Troy’s Cunningham signs with Michigan

GOING TO ANN ARBOR: Troy's Sean Cunningham, a top-100 high school prospect, is taking his talents to the University of Michigan. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

BY JAKE LOURIM

STUDENT CORRESPONDENT

j.lourim@comcast.net

TROY — Troy senior Sean Cunningham has bobbed and weaved through opposing defenders on the high school and club field for years.

Soon, he’ll be off to Ann Arbor to play Big Ten soccer at the University of Michigan. He signed this past week during the NCAA early signing period.

After that, Cunningham hopes to head somewhere else to play soccer: To Europe.

“I have very clear goals just to be in Europe playing soccer,” added Cunningham. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

Where the past two World Cup champions reside. Where some of the best soccer in the world is played.

After being recruited for about two months, Cunningham committed to Michigan in February. He had offers from Villanova, Michigan State, Georgetown, Northwestern, Stanford, and Notre Dame, among others.

“It just seemed like it was really the best overall fit for me,” Cunningham said of Michigan.

“It has proximity to home, the team is looking very impressive, and I have a few buddies on the team,” he added just hours after the Wolverines buried Penn State 4-1 for the Big Ten Tournament championship and the league’s automatic berth for the NCAA tournament. “It seemed like it had everything that all the schools had, all in one. It’d be a really good feeling to play in front of the Michigan fans.”

Cunningham went to Germany during the summer for a tryout, but decided to stay at Troy for his senior year and help lead the Colts to the regional final, then head off to Michigan.

“It’s obviously a big deal to turn down college,” Cunningham said of his decision. “There were some things I needed to finish up, mainly just the overall experience of my senior year.”

“It was huge when we found out he was coming back,” Troy coach Dave Hicklin said. “You could see the intensity pick up in the entire team just because they knew Sean was coming back.”

In just 18 years, Cunningham has had quite a ride already.

With players from across the United States, he played against some German teams, an opportunity that few Michigan high school players will ever get.

“It’s a different game over there,” said Cunningham. “It’s much faster play, players are a lot better on the ball, and the soccer intelligence is much higher.

“The faster I play, the faster I move the ball, the better soccer player I’ll be.”

In the summer of 2009, Cunningham went with his Michigan Wolves club team — whose soccer, Cunningham and Hicklin agree, is much more competitive than high school — first to the North Carolina playoffs and then to Carson, California, for the national championship.

It was there that the Wolves won the national title.

“Being the best team in the country is a feeling that’s hard to really explain,” Cunningham said. “You feel like you’re kind of on top of the world.”

Hicklin has coached Cunningham for five years, in high school soccer, with the Vardar club team before high school, and with the Wolves.

“It’s been a pleasure. When you get kids that work as hard as he does, it’s a joy to have him on the team.”

Another chapter of his journey was much more challenging.

At an Adidas soccer camp in Denver in the summer before his sophomore year, Cunningham jumped to head a ball. It’s something he’s done thousands of times since he was born.

Only that time, he landed awkwardly on his leg, snapped his tibia and fibula, dislocated his ankle, and ruptured four tendons in his foot.

The long road to recovery took three months for Cunningham.

“It was horrible,” he said. “The first thing is not playing soccer is awful. Also, it was during summer, so in order to heal, I had to sit in the basement with my foot elevated and not do much.”

A task that was predictably difficult for the two-time reigning All-State and Dream Team selection.

He returned for one game for Troy late that season.

And there’s no escaping the irony that the only game of his sophomore year was a regional final loss to — you guessed it — Grand Blanc.

“He came back stronger, fitter, and more determined,” Hicklin said.

On Oct. 30, his team ended its season for the second time in three years to the Bobcats. His season next year in Ann Arbor won’t end with a loss to them.

The senior came up and played some midfield for Troy this year and was a leader for the Colts all year long. But Cunningham said he’ll probably be playing defense — his primary position — for the rest of his career.

Cunningham began his club season last weekend with a tie and a win.

So between overseas tryouts and high school and college seasons, he’ll just keep training.

And training.

And for a change, he’ll train some more.

Cunningham said he likes to train in some manner and watch soccer every day, either his favorite league — the English Premier League — or the Spanish league.

“He leads by example, he works harder than everybody else, and he puts a lot into it,” Hicklin said.

Cunningham attributes his success in large part to his coach.

“He’s been the best soccer influence on me, he’s always supportive of me, and he lets me know what I need to work on,” Cunningham said. “He really gets the most out of his players.”

“He works hard in every aspect from getting in shape to understanding the game to delivering on game days,” said Hicklin.

Hopefully for Cunningham, he’ll be able to deliver on a lot more game days.

(Jake Lourim is a sophomore at Troy High School and a student writer for www.northoaklandsports.com. He can be reached by e-mail at j.lourim@comcast.net)

Tags: high school boys soccer

Category: Campus Clips, Student Columns, Troy