Stillwell Fields in Woodbury, Long Island on the weekend. It would normally be filled with hundreds of kids playing soccer.
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
March 18, 2020-Traditionally, teams in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) kick off their Spring Season in March for Downstate leagues and in April for Upstate leagues. In these unprecedented times, ENYYSA has highly recommended that our nine leagues consider postponing all games until April, following the directives from US Soccer below, for the health and well-being of all our members.
The largest league in ENYYSA, the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL), cancelled its annual convention on March 13 to 15 for the first time in the 38 years that the convention has been held. Its 1,500 travel teams will have to wait until late April to start playing as the LIJSL will reassess the situation then. The traditional curtainraiser to the LIJSL Spring Season is the first round of the Long Island Cup, which was scheduled for March 28 and 29, but regretfully the cup will not be played this year.
The oldest youth soccer league in the United States, the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL), has postponed all league games until the weekend of April 18 and 19. The Metrokids Interregional Soccer League (MIRSL) also is looking at starting the Spring Season on the weekend of April 18 and 19.
The Big Apple Youth Soccer League (BAYSL) is set to start its Spring/Summer Tournament on Saturday, April 25 as long as it is safe to do so.
The Staten Island Youth Soccer League (SIYSL) will revisit this at the end of March with very tentative plans to start on April 18.
The East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL) will assess on April 15 to ascertain if it is safe to kick off its Spring Season after that. This protocol affects not only the EHYSL but also the East Hudson Academy.
The Capital District Youth Soccer League (CDYSL) cancelled its 10th Annual Coaches Workshop on March 14. Long before anybody knew about the coronavirus pandemic, the CDYSL scheduled its Spring Season to kick off on Sunday, April 26 and will keep that timeline if it is safe to do so.
The Central New York State Soccer League (CNYSSL) will make a decision around April 10 when to kick off the Spring Season.
With approximately 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 nine 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.