Congratulations to our champion teams:
Smithtown Spirit’s Emphatic 5-1 Win Gives Them the Girls-Under-19 State Open Cup Final
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 16, 2014-The Smithtown Spirit of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) ran out of gas in their 3-1 overtime loss to the New York Rush Patriots 95 two years ago in the State Open Cup final but they were prepared this year. They had the better of play from the opening whistle to defeat the Rising Stars Blasters of the Central New York State Youth Soccer League, 5-1, to give Smithtown Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association’s (ENYYSA) Girls-Under-19 State Open Cup championship. The final was played at the Peter Collins Soccer Park in Plainview on June 7.
“Since our players came home from college, we have been training three and four times a week,” commented Smithtown coach J. R. Balzarini. “I’m very happy for these girls who have been together since Under-12.”
Makaela Friedman, Taylor Groth, Seaver Lipshe, Sloane Lipshie and Dani Valente scored for Smithtown, who received a $2,000 check from Eastern New York to defer the costs of playing in the Regionals from June 26 to July 1 in Kingston, Rhode Island.
Rising Stars received the Howard Rubenstein Sportsmanship Award as selected by the match officials. Now retired, Mr. Rubenstein was seemingly involved in every facet of New York soccer for decades and is a member of the Halls of Fame of Eastern New York, the US Amateur Soccer Association and the LIJSL.
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.
Dix Hills Hurricanes Win Their Fourth Consecutive State Open Cup Championship
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 20, 2017-Two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams, Dix Hills Hurricanes and the Auburndale/Bayside AV Junior, produced a memorable Boys-Under-18 State Open Cup final on Sunday, June 4 at Stringham Park in LaGrange. After overtime, the teams were tied 2-2 and Dix Hills won the state championship, 5-4, in the shootout.
Andrew McDonald scored for Dix Hills and Leo Musacchia added a goal on a penalty kick for their fourth consecutive State Open Cup championship.
“We had the game won but Auburndale/Bayside kept fighting back and scored in the last minute, even though they were down a player,” commented Dix Hills coach Leo Musacchia Sr.
Dix Hills will represent the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) at the Regionals from June 30 to July 4 in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
Dix Hills can add the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award to their trophy case as well, as determined by the match officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died last year, started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program in 1980 and it spread to Eastern New York, nationally and then to China and Ireland, and in the process, made soccer games kinder and gentler.
With over 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 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 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 Association. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
Lynbrook/East Rockaway Screaming Eagles Take the Peter Masotto Cup as Girls-Under-16 State Champs
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 17, 2017-With rain on the way but no goals, two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams, the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Screaming Eagles and the Massapequa Hurricanes, finished their Girls-Under-16 State Open Cup final scoreless on June 4 at Stringham Park in LaGrange. So the game went to a shootout where Lynbrook/East Rockaway became state champs by scoring on four penalty kicks to Massapequa’s two tallies.
The cup’s namesake, Peter Masotto, is a Region 1 Hall of Famer and U.S. Soccer Life Member who volunteered as President of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) from 1984 to 2006. The current resident of Babylon coached the Massapequa Falcons girls team to the 1988 national championship.
Sarah Diluzio, Kailey Hyland, Katie Koran and Megan Sullivan scored in the shootout for the new champs while their keeper, Natalie Peralta, had the shutout in goal through overtime.
“It was a great game to watch and an incredible game to coach,” explained Lynbrook/East Rockaway coach PJ O’Doherty. “Thanks to Eastern New York for hosting us. It’s a great organization and we are proud to be a part of it.”
Lynbrook/East Rockaway will represent Eastern New York at the Regionals from June 30 to July 4 in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
Lynbrook/East Rockaway also received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. The namesake of the award, who died last year, was inducted into the Halls of Fame of the LIJSL and Eastern New York plus was honored as a Life Member by U.S. Soccer. Amoroso started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program in 1980, it has since been copied around the world and he spoke about the benefits of Fair Play across the United States.
With over 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 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 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 Association. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
Coliseum Inferno Bring the Barry Salter Cup Home to Utica as GU14 State Open Cup Champs
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 7, 2019-Barry Salter volunteered as President of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) from 2006-10 as well as serving in the same role with the Westchester Youth Soccer League (WYSL). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of both groups and was on hand on June 1 at Stringham Park in LaGrange to watch the Girls-Under-14 State Open Cup final between Coliseum Inferno and Alleycats 2005 Red for the new Barry Salter Cup.
Salter stated, “It was a very good game between two evenly-match teams.”
Nicolina Lokker scored the game’s only goal to win the State Cup title for Coliseum for the second time in three years. Goalkeeper Savannah Cole had the shutout in net, as she did when she shut out Stony Brook Arsenal, 4-0, in the 2017 final.
“The game was so close between two excellent teams and we were able to score the only goal of the game,” explained Coliseum coach Charlie Pratt.
The defeated finalists, Alleycats, won the 2018 State Open Cup title and knocked out Coliseum in the process.
Coliseum, from the Central New York Youth Soccer League, will represent Eastern New York at the Regionals from June 28 to July 4 in Charleston, West Virginia as part of the National Championship Series.
Alleycats received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. The namesake of the award, who died in 2016, was inducted into the Halls of Fame of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) and Eastern New York plus was honored as a Life Member by U.S. Soccer. Amoroso started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program in 1980, it has since been copied around the world and he spoke about the benefits of Fair Play across the United States.
USA teammates Crystal Dunn and Allie Long plus Jamaica goalkeeper Nicole McClure, training for the Women's World Cup, all played on youth teams that won Eastern New York’s State Open Cup when they were kids.
With over 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 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 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 Association. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
Top 10 Great Things About Being a Soccer Referee
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
January 29, 2022-I have been the Public Relations Director of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) for the past decade but I was a referee long before that. Taking the whistle when I was 16 years old in 1978, I have officiated over 11,000 games in six different decades. Here are my Top 10 Great Things About Being a Soccer Referee:
1. Refereeing looks good on a resume, particularly if you just graduated from college. When I graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1984, I thought that I was going to set the advertising world on fire (which never actually worked out exactly that way). But first, I needed to obtain my first job and had a problem filling up one page on a resume with such little experience. So I added refereeing, and that I had officiated professional games, to the bottom. Turns out there was an entry-level opening at Manhattan ad agency Sudler & Hennessey, I sent my resume, the boss showed it to a State Referee there who told him, “Hire Randy. Refereeing at such a young age shows maturity.”
2. You learn to remain calm at all times, even if everybody else is negative and upset. Being calm is a very good personality trait to have.
3. You start speaking in foreign languages. The more foreign language words you can speak on the field, the less dissent you will receive in that tongue as players and coaches will be unsure what you understand and what you don’t.
4. You earn some money on the side. Although for nearly every ref in the United States, refereeing is our avocation and the extra money from officiating is nice, although a few top refs have been able to make it their vocation.
5. You learn that it’s not about you but about them (the players). And this is a wonderful attitude to have. Referring just above to #4, those who make it about the other person and not themselves will always find work, even much more so than the people who are solely focused on making a living.
Michael Blackton photo of Randy refereeing the South Shore Bulldogs
6. You learn to manage people. Another thing that is so helpful for that weekend referee earning a living from Monday to Friday as he or she can transfer the items learned in managing players, coaches and even officiating colleagues to the corporate world.
7. You are your own boss and go directly to the customer. There are no intermediaries whatsoever, you sink or swim based on how you do, and you also decide when you can ref in working with assignors.
8. You get (or stay) fit. I have to do a great deal of cardiovascular training, particularly now at 59 years old, to continue to be able to stay up with much younger players in running up and down a soccer field. And all that training has resulted in excellent physicals with my Primary Care Physician, who has said a few times that “you’re going to live to 100.”
9. You expand yourself by leaving your comfort zone. Where there is a risk, there is often a reward. In every game officiated, refs leave their comfort zone as they could be confronted by angry or unhappy players, coaches and spectators. Yet this does not happen in the majority of games. There is much reward and satisfaction in sticking to it and working with players and coaches in producing a fair and controlled game.
10. You meet the greatest people. So many are my friends, including my closest friends, are players, coaches and fellow referees. Seemingly every few weeks, I am warmly stopped on the street by somebody who remembers that I refereed their game when they played way back when, often calling me by my name, and it feels great to be remembered and know that I have made a positive difference in a person’s life.
Why don’t you consider becoming a ref in 2022? Eastern New York is looking for new Grassroots Referees and certification classes are being held all over the state. For more info, please contact State Youth Referee Administrator (SYRA) Piero Olcese at syra@enysreferee.org
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/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
George “Spike” Souls is Eastern New York’s Personality of the Month for December
Spike in the back-center with the Shrub Oak Shamrocks
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 15, 2017-The failure of the United States to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in three decades has led to a great deal of soul-searching among the soccer community about how we develop players. Perhaps US Soccer should speak to George “Spike” Souls as the Yorktown Heights resident is known for bringing out the best in every player.
Because of this and the fact that he has volunteered his time since 1980, the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce Spike is being honored as our Personality of the Month in December. The 77-year-old has coached nearly 30 East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) teams since 1980 and was inducted in to the EHYSL Hall of Fame in 2009.
“I became involved in coaching when my son Kevin, then eight years old, decided he wanted to play,” Spike commented. “I watched him play, took a course and the coach needed help so I became his assistant on the Yorktown Strikers. When the coach and his son moved on to a Division 1 team, my son had no coach so he said, ‘Why don’t you be the coach?’ And I agreed.”
Under his tutelage, the Strikers won two consecutive EHYSL division championships. Spike added, “The same situation happened with my daughter Ann Marie. My daughter’s coach moved on so since she had no coach, I became her coach on the Yorktown Honeybees.”
Spike went on to coach a girl’s team named the Yorktown Strikers, winning a few championships along the way in addition to an undefeated season. When Ann Marie was older, both of them together coached four- and five-year-old intramural players in Yorktown.
Around the turn of the millennium, Spike’s wife Eleanor asked him to take a break from coaching as their kids were grown up. That break lasted one season until the Shrub Oak Athletic Club asked him to become a coach. Spike served as Head Coach for the entire soccer program for nearly three years and his last coaching assignment, which concluded this past June, was coaching his granddaughter Anna.
“She had become a decent goalie and her final games will remain in my memory forever,” Spike stated.
In his 38 years of coaching, Spike made a career out of taking players who couldn’t make a competitive travel team, had very few soccer skills and lacked soccer sophistication tactically and devoted himself to instilling in them a love of the game and a desire to improve as athletes. He focused on development and making sure the kids were enjoying a learning experience and stretching themselves as athletes and individuals.
“Spike has had a long coaching career in youth soccer, at every level from league select down to beginning intramural,” explained former EHYSL President Ken Gulmi. “Although he has had championship teams in very competitive leagues, he has spent the latter part of his career coaching children who have little to no soccer experience simply to insure they had a place to play and develop and feel good about themselves. He cares little for trophies or recognition but measures his success by the progress of his players and revels in the joy on their faces as they gain self-confidence. Spike is the coach for whom we'd all like our children to play for and we could use many more like him.”
Spike coached hundreds of players since 1980, is still in touch with many of them and is most proud of the fact that eight of his former players, including his daughter, have gone on to become coaches. Consider that those eight coaches had a great role model and youth soccer is all the better for Spike’s profound influence.
“It’s been a joy to be a soccer coach,” Spike added. “Coaches should recognize to give individual kids the opportunity to score and get their 15 minutes of glory. I will put a defender who never scored in as a forward and to see his face upon scoring his first-ever goal is just wonderful.”
Today, Spike volunteers as a liaison for the Shrub Oak Athletic Club with organizations such as the EHYSL and local governments in developing fields.
“From my perspective, I am thrilled to play an active role in the development of sports facilities for our youth as I have always believed that any sport is an ideal positive outlet for our boys and girls. In a world where digital games are now challenging their fleeting free time, real live games are even more important than ever. There is no substitute for the joy one gets from physically mastering soccer or any sport. Ask the kid who won his division at our local Yorktown tournament if he prefers a digital victory. I know his answer and I also pray this personal joy is never replaced,” Spike stated.
Not bad for a guy who played a little pick-up soccer as a kid and never was on a formal team. And about his unusual nickname, it does not come from volleyball. Spike was more of a baseball player, and he gets his nickname from a word-play that baseball players wear spikes which have soles, his last name.
With over 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 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 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 Association. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
New York Surf Win the Peter Masotto Cup as Girls-Under-16 State Cup Champions
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 17, 2022-The Girls-Under-16 State Cup championship match in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) was an intriguing affair between two teams who played in the 2021 final. New York Surf prevailed in 2022, 3-0, after falling to Force FC, 1-0, last year. This game for the Peter Masotto Cup was played on June 5 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.
“Last year, we were disappointed to lose and the girls worked really hard to come back here,” said New York Surf coach Lisa Gozley. “We showed our quality today.”
Alex Burtis-Wyant, Sarah Giossi and Laina Friedman scored the goals while Jessica Centeri and Demetra Sideris shared the shutout in goal.
The cup’s namesake, Peter Masotto, was an East Region Hall of Famer and U.S. Soccer Life Member who volunteered as ENYYSA President from 1984 to 2006, coached the Massapequa Falcons girls team to the 1988 national championship and died earlier this year.
New York Surf will represent Eastern New York at the East Regionals from June 24 to 30 in Charleston and Barboursville, West Virginia as part of the National Championship Series.
Force FC received the Rocco Amoroso Sportsmanship Award as determined by the game officials. Amoroso, a US Soccer Life Member who died five years ago, started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program in 1980 and it spread to Eastern New York, nationally and then to China and Ireland, and in the process, made soccer games kinder and gentler.
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 Association. For more information, please log onto http://www.enysoccer.com/
Long Island Junior Soccer League Celebrating 50 Years of Great Soccer
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
September 7, 2016-The Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) is one of the world’s largest soccer leagues, and the largest league in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), with 1,600 travel teams––equally divided between boys and girls––in Suffolk, Nassau and Queens.
In 1965, Pat Ryder became President of the Long Island Soccer Football League (LISFL) and he made a concerted effort to have adult league teams assist in the development of youth soccer. Although some LISFL clubs responded, it was not until Jack Maher of the Deer Park Celtics wrote to Ryder to request the formal formation of the LIJSL that the ball really started rolling. Ryder appointed Maher the first Commissioner of the LIJSL. Eight boys teams kicked off the new league in December 1966 and played throughout that winter to complete a 14-game schedule by March 1967. This was the same winter that the very first Super Bowl was played (won by the Green Bay Packers over the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10).
Prior to the 1967-68 season, the non-profit LIJSL formalized its administration with Ron Campbell being named President. Volunteers became the lifeblood of the LIJSL and Campbell was succeeded as President by Bill Doyle, Sam Hobson, Tom Kenny, Tony Perez, Paul Bedell, Dick Frazita, Peter Collins and Addie Mattei-Iaia. Each brought the league to new heights in their own individual way before the torch was passed to the current LIJSL President, Anthony Maresco, in January 2015.
The LIJSL has been in the forefront of youth soccer for the past half-century. Children With Special Needs playing soccer in an organized league actually started in the LIJSL back in 1978 when the Huntington Boys Club (HBC) and Massapequa Soccer Club separately started programs. Craig Ludin, who has Down’s Syndrome and has been playing for HBC since he was a young boy in what is now known as our TOPSoccer Program, has received so many medals from the Special Olympics that he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 1980, Rocco Amoroso started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program to improve discipline on soccer fields. To this day, after every LIJSL regular season game, the match referee grades teams based on cooperation of players, coaches and fans, overall game conduct and player appearance. The team in each division with the most points at the end of the Spring and Fall Seasons receives the highly-regarded LIJSL Sportsmanship Award and their players proudly wear a LIJSL Sportsmanship patch on their shirt as a symbol of this achievement.
The first high school all-star competition, the Exceptional Senior Games, was started by the LIJSL in 1981. The games continue every November on Long Island although the LIJSL has passed the torch to organizing the competition to the high school associations in Suffolk and Nassau counties.
In 1983, the LIJSL Convention started and it attracts 10,000 soccer fans every March to the Huntington Hilton. The convention, high school all-star competition, sportsmanship program and TOPSoccer Program have since been copied by other leagues across the country and even outside the United States. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery!
For his 27 years volunteering as LIJSL President, Peter Collins was inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame in 1998. Collins and Amoroso, who died this past May, also received the Life Member Award from US Soccer, the organization’s version of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
On the player development front, eight LIJSL teams have won the national championship: Girls-Under-16 Sachem Tomahawks, Girls-Under-16 and Girls-Under-18 Northport/Cow Harbor Piranha, Girls-Under-19 Massapequa Falcons, Boys-Under-16 Smithtown Arsenal, Boys-Under-17 West Babylon Panthers, Boys-Under-18 Terryville Fire and Boys-Under-19 Massapequa Arsenal.
Although only a few LIJSL players have the ability to win the national championship or play professional soccer, all have the ability to learn the values of sportsmanship, teamwork and perseverance while participating in a wonderful cardiovascular activity and making friends. Hundreds of thousands of kids have played in the LIJSL and have become good citizens by living the league slogan of “Building Character Through Soccer.“
With over 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 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 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 Association. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.
All For One and One for All
By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching Instruction, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
I write consistently about how we all need to change the game. How if we act together, coaches’ players, parents, administrators and all connected we can create a truly great youth sports environment that at its most fundamental level values these things above all others:
• Fun
• Learning as part of competition
• Respect for all involved
• Holistic growth where coaches think more of their players as than as mini-professionals
It seems appropriate with the season upcoming to offer something of an action plan for the major groups that impact the youth sports environment and offer a few ways that could help change the game.
Coaches
• Make a determined effort to no longer joystick the players – it is their game so allow them to make decisions and mistakes, it is all part of their learning process.
• Go to every session with a plan that is well-thought out and puts the developmental needs of the players before the need to win every game.
• Work hard to ensure that every player in the team knows you care about them as people before you do as mini-athletes.
• Develop and display a growth mindset where mistakes are seen simply as opportunities to grow. (Fear will leave the building)
• Dedicate one hour each week to improving as a coach (podcast , article, blog, chapter of a book)
Players
• Go to each practice with the thought that you will do all you can to help your teammates learn at the forefront of your mind.
• Play with a smile and remember that mistakes are simply part of you learning the game.
• Find a way to dedicate 20 minutes a day to improving your ball control- be an independent learner.
• Challenge yourself in every practice to find a way to pick up a teammate who looks deflated or fed up.
• Compete with your best effort in every game regardless of the interference from opponent, coaches, parents or anything else.
Parents
• Remember the reason you had your kid start to play – it was about fun, sports for life, making friends and learning some social skills. These should still be your drivers.
• Teach your child through example that the way to deal with adversity is with calmness, strength of spirt and respect for all.
• At least once a season ask another parent to video or record your behavior on a touchline.
• Ask your child to write down on a piece of paper before the first game of the season the things they would like you to do AND not do as you watch their games.
• Communicate frequently and openly with the coach with a view to finding out how you can best support them throughout the season .
If all three groups noted can find a way to focus on their five ideas shared, I suspect that everyone involved will enjoy the season a little more.