Donation gets ball rolling on new complex
JASON ELLIOTT/Press The Sting Timbers FC soccer club will soon be adding three turf fields and an indoor facility to its land on the corner of Prairie Avenue and Huetter Road. Pictured is a view from behind the club’s offices.
By JASON ELLIOTT
Staff writer
Members of the Sting Timbers FC Board of Directors know there’s an urgency.
Especially after the spring rain wreaked havoc on practice schedules and soccer fields across Kootenai County.
But the ball is now rolling in the right direction.
Progress is being made on the club soccer program’s new facility, located on the corner of Prairie Avenue and Huetter Road, thanks to a donation from Mountain West Bank.
“It’s huge,” Sting Timbers FC director of coaching Mike Thompson said. “As you can imagine, anytime we see someone in the community step up like this, it’s a big deal. We’ve certainly got a ways to go, but we’re going in the right direction. We’re pleased with the community support we’ve received so far.”
The new facility, expected to open this year, will feature three full-sized turf soccer fields, an 80-by-180-foot indoor facility and parking. The club hopes the location will ultimately become a facility used for various sports, including football, baseball, softball and rugby.
Mountain West Bank donated $10,000 to the construction of the field, a 9.5-acre parcel on the corner of Prairie and Huetter and located between Kootenai County’s four primary towns of Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Rathdrum.
“We definitely have a sense of urgency to get the indoor building up and running this year,” said Thompson, who added the club had to cancel practices and some games due to unplayable fields this spring. “I can’t tell you the amount of practices we had to reschedule because of water on the field. We’d tear them to shreds.”
Thompson added the program will still utilize the same grass fields as necessary.
“If we could get the indoor and outdoor fields ready, it would definitely take the burden off,” Thompson said. “We just don’t want to stop using the fields we’ve got now.”
“We completely support and appreciate the Sting Timber FC’s vision and goal for this wonderful new facility,” Mountain West Bank CEO Russ Porter said. “Not only are they creating a great place for people in our community to participate in competitive sports, but also building a sturdy economic driver for our area.”
“The urgency to get this going is there,” Thompson. “Soccer isn’t the only sport suffering. We look at it as a community place. It’s not just for soccer, but the community at large.”