SNOHOMISH — The owner of the Snohomish Sports Dome announced she is starting a local club to compete in men’s and women’s semi-professional indoor soccer.
The Dome will be the home of the Snohomish Sky starting this fall.
Facility owner Jamie Bialek said by email that the Sky’s creation is because “my focus has been on making Snohomish Sports Dome a great place for athletes and the community.”
With so many players in the area, she called it “a great opportunity for the dome, leagues, players and community.”
The Snohomish County Steelheads FC which played in the Dome will be moving to Arena Sports in Mill Creek next season. The soccer club’s president, Dorian Lair, said it’s big for the Steelheads “because Arena Sports is a state-of-the-art and well-known” group of soccer facilities in Washington state and gives the Steelheads more opportunities to grow.
Lair said arranging the Steelheads’ relocation started over winter.
Northwest Premier League (NWPL) co-founder and commissioner Micah McMonagle said both his league and the local semi-pro men’s league “are excited by what we’ve called ‘broaching the Arena Sports bubble’” of the Steelheads getting in. Others tried and never came to sealing a deal with Arena Sports, McMonagle said.
Part of the nucleus of Steelheads players who took championships, though, is shifting to the Snohomish Sky.
Bialek said the Sky has many commitments from women’s Steelheads players to come to its roster. The men’s roster will include regional club players.
Coaching selections for the Sky are currently being conducted.
McMonagle said the Sky’s arrival shouldn’t dilute the local player base too much. The Steelheads moving to Mill Creek might attract more players out of Seattle, McMonagle said. The next closest team is based in Tacoma.
Tryouts to join the Snohomish Sky’s teams are this fall. The women’s team will play in the NWPL indoor (NWPLi) league and the men’s team will be in the Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL).
Next month, the Sky will begin hosting drop-in soccer play on Sunday mornings at the Dome, Bialek said. The Dome is at 511 Maple Ave.
Adding the Snohomish Sky gives the NWPL indoor (NWPLi) league its biggest number of teams in its short history, which could be seven if two clubs on hiatus reboot themselves, McMonagle said. It could even be eight if another rumored team assembles and gets admitted to the league.
McMonagle’s excited to see more teams because it allows a deeper season with larger championship tournaments.
In men’s play, when the Sky debuts, it will mean Snohomish County now will have three teams in the WISL. That’s nearly half the league’s teams: The WISL has eight clubs. Everett City FC men’s launched into the WISL last season; the Everett Soccer Arena is the team home base.
