Otto Horstmann Honored as Volunteer of the Year - Eastern NY Youth Soccer Association

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By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

November 4, 2021-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that Otto Horstmann of the Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL) is being honored as our 2021 Volunteer of the Year.

Otto never played soccer as a kid on Staten Island as the borough was all about baseball, basketball, stick ball and touch football before the youth soccer craze.

As an adult, he became involved with youth sports at Our Lady of Good Council (OLGC), where his children went to school. Otto started coaching basketball, then became involved with the OLGC Sports Association and before he knew it, he was OLGC President. About the same time as becoming President, the OLGC Soccer Director resigned so Otto ended up taking over that position and attended SIYSL meetings. OLGC had four travel teams with Otto’s children playing on three of them. Because of some parent/coach issues, one of the coaches quit and suddenly Otto went from soccer nothing to soccer club director and soccer coach, and shortly after that, SIYSL Board Member.

Otto was elected, then re-elected SIYSL President spanning a decade from 1995 to 2005. As President, education was high on his agenda so in collaboration with the club directors, they came up with “seminar” items (offside, advantage, etc.). Once the topics were selected, Otto worked with Tony Limone, then President of the Staten Island Soccer Referee Association (SISRA), to have refs conduct the seminars. The only way that each coach or assistant coach could receive their team’s schedule for the season was to attend a seminar.

Additionally, Otto was a travel team coach for Silver Lake in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) and President of Staten Island United. He was in the first class of inductees when the SIYSL Hall of Fame was established in 2007.

With approximately 100,000 youth soccer players––both boys and 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 nine 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 Children With Special Needs. 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. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/