There was a time, a few years ago now, when Matt Spina was considered a top-notch up and coming local soccer prospect.

When those dreams reached a plateau as he completed his secondary schooling as a member of the rich soccer tradition that is the St Charles College Cardinals program, his vision for the future morphed.

The Sport Management line of studies at Brock University appealed to the young man’s clear love of sport. Naturally, in casual conversation with his father, the end goal of a career in soccer, working for TFC (Toronto Football Club), some day, might be the next best thing to stepping on to the pitch of BMO Field as a player.

“That was the conversation that most stood out in my mind as I first walked into the building,” Spina said earlier this week, hired as the Equipment Manager – First Team for TFC last month on the heels of an incredible experience working with the national men’s team during their run to the World Cup last year.

“We thought about that conversation and laughed.”

Though still in the relative infancy of his sport management career – Spina celebrates his 30th birthday in 2023 – the young man who has jumped at the chance for adventure has not lacked in interesting gigs along the way.

His love of multi-sport events would be parlayed into jobs with both the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games (Bahamas) and the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Australia), leading into roles with both the Greater Sudbury Soccer Club and the Ontario Soccer Association in more recent years.

Almost by chance, Spina stumbled onto the opening that would lead him to finding himself on a plane to Qatar, via Bahrain, tackling some of the pre-event prep work that is critical for a competition that is the scope of World Cup soccer.

“I remember arriving at our training venue in Qatar for the first time,” Spina recalled. “I showed up, not knowing exactly what to expect and walked into an incredible set up. We had the opportunity to shape our space to what we were looking to have in terms of flow and set-up, bringing that next level World Cup readiness to the venue.”

While the bright lights would shine on the athletes who proudly represent “Les Rouges” (Team Canada), deservedly so, there is much that goes on in advance, leading to those special moments.

“From the equipment and logistics side, I have to say that this was the most seamless execution that we had from the entire (World Cup) journey,” said Spina. “We had adequate time to prepare, more than adequate facilities and we had everything that we could have hoped for from a support standpoint.”

“I hope the players felt that, because we worked so hard behind the scenes to make sure we had them covered so that they could focus specifically on training and the matches.”

It was a setting for memories to be made - and Matt Spina was right in the middle of it all - including the first Canadian men’s World Cup appearance in more than 35 years. “That first match, when we were playing Belgium, it was just an incredible feeling all around, the fact that we were playing a team of that caliber, with that much history,” he said.

“Once the dressing room was prepared, we walked out to the field of an empty stadium with seats just rising up to the sky and a perfect grass pitch. It was truly an incredible moment, to step foot on somewhere where history would be made; that was pretty cool.”

Far more than most Canadians, Spina would ride the emotional roller-coaster of the men’s soccer journey, summarizing that moment when this chapter ended but another began for the invigorated national program.

“The moment the final whistle blew after the third game, it was emotional,” he said. “It was disappointing, but it wasn’t without hope for the future. It was a major step in the right direction. I think it brought a breath of new life into the program, over the course of qualifiers and the actual World Cup appearance.”

“The vision was realized.”

For Spina, it was time to move on, though the soccer network he had forged would provide a wonderful launching pad. “I had met the now (TFC) Director of Equipment several times when we were interacting at BMO Field,” said Spina. “It gave me a chance to get to know him.”

So now he moves, crossing over to the highest level of professional soccer in the country - and a chance to develop even further. “This is an offering that gives me an opportunity to refine my skill set that I have been working on the past couple of years,” said Spina. “The second thing is that it offers me the opportunity to continue to build my network.”

“I am meeting so many incredible people, even in the first few weeks here. It really is nice to see that they are all welcoming, supportive and excited to have someone new join the team.”

To some, this might all seem a tad overwhelming. Matt Spina has worked hard to remain grounded, latching on to a mantra for life that has certainly served him well: “be a good person, put your head down, do your work and do it well and sometimes, the universe will provide.”

Sometimes, he could have added, your dreams do come true.