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MLS: Steve Shak, first in the SuperDraft, reflects on a history-making career.

Sixteen years ago Major League Soccer embarked on a new path with the first ever MLS SuperDraft. For one man, that day holds a special fondness as he made history by becoming the first ever SuperDraft pick. “I certainly don’t answer the phone with, ‘Hi, I’m former number one draft pick, Steve Shak’. I think that would be pretty arrogant,” Shak says.

Currently residing in Charlotte, North Carolina, Shak acknowledges he may not hold the same status in the game as some players from the 2000 draft, which included his UCLA teammate and former Fulham defender Carlos Bocanegra. “I don’t get a call every year or anything like that,” he explains. “For a lot of my life I had a chip on my shoulder because their careers [Bocanegra & Danny Califf] went in the direction I wanted my career to go, but it just didn’t happen. I blamed it on everybody else, [laughs] until you just get honest with yourself.”

Now a highly produced spectacle broadcast live on ESPN, Shak’s experience in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was somewhat different. “I did find some pictures of that day and I thought, wow, it looks a lot different now,” he says, laughing. Drafted just days before his 22nd birthday, he was selected by the New York Red Bulls (then the New York/New Jersey MetroStars).

For Metrostars coach Octavio Zambrano familiarity was important, with all but one of his picks being players he had previously coached. “He coached me for like a year at youth soccer, so he knew me,” Shak says. “You’d have to ask him why he picked me. From what he told me and what I read, he believed in me. That’s a good feeling to have as a player. He saw a lot of potential in me, and he wasn’t the only one. You look at the picks and you never know, there are star players that are picked in the third or fourth round. It’s the same as in every sport, you just don’t know.”

Yet despite having a history with Zambrano, it did not stop Shak feeling a sense of disbelief when he heard the league’s commissioner, Don Garber, announce his name. “I was just shocked,” he recalls. “There were so many good players and to be picked first with the group that was in the room was quite an honour. I don’t remember what I said [at the podium] but I gave thanks to the team for picking me, I thanked my parents, my university, and I’m a Christian so I thanked the Lord Jesus Christ. I took some photos and that was it.”

Chosen first overall, there was sizeable expectation placed on Shak. News reports at the time described him as ‘the most promising player in the draft’. “I certainly felt pressure as the first pick,” he admits. “I don’t know what it’s like to be second, third, or 20th, but as an athlete I guarantee all those other guys put pressure on themselves. The difference may be that the media have a different expectation of the number one than the number two or three, but that number two or three is number one for that team that chooses them. I think one of the things that makes an athlete capable of competing at that level is compartmentalising what other people think and focusing on your game and your contribution to the team. The mental side of the game is such a challenging aspect to navigate. If you don’t do it well you’ll get eaten alive.”

Jumping from college soccer into the professional ranks, Shak now listed World Cup winner Lothar Matthäus amongst his teammates. “It was amazing,” Shak says of his time with Matthäus. “I learned a lot from him. I played with a lot of idols, but Lothar was way at the top of the list. I don’t think he was at the top of his game when he came to us, but it was still an incredible experience. To ask questions, to train with him, to see how incredible he was technically, it was great.”

By Shak’s own humble admission, his career did not move in the direction he had hoped it would. Traded to the Colorado Rapids in 2001, he would leave MLS a year later. “With hindsight it’s easy to see all the purpose in things,” he explains. “The year I got cut from MLS I played on a team called the Minnesota Thunder. I met my wife playing on that team and had I had the career I wanted I would never have played in Minnesota. I would have played in MLS, gone to the World Cup, played in the Premier League, and I would never have met my wife and have the five kids I do now. I wouldn’t trade them for the career that I wanted.”

No longer involved in professional soccer - he works as a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual - it is clear that Shak’s departure from the game has given him time to reflect. “A lot has happened in my life in the last sixteen years,” he says. “If I put a lot of my identity into the sport and my achievements in the sport I wouldn’t have a lot of self confidence, because my career kind of went down. When I look back I see purpose in it and I have no regrets or shame talking about it.”

Still in contact with Bocanegra and some of his former colleagues, Shak is now eager to repay his wife for her support during his professional career. Still happy to impart advice to fellow parents with soccer obsessed children, he now takes immense pride in raising his own. Ranging in ages, he jokes about how they will often engage in three-on-two matches in the family home.

As for his time in MLS, Shak only sees the silver lining and the fact he is now part of the league’s history. “My kids are too young to understand what MLS or the draft is, but that’ll be a great story to tell when I have grandkids bouncing on my knee,” he says, laughing.

Follow Kristan Heneage on Twitter: @KHeneage