You wouldn’t be able to notice from working side by side him, you wouldn’t notice watching him play soccer on Seattle Stonewall FC, you wouldn’t notice by the way he enjoys cars and likes driving his tricked out Nissan 370Z. You wouldn’t notice by the way he talks to and interacts with his friends. You wouldn’t notice by the way he walks or runs. All you would notice is this is an ordinary guy. Far from it, Tommy Abrams is extraordinary.

Behind all of the things that make us mortal, a spirit of competition is one of the most enduring. That spirit motivates us, it inspires us, it challenges us and it engages us. The motivation to improve while learning new fundamentals of a team sport and being able to share a new experience with other friends allows each of us to interact and unite competitively and socially. Players have different skill levels and different backgrounds. Bringing that diversity together is important to Tom.

As a child, Tom learned to play organized sports, just like other kids his age. He was encouraged and influenced into playing soccer by watching it at an early age. Tommy has been playing organized Soccer since he was 6 years old. Soccer has always been his main sport. Competitive since 9 while he was on the State of New Mexico Traveling squad.

Tom moved to Seattle from Los Angeles for a BF.  More than that, he actually moved his ex-wife and son up here at the same time.  He is one of the fortunate ones to have a great relationship with his ex-wife. “We will always stay in the same city as our son Ayden, no matter who we are with.” In Cali, there wasn’t any organized gay soccer leagues like Seattle.  But there was a Gay Volleyball League in which he played in.  That’s how he met his BF. They met as he was playing at Volleyball Nationals in Vancouver and his bf was playing on a team from Seattle.

After arriving Tommy didn’t play soccer here right away. He socialized and made a network of friends playing in the Seattle Gay Volleyball League.  After making the Northwest his new home Abrams first played in a gym. Rather taking shots on goal, he was setting and spiking a volleyball, until finding out there was gay soccer organization in Seattle. That is when Tommy joined the local Club and started focusing on sharing his talent with his feet on a soccer field with less skilled players. You can tell right away, he is gifted with his soccer cleats and with his voice. Tom now mentors younger athletes and displays his ability graciously. You see him as a counselor of the game. He is a positive mature role model in a more youthful activity.

The Club Tommy plays in primarily consists of GLBT soccer teams that play in outside organizations, such as; GSSL, Co-Rec and Indoor. These leagues compete against straight teams. The gay boys enjoy whooping some straight boy’s butts and then celebrating afterward socially.

Tom was so excited to hear about the Seattle United Soccer League.  There has been times that he has played against other gay teams in Co-Rec. It was a blast he says to play against friends in the community!  So to have a format like this he says, it’s great.  “I’m very excited to play with all my friends and meet new ones as well!”

Tom plays as much soccer during the week that he can, whether it is Sundays on Seattle Stonewall FC or Tuesday Nights playing for Rplace Hydro. He is gifted and teams definitely are at an advantage with Abrams on their team. Tom has played for teams that have travelled the Globe, and to World Championships. He plays in so many leagues right now, he is adjusting his schedule to fit the SUSL in. Tom will just add it to the list and eventual drop one of the other leagues.  In all, he is very excited to play and be a part of this league more than anything.  It’s new and he hopes to meet new people and play against his friends on Saturdays.

 I think with this format the way it’s set up is the best I’ve seen in all the leagues.  You’ll have teams that are evenly matched.  The League is organized and you can see the countless hours over the last eight months in every detail. This is the effort put in to make sure the league is a success.

 It’s kind of like the World Cup or the NBA/NFL Lottery, The League is different than most because there is a draft. You don’t get to choose your teams, you are randomly selected into one by a lottery, while the top 24 Premier players are drafted onto the different clubs.  “I think it provides a great venue to meet new players and play against teams that are not stacked,” stated Abrams. Most players when they join a new team don’t know everyone anyways, so this is just a great new dimension.  check it out at http://www.seattleunitedsl.com