Thornhill native Adrian Cann probably couldn’t tell you much about what student life was like at Thornhill Secondary School. He wouldn’t be able to tell you about how bad the cafeteria food was or where the kids used to smoke in between classes.
He couldn’t reminisce about that one biology teacher who had invested all those hours outside of the classroom making sure he understood the fundamentals of genetics, unwilling to let him fail the upcoming exam.
He couldn’t tell you much because he was never a student there.And yet it was Thornhill Secondary,or more accurately the school’s unlined middle field out back bordering Dudley Avenue, that Cann called his classroom.
“That would be our daily ritual,” he says. “If we didn’t have a club game, we would go training there by ourselves. Put the mesh up, play. That’d be every day. Even in the wintertime, we would do that. We’d be shovelling snow, and we’d just be out there non-stop.”
Soccer has been the single focus of the 29-year-old’s life from nearly the very beginning. Since his first kicks at age three with his father and older brother Chris in local parks to his days playing on the Thornhill Thunder club team against kids two years older, to trips with the provincial team, soccer has been at the centre of Cann’s universe.
“I just remember attending St. Luke’s Elementary School, playing with the rest of my buddies in my class every recess period and waiting for school to end to play and train,” he says. “I would dart off home to get something quick [to eat] and change into my other clothes to play some ball in the back of the high school.”
Games also found a way into more unconventional venues. “We used to play in this small living room that my folks had,”he says with a laugh,recalling matches with his brother in their house on Elgin Street. “It would get kind of intense, you know. We’d throw some elbows and fights would break out.”
As a high school student at St.Robert Catholic High School, Cann was named the athlete of the year in 1998 and 1999,the same years he was selected to lead the Ontario all-star team as captain. He began to attract the attention of college recruiters from the United States, eventually earning a scholarship from the University of Louisville in Kentucky.During his time at the school, he did not disappoint.
In his sophomore and junior seasons Cann was named the team’s most valuable player and was named his conference’s co-defensive player of the year as a junior and senior.
He was also the only player in the school’s history to be a first team All-Conference USA selection for four straight years. His coach at Louisville during those years, Tony Colavecchia, once described Cann as “the most complete soccer player we have ever had at Louisville,” crediting him as the cornerstone of the team’s success.
Following graduation in 2004, Cann was selected 16th overall in major league soccer’s SuperDraft by the Colorado Rapids. His stay in Denver was short-lived, however, as he played only two matches before signing on late in the season with the Montreal Impact where he would also play the 2005 season. In 2006, Cann signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps where he helped the team to win their first United Soccer League First Division Championship and was named the team’s most outstanding defender in 2007.
Stints with teams in Denmark and England followed before Cann eventually signed with his hometown side,Toronto FC, in April of this year.
Stepping onto BMO Field and Toronto’s back line and donning his number 12 jersey for his club debut in front of family, friends and fans was a moving experience.
“It was tremendous pressure,”he says. “Not only do I gotta perform for myself and for the club, but I gotta represent the people that I grew up with, you know? But I took that in stride. It just kind of motivated me to perform.” Motivation, along with leadership, will be elements Cann hopes to bring to the side.
“I think my role on the team is to kind of delegate the players around me,” says the six-foot-three-inch, 180-pound defender. “Just to have a presence in the back line, whether that’s vocally, physically, helping the younger guys out.”
And while his position requires an assertive and aggressive figure on the field, Cann’s off-field personality is better described as relaxed and reserved, humble even.
That humility is apparent when Cann’s teammates, Maxim Usanov and Raivis Hscanovics, who both call the hotel that played host to our interview their temporary home, wander through the lobby and notice their shy teammate in the middle of an interview.
With BlackBerry in hand, Usanov, with a big grin on his face, sneaks up and starts recording our conversation, circling around Cann, creeping in for close-up shots, then pulling back for more panoramic views.
Cann, already embarrassed by the attention of the interview, turns bright red. Poor choice, then, to follow up with questions about his nicknames: “Smiley”and “Peaches.”For anyone who has talked with Cann for more than 30 seconds, the appropriateness of Smiley becomes immediately obvious. But Peaches?
“It was about the ability for me to grow my facial hair,”Cann explains.“It’s just peach fuzz. Everyone else kind of had facial hair.I’m still called Peaches on the street when I see some guys.”
But ask Cann whether he thinks major league soccer lacks the quality of play in other top leagues around the world, and the conversation quickly turns serious.
“I don’t think that’s true,” Cann says. “In any given day in football, any team can beat any team. Just give it a couple more years, and I think MLS — it might take a little longer — will be right up there with the top leagues in the world.”
Cann admits his intentions as a youngster were to play in the top European leagues, but North American soccer has come a long way since then, he says.
“There was nothing like [Toronto FC] when I was younger. It wasn’t an established, massive club. I can’t describe it, it’s incredible. Here you have 20-odd thousand fans coming to a game. Every single match is sold out, rain or shine. It inspires me.” As for what lies ahead, Cann is focused on helping Toronto reach the playoffs — something the team has been unable to do since joining the league in 2007 — and improving on their 12th overall place finish in last year’s standings.
“This is where I want to be,” he says. “I want to help my city out,you know,as much as possible.Win a championship here, make the playoffs and just represent my people well.”
