Photo courtesy of www.akfoto.se
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
August 6, 2014-Kim DeCesare must like wearing blue. She starred in the blue of Duke University, then played in the blue of the Boston Breakers and is now wearing the blue of Eskilstuna United DFF, in the middle of the standings of the Damallsvenskan, the top women’s league in Sweden.
After being selected by the Boston Breakers in the 2014 National Women’s Soccer League Draft, she played in one game vs. league-leading Seattle, and played in every match with the Boston Breakers Reserves in the Women’s Premier Soccer League.
“My time with the Breakers was awesome and it is a potential place I may end up in the future,” Kim said.
An opportunity to play in Sweden was too good to pass up.
“I knew even in college that I wanted to experience playing internationally at some point in my career, I just didn't know when,” Kim explained. ”I spoke to a few people while I was playing with the Reserves in Boston and a spot opened up on Eskilstuna United. I knew it would be a great opportunity. A few things fell into place and next thing I knew, I was on a flight to Stockholm.”
Eskilstuna, Sweden is an hour west of Stockholm and the team begins the second half of the season on August 9 against Vittsjö GIK.
Kim has only been in Sweden two weeks and has learned some Swedish words with the first ones being “Tack” (Thank you) and “Hallon” (Raspberry), which she figured out from the flavor of yogurt she was eating. Communication is not a problem as all her teammates and the head coach, Viktor Erikkson, speak English.
In youth soccer, the Massapequa Park resident played two years for the Olympic Development Program (ODP) of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) and one year on Region 1 ODP.
In the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), Kim played from Girls-Under-10 to Girls-Under-18 with the Massapequa Power. After she and her teammates graduated from high school, the Power no longer existed so Kim then played two summers with the LIJSL’s HBC Arsenal.
2008 was a very good year for Kim at Massapequa High School as she was named the Most Valuable Player in girls soccer in Nassau County and received the Michael Clarke Award, named after the esteemed Eastern New York Hall of Famer, as well as being honored as the Newsday Long Island Player of the Year and Gatorade Player of the Year for New York State.
The National Honor Society member used a LIJSL Scholarship to partially fund her education at Duke University. As a redshirt sophomore, she scored the first goal of the game in a 4-1 victory over Wake Forest in the NCAA Semifinals to send the Blue Devils to the final, where they lost to Stanford, 1-0.
“Kimberly became the mainstay on defense for the Massapequa Power. With sort of an old-school mind set, there was never a harder worker in practice or better teammate. She always put the team's success before her own accolades,” explained Power coach Tom Daly. “She was there when someone needed a pat on the back, or even a soft kick in the butt. She’s earned everything she has achieved with her blood, sweat and heart. I have never seen anyone want something so badly, and put so much work into achieving a dream.”
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.