Pablo Jezequel: “The team caught fire right away”
Pablo Jezequel is the captain of the Montpellier university rugby team. Last February, he and his teammates successfully defended their title as French university champions.
“As defending champions, people were definitely expecting a lot from us, especially since there were a lot of changes to the team over the course of the year and we put it together at the last minute,”says captain Pablo Jezequel. A team that truly shone at the French University Championships held last February in Aix-en-Provence, even though the players had little time to learn to play together;“Actually, the team caught fire right away. We went out and won that title against Toulouse, who, on paper, were stronger than us, but I think we wanted it more than they did, and in the end, it showed!”
This year’s event was a resounding success, but the atmosphere was just as memorable, as the rugby player is quick to point out: “We really had a blast! There must have been between 20 and 30 men’s and women’s teams—it felt like we were just hanging out with friends, and the organization and atmosphere were fantastic! ” This is an important aspect for Pablo Jezequel, who loves nothing more than highlighting the“great values” of his sport—the “team-oriented” and“educational” aspects, pushing oneself to the limit, but also “the physical confrontation combined with a lot of tactics, technique, and intelligence. “That’s what I look for in rugby, that’s what I find there, and that’s why I’m staying!”
“I love everything about this sport”
At 21, the young athlete has already spent 15 years playing for the Jacou Montpellier Nord Rugby Club.“I started when I was six, and we’re now competing in the Federal 2 league,” says the player, who recently became president of Sun 7 Rugby, a Montpellier-based sevens team he started with a group of friends. Add to that his four years on the university team, and he logs between four and six hours of training per week, plus matches every weekend and supplementary workouts like weight training. In short, Pablo Jezequel eats, sleeps, and breathes rugby.“I love everything about this sport!”
In fact, he’s made it his life’s work: after earning a bachelor’s degree at the UFR Staps in Montpellier, Pablo went on to pursue a work-study master’s degree in sports management at his rugby club, which makes things a bit easier to manage.“It’s a blessing to be in a work-study program, but on the weeks when I’m in school, I sometimes have to get up at 5 a.m. to work out and rush out of class to go train.” It’s a passion he hopes to pursue later by starting his own business in sports management.