FieldhouseUSA waiting on COVID-19 to fully open complex

It’s safe to say the Auburn community has never seen all of the inside activities that Frisco Texas-based FieldhouseUSA has packed into the old Sam’s Club space at the Outlet Collection mall.

Year-round play in indoor team sports like basketball, volleyball, futsal (a variation of soccer), cheerleading, performance training, tournaments, fitness, all-sports camps, baseball and softball.

An adventure park with attractions for birthday parties, boot camps, corporate events, extreme dodge ball, lock-ins, skills training, taekwondo and tumble.

And those who built it would love nothing more than to fully open up the multimillion-dollar sports complex to all.

But, says the COVID-19 pandemic, not yet.

Not until Washington enters Phase 4 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase Safe Start plan to reopen Washington.

“We can’t open it up completely until perhaps early 2021,” said Facilities Manager Chris Nance, sounding a hopeful note.

Following a five-year non-compete agreement, Fitness Quest owner Brad Swarz has partnered with FieldhouseUSA to operate out of the Outlet Collection mall.

Looking to the left, the first thing a visitor sees is light reflecting off the shining, hardwood maple floor of seven youth-sized basketball and volleyball courts.

Farther back on the left is the 24,000 square foot Fitness Quest, with 10,500 square feet of it dedicated to mixed martial arts, boxing and wrestling. And all the way to the back, Fitness Quest has provided a room bristling with training equipment like treadmills and bikes, a separate room equipped with two hydrotherapy couches, a sauna, two upright tanning beds and locker rooms and showers.

At the moment, no actual contact games are allowed.

“We can’t host any games or competitions at the present time, which takes out tournaments and any refereeing, so we’ve been doing a lot of open-gym trainings and the like,” Nance said.

To the right is the 35,000 square foot Adventure Park. For the time being, this area is for kids only, no parents or spectators allowed.

Among many activities, it offers:

• Lazer Tag — still a skeletal frame work — offering different levels and game modes for players to reach the highest level of of 28 foot tall, 3-story structure.

• A main trampoline and jump area, where the younger set can play games, like the one centered on variously-colored bouncy squares built into the floor.

• A two-person, interactive game that takes video of participants and projects it directly onto a screen.

• Wipe Out: a rotating arm with a soft cover — looks like the infamous shrivelling sock from the “Wizard of Oz” — for kids to jump over.

• A birthday party corral room capable of hosting five parties at one time.

• A mini Ninja Warrior course

• A slam dunk contest.

•Extreme dodge ball

•The Grub House, offering pizzas cold cuts sandwiches and drinks.

Why Auburn?

Gary L. Oliver, a principal and CEO of FieldhouseUSA, considers the complex the indoor complement to Auburn’s extensive park system with its trails and fields, not to mention the Auburn Golf Course and all those opportunities for fishing.

“FieldhouseUSA is excited in joining the Seattle market and believe the Outlet Collection is a prime location in the heart of the densely populated Seattle and Tacoma corridor,” said Oliver.

According to its website, FieldhouseUSA “generates an average economic impact of $20 million annually and attracts more than $1 million visitors per facility each year.”

The company has opened like facilities in Texas, but the 157,000 square foot Auburn version is the first to open outside of the Lone Star State.