By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
September 30, 2025-The Math is very easy. Only one team can win a soccer game but both teams should be having fun. Only one team can win a game but both teams should be learning fundamentals.
Competition, like money, has both good and bad sides to it. If you overemphasize getting more and more material possessions and showing off all your stuff with no regard to others’ financial situations, then you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
If you overemphasize winning without paying any attention to having fun and respecting others, then you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If the only aspect of having fun playing soccer is when your team wins, then there will obviously be issues when the team loses.
My vantage point as a referee in the middle of the field can be quite illuminating. Soccer is a low-scoring sport but when the number of goals scored during a game exceeds five, youth players at all ages (believe it or not!) start to lose track of the score. Unfortunately, their parents on the touchlines seem to be much more aware of the score and I have heard comments like, “Your team is losing by a goal,” toward the end of the game.
Being too competitive results in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) losing refs as most quit in their first two years with verbal abuse from kids’ parents being the number one reason for quitting. Think about that before the next time that you yell at a ref.
Being too competitive results in injuries, some of them quite serious. The nosebleeds and tummy aches in pee-wee soccer at age 7 where no standings are kept become the broken noses and torn ACL’s at age 14 from overcompetition and overuse. After all, when was the last time that you heard about an 8-year-old being seriously hurt in a game? I wish that we could say the same about teenagers. Look at any roster during the current high school season being played and you will probably spot at least one player who is out for the season due to injury.
The Math is very easy.
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 10 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 US Youth Soccer. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/