The History of Soccer Forces

The Force we know today began in 1999 as a collaboration between Lisa Vaupel, a recreational club coach with a 6th grade girls team in need of players and Tom Zackary, a YMCA coach with 6th grade girls in need of a team. After meeting to discuss their goals and philosophies, Tom and Lisa joined their groups to form one team. The team played one season in the Salina Parks and Recreational League before carding through the Kansas State Youth Soccer Association as a girls recreational club team. 

The team did so well that spring that Tom and Lisa decided to move the girls to the competitive level the following fall. The team again played well in league and tournament play, attending the State Cup Tournament that year. The grandmother of Heather Muilenburg, one of the original Force players, made a team flag and Heather's father Mike built a stand so it could fly near the bench at all Force matches.

The team was disbanded and the name retired at the request of the newly formed Salina Soccer Club in 2001 so that the players could be placed on new club teams. Lisa Vaupel retired from coaching the same year.

In the spring of 2003, the players voted to return to the name "Force". The flag was dusted off, the stand repainted and the name of the team was resurrected. That fall Force transitioned into a high school girls competitive team.

Expanding into the winter season, girls from Force teamed up with boys from Salina South High School and St. John's Military School to play co-ed indoor soccer during the winter of 2003-04. These co-ed teams have become a staple during the summer months as well.

During the fall of 2004, while visiting with Rex Redinger (a coach from the Hutchinson area), Tom discovered that he had once again met someone with the same soccer team goals and philosophy. One thing both coaches agreed on was that they each wanted to provide more exposure for their more ambitious players but found the nearby pool of players too limited to fill a team. By combining players from both teams a premier team known as KFA was formed to participate in local and out of state showcase tournaments allowing players more exposure to college coaches and vice versa.

In early 2005, the male players from the co-ed team recruited high school team mates to form the first high school boys club team and played under the Force flag . Rob Frobenius joined the team to help assist Tom with coaching duties.

The teams continued to grow in scope and skill with the girls taking on local JUCOs in the fall of 2005 and traveling to Colorado to scrimmage NCAA Division II Adams State College. The '87 Force girls finished the Fall season with a winning record and won the Fall Azzurri Tournament. Five of the girls then went on to join the Premier KFA Tournament and Showcase Team. In the spring of 2006, Soccer Forces began recruiting for the boys' teams on a regional level. As a result, two teams with players from 6 high schools were formed.

Most recently, it was decided to form a co-operative with other high school teams in Central Kansas. This allows teams to support their local clubs while providing opportunities for players, giving our club coaches a venue to locate guest players and share information, and making more players' information available to college coaches looking for possible recruits.