The drive from midfielder Peter Kingston's hometown of Tukwila, Washington, to Lumen Field in downtown Seattle is only 10 miles.
But for the Sounders' most recent first-team signing, it took more years and highway stops than anyone could have predicted to come full circle.
"I'm confident saying this: Peter is the only person who has checked every local box in Seattle," Sounders Director of Development Wade Webber told MLSNEXTPro.com. "...It's an incredible story. He's as local as they come, and he's won at every level in some sense."
Starting at the very beginning of that story, Kingston's earliest memories of the sport began with watching his father's Sunday league games.
"Being two or three years old, I'd be out there on the field holding the ball at my dad's games," Kingston told MLSNEXTPro.com in a recent one-on-one interview. "My dad tells some of the earliest stories of me grabbing my cleats and wanting to go out on the field and play, but obviously, I was a little kid."
It didn't take long for Kingston to start making memories on the field, and anyone watching his very first games probably got the hint they were watching something special.
"I remember joining my first team. I was about seven or eight years old," Kingston recalled. "I joined a recreational team called the Silver Hawks. It was a local elementary school team, and we played against a premier-level team in indoor. My team lost 9-8, but I scored all eight goals."
Eventually making his way to the Sounders Academy, Kingston had a knack for making an impression. Growing into his role as a versatile midfielder, his legacy with the Sounders started at the age of 14, playing a part in a U-16 group that made club history.
"My first time working with Peter was in the summer of 2016," continued Webber, Sounders Academy coach at the time, "...We went to Sheffield, England, and played in a tournament. We had gone overseas a couple of times with the academy to try to give players that exposure. We won the tournament, and on the way, beat FC Basel in the final. We also beat Newcastle and Wolves...we won the thing, and it was the first time we won a trophy for the academy, and Pete was a huge part of that group."
Born and bred
Rave Green coursed through Kingston's veins growing up. Everything from his first live soccer experience to learning the passion that goes into one of North America's best rivalries in the Cascadia Cup.
"I remember going to my first-ever Sounders game," Kingston said. "It was in 2009 during the MLS season. It was an exhibition game that they had played against FC Barcelona. My uncle Fidel got us some tickets to go to that game, and it was my first time in the stadium as big as Lumen, or just even being involved in a crowd that was super loud and roaring."
Being an academy kid came with the perk of being on ball boy duty for numerous Sounders games, where he made countless memories.
"I'm telling you, one of my core memories is Roger Levesque and his celebration," Kingston recalled fondly while demonstrating. "The one where he's chopping down the tree. That was one of my earliest memories of a celebration in one of those derby games. Growing up in the academy and playing in those derby games, I really disliked the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers. But, they would say the same thing about us, right?"
Undrafted
The harsh reality is that not every academy or MLS NEXT Pro player is guaranteed to make their club's first team in the end. Especially in Seattle, where the Sounders have been a top example of pounding the pathway to consistently load their rosters with homegrowns.
"I hesitate to call him a victim," Webber said, recalling Kingston's standing with Seattle in 2019. "...Pete's really good, we all liked him, but at the time, we had other guys that were more ready."
Webber, a dyed-in-the-wool pathway expert, explained how Seattle, largely due to a loaded pipeline of midfielders, wasn't quite ready to offer Kingston a contract by the time he had to make the choice on his NCAA eligibility.
On the player's side, Kingston had a lot on his mind. One less thing to consider added clarity to what his next steps would be.
"I always wanted to come back, but even if they had offered me a contract, I genuinely think that I still would have gone to college," Kingston shared. "College for me was a big thing. Neither of my parents graduated from high school, so being the first in my family to graduate from high school and then get a college degree was another goal I had in mind.
"Easier said than done, but if they had thrown a contract in front of me, I truly don't know."
Unique to Kingston's pathway, he ended up making stops at every level in the region and is widely believed to be the only player to do so. Extending his formative years at Seattle University and then fulfilling another dream by jumping up to play at the University of Washington, as well as taking on an amateur role in Ballard FC's USL League Two championship crusade in 2023, where he earned the championship MVP.
When it was all over, Kingston figured for better outcomes than he received, and remembers the emotions when his name wasn't called in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft.
"Mentally, I broke down for a day," Kingston recalled. "I will not lie to you. I broke down, but then something just shifted in my head."
That shift? Kingston doubled down and started putting in more individual training reps while strengthening his inner circle as he considered the next step.
"We'd spend a lot of time after those sessions just doing small Bible studies and praying," reflected Kingston. "That was when it really clicked. Building that discipline that carried me through the last year and a half."
Make your own luck
Broken down, assessing all options, and now a young father of two, Kingston made a phone call to Webber, hoping to will another opportunity into existence.
"He gave me a call," said Webber. "He told me, 'Listen, I'd love to come on trial with the Defiance, see if I can make my way to the first team, make one final run at it, and if it doesn't work, I'll go get a job.'"
A leap of faith also taken by Sounders stars Paul Rothrock and Jackson Ragen in recent years for different reasons, Kingston explained the daring request to call his own shot.
"I remember the call very well, because it was a pivotal moment in my life," Kingston recalled. "And he told me something along the lines of 'We know you're more than good enough to make the team, but there's a little bit of uncertainty on what the pathway for you looks like to the first team.' and I had gone into the idea knowing I'm not one of the younger guys that's going to be on the team that has a potential pathway. I'm an older guy with a whole lot to prove."
On the other side of that phone call, the decision for Seattle was straightforward.
"In Peter's case, it was very easy," Webber explained. "We knew him. We liked him. We actually had an opening in midfield. It was a no-brainer... I just knew that he could play a lot of positions, and it could work either way.
"But the phone call, there's a degree of humility; it's clear they're desperate. And I don't want players to feel desperate, but I also know that that adds a level of 'no Plan B', you've got to make it work, and in the cases where they have, it's very exciting."
Seminal moment
Fast forward to 2025, and Kingston made good on the chance he bargained for.
A breakout campaign in MLS NEXT Pro made way for his very first MLS call-up toward the end of the Sounders' MLS regular season.
Upping his game again this year, Seattle quickly exhausted their short-term agreement options, and Kingston made the most of those chances. He officially completed the pathway when signing his first-team deal on April 3.
"When they gave me my first start at San Jose," he said of when he felt his moment coming. "I think I did decently well that game. I felt like I could really play at this level, and it was just a matter of preparation, meeting opportunity, and having all the right things fall into place."
Like something out of a movie in the weeks between, the full-circle moment happened for the Cascadia kid. In the 66th minute of a scoreless deadlock against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16, Kingston came in and quickly dished two assists that led to a 2-0 second-leg win that eliminated the bitter rivals.
"In the moment, after the first assist happened, I was thinking, 'Wow, I can really do things out here and make something happen,'" said Kingston. "Maybe with more opportunity, I can continue to make things happen for this club."
Rave Green grit
When asked about what he adds to the Sounders at the first-team level, work ethic is the first thing that came to Kingston's mind. A trait that stemmed from humble beginnings.
"My work ethic comes from self-belief and never giving up," he said. Just seeing my dad work hard all the time trying to make ends meet, and wanting to provide a different life for him, and seeing a different outcome further down the road."
Kingston remembers his father having to put in excessive hours to keep the lights on in a small apartment for his family growing up, and how that applies to the family he's building now.
"Also, just having kids very young," he added. "I had my daughter at 20 years old, and then I had my son at 22. Having a reason to go out and do my best every day, and my work ethic stems from not wanting to fail them as a father. Just being a young father gives me a reason to go out and give my all every day. If there's a day when I don't give everything, that is a day I failed my family."
The on-ramp for Kingston's soccer career, in part, goes to the Sounders Academy, removing cost as a barrier for entry.
"It 100% definitely made our lives a lot easier," said Kingston. "When you're playing premier youth-level soccer, you have to pay for uniforms. You have to pay when your team travels somewhere, so many things you have to pay for, right?
"And then joining the Sounders Academy, equipment is free, gear is free, training is free. Playing games is free, travel for free. I think it's seen as more of an investment in the player and in the future."
Onward, upward
Now officially a first-teamer, Kingston has had a moment to let it all soak in.
"It means everything to me," he explained. "Early on, being a little kid, your dream is always to play at the highest level of soccer and to become a professional. To do it in my hometown is a dream come true. Also, a big goal of mine was just to be able to inspire and show a lot of kids it's not about where you start, it's about where you finish."
For the hometown kid who grew up loving his club, it's no surprise Kingston is quick to call Seattle the best club in MLS, and can count the reasons for his firm opinion.
"There are a lot of things, I think the people and winning atmosphere, I think in games when there's a reasonable doubt from people outside the club, the self-belief within the club is we know who we are," Kingston said.
"We know what we have within the organization. We have people who believe. I don't think we're just believers. We're winners at the end of the day as well. When I think of the people within the club, there's a built-in culture here."
