A few weeks ago Jed Zayner from the Columbus Crew was staying with me in New Orleans during his first ever Filleo Project.  Filleo is a non profit he started that is all about giving back to the kids.  During his time here we shot a few videos and this MontzTV interview is one of them.

You can find out more about Jed on his blog or by visiting Filleo.com.

What did you think of the interview?  Can you imagine being injured for 15 months?  Happy to see Jed back in action full time now?  Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

JM

P.S. Sorry about not wearing shoes during the interview!  That is the plus side to working from home!

Last Sunday Kenny Mathews from the Times Picayune wrote a great piece in his column about the charity event my company and I sponsored; Jed Zayner’s Filleo Project: New Orleans.

You can read the full article on NOLA.com by clicking here.

Thanks for the great coverage Kenny, I appreciate it!

JM

The Columbus Crew’s Jed Zayner, pictured above, is one dedicated pro.  He is staying with me right now for his first ever Filleo Project.  I will write more about it and post pictures soon but today Jed lead his gang of Filleo volunteers and coaches in New Orleans and ran a first class free soccer clinic for underprivileged kids at the Green Charter School.

He stayed up late last night working and getting organized, got up early in 22 degree weather, ran the clinic for 30 plus kids, gave out free gear and then after that long day was done he took a quick nap.  Most people would have called it a day, not Jed.  This picture was taken by me (on my own account) at 9:15pm on Saturday night and it shows Jed doing an exercise from his workout to make sure he is fit for the season.  That is dedication!

To be a great pro, a great leader, and a Champion it takes sacrifice and dedication.  No wonder the Columbus Crew just resigned him to a 4 year deal!

Believe in it!

JM

Despite the 30 degree weather, strong winds, rain and having to change the camp schedule around to move indoors this soccer camp was a great one!  The camp featured Jason Garey from the Columbus Crew and he was awesome!  He is a humble guy and it was great that he could share all his knowledge about being a forward, shooting and how to take on defenders at camp.  I am very appreciative he was able to make room in his busy schedule for us.

Below are a few of the camp pictures.

There are plenty more pictures which you can view on Facebook by clicking here.  You do not need a Facebook membership to view them.  If you are a member of Facebook feel free to tag yourself in your photos.  You can also right click on the image and save it to your computer.  This process works for Facebook and pictures on my blog.  All of my pictures are free for players and parents so have at it.  If you have any questions on how to save a picture to your computer send me an email at jared@jmsoccer10.com and I will help you as best I can.

I would like to thank my excellent sponsors for a great camp; Imazine Watches, Pelican Athletic Club, Kristy May Photography, Kang Arena, Montz Washer and Dryer Repair, and Filleo.  Also I would like to thank the most important sponsor of all; the parents for sending their kids!

Thanks again to everyone and big thank you to Jason Garey for featuring at camp!  What a great way to end 2009!

Believe in it!

JM

This week on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast I spoke with the Columbus Crew’s Jed Zayner.  He is a Generation Adidas player and MLS Cup winner!  After years dealing with injuries he is doing well and is a regular starter at the moment.  Besides being a great player he also owns a non-profit.  Listen to the podcast to hear his thoughts on the Crew’s slow start to the season, team’s new coach, how it feels to lift an MLS Cup, what his non-profit is all about, and his keys to the game and score prediction on the team’s upcoming match against the Chicago Fire this Saturday.

Enjoy!

*Podcast is 20 minutes long so please free to hit play, open a new tab, and surf the web while listening!

*Below is the link you can copy and paste for those of you that want to download the MP3 file into your player of choice.

http://jmsoccer10.com/Web/audio/JedZaynerPodcastInterview.mp3

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Links that were mentioned on the podcast:

Corvallis Soccer Blog (guy from Oregon on Twitter who asked a question)

Jed Zayner’s Filleo non-profit website, Filleo blog, facebook group, and email is jedi@filleo.com.  Be sure and check them out!

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What did you think of the interview?  Are you happy to see Jed doing so well after such a tough start as a pro?  Do you think the Crew can repeat as MLS Cup winners?  Are you impressed with Jed and what is doing to give back to the community?  Feel free to share your thoughts, comments, and score predictions in the comments sections below.

JM