SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — A room packed with soccer players, many of the wearing their jerseys, greeted Sunnyside City Council members at Monday’s meeting.

Well over 100 players and family members involved with two Sunnyside based soccer leagues crammed council’s chambers, filling all the chairs and huddling on foot near the door to voice their support for two proposed soccer fields at the Sunnyside Law and Justice Center.

“I wouldn’t be here without a lot of support and there’s really no doubt I have it,” said Nick Steckler, gesturing toward the crowd.
Steckler is a 17-year-old Sunnyside High School senior and a board member of Sunnyside’s Promise, a nonprofit community group that focuses on youth resources.

Steckler, league administrators and Mark Baysinger, executive director of Sunnyside’s Promise, detailed a plan to build two new soccer fields in an empty lot on the city-owned Law and Justice Center property, east of the police station.

The idea first came up at Sunnyside’s Gang Reduction Initiative, an effort to curtail gang activity through community involvement led by Sunnyside Deputy Police Chief Phil Schenck.

Soccer fanatics often complain that they have too few fields to handle the demand in Sunnyside. The Lower Valley Soccer League has about 1,000 players scattered throughout youth, adult, women’s and men’s divisions.
The proposed fields would cost about $27,500.

Council members briefly discussed using money from real estate excise taxes that have been earmarked for parks maintenance. But they enjoyed the crowd.

“This makes council fun,” said Councilwoman Theresa Hancock.

-- Ross Courtney