Charlie Gaffney ’21 Alumni Feature: Blazing Trails and Scoring Goals

“Getting a foot in the door is the hardest part of professional tryouts,” Charlie explained. “But the team was happy to have me as long as I was open to changing playing positions.”

At Bush, Charlie played as a left and right-winger in his freshman and sophomore years before joining the Sounders Academy. In these positions, his main objective was to maintain the team’s width on both sides of the field, pressure the opposing team’s fullbacks, and create goal-scoring chances. After playing as a winger during college at UPenn, he transitioned to fullback, a defensive position responsible for both defending and attacking in the wide areas of the field, during his trial with Tacoma Defiance.

In high school, Charlie played for the Sounders U17 academy team and used the workspace cafe at Starfire Sports in Tukwila to study, practice the sport on the multi-complex campus, and build connections with other soccer players. It was during this time that he learned the importance of time management, prioritization, and community upliftment. 

“Through soccer, I’ve met people from all over,” Charlie said. “When I played with Ballard FC over the summer, I did a community outreach internship for one year, where I visited various elementary schools and spoke to the kids about soccer.”

After his first season with Tacoma Defiance, Charlie was thrilled with his personal progress and the opportunity to play with and learn from such a talented group of players and coaches. The team had the opportunity to play in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, a competition open to all professional teams in the country. Looking ahead, he hopes to remain with Tacoma Defiance for an additional year and acquire new techniques that will help propel his future career in soccer.

“It was a tumultuous first season, but I learned a lot.” Charlie shared. “And although we hit a bit of a difficult stretch in the middle, we finished strong.”

As he prepares for future endeavors, he reflects on his time as a Blazer athlete and the faculty and staff who supported him along his professional journey.

“The biggest thing I learned from being at Bush was just how much support from others around you can help you to achieve your goals,” Charlie said. “My best friends from Bush were, and still are, my biggest supporters and always motivated and pushed me to succeed. They still come to many of my games, and I am very grateful for their friendship and support.  Additionally, the support the staff at Bush provided me in high school made it much easier for me to navigate my soccer commitments. Had the staff at Bush not been so accommodating and supportive, it would have been much harder for me to balance school with my dream of playing soccer.”