By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

With blonde hair and a distinctive California look, it seems like Jackie Crowther would be out of place on a Mexican national soccer team.

But the Baylor freshman played for Mexico's Under-17 soccer team that reached the World Cup quarterfinals two years ago and then moved up to the U20 team this year for a round-robin tournament in June against USA, Brazil and Japan.

"It's kind of weird the way the team works, because you don't really know if you're ever going to get invited back," said Crowther, whose mother, Myrna, was born in Tijuana, Mexico. "It's always a competition. So, I was used to the fluctuation of players in and out ... I know it's definitely a lot faster and more technical (with the U20 team), and obviously the girls are a lot stronger. They're all older than me as opposed to me being one of the oldest one on the U17 team."

Like Crowther, senior forward Bri Campos has spent parts of the last three summers in Mexico. She played on the national U20 team that earned a spot in the 2014 U20 Women's World Cup and then participated in a training camp with the Mexico National team this past summer.

"I think it was my freshman year when I first got invited, so I was pretty much a head case back then," said Campos, whose grandparents came from a Mexican heritage. "But as the camps went on and as I got older, I learned how to approach them better and I was able to take more out of it."

Although he loses them at different points during the year, and especially for the summers, Baylor head coach Paul Jobson sees it as a good thing for the players and the team.

"The more opportunities you get to play in different environments, it's always going to help them because they're seeing different challenges," Jobson said. "If all they've done is play on the same club team and the same club environment their whole career, that's all they've seen. They get to college, and it's a whole different environment, a whole different level. And they have a hard time adjusting.

"I know when Bri first went away, it was a huge amount of experience she brought back to our team. So, not only does it help them, but then it spreads to the rest of the team. The level and the knowledge they're bringing back just passes down to the rest of the program. It's huge."

Through a contact with a regional scout, Campos was invited to try out for Mexico's U20 team two years ago, helping the team earn a spot in the 2014 U20 Women's World Cup. The toughest part for her was the language barrier.

"It was a big step for me to go through, just because it wasn't easy for me, not being able to speak the language," said Campos, who was on the Olympic Development team in Colorado. "It took me out of my comfort zone, which was good for me and made me grow. I wasn't in an environment where I could lean on people I know and people that I trust. You have to just trust God and trust yourself."

Crowther was discovered at a regional tournament in Arizona and was invited to play for the Mexican-American IME, which "basically means the Mexicans of the exterior; not actually from Mexico," Crowther said.

Competing against teams from the various Mexican states, Crowther scored the gamewinning goal in the final as the IME team won the youth Olympic tournament.

"It was just such a random experience," said the 18-year-old Crowther, who hails from Temecula, Calif. "But it was so much fun. We got gold medals and everything."

Growing up, Jackie was put in Spanish classes, "but it didn't really stick." During her junior and senior years at Linfield Christian High School, though, "I had more of an incentive to learn it because I wanted to play on this team."

Invited to play for the Mexico U17 team, she had to get her Mexican national citizenship first.

"And it was really stressful, because I didn't know if I wanted to go," Crowther said. "I didn't know if I wanted to miss out on summer, and I didn't know how amazing this opportunity was. So, I was praying about it a lot. I wasn't sure if I was going to get my dual citizenship in time, so I was like, 'OK, if I get it, I'll go. If not, I'll know God wants me to stay.'''

Crowther received her dual citizenship the day before she was scheduled to fly to Mexico for the next month. "And I've just been going back and forth with camps for the last two years."

One day, hopefully, the Baylor teammates will be paired together on Mexico's World Cup team.

"Eventually, if that opportunity presents itself - God-willing - I would love to go back and play and make a name for myself and actually make that final roster," Campos said. "But for right now, I'm just focusing on the season here."