By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 6, 2012-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that Staten Island’s Burt Wilkes has been inducted into the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place at the 2012 Holiday Party on December 1 at Lido Restaurant on City Island.
Burt became involved with the Silver Lake Soccer Club in 1991 and served the club as President, Vice President and Trustee. He was the assistant coach and team administrator of the Silver Lake Rams, which won two State Cup championships at Boys-Under-17 and Boys-Under-19 with losing in the final at Boys-Under-18 in-between their two State Cups.
While with Silver Lake, the Rossville resident became part of the Board of Directors of the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL). He is currently in his sixth year as CJSL President. He’s the driving force behind the CJSL opening a full-time office, negotiated partnerships with corporations and has been instrumental in CJSL girls teams playing in other ENYYSA leagues as guest teams while the CJSL accepts guest teams from other leagues.
Burt is currently the First Vice President of ENYYSA and has served as Second, Third and Fourth Vice President as well as Trustee. He has served as Chairperson of ENYYSA’s Olympic Development Program as well as Commissioner of the ENYYSA Premier League.
Somehow Burt found the time to be the boys soccer coach at Moore Catholic High School for five years and won the B Division Championship in 2001.
"And in the wake of Sandy, Burt has volunteered time to help the needy," commented ENYYSA President Richard Christiano in the induction speech.
Congratulations to Burt Wilkes!
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 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.