#33 - Mike Lodge

Football became part of my life and started for me in 1989 when I was 5 years old, and it all began in Willingboro, NJ, playing for Corpus Christi CYO. My love for the game continued to grow as I was getting older, and to this day, I never stopped playing. I’ve always had a passion for scoring goals, so my position growing up was always striker. I was the one who always scored the goals, breaking my high school record in career goals with 71. As I became a college player, my game evolved, and I transitioned to become an attacking midfielder and became more involved in the game itself, creating plays and distributing the ball more, but I still never quit attacking that goal! One lesson I’ve learned with age that has changed my approach is that Football is a TEAM game. It will only work if the whole team plays as a unit, and it isn’t about any one individual player. You only get better as a player yourself if the team plays together as a unit; that’s the way I see it. You will never succeed if you only think about yourself and not about the whole team contributing. Representing the U.S at the Senior National Team level means everything. As a kid, the one thing I’ve always wanted to be able to do was to play for our great country at the highest level. Now, being an adult and having the opportunity to be able to do that at the senior level means a lot. Can’t wait to step onto the pitch and represent Team USA! Preparation is key, physically and mentally. Training, Discipline and Physical Maintenance are all factors of being prepared. You will not be able to succeed at such an elite level without any of these qualities. You have to train to be able to be ready to go at any given time your name is called. Training at real game speed with high intensity will go a long way in preparation. Discipline is huge because commitment to the intense training process and having a strict, healthy routine are required to succeed. Physical Maintenance is having proper nutrition, sleep, and recovery time. Your body has to be able to keep up to play at such an elite level, and without doing all of these properly, you will never be able to keep up! Legacy to me is building something that ends up having a lasting impression after you’re gone. Every successful organization is built by those before them. This program is fairly new but is heading into the right direction. Coach Jones has done a tremendous job with turning this program into a legacy and I’m confident he will!