If thereās a shared passion that bonds many of the players in the Seattle Soundersā locker room outside of soccer, itās video games.
Jordan Morris and Cristian Roldan swear by Fortnite, even bringing their computers with them during road games so they can play at the hotel. Goalkeeper Stefan Frei likes role playing games like Assassinās Creed, but is currently among the many passing the time by playing copious amounts of Call of Duty. Everybody plays FIFA.
āI think the stereotype is athletes play video games because theyāre lazy bums [when theyāre at] home,ā Frei said. āBut itās more just that, itās a hobby that really meshes well with being an athlete, where you need to have a hobby that you can come home to, be exhausted, do that hobby for 2-3 hours if you want to, and itās not going to be too draining. So, I think thatās why it meshes well with athletes.ā
With the MLS season suspended and people around the world practicing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sounders' gamers suddenly have more time than ever to play. And since they're going to be doing it anyway, they decided to use the shared hobby in a creative way to help give back to the community.
Using a service called Shotcall, developed by a friend of midfielder Harry Shipp, fans can sign up to stream and play games with players for a fee that gets donated to the Soundersā COVID-19 Relief Fund to help businesses surrounding Seattleās home stadium of CenturyLink Field that have been impacted by the current pandemic.
āCristian and I really like Fortnite and Stef is doing it with Call of Duty,ā Morris explained. āCristian, Alex [Roldan] and I have been doing it with Fortnite. You just set up a time and put it out there and people can sign up and donate some money to play.
āSo all the money is going towards that and itās just a fun way to interact with fans and raise some money to help people that need it during this time.ā
In addition to playing with some of their favorite stars, it connects fans with gamers who take the hobby as seriously as they do.
Morris and Roldan have played together so much at this point, Morris said, theyāve become a potent and competitive duo. Who the best player is between the two is the subject of debate, but both Morris and Frei acknowledged Roldan probably can lay claim to the title of the best Fortnite player in the Seattle locker room.
āI donāt know what it is about Fortnite, itās the best game Iāve ever played, the most fun Iāve ever had playing video games,ā Morris said. āBefore this game came out I was not a big gamer at all, a little bit in high school, but when this came out I started playing it and I just really liked it.
āAnd itās a really fun game to be able to connect with people. I play with [Nashville SC defender] Walker [Zimmerman], I play with my buddies from Stanford, guys that I havenāt seen in a while, so thatās a fun part about it too.ā
Those interested in streaming with any of the Sounders players can find the information on when the time slots are open on their Twitter feeds, where theyāve been promoting the sessions.
āWe all have our profiles, at this point weāre offering time slots, but the idea is that weāre going to host a whole tournament and have people make some donations,ā Frei said. āWeāre trying to raise some money through a passion that we all enjoy and a lot of other people do too.ā