McMaster's Jeremy Watkin recognized with an Investors Group Barrie-Huronia Scholarship

The Ontario University Athletics (OUA) soccer career of Jeremy Watkin is one that can be defined by the setbacks along the way and how he dedicated himself to reaching his full potential. For all of his success and dedication in academics and athletics, the McMaster Marauders centre midfielder has been named the winner of a 2013-14 Investors Group Barrie-Huronia Scholarship.
 
The Duntroon, Ont. native found himself at Upper Canada College in Toronto for high school, and was a little dismayed that he wasn’t highly recruited and there weren’t many university coaches out to see him on the soccer pitch, so he took matters into his own hands.
 
“In high school I wasn’t really that exposed in terms of OUA coaches coming to watch,” explained Watkin. “I figured out I wanted to go to McMaster for and wound up emailing the coach asking if I could come to the summer training session with the team so I could show him what I could do. Because of that I was able to come to the regular training camp and make the team from there.”
 
The decision to choose McMaster wasn’t an easy one for Jeremy. It was the quality of the school’s kinesiology program rather than the soccer program that was key in his decision to venture to Hamilton for university.
 
“I wanted to study kinesiology,” he said. “I found that kinesiology can be based in science to varying degrees and I heard that the Mac program was more science based which suited me better. I also heard that they had one of the better faculties in Canada.”
 
Through his first two seasons with the Marauder soccer program Jeremy worked hard on the pitch, and was elated when his team won an OUA championship in his second season. It was in preparation for his third year with the Marauders that adversity struck, but what ultimately led to the defining moment in his athletic career.
 
“I had a severe injury the summer before third-year. I tore a ligament in my ankle when I was playing for a club team and training for an important season at Mac. I was in a cast for a month and on crutches for another month and by the time I rehabbed my whole season was lost, so I missed my entire third year.”
 
It was his recovery, and not back-to-back OUA titles that Watkin lists as his proudest moment.
 
“My proudest moment was going from having played 2 seasons to not playing at all and being on one leg, to coming back in fourth year at school and being able to make the team again and get some important playing time.”
 
Jeremy sees the value that participating in athletics has while at school and in his future endeavours.
 
“It trains you to deal with the stress of not having that much time to do what you need to do, and trying to perform at a high level while having the stresses of in terms of playing times and games. It forces you to learn strategies to deal with what life presents you. You don’t know what you can handle until you push yourself to your limits.”
 
In receiving the Investors Group Barrie-Huronia Scholarship, Watkin is grateful to receive recognition for the hard work he has put in on the pitch and in the classroom.
“This scholarship confirms what I’ve always tried to do and not put all my eggs in one basket in terms of only academics or only athletics. It’s confirmation to myself that I’ve found a good, balanced route at school.”