FRISCO, Texas -- Brek Shea experienced just about everything in his first season of professional soccer. He was an early draft pick by FC Dallas, worked his way through the reserves and played a number of different positions, made a couple of appearances with the first team -- and now is spending the offseason in rehabilitation after undergoing a pair of knee surgeries late in the year.
"It (my knee) is feeling good," Shea said. "Every morning, I'm meeting with our trainers here. Yeah, I usually never have injuries and now I've had two back-to-back. Hopefully now I'm done with them for a while, knock on wood."
FCD head coach Schellas Hyndman has no concern about Shea's most recent surgery being his second in a matter of just a few months.
"He had that meniscus tear and they sewed it up," Hyndman said. "He's been working like crazy. We were all excited and were going to send him to the (U.S. national) under-20 camp because the doctors were going to release him and then we took him into a few more tests out here and he felt a pop. So, the doctor looked at him again and they did a surgery on him ..."
"This time, they removed the part of the meniscus that did not heal. It didn't connect well, so they thought the best thing to do was to go ahead and remove it. This is going to be a quick recovery, three to four weeks. So, I'm not concerned about the number. I'm more concerned that the first time, it didn't take, so the second time we're going to make it better."
Shea's rookie season began in January when the 6-foot-3 native Texan was taken second overall in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft by FCD. The rangy 18-year-old showed his versatility for the Hoops' reserves, making starts at forward, left midfield and finally at center back.
Shea also played in two contests with the FCD first team. He played the final four minutes of a 2-0 win at Chivas USA on April 20 and then the final 13 minutes of a 2-1 loss at Colorado on June 1.
For the FCD reserves, Shea made eight starts and performed solidly. He also earned call-ups from the full, under-20 and under-23 national teams.
"It was a good learning experience," Shea said. "I learned a lot of things and hopefully next year, I can do a lot more than what I did this year."
Shea credits one recently retired FCD veteran for helping ease his transition into MLS.
"Bobby Rhine, he helped a lot," he said. "When things were going bad or whatever, he would pull me aside and tell me stuff. I guess he thought that (to retire) was the best decision, so I support it."
In early December, Shea was one of a number of FCD players taking in the NCAA Men's College Cup at Pizza Hut Park. That experience brought mixed feelings for Shea -- who could have been a freshman competing for the national championship had things gone differently.
"I had committed to Wake Forest and when I was watching (the College Cup), I thought that I could have been there (playing with them)," he said. "But I never really wanted to go to college. It was never my first option. That was more my parents' thing."
FCD is set to begin preseason in mid-January. But before then, Shea plans to head to his old stomping grounds for some training, where FCD teammate Anthony Wallace, who lives in the area, could join him.
"I'm going to head to Bradenton for the U-17 program, train there for two weeks," he said. "Then I will have a couple of U-20 camps before we start preseason. I think I'm going to Bradenton on the 7th of January. (Wallace) lives 40 minutes away and will probably come up and train with us but I haven't really talked to him about it since November."
Shea should be ready to train at the start of preseason and that means he could also be getting called in for camps with the U-20s.
"The first one that I know about is on the 18th (of January) when we go to Trinidad," he said. "Then, I think we're having a camp all of February. I have talked to them but haven't gotten an e-mail or anything. They just said that they're bringing me in but I don't know if it's official or anything."
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