

From left to right, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association President Richard Christiano, Milagros Arana, Long Island Soccer Football League President Gus Xikis and Eastern New York State Adult Soccer Association President Sal Rapaglia.
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 8, 2014-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) and Eastern New York State Adult Soccer Association (ENYSASA) are pleased to announce that New York Metropolitan Women’s Soccer League (NYMWSL) President Milagros Arana has been inducted into the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony took place at our 2014 Holiday Party on December 7 at Marina del Rey in the Bronx.
Milagros joined the NYMWSL’s Nova Soccer Club as a player in March 1988. Four months later, she was voted in as the NYMWSL Secretary and moved up the ladder, becoming Vice President in 1992, Public Relations Officer in 1998 and President in 2000, a position that she still holds 14 years later.
The Forest Hills resident also volunteered as Trustee of ENYSASA for one year and as Recording Secretary for three years.
Milagros managed Nova, which later became New York Athletic Club, from 1988 to 1996. She then managed and coached the Manhattan Kickers women starting in 1996 and continues to this day, adding a second team in 1999 which she also manages. The first team won the State Cup in 2012.
Milagros was a sweeper who converted to goalkeeper until she retired from playing in 2007.
She organized the NYMWSL 30 Plus team which won the National Cup in the Women’s-Over-30 division when they defeated St. Louis, 4-1, on August 5, 2007 in Tukwila, Washington. That squad became the first women’s team from Eastern New York to win the national championship.
Additionally, Milagros was an assistant coach with the State Women’s Select team for more than a decade, was on the New York Magic W-League game day staff from 1997 to 2007 and volunteered as an assistant coach with the Downtown United Soccer Club in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) a decade ago.
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 so many places to begin when it comes to the conversation on why every child deserves a minimally-educated coach, at the very least, at every game and training session that I always wonder why anyone seeks to deny them the right!
Yes, I wrote the right.
So, let's start with the facts as they are simple and undeniable:
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
January 5, 2018-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) membership represents 100,000 youth soccer players in 11 affiliated leagues throughout the eastern half of New York State.
Recently, Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl wrote an article about a meeting between the outgoing US Soccer Federation (USSF) President, a candidate running for USSF President and the President of an adult association for Eastern NY. The article also generated discussions on social media, specifically Twitter.
Some people have contacted us about the article because they have mistaken us, the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association, with the adult organization involved in the story. We have no affiliation with that organization.
At this point, the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association has not endorsed any candidate running for USSF President. We take very seriously the responsibility of casting votes on behalf of our members in the upcoming election. We’ve been listening to all the candidates and researching their various platforms as well as sharing our concerns with them. We look forward to watching the US Youth Soccer USSF Presidential Debate in Philadelphia in January. We also welcome input from our 11 member leagues.
It is crucial that the USSF President represents all members of the Federation from the youth to the adults; both the men and the women; and all the disabled, amateur and professional athletes. We look forward to a candidate that will represent all these members and, most importantly, will best serve our youth members.
We welcome people to check out our website, http://www.enysoccer.com, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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.
By Tim Bradbury, Director of Coaching Instruction, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
I teach lots of courses each year. I also speak and present at a good number of parent, club, league and convention meetings.
I would argue that in doing the above, I meet hundreds if not thousands of well-meaning adults involved in the game. People who seem to have the best interests of the youth game at heart. Certainly the groups I meet with can be considered important players in the arena of youth soccer development. I stress the “seem” because certain facts just don't add up.
At a rather large league meeting recently where there was heated debate conceding the new US Soccer initiatives on small sided games etc., I asked all present to write down all the things they had done in the last year to change the trend in youth soccer where 70% of our players leave the sport by 13 years of age. Not surprisingly, none present had done anything to impact this issue. I also asked in the same meeting how many present had done the US Soccer F (a two-hour online course) license or any other course in the last 12 months…again, the disturbing answer was zero.
The issue I struggled with being a simple chap who sees things as black and white is how do good people in charge of the game continue to do nothing to change it (even though they know it's broken).
I have also taught three E licenses in the last month. Each course was full of enthusiastic and well-meaning coaches who it seemed were eager to do the best for their players. In each of these courses after establishing that all are aware of the number of players leaving the game and the curse of the car ride home, I asked the group two simple questions
1. How many of you actively attempt to educate parents?
2. How many of you have downloaded and read player development curriculum from US Soccer or the US Youth Soccer Association in the last 12 months?
Disturbingly, the vast majority answer was no to both of the above. How can this be? How can the most motivated coaches fail to do major fundamental things to help their players?
The contradictions grow deeper and more disturbing when you present the new best practice guidelines presented by US Soccer in the E license (shown below) to coaches of teams
Under 10
• 7v7 (6v6 plus GK’s)
• Rotate positions, including GK’s
• 2×25 minutes; free subs
• Size 4 ball
• Maximum of 20 games/year
• No league standings
• Practice: 90 minutes maximum
• 2-3 practices per 1 match
General Concepts
• Training and games that are free flowing
• An environment that is coach guided, not directed.
• Emphasis on technique, always related to a game context. (application)
• Player-centered environment at all times
Under 12
• 9v9 (including GK’s)
• Size 4 ball
• Maximum of 30 games/year
• No tournaments in round-robin format
• No Regional, State Competition
• Practice: 90 minutes (3 x week)
• Problem solving games up to 7v7
• Focus on learning the principles of play
• Begin to integrate positional roles
General Concepts
• Cooperation in functional groups.
• Attacking and defending roles.
• Recognize numbers up, down and even and appropriate decision based on each scenario.
• Emphasis on skill as application of technique in a specific game context
How can we have best practice guidelines designed by experts in the game and youth development that the majority of our youth teams come absolutely nowhere near meeting? It is not enough to simply dismiss the documents as being unrealistic – they are not! They are founded as are the new initiatives on good ideas and sound teaching principles. How then can they all be ignored?
My parents taught me that you have to act , that you must take full responsibility for any role that you take on and do your very best to do the job to the best of your abilities, turning over every stone to get the job done.
We need at the start of the New Year to have all involved in the game renew their efforts and desire to do all they can. It is not enough to simply take the title, to become a “board member," “head coach," “DOC," “President of a Club," when you take on these roles, you also take on the full range of jobs and responsibilities that come with the title. I encourage you all to take on these roles with great pride and turn over every stone as you constantly search for ways to improve the knowledge you have to get the job that comes with the title done in the best possible way.
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
December 3, 2018-While the United States is mourning our 41st President, George H.W. Bush, the local soccer community is also mourning the passing of former Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) President Peter C. Collins, who died on December 1 at the age of 87. The native of County Mayo, Ireland was an extremely proud and patriotic American citizen whose answering machine ended with “God Bless America.“
“I am very sad to report that my dear friend and mentor Peter Collins has passed away,” Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) President Richard Christiano said. “He was volunteering in soccer until the very end of his life and will be sorely missed by the soccer community.”
Peter and his wife Annie settled in Hicksville where they raised four children and he served as a welder for the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) for 32 years. The couple moved to Bethpage, ironically in a condo on property that was once a soccer field, in the last decade of Peter’s life. He is best remembered for all his volunteering as both a coach and later as an administrator.
He coached the Hicksville Minutemen to the McGuire Cup finals––U.S. Youth Soccer's Boys Under-19 championship––in 1979 and 1980.
Peter was elected LIJSL President in 1977 and served in this role for 27 years. When Peter became President, the youth soccer boom was just beginning and the focus of American soccer was on the pros, specifically the Cosmos, who were attracting sellout crowds at the Meadowlands to see Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto. The LIJSL had slightly more than 300 teams and girls playing soccer was a novel idea. Now, the strength of American soccer is in its youth programs due to people like Peter Collins.
“Peter had a unique ability to get people to volunteer. He was simply the best,” stated current LIJSL President Anthony Maresco.
Under Peter's leadership, the LIJSL more than quadrupled in size and now boasts over 1,500 travel teams. Add the intramural teams under the LIJSL’s umbrella and that is approximately 60,000 players as soccer is Long Island’s most popular participant sport.
But more important than the sheer numbers of local kids playing youth soccer and the dozens who went on to play pro soccer, including Peter’s own son Michael Collins, was how they played soccer.
In 1978, the LIJSL started the first-ever Special Children’s Program for soccer in the entire world when the Huntington Boys Club (HBC) and Massapequa Soccer Club separately kicked off programs. The idea spread across the United States as it’s now called TOPSoccer and the LIJSL currently has 28 clubs with TOPSoccer Programs.
In 1980, also under Peter’s watch as LIJSL President, Rocco Amoroso started the LIJSL Sportsmanship Program when he was concerned about an overemphasis on winning in youth sports. The program spread across the United States and to leagues in Ireland and China. The program has become so ingrained in the local youth soccer culture that many LIJSL teams would like to win their division’s Sportsmanship Award as much as their division championship and refs still grade teams on their game conduct after every LIJSL regular season match.
In 1981, the LIJSL started the first all-star showcase for high school seniors that college coaches could scout and named it the Exceptional Senior Games. Leagues across the United States adopted this idea, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. College coaches still scout the Exceptional Senior Games although it is now organized by the local high school coaches.
In 1983, the league began the LIJSL Convention and to this day, 10,000 soccer fans come to the Huntington Hilton on the second weekend in March.
In 1990, Peter and LIJSL Vice President George Hoffman travelled to the USSR as the Cold War was coming to a close to establish Liberty Cup Moscow, a sister tournament to the LIJSL’s Liberty Cup USA. Little did anyone realize that the inaugural Liberty Cup Moscow, in August 1991, would truly earn its name as it was played during the aborted military coup that briefly unseated Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Vice President Hoffman even snapped a photo of Gorbachev the day he returned to power. There were also Liberty Cups started in Ireland and Italy as well.
For all this volunteering, Peter was inducted into the Halls of Fame of the LIJSL (1984), Eastern New York (1997) and U.S. Soccer (1998). He was also honored by U.S. Soccer as a Life Member (2011).
The LIJSL’s 60,000 players might not know what Peter did as LIJSL President but know of him today because of the Peter C. Collins Soccer Park in Plainview, since a home playing facility for the LIJSL was part of his vision for the league. Originally starting with the LIJSL TOPSoccer Program in the 1980’s, the fields expanded and became the Long Island Soccer Park in 1996. In a surprise announcement, the LIJSL Board of Directors changed the name to the Peter C. Collins Soccer Park on May 22, 2004 in honor of the legendary figure who had given his life for youth soccer.
Peter did a very rare thing indeed. He made us dream of all the possibilities when people work together for the good of the game. May he rest in peace!
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
July 12, 2019-A wonderful story about the Beautiful Game occurred at the Owl Hollow Soccer Complex on Staten Island on Tuesday night, May 28 when Miss City of Dreams, 22-year-old Madison L’Insalata, raised money for the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN), the national platform of the Miss America contest. Madison was also the 2018 Miss Richmond County.
In lieu of a pageant entrance fee, Miss America candidates are required to raise $250 for CMN, which helps fill funding gaps at children’s hospitals since Medicaid and insurance programs do not fully cover the cost of care. The former Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL) player went above and beyond with the help of the league.
Madison held a fundraiser through her Soccer for CMN Tournament for the second consecutive year. With over 40 teenage and adult players from across the island in attendance, each paying $10 to participate in the small-sided co-ed tournament, plenty of fun was had by all for a great cause. In the photo below, Madison is sitting in the front row wearing the gray shirt.
In addition to SIYSL volunteering to set up as well as providing the field permit for the tournament, they generously matched the money raised at the event and helped Madison raise $1,675. Thanks to their kindness, Madison took home the Miracle Maker Award at the Miss New York Competition this year, an award given to the candidate who raises the most funds for the charity. She intends on holding the tournament again next spring in partnership with SIYSL and is hoping to expand the tourney to all age ranges.
During her youth soccer career, Madison won the 2013 Girls-Under-16 Arch Cup in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) with the Staten Island United Chaos when they outlasted the Oceanside Wave Runnerz, 4-2, in overtime. Her Chaos teammates and coaches played in the fundraiser. In the photo below from six years ago, Madison is kneeling third from the left and her father, assistant coach Richard L’Insalata, is standing on the far right.
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.