From left to right: Maria Marinho, Hilda Wolfe, Jim Eleftherion, Woman of the Year Cathy O'Brien, Lisa Salvino, Tim Bradbury, Erin O'Hare and Lynne Thibdeau, all from the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
February 6, 2014-In what could be a first, an Italian-American organization named a woman who is 100% Irish-American its Woman of the Year. The Italian-American Soccer League of New York (IASL) honored Cathy O’Brien as the Woman of the Year at its 10th Annual Dinner Dance on January 26 at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach.
Cathy, the Operations Administrator of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), was honored for her support and enthusiastic commitment to the Olympic Development Program (ODP) trips to Italy. Eastern New York’s Boys-Under-13 ODP returned last month from Sicily where they made the semifinals of the 27th Annual Trofeo Costa Gaia and were the subject of articles in two Italian newspapers. In 2012, our then Boys-Under-13 ODP team became the first foreign squad to make the semifinals of this prestigious tournament.
The West Babylon resident is now planning the Italian trips of our Boys-Under-14 and Girls-Under-14 ODP teams to the City of Agropoli Tournament in April and our Boys-Under-15 ODP squad to the Lazio Cup in May. Our then Girls-Under-14 ODP team won the City of Agropoli Tournament last year with a perfect 6-0-0 record in outscoring opponents 17-0.
“We are very pleased to honor Cathy O’Brien as our Woman of the Year,” commented IASL Treasurer Joe Luongo. “Cathy has done a great job in making certain that the trips of Eastern New York’s ODP teams to Italy were an absolutely wonderful experience for all players and parents.”
The IASL’s Man of the Year was Consalvo Turchi, the Eastern New York Hall of Famer who serves as a referee and assessor plus was previously State Referee Administrator and assignor as well as IASL President during a lifetime spent on soccer fields.
Gaetano Messina won the IASL’s Sportsmanship Award. Gaetano has a connection to the Woman of the Year as they studied at St. Francis College in Brooklyn at the same time in the late 1970's––he played soccer while she played hoops.
With 123,843 youth soccer players––68,587 boys and 55,256 girls––and more than 25,000 volunteers, the non-profit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with 11 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.