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

January 30, 2014-The Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), the largest league in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), has donated 1,130 pounds of food to Long Island Cares, Inc., The Harry Chapin Food Bank. The food was collected through donations by players, parents, coaches and spectators during the LIJSL Food Drive at the Peter Collins Soccer Park on Old Country Road in Plainview throughout the 2013 Fall Season.
 
“On behalf of all of the children and families served by Long Island Cares, Elana Sissons, Food Drive Coordinator, and I are truly grateful for your support,” said Paule Pachter, Executive Director of Long Island Cares. “This donation will go a long way towards ensuring that more Long Island children and families do not go hungry.”
 
Long Island Cares has distributed more than six million pounds of food to over 500 member agencies across Long Island but also seeks to heighten public awareness about hunger and provides skills training to foster self-sufficiency among the population. Founded by singer Happy Chapin in 1980, a year before his untimely passing, their mission is a hunger-free Long Island.
 
“The Long Island Junior Soccer League is proud to partner with Long Island Cares in their fight against hunger,” said LIJSL President Addie Mattei-Iaia. “We are so grateful to all of our clubs, teams, players and families for their generosity. They have shown time and again that they are willing to go above and beyond, not only to be the best players they can be on the field, but to be the best people they can be off it.”
 
The LIJSL will be holding another food drive during the 2014 Spring Season. Donations will be accepted in the food collection barrels at the entrance to the Collins Soccer Park for games being played there starting on March 29 and concluding in June.

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.

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

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
November 6, 2015-United States Women’s National Team player Crystal Dunn, the reigning Most Valuable Player of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), demonstrated her favorite drills plus signed autographs at a special training session this past Monday night, November 2 under the lights at Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson Station. The recipients of this practice were the Terryville Breakers, with a 2-3-2 record in the Girls-Under-14 Champion Division of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL). The Breakers are coached by Steve Nielsen, who encouraged his players to enter the “Win a Workout With Crystal Dunn” contest run by At Peak Sports last spring.

Crystal told the Breakers that to play at the highest level, it takes “lots of discipline and commitment plus lots of work off the field. Recovery and embracing development and always willing to get better.”

Maybe a couple of the Breakers will take what they learned last Monday night and one day score international goals like Crystal, who registered her first a month ago against Haiti, which she says is her best moment ever on a soccer field.

Crystal grew up a short corner kick from the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) office in Rockville Centre, playing for the LIJSL’s Rockville Centre Power, Rockville Centre Tornadoes and Albertson Fury ‘91. She won the Hermann Award as college soccer’s best player and was selected first overall at the 2014 NWSL Draft. Crystal also developed her wonderful talent with Eastern New York’s Olympic Development Program, competing in ODP for six years, and used it as a springboard to represent the USA internationally.

Crystal explained, “I learned development at an early age playing in the Long Island Junior Soccer League, which is a really great hub for girls soccer. I always played at the highest level and I just played around so many girls committed to the sport.”

A video of the training session can be found here: https://youtu.be/0nz0nDH4x40

Her appearance was through Eastern New York’s partnership with At Peak Sports. Eastern New York is very pleased to prevent player injuries through the At Peak educational app, which Crystal endorses, that was provided to over 100,000 players, as well as their parents and coaches last spring. The app delivers strength and conditioning exercises and video workouts, specific to age, gender and sport, that are designed by medical professionals for youth athletes plus has a social platform where teammates can interact, upload photos, view sports-related video content and challenge one another in trivia contests.

About Eastern New York:
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 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.

About AT PEAK:
AT PEAK is a mobile sports and fitness e-Commerce platform whose mission is to bring the best of sports medicine and athletic training to every field and every home.   AT PEAK’s first product is a mobile app for injury prevention in youth sports which cause 10 million injuries/year and $30B in healthcare costs.  AT PEAK works with the premiere sports medicine doctors in the country to deliver age, gender and sport specific athletic training through our app. A CDC report says that sports injuries can be reduced by 50% using the type of workouts, information and tools that AT PEAK will provide to kids, coaches and parents. Our platform tracks athlete engagement and results over time. It reports that information, as appropriate and with permission, to coaches and parents: 360o encouragement to learn, improve and perform at your best.  AT PEAK was founded in 2012 by Will Metzger, who brings a background of running digital programs for healthcare and technology companies. The founding team also includes Dr. Jordan Metzl, the head of the Youth Sports Institute at the Hospital for Special Surgery; Pete Banks, a technologist with a background in online gaming & fitness; and Jennifer Haggerty, a capital markets and online technology operations executive. AT PEAK’s Board of Advisors includes sports medicine doctors, pro athletes and other prominent members of the youth and pro sports industries. www.AtPeakSports.com

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

June 4, 2014-In the Boys-Under-12 Small-Sided State Open Cup final between two Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) teams, Kosmos Greek-Americans of Queens shut out Downtown United from Manhattan, 3-0. The 8 vs. 8 game for supremacy in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) was played on Saturday, May 31 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.

“As First Vice President of the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League, I’m very proud that two teams from our league made the final,” said Kosmos coach Andreas Touros. “And I’m very proud to have faced Gustavo Palomino as the opposing coach as he played for me as a young man when I coached the Hellenic-American Soccer League Under-21 All-Star Team in 1994.”

Dino Nicolaou scored two goals for Kosmos while Richie Debrosse, who played most of the game in net, added an insurance goal. The other Kosmos keeper, Mo Hamza, shared the shutout as well.

“We had a couple more opportunities to score. We played a very nice team in a very clean game,” commented the other Kosmos coach, Nick Nicolaou. “I think we played a little bit better but the score should have been 1-0 or 2-0 as the other team played very well too.”

Kosmos 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.

Downtown United 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 Long Island Junior Soccer League.

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.

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
September 10, 2014-Was this summer’s World Cup in Brazil the best World Cup ever? Not if you are concerned about player safety.

There were three instances where players with possible concussions returned to the field before they were properly evaluated, putting themselves in real danger. In the first scenario, Uruguay’s Alvaro Pereira was knocked cold by a knee to the head during a first round game against England. With him lying on his back unresponsive, team trainers tried to slap him awake. After waking, he signaled to his coach that he wanted to play again. He was off the field for less than two minutes. Later, Pereira said that “the lights went out” after he was hit in the head.

In Argentina’s semifinal game against the Netherlands, Javier Mascherano hit heads with a Dutch player. He spent a little more than two minutes on the touchline while play continued before he returned to the game. That’s approximately four minutes before he should have returned if he had received a proper neurological evaluation to determine the extent of his head injury.

In the final, Germany’s Christoph Kramer went down after his head hit the shoulder of an Argentina defender as the ball was tackled away from him. Viewers could see from the TV coverage that he was glassy-eyed as he was walking by the touchline, being attended to by the German trainers. So why was he allowed to return to the field a few minutes later? The return was short-lived, though, as he remained woozy and could no longer continue.

There are huge risks in playing with a head injury, including sudden impact syndrome, which can occur when a player with a concussion sustains another before the first one has healed. The result could be fatal, although that’s rare. Players who return to the field too early or experience repeated concussions could be setting themselves up for a lifetime of headaches, sensitivity to light and sound plus chronic fatigue.

The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) has taken a leadership position on this vitally important issue. For the past 10 years, coaches and referees must pass Risk Management every two years, which includes a criminal background check, in order to participate in the thousands of Eastern New York soccer games that are played every week.

Eastern New York recently added a Concussion Awareness Program when coaches and referees register or re-register for Risk Management. The coach or ref reads material about the symptoms and dangers of concussions in English or Spanish from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), then must pass a written test in order to have their Risk Management approved. The coaches and refs are being taught that most concussions occur without the loss of consciousness plus young children and teenagers are more likely to sustain a concussion and take longer to recover than adults.

With this addition, recently instituted under the platform of SportsSignup, 500 coaches and refs have already gone through the Concussion Awareness Program. Most passed the test the first time while others passed the second or third time they took the test.

“Our Concussion Awareness Program is a great initiative as Eastern New York is again taking a pro-active approach to player safety,” commented Jim Eleftherion, Chairperson of Eastern New York’s Risk Management Committee. “Even if one child is saved from going back on the field with a concussion because of this information, it is well worth it.”

Unlike what happened in the World Cup, should a coach or referee in an Eastern New York youth soccer game believe the player might have suffered a concussion, that player is not allowed back on the field until cleared by a medical doctor who works with head injuries.

The NFL recently learned the hard way––through thousands of players suing the league for concealing what it knew about head injuries––that players with concussions should not return to the field until they have fully recovered from their injuries.

Even President Obama weighed in on this issue last year, saying he's a football fan but that if he had a son, considering the impact the game has on its players, he would think long and hard before allowing his son to play. He specifically mentioned concussions as a major issue.

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.

Back row, left to right: Marianna Nieves, Gloria Arango, Brooke Papele, Arianna Ortiz, Megan Fitzgerald, Skylar Papele, Alexa Billingham, Trainer Krista Minto
Front row, left to right: Kathleen Turano, Alison Devall, Lakin Ciampo, Nicolette Constant, Jessica Nischo, Allison Rinfret, Sara Hobbes
Missing: Bridget Abraldes, Mikayla Pulido

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

July 8, 2014-The Sachem Speed have just concluded one of the most successful seasons in Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) history.

In the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) State Open Cup final on May 31 at Stringham Park in LaGrange, Sachem shut out another LIJSL team, the HBC Barracudas, 1-0. In the State Open Cup, Sachem won all six of their games, outscoring their opponents, 16 to 1.

Sachem defeated Alleycats Red of the Capital District Youth Soccer League (CDYSL), 3-0, in the Eastern New York Premier League (ENYPL) finals on June 14 at Owl Hollow Fields on Staten Island. Sachem went 7-1-0 during the ENYPL season, outscoring the other Girls-Under-12 premier teams by 18 to 3.

“They are a great group of girls,” commented coach Rob Rinfret. “The one main reason for our success is the girls’ determination. Yes they are great athletes, but all the top teams have great athletes. The Speed girls never give up. When they are down or are being outplayed, they dig deep down and work harder to correct their mistakes.”

The competition continued to become more challenging as Sachem faced other State Open Cup champions during Regionals at the University of Rhode Island. But Sachem was up to the task as they went 4-0-1 at Regionals, outscoring the other State champions by an amazing 15 to 3. They shut down New Jersey’s PDA Storm, 1-0, in the final on July 1 as Sachem’s Brooke Papele scored off a beautiful free kick by Alexa Billingham.

Congratulations to the Sachem Speed, Girls-Under-12 Regional Champions!

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.

By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching Instruction, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

Every coach is at some place on a developmental trajectory. My journey, like that of many of those I have worked with and watched, has been punctuated with some key learning moments. Some of these highlights and lowlights have included moments when I became aware of things like:

1) No matter how much I wanted them to be fitter, no amount of running without ball helped with soccer fitness

2) Prepubescent stretching was simply a waste of time

3) Kids get bored by standing in lines and doing drills where no thought was required.

4) I was right as a kid when I hated rote learning and taking turns.

5) That no matter how many times I thought I had taught it and therefore it was learned, it was simply not true.

6) That when you show genuine interest in your players as people first and athletes second, they will walk through walls for you.

7) That no matter how well I understood the game, screaming a solution at the players as they play the game simply causes stress and confusion.

8) That coaching is so much more than X's, O's, technical and tactical and kicking a ball.

I've been blessed in the last four years in that I have had chance to interact with some truly great soccer educators from all over the globe. Due to these interactions I have become acutely aware of the following undeniable truths:

A) I will never stop learning about the learning process, how to coach and how best to teach players and coaches about the game. The layers of the onion are just too vast for me to un-peel in one lifetime.

B) At last I understand that mistakes are not something to hide and be embarrassed about but simply moments that I should take as opportunities to learn.

C) That players learn best when they are encouraged to think and that my long-term aim should be to create independent and autonomous learners, players who can eventually see the problems in a game and decide along with the players around them how best to address them. Players who can decide which formation and shape best fit the puzzle in front of them. Players who can figure out how to best address their teammates to get the best out of them. Players who can decide when to slow a game down and maintain possession and also when to speed it up and penetrate quickly.

These types of problem solvers are not created in coach-centric sessions where coaches shout commands as kids react like herds of sheep. They are not created by pre-game, halftime and post-game talks that are coach dominated with players afraid to express any thoughts or opinions.

With all the above in mind and in an attempt to punctuate some coaching development pathways, I challenge any and all coaches that maybe reading this to try the following

• Try and coach a few sessions where you only ask questions ?

• Invite groups of players at halftime to solve the problem of the other team (Do it by units – defending, midfield and attacking) 

• After a drink and presenting the problems, have each unit present their solutions.

• In each session, plan both the questions you will use and the ways and time that you will create where players collaborate and solve problems together.

By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching Instruction, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

It is an exciting time as a coach and player educator. US Soccer, with both coach and player development programs, have made positive and definite moves to carefully consider all aspects of what it takes to become a first class coach and player. In short, they are taking a more holistic approach than the past as part of this shift in emphasis documents entitled “Key Qualities of” are being presented.

The idea is really a very simple one. You consider a role, for the sake of this example, that of a youth coach, and consider all the key qualities that you believe they must have or try to improve in in order to be successful in fulfilling their duties.

To break down this example from a parent perspective, I think most soccer parents would list the following as the vital key qualities of a youth soccer coach:

1.    Able to make learning the game fun.

2.    Able to clearly communicate with players.

3.    Have a deep knowledge of the game and its techniques and tactics.

4.    Display a desire to constantly improve as a teacher.

5.    Have some ability to demonstrate skills of the game.

6.    Be inspirational and dynamic.

7.    Be patient and understanding.

8.    Have the emotional fortitude to handle losses and wins without drama.

9.    View their players as human beings and not little professional players.

10.  Have some understanding of the basic psychology of their players.

11.  Have some rudimentary understanding of sports science (stretching, rest,) as it pertains to their child.

In attending several US Soccer training events over the last 12 months, we have carefully examined key quality characteristics of elite players, coaches and, of course, instructors. These documents really are a great learning tool for anyone who has the time for careful self-reflection and is willing to look at their performance through a critical lens. They help you identify areas of strength and weakness and can bring into acute focus those areas in which we most need to improve.

So it was on a recent long journey to yet another instructor development session that I decided that it may worth applying the logic of the “key qualities approach” to the realm of being a youth soccer parent. I invite all soccer parents reading this to complete the key qualities assessment below. In doing so I would ask that you avoid the opportunity for self-applause and instead approach the task with a view of what can I learn about myself? Give yourself a quiet moment with no phone, PC tablet or TV to distract you and perhaps complete with a vision of how the ideal soccer parent would behave. Compare yourselves to the highest ideal and be completely honest.

Key Qualities of a Soccer Parent

How are you performing as soccer parent? To get a sense of where you stand, please assess yourself on the following questions.

5 = strength

1 = are in need of development

Describe in less than two sentences why you scored yourself after each question.

Hopefully you completed the exercise and have taken another step to doing all that you can to be a supportive and helpful parent. Now consider what other steps you can take in an attempt to ensure your child enjoys a lifetime of healthy sport participation.

Please share this document with all the team parents on your son's or daughter's team. Together, we can create the tipping point that is so desperately needed.