When a player steps on the pitch for the first time, there is a dream to represent his or her country, playing the game they love so much. For Jeremy Jaquier, he was able to live out that dream by playing for his home county of Switzerland and now finds himself playing for Longwood in Division I NCAA soccer.
Even though he stands at 5 feet 5 inches tall, Jaquier has represented his home country of Switzerland on some of the biggest stages. He played for the Swiss National Team for a double digit amount of games in his developmental years.
To this point, Jaquier has made 15 international appearances on the U15, U16, U18 and U19 Swiss National Teams, accumulating 417 minutes of action for the red and white.
“I was very proud to play with my national team. It’s an honor to play for your country, and I think it’s the same here in America if you play for the national team. It’s like ‘Wow, you’re one of the best players’ and you’re very glad to play for your country,” said Jaquier.
Getting selected to play for a national team is no easy feat - excellence on the pitch is required.
“Every month we have communication, and you can be picked (to play) or not picked (to play). It depends on your performance,” said Jaquier. “You have to be one of the best 24 players to be in the national team.”
Another difficult aspect of playing for a foreign national side is a language barrier between the players.
“In Switzerland, we have four different languages, so we cannot communicate well with our players and teammates. For example, I speak French, and there were like four players from the French part of Switzerland in the team, and there were like maybe 70 players from the German part,” said Jaquier. “The communication was difficult, but wasn’t impossible.”
Longwood Head Coach Jon Atkinson admires Jaquier's level of expertise at the highest level, and is battle-tested after having these experiences.
“You’re playing against, and you’re challenging yourself with teammates at that level, and against competition at a higher level too,” said Atkinson. “The game at higher levels is all about execution and decision making and Jeremy has been able to taste that level of football and the challenges that translate at that level.”
Now at 20 years old and a freshman at Longwood, Jeremy can be found weaving in and out through the midfield, constantly looking to free up his teammates, showing off his electrifying speed and looking to put the Lancers ahead.
“He’s a very easy on the eye player, very technical player, he can get people off their seats, and when you talk about having that ‘it’ factor to be able to create and produce excitement on the field he certainly has that in abundance,” said Atkinson.
Jaquier has been nominated twice for Big South Attacking Player of the Week and twice for Big South Freshman of the Week.
“(Jaquier) is very passionate about the game, sometimes to the point to where he will be emotionally drained at the end of games, whether the game (was) for him or against him. He has a lot of passion for his trade,” said Atkinson. “He has without a doubt all the tools necessary to make an impact in Division I soccer.”
Jaquier has started every contest for the Lancers and currently sits tied for second in the team with two goals and also sits second on the team in assists with three.
As Jaquier moves through his Longwood career, Atkinson knows the target will start to grow on his back with the passing of time.
“He can get double-teamed, triple-teamed and we are encouraging him to bring all the elements of our team out,” said Atkinson. “Once the spotlight is shown on Jeremy, which it will, is to make sure that he shines the spotlight elsewhere to allow him to come back to an area where he can get the spotlight shown back at him in critical moments.”
Jeremy Jaquier uses his speed to find an opening during practice.
Jaquier at the epicenter of his team, strategizing their next move.
