What used to be a charred, vacant corner of East Tacoma where Gault Middle School once stood is now packed with goals, turf and floodlights. After years of sitting empty and catching fire more than once, the site has been reborn as a public soccer complex featuring two turf pitches, field lighting and an adjacent learning space.
The new facility, officially called Visa Street Soccer Park, opened this spring through a partnership between the Puyallup Tribe, Tacoma Public Schools and national sponsors Visa, Street Soccer USA and Bank of America. Organizers say the project is meant to pull double duty as a neighborhood hangout and a regional training hub, with adaptive features built in so blind soccer can be played at a competitive level.
According to a release from the Puyallup Tribe, the park sits on the northeast corner of the old Gault property, tucked next to Tacoma Public Schools’ planned IDEA campus. The Tribe’s Language and Culture departments named the site wələx̌ʷildubutali, which translates to “place to make yourself strong,” and that name is prominently displayed at the park…