The Western New York Flash reside in Rochester, New York. The hallmarks of the Western New York area are the Latchworth State Park along with Buffalo. Small cities with hidden charm but not the glamor of the city that’s named twice.
The Western New York Flash Soccer Club Experience
The NWSL salary ranges from just under $7,000 to $30,000 a season. The Flash players who play for their countries have their salaries subsidized. Only three Flash players play for their countries.
Western New York is asking women to live below the poverty line in a small city. Joe Reardon’s words from the movie “Bull Durham” carries in the ladies hearts while their living in Rochester: “You can keep going to the ballpark, and keep getting paid to do it. Beats the hell of working at Sears.”
So as the Flash dreamed, the front office worked. Part of the credit for being in this year’s championship game goes to the great draft of 2015. Samantha Mewis, Lynn Williams, and Jaelene Hinkle proved to be great choices for they all are currently starting. Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo, drafted in the 3rd round, was a steal.
The Flash didn’t make it to the championship in 2015 however. They needed a veteran and Jessica McDonald has had success in this young league. The stereotype of the college draft is that we’re assuming young athletes need time to develop. We’re forgetting that one of the primary women’s sports in America is soccer. The Flash ladies are skillful coming into a ten team league.
The Flash have the talent to win, they just have to get the right manager. Paul Riley, an Englishman that adopted the New York lifestyle, was able to make the dream work.
Riley devoted his coaching career to women’s soccer ten years ago when he managed a lower division team. Paul realized the key element to the Western New York Flash success was speed. He devoted his training to maintaining pace and awareness.
As Jessica McDonald stated in www.equalizersoccer.com:
“If you didn’t bring the tempo back up or play at full speed at practice then he would chew you out a little bit. He would never let you jog to the next cone after making a pass. It would literally be a sprint to the next thing which was really awesome. It helped us to last longer than 90 minutes in a game.”
“Inexperience” is a great word to use for advertising a team that the pundits didn’t believe would make it this far. Portland Thorns’ fans will lift the NWSL Shield while debating on who is the “real” champion? The Flash outplayed the Thorns on their pitch in the semifinals and outsmarted Portland in the front office.
The English build Big Ben for a reason. Time is money. The Flash money time was this year. They learned on the job.
