BILLINGS, Mont. – Within the context of the Montana State University Billings men's soccer team, the fact that sophomore forward Thorge Jess hails from Kiel, Germany hardly makes him unique among his teammates. With players from seven different countries – including four from Germany – the roster is by far the most international of any Yellowjacket team.
 
Where Jess does stick out from the crowd is on the soccer field, as he gets set to follow his performance as the team's leading scorer his freshman year with an even stronger campaign in his second season. "Soccer is a team sport, and I could never score goals on my own," Jess commented regarding his five goals as a freshman in 2013. "We could've done better as a team last year, but this season we are even stronger. We want to keep building on the strong spring and preseason that we have had, and I think we can achieve good things this year."
 
Head coach Alex Balog recognizes Jess's unique ability on the soccer field, as well as the strength of character he displays as a citizen in the Billings community. "Thorge has a rare ability to feel where the ball is going to be, and he finds a way to put himself into a scoring position," said Balog. "He is also a very good student. He's a very reliable guy, he's always on time, and he is extremely polite."
 
While Jess, known to his teammates as T.J., has had an immediate impact on the program, his journey towards playing soccer in a foreign country began when he first kicked around a soccer ball as a child. A city of around 250,000 people, Kiel is located along the northern edge of Germany, bordering the Baltic Sea. When he wasn't learning the game from his father, Sven, a former club soccer player in Germany, Jess would make the three-hour journey north to the Ringkobing Fjord in Denmark to escape from civilization. "It is really nice to live in Kiel, especially when you're a child," Jess commented on the town he still calls home in the summer. "It's a big enough place where you still meet new people, and you're right there on the beach."
 
For as long as he can remember, soccer has been a fundamental part of Jess's development and has shaped who he has become as a student-athlete today. "I started playing soccer when I was four years old, and have continued up through now," said Jess. "We had different sports in school, but I didn't play any of them competitively besides soccer."
 
Jess excelled in school, while discovering that his passion for soccer was growing on a daily basis. By the time he played on his first club team, he knew that he had found a passion that was worth devoting himself to.
 
But with the intense structure of education along with meticulous soccer workouts, the combination of the two began to take its toll on Jess. "Around the age of 15 or 16 I had some trouble psychologically and in school," Jess remembered. "I was practicing every day for several hours along with all of my course work and it became too much. At that point I switched to another club that allowed me to focus more on school while sticking with soccer."
 
Even as an adolescent in Germany, the stress of being a student-athlete was sometimes intense for Jess. Finding an outlet to relieve tension when he felt overwhelmed, Jess took to a hobby that many athletes pursue as a means of stress relief as well as technical training. "I started dancing when I was around 13," said Jess. "We learned most of the standard dances like the waltz and samba. I still like to do it now, though it is a bit tougher to keep up with during the season. When I'm back home I dance a lot, and I still use it as a balance."
 
As Jess began to prove on the pitch, the footwork associated with dancing goes hand-in-hand with the footwork associated with finding the back of the net.
 
"I saw Thorge play in Germany in the winter of 2012 at a showcase and thought he performed extremely well," Balog commented on his first encounters with Jess. "I spoke to him afterwards, but there were several dozen other schools interested in him at the time and I thought he might be out of our reach."
 
Balog returned from the recruiting trip somewhat disappointed not to have landed the blooming talent of Jess, but he tucked away the name and the impressive skillset he had witnessed in the back of his mind.
 
"MSUB really came onto my radar in February of 2013, and Alex was really convincing about the program when he talked to me," said Jess. "He showed me the different things I could study here, and I looked online and found some of the different majors here. I liked the school and the area and it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for."
 
"All of a sudden I received an email from Thorge's recruiting agency indicating that he was still available," said Balog. "I explained to him what we're trying to achieve here and how we run the program, and he was very interested. We kept communicating, eventually made him and offer and he accepted."
 
The move across the Atlantic Ocean was a major step for Jess, but when he packed his bag to become a Yellowjacket, it was not the first time he had made the journey to the United States. "I started learning English in the fifth grade, and in 10th grade I came here on an exchange trip to Albany, New York," remembered Jess. "I practiced with a high school team and they told me I had an opportunity to combine sports and an education in America. I went home to Germany after the three-week camp and started looking at different schools in the United States with a good combination of athletics and academics."
 
As the college decision drew closer for Jess, the opportunity to extend his athletic career while continuing his education made MSUB the perfect fit. "Everything here is more personal, and we have completely different relationships with professors than we had in Germany," Jess commented on his studies at MSUB. "I definitely enjoy the trips our soccer team goes on as well, and it's cool to see and play in different places like Seattle. I feel very supported here, and Krista (Montague) and everyone in the athletic department are doing everything they can so that we have a good time here. It is really impressive."
 
This season, Jess is one of four Germans on the Yellowjackets' roster, and one of 11 players hailing from outside of the United States. The global combination of different styles has had a positive impact on the team's structure in Jess's eyes, as each player has a unique set of skills to bring to the table. "This year it is interesting with all of the different styles of players we have," commented Jess. "In Germany, we play a completely different style than in South America, and it is cool to see all these different aspects combine. It takes time and it's not always easy, but it's really nice playing with all of these guys from different places."
 
Also calling Germany home are sophomore goalkeeper Tom Lohmann (Berlin), freshman midfielder Niklas Schregel (Freialdenhoven), and sophomore midfielder Julian Toenges (Hessen). "I didn't know any of the other Germans personally, but I think it's really helpful to have them on the team with me," said Jess. "In Germany, we learned a lot of tactics and a lot of technical skills. In the U.S., it is pretty physical and I've never experienced playing with people who can run like some of the guys on our team can. Here there is definitely a focus on the technical side of the game as well, but we also work on getting fit a lot more than in Germany."
 
"The reason why we recruit German players is that often times they have played at a high youth level," Balog commented on the impact of soccer's popularity in Germany on younger players' skills. "In many cases, they add a lot of physicality, experience, and maturity. American soccer still has to catch up with European soccer a little bit, and because of that it helps some of the foreign players to read certain situations better."
 
Emerging as one of the Yellowjackets' youngest but brightest stars, Jess will be looked upon to combine his nose for goal with his uncanny leadership ability for MSUB this season. "Thorge didn't always get the support he should've gotten last season, and some early injuries broke his rhythm a little bit," Balog commented on Jess's freshman year. "Then again, he did score five goals, and in the spring he came back and hit the ground running. As a sophomore now, we will look to him for more leadership, while balancing the attack and providing him with a strong cast of support to play off of."
 
As Jess continues his college journey, he is quick to look back at his roots and remembers his biggest role models in life. "My parents both support me whenever I make a decision, and they are the most important part of my life," Jess commented on his father Sven Nommensen and mother Karena Jess. "My father brought me into playing soccer, and they are both always there for me to help in any way that they can."
 
"We look a lot at our recruits not just as players but who they are as students and people," Balog commented. "Personality wise on and off the field as well as in the classroom, it is important to have a strong core. As a coaching staff we feel that Thorge is a big part of that for us."