On May 28, Seattle Sounders FC, RAVE Foundation, and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians came together to create a lasting community legacy through sport by opening a new soccer park on the northeast side of the former Gault Middle School site, next to Tacoma Public Schools’ future IDEA school.
This first-of-its-kind partnership transformed a Tacoma Public Schools-owned site in the ancestral homeland of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians into the new Visa Street Soccer Park — a free, high-quality community space designed to serve local youth and families for generations to come. Local and national partners collaborated to ensure the park became a hub for play, learning, and connection.
The park features two professional-grade turf fields with lighting for year-round use, as well as an adjacent clubhouse and classroom space. The fields can also be converted into one larger playing surface to accommodate expanded programming and events.
Designed with accessibility in mind, the facility will also support adaptive soccer programming. Built to accommodate regulation blind soccer pitch panels, the park will serve as a regional training hub for the US Association of Blind Athletes and the US Men’s Blind Soccer Team. The SeattleFWC26 Local Organizing Committee for Seattle FIFA World Cup 2026™ donated the blind soccer equipment, helping ensure the park is welcoming and inclusive for athletes of all abilities.
In recognition of the park’s opening and the sacred ancestral land on which it stands, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians gave the park an official name in the Twulshootseed language: wɘlɘxwildubutali meaning “place to make yourself strong.” To mark the occasion, Chief Leschi Schools Drum & Dance led a ceremonial pitch blessing, honoring the spiritual and cultural connection to the land, while tribal youth were among the first to take the field and experience the new community space.
“We are excited to be bringing this awesome opportunity to grow the game of soccer on Tribal land,” said Puyallup Tribal Council, the Tribe’s governing body. “It will not only be a benefit to Tribal Members, but everyone in Tacoma.”
This milestone reflected both new and long-standing partnerships — including the ongoing partnership between the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Sounders FC, and RAVE Foundation, which began in 2021. From the beginning, the vision extended far beyond the soccer field. The goal was to use soccer as a vehicle — a doorway into learning, career discovery, creative expression, and a sense of belonging — for Chief Leschi students and the Tacoma Public Schools community across every grade level. The Gault Middle School project marked the third field collaboration between RAVE, Sounders, and PTOI, following the first in 2021 at Boze Elementary in Tacoma and the second on the Chief Leschi Schools campus in 2024.
“This partnership has always been purposeful. At its heart, it reflected a shared set of values — a belief that children deserve access to play, that Indigenous stories deserve to be told on a world stage, and that soccer can be a genuine force for equity and belonging,” said Sounders & Reign FC Chief Impact and Fan Engagement Officer & RAVE Executive Director Ashley Fosberg.
For many at Chief Leschi, the park represented something long overdue: a dedicated space for Indigenous youth to play, grow, and make the game their own.
