Long Island Junior Soccer League

Pair Of Long Island HOFers Inducted Into ENYYSA Hall Of Fame

The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association had its annual Hall of Fame Banquet on January 25 as two major contributors to the game around the Long Island Junior Soccer League were officially inducted into the ENYYSA Hall of Fame. Both Peter Bralower and Jim Volpe received the honor.

Bralower was a founding coach of the Rockville Centre Soccer Club in 1971 and later served as a board member for the club from 1989 to 1991. He helped institute small-sided games prior to US Soccer adopting it as a development tool and also start the Rockville Centre’s player giveback program, Kids Helping Kids, as well as the club’s TOPSoccer program. He was inducted into the LIJSL Hall of Fame in 2000 as well as Peter Bralower Field being dedicated to him in 2012.

Volpe has made a lasting impact on the Oceanside United Soccer Club. He served as the club’s president from 1989 to 2000. He began coaching for the club in 1977 with the intramural program and coached a half-dozen teams in LIJSL as well as volunteering for decades at the Rudy Lamonica Indoor Tournament, the oldest youth soccer indoor tourney in the United States. He was inducted into the LIJSL Hall of Fame in 2015.

“Two of Long Island’s finest servants of the game were deservedly inducted into the ENYYSA Hall of Fame,” LIJSL President Andrew Seabury said.  

There were several other LIJSL contributors that received awards this past Saturday in ENYYSA’s annual Of The Year Awards. Honorees included South Huntington’s Chris Ingwersen who was named the Girls Competitive Coach of the Year; New Hyde Park’s Maiken Bursig who was named the TOPSoccer Coach of the Year; Elwood’s Aristotelis Kougemitros who was named the Volunteer of the Year; and Manhasset’s Owen McCormack who was named the TOPSoccer Buddy of the Year.

The LIJSL congratulates all of the recent award recipients.