At the final home game of the 2017 MLS season, five members of the Sounders FC organization were named as the Humanitarians of the Year. The recipients came from the Sounders FC First Team, Sounders FC 2, Sounders Academy and Youth Club Partners.
Sounders Academy U-19 midfielder Gabe Threadgold, who is in his fifth year in the Rave Green youth system, was honored as a Humanitarian of the Year for the philanthropic work he’s done in his local community, Kitsap County. As an Academy, the staff is equally dedicated to developing high-quality individuals that make a positive impact in their community as they are to producing top-notch soccer players.
“The community aspect in one of our academy’s three core values, along with humility and ambition,” said Sounders Academy Technical Director Marc Nicholls. “Community is probably the most important, as our club and its academy is only as good as the community that supports it, stands by it and cherishes it.”
Threadgold, who makes the two-hour round-trip drive to training at Starfire Sports every night, went way above and beyond this mandate, racking up 40 hours of service as a volunteer at the Children of Nations soccer jamboree, working as a teacher’s assistant at Fairview Middle School, and cleaning up the Clear Creek Trail in his spare time. While that may seem like a lot of work, he feels compelled to give back to the community that gave him so much and first fostered his love for soccer.
One of the programs he works with, the Children of Nations jamboree, is a non-profit soccer event in Kitsap County for boys and girls from a diverse background. Threadgold first participated in the event as a player back in sixth grade, and the past two years he’s worked as a referee. It has been an experience that he’s cherished, providing him with an opportunity to share his passion with the next generation of kids in his neighborhood and city.
“I always want to help the kids have fun and have a good time playing soccer so they can have the best possible experience with the game,” said Threadgold. “Once I joined the Academy it gave me more opportunities and chances to go out and look for community service, so that’s obviously helped. It’s done a lot to impact my community, and for myself.”
The Academy is holistically dedicated to making a positive impact in Seattle and beyond. In fact, the two recipients from Sounders FC and S2 who were named Humanitarians of the Year, Jordan Morris and Sam Rogers, are products of the Rave Green youth system.
Sounders Academy players have a unique relationship with the club. As players, they are representatives of the organization with aspirations of one day suiting up for the First Team. But as members of the local community who are passionate about soccer, they’re fans just like everyone else. It’s this symbiotic relationship that makes community service so important, with the young Sounders developing in an environment that stresses the importance of the ties between the club and the community.
“The ultimate goal for everyone in the Academy is to eventually get to the First Team,” said Threadgold. “So that culture of being involved in the local community is just starting from the bottom and building up, which I think is helpful for the overall organization.”
Looking back, Threadgold credits his youth coaches for fostering his passion for soccer and his parents for making the drive from Bremerton to Tukwila five nights a week -- he recently got his license -- so he’s intrinsically motivated to give back to the next generation. He’s also quick to point out that, while he won the award, many of his teammates in the Academy went above and beyond the community service requirements, which he says is a testament to Academy Administrator Lauren Babcock’s hard work in notifying players of every available opportunity to give back.
It’s a culture which permeates through the entire club, from the Sounders Discovery Program all the way up to the First Team.
“The Academy is producing good players like [fellow Humanitarian of the Year winners] Jordan Morris and Sam Rogers,” said Threadgold. “But it’s also a message to the community and the country that we’re producing good people who win Humanitarian of the Year awards.
“A lot of my teammates went way above the 20-hour requirement, they’re always looking for ways to help the community, and it’s just really cool,” he added. “The staff always stresses we have to represent the badge on our chest, and we need to represent our club’s culture in the community.”
