Fever pitch

Half a world away 21-year-old Daniel Haber hits the lush green Cyprus fields for a game of soccer (or football, depending on one’s preference). The former Ivy Leaguer runs, gazes and plans the perfect moment to slalom through a slew of defenders, before lining up a shot on goal.

It’s a dream come true, one that nearly didn’t happen: At the age of 12, a young, nervous Haber went under the knife to remove a lump from his forehead.

He spent hours at SickKids Hospital on the operating table with his head sliced open, to remove the tumour, and subsequently reattached with titanium and dozens of staples. It was a rare case of Pott’s puffy tumour, a bacterial infection that doctors believed was caused by a sinus infection that nearly spread to his brain.

The tumour could’ve left him brain-damaged or killed him.

At age 11 Haber was a passionate soccer fan, and at 12 the brush with death nearly extinguished that flame, but when he was in Grade 11 at York Mills, it was time for the flame to be reignited.

He joined the Spartacus soccer team where he trained constantly and became a star player.

“When I was in high school, I played for a club team. We practised, like five six times a week,” Haber says. “It was a lot more intense than just like casual high school sports.”

The passion and drive payed off when he was accepted to the Ivy League’s Cornell University. He continued to play there until he took a leave of absence to play in Israel. He has since left, after the one year contact in Israel expired, to play in Cyprus.

Despite globe-trotting, Haber regularly stays in touch with his high school friends online and has fond memories of his time at York Mills. He particularly liked his Grade 12 teacher Peter Polley, a long-time mainstay at the school, who he recalls as brutally honest and willing to go the extra mile to help him succeed.

Polley passed away in 2011, shortly after Haber left to got to university. He was a teacher who Haber remembers as one who prepared him for his time at an Ivy League university.

But today, Haber’s focus is on soccer: “I hope to continue playing professional soccer as long as I still enjoy it, Haber says. “I just want to enjoy each and every moment.” 

Article exclusive to STREETS OF TORONTO