Losing the sport you love is never easy. It can disrupt routines and upend your sense of identity. The real challenge is in how you respond. Can you find something new, or do you shut down?
This was the exact situation Matt Driver faced after his first year of varsity soccer with the Queen’s Gaels. A lifelong passion was suddenly ripped from his grasp after he was cut from the team before his sophomore season. But as one door closed, another opened. One day, Matt came across an Instagram post for an open football tryout. He saw the opportunity and ran with it. At 6'7", Matt’s athleticism stood out immediately and head coach Steve Snyder jumped at the chance to bring on a hometown kid from Kingston.
Long before he began his football journey, Driver was a standout on the soccer pitch. A graduate of Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School, he played for the Jr. Gaels Soccer Club growing up — a direct doorway to the Queen’s varsity soccer program, as the two teams shared the same head coach. His size and technical ability would make him a key piece on the pitch, but would also lay the foundation for the next chapter of Matt’s athletic career.
Driver appeared in 4 matches and played a total of 27 minutes during 2022, his rookie year on the Gaels soccer team. Though his soccer career at Queen’s was short, it laid the groundwork for the physical and mental requirements of playing varsity football.
OB.SESSED had the chance to speak to Matt about his journey. Here’s what he had to say.
What was it that inspired you to make the switch from soccer to football, how did that decision come about?
Driver: I basically played soccer my entire life and I was recruited by Queen's through our junior Gaels soccer club here in Kingston. As I was growing up I had a coach, Christian Hoeffler, who was also the Queen’s coach, recruit me and I committed to Queen’s soccer in 2022. Coming into the 2022-23 season I played several games and I had a great year getting close to all the guys on the soccer team.
Then coming into the 2023-2024 training camp season we had a lot of older guys from the previous year coming back and a lot of great new talent coming in as well. I had a pretty good training camp and I was really confident about how I was playing, felt super good about it and coming off of a great off-season. Then at the end of that training camp the coach basically told me that he just couldn't find a role for me and that it just wasn't gonna work out, so that was pretty gut wrenching to hear.
Then after that, I just found myself struggling to keep a daily routine, especially after the first year when I had a pretty good routine going, and now I just had a lot of free time. So I didn't really know how to fill all that free time... sports are my whole life and not having the ability to play because of what happened was pretty tough.
So then one day, must've been the first week of school, there was an Instagram post about an open tryout for the football team. I've never played football in my entire life. I had a general understanding of how to play but I just never played at all. I talked about it with my parents and I'm like, 'you know what, I got nothing to lose. I'm just gonna go to the open tryout.'
And you know what they say, once you hit rock bottom the only way left is to go up, so I went out there and impressed the coaches at the open tryout and then I was grateful enough to get a spot on the team that year, so yeah, it all worked out.
How has your game developed as a punter since you first joined the football team?
Yeah, so as I had never played football in my entire life, It was a struggle at first to learn technique and mechanics. It was pretty frustrating for me. But I also had that natural kicking ability and strength from playing soccer my entire life. I found a style of punting that kind of suited my strength of being a soccer player in the past, and used that to my advantage.
So I just found a way to punt that was related to how I've been kicking in soccer and it's really helped me to slightly change my technique. The way I held the ball, the way I kicked the ball, I didn't really change my swing. It was more just changing the way that I was just dropping the ball and it's worked out great.
Being from Kingston, what does it mean to you to play in front of your hometown crowd?
It's a feeling like no other and I'm pretty lucky to be one of the guys that has a chance to represent the city of Kingston. It's a great city and it's really nice seeing a bunch of familiar faces in the crowd. People I've worked with, people I've run into and have conversations with. I’ve seen a couple high school teachers there, and having my family be so close to me and being able to come out and support me. They love it. They come to away games now too, They're really, really supportive of me.
What was the learning curve like switching from soccer to football?
Coming in I had watched a little bit of Canadian football, more so NFL football, but it's just honestly the rules of the game. I had no idea what was really going on during games and practices.
Another main thing was the systems and play calling behind football. It's pretty different from soccer, because soccer is a very free-flowing sport, so just having to understand the process and the time it takes to come up with all the plays and schemes that are different week to week. When we play different teams, we have different plays and schemes going against certain teams, because they have different players. So there are a lot of intricacies and a lot of moving parts going on compared to soccer. There's a lot of preparation. A lot goes into it.
In soccer there's 11 guys, so 10 other guys out there can help bail you out. But when you're a kicker, it's just you out there. It's like you're on an island. My coach tells me it's like I'm the quarterback out there, it's all eyes on you.
Was there anyone on the team or staff that really helped you navigate this transition?
Yeah, so we have kicking coach [Nick] Liberatore who's also a former Queen's football player. He really helped me set the foundation and groundwork for my initial learning of how to play football and how to kick, so he really helped me develop where my game is from then until now. But more recently. It's been coach Charlie Taggart, our new special teams coordinator. I've been working really closely with him over the past year to help develop my game.
I really got to give credit to coach Snyder who took a chance on me coming in second year after that open tryout. Just bringing me in after never playing football, but, I guess the coaches saw something, saw the ability, and it's working out pretty well.
In his first season as a punter for the Gaels, Driver played in seven games, punting a total of 53 times for 2,130 yards, averaging 40.2 yards per punt, with a season best of 71 yards against the Windsor Lancers on Oct. 26, 2024, where he scored a rouge for the Gaels behind a line of scrimmage all the way on their own 48-yard line. His consistency became essential for the Queen’s special teams unit throughout the 2024 campaign.
Matt’s path to football demonstrates the power of taking chances. What started as a setback in soccer, opened the door to a new opportunity. Now he’s making the most of it. As he continues to develop, Matt and the special teams unit will look to build on last season’s success and be an immediate impact for the Gaels this season.
Queen’s opens their season, Aug. 23 against their fierce rival, the Western Mustangs.
Editor's Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.