By:Larry Maier
East Meadow resident is a soccer original
Kim Wyant has been just doing it since long before corporate America made just doing it fashionable.
At 37, the East Meadow resident is to U.S. Women's soccer what Ringo Starr is to Rock and Roll, an original member of the group who set the stage for today's soccer mega-stars. Before there was a Mia Hamm, or even a Brandi Chastain, there was Kim Wyant and the rest of the first-ever U.S. Women's National Team.
Today, Wyant paces the sidelines as head coach of the Long Island Lady Riders soccer team, W-League National Champions in 1995 and 1997.
Sixteen years ago, the blonde-haired, blue eyed Florida native patrolled a different patch of grass, this one about 24-feet wide and located in Jesolo, Italy. It was there that the U.S. Women's Team played in their inaugural international match. It was an historic first.
And Kim Wyant was in goal.
Soccer roots
As a high school sophomore in Miami in the late 70's, a time when soccer wasn't the big-time youth sport it is today, Wyant was coaxed off the basketball court and onto the soccer field by a persuasive coach.
Once there, she was instantly drawn to the net. "I took one look at the size of the field and said 'I'll be the goalkeeper,'" laughed Wyant, who has just recently made the transition to Lady Riders head coach. She started the season as the starting goal tender but unselfishly moved to the sidelines when the former coach left the team for personal reasons.
Wyant was a natural in goal, a self-described "tom-boy" with God-given athletic ability matched with an intense desire to win.
Word of Wyant's considerable skills got around, so much so that she was invited, sight unseen, to play with Miami's top junior team in a tournament in Colorado. That team won a state title. Wyant was a star, and her play earned her a college scholarship to the University of Central Florida.
As a UCF freshman, Wyant started in the first-ever Women's NCAA National Championship, a game UCF lost 2-0 to the University of North Carolina. Despite the loss, she was named the tourney's Most Valuable Player.
The championship game marked one of many soccer 'firsts' for Wyant, and helped grow the sport for women. In the early 80's, there were less than 100 colleges, nation-wide, fielding women's soccer teams. Today, that number is closer to 600.
"That was an important game," said Wyant. "A lot of good things started happening in women's soccer after that."
In 1984, top players from across the country were invited by the U.S. Soccer Federation to play in a tournament in Washington D.C. At the weekends end, a national team was selected. Wyant made the squad. "But nothing came about," remembered Wyant. "We didn't do anything, we didn't go anywhere. It was just a paper team."
The following year, after playing at the Olympic Festival in Baton Rogue, LA, another national team was selected. Again, Wyant made the cut. This time, the team was going places.
"They told us we would return home for 4 days before going to Long Island for a mini-camp and then going over to Italy to compete in an international tournament," said Wyant. "For us, it was a dream come true."
Honor is its own reward
Being a member of the National Team back in 1985 lacked the perks that the same status awards today. Now, U.S. players are well compensated for their efforts. Some have parlayed the recent successes of Team U.S.A. into personal fortunes. Mia Hamm, for instance, is one of the highest paid athletes in the world.
It was different during Wyant's era. On the night before their big match against Italy, Wyant remembers the staff sewing the names and numbers of the players on the backs of the team's jerseys. Players got $10 a day while on the road. Equipment wasn't always the best.
But none of that mattered, said Wyant, who played in a total of 16 matches for the National Team.
"It was a great honor just to play for my country," said Wyant. "We were young kids in a great country with beautiful people and beautiful food. We were putting on the jersey for our country, playing in great environments and having fun."
And they were paving the way for the next generation of women athletes.
Wyant hesitates a bit when asked whether she wishes, even for a moment, that she were 18-years-old again and playing at the top of her game. She would be a star in the new women's professional league (WUSA) and maybe have her image on a box of Wheaties. It's an interesting offer. But she'll decline.
"The opportunities for the kids now are tremendous," admits Wyant. "But I've been fortunate that I have always been able to earn my living as a soccer professional. Sometimes I wake up some mornings and I can't believe I get paid to do what I do."
Besides coaching the Lady Riders, Wyant serves as the teams Director of Soccer Operations. She was the head coach at Florida Atlantic University from 1995 through 1998, has served on the Region I U.S. National Teams Goal keeping Staff, as an FIFA Staff coach, and as the Head Coach for the Long Island Girl's Select Program.
Wyant is also the creator and founder of Above-All Goal keeping camps and has been a NIKE sponsored athlete for more than six years.
Above all, Wyant is a goal keeper, eager to get back in the net. Since the W-League's inception back in 1994, Wyant has been the league's dominant goalie. She won Goalkeeper of the Year Honors for four consecutive years between 1995 and 1998. She was the MVP in the 1997 Championship series. She wants the shed her interim coach tag and back on the field next year.
Wyant says she is lucky, pointing out that there were many women soccer players who came before her who were never afforded the opportunities she has been able to enjoy. But she also understands that she was a pioneer, a soccer matriarch, and that's fine by her.
"I do feel extremely proud that I was with this team from the beginning and have been able to see so many great things happen in women's soccer," said Wyant. "No one can ever take that away from me."
****UPDATE****
Fresh off their 7-3 victory over the New York Magic on Saturday, August 4, the Lady Riders will host the Springfield (MA) Sirens in the first round of the W-League playoffs on Thursday, August 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Town of North Hempstead Park in New Hyde Park.
The Lady Riders enter the post season in first place in the W-League's Northern Division with a 11-2-1 record.
Tickets for the game are $5 and available at the gate.
