With a striking record and four career hat tricks, senior Jacob Zamarron, forward for John Brown University men’s soccer team, has accomplished a fruitful college career in and out of the field. In an interview with the Threefold Advocate, Zamarron shared that the past three years with the Golden Eagles help him to not only grow as a player but as a man.
Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Zamarron recalls the first time he was introduced to soccer saying, “My childhood was in Mexico, so I grew up playing there since I was three years old with my family.” He then moved back to the States, where he continued playing soccer throughout his high school years before starting for the Golden Eagles in the fall of 2019.
Looking back on his experience with the team, Zamarron affirmed that he would not change it for anything saying, “It’s been great. My freshman season was the best year for me in terms of stats, at least for now as the 2022 season is, of course, still going. But compared to sophomore and junior years, freshman year was the best year. We went to nationals; we ranked No. 25 in the nation, it was amazing,” According to JBU athletics, Zamarron started in all 20 matches of the 2019 season, finished as the nation’s best striker by racking up 26 goals and nine assists, and led the nation with 6.1 shots per game.
Zamarron’s sophomore year was affected by the coronavirus pandemic just as for the rest of his 2023 class. As for soccer, COVID limited the number of games played, with only twelve matches on the season. “It was weird, we didn’t play a lot of games,” Zamarron said. That same year, the team also went through structural changes. “The coach who recruited me resigned, and we were introduced to our current coach, Chris Cole. Awesome person and coach, but it was still a readjustment we had to go through,” Zamarron said. “Still, I love it here. It’s a great environment and the team has a great philosophy.”
Zamarron asserted that his teammates became his closest friends saying, “Great guys. I’ve gotten really close with the majority of them. Even with the ones that have graduated, I keep in touch from time to time. I see them as brothers.” He explained that this is not only valuable for his personal life, but it plays a significant role in how the team develops. “It’s great to have that chemistry as a team because it also plays out in the field. I love them.”
When asked about how he stays motivated to persevere as a student-athlete, Zamarron attributed it to his family saying, “My motivation is my family. My parents, they’re the definition of hard workers. They sacrificed so many things for my siblings and me because they want the best for us. We moved a lot to different states so that my brother and I could play soccer,” Zamarron said. “All these sacrifices made me realize like, hey, my parents support me, so I’m going to do it for them.”
For Zamarron, there is no doubt about who are his greatest supporters “My family always come to my games, they’re always there for me,” he said.
While Zamarron may have started strong in his freshman season, there were still many challenges he had to overcome to turn into the player he is today. For him, the most difficult test was balancing his competitive personality. “I’m very competitive, so a challenge for me has been balancing that with my teammates and also with the coach. I always want to win and that can get me worked up to a point where I do not respond in the nicest way.”
Soccer may present difficult challenges, but it also brings people together to create memorable experiences for players. After a few seconds of thinking about his answer, Zamarron reminisced about his favorite experience in the JBU field, “Last year’s First Friday Futbol. First Friday Futbol is the very first home game of the season, so all the students come, and it gets packed,” he said. “It’s a great environment. It was versus Evangel, we were tied one-one, so we went to overtime. In overtime, whoever scores a goal wins. I got the chance to score the winning goal. After the goal, all the students went into the field, and it was just crazy. People were hugging, jumping and celebrating and it was definitely my best experience in the field at JBU,” Zamarron said.
Looking back on his college career, Zamarron realizes how much he has matured as a person and player. If he could give some advice to his younger self, he would tell him that “There’s more than soccer.” “I would tell myself that there are more things outside of the soccer world that one can pursue and also enjoy,” he said.
Zamarron encourages upcoming Golden Eagles players to keep working hard. “You get four years, but they go by quick, so try to glorify God with everything you do, and He will do the rest,” he said.
Zamarron is not sure yet about his plans after graduation. He has an extra year of eligibility to play due to COVID he could pursue, but he has also “accepted the possibility that soccer could be done.” He will be graduating in May of 2023 with a degree in International Business.
