FAIRFAX, Va. – Alain Sargeant admits there were nerves.
Stepping onto the field last month, Sargeant felt the emotions swirl about him as he represented the St. Kitts and Nevis National Football Team in international play. Then the George Mason sophomore eased up and soaked in his surroundings as St. Kitts and Nevis defeated Bermuda 3-0 in an international friendly.
“The atmosphere was amazing. I was a little nervous going into it. But I kind of relaxed,” he said. “It was a big crowd. Everything in the Caribbean they like to pump up the crowd and what not. So they have the music, they also have the food going, flags flying. It is pretty cool.”
Sargeant will get another taste of international soccer this week as he heads back to the Caribbean for the Caribbean Football Union Caribbean Cup.
The 6-foot-1 center back left for St. Kitts on Wednesday. The national team will head to Aruba to play Aruba on Saturday to start the Caribbean Cup and then return to St. Kitts and play Antigua and Barbuda next Tuesday.
“It is a great honor to be called onto your National Team, and Alain is certainly deserving of this opportunity,” Mason head coach Greg Andrulis said. “Alain is a very talented and exciting young player whose best days are still in front of him. In his first two years with Mason, Alain has been a mainstay on our back line. We are excited that Alain has earned this recognition from the St. Kitts National Football Association.”
For Sargeant, the trips to St. Kitts the last two months are his first. A native of Toronto, Canada, Sargeant has dual citizenship as his father, Osmond, was born in St. Kitts and Nevis. Through his father, he built up a relationship with the St. Kitts national team coaches.
He wasn't able to get back for tryouts in the fall due to the college season being underway. But the St. Kitts coaches kept in contact and watched his film from games at Mason. At the end of February, he was invited down for three days of training with the national team and competed in the friendly against Bermuda. That served as an informal audition for Sargeant, who made the roster for the Caribbean Cup.
“Those few training sessions before our game against Bermuda gave them a better look,” he said. “(Playing on the national team) is helping me a lot. Right now, it is even giving me a new experience, playing against different players from other countries, playing with guys I just met. Everything is new but definitely a good experience. Because they are older, it requires more focus, they require more out of me.”
Though he spent most of his stay in St. Kitts with the national team, Sargeant did have a few opportunities to explore. His father, a former triple jumper, made the trip. Sargeant visited where his father grew up and met up with one of his uncles.
“It is good to get back and see where my dad was from and see who he grew up with,” Sargeant said. “It feels good to represent a country.”
This isn't Sargeant's first time playing on a higher level.
The talented defender played for the Toronto FC Junior Academy in 2012-13 and was a nominee for Canadian Soccer League Defender of the Year. He was a member of the St. Kitts and Nevis U-20 Team in 2012 and has played in the Barbados Cup and Ontario Cup.
Sargeant, who has started in 35 of 37 games at Mason the last two years, says he was pleased with his performances so far with St. Kitts. He hopes this initial opportunity with the national team serves as a springboard and keeps the door open for potential trips to the Gold Cup or even the Olympics.
“Definitely, I would like to see how far this goes,” he said. “It feels good. I'm happy with my performance and I feel like if I keep improving and moving forward it will be a bright future. It is an exciting thing to play for a national team.”
