Jed Zayner is comfortable with who he is whether it is on the soccer field for the Columbus Crew or the founder of a non-profit group that clothes the needy around the world.
The defender had played only 220 minutes in eight matches (two starts) for the Crew since being drafted in the second round of the 2006 SuperDraft out of Indiana, before going the full 90 minutes in the home opener Saturday against Toronto FC.
He was in the lineup at right back because Frankie Hejduk was with the U.S. national team. Replacing a standout like Hejduk is never easy but Zayner did well, especially in front of the Crew goal, in a 1-1 tie.
"Obviously, Frankie's a legend," goalkeeper William Hesmer said. "It's hard to bring what he brings to the table but for the most part Jed's doing a good job defensively. We'd like to see him keep the ball a little bit more and get it moving a little bit more and contribute at the times we need him to at the offensive end."
Zayner was told over and over again to be himself.
"I don't want him to be Frankie. I want him to be Jed Zayner and complete the passes. He has a good cross so he needs to find himself in a good situation and cross it," coach Robert Warzycha said. "He did fine defensively. A few times he should have been cleaner with the ball but that was his first game. He didn't play much last year or the year before at all. For him it's a learning process. The more he's on the field the better he's going to be."
As much as Zayner wanted to heed the advice, he admitted being like Hejduk is not a bad thing.
"People try to tell me, 'Play my game. You don't need to be Frankie here or Frankie there.' It's tough sometimes when you look at a three-time World Cupper and wonder why he's so successful. You want to do things like him," Zayner said. "I'm trying to find my own style of play and playing the way I want to and the way the team needs me to, filling my role out there which is the most important thing; not doing anything more or anything less."
The Crew are at Real Salt Lake on Thursday and Zayner likely won't know until Thursday if he will start because Warzycha is waiting to see how many minutes Hejduk plays Wednesday for the U.S. against Trinidad and Tobago in Nashville, Tenn.
Either way, Zayner relishes the memories of being on the field for the Crew's first home game after winning the MLS Cup last season.
"It was fun. It's great to get a start in the beginning of the season and just roll with it the rest of the season. I'm thankful that the team did well defensively and I was able to contribute," he said. "I've had a lot of injuries with the Crew. I've done my time. It does pay off. I'm not going to get ahead of myself. It's one game. You could be great one day and bad the next and everybody hates you."
Zayner suffered a torn ACL and cartilage tear in his left knee on April 4, 2006, and was done for the season without stepping into a regular season match. He wasn't fully recovered from surgery when the 2007 began and didn't make his MLS debut until June 20. He played two matches for a total of 20 minutes.
Although he upped the totals to six games for 200 minutes in 2008, his inexperience still shows at times.
"Jed just needs to do what he's good at. He's a very good one-on-one defender and he reads the game well," Hesmer said. "Offensively, in keeping the ball and getting forward he could do a little better job than he did last time."
When Zayner is not on the field he is spending about 20 hours a week working for Filleo Co. (www.filleo.com), a charitable organization he started that sells T-shirts to raise funds for clothing and educational needs.
He started Filleo (for the Greek word "phileo" -- which means brotherly love, one who promotes virtue, is fond of good and a lover of good people, according to his website) after being asked to donate clothing for a charity in Mexico. He went through his closet and decided he couldn't part with anything. That's when he realized his own selfishness.
"It's going really well. It's been a lot of fun. That's my time outside of soccer," he said. "We have a bunch of (soccer) camps we are supporting where they're going to be buying T-shirts from us. We're planning a trip to Nigeria this December to be able to give these kids T-shirts and help build a school and get a good education. It's about giving kids an education and clothing them."
He is a passionate about soccer but he knows it's not his top priority in life.
"Soccer is a hobby. Making the world a better place is kind of like my real job," he said. "The way I've lived my life in soccer is I come out every day and train as hard as I can and play as hard as I can and be the best out there but I leave everything out there.
"This is my life on the field, everything off it is how can I make the world a better place? How can we change people's lives for the better, especially those who have less than what we have?"
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
