Soccer Fields Have Been a Part of State Park Since 1980

In 1980, the soccer fields you now see as you drive by Lake Sammamish State Park along SE 56th Street were opened for the first time. State Parks leased the land to the newly-formed Issaquah Soccer Club at no cost if club members would build, maintain and schedule the fields. 

Soccer was a rapidly growing sport and the region needed a place to play. The area where the big fields now lay had been a pasture for a pioneer dairy farm, but the club mowed the area into much-needed playing fields. At one point, the club had even used the boat launch parking lot for team play. 

For the first few years, the soccer season was only three months long, from mid-August through mid-November. In an attempt to meet the needs of a rapidly growing number of players, the club squeezed 9 fields into their state park space. The season was expanded into early summer and now includes week-long summer soccer camps. ISC also utilizes turf fields in the Issaquah and Sammamish area during the wetter seasons. 

Today the Issaquah Soccer Club is one of the largest soccer clubs in the Pacific Northwest, home to more than 300 youth teams, helping 3,000 children each year to learn, compete and grow as athletes.