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

August 21, 2018-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that a Patricia Louise Masotto and Brenda Driscoll Scholarship has been given to Stephanie Radakovic. The scholarship’s namesakes were best friends and top women’s soccer players from Massapequa, Long Island and Eastern New York set up a scholarship in their name after they were killed by a drunk driver in 1985. This award is based on academic and athletic success as well as community service. 

Stephanie played midfield for Sachem North High School and the Lake Grove/Newfield Tsunami, Lake Grove/Newfield Huskies and Smithtown Hotspur of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), winning a State Open Cup with the Tsunami in 2016.

The Lake Ronkonkoma resident wrote in her essay, ”I could easily say that the beautiful game of soccer has molded me into the person I am today. This sport has mentally challenged me and has pushed me to be a better version of myself daily. My dad taught me that if I wanted something in life, I had to work for it. We would go in my backyard for hours until I perfected my foot skills or could hit the net in the same spot 20 times. The word dedication was engraved in my mind and carried over with me throughout the years. My dad explained how there was a difference in the good players and the great players. I knew I wanted to be great so I gave it all up for that. Whether I was watching soccer on TV, juggling a ball in my basement or going on runs after practice, I was always trying to work harder than everyone else. I learned how to sacrifice myself for a greater cause due to the relationships that grew among my teammates and I.”

Stephanie concluded by writing, ”My senior year in high school, I was a car accident and broke my ankle in two places. I am currently working towards being prepared to play in college and really have to push myself to be ready. Soccer is such a big part of my life I am willing to do whatever it takes to get it back.” 

We wish her the best at St. Peter’s University!

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 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 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
 
May 20, 2016-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) continues its unprecedented video series in educating soccer parents with an interview with former Stony Brook University women’s coach Sue Ryan and St. John’s University men’s coach Dr. Dave Masur. Both coaches talk about how players are honest with themselves in assessing their ability.

The video is here:

Coach Ryan talks about the "creep effect” and the concept of a college scholarship in the young players' future. Their parents start to think that more is better––more teams to play on, more training sessions to attend to attain the parent's goal of a college scholarship.

“Sometimes, the end result is young players wind up quitting because they cannot succeed at the level that they perceive that their parents want the player to succeed at.“
 
Coach Ryan grew up playing in the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) for the Northport Sea Devils, and for Eastern New York’s Olympic Development Program (ODP). She coached the Stony Brook University women’s team for an amazing 31 years and, along with EJ Schwarz, coached the LIJSL’s Northport/Cow Harbor Piranha to the Girls-Under-16 national championship in 1997 and the Girls-Under-18 national title in 1999. She is an inductee of the Long Island Soccer Player Hall of Fame and was also the first coach to receive the New York Metro Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association (NYMISOA) Sportsmanship Award two times.

Dr. Dave Masur discusses players “building up their technical abilities and having a passion to do it” and for parents to help their children “find a good club that will develop the player and not worrying about wins and losses.”

Coach Masur concludes that “players need to be able to accept feedback, be able to accept not being perfect all the time, and it hopefully gives them the drive and determination to stay in the game and continue to improve and battle, whether it’s school, in a job, personal situations. Those are the character values and process that we talk about a lot at St. John’s and that is taught on an everyday basis in sport.“

Coach Masur has been the head coach at St. John’s for the past quarter-century, attaining over 400 victories and becoming the first St. John’s team in any sport to win the NCAA national championship when Red Storm men’s soccer did it in 1996. He has coached Eastern New York youth teams and played professionally with the Chicago Sting, Toledo Pride, New Jersey Eagles, Penn Jersey Spirit and New Jersey Imperials.

ENYYSA is providing this video series, as a service to its 11 member leagues throughout New York State and its over 100,000 players, in response to the increased pressure on parents and players regarding college scholarships.

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.

Photo courtesy of the Coach's Corner

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

January 27, 2015-At the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention in Philadelphia on January 17, George Vizvary received the prestigious Walt Chyzowych Lifetime Achievement Award for a lifelong and distinguished soccer career. The Walt Chyzowych Award is presented annually by the Walt Chyzowych Fund, established after the 1994 passing of Walt Chyzowych to honor his memory and preserve his legacy as US Soccer’s pioneering National Team Coach and Director of Coaching. Chyzowych is recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern day soccer in the United States.

Vizvary is well-known for his tenure as the head men’s soccer coach at Ulster County Community College from 1968 to 2010. During this time, he created and coached teams that were nationally-recognized as perennial powerhouses, winning two National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championships and earning a place in 17 national tournaments. Vizvary’s record at SUNY Ulster was a remarkable 534-159-28, the most wins by a single coach in junior college history. The Highland resident also coached his Ulster teams to 24 Mid-Hudson Conference titles and 17 Region XV titles. In 2007, Vizvary was inducted into the NJCAA Soccer Coaches National Hall of Fame.

The 78-year-old states that Ulster’s consecutive national championships in 1977 and ‘78 were his greatest moment ever on a soccer field.

52 of his players were named All-American by the NJCAA and the NSCAA, 45 went on to play in the professional ranks and four (Tom Mulroy, Njego Pesa, Niels Guldbjerg and Joe Ulrich) were selected as members of the NJCAA Millennial Team of the Century.

Vizvary also coached the University of Albany women’s soccer program (1996 to 99) and currently is imparting his wisdom to young men as assistant coach at SUNY New Paltz.

On the youth side, Vizvary served as Olympic Development Program (ODP) Director of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) from 1983 to ‘89. He has coached Eastern New York youth teams from Westchester to Albany, including Alleycats, FC Somers, New York Scorpions, Quickstrike, Soccer Plus Academy and Washingtonville and is still an active coach today.

Vizvary emigrated from Hungary in 1956, leaving behind a promising soccer career as a player for Tatabanya FC and even the Hungarian National Team during the magical years when Hungary was a world power. They were so good that Vizvary could only earn one cap for Hungary, playing left defender in a 1955 game, one year after his native country played in the World Cup final. He completed his US Soccer coaching licenses in 1974 and was immediately named a member of the coaching staff of US Soccer coaching schools. While at Ulster, Vizvary was an engineering professor and department chair, having earned his engineering degree from the Technical Institute in Gyor, Hungary.

“I am deeply honored,” Vizvary said upon receiving the award. “I cherish the time I spent working with Walt Chyzowych in the early days of the coaching schools and am pleased to have been so recognized for my work and for my life in soccer. As we look at where the game of soccer is today in America, we can all take pride in the sacrifices we made and the fun we had in promulgating the growth and development of the game we all love.”

Previous Walt Chyzowych Award winners are Jerry Yeagley (1996), Anson Dorrance (1997), Bill Killen (1998), Joe Morrone (1999), Bob Gansler (2000), John McKeon (2001), Mel Lorback (2002), Bruce Arena (2003), Tom Fleck (2004), Joe Machnik (2005), Nick Zlatar (2006), Lothar Osiander (2007), Jay Vidovich (2008), Jay Miller (2009), Walt Bahr (2010), Sigi Schmid (2011), Ralph Perez (2012), Jim Lennox (2013) and Gene Chyzowych (2014). In this virtual Who’s Who of soccer coaches, four of the 20 recipients––Arena, Zlatar, Lennox and now Vizvary––come from 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.

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
June 28, 2016-The Merrick Extreme of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) shut out the KASL Flaming Explosion of the East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL), 1-0, in the Girls-Under-16 Eastern New York Premier League (ENYPL) championship game. Merrick keeper Chris Argentieri recorded the shutout in goal.
 
The only goal of the game was scored in the fourth minute as Merrick’s Annie Coogan hit the net off a pass from Katie Healy.
 
“It was a pretty even game as both teams pressed for the goal,” said Merrick coach Will Mudloff.
 
This Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) title match was played on Saturday, June 18 at the Peter Collins Soccer Park in Plainview. The ENYPL is the oldest continuous Premier League in the United States and is 16 years old in 2016.
 
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 teenagersbetween 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 turnedaway. 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.

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

April 19, 2016-Lenny Buccellato did not play the world’s most popular sport while growing up in Brooklyn but he has been irreplaceable in youth soccer on the other side of the Verrazano Bridge during the past two decades.

His father, Giovanni, was born in Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily and they used to watch Serie A soccer together on TV every Sunday. He also took Lenny to watch games at Dyker Park in Brooklyn.

Lenny wound up playing soccer for fun when he spent his summers in Italy. Like many American adults, he became involved through his kids. So when his older daughter, Marissa, started playing soccer in 1997, Lenny became a coach.

It was a quick trip up the ladder of Staten Island soccer as Lenny volunteered as Vice President of the Richmondtown Soccer Club in the Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL) at a time when another Oakwood resident, current SIYSL President Bill Smith, was President of Richmondtown.

"When Lenny and I worked together at Richmondtown, we built a program that was all about the children and we always made sure that they were learning the game,” commented SIYSL President Smith. "Lenny would go all out on the club’s annual picnic, sending letters to receive items from MLS, MLB, NFL and the WWE. The kids couldn't wait for the raffles each year. His work behind the scenes would make me look good as President of the club. We were both talked into moving up and taking on more responsibility by Charles Giordano."

Lenny served as Secretary of Staten Island United in 2000. In the 15 years that he was Staten Island United’s President from 2001 to 2015, the club grew from 18 to 43 teams in becoming Staten Island’s largest travel team program, numerous graduates moved on to play college soccer and the Gunners became the first Staten Island United team to win the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) State Open Cup, in 2012. Seven Staten Island United teams—four boys squads and three girls teams––currently play in the Eastern New York Premier League (ENYPL).

Lenny, whose “real job” is Vice President for Deutsche Bank Agency Securities Lending Division, has been a coach, assistant coach and manager for many travel teams through the years plus has served as a referee for the past 13 years. Besides Marissa, now 23, his other child, Kristina, 21, also played for Staten Island United.

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.

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

Photo courtesy of Binghamton University

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
August 29, 2019-Kayla Saager led Binghamton University with 11 goals last year and parlayed that success with the Bearcats to her first professional contract, signing recently with 1. FC Slovacko of the Czech Republic.

Jim Volpe coached Kayla for two years in the Olympic Development Program (ODP) of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) and stated, “Kayla is a devastating striker who can score with both feet at a moment’s notice. She is a game changer.”

The East Islip resident played club soccer in the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) for the East Islip and Albertson clubs. She also played the past two summers for the Long Island Rough Riders of United Women’s Soccer, scoring six goals in 2018 and four goals this past summer.

Additionally, she led the East Region ODP Team to the International Kuban Spring Championship in Sochi, Russia six years ago.

Coach Volpe added, “Kayla started at North Carolina State, then played at West Virginia University before she became very happy playing at Binghamton. It goes to show that there is no perfect school but there is one that is perfect for you.”

Kayla tweeted, “I’m so excited to get started on my professional career. Many thanks to my amazing coaches and teammates at Binghamton, who prepared me for this moment. Once a Bearcat…always a Bearcat!”

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 on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.