Jacksonville, Fla.— Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., manufacturer and marketer of Acuvue Brand Contact Lenses, is the sponsor of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF), the national governing body for the sport of soccer in the United States.

O’Reilly in action.

Under terms of the agreement, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care became the sponsor of the U.S. Men’s National Team, the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Youth National Teams in 2008. In addition, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care now provides national team members with Acuvue Contact Lenses — the official lens of the U.S. National Teams — when an eye exam determines that a corrective Acuvue contact lens is right for them.

U.S. Women’s National Team member Heather O’Reilly has played a leading role in the efforts to educate athletes and other performance-minded individuals by sharing her personal story about the valuable role of vision in life.

On her Acuvue-sponsored web page on the social-networking Web site, MySpace visitors can read O’Reilly’s thoughts on the importance vision plays in sports performance.

In the “About Me” section, the 23-year old star writes:

“I’ve played soccer for as long as I can remember, but never thought twice about how my vision was influencing my performance. I didn’t really know that my bad eyesight was affecting me on the field. I finally saw an eye doctor, and I found out that my vision really could be much better. Because I’m an athlete, my doctor and I decided that contact lenses were my best option.

The first time I stepped on the field with my new contacts, I couldn’t believe the change. I could actually see the spin of the ball. I just didn’t realize how much my game depended on my eyesight. If I had gotten contacts when I first needed them, who knows how many medals I could have won by now!

Since contact lenses can help athletes in all sports, I’m encouraging my fellow Olympians to also try contacts. I want them to experience what I have to make sure poor vision isn’t keeping us from more gold medals!”

You can also read about her interests, read her blog entries, which she wrote before heading to Beijing, view a photo gallery, and sign up to receive a free trial pair certificate for Acuvue lenses on the site.

In addition to the MySpace page, O’Reilly is featured on Acuvue’s free, educational, online digest, Be the Best You Can Be, which is designed to help families better understand the important connection between vision and performance and features advice from experts on how to keep eyes healthy for better performance.

The article on O’Reilly, “Heather O’ Reilly Keeps Her Eye on the Goal—And the Gold,” discusses her achievements as a soccer player and the important role healthy vision plays in her performance. It states, “Not only did new contact lenses help O’Reilly better see the spin of the soccer ball, they also helped improve her peripheral vision, so she could see where other players were on the field and her depth perception to better view the entire length of the field.”

Indeed, if O’Reilly is to propel her team to another gold medal in Beijing as she did in Athens in 2004, she believes it will be in no small part due to her decision to be fitted for contact lenses. She says, “I am now more focused on the task at hand because vision is not an issue. I know now that I can see as well or better than anyone else on the field.”

Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., is an Official Partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, a Worldwide Partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and a Partner of the United States Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Team. As the Official Health Care Products Sponsor, the Johnson & Johnson sponsorship encompasses the Company's consumer health care products and medical devices, and marks the first time a broad health care products company has become a worldwide partner of the IOC.