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 defended their title as French university champions.
“As the 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 team captain Pablo Jezequel. The team 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, which, on paper, was 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 also fantastic, as the rugby player was 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 great! ” 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 competition 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 stick with it!”
“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 has also recently become president of Sun 7 Rugby, a Montpellier-based rugby sevens team he started with a group of friends. If we add his four years of involvement with the university team, he logs between four and six hours of practice per week, plus games every weekend and supplementary training such as weightlifting. 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 from the UFR Staps in Montpellier, Pablo went on to pursue a master’s in sports management through a work-study program at his rugby club, which makes things a little 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 off to practice as soon as class ends.” It’s a passion he hopes to pursue further in the future by starting his own business in sports management.