By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
July 6, 2019-Happy Birthday to Bohdan Demczar, whose big day is today. The Town of Poughkeepsie Soccer Club President is being celebrated by the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) as our Personality of the Month for July.
Like many American adults, Bo became involved in soccer when he first registered his kids to play, which was 22 years ago. Bo coached his sons’ and daughter’s squads until they entered the travel team program of the East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) when they were Under-10, and he served as the assistant coach of those teams for a few years.
But the Hyde Park resident found his calling in soccer on the administrative end with the Town of Poughkeepsie Soccer Club (TOPSC). He has volunteered as Secretary (4 years), Treasurer (4 years as well), been the club’s Registrar, Tournament Director plus President of TOPSC for the past three years.
“I have grown the TOPSC Board from 9 to 15 active individuals, bringing a mix of personalities to the group. Trying to get volunteers has not been easy,” Bo explained. “I have to make challenging decisions every day that face our club, that includes club strategies, field challenges, coaching staff, dealing with team situations, training, player development and parent complaints to name a few. We have a great Board that supports me and assists in helping run our non-profit organization.”
During the past three years, TOPSC’s travel team and intramural programs have both expanded and the number of travel teams playing in EHYSL has increased to 21. Last year, the Poughkeepsie Columbus Day Weekend Tournament sold out with many premier teams participating.
Additionally during Bo’s tenure as TOPSC President, many improvements have been made to Greenvale Park including new goals and nets, benches for all fields, expanding the sprinkler system plus a new announcement board and concrete pavilion at the park. The number of club sponsors increased during this time and a TOPSC coach was recognized by EHYSL as a Coach of the Year in each of Bo’s three years leading the club.
“Bo has been a tremendous asset to TOPSC for many years as both a coach and an administrator,” commented EHYSL President Jim Purdy, who nominated Bo for Personality of the Month. “Over the last three years, Bo reluctantly took over the leadership of his club after Joe Carucci, who was the club's former president, moved to Texas. Shortly after taking over, he faced several pay-to-play programs looking to recruit teams from the club. He worked tirelessly to keep those teams and made sure every player who wanted to play for the club had the opportunity to do so.“
And all this volunteering is now occurring after Bo’s kids have long since graduated from youth soccer, have graduated from college too and are pursuing their own careers. From 9 to 5, Bo works for IBM as Senior Engineer addressing complex client situations and as an accountant who is registered as an Enrolled Agent representing clients in tax situations.
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.