This article originally appeared as a shortened version in print. Below is the full story.
If you looked onto an early 2000s soccer pitch in Toronto, there would have been no sight of Yazmeen Jamieson. But now, the former Carleton Ravens women’s soccer player has gone to the highest level of the game.
153 days ago, the fourth-year communication and media studies student was in France with the Jamaican Women’s National Team, after they made a historic qualification for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
But soccer was’t always in her future.
“I loved basketball way more than I did soccer, but then my coach threw me in net,” said Jamieson. “I was like ‘I really hate this,’ I almost quit soccer but then I realized ‘Okay,I’m good at this, maybe I can juggle it.’”
Jamieson played for multiple club teams in Toronto, and dreamt of landing in the NCAA. But when she was contacted by Carleton, she decided to commit to the Ravens.
Her first year with the team didn’t go as well as expected and Jamieson was low on confidence.
“If you look at me as a keeper then to now you would not believe it is the same person,” said Jamieson. “I was content with just wearing my Ravens uniform and sitting on the bench.”
But things began to turn around, and by her third year of university, she had the chance to play for Jamaica. She had to make a decision: stay a Raven or pursue a professional career.
“It was an uphill battle for sure…leaving school multiple times to go to the World Cup qualifiers, I was just feeling really lost because I wasn’t doing well in school,” said Jamieson.
“To make that sacrifice, I was very frustrated all the time because I was like ‘I want to play soccer and put my all into this,’ but I’m also a university student so one thing has to sacrifice.”
Moving on with Jamaica
Choosing to go pro also meant she would lose her eligibility at the university level and if she returned to Carleton, it would only be for the books–another hard pill to swallow.
After Jamaica qualified for the tournament in October 2018, a sense of determination cultivated at the first training camp and Jamieson put on impressive performance in hopes of being selected in the squad going to the 2019 FIFA WWC in France.
“I [had] to do something special so they know as much as I’m a university student, a lot of the girls play pro and they do this every single day. I wanted them to know this is my 100 per cent focus.”
“So in the middle of exams, I left [Carleton] and went to New Zealand to play professionally.”
In a matter of seven days, she decided to pack up her bags and get on a flight to the southern hemisphere with no destination address, just the desire to show just how serious she was. In the end, she managed to sign a contract with Papakura City Football Club, a team in a high level New Zealand woman’s league.
Jamieson’s commitment and persistence proved to be enough and her coach then uttered seven life changing words right before the start of their World Cup Tour: “are you ready to go to France?”
According to Jamieson, it took a while for the significance of the tournament to settle in and it wasn’t until she saw the behind the scenes that she realized “it was the highest stage in women’s soccer, period.”
Making history at the FIFA WWC
“Going onto the field and there’s no one in the stadium, you just get to lie on the field and just explore the field by yourself, that was surreal to me. I never knew players get to do this before a game.”
Jamaica was drawn into Group C of the tournament alongside Italy, Australia and heavy weights Brazil, which had players who were the idols of Jamieson and her teammates. Yet, she says they didn’t approach the games with any doubt of themselves.
“We don’t really look at it like that’s team USA, that’s Brazil, it’s just another game to us because if you walk in like that and you give them too much respect, you’re going to see yourself as the underdog,” she said. “We made our idols into our rivals.”
“Of course inside you’re like ‘oh my god, I’ve looked up to this player my whole life,’ but you can’t act like that because you have to hold yourself to that standard.”
Jamaica went without a win after their first two matches, losing 3-0 to Brazil and 0-5 to Italy, but when it came time to play their last game of the tournament, Jamieson said the team was still in high spirits.
Sitting at the bottom of the group, the team had one more game against Australia, led by captain and star-striker, Sam Kerr. Though they eventually fell 1-4, they managed to create some more history: scoring Jamaica’s first ever goal at the FIFA WWC.
“I saw the goal coming from before even past half, because we looked like we were playing the way we usually play… the way they were passing the ball, everyone on the bench was like, ‘Okay, something’s happening,’” explained Jamieson.
“Then Bunny [Khadija Shaw] played the through ball and I was like let me not jinx it, let me not get up. Then when [Havana Solaun] scored I think I screamed so loud I almost threw up… we all just jumped on top of each other, we didn’t even know what to do.”
“Whenever I talk about that moment I just feel sick because it’s so exciting.”
Voicing support for fair and equal pay
While the ‘Reggae Girlz’ made international headlines for their achievements during the summer, they were also drawing attention after the tournament.
On Sept. 2, some players from the team took to social media with the hashtag, ‘no pay, no play,’ to announce they were striking against the Jamaican Football Federation after not being paid for nine months.
Making the decision to become part of the cause and re-post the poster from the strike on Twitter and Instagram was a difficult decision for the 21-year-old.
When the post finally went up, #NoPayNoPlay vent viral, which was unexpected for the team. It became so popular that other major international soccer players including the United States Women’s National Team’s Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe also reposted the poster on their social media. This, for Jamieson, was again a surreal moment.
“The fact that one, I got to meet them and two I got to play against them, three I was in the same breathing space as them and now they’re supporting us. That was surreal for us,” she said.
“At the end of the day, we’re all women in sports so they’re fighting the same battles… on the field we’re probably gonna be rivals but like at the end of the day, we’re all together and all supporting each other in women’s soccer.”
She is also one of the many athletes to support the movement for equal pay in professional soccer and expresses that she sees everyone putting in an equivalent work.
“In no way do I believe women bring in as much revenue as men, but we shouldn’t be given pennies because we put in the same amount of work as the men do. I’m making just as much sacrifices as the men do.”
“The first time that I spoke out about it I kinda felt like I didn’t really want to receive this negativity and I didnt want to be a part of this,” she explained.
“I went back again and I spoke to a newspaper in England about racism and women’s rights and equal pay in sports, and I just felt like it’s time. Now we’ve made it to the World Cup, what else do we need to do to prove ourselves?”
Her developing future
Now halfway through the fall semester of her final year, Jamieson has opted to hang her gloves up for a bit and continue pursuing her undergraduate degree. Once that’s done, she hopes to approach the 2021 winter transfer window and try to land a spot with a professional club in England or France to help improve her game.
However, the fight to improve women’s soccer as a whole is not over for her. She hopes to help “pave the way for the future Reggae Girlz and the future of Jamaica soccer for women.”
“We can be happy with us going to the World Cup and just leave it at that, or we can fight and try and keep this program above water and set a standard that they can’t break so that … us qualifying for the World Cup is no longer a shock, it’s the norm.”
For Jamieson, having an impact on young, aspiring soccer superstars in Jamaica is a source of her motivation and working to make sure their historic qualification doesn’t just remain in the history books is important.
“It’s not just about us, a lot of people are looking up to us and I also feel like now it’s kinda our responsibility to make sure that the future of women’s soccer in Jamaica doesn’t disappear and it’s not just a memory.”
Feature image provided.
