Soccer enthusiasists celebrate new court

The Dove Springs Recreation Center now has a new mini-pitch soccer/futsal court, thanks to the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, local nonprofit Soccer Assist, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, and community donations. The state-of-the-art soccer play space – formerly an unused tennis court – is the “first U.S. Soccer Foundation mini-pitch collaboration in central Austin and part of 1,000 safe places to play mini-pitches that the U.S. Soccer Foundation is installing with partners across the country by 2026,” according to a city press release. The project came out of the parks department’s Community Activated Park Projects program, which enables community members to initiate improvements on public parkland.