By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 22, 2011-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) and Eastern New York State Senior Soccer Association are pleased to announce that Steve Kovalenko was inducted into the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame. Steve's induction took place at Eastern New York’s Annual Holiday Party on December 17 at the Jericho Terrace in Mineola, Long Island.
Steve was born in Ulm, Germany but at a young age moved to Brazil, where he grew up and learned to love the game of soccer. He played for youth teams when his parents moved to the United States in 1961 and Steve joined the New York Ukrainians as a junior player for the 1962-63 season. Upon graduating from the junior ranks, he played for various area teams which included Polonia, Greenpoint, Yonkers Ukrainians, Hartford and Newark Ukrainians as well as the New York Hungaria, all venerable clubs from the past. Steve won championships with many of them. In 1974, he returned to the New York Ukrainians as player/coach and has been running that club ever since.
Steve has been fielding two teams since then, a grueling job since whenever he developed a young player, larger clubs come and entice these players to leave for greener pastures, yet Steve has never been discouraged. He’s had remarkable success, especially with the reserves which have won many championships. The first teams also won titles but life in the top division requires financial support which has been difficult to acquire. In addition to league games, Steve also entered many tournaments and again won quite a few of these. Steve also has been on the Cosmopolitan Soccer League (CSL) executive board for decades.
Over the years, people have come to know Steve quite well and one thing always stood out is his sportsmanship and fairness. His teams won Fair Play trophies from the CSL and in 1998, the referees gave out a once-in-a-lifetime trophy for sportsmanship and Steve received it. He is the only one honored to this day by the CSL refs.
With 120,000 youth soccer players and more than 25,000 volunteers, the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with 12 leagues throughout the association, which covers the entire state of New York east of Route 81. ENYYSA exists to promote and enhance the game of soccer for children and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 19 years old, and to encourage the healthy development of youth players, coaches, referees and administrators. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Special Children. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of the United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
