By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
August 13, 2020-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) congratulates Reilly Rich, who is receiving a Jack Bauman Scholarship, which is based on success in high school as well as community service.
Reilly was Class President, lead violinist, a member of the National Honor Society, captain of the varsity teams in soccer, basketball and lacrosse plus was the 2019 New York State Class B Player of the Year for soccer at Central Valley Academy. She broke the school record for goals scored when she was an eighth grader and then broke her own record as a senior.
The Ilion resident has played for the Coliseum Soccer Club in the Central New York Youth Soccer League (CNYYSL) since the age of eight as well as for Eastern New York’s Olympic Development Program (ODP).
Reilly wrote in her essay, ”I think it’s vitally important to give back to my community in any way that I can because if I didn’t have all the opportunities bestowed upon me, along with all the people in my life who support me, I would not be the person I am today. I’ve been fortunate enough to have grown up in such an amazing, close-knit community where everyone truly comes together to support one another. Everyone wants to be part of something positive and when our soccer team, for the first time in school history, became league champs, then sectional champs, then regional champs, and then state finalists, the community ended up being the driving force that excelled our team.”
The scholarship’s namesake, Jack Bauman, is considered the father of women’s soccer on Long Island. He was devoted to the Massapequa Soccer Club, Eastern New York and making sure that girls had as many opportunities to play soccer as boys did in an era when girls playing sports was not as accepted as it is today.
We wish Reilly the best studying and playing soccer at Nazareth College.
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.