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By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
June 11, 2018-How appropriate that two Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) teams, the Farmingdale Stars United and the Stony Brook Crew, played for the Peter Masotto Cup as it’s named after a longtime Long Islander. Peter is 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 and coached the Massapequa Falcons girls team to the 1988 national championship.

The Girls-Under-16 State Open Cup final was played on June 3 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.
Leah Sparacio scored a last-minute goal to give Farmingdale the 2-1 win. Jessica Ford netted Farmingdale’s other goal.

“Both teams are so closely matched but our girls had the endurance to win the state championship,” remarked Farmingdale coach Steve Ballas.

Farmingdale will represent Eastern New York at the Regionals from June 29 to July 3 in Spotsylvania, Virginia as part of the National Championship Series.
 
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.

Many of you may know Randy Vogt as the referee at your local games. We would like to send our condolences to Randy and his family as his mother, Mary C. Vogt, affectionately known as Tootie, has passed away on March 29, 2016. Beloved wife of William. Loving mother of Randy. Cherished aunt of Tina Schaefer and Carrie Yuli, Adored great-aunt of Madeline, Erin, Tyler, Johnny, Charlotte and Thomas. Reposing at the Beney Funeral Home of Syosset, 79 Berry Hill Road. Visiting Thursday 2-4 and 7-9pm. Funeral Mass Friday 9:45am at St. Edward Confessor RC Church, 205 Jackson Ave., Syosset, NY. Interment to follow at Holy Rood Cemetery.

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

June 4, 2014-There are some things you can count on in life: The sun will come out tomorrow, the swallows will return to San Juan Capistrano and in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), the Alleycats Soccer Club will win the Girls-Under-12 Small-Sided State Open Cup. Playing 8 vs. 8, the Albany club has won the past six championships in that age group.

2014 continued the pattern as Alleycats Girls Elite defeated the Ballston Spa Strikers, 2-1, behind goals by Isa Provost and Ava Panto in the final between two Capital District Youth Soccer League (CDYSL) teams on Saturday, May 31 at Stringham Park in LaGrange.

“We believed that we could win the State Open Cup from the first day we came together,” commented Alleycats coach Dede Lleshi. “The difference today was our confidence and the way we play as a team.”

Coach Lleshi 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.

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

There are many reports that become essential reading for soccer enthusiasts and fans. One of the key ones is published every year by The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA).  This key group has just released its 2021 U.S. Trends in Team Sports Report. Somewhat surprisingly it contained good news for soccer. 

“Even amid the pandemic, four other team sports grew in 2020, including indoor soccer, outdoor soccer – now the number two team sport among 18–24-year-olds – ultimate frisbee, and flag football.”

Good news indeed and it was followed in the report with another key statement: 

“Another positive trend SFIA found was an increase in coaching training, and trained coaches help provide better experiences for players, which can lead to a higher retention rate.”

Hopefully, the above statement can be displayed in all club and league meetings for the rest of time. One of the most frustrating myths that is frequently used by many to prevent coach education and training is that we can’t ask volunteers to do more. "If we ask them to do this, they will leave, etc." I must admit hearing this has driven me daft whenever pushed my way for the last 25 years. 

Most parent coaches who take on the role of trying to teach the game are proud and motivated individuals who want to do a good job. Yes, they are fueled frequently by a desire to spend more time with their own child and yes, it is a priority. This in no way means they do not want help. Far too frequently and insanely, they are placed in a vacuum, given a ball, a few cones and some shirts and told off you go. Every time I have been confronted with this, I have said we must train them. We must give them enough basic information that allows them to feel some level of confidence and degree of competence in the age groups with which they coach. 

Being a volunteer does not mean they have no interest in learning how to do the job well. It does not mean they wish to be placed in an educational vacuum and treated like they have no pride in the job they do. It really is well past the time in youth soccer that all leagues and governing bodies stopped perpetuating a myth that does untold damage to the youth game.

Imagine if we changed the narrative around volunteer coaches and based all actions on the fact that they want to be an effective coach, they want to be educated in key principals and are eager to do the best possible job they can. Any club who embraces this principal and creates a culture which empowers volunteerism will blossom. 

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
 
October 1, 2014-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is happy to announce that Big Apple Youth Soccer League (BAYSL) President Luis Montoya has been named Trustee of our organization. The Astoria, Queens resident will serve ENYYSA President Richard Christiano in this role just as he once served Christiano’s predecessor, Barry Salter, in the same role as Trustee.

“We are very pleased to welcome back Luis to our Board of Directors,” commented ENYYSA President Christiano. “I’m certain that he will provide our Board with innovative ideas and continue to make certain that all children in Eastern New York are well-represented by our organization.”

Montoya is a native of Peru who emigrated to the United States in 1970. He is the only President that the BAYSL has ever known, serving in this capacity since the league’s founding in 1997. 1,000 Latino boys and girls from New York City are currently registered in the BAYSL and Montoya has spent most of his life making certain that all the children of Eastern New York have the same opportunity to play the world’s most popular sport. He has served as a member of the Diversity Committee for US Soccer under three Presidents––Alan Rothenberg, Dr. Bob Contiguglia and currently under Sunil Gulati.

Montoya has also volunteered as Games Chairperson for the Hellenic-American Soccer League and was on the Board of Directors for that league for seven years as well as serving as Trustee for a few years in the Eastern New York State Adult Soccer Association. Additionally, for nearly two decades, he promoted and coordinated C, D, E and F coaching courses in New York City with Alfonso Mondelo, Arnold Ramirez, John Ramirez, Howard Rubenstein and Nick Zlatar.

When he is not found volunteering on the soccer field, Luis works as a tele-communications technician with Verizon.

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.

Craig Ludin playing for HBC

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

October 18, 2016-You never know what will happen until you begin.

In 1978, two longtime Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) clubs, the Huntington Boys Club (HBC) and Massapequa Soccer Club, separately started programs for children with special needs. The program was the first of its kind, not only in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), but in the entire world, during an era when kids with special needs playing sports is not as accepted as it is today. This program provides an opportunity for the child who deviates from the average kid in mental, physical or social characteristics and requires modified educational practices and services in order to develop to his or her potential.

Mike Ludin was the founder of HBC’s program because he wanted his son, Craig, to have the same opportunities to play soccer as his sons Bryan and Evan did. Nearly four decades later, Craig is still playing soccer as an adult, as are many of his teammates who also started playing soccer as kids.

”Playing soccer, wearing a uniform, gaining confidence, doing the same things that other kids do has helped our players advance,” Mike said.

Two HBC players, Brendan Higgins and Meghan Latini, became boyfriend and girlfriend and were pretty popular at Huntington High School, so much so that they were voted King and Queen of the Senior Prom.

”She has been amazing, she has always reached heights that we didn't know she would be able to,” Meghan's mother, Marianne Latini, told NBC News 4 New York. ”We are so lucky.”

Ann Marie Toth is the longtime Chairperson of the LIJSL program, now officially called the LIJSL TOPSoccer Special Children’s Program, which encompasses 26 clubs in Suffolk, Nassau and Queens today and uses the slogan of ”Come Play With Me.” She has also been organizing and coaching the Plainview/Old Bethpage TOPSoccer Program at the Peter Collins Soccer Park for decades.

”Of our TOPSoccer players in Plainview/Old Bethpage who are now adults, many have full-time or part-time jobs and one even lives on her own, not far from her parents,” Ann Marie stated. ”Certainly, playing soccer, making friends and the confidence they gained in doing so has something to do with their ability to become employed.”

As for Craig Ludin, he took a job as a clerk in the mailroom at North Fork Bank, now Capital One Bank, working there for nearly two decades. North Fork’s former President/CEO John Kanas always admired Craig and recently recruited him to join Kanas at Bank United, which just happens to sponsor Eastern New York.

Craig has won so many medals in the Special Olympics in multiple sports, but especially in swimming, that he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

As his father Mike commented, ”It’s pretty cool to see Craig’s name there next to Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Mark Spitz.”

For more info or to register your child for the LIJSL TOPSoccer Special Children’s Program, please call Ann Marie Toth at 516-694-3567.

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

May 13, 2016-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) continues its unprecedented video series in educating soccer parents with an interview with former US Men’s National Team midfielder Chris Armas.

Armas was born in the Bronx, but grew up in Brentwood, Long Island where he played with the Brentwood Bandits of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) as well as the highest levels of youth soccer, including the Olympic Development Program (ODP) and St. Anthony’s High School on Long Island before attending Adelphi University. He is now an inductee of the Long Island Soccer Player Hall of Fame.

“What the LIJSL Select Team and Eastern New York ODP Team exposed me to was good training sessions, better players and better coaching,“ Armas explains in the video. “The formula for players to improve is playing against better players where time and space is limited.“

The video is here:

“Graduating from Adelphi University in 1994, I played for the Long Island Rough Riders for two years. I was signed to a contract and played locally,“ Armas added. “It wasn’t a huge jump from college soccer even though I was playing against men. The bar was higher and that prepared me for MLS when it debuted in 1996.“

After spending two seasons with the LA Galaxy, Armas was traded to the Chicago Fire ahead of their expansion 1998 campaign and played a huge role in the Fire’s storied run to the 1998 MLS Cup and US Open Cup double in their inaugural season. Armas was named to the MLS Best XI for four straight seasons from 1998 through 2001 before seeing his streak broken by an ACL injury that caused him to miss much of the 2002 campaign and the World Cup for the USMNT. He bounced back in 2003, being named MLS Comeback Player of the Year and MLS Best XI for the fifth time. Armas is one of just four players to earn Best XI distinction five times, second only to Landon Donovan’s seven Best XI selections.

He found a bulk of his success at the Fire, winning four Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup titles and an MLS Supporter’s Shield in addition to the 1998 MLS Cup. Captaining the side from 2003-2007, he was named an MLS All-Star six times and was voted team MVP in 2003. He was also named US Soccer’s Male Athlete of the Year in 2000. After the Fire’s double-winning campaign in 1998, Armas became a regular for the US Men’s National Team, cracking the lineup just after the 1998 World Cup. He was part of the FIFA Gold Cup squads in 2002 and 2005. In all, Armas earned 66 caps for the red, white and blue. He became the prototypical “defensive or holding midfielder,” but he was an example of the soccer term “unlucky” as separate ACL injuries kept him out of both the World Cup and the Olympics. Missing two World Cups and the Olympics due to injury is the only reason Armas has not yet been inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame.

Armas retired at the end of the 2007 season after a dozen years in MLS. He served the following season as an assistant coach for the Fire under current Red Bulls assistant Denis Hamlett. Since then, he has returned to Long Island with his family, most recently serving as head coach of the women’s team at alma mater Adelphi University. Armas led the program to back-to-back conference title game appearances in the Northeast-10, and reached the ECAC Championship in 2014. He is currently the Assistant Coach of the New York Red Bulls.

“A lot of lessons I learned as a kid from my family such as hard work, dedication, just never giving up and being a team player. What is in your heart and your character, which opened doors for me,“ Armas adds in the video. “My advice for parents as well as myself with my own 14-year-old and 11-year-old sons, are they having fun, do they have a coach mentoring them? These situations, I don’t see all the time. As a parent, I always ask my kids, are you having fun?“

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 of Portland Thorns forward Christine Sinclair jumping over Seattle Reign goalkeeper Michelle Betos after making a save. Photo courtesy of the Portland Thorns.