Nike doesn’t sponsor me (yet) but I love this commercial and I always find their advertising inspiring.  It’s been out a while and I am sure you have seen it but I had to post it.

The part I really want to point out besides for being funny is the Wayne Rooney bit.  Rooney is a great forward no doubt about it but what makes him one of the most loved players in England and at Manchester United is his work rate and defending.  In this clip he loses the ball and instead of putting his head down and sulking he reacts positive and hustles back on defense like his life/career depend on it and wins the ball back.  In my opinion that is a quality I want in a forward and in all of my players for that matter.

So if you are one of my players, or a player, reading this blog post take note of this and next time you lose the ball work as hard as you can to get back on defense and the fans will love you for it!

Now go write your future!

JM

Image via Chicago Red Stars

This week’s guest on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast is Natalie Spilger of the Chicago Red Stars.  Not only does Natalie play professional soccer for a living she is also the founder of Green Laces.  Green Laces is a non profit helping to make our planet more environmentally friendly by wearing green laces on your shoes and making a promise to the planet.

On the podcast we talked about the start of the season, Natalie’s personal playing time situation, the difference between WPS year 1 and 2, what Coach Hayes is like, Green Laces, took some user submitted questions and previewed this weekend’s game against the Boston Breakers.  Besides all the soccer talk it was very interesting to hear her perspective on how Nike copied her laces for social change idea with their Red Laces campaign.

Enjoy!

*This podcast is 23 minutes and 31 seconds.  Please feel free to hit play, open a new tab, and surf the web or get some work done while you listen.

*You can subscribe to the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast for Free in iTunes by clicking here.  You can also listen to past JMS Podcasts on the “JMS Podcasts” category page of my blog or by subscribing in iTunes.

*For those of you that use other Mp3 audio players and need the direct link to download it please copy and paste the link below into your browser.  Hopefully you know what to do after that!

http://www.jmsoccer10.com/Web/audio/nataliespilgerjmspodcast.mp3

If you are in Boston this Saturday be sure and get out to Harvard Stadium and watch Natalie and the Red Stars take on the Boston Breakers at 6pm eastern time.  If you can’t make it then follow the Chicago Red Stars on Twitter and I am sure they will give you all the game updates.

To buy a pair of Green Laces and support Natalie’s cause please visit GreenLaces.org.  You can follow her on Twitter by clicking here.

I would love to hear what you think about the interview.  If you think Natalie will break into the line up soon, your thoughts on Green Laces, do you think Nike was wrong for taking her idea and not crediting her for it, and anything else you may have on your mind soccer related.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments below in the comments section.  Or let me know what you think via Facebook, Twitter, or your Online Soccer Academy account.

Thanks for listening.

JM

Looks like he is living the dream to me…

JM

Congratulations to Barrick Roberts for winning Chris Rolfe’s autographed brand new Nike cleats in the refer 5 friends Online Soccer Academy contest!!  Barrick is a 12 year old from Mandeville, Louisiana and he is the future pros group of the Online Soccer Academy!

The contest had players from all over the country signing up in the Online Soccer Academy.  I was planning on having to ship the cleats to who ever won but since Barrick won and he is from my hometown I was able to hand deliver the prize to him.

One of the local soccer clubs, Mandeville Soccer Club, who I played for back in the day was having their annual Fish Fry fundraiser so we took a picture at the event.

The contest was very close and I need to give a shout to one of my players, Eddie Choe for coming in second.  He was about 5 minutes behind Barrick with getting his 5 friends to sign up.  Watching it all go down from the back end of the website was crazy!  I couldn’t believe how close it was!  I am giving Eddie a $20 gift card to the JM Pro Soccer Shop for some JMS “Believe in it” gear because he did such a good job!

Congrats again to Barrick Roberts for winning the refer 5 friends contest!  Keep up the good work buddy!

JM

P.S. I didn’t expect the contest to go this quick.  A lot of my Online Soccer Academy players got  2-3 of their friends to sign up so I want to give them a chance to win a prize too.  On Monday I will be announcing another competition along the same guidelines of this one so be on the look out!

Do you want to win a pair of Chris Rolfe’s autographed brand new NIKE cleats?  The retail value on these bad boys is about $185.  The fact that they’re signed though… well, that is PRICELESS!

In case you don’t know Chris Rolfe is a forward for the Chicago Fire and U.S. National Team.  He is an awesome player and has been on MontzTV before!  His full MontzTV interview was great but if you want a good laugh then be sure and check out the MontzTV “Bloopers” Interview with Chris!  It’s hilarious and got a lot of love on the blogosphere!!

Here is how the contest will work.  The 1st Online Soccer Academy member to get 5 of their friends signed up for the Online Soccer Academy wins Chris’s autographed cleats!  If your friends like what they see and sign up as a regular member that is great, but they must at least sign up for the FREE 30 day trial.  It takes 2 minutes to sign up and no credit card is needed for the FREE 30 day trial so this should not be hard!

If you’re not an Online Soccer Academy member you can become one today by signing up as a regular member or a free trial member .  Then once you do hurry up and get 5 of your friends to sign up too.  If you do it fast enough you will win Chris’s autographed cleats!

Directions

Online Soccer Academy Members

Have 5 of your friends sign up for the Online Soccer Academy.  They can sign up for any one of the four membership options, but at minimum they must do the FREE 30 day trial.  Once you have 5 friends signed up message me via your Academy message center and tell me their names.  I will check my records and if they match up you win!  Don’t forget to act fast because it’s a race!  It’s the first player to get 5 friends to join that wins!

Non – Online Soccer Academy players

If you’re not an Online Soccer Academy member yet sign up asap for one of the four membership options or do the FREE 30 day trial.  Congrats!  Now you’re a member and can follow the directions above for the Online Soccer Academy Members.

Coaches, Parents, & Fans

If you’re a coach, parent, fan, or someone who is too old to use the Online Soccer Academy you can still have a chance of winning Chris’s cleats.  All you need to do is get 6 players to sign up for the Online Soccer Academy.  You have to do 6 instead of 5 because you’re not an Online Soccer Academy member.  As soon as your 6 players are signed up please email me at jared@jmsoccer10.com with their names and I will check my records and if they match up you win!

**Don’t sweat it!  If you win, shipping is on me so it’s FREE for you!

Rules

1.  Eligible friends that sign up must be new to the Online Soccer Academy as of June 24, 2009 which is today.

2.  Eligible friends that sign up must be soccer players with in the ages of 5-18.

3.  Free shipping only applies to players in the US.

If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment in the comments section or send me an email at jared@jmsoccer10.com.  If you’re reading this then the contest has already started!  So start telling your friends by calling, texting, emailing, copying/pasting the link, posting it to your Facebook or Twitter pages, and do you what you have to do to be the 1st one to get 5 friends signed up!

JM