By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
April 4, 2023-The Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), the largest league in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), inducted three longtime volunteers into the LIJSL Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place last Sunday, April 2 during a brunch at the Huntington Hilton.
Louis Pepe has been a coach and a member of the East Islip Soccer Club Board of Directors for more than two decades. He got his feet wet as the Director of Pictures and is now the Director of Finance and Auditing, keeping the soccer expense as small as possible for East Islip families. In 2007, Lou started East Islip’s TOPSoccer Program named Just For Kicks. The program has grown from 10 Special Children that first year to over 100 today. Over 500 kids have played in the program and over 300 volunteer instructors have taught the kids in the past 16 years. Some of the instructors’ lives have been so enriched by working with the TOPSoccer players that they returned to coach after graduating from college.
James Magyar founded the New Hyde Park Wildcats Soccer Club in 1978 with 60 boys being registered. In 1979, Jim started the Wildcats’ Intramural Program for both boys and girls. Two girls travel teams were added in 1980 with Jim coaching one of them. The next year, he started the New Hyde Park Wildcats Instructional Program for boys and girls ages 5 and 6, feeding into the Wildcats’ travel and intramural teams. After retiring as President of the club in 1985, Jim was responsible and instrumental in the debut of the New Hyde Park High School girls varsity and JV soccer teams. He was their first girls varsity coach and led the Gladiators for 22 years until he retired from the school district in 2007. His record was 286 wins, 118 losses and 18 ties as his teams won 12 division titles, one county and one Long Island championship. Additionally, he coached the Nassau County girls team in the Exceptional Senior Games for those same 22 years and also coached in the LIJSL Select (now Academy) Program.
Timothy Stalker started coaching his son Doug’s team, Terryville Juventus, in 1995 until they aged out of youth soccer. Tim then coached his daughter Jenna throughout her years as an intramural player. He took his youngest daughter Emily’s team, the Teryville Spirit, from intramurals to travel and still coaches the team to this day even after Emily decided against continuing to play youth soccer. With the Terryville Soccer Club, he was VP of Intramurals, Referee Coordinator and then Club President. No job is too big or too small as Tim lines fields, trains refs, assists in coaching and CPR training clinics. He spends countless hours as Chairperson of the LIJSL Games and Coaches Arbitration Committees. As if all this vounteering is not enough, Tim is also a member of the Long Island Soccer Referees Association (LISRA).
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 10 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/