- April 19, 2024
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After being stripped of his Team Captain title last season, Jeremy Gion set out to earn back his Father Lopez soccer rank this year.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
Jeremy Gion was a captain of the Father Lopez boys soccer team. And then he wasn’t. But he buckled down and, this preseason, reclaimed his title.
A senior Green Wave defender, Gion was stripped of his captaincy following a coaching change after last season. When then-assistant coach Eric Roberson took over as head coach, he wanted a fresh start for the team.
But, during this season’s tryouts, Gion did something that made Roberson change his tune.
“At the end of practice, I was about to talk to the kids,” Roberson said. “He kind of tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Hey, let me talk to them. I want to talk to them.’”
Roberson said he could overhear the conversation. The senior was honest and direct with his teammates. He said the Green Wave were going to win this season, no matter what.
When Roberson saw that, he knew Gion was ready for the position, and ready to become the team’s “alpha male.”
“It sucks, hearing that your captaincy is stripped,” Gion said. “But it’s only motivation. ... I knew I was going to be the captain. I mean, the kids listen to me. They’re not going to listen to anyone else out here.”
Gion’s leadership skills weren't ready-made, however.
When he was about 10 years old, his mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Both Gion and his coach, who has known him his entire life, say that moment and the years since have shaped him.
“It’s taught me so much,” Gion said. “It’s taught me everything. It’s what I base a lot of my life around.”
Recently, Gion got a tattoo, of something you might not expect of an 18-year old athlete.
His tattoo shows a fox, the symbol of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, holding a tulip, the Parkinson’s flower, in its mouth.
“It sounds corny,” Gion said. “But it’s my everything. It’s what I work for. It’s only to impress her.”
Gion said he’s come to learn that getting mad or frustrated with what life gives you isn’t a solution to problems. So he takes what life gives him and moves forward, just as he’s moving the Green Wave forward.
“We’re trying to make it to the Final Four (in the state tournament),” he said. “We just competed with (St. Joseph’s Academy) — that’s a Final Four team. We lost 2-0, but we missed an easy goal, (and) had one off the crossbar. But we’re not even ranked in the top 15 for (Class) 2A soccer."
So that's his goal, at least for now. Gion wants to take the Green Wave into the top 10. Then, into the Final Four.
As a defender, Gion’s boxscore can be pretty bland. But there’s one specific stat that seems to be on his mind at all times.
“He just wants to get the win,” Roberson said. “He doesn’t care if he’s glorified and this and that; he just knows he did well.”
Up next
7 p.m., Dec. 18, vs. Circle Christian
4 p.m., Dec. 19, @ Cornerstone Charter (Orlando)
7 p.m., Dec. 20, @ Lyman (Longwood)
