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Below is the chat transcript with Maryland forward Jason Garey that was conducted on Friday, Nov. 18, 2005.
Garey is Maryland's all-time leading goal scorer with 58. He also is ninth all-time among goal scorers in the ACC. Over the past two seasons, Jason has scored 42 goals, the most ever in back-to-back seasons at Maryland. This season, he ranks second in the NCAA in total goals (20) and is tied for the NCAA lead in points per game (2.33).
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Moderator: Thanks to everyone for logging in today and to those who submitted questions early. We're about ready to get started. |
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Jason Garey: Thanks everyone for your questions. Let's get started. |
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| Jill (Laurel): Hi, Jason. Congratulations on a terrific season so far & good luck in the NCAA tournament! What has been the highlight of your season so far & why? |
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Jason Garey: Probably the Indiana game. It was a special night being senior night and we are glad it wasn't our last home game but it was still special to have our families there along with 6,000 people. |
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| Nick (College Park): Which of your teammates (including yourself) do you think has been most instrumental in shaping your team for success this year? |
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Jason Garey: I think Stephen King has been instrumental in our success this season. He does so many things that don't get noticed and he scores big goals in big games. |
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| Dan, College Park: Jason -- Congrats on all your hard work and outstanding success on and off the field at Maryland. It has been great watching you play over the last few years. The bike against Indiana was classic!
How does Sasho, you and your Terp teammates intend to prepare for the NCAAs? Will you guys be doing anything special to get ready? |
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Jason Garey: We've had a good week of practice so far and we've been balancing working hard to improve our fitness and getting healthy and resting up. We don't really do anything special we just try to raise our level of concentration and focus on the small details of the game. |
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| Noah Elkrief (Valencia, Spain): First off, I want to congratulate you on your incredible regular season this year. I read that you said you never get nervous when you play games or when you are on a breakaway. I would like to know how you manage to accomplish that? Was it with the help of a sports psychologist or simply confidence in your ability? I wish you the best of luck in taking home both trophies this year, although they should give you another one for most improved player because your success is truly a testament to hardwork coming from where you were. |
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Jason Garey: It's definitely not through the help of a sports psychologist. I think it's just repitition and lots of practice that allow you to be confident on the field. Lots of players worry about the outcome of the shot before they shoot it but if you've prepared well in practice everything will take care of itself. |
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| S.J.R. (NYC): Hey Jason. Here's my question -- you have come so close to winning a national championship the past two years. What will it take to go all the way this time around? |
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Jason Garey: Maybe a little bit of luck? We've been pretty unlucky the past three years and I think it takes a little bit of luck for a team to win a championship. We've also got to prepare correctly and take each opponent one at a time. |
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| Bob (Alexandria Va): Great Job Jason; Question: I've seen your sister play on TV (Great player at Texas A&M). Knowing that she's also in the NCAA tournament this year, how difficult is it for your parents to decide which game to attend. Do they split up and attend each game or will they be at Maryland next weekend? This is probably a difficult choice but they have to be proud of both of you. |
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Jason Garey: We have an off day at practice tomorrow and my mom is flying into Baltimore tonight and we're going to drive up to Penn State to watch my sister's third round game. Sometimes they split up but they try to make as many games as possible. College Station is only about 6 and half hours from my house so they make that trip a lot more than they do to Maryland. And I'm proud of my sister as well. |
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| Eric (Columbus): Jason -- please tell me what the team chemistry is like? |
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Jason Garey: Team chemistry is great. We're all good friends off the field so it makes it a lot easier to communicate and be a cohesive team on the field. |
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| Drew (Reston): Which goals over your career stand out the most to you? |
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Jason Garey: Definitely I think the goals in the Indiana game this year. The goal against Indiana in the Final Four, and my sophomore year when we beat Akron 1-0 in the Sweet 16 and also in my sophomore year when we beat Virginia 1-0 to win the ACC regular season championship. |
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| Ronnie, Annapolis: Jason,
What do you feel about your MLS prospects? Is there any chance you would go overseas? I hope there's some way you could play for DC because we'd like to see you continue to play. Thanks. |
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Jason Garey: I'm just going to wait until after the season hopefully after we've won a national championship. Then I will sit down with my coaches and figure out the best option for me. I don't really know much about it at this point, I'm just trying to focus on the NCAA Tournament. |
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| J.D. -- Washington, D.C.: I read that your family was affected by Hurricane Katrina. How are things now? Hope they are better. |
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Jason Garey: My family is doing just fine. My house wasn't affected very much, but my grandmother's house is being rebuilt as we speak. I also have an uncle and his family living in Houston while their house is being worked on. |
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| Ethan (Baltimore): being from the south, do you like country music? what kind of bands are on your ipod? |
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Jason Garey: Country music is definitely my favorite. Being up here there is only one country station on the radio but where I'm from there are many. On my iPod I'm a fan of old-time country music like Allen Jackson, George Strait, Brooks & Dunn -- stuff like that. |
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| Reece (York, Pa.): Jason -- what kind of team poses the biggest challenge for Maryland (physical? fast? tricky?) Thanks and good luck. |
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Jason Garey: I think they all pose different challenges. We struggled against bigger teams so I need we need to be a little better dealing with those kinds of teams. But any team can beat you on any given day. |
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| Mikey, Rockville: Why do you wear #9? |
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Jason Garey: Part of it is the history #9's being the goal scorer on many teams, and also another part is Scotty Buete wore the number here at Maryland before me and I wanted to try and be the type of leader he was during my first two years here. |
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| Mark Bethesda: Jason, has Taylor Twellman ever been around Maryland or have you ever been around him at any point to pick up some pointers? Are there any MLS players you try to follow? |
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Jason Garey: I've never met Taylor Twellman but I've seen many of his highlight films from here ar Maryland and he's a player that I look up to because I think we have similar styles. I like the way Brian McBride played when he was apart of MLS. |
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| Craig (Madison, Wisconsin): Jason for the NCAA Tournament how much do you look at other teams? |
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Jason Garey: Our coaches do most of the scouting for the other teams. They tell us which players to look out for and what type of formation they play. Sometimes we watch film on the other teams before we play them. |
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| Benjamin (Bowie): WHICH TEAMMATE PAST OR PRESENT HAS INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST? |
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Jason Garey: I already mentioned Scott Buete, but Abe Thompson was a guy who I picked up a lot of things from as far playing the forward position. I was a raw player when I got here and he taught me some of the finer points of playing forward. |
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| Tyson: Do you get cold playing in Maryland late in the year? What do you do when you get a chance to go home? |
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Jason Garey: When I was a freshman I definitely got cold playing. The first time I had really seen snow was when I got here -- it doesn't snow much in southern Louisiana. I'm pretty used to the cold weather now, though, I guess. As for what I do when I get home, I really enjoy fishing and go every chance I get. |
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| Patrick, Washington DC: How old were you when you started playing soccer? How much did you play and practice growing up? Did you play other sports? When did you decide to focus on soccer as your sport? |
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Jason Garey: I started playing soccer when I was four years old. When I was younger I just had a lot of fun and enjoyed the game and when I got into high school I really started taking it seriously and working really hard.
I played all of the other sports -- basketball, baseball, football and ran track. I quit most of those once I got into high school except for track so I was able to focus on soccer more. |
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| Larry (Martinsburg, WV): when did you think you had a shot at breaking all of the records? |
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Jason Garey: I thought I had a shot at it before the beginning of this season when I saw the media guide and realized I was pretty close to breaking some records. It's not something I focused on but it was nice to have accomplished those things. |
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| ebby (dc): how important is the home field advantage this year? |
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Jason Garey: Home field advantage is huge in the NCAA Tournament. We have the greatest fans in the country and they are really like a 12th man of the field -- like they are at my sister's school for football at A&M. |
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| Alex M. (Charlotte): How many times did you try a bicycle kick growing up? Did you ever score in any in a game before Indiana? |
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Jason Garey: I tried it all the time growing up. I scored a few in club in high school soccer but that was the first in college. |
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| Bonny (College Park): Congrats on a record-breaking season thus far! Do you have a preference to where you would like to play in MLS? Would you rather play on a team that some of your former teammates are playing for (Domenic in Columbus, Abe and Clarence in Dallas, etc) or would you rather play for a team that needs a forward? Good luck in the NCAA's, bring home that trophy! |
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Jason Garey: I'd love to play with some of my former teammates. I've stayed close with all of those guys and talk to them on a pretty regular basis. But as for the MLS, I'm not really worried about that right now, it will take care of itself after the season. |
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Moderator: Jason has time for two more questions.... |
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| A.O. (Columbia): Jason what is your advice for high school players to try and get to college? My son is a HS sophomore and we really have taken your progress as a player as hope. Any tips? |
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Jason Garey: The best thing is to get your son on the best club team you possibly can because those are the ones that are exposed the most to college coaches. Also, he can begin to write letters to the colleges he's interested in attending and the coaches will usually send you some information about the soccer program and the school. Tell him not to get frustrated with the recruiting process if coaches don't show much interest because they didn't show a lot in me and i was able to get on at a big program and be successful. |
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| Lauri (Denver): Hi Jason. Good luck next Tuesday. How is the shoulder healing? Have the rest of the guys been able to get healthy this week? |
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Jason Garey: The shoulder's doing just fine. I still will probably have to have surgery after the season but it's not painful so I'm able to play with it.
As for the other guys, we've been able to use this week to get some guys healthy who are nursing small injuries. We're pretty much 100% and ready to play on Tuesday. |
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Jason Garey: Thank you everyone for your questions and chatting with me today. We'll do our best in the tournament and hope to see some of you out there. |
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Moderator: That concludes today's chat. Thanks to everyone who participated. The Terps open the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. against either Rhode Island or Brown. |
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