An 11-year-old girl named Charlotte got the chance to live out a dream this month, touring the Seattle Storm's practice facility and being named an honorary rookie for the day. Charlotte's wish was to become a Seattle Storm player, and the WNBA franchise helped make it happen by folding her into the team's world for an afternoon.
The visit was captured by FOX 13 Seattle photojournalist Clint Edwards, who documented Charlotte's tour of the team's facility, as reported by FOX 13 Seattle. Charlotte's day included a walkthrough of the BECU Storm Center for Basketball Performance, the $64 million, 50,000-square-foot practice complex in Seattle's Interbay neighborhood that opened in April 2024 as the WNBA's first facility designed and built from the ground up for a franchise, according to the WNBA. The building includes two indoor courts, outdoor 3x3 courts, strength centers, and the team's headquarters.
A Landmark Facility With Its Own Backstory
The center's name comes from a sponsorship deal reached in May 2025, when Boeing Employees' Credit Union acquired naming rights to the Interbay facility, according to the Seattle Storm. That deal marked the first time an independently owned WNBA team had secured a corporate naming sponsor for its performance center, and BECU had already provided key construction financing for the building. The Storm are owned by Force 10 Hoops LLC, an all-female ownership group led by co-owners Ginny Gilder and Lisa Brummel, with retired four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird holding a minority stake — the same group that purchased the franchise in 2008 to keep it in Seattle.
Charlotte's experience came together through Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington, which maintains active partnerships across all of Seattle's major professional sports franchises — including the Storm, Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, and Kraken — to deliver VIP experiences for local youth, per KOMO. The chapter is marking its 40th anniversary in 2026, having been founded on February 28, 1986, and it has granted more than 9,200 wishes for children facing critical medical conditions across the Pacific Northwest since then, according to Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington.
A Backlog Of More Than 550 Children
Despite that decades-long track record, the need remains significant. More than 550 children across Washington and Alaska are currently waiting for their wishes to be granted, the organization says. Charlotte's afternoon with the Storm offers a glimpse of what fulfillment looks like for one of those children, even as hundreds more remain on the waiting list.
The Storm's Interbay campus has become something of a hub for the region's sports scene. The facility sits within a growing corridor that now includes the 20-court “Pickle at the Palms” complex opened in August by Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder, along with venues for Ballard FC and the Interbay Golf Center — a stretch of the neighborhood Hoodline previously covered as it has transformed into a centralized destination for Seattle athletics, per KING 5.
Part Of A Season Built Around Inclusion
Charlotte's honorary rookie day arrives during a season in which the Storm have leaned into inclusion-focused programming. Earlier this month, on August 10, the team hosted its “Celebrating All Abilities Night” at Climate Pledge Arena in partnership with Special Olympics Washington and Camp Korey, an event that featured wheelchair basketball demonstrations and charitable donations, according to the Seattle Storm. Climate Pledge Arena, where the Storm play their home games, was certified in 2021 as the world's first net-zero carbon arena following a $1.15 billion transformation, per the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.
Charlotte's tour also placed her alongside a roster in transition. Ahead of the 2026 season, the Storm appointed Sonia Raman as head coach and added new talent including LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson, acquired on draft night in April, according to ESPN. For one afternoon, an 11-year-old fan who dreamed of playing for the Storm got to stand inside that same rebuilt program, if only as an honorary rookie for a day.
