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The Jared Montz Interview Part Two

Published by Ian John on March 25, 2009

Part 1. Part 3. Jared has graciously agreed to give Decipher Soccer fans a free one month trial of his online academy. To receive your free one month trial visit http://jmsoccer10.com and use the code JMSDECIPHER when signing up.

Despite achieving what he had dreamt about as a child, Jared didn’t forget where he had come from, or the lack of opportunities that were available for children to be taught soccer by knowledgeable coaches. As such, less than a year after signing his first professional contract with Chicago, he ran his first ever Jared Montz Pro Soccer Camp in Covington, Louisiana. Jared explained why “My reason for starting the camp was to coach youth players and give them the soccer smarts I was gaining at Pro-Level. Growing up I had big dreams and a lot of people told me I couldn’t do it. I wanted players to know they could do it, if they believed in themselves and worked hard.” Jared also reveals that being a rookie pro in America isn’t exactly financially lucrative. “Supporting myself in Chicago wasn’t always easy. I was a business guy in College and I always had a Car waxing or lawn care business and being an entrepreneur comes naturally to me. Starting a camp made sense. I didn’t make a cent off the first camp, but seeing all the players doing things on the last day of camp that I didn’t know about until I reached the pro level was pretty cool. The kids were so pumped to learn and be inspired that it makes it all worth it.”

In 2006 Jared capped a fine year by lifting the US Open Cup as part of the Chicago Fire team, but soon after he was laid low with a sports hernia and after surgery, he was allowed to leave the team. Despite being cut, Jared still had the drive and desire to succeed and after speaking to over 3000 children in Louisiana on a motivational speaking tour, he found employment with Vancouver Whitecaps and then Puerto Rico Islanders in the USL-1. Once again however Jared’s career would be dogged by injury as a recurring groin and hip injury, a legacy from his injuries sustained at Chicago, would ruin his chances of building on an impressive start for the Islanders. Jared admits it was a frightening time for him “It was scary because I knew something was wrong with me and if I didn’t get it fixed then I couldn’t continue playing. I fought through it at 75% of my abilities for as long as I could but you can’t play at the pro level at 75%. It wasn’t fair to my teammates, my coach or myself.”

In October 2007 Jared was forced into semi-retirement. A decision he admits was painful. It was during this period that he came up with the idea for an online soccer academy to help potential football stars of the future polish and learn their skills with the expert advice of a professional on hand whenever they needed it. Jared explains “When I got the idea for the online soccer academy in the summer of 2008, I had been doing camps for almost two and a half years. They had become more successful since the first one I ran in Covington and I had run around 15 camps up to that point. I would always hear the same things from apologetic parents at most camps “We wanted to come, but this just isn’t a good time for us.” I had a good turnout at camps but I was always limited as to when I could do them because of my schedule. The solution was to run a camp where scheduling and time would not be a factor and that is when it hit me. The online academy solves those problems. It is there 24/7 on demand so whenever you have the time, you can learn and get inspired.”

Jared explains that while the flexibility of the Online Academy had obvious appeal, he also had other reasons for starting the academy. “In America, youth players on train with their club teams once or twice a week, but in Europe players are training five or six times per week. So to make up this imbalance, American players need to train on their own and many of them don’t know what to do in these circumstances without expert guidance. All of my Academy training videos are designed so players can learn exercises and skills to do on their own in the backyard. They get to watch them on demand and replay them as many times as they like. Parents now don’t have to drive them one or two hours to attend soccer practice.”

However there is so much more to Jared’s Montz online soccer academy than just tutorials. Check back tomorrow for the final part of the interview which details what the future holds for the academy, and Jared Montz the professional footballer.

Check out Jared Montz Online Soccer Academy here

Jared has graciously agreed to give Decipher Soccer fans a free one month trial of his online academy. To receive your free one month trial visit http://jmsoccer10.com and use the code JMSDECIPHER when signing up.

This is Part 2 of the interview with Jared Montz. You can read Part 1 here.