Aaron Kovar was born and raised in Seattle, so it’s no wonder that the team he plays for is the Seattle Sounders, wearing the #11 jersey. The 22-year-old soccer player was born on August 14, 1993. He is a middle fielder. He stands at 5’10 and weighs 155 pounds. Like several other Sounders, he was signed on as a Homegrown Player, “graduating” from the Sounders FC Academy onto the First Team. He was signed on to play with the team on January 8, 2014, the same day as fellow Homegrown Player, Sean Okoli.

Kovar has played a total of nine games during the regular season in his time with the First Team so far. He has played 226 minutes on the field, starting in two games. He has not yet scored during a regular season game, and he has had no yellow cards or red cards yet. He also has yet to play in an offseason game.

Prior to his career with the Sounders, in his youth career he played for Emerald City FC. He was dubbed Gatorade Player of the Year in 2001 for Washington. In college, he also played with Stanford Cardinal for two years. While at Stanford in 2012, he won Pac-12 freshman of the year award. Sounders coach Sigi Schmid says that it is very important that Academy players can “see a pathway” to make it to the First Team after their experience on the youth team.

Kovar left college to become a player for the Sounders. He told the press that while it was a difficult choice to make, he had dreamed of playing for the team since childhood. He added that it was a goal he had worked very hard to accomplish. Kovar was also loaned to play for the USL Pro Club Orange County Blues in 2014. He also had some international experience in 2011 when he was chosen to play in the U.S. U-18 National Team training camp in Arizona.

Fans of Kovar can follow his news, photos and videos on his Twitter page. On the page, Kovar simply describes himself as “Professional footballer for Seattle Sounders FC #11.” He also shares some of his charity work, such as with the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Kovar has one sister and is the son of Rich and Bernadette Kovar, a doctor and nurse. In addition to soccer, Kovar played tennis in high school and college.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia