Soccer goals locked up in Tri-Cities. Players want to increase soccer field accessibility

Anyone who has lived in eastern Washington for an extended period of time has likely heard the phrase, “There’s nothing for kids to do around here.”

The anecdote has been prevalent in Washington’s less-populous regions for some time, comparing the options kids on the west side have to kids on the east side.

When kids and teenagers have access to more options in their community, it can benefit everyone. But that access can be hard to come by in eastern Washington.

One such example is spaces for soccer. While you can probably throw together a pick-up game on any patch of grass, there is real benefit to providing kids with turf access — in the community and for the players.

Lack of soccer spaces in Tri-Cities

On the west side of the state, you’ll find soccer fields open to the public with nets ready for use. Anyone, regardless of age or skill level, can head over and start playing.

In Tri-Cities, schools require sign-ups for anyone wanting to use soccer fields. Goals are locked up, or the netting is removed, at public parks. According to local players, there is no soccer-specific public option in Tri-Cities, aside from a few street courts recently added in Pasco.

The Herald reached out to Parks and Recreation departments for Tri-Cities and received no information contradicting the players’ experience.

Because of this, many players have a hard time finding a space to practice without getting in trouble.

That’s what Alex Sotelo, of TopLvL Sessions, was trying to demonstrate in an Instagram reel showing the options in western Washington and in eastern Washington, which garnered a significant response on social media.

“The access to fields on the west side compared to here is like night and day,” Sotelo said in a recent interview with the Herald.

Sotelo, 25, has seen these issues firsthand. He grew up in Tri-Cities, and went on to play soccer professionally overseas for several years, including in Spain, Italy and the Dominican Republic. After getting injured while playing in Germany, he returned to Washington.

Impact of access to soccer turf

The game has taken Sotelo around the world, enough for him to see firsthand what turf access can amount to. He told the Herald that you can see a direct correlation between kids who make it as professionals and spaces with turf access. Kids with better access become better players.

He acknowledges that it’s true: you can play soccer on any patch of grass. Casually, anyway. But if you’re trying to take it seriously, to connect with the game and truly get better, you need more than that.

“Especially nowadays, people really don’t realize how much goes into a player truly having an opportunity to play at the next level because of how competitive the game is now, too,” Sotelo said.

This is true for all sports. There are hundreds of thousands of kids competing in just the U.S. each year at minimum — for soccer, it’s over two million. It’s also a sport with global appeal, and subsequently, global competition.

But the lack of access isn’t seen across all sports. Pick-up basketball games are often taking place at public parks, baseball diamonds and batting cages are available to all, and even football fields are more accessible.

Sotelo says there are a lot of little things that lead to greater access and opportunity, and many of them are absent here.

“I’m saying this as a player that grew up here, that had the advantage of playing professionally… I had to leave,” Sotelo said. “I had to leave this area to get that opportunity, and I feel like that shouldn’t be the reality. We should be able to get that opportunity to kids here as much as we possibly can.”

Especially in a region where the line between who can afford club sports and who can’t is so fine, increasing the opportunities for all can shed more light on the talent here.

“There’s so many kids that have just trickled through the cracks,” he said.

Finding soccer space in Tri-Cities

Players in Tri-Cities have difficulty playing in parks, schools and sports facilities. Many parks don’t have soccer spaces, and the ones that do will often remove the nets and lock the goals together, making it effectively impossible to use for an actual game or drill practice.

Schools will do the same, and the ones that don’t will generally require groups to rent access beforehand. Sotelo has been kicked off plenty of fields, both as a teenager practicing by himself and as a coach with a group of kids. Sometimes, he said, police would even be called.

He said it gets easier to find spaces here during the summer, when school fields can be used more casually.

“That’s nine months of the year where it’s just like constantly looking and searching for fields to play on, and I don’t really understand it,” Sotelo said.

In his opinion, Pasco School District has the best options for its students, including regular access at Edgar Brown Memorial Stadium. Coincidentally, Pasco students regularly have better soccer seasons than other teams in Tri-Cities.

“That team [Pasco] is constantly competing for state, that team is constantly ranked,” Sotelo said. “And if you look, and you go there in the middle of summer, you will see nothing but kids out there playing soccer. And if you go to Kennewick School District, you will not see that. If you go to Richland School District, you will not see that.”

Sports facilities in the Tri-Cities must be rented out or used through club teams, which require fees. Low-income players may miss out on these opportunities.

He says that while soccer culture is growing in Tri-Cities, it still has strides to make. Most importantly, it needs public access to turf. There are facilities and options in the Tri-Cities, but they aren’t open to the public like they are on the west side.

How to improve soccer spaces in Tri-Cities

Sotelo says the ideal improvement would be a multi-level sports complex fully open to the public, including spaces for all sports. He’s heard some discussion about public sports complexes in Tri-Cities, but nothing beyond word of mouth so far.

While this sort of public option would be met with criticism, especially since it wouldn’t bring in money from regular fees, he thinks the positives outweigh possible negatives. Taxpayers in this area deserve access to at least some of the sporting options they help fund, in his opinion.

“I think if there was a genuine sports-specific facility that was open to the public, that would drastically change so many things,” he said.

On top of the betterment of players, and the increase in options for all income levels, there would also be a community benefit. It’d be easier for kids to stay out of trouble if they could take part in sports they care about without so many barriers. Sotelo says sports are a direct outlet for kids trying to stay out of trouble, and should be encouraged for that reason.

“If you want to prevent kids from doing things that they shouldn’t do, you should give them access to things that they want to do,” he said. “That’s literally it.”

While club soccer is doing well in Tri-Cities, and Sotelo has a lot of respect for the club soccer options here, he wants to see more accessible options as well. Club soccer, unrelated to school teams, offers additional options for players that are serious about the game. But it generally requires a fee, and doesn’t always come with equipment of its own.

In the meantime, he coaches kids through TopLvL Sessions and has semi-regular free events for those in the community who can’t afford his services. While coaching is his source of income, he also takes pride in offering options for all.

During the school year, he has sessions at schools throughout the week. This summer, TopLvL Sessions has partnered with Community First Soccer to offer free training sessions throughout the summer. The first will be at Hanford High School June 14, and further dates will be announced on Instagram. No gear is required, and players of all levels can attend. Players ages 6 to 14 can stop by for training between 4 and 6 p.m., and players ages 15 to 19 can stop by from 6 to 8 p.m.

The TopLvL Sessions “Schools Out Summer Camp” is scheduled for June 17 to 19 at Hanford High School, including guest coaches and pro tips. It includes three days of training, with nine hours of training total. You can register now for $215 by messaging @toplvlsessions on Instagram or by calling or texting 509-551-1802.

For future announcements on additional training sessions, including free community options, follow @toplvlsessions on Instagram.

This story was originally published June 7, 2024 at 5:00 AM.