Out of all the sports in the world, soccer is the most popular and well-known sport around the world. For Tiana Caffey, soccer is more than just a sport with a 4 billion following. Tiana was first introduced to soccer at the age of 3. By the time, she was 9 years old, she fell in love with the game. “I realized that I was in love with the game when I realized that being on the field allowed me to escape from reality,” Caffey states. “The field became my safe haven and it allowed me to be who I am not who people made me out to be.” At a young age, she was already a star and champion as she secured victories in multiple elite tournaments. Tiana was a pool player for the U.S. Women’s National Team on the youth level and competed on the U.S. Under-17 Women’s National Team that won the World Cup in North Carolina which led to FIFA’s Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

By the time high school arrived, Caffey would soon make a name for herself. Tiana became a standout midfielder during her high school years at Jenson High School in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where she would be nominated as the school’s Wendy’s Heisman nominee in 2016. Not only was she successful in soccer, but she was also an accomplished softball player. In 2013, Tiana helped lead her travel softball team to both the Florida ISA State Championship and the Senior League State Championship. While playing travel softball in 2015, she was crowned the USSA national champion.

Caffey began her collegiate career at the college where she dreamed of going since the age of 9, Louisiana State University (LSU). As a student-athlete at LSU, she prepared herself for the challenges many student-athletes face in balancing academics and athletics. “Balancing sports and academics is something that I have had to do my entire life,” Tiana states. “It was challenging at times but I had a great support system to help me get through those rough days of not wanting to do any school work and just focusing on sports. But I know that sports do not last forever and my education will allow me to have something stable to fall back on when the day comes to say goodbye to sports.” During her time at LSU, Tiana earned a varsity letter on the LSU Women’s Soccer team, won an SEC title with the team, played a total of 4,741 minutes in all 81 games, and helped LSU in allowing the fifth-lowest goals-against average in school history (.98). As she prepares for graduation, Tiana is majoring in Sports Administration with a concentration on business as she plans to utilize all the lessons that she learned from and apply them in the business aspect; especially when it comes to negotiating contracts and business deals.

Caffey sees herself playing professionally as it has been a dream of hers since a young age. “I promised myself that I would always try to go pro no matter what the circumstances may be,” Tiana says. If going pro does not go as planned, Tiana explains that she still wants to help athletes in personal training. “I still plan on working with athletes doing personal training to get them to where they need to be physically and mentally.” When it comes to trusting yourself, Tiana exemplifies that as she advises all future athletes to trust themselves. “There are going to be times when you are going to doubt yourself sometimes, but you have to understand if you were not as good as you are you would not be in the position that you are in today. You have to trust that you deserve to be there,” Caffey explains.

When it comes to role models, there is always that one that plays a huge part in life and sports. For Tiana, two people inspire her in those aspects: her brother and Tennis legend, Serena Williams. Tiana looks up to Serena Williams from the sports perspective as she loves Williams’s work ethic and how she (Serena) holds herself as a Strong Black Woman. From the everyday life perspective, Caffey explains why she looks up to her brother: “I say him (her brother) because life has not always been easy for him but no matter what is thrown at him, he always finds a way to make it work. He is one of the main reasons why I am where I am today.”

While soccer has been a popular sport across the world, Tiana sees women’s soccer has already made its global mark for the past few years. However, she hopes and sees the sport continuing to increase for her generation and beyond. “I really believe that it will continue to have the same impact globally for years to come. I say this because of the role models that we have been able to look up to that have made their mark in history for women's soccer such as Mia Hamm, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Wendie Renard, Marta, etc. They have set a platform for my generation as well as younger generations of female soccer players to follow and gives us the motivation to make our mark on the game,” Caffey states.  

Tiana Caffey exemplifies what it means to overcome any obstacle and still win. Her strength and perseverance to win are inspiring. When asked what makes her story stand out, Tiana explains it confidently: “I knew I wanted to go to LSU since I was 9 years old, and I did everything and anything to make sure that I could get there,” explains Tiana. “It was far from easy but I knew what I wanted and I had to keep the promise that I made to myself. There are two specific years in my college career that tested my faith in God and myself. In my freshman year of college, my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and going into my senior year I tore my ACL during the preseason. During those times, I was questioning God about everything that was happening in my life. I questioned who I was, I questioned if I should quit school and soccer and go help take care of my mom, I questioned why going into my senior year and my career was put on pause because of injury. I questioned if all of this would be worth it in the end.” Caffey continues to detail why she never quit her dream and the reward of pushing through the adversary. “I finally understood that God never puts someone through something unless he knows they will come out better on the other side of what they are going through. It took me a while to believe that it is good what my family and I were going through but during this tough period, I always remembered when my parents always told me, "that God may not be there as soon as you want him to be, but he is always on time. It is funny how things always turn out when you finally just give all your worries and doubts to God and how everything seems to finally come together in your favor. I always think that if I had never gone through any of those trials and tribulations, I would have never been an SEC Champion, I would not have the connections/friendships I have with those who were there for me every day after my surgery, I wouldn't have the relationship I have with God and I would not have the confidence in who I am today. When I look back now, I am beyond thankful for everything that it took for me to get where I am today. Even though it wasn't the most "IDEAL" college experience, I wouldn't change a single thing about it.”

As an official Beautiful Ballers athlete, Tiana was excited about joining the Beautiful Ballers family as she explained why she joined the team: “Being an Official Beautiful Baller Athlete is exciting. Honestly, I'm glad I'm a part of a family that promotes and highlights female athletes worldwide and allows us to grow our platforms outside of the sports industry. I decided to join just for that main aspect. They are always uplifting females in a society that makes it feel like we are always in competition with one another when we should be uplifting one another and that's exactly what Beautiful Baller does. I'm excited to see what the future has for this family and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to be a part of it.” 

For more information on Tiana, be sure to follow her on Instagram: tiana.caffey