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JAY DeMERIT In 2002, at 23, he was dropped from the Chicago reserves because he was deemed lacking the talent to join an MLS team.
Most of the colleagues who did not receive an offer to extend their contract in Chicago with him decided to give up their professional career, but not Jay.
In his hometown, he decided to train individually every day.
He worked on ball control and technique in the yard and in the park because he was without a club.
In 2003, he and his friend Kieren Kean decided to go to Europe and look for a club with virtually no money or contacts.
They were in Belgium and the Netherlands where they trained hard every morning, in school playgrounds and parks, and in the afternoon they visited clubs trying to get into tests.
They spent all their money and sometimes they were hungry all day long.
Even hunger didn't make them skip training.
Unfortunately, the lack of money meant that they had to return to the USA.
If you think they gave up, you are wrong.
Jay and his friend returned to the USA, earned money and decided to go to Europe again, but this time to England because they could live there in a house that belonged to Aunt Kieran.
They trained again, wherever they found some space.
This time they managed to find a club in the English 9th league where they could train.
They played so well that after six months, when the coach of this team got an offer from the club in the VI league, he took them with him.
It was 2004 Jay was 25 but he was playing so well that people in professional clubs started to take an interest in him.
Northwood F.C. where DeMerit played in Division 6 received an offer from the reserves of the club playing Championship Watford FC.
Jay accepted the offer right away, even though it was just a reserve and the contract he received was barely enough to survive.
While no one at the club saw him as a potential first-team player, Jay believed in himself enough that he was absolutely convinced that promotion to the first team was only a matter of time.
Each day he gave his best during training and stayed longer to train individually.
As you can probably guess, he succeeded and not only played in the first team but also became a kind of Watford FC legend, playing over 180 matches for this club.
They were promoted to the Premier League and Jay was a key player for the team.
When he left the United States, he was a 24-year-old amateur without a club and returned to the USA because he was called up to the national team in which he managed to play 25 matches.
He even played with the national team at the World Cup!
What does this story teach you? Well, it shows that it doesn't matter how many times you get rejected and how much someone persuades you to resign.
The bottom line is that YOU believe in yourself and despite your failures and rejection from other people, you continue to work as hard as possible every day!
If you focus on improving your skills every day, I'm sure success will come sooner or later
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Do you think that if Jay had the opportunity in 2003, when he started his way to professional clubs, he would be wondering if it would pay him to upload a video to our portal and try to promote himself in this way?
I'm sure he would have done it without hesitation.
If you really dream about making a great career, don't waste your time and train and show your skills every day
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