbow nation of ours! I have a heart like a sponge. Christ can 'pimp' me wherever He wants to help whomever."
Scholtz has a teenaged daughter, El-Zané and a foster son, Danny.
Master fighters and combat sport trainers Sors and Nantes Grobbelaar, her instructors at the Scorpions Martial Arts Academy & Two Brothers Combat Institute in George, have only the highest praise for Scholtz.
"She is a very faithful student and when she practises, she works hard!," says Sors. "She is really determined and she pushes through until she reaches her goal. Jeanne-Mari has shown that she has incredible potential and that she has empowered herself through the mental and physical discipline it takes to master combat sport. I rightly think others should be inspired by what she has managed to achieve!"
At the NMA-ISKA championships in September, newcomer Scholtz stunned everyone by winning gold in the category for Mixed Martial Arts full contact, gold for K-1 full contact, gold for Brazilian Jiu Jitzu as well as another two golds for kick-boxing (continuous and point fighting) and one silver in the category for Mixed Martial Arts light contact.
She proudly displays her certificates, which symbolise more than just her sporting achievements, but also testify to a personal and spiritual victory in her own life journey. At the bottom of her gold certificates, it reads: "This is not merely a piece of paper. Value it because you have earned it!"
Having been selected to join the prestigious South Africa Martial Arts squad to compete at the World Championships in Orlando, Florida, Scholtz is determined to reach more goals there as well!
If anyone is able to help her achieve this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, contact her on 082 337 9204 or j-m@vodacom.co.za.
Jeanne-Mari Scholtz (centre) in action during one of her winning encounters at the recent NMA-ISKA championships in Cape Town, after which she was selected to the South African Marital Arts squad to attend the World Championships in Orlando, Florida.
ARTICLE: ANOESCHKA VON MECK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
