Paul Rothrock is having a year.
He’s gone from the anonymity of the fringes to center-stage with MLS’ Seattle Sounders, the team he’s supported since boyhood. So that wide megawatt smile of his must be born of contentment – a 25-year-old reaching the top and basking in the glory of the moment.
Right? Not quite.
“I don’t feel like I’ve made it,” said the midfielder who forced his way into the first team midway through a 2024 where he started “low down on the depth chart and not getting much playing time.”
“I’ve earned opportunities that can be taken away just as quickly,” he said, oozing the kind of foresight it takes to go from “not the most exciting prospect” to a near-automatic selection for long-time Sounders boss Brian Schmetzer. “You can’t rest on success like that.”
Rothrock describes himself as a “kinetic” player, all energy on the left side and adding himself to the attack. Off the field, he’s analytical. This is a young man who plans. “I have a perfect example right in front of me every day in Jordan Morris,” Rothrock said, pointing to the striker he first idolized from the stands and who he now calls a teammate – a fellow Seattle-area local, who’s “consistently scored and produced every year. That’s what it takes to stay at a club like this for that long.”
There From the Beginning
The story of young Rothrock’s journey from Sounders fan to Sounder began in 2009. “I don’t remember too much about it, but I remember being there,” he said of attending the Sounders first game of the MLS era as a ten-year-old.
In the years that followed, Rothrock shined in various local clubs affiliated with the Sounders academy, reaching youth national finals and even appearing once for the U.S. U-18 National Team.
