Wichita Story (https://wichitastory.com/category/sports/)
It is Day Two of tryouts for the Wichita Wings. Veteran Wings defender Kevin Ten Eyck squares up to a young player on the sideline and delivers his message succinctly:
“You cannot play. If you do not mark your man, you cannot play. Do you understand?”
The man nods and responds affirmatively. He better.
The Wichita Wings and England have a long and storied
tradition. Names like Andy Chapman, Kevin Kewley, Roy Turner, and Norman Piper
echoed across Wichita playgrounds through the 1980s and 90s. Thanks to Kieran
Laking, in the 40th anniversary season of Wichita’s storied indoor
soccer team, local schoolkids once again have the opportunity to imitate an Englishman
on the pitch. A defender on the field, the 24-year-old hails from Hartlepool,
England, a hard-scrabble city of just under 100,000 people on the coast of the
North Sea. Laking cut his teeth playing for Hartlepool FC in his hometown.
A time warp enveloped my life Saturday. Pizza at Angelo’s. A
Wichita Wings victory. Throw in some yogurt from TCBY and a VHS copy of The
Goonies from Popingo Video and it might have been 1985. Hartman Arena sits just off I-135, just down the street from
the old barn that was the Kansas Coliseum. It can never be 1985 again and Andy
Chapman isn’t going to lace up his cleats next weekend, but the old ghosts came
alive Saturday night.
