Youth soccer teams only want to play competitive games against opponents of similar abilities so they can extend themselves to win the game, developing their skills in the process.
It’s the philosophy of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) to host competitions where every team entered has a legitimate chance of becoming the champion. Not easy to do considering that we have over 100,000 players of diverse abilities in nine member leagues from the East End of Long Island to the Canadian border. It is this philosophy that has led to the creation of the ENY Presidents Cup as a new State Cup competition as the presidents of some leagues were concerned that there needs to be a middle tier for every squad in Eastern New York to have a decent shot at becoming a champion.
For years, Eastern New York has hosted two State Cup competitions – the State Open Cup and the Arch Cup.
The State Open Cup is open to any team as its name implies, but the teams who have traditionally won the competition have been the best premier teams. The State Open Cup champs go on to regionals and potentially nationals as the State Open Cup is part of the national championship series.
The Arch Cup, sponsored by Arch Capital Group, is for travel teams only. The squads who are excluded from entering the competition are premier teams as well as teams who are in the league’s top division(s), depending on the size of the league.
The new ENY Presidents Cup will register teams who are not strong enough yet to compete in the State Open Cup but could be dominant if they entered the Arch Cup. It is available for any team from an Eastern New York member league as well as the lowest bracket, the Championship Division, of the Eastern Development Program (EDP).
The ENY Presidents Cup, for the U12 to U16 age groups for both boys and girls, will be played in the spring with a single elimination format and the number of teams in each division will be limited to eight.
“You spoke and we listened so we have created the ENY Presidents Cup to give all the middle-tier teams in Eastern New York a good chance to become a State Cup champ,” commented ENYYSA President Richard Christiano.
Registration for the ENY Presidents Cup closes on January 25. For more info about the ENY Presidents Cup, please contact Melanie Corbett at the ENYYSA office at 516-766-0849 or [email protected]