The Flint Hills Wind has been around for years and years and if you are reading this article you were probably one of them. Not much changed throughout the year as you would know if you were a true FHW girl. You know everything I will talk about in this article inside and out. There are countless things that I could have mentioned in this article, but here are the top ten things only Wind softball girls will know.
1. Star drill
We all are not really sure what this helps with besides warming your arm up a little, but every FHW girl knows what the star drill is and if reading is probably picturing it in there mind right now. It happens to be apart of this next drill every Wind girl will also know.
2. The wind jam
This is obviously unique to us, I mean it does have our name in it. Anyways it was not a true practice if you did not start out with the famous wind jam and every FHW girl from years past will probably tell you this same information.
3. Fun runs
Fun runs, you always heard about them... but as a wind girl in the years from 2014-2016 we never really ran these often. I feel like this was more of a thing in the early years of the Wind, but maybe not. However, if you were ever threatened by a fun run just say you only had your cleats, because who wants to run up Huffaker Hill in the great town of Council Grove, KS anyways.
4. Hell weekend
This was more of a "fun" weekend rather than a "hell" weekend in my own opinion and probably everyone else's. I mean besides waking up at 4 am to go outside and run a few miles in freezing weather it was pretty fun. You got to spend a whole weekend playing the sport you love with the teammates you also loved.
5. Rick's scream
For those of you who do not know, Rick Davis ran the Flint Hills Wind and was our head coach and if you played for him you know exactly the scream I am talking about. You know the scream when you pop up, or pitcher hit a good pitch, and really just anything bad or good... it's the scream.
6. Championship tie dyes
Everyone knows in the later years of the Flint Hills Wind that when you made it to the championship game you pulled out the tie-dyes. These jerseys were anything but flattering and just about every other team looked at you weird, but they were tradition and if you were lucky enough to be on a winning team like mine, you got to wear them quite often.
7. The wind bible
This is the compilation of all the plays, sets, calls, and you were expected to read it by hell weekend, but let's be real here nobody ever did. The book was basically everything you needed to know about the Wind and being a Wind softball player.
8. When Rick says he will retire but never actually does
Just about every year we would hear that Rick was thinking about retiring, but he will never fully retire from this game he loves so much. Although, he is now technically retired he will forever love and be apart of the game.
9. Rick's girlfriend
Everyone knows Rick is actually married, but he refers to his wife as his "girlfriend." He does this often on FB for anniversary postings or birthdays, but we found it to be very funny.
10. The FB page
This is a thing for past FHW girl, which we all are now. Here most of the FHW girls from years past are apart of this private group on facebook. Rick will often post pictures of past Wind players and how they are doing now. He also will often post throwback pics and memories we all love to see.
Although the Flint Hills Wind is in our past we will all cherish the memories and the lifelong friends we made. One memory in particular for my team was being able to go to Myrtle Beach and basically just have a fun vacation with your bffs, but also getting to play the game you love.
The Wind will forever be in all of our hearts and a lot of that is because of our awesome Head Coach -- RICK DAVIS, we love ya - from every Wind girl out there.
