Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) Season Preview Part I: Bellingham United
The Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) was founded in 2014 and began play that fall, with five teams: Tacoma Stars, Wenatchee Fire, Olytown Artesians, Arlington Aviators, and of course, Bellingham United. A few teams have come and gone in that time, but since the league’s founding, Bellingham United have never finished below second and have earned the three stars above their badge by winning the league back-to-back-to-back from 2015-2017. The Hammers kick off the WISL season by hosting a rematch of last year’s hotly contested semifinal against Tacoma Narrows FC. Narrows FC finished 3rd in the table but lost away to Bellingham 9:3 away at the Bellingham Sports Complex and look to put the Hammers back in the toolbox on Saturday, November 9th, 7:35 pm kickoff.
We’ve previously taken a moment to get to know more about Bellingham United’s outdoor team but to find out more about any plans the Hammers might have on exacting revenge against Tacoma Stars Reserves and winning back their title, we spoke with star forward and indoor expert Richard Henderson.
Was there a Bellingham United Indoor team prior to WISL?
Yes, they were the Rapids before that and played in Canadian league. We have always been competitive in whichever league we have played in. There has been a progression in the team from earlier days especially in the area of organization and tactics as opposed to just having good players playing indoor soccer.
Before there were the Hammers, Bellingham rocked red and fought in a Canadian indoor soccer system.
Do you largely field the same squad as the outdoor side?
There is a core group of players who play both but with the summer attracting college players from out of state and Canada who may be around for only the summer the indoor squad is more consistent year to year. The indoor team has been playing consistently with a similar squad for about 5 years. However, currently I would say we are at the biggest change as some of our veteran players are challenged with family commitments, increased responsibility at jobs etc and our younger players have gained enough experience to be ready to play.
Who should we keep an eye out for?
There are plenty of returning players, some we will talk about next but new this year who will be worth watching is Spencer Wolfe is local but just returned to the community from being on the East side of the state at Whitworth and Gonzaga respectively. Also, Christian Rotter at WWU will be joining us after the WWU season finishes and they both played outdoor this year and were effective. I hope they can learn quickly and provide some depth to the first team roster.
Richard Henderson, player-coach for the Bellingham United, circles the Hammers up for a chat
Richard Henderson, Uriel Herrera and Christian Caro all seemed essential last year, will they all be returning?
Yes, (Richard, me) I will be playing again as well as coaching and hoping to be effective on the field to help our team reach its goals. Uriel and Christian will likely be returning but both have aspirations of playing professionally which is great so if they get an offer, they may go for that. However, that is what we want at BUFC providing a platform for the best players in the area to play and learn in a highly challenging but highly supportive environment. We three provided the majority of the goals last year but the good thing they were all different kinds of goals and we are all offensive threats in our own way. Moreover, we have other players who can chip in offensively Nick Cashmere, Chris Jepson, Connor Moe and others so it is pleasing that if we three are getting marked tightly or off our game we have other players who can provide goals.
How is training for Indoor different than outdoor? Do you focus on fitness, touch, explosiveness?
It is very different, an ex-teammate of mine who coaches in the MASL described high level indoor as a combination of basketball and hockey and he is correct in terms of the tactical set up and pace of the game. We do a lot of situational simulation e.g. we are up or down on a certain number of fouls and play out at high intensity what we would want to try in do in that situation. With the season being as short as it is and occurring over the winter and thanksgiving break it is not set up well for gaining fitness and technical improvement. The players are expected to come in fit and ready to play as there is not much time to develop playing principles and team chemistry as well as the very different tactical applications. The biggest hurdle is training new players to indoor, learning the game and the strategy. In my opinion it takes 20 games to have a good understanding of the game in general.
Tacoma Narrows FC (The first tentacle-badged club in Tacoma) takes on three-time WISL Champions and 2019 runners-up Bellingham United in Week-One, then hosts two-time Champion and last year’s league winner, Tacoma Stars Reserves, in a Week-Two Tacoma Derby.