What do you do after a playing career in MLS and the NASL?

For former New England Revolution and Carolina RailHawks forward Zack Schilawski, the next chapter in his life is attaining a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

“I never really thought I was going to be a pro player or anything like that,” Schilawski told SBI. “I wanted to play in college, and I wanted to play in the ACC. That was really my dream.

“I ended up getting the opportunity to go to Wake (Forest University). Incredible timing to be there. We went to the Final Four all four years I was there; won it once. I ended up getting drafted, going to New England (Revolution), played there for Steve Nicol, another legendary coach.

“It was kind of a rebuilding for (the Revolution),” he added. “They had gone to a bunch of MLS Cups with (Taylor) Twellman, (Steve) Ralston, Shalrie Joseph was still there, a little bit older at that point. (Jay) Heaps, the current coach, was there. They had a long list of big-time players, but all of those guys were kind of on their way out. We had a new class of young guys who weren’t very good. Steve ended up being fired, and I hung on for another half a season there before they let me go.

“I always loved playing, still do, but I always thought I would end up doing something else eventually, and it seemed like the right time to move on.”

FROM MLS TO HIS HOMETOWN CLUB

It all started in 2010.

Schilawski’s professional career got off to a good start when he was drafted ninth overall in the First Round of the 2010 MLS SuperDraft by the Revolution, a side that had experienced years and years of success in MLS.

But with the team’s stars and key players aging and slowly leaving the game, Schilawski found himself playing alongside a mix of fresh Revolution faces. In his rookie season, the Cary native appeared 25 times, starting 15 games and scoring five goals.

In his first home match, the rookie netted a hat trick against Toronto FC, becoming the first MLS rookie to ever net a hat trick in their home debut. However, even with the bright start to his professional career, the Wake Forest University graduate could do little to help the team’s overall poor season performance. In 2009, the Revolution were knocked out of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but in 2010, Schilawski and company finished 13th out of 16 teams, conceding 50 goals throughout the season, the most goals allowed by any MLS team that year.

In his second season, the Revolution did worse.

Finishing 17th out of 18 MLS teams and conceding 58 goals in 34 games, long-time Revolution head coach Steve Nicol was fired, and Schilawski was cut, leaving him searching for a new place to play.

“I moved around a bit after New England waived me,” he said. “I went to Chicago. I was in Chicago for a month or so, just kind of living in a motel. The season had already started, so it was a little bit difficult. I got cut by the Revs on the last possible day where you could sign anyone, so everyone’s roster was full.

“I kind of just had to sit tight and wait,” he said. “Chicago told me they would sort it out. They were putting me up in a hotel, so I stayed in Chicago for a while through the summer, and eventually, I kind of decided that I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed to be playing games, I wanted to be a part of a team. Dewan Bader, the assistant coach for the RailHawks, I’ve known him for a long time, always kept in touch with him. He was one of the first few that had called me when I got released (by the Revolution), and he kind of said, ‘Let’s keep in touch, let’s see what happens. Do what you think you need to do, but if you come back here, there might be an opportunity.’ So I gave him a call.”

The opportunity to play for his hometown team was too appealing to pass up, and Schilawski decided to step away from MLS in favor of returning to the state he has called home for many years.

“I wanted to be in MLS,” Schilawski said, “but it really turned out to be a really rewarding experience to play here in my hometown. I mean, I grew up in Cary, where the stadium is, and I really just loved playing for the RailHawks, playing for a team that’s really trying to grow the game and make it happen in what I think is a good area for soccer, especially youth soccer and college soccer.

BEING A ‘STUDENT-ATHLETE’ AGAIN

Around November 2013, Schilawski said he had already started to make the plans to leave the game. The Cary native continued to work hard in preparation for the upcoming 2014 NASL season, but he had his eyes set further down the road.

“Around then, I was kind of spinning my tires a little bit. I was kind of a little restless because the offseason can be hard, especially in the NASL not getting paid,” he said. “You only get paid during the season in the NASL, and you’re just left with a lot of free time. You’re working out, you’re staying fit, you’re playing games, whatever you can do, indoor soccer, futsal or things like that.

“I felt like I might as well study for the LSAT and send some applications out there while I had the time and see what happens. I took the test in February, shopping applications out, and I kind of heard probably in June.”

And with his acceptance letter, the now 27-year-old decided to chase his ambition.

“Once I heard back, I went in and had a conversation with the RailHawks, the head coach first and some of the front office people, and I said ‘This is where my head is at,'” he said. “They were extremely supportive. I didn’t know how they were going to take it. For all I knew, they were going to say, ‘Well, if you’re not going to be with us for the whole season,’ because I knew I was going to have to start school in August (2014), then they might have needed to get rid of me now, so they could have money to find a new player, and that would have been fair enough.

“But they were just awesome. They said, ‘We’ll take it day to day, keep us posted. We want to have you around in whatever capacity you can be for as long as you can be.'”

For the longest time with the Cary organization, he didn’t want to step away from the game he loves. And he said his success in 2014, leading his team in goals, 9, throughout the year, was most likely a result of his decision to leave.

“For a while, I really loved it, and once I kind of got into it, I wasn’t as interested in leaving,” he said. “I felt like I was getting better as a player up to a certain point, and we were chasing a championship every year, winning games, and I was getting to play with good players and good teams, so it was a lot of fun.

“For whatever reason, I’ve always played forward. I’ve never exactly been a big-time goalscorer, but for whatever reason, last season, it started clicking for me in that department,” he added. “I started getting more chances and scoring more goals. That was kind of frustrating because I already knew I was on the way out, I already decided to go to school, but maybe that was a part of (my success) because the pressure was off a bit. I was kind of enjoying, soaking everything in of my last season.”

A FUTURE WITH SOCCER

Schilawski is in the middle of attaining his law degree. He said that after this semester, he’ll have two years left at UNC School of Law, and once that chapter has ended, he said he wants to stay involved in the soccer community within the state and possibly beyond.

“I still have some plans to maybe do some things with the Under-23s, coaching in the summer,” he said. “It’s something I feel invested in, soccer in the area and the RailHawks, and I kind of want to keep my foot in that door as much as they’ll let me.

“Once I was told that pro soccer might be an option for me, I decided to do that,” he added. “I felt like it was worth putting those things on hold. I could always go back to school, but I wanted to play soccer and keep that going, and I obviously needed to do that right away. I think there is a lot of different ways I could apply it, hopefully somewhere in the game. I’d like to stay involved if I can.”

And while he didn’t rule out the possibility of trying to work with the MLS Players Union, the collective bargaining representative for all current MLS players, he listed a few more ways his degree could be used in conjunction with soccer in the United States.

“The NASL doesn’t have a players union right now. That may be something I want to get involved in,” Schilawski said. “I don’t know, I mean I’ve met them by being a player, but the guys like Eddie Pope and Bob Foose, the guys involved with the Player’s Union, do a really good job. I think that’s one cool thing about soccer right now is it’s expanding and growing so much.”

“I am glad to have been a part of it as a player and to get to play in Seattle and those places. That was insane. And so now, I’m thinking about what opportunities on the other side there might be for me.”

With his degree, Schilawski hopes to help navigate issues and solve problems that continuously occur in the ever-changing professional and collegiate sports businesses.

But while his future is not yet set in stone, Schilawski said he is still a huge fan of American soccer, keeping tabs on all things MLS, NASL, USL and more.

“I’ve always loved MLS,” he said. “A lot of fans, they watch the Spanish league or EPL, which I watch that too, but I love MLS. I love watching MLS games.

“In every game, I know a handful of guys out there. I’ve played with them, playing in the ACC, it’s full of Wake Forest guys, full of UNC guys, full of Maryland guys, full of UVa guys. And from this area as well, guys like Ike Opara, who I keep in touch with regularly and a close friend of mine. He’s having an unbelievable first month of the season. There’s tons of opportunities out there, even from when I came out. There’s more places for players to play.”

Colin Clarke, Carolina RailHawks head coach, could not stress enough how much Schilawski meant to the team. He was a key player in last year’s RailHawks squad, and Clarke said he didn’t want to let him go.

“Zack had a good year here last year, scored a lot of goals, particularly earlier on in the year,” Clarke told SBI. “Zack was someone who epitomized everything that we were about. He works very, very hard, and he worked tirelessly to make players around him better, and we’re disappointed that we lost Zack and understand his reasons for moving on, and we wish him the best.”

The RailHawks begin their 2015 NASL season Saturday, and although Clarke said he and the Cary side will fight to challenge for a NASL championship this year, he also said his side will feel like a piece of the puzzle is missing in attack.

“Like you said, ‘How do you replace someone like him?'”