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

I am constantly bewildered and amazed at the comments shouted by parents to kids as they play youth soccer games. I have come to a clear and good understanding that all the comments shouted are at some point driven by love. I used to believe it was love for their child that was the driver behind the ridiculous orders shouted. Increasingly, I am aware that it is simply the desire to win that is the driver. 

Perhaps losing a game is on occasion good for character development and can be used as a motivator to simply try harder at practice. When I hold parent meetings and ask them the reasons they have their kids play sports, most parents stress the following as being the key reasons:

1. Have fun
2. Learn skills
3. Develop character

The disconnect that occurs between the reasons above and the moment of insanity that leads to parents shouting orders like "Get it out!" is extreme. I would ask that each time parents go to games, they remind themselves of all the good reasons they started their child playing soccer,

To consider the issue from another perspective and be absolutely clear any developmentally-appropriate coach will never ask a kid to launch the ball in fear, close their eyes and just whack it. They will put thinking and player growth first and as such when players are under pressure, they may ask them to either do a move and dribble out of pressure or lift their heads up and try to find a teammate in space to pass to. Notice I say ask – the asking will be done in practice in an attempt to get the player to solve the problem in an intelligent and skill-promoting fashion. In the heated moment in the game, when the coach is silently hoping the same kid under pressure will revert to good soccer habits and produce a moment of skill – THAT’S WHEN YOU HEAR IT !

"Get it out of there!"

I ask all parents watching all games to avoid shouting the list of comments below at any point during their child’s soccer journey, however big (can a youth game really be “big”?)

"Boot it!" (Don’t think, don’t look, just panic)

"Just whack it!" (Don’t think, don’t look, just panic)

"Launch it!" (Don’t think, don’t look, just panic)

"Get it out of there!" (Don’t be composed and use skill in times of pressure as winning is vital)

"Never pass backwards" (Regardless of the pressure and numbers in front of you, it’s all about territory – by the way it is not)

I often get asked to not just point out the problem but rather offer definite solutions. The solution in this case is to offer the following parent behavior plan at youth soccer games

1. Always be positive and applaud and cheer.
2. Appreciate skill in both teams.
3. Avoid any type of confrontation with all.
4. Respect the referee and how difficult that job is.
5. Never offer any type of coaching advice to any player
6. After the game on the car ride home, simply practice the phrase “I enjoyed watching you play today.” You will be surprised at the power this unconditional offering of support has.

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

November 4, 2021-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that Otto Horstmann of the Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL) is being honored as our 2021 Volunteer of the Year.

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/

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

May 6, 2019-In the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) and the other state associations across the United States, the Olympic Development Program (ODP) is the highest level of competition. Eastern New York has a particularly strong ODP as our teams have won recent national championships plus two alumnae, Crystal Dunn and Allie Long, are on the US Women’s National Team and will be at the upcoming Women’s World Cup in France.

Because of the large geographic area that Eastern New York entails, ODP is divided into North and South teams. Over a decade ago, Eastern New York ODP South played friendly games against the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) Select Program at the Peter Collins Soccer Park in Plainview.

The successor to the LIJSL Select Program is the LIJSL Player Development Program (PDP) and the friendly games were revived last spring under the sage leadership of ODP Chairperson Jim Volpe with ODP playing PDP at the Collins Soccer Park on Monday nights throughout the spring.

In photos above and below from April 28, ODP is in blue and yellow while PDP is in red and white

Last Monday night, April 28, ODP played up against PDP competition with both boys and girls.

“These friendlies give the players on both teams the opportunity to play a local game at a high level while also giving us a chance to look at all the players, including the PDP players who could progress to ODP,” Volpe stated. “We have also started a relationship with the New York Cosmos Development Academy.“

ODP will be playing friendlies against the Cosmos on Monday night, May 20 at Garden City Community Park. ODP, both North and South, want to take on more high-level teams in friendlies so if interested, please contact Volpe at the Eastern New York office, 516-766-0849.

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 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

May 21, 2014-The East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) is one of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association’s (ENYYSA) largest leagues, covering a vast area of six counties. So how does the EHYSL get its philosophy about behavior and game operations to the teams, parents, players and referees in its 54 member clubs?

They send out the Scouts!

This spring, the EHYSL initiated the Scout Program. Every Sunday, up to eight Scouts are assigned to visit selected venues and observe plus “be a presence” at all the games at that venue.

“The response we have received to the Scout Program has been fantastic from both parents and coaches,” commented EHYSL President Jim Purdy. “And if the Scout Program keeps all on their toes at matches, there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”

The Scouts are jointly selected by EHYSL and the Hudson Valley Soccer Referee Association from long-time (10 years or more) referees, coaches and administrators active in youth soccer, and knowledgeable about its goals and procedures. The Scouts bring knowledge, of course, but also a fresh, objective view of the venue and the operations there, from coach organization to touchline behavior to referee performance.

In their mandatory weekly reports, the Scouts give the EHYSL an excellent sampling at what is occurring at every field complex. Such as answers to questions they ask of the spectators and participants at the matches. “How is your child enjoying this year in youth soccer?,” “What are your impressions of this season’s opposing teams and coaches?” and “Do you have anything you’d like to see changed?” It’s natural for people having ideas and concerns not to initiate a discourse if they believe their thoughts to be theirs alone, but if asked, they are very willing to answer.

What have the Scouts found?

• On a couple of auxiliary school-owned fields, they have found incorrectly measured features such as mismarked penalty areas.  
• In two separate cases, they saw players’ younger siblings climbing on, and hanging from, unused goal structures. The Scouts saw what was happening and had the dangers eliminated before tragedy strikes.
• They have found some newer referees mishandling the administrative procedures and were able to instruct them.  
• They’ve found great joy and pleasure in the youth soccer experience by the vast majority of children and parents. And, they have found that a quiet word, to a coach, about an “over-enthusiastic” parent, from an unbiased observer, prevents the escalation into something the referee might have to address.

President Purdy added, “Certainly, we still have the occasional game that does not go as well as we would hope but when we learn of those involved, we make sure to visit those teams in the near future. Our membership is very appreciative that the league took the initiative to work toward making this great game of soccer a truly fun and enjoyable experience for all, week in and week out.”

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. Eastern New York 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. Eastern New York 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.

Two proud LIJSL alumni, Real Salt Lake President Bill Manning on the left and
Real Salt Lake defender Chris Wingert show off a map of Long Island on Chris' shirt.

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

February 26, 2014-One of Major League Soccer’s top front office executives has many fond memories of growing up in the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL). Bill Manning, the President of Western Conference champion Real Salt Lake and the club’s field, Rio Tinto Stadium, played for the LIJSL Select Team from 1979 to ‘83 as well as the Massapequa Soccer Club from 1972 to ‘83.

Bill’s Massapequa teams had virtually the same players from Under-10 to Under-19 but kept changing their name depending on who their coach was. He played for the Massapequa Flying Dutchmen (coached by Kurt Knoblauch), the Massapequa Bugs (Dick Roche), the Massapequa Cosmos (Jerry Lyons) and the Massapequa Bulls (coached by his father, also named Bill Manning). The Bulls might have lost in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) State Open Cup finals to B/W Gottschee in overtime in 1983 but his teams won the LIJSL division championship in 1974, ‘76 and ‘79 plus the Long Island Cup in 1980 and ‘83.

While Bill eventually moved on to pro soccer, one of his teammates, goalkeeper Kevin Ferrari, started volunteering with local youth soccer and is the current President of the Massapequa Soccer Club.

“My best memory of youth soccer is from our last year together with the Massapequa Bulls,” Bill stated. “We travelled to the Pocono Cup in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. It was a select team tournament and we were one of only a few club teams there. We wound up beating the New Jersey state champs and then a team from Denmark in the finals to win the championship. We just had a great time together and to go out as winners with this group that had played together for so long was special.”

Bill was selected to play in the 1986 Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America East-West All-Star Game. As a sophomore at the University of Bridgeport, he helped the Purple Knights to a NCAA quarterfinal berth, and as a senior in 1986 he led his team to a Final Four appearance while earning first-team All-America honors.

Bill continued his playing career after college and won a US Open Cup with the Brooklyn Italians in 1991 and played professionally in the United Soccer Leagues (USL) with the Penn-Jersey Spirit (1991), Valley Golden Eagles (1993) and New York Fever (1994-95) before Major League Soccer existed.

He began his sports management career by joining the front office of the Continental Indoor Soccer League during its inaugural season in 1993. A year later, he returned to the Empire State to play with the New York Fever and do double duty in their front office as Director of Marketing and Operations. In 1996, he was hired as Vice President and General Manager of the Long Island Rough Riders and the club was honored twice by Soccer Business International as the recipient of the Marketing Excellence Award for best overall marketing in the USL.

“I moved from California to come back to New York for this opportunity to play for the Fever and work in their front office. That set the stage for my eventual move to the Long Island Rough Riders as General Manager in 1996 when I was 30 years old. The timing was right.”

After the 1997 season, he left Long Island for the Minnesota Thunder to become President and General Manager, and immediately made an impact as Minnesota advanced to the 1998 USL A-League championship match after a losing record the previous season. The following year, Bill was named USL Executive of the Year after Minnesota won the 1999 championship and developed the second-highest revenue base in the league.

He moved to Major League Soccer at the turn of the millennium when he was named President and General Manager of the Tampa Bay Mutiny. He was honored as the 2000 MLS Executive of the Year by the Washington Post but the team was contracted less than two years later. At a career crossroads, Bill moved to the NBA, where he joined the Houston Rockets as Director of Corporate Partnerships, then served four years as Vice President of Sales and Service for the Philadelphia Eagles, overseeing a 50% increase in corporate sponsorship from 2004 to 2007.

During his tenure as President since 2008, Real Salt Lake gave Utah its first major-league professional sports championship (2009) in nearly 40 years plus he successfully sold naming rights and opened one of the United States’ latest sports and entertainment venues, Rio Tinto Stadium. With Bill leading the charge, tickets sales and sponsorship revenue have more than tripled since his arrival. He was honored as the 2012 recipient of the Doug Hamilton Award as MLS's Executive of the Year.

Bill’s brother Lawrence and sister Heather also played for the Massapequa Soccer Club as kids. Lawrence went on to play for Cortland State plus the U.S. Deaf National Team and represented the red, white and blue at the Deaflympics in Copenhagen (1997), Rome (2001) and Melbourne (2005).

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.

Boys-Under-14 Massapequa Cosmos. Bill Manning is kneeling on the far right and Massapequa Soccer Club President Kevin Ferrari is the goalkeeper. Jerry Lyons is their coach.