The Importance of Brek Shea

Brek Shea means a whole lot to soccer in America. Much, much more than the 21-year-old from Texas is probably aware of.

For starters, Shea is huge, fast, creative, and blonde. Like the Gwenyth Paltrow of US Soccer, assuming Paltrow runs a decent 40. And oh how we’ve need our Gwenyth. Point is, the United States hasn’t seen a player quite like Shea in a very long…okay, maybe ever. At 6’3”, left footed, and faster than a ferret, Shea is the versatile left-sided attacker the US has been starved for. Not to mention he can dribble, finish (ok, not that time), and cross with both feet – as we’ve seen in ALL two of the goals in the Klinsmann Era. And did I mention he’s blonde?

Shea’s value on the pitch increases with every half he plays for the national team. For FC Dallas, he’s already their MVP. So of course, Shea’s importance for club and country is indubitable, but for me, it extends far past the sidelines. Brek Shea’s story embodies what the United States Men’s National Team needs in order to put more talent on the pitch and more passion in the stands.

First, be aware of the way Shea took his path to pro soccer. He was raised in the heart of gridiron loving Texas by a father who played football at Virginia Tech. In middle school, he was a quarterback and a safety. With his size and athleticism, Shea could have easily succumbed to the temptations of growing up a local football star. You know, the letterman jacket, the collection of panties under his car seat, and a potential student-teacher affair. But he didn’t. “Football was too much yelling, too strict, and soccer gave me more freedom and ability to express myself,’’ Shea told the Miami Herald. Thank you, Brek. But you’re a little late. I put my scalp through three years of excruciating callus building inside a high school football helmet, before coming to a similar conclusion.

Joking aside, Shea chose a brave departure from the social norms so many young athletes encounter at the high school level. It’s so very American for kids to abandon their natural talents to get in line for a concussion-inducing Oklahoma drill, as long as they’re promised friends, popularity, and maybe a pom-pom grab or two. Anyway, Shea dominated in high school, forewent college, and signed with the MLS in 2008. A few somewhat dramatic years later, and he’s making $128k at 21-years-old. What I’d give to have heard a story like Shea’s when I was 14.

However, it could be that more and more high school athletes are starting to follow Shea’s shallow footsteps. We’d be naïve to think football is on the “decline” in America, but for what it’s worth, high school football participation has dropped by around 3,000 since 2008, making the official nationwide number just 1,108,441. Whether this is due to genuine, albeit very minor, disinterest or overbearing mothers, we can’t know. Conversely, high school soccer participation has increased by about 15k since 2007, bringing the total number of boys’ soccer participants to a whopping 398,351. (I’m quoting the NFHS here, btw.) The shifts are nominal, really, but it makes us that much closer to another Brek Shea.

Brekasaurus, in deep thought.

The second part of Dane Brekken Shea’s significance comes with his artistic, “freebird” lifestyle. Really though, he has the Lynard Skynard epic tattooed – in Sanskrit, naturally – to his left forearm. Shea is, by all definitions, a free spirited soccer player or, like the Herald puts it, a true lefty. He is creative and independent. He is peacock. Let him fly. The rigid austerity of American football was never for him. Much like it’s not for so many creative, artsy BUT athletic kids today who probably choose to skateboard, run cross-country, or get stoned and play ultimate Frisbee instead of soccer after school in the fall.

So, if Shea is to make it huge like we all expect him too (!), his story (and not the erotic fan fiction someone’s already written about him) will be told over and over by us American soccer zealots/dreamers. Kids will hear about the blonde dude from Texas who was, in fact, too cool for football AND college and now tears up the left wing for [cough] Liverpool [cough]. The same kid who sports a different radical hair cut every month and has his own abstract art studio. Oh yea, and he’s blonde. (Listen, nonexistent studies show that quality blonde-haired soccer players are just more attractive to watch. So shush.)

Brek Shea personifies the progressive (dare I say, hipster?) subculture that latches to things that aren’t so mainstream in this country. That is, the same culture that enjoys soccer and is essential to the sport’s growth in America. His image, mixed with his amazing talent, will make us adore him and others to want to be him. The tale of Brek Shea must inspire more freethinking future soccer stars to follow their dreams, the same way he did.