Hi, I’m Tom Winslow and I’ve been asked to tell of the genesis of Flash soccer.

Well, the year was near on about 1987, after an indoor match at SportSite, a few of the boys, as usual, were blowing the froth off a couple. This particular indoor team was loosely put together, and who exactly was included is, now, not clear. But, to be sure, what was to become the foundation of the Flash knew how to party! And yes, Todd Jones was a star.

After a few of the aforementioned beers, Bob Kirkland suggested we take a side up to the German Family Society’s (GFS) annual 4th of July 30+ Tournament in Akron-- the Meindl-Leisner Memorial Tournament. Now, as is Kirkland’s habit, he then slinked into the background and did nothing to help in moving the thought to any action. But it was an excellent idea, so we got to work. I recall Mark Bachmann turning up at a pre-tournament training, where I enlisted him to add a player or two, aside from himself. Of course Mark came through-- and from that point on Mark and myself pretty much ran things. From the beginning I may have, admittedly, been somewhat overzealous in making phone calls to ensure we always had a full, respectable side for each game or tournament. Mark will tell you he almost got fired because of all the phone calls to his office.

The team was built on one basic tenet—don’t give your teammates a ration of s---. That’s not to say we didn’t have a few real jackasses over the years, we did, but generally speaking we were friends, and acted like it. While this sounds simple and obvious, we’d noted many of the teams we played would begin to get on each other when Flash would get on top early--we wanted to be different. We created a supportive environment, and the rest took care of itself.

A couple of notable achievements from the early days include winning the Windsor Tournament (probably 1989 or 90) with only 11 players from the start! That’s enough, right? I remember two players had partied particularly hard for the Saturday games (yes I said for the game) so they were pretty wired, and while both were running on empty on the second day, each gave a great effort which contributed greatly to the end result. The final was played at some neighboring high school with no nets (the Teutonia pitch was unplayable due to heavy rain). Mark Bachmann stepped in goal for the tie breaking penalty kicks and sealed the victory, Ken Lake was the keeper and as you know Kenny has a few specialties, but PK’s aren’t one. Mike Brezasi also contributed, may he RIP. Winning the GFS tournament two years in succession (1992 and 93) was no mean feat. It was particularly sweet beating GFS in the final with guest goalie Todd Brenn, Todd was spurned by the home club in favor of a barrel-chested major division goalie. GFS was also my once and future Club. But Flash rules!