Coach, Inspire, Educate: The Montz Way

In late 2006, Jared Montz tore a ring of cartilage on his hip. It was the beginning of the end of his career as a professional soccer player.

“It was tough in that it was out of my control,” Montz said. “When you’re at that level, you need to be 100% and I wasn’t. I cried my eyes out for a couple of days.”

After a short return to professional play, Montz announced his retirement in March 2009.

“I have always said if I wasn’t good enough I would have stopped a long time ago,”the blog post announcing his retirement stated. “This year I just wasn’t good enough.”

By the time of his retirement, Montz had been running the Online Soccer Academy for half a year. The OSA is a free website that aims to teach young people soccer through training videos.

When playing was no longer an option, it was an easy decision to start working on the OSA full-time, Montz said. He had been interested in coaching for a long time.

“I have a passion to coach young players,” Montz said. “I love giving back and inspiring kids.”

Montz views inspiration as a big part of creating successful players.

“When you’re a professional, the game is 90% mental,” he said. “If you have confidence, you’ll succeed. When you don’t, you won’t. I learned that first hand.”

One important mental attribute is the willingness to practice on one’s own, Montz said. Most young players only get to practice with their teams twice a week so working on their own is required to succeed, Montz said. The OSA helps young players do that.

Montz knows the frustration of not being able to play with a team. He grew up in the small town of Mandeville, Louisiana where he was only able to practice once a week.

“There were things that I didn’t learn until college and the pros that I should have learned earlier,” Montz said.

That’s part of why Montz now runs soccer camps in several places near his hometown.

“Parents will call me afterward and say that their child has improved a lot,” Montz said. “That’s really fulfilling. It’s just a different kind of fulfilling [from playing].”