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TOGETHER WITH

Good morning Wichita!

PSA: Botanica is closing tomorrow and Friday due to the cold. Bundle up everyone.

If you are still looking for that perfect Christmas gift for your family or friends, Wichita Shirt Co has a last minute special. For more details, see the bottom of this email.

In today's Wichita Life Update:

Wichita Wings History
Wichita Wings of Today
Other Futbol in Wichita

Let's get to it!

- Landon Huslig

TOGETHER WITH CHICKEN N PICKLE

Today is the first official day of Winter and it definitely feels like it (especially tonight & tomorrow)!

With the winter comes winter activities and what better way to enjoy the outdoors than the Ice Pond at Chicken n Pickle. ⛸️❄️

Oh and we teamed up with our CNP friends to give away a Skate Package for two to one lucky winner!

Head over to our Instagram to enter.

Learn More Here

The World Cup just wrapped up. Congrats to Argentina (and our friends at Argentina’s Empanadas)! But let's keep that futbol momentum rolling.

Wichita has a number of professional or semi-professional sports teams that may or may not know about.

Today we want to focus on the Wichita Wings who open up their season on Friday, December 23rd.

Wichita Wings History

Soccer in Wichita has stretched a few eras. Let’s go all the way back to 1979.

The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) was expanding and admitted the Wichita Wings on August 21, 1979 and they played in the Kansas Coliseum (with a field 200 ft x 85 ft).

The MISL (which had been renamed the Major Soccer League) fell apart in 1992 so the Wings moved to the National Professional Soccer League.

Fast forward to the 2001 and the Wings were the oldest professional soccer franchise in the US of A before they folded thus entering the dark age of indoor soccer in Wichita.

For the 2011-2012 season, a new Wichita Wings team came along and played at Hartman Arena in the MISL, but promptly shut down just a couple years later after the 2012-2013 season.

This Wings team was followed up by the Wichita B-52s.

The B-52s played two seasons (2013-2014 - Professional Arena Soccer League, 2014-2015 — Major Arena Soccer League) at Hartman Arena. The B-52s closed up shop in August 2015.

Wichita Wings of Today

Before we get into where we are today, I need to break down how Major Arena Soccer is set up. There are a few levels:

Major Arena Soccer League - Professional Indoor Soccer League with 14 teams. This is the top level of indoor soccer.
Major Arena Soccer League 2 - This league serves as a developmental league of the Major Arena Soccer League (see above). There are 15 teams.
Major Arena Soccer League 3 - This league serves as a developmental league for both leagues above. There are 9 teams.

Clear as mud? Good.

In 2019, the Wichita Wings once again returned like a phoenix rising from the ashes (which fittingly resembles the logo).

The Wichita Wings play in the Major Arena Soccer League 2.

There is also a developmental semi-pro team called the Wichita Wings 2 that play in Major Arena Soccer League 3.

The Wichita Wings play all their home games at Hartman Arena and kick off the season this Friday. You can find their full schedule here:

Be sure to follow them over on Instagram.

God Save the Wings

A few years ago, there was a feature length film called God Save the Wings about the Wichita Wings, “an indoor soccer team of European party boys who went toe-to-toe with all major markets in the crazy 1980s” was released and made the film festival circuit, winning a few awards!

You can check out the trailer here:

Other Futbol in Wichita:

Wichita Aero FC

Wichita Aero FC is Wichita’s first semi-pro women-owned soccer team. They play in the PASL.

Their season is currently underway and their next home game is on January 13th at 7:30pm.

They play at The Sports Zone in Wichita.

FC Wichita

FC Wichita is a soccer club made of up multiple teams including:

FC Wichita Women - UWS
FC Wichita Men - USL2
FC Wichita Youth aka Wichita Soccer Academy

Their season starts back up in May and they play at the Stryker Soccer Complex.

Sporting Wichita

Sporting Wichita is a Sporting Kansas City Academy Affiliate and they play in the ECNL boys Regional League.

Their home practice field is also at the Stryker Soccer Complex.

Stryker Sports Complex

I wanted to shine a little light on the Stryker Sports Complex. It is a world-class facility that hosts soccer of all levels including national level tournaments. If you haven’t been, find your way out to support one of the local teams.

There are likely some inaccuracies because futbol is much more complicated than I originally thought, so let me know if/where I messed up!

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