Fields damaged during Seattle freeze leave youth and recreational sports schedules a mess — UPDATE

The many colored lines of the Washington Park field (Image: City of Seattle)

Several sports fields across Seattle are closed and in need of repairs after a sustained bout of freezing temperatures has caused damage to the synthetic turf. Seattle Parks says at least nine of the fields at its facilities have been reported damaged and the Seattle Public Schools system has closed all of its turf fields to “assess the severity and scope of the damage on their fields.”

“Unfortunately, this weekend with the extreme freezing weather, a number of SPR (Seattle Parks) and SPS (Seattle Public Schools) synthetic turf fields experienced buckling and damage underneath the turf, resulting in lumps, divots and craters in areas of the field that make them unplayable,” the statement from the city parks department read. Continue reading

Seattle gets ball rolling on preparing city for its part in hosting the 2026 World Cup

With the 2023 Women’s World Cup underway in Australia and New Zealand, Seattle is gearing up for its part in hosting the 2026 men’s tournament.

This week, the Seattle City Council approved legislation outlining the city’s responsibilities with the Seattle International Soccer Local Organizing Committee formed to bring the tournament to the city,

Seattle will be part of a unique three-country arrangement as Mexico, Canada, and the United States will share hosting responsibilities across 16 host cities. According to the council’s briefing on the plan from Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office and first hatched under the Durkan administration, Seattle will likely host around four to six games in the 2026 tournament.

Under the terms of the agreement with FIFA, the local committee will be responsible for what could be a $10 million price tag to host the events with many of the costs hitting the city. Organizers say not to worry as most of those costs would either be recouped or recovered, the Seattle Times reported in 2018 as it did some cheerleading for the plan.

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With Seattle’s pickleball courts driving neighbors bananas, city will try new sound-reducing fence at Capitol Hill park

By Soumya Gupta, CHS Intern

Seattle Parks is responding to surging noise complaints from neighbors around the city’s most popular pickleball courts including Capitol Hill’s Miller Playfield with plans for a new noise-blocking fence. But the department is also scrambling to do more to try to cut down noise from the pandemic-era past time.

While rigorous pickleball matches are happening on courts across the city, the complaints have been centered on three specific Seattle Parks facilities.

“The noise complaints have been coming in for about a year now,” a Seattle Parks and Recreation representative said. “They’re exclusively from neighbors of Miller, Magnolia and Laurelhurst parks.”

To take a swing at the problem, Seattle Parks has devised a noise-reduction project to maintain the status of pickleball in courts, while also doing more to help make sure the game is played within a certain disciplinary framework. Continue reading

TaraShakti building new ski fashion brand and community with Shakti Shack pop-up on the slopes of Capitol Hill

(Image: TaraShakti)

Clark and Ralkowski (Image: TaraShakti)

Another sports fashion brand with mountain-high aspirations from a neighborhood entrepreneur is starting with a pop-up on the slopes of Capitol Hill.

TaraShakti, launched last year by Capitol Hill resident Tara Clark, has set out to make a new space in ski fashion with a revival of the onesie, a look Clark says helps her skiers “build confidence, connection, and community.”

The new ski brand from Clark and co-founder Quan Ralkowski is making its first tracks this winter with a Shakti Shack pop-up in a former dry cleaners shop on 14th Ave neighboring Porchlight Coffee, and the NUE and Omega Ouzeri restaurants.

“Slip into a vintage inspired, high performance, expertly crafted suit and experience the magic. The feminine fit will hug you in all the right places,” TaraShakti promises. Continue reading

Miller courts a popular center for pickleball’s growth in Seattle

With a much-needed resurfacing and community-funded nets, the pickleball courts at Capitol Hill’s Miller Playfield are now some of the busiest venues of athletic competition in the city.

Seattle Parks says from 30 to 50 players compete for the two hours 10 AM to noon every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when the four pickleball-lined courts are reserved for free, open drop-in play.

Clubs and leagues that book up the courts the rest of the week keep them even busier. Continue reading

A Capitol Hill golf tournament? Pike/Pine virtual golf bar hosts ‘longest drive’ competition

You probably haven’t seen Capitol Hill host a golf tournament before. Friday, the 11th Ave location of virtual golf bar chain Five Iron Golf is hosting a “longest drive” competition benefit:

WHAT: Five Iron Golf Seattle x Bucky Jacobsen Longest Drive Contest
WHEN: Friday, October 21, 2022
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. PT
WHERE: Five Iron Golf Seattle 1525 11th Ave
WHO: Five Iron Golf Seattle in partnership with iHeartRadio will host a longest drive contest with former Mariner and sports radio legend, Bucky Jacobsen to raise donations for Youth on Course.

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Miller Playfield closed for the summer for turf replacement project

The busy Miller Playfield and its popular basketball court will be fenced off through the summer as Seattle Parks undertakes an overhaul of the artificial turf.

Parks says the project at the field along 19th Ave E involves the replacement of 89,740 square feet of the plastic turf in a project expected to be completed by fall and the start of the year at Meany Middle School which is part of the Miller campus and utilizes the field.

Parks says pedestrian traffic through the Miller campus will be re-routed and the basketball court will be closed throughout the construction

A crew from Coast to Coast Turf will remove the old turf “and address any structural repairs to curbing, sub-subsurface, and drainage,” the parks announcement says. For the new turf setup, CHS reported here on the transition to more environmentally friendly solutions than the old crumb rubber previously used on the fields after a successful experiment at Cal Anderson. Continue reading

Cascade Flag Football League battles on the gridiron of Cal Anderson Park in preparation for the Super Bowl of inclusive football — Gay Bowl XXIII

(Image: Shamaar Thomas – CHS Reporting Intern)

The Super Bowl of inclusive football is coming to Seattle and teams you see battling on the turf at Cal Anderson’s Bobby Morris Field are at the middle of it.

“The Cascade Flag Football League is an all-inclusive league. Not only geared towards the LGBTQ plus community, but also we welcome those that are part of the CIS community as well,” CFFA director of marketing and player DJ Harden said.

Sponsored by the Seattle Seahawks, National Gay Flag Football League (NGFFL), and multiple queer-friendly establishments across Seattle, CFFA is about inclusivity and sport.

“I think it’s just a great opportunity to sort of turn the narrative about football around. Football has this sort of toxic masculinity associated with it,” CFFA league commissioner Andrew Gorman said. He said the league brings members of the community a sense of achievement knowing that they can enter a space where they may not feel welcomed and make it their own.

The league is now gearing up for an ultimate battle in the sport. Continue reading

What is ‘the future of pickleball’ in Seattle? Parks to hold meeting on courts, new locations for the official sport of the pandemic

(Image: City of Seattle)

Pickleball, the official sport of the Seattle pandemic™ and, basically, slow tennis, is having its moment. 3,300 people took time to fill out the city’s pickleball survey earlier this year.

Now the city’s parks and rec folks want more input from pickleball — and tennis — players as they share the results of three years of study and community feedback and roll out a new plan for “the future of pickleball in Seattle’s parks.” Continue reading

Pike/Pine putters have a new place to play as Five Iron Golf tees off on Capitol Hill

(Image: Five Iron Golf)

There was a time when Capitol Hill golfers were forced to roam the streets as their fairways, play the Bobby Morris turf as their greens. Friday, a new era begins for Pike/Pine putters.

The new Five Iron Golf is now open on 11th Ave on the ground floor of the five-story WeWork office development built on the bones of the old building once home to the Capitol Hill Value Village thrift shop.

The 12,000-square-foot virtual golf bar boasts a dozen “custom-built” TrackMan Golf simulators “featuring multiple high-speed cameras to capture every angle of the golf swing,” and a restaurant and bar that promises “TVs at every turn.” Continue reading