“Soccer has always been a part of my life,” says Markham native and Varsity Blue Sean Myers.
This may seem unusual for a born and bred Canadian, with soccer barely registering on the popularity scale among most North American youngsters, but Myers can recall playing the sport since the age of six. It wasn’t until much later that the star midfielder for U of T considered the sport as serious competition, but one figure in his life has always encouraged his growth in the sport.
“My dad. My dad always pushes me and keeps me going. He’s probably the one that got me started with soccer in the first place,” said Myers.
Although he seems nonchalant, Myers is no mediocre soccer player. Having won the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Rookie of the Year award, and been named to the OUA second All-Star team, he is a very talented young player. Despite this talent and success, Sean is not cocky. When asked whether he came into the league expecting to clean up, his answer was diplomatic.
“I didn’t know what the competition would be like. My friends told me it was pretty weak, so I was definitely expecting some good stats. However, it didn’t even occur to me that I would win Rookie of the Year. I don’t even think I knew the award existed.”
Myers actually had thoughts about going south to try out a NCAA school, but when that didn’t work out he turned his attention to his remaining options.
“I started looking too late. So then it was a decision between Canadian schools,” explained Myers. “U of T is right here, I didn’t have to go anywhere, and it’s a school with a great reputation so I figured I couldn’t go wrong.”
The engineering student said there has been something of an adjustment from high school to university, but he has gradually adapted.
“It’s different from high school in the sense that my high school didn’t have a soccer team and it feels really different to play for a school. Also, I find I’m under less pressure here. But I’ve had to get used to it,” said Myers of the different atmosphere he would have been in at an American university. “Pretty much my dreams of university were of playing soccer in a huge stadium with thousands of people watching. It’s not like that here, especially at U of T, I think. We get about 10 people out to most of our games. In our final game I think a couple hundred people came out and it made such a difference.”
One person Myers credits with prodding him to stay motivated and on the path towards OUA soccer success is his Blues coach, Jim Lefkos.
“He pushed me all season. Sometimes I’d come out and tell him I was sick or something but I wasn’t really sick, I was just worn out. So he’d push me and tell me that I had to come out every practice. It was hard sometimes, but he really helped me.”
As far as the academic adjustment is concerned, Myers said this year has actually been less stressful than his senior year in high school.
“Well, my last year of school I was so concerned about getting high enough marks to get into university. This year I don’t really have to worry.”
As for why Myers chose engineering as his academic major, he said he considers himself the classic car guy.
However, while other men like the glamour and prestige of cars, the way strikers in soccer relish the spotlight of being the goal scorers, Myers enjoys the dirty work that goes into making a car engine hum, just like on the soccer field where the midfielder takes pride in doing the dirty work that sets up his teammates for scoring chances on the pitch.
“This goes back to my hobbies. I love cars and I love fixing cars up. I actually have an old Honda Prelude,” hardly a muscle car, but one Myers takes pride in maintaining.
“I figure most guys just have a lot of money and pay people to put stuff under the hoods of their cars. I don’t want to be like that. I want to understand what’s going on.”
U of T fans should understand that Myers has a lot to do with what’s going on with the recent successes of their men’s soccer team.
