By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
July 1, 2016-Thousands have watched the series of videos presented by the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA), in response to the increased pressure on parents and players regarding college scholarships. There is much useful advice in this video series for soccer families. This week’s video is 53 minutes long and is all previous eight segments combined.
The video is linked here:
https://youtu.be/DSGD1vqea2g
Eastern New York consulted with Kevin L. McCrudden to produce the video series with Aurora Productions. McCrudden is an international author and speaker, Publisher of Soccer Long Island Magazine and Founder of the Long Island Soccer Player Hall of Fame, as well as an alumnus of both the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) and Eastern New York.
As Kevin points out, the advice in nine separate interviews with four top professional players, four outstanding coaches and one youth soccer club president, all with longtime connections to Eastern New York, is remarkably consistent. As parents, guiding your children to help them develop the motivation and drive to flourish as soccer players, and more importantly, as people. Each child has different needs but one item that every child needs is unconditional love from parents.
There are not many college scholarships available so that’s one reason why parents should take a step back and let their children simply play the game and not be concerned about wins or losses. When they do that, their kids could blossom, as John Wolyniec point out happened to him.
The advice continues that the players rather than the parents will determine how far they will advance in soccer. Yes, natural talent is important, but so too is having the passion to improve and practice by yourself in your backyard or a local park. As Dr. Dave Masur points out, working on the weaker parts of your game, such as playing with your weaker foot, can make all the difference in the world.
And finally, in the words of legendary Rocco Amoroso, who recently passed away at the age of 89, his phrase that has now become the motto of the LIJSL and many leagues around the country, “Building Character through Soccer.” That should always be the priority.
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.