Congratulations to the 2012 All-League players and coaches of the year!
Conference I, League A: Coach of the year — Kara Sefkic, Lourdes
Conference I, League A: POY — Biz Latuso, Arlington and Alyssa Zeoli, John Jay-East Fishkill
Conference I, League B: Coach of the Year — Paul Smith, John Jay
Conference I, League B: POY — Brenna Brown, North Salem
Conference I, League C: Coach of the Year — Gary Van Asselt, Haldane
Conference I, League C: POY — Kennedy Sherman, Hen Hud and Jessica Harrison, Haldane
Conference II, League A: Coach of the Year — Stephanie Martino, Tuckahoe
Conference II, League A: POY — Rebecca Landau, Solomon Schechter
Conference II, League B: Coach of the Year — Mindy Genovese, Scarsdale
Conference II, League B: POY — Sarah Frohman, Scarsdale and Giuliana Lagumina, Ursuline
Conference II, League C: Coach of the Year — Deena Mehran-Riccio, Dobbs Ferry
Conference II, League C: POY — Fallon Sheridan, Ardsley
Conference II, League D: Coach of the Year — Don Cupertino, Bronxville
Conference II, League D: POY — Meredith Donovan, Bronxville
Conference II, League E: Coach of the Year — Carlo Mitrione, Saunders
Conference II, League E: POY — Amanda Smith and Pamela Sanchez, Saunders
Conference III, League A: Coach of the Year — Michael Martino, Blind Brook
Conference III, League A: POY — Jazmin Acosta, Port Chester
Conference III, League B: Coach of the Year — Owen Scully, Briarcliff
Conference III, League B: POY — Sarah Goldstein, Briarcliff
Conference III, League C: Coach of the Year — Bryan Horn, Byram Hills
Conference III, League C: POY — Nicole Hoffman, Byram Hills
Conference IV, League A: Coach of the Year — Vinny Apicella, North Rockland
Conference IV, League A: POY — Julianna Cabrera, North Rockland
Conference IV, League B: Coach of the Year — Tim Peabody, Pearl River
Conference IV, League B: POY — Marissa Scognamiglio and Casey Walsh, Pearl River
16 Comments
Congratulations to all of the winners and best of luck to the seniors in all of their endeavors. I bid adieu to Soccerfan, Upstate, pirate4ever and all of the other bloggers; it was fun. I am off to follow the MAAC.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Yes , the hudson valley provided some fantastic soccer this season. Congrats to the award winners and good luck to all seniors playing next season. It was fun nssoccerdad , and sorry for calling you an ass. upstate, you are young and really need to think about training and coaching the youth of our area. your passion for your sport is obvious and nice to see for an old guy like me. Happy , healthy holidays to all.
BOTTOM LINE ON THE SUBJECT OF PLAYERS PLAYING FOR EITHER TRAVEL OR HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS:
1) When a girl goes out for the Varsity Team (no matter what the sport), the High School Coach needs to ask them UPFRONT, if they are willing to commit to practice and play with the Varsity HS Team throughout the ENTIRE High School Season, no matter what. If they say YES, then the Student Athlete, should they make their High School Team, would then be provided the opportunity to be able to play on the Varsity Team. If the girl says that she is rather play on either an Elite, Travel, ECNL, or whatever you want to call it “CLUB TEAM”, and with such might not be able (or willing) to commit 100% to the High School Team, then, NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE GIRL MAY BE, that High School Coach should NOT allow the girl to play on the High School Team, NO MATTER WHAT.
2) Yes, the girls (Student Athlete) has the every right to choose the direction that she wishes to take, be it playing on that “CLUB/TRAVEL/ECNL Team” or the “High School Varsity Team” But she should not be allowed to have it both ways, in order to make it a situation that makes it BEST for the “INDIVIDUAL. It shouldn’t matter whether or not the girl is a 8th Grader or a 12th Grader. THAT INDIVIDUAL MUST MAKE THE CHOICE “PRIOR” TO THE START OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SEASON AND LIVE WITH IT AGAIN ‘BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS”
3) Sadly, in today’s age of SPECIALIZATION, parents get involve with this whole mess and in MANY CASES, force the High School Coach (via pressure from the School Administration) to allow the girl to play on both the High School Team, while also playing for the CLUB/ELITE/TRAVEL Ball/ECNL, because the parents want to ‘Maximize” the “INDIVIDUALS” experience playing in that specific sport, solely to benefit the PLAYER and not necessarily the TEAM. Many highly qualified, experienced, and long tenured high school coaches, recently, have been FIRED or have QUIT Coaching High School Ball, because they have taken a stand against this, to their respective School Boards, and have been OVER-RULED.
In Summary, I believe that eventually, with School Athletic Budgets shrinking down to nothing, CLUB/TRAVEL ball will take the place of High School Athletics. Girls (and Boys) will PAY to PLAY and sadly, some who are not on that “Elite Level” talent wise, but just want an opportunity to be part of a team, during their high school days, will not be provided that opportunity. It will end up being a group of teams, who will “FIGHT” over the recruitment of girls (and boys) to play on their “Elite” Team, with the process getting uglier and uglier. Egos of Coaches and Parent will become CENTER STAGE and the era will end up being called the “ME ERA” vs. the “TEAM ERA”
BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY – Let the girls go play on their club (ECNL) teams, if that is what they want to do. Let the girls who want to play and represent their High School, play on their respective High School Teams. BUT DON’T ALLOW THE TWO TO MIX – PERIOD !!!
AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, THERE IS NO “I” IN THE WORD “TEAM”
Well said Hallie I made my own daughter make choices and she chose to play high school and commit to it. She has great memories in both travel ball ,and high school ball now that will last forever. She also still loves the sport and will play in college. coaches need to make a stand and teach the right values to our kids.
Now we finally have something to be thankful for. All of this time we have been waiting for the “bottom line” as if we where out in Thunderdome waiting for Max to arrive and save us. Such modern and enlightened theories on school tax policy, coach-employer relations and the mission of high school education. Why have you waited so long?
Three observations:
Polite people do not shout – give your “Caps Lock” key a rest
Adolf Hitler valued loyalty above everything else
True there is no “I” in team, but there is an “I” in winner
Sorry to disappoint you (HS above all else) but, no matter whether it is grammatically correct, there is no “I” in winner. Teams win championships. Individuals who look out for themselves above their team, do not and simply have no life values and with such will never be a winner in life.
There is no ” I ” in team, but there is a “ME”
HSabove all else , there is also an “I” in idiot. Don`t waste your time with these fools Hallie they are beyond repair !! and hitler did not value loyalty he forced it on his people just like these academy teams and elite leagues. Most girls want to play for their schools , but get forced to do what their coaches and parents tell them to do. sounds like a bunch of “winners ” to me !!
Hallie: “NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE GIRL MAY BE, that High School Coach should NOT allow the girl to play on the High School Team, NO MATTER WHAT.” (sic)
Pirate: “I made my own daughter make choices” & “Most girls want to play for their schools, but get forced to do what their coaches and parents tell them to do.”
So, when you two impose your ideas on the student, its a noble tradition. But if another parent makes their daughter do something, they are idiots. By the way a player cannot be “forced” to play high level soccer for very long, they have to want to do it.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but calling people names really diminishes any respect your ideas deserve. In closing, Hallie do you really want to exclude more than half of the girls listed above from HS soccer? How would that benefit HS soccer, or anyone for that matter?
To: HS above all else: If the player wishes to play for a Club/Travel Team, I am certainly not against the individual making that choice. It is absolutely the right of that girl to do what ever she feels she wants to do, and that is fine. But one has to make that decision up front. The individuals cannot have it both ways.
If they want to play for their Travel/Club team then fine. Good luck to them.
If they want to play for their High School team, then that’s fine too.
But a player has to make the choice what team they want to “represent” and play for. A player should NOT be able to have it both ways and when a “conflict in schedule” arises, the player then chooses what team to play for, to what is in their personal best interest? That is not, “In My Opinion” (Yes, my opinion only) instilling the proper set of values in our young student athletes.
That’s all I was trying to get across.
I never called anyone any names, so please don’t accuse me of doing something that I never did. Thank you
Ignoring for the moment that describing a 100 year storm as a “conflict in schedule” is beyond trite, please tell me how this scenario is different: A science student is scheduled to compete in the finals of the Westinghouse Competition. The winner gets a $100,000 scholarship. Unfortunately it conflicts with an event in class. The science teacher says the student, who no doubt will write a perfect score on the SAT’s, has to decide between their class and the prestigious competition. Should the principal succumb to parental pressure and “over rule” the teacher, or should the student be taught a values lesson and be made to decide between their “personal interest” and participating with his or her high school classmates. Surely there will be jealous parents who want to see the science student falter, but hopefully you see the ego-centric absurdity of the science teacher’s position and the sour grapes of the parents.
What happens on the field should be governed by the same principles that govern the classroom, because athletics are simply an extension of the classroom. Every aspect of high school, should be made available to the most students possible. That is why everyone has to pay taxes, and everyone must be accommodated. An attitude such as “Don’t allow the two to mix – Period” should never prevail. High School should not be treated as the pinnacle of our young people’s lives where mistakes or successes define them for the rest of their lives.
sounds like someone did not have a very enjoyable high school career !! your essay is absurd and unrealistic. if a student takes a position on a team, another student gets cut from that team ,so the same amount of students will participate. Athletics are not an extension of the class room either, they are activities that are not mandatory. So while every student receives an education ,not every student can be on the team of their choice. so for selfish people to play part time is just that , selfish. Your thought process that somehow we are jealous of these ego maniac , selfish girls is the absurdity. these girls in question play all year long and are seen by many college coaches. to not be able to miss a league game, because your coach and parents say so, and leave your team mates high and dry in a state game is rediculous. where do you really think these girls would have rather been playing that day? Just because you pay taxes does not mean you can force bad values into a whole school district !!
this whole wanting to play for a club/travel team when it benefits the athlete instead of playing on their high school team has gotten totally out of hand. I agree with pirate4ever when they say that participating in high school athletics is an elective activity and not a classroom requirement. Yes, some schools have a maximum number of student athletes it will allow to play on any given High School Team. I will continue to say it. Kids have the right to choose what team they wish to play for (Be it CLUB/TRAVEL or High School), either way, with the decision should be made BEFORE the season starts. But they should NOT be allowed the right to pick and choose the team and days that they are playing for that given team, just to allow what is best for the individual. It just cannot work that way. It puts the individuals goals and objectives ahead of the teams goals and objectives.
Parents need to instill these core values in their children.
Idiot, absurd, unrealistic – pirate, is there intellectual device or rhetorical flair that you are not an expert in? One thing you and Hallie are absolutely wrong about is the educational aspect of HS sports. The players are called student-athletes for a reason. Perhaps the opening line of the Section One Girls Soccer Booklet puts it better, “Interscholastic Athletics is an inherent part of the total education program for students in the secondary schools of Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester Counties.” This obsession with club players is truly startling.
There are 72 teams in Section 1, and because of a once in a century hurricane that disrupted life for hundred of miles, two girls miss half of a game (that they were not really playing in) and the club players from the other 71 should be forced to choose between their club teams, that are for the most part inactive, and their HS teams. Teams, by the way, that have been playing with club players for years. I do not see the logical connection.
For the sake of intelligent discourse, I will allow that it seems possible that the missing their league game would not have diminished the college prospects of the girls involved. Unfortunately I am not informed enough to make that judgement. Nevertheless that is a far cry from the extreme position that the two groups should never mix.
Neither one of you have addressed what HS soccer will look like if the top 10% of the girls are excluded. First some teams would fold, not every team has a full roster. Second, many teams would become pathetically uncompetitive, unless of course futile struggling against insurmountable odds is another one of those core values we need to teach our kids. There would not be any worry about a player abandoning the team in a playoff drive, there would not be any playoff drives. The value we would wind up teaching our kids is that if someone is better than you, make a rule to exclude them – just dress it up as an important tradition.
HS above all else,
You are not getting the point. nobody wants to exclude these fantastic players from school ball . We just think if you decide to play school ball you should have to make it a priority over travel ball or else give up your roster spot to someone who values their position on the team. School ball is not near the quality of soccer i am used to seeing my girls play when they play with their club team , but none the less these girls play hard for a common goal and form bonds that can last a life time. For someone to minimize the magnitude of a state level game by walking out to play with their club is hurtful and selfish towards their team mates. My daughter has played club ball since the age of 7 and has been on the very best teams in the area and has never let her high school team down. This is possible if we don`t allow the club teams to set the rules. putting high school ball as her priority in the fall has not hurt my daughter in the recruiting process or with her standing on her club team. You put way too much value on how good these so called elite players are. You talk in your writing like we are trying to get rid of the good players so our kids can shine. Again , not the case . My daughter has played with and against every top level player in the area and has excelled and received numerous awards over these players you speak so highly of while staying loyal to her high school team . .So Why is it ok for these players to walk out on the HS team but if they miss the club game they are thrown off the team? when did travel soccer become so all encompassing that these poor kids can`t say no to a game and represent themselves and their community in a high school game. The main point i am trying to make is that in the fall a player should have to play for their high school team over the travel team when there is a conflict. If you can`t do this then give your position to someone who can. Lastly , i am not an expert in any field and it is obvious through your writing that you are and intelligent person. I am just trying to have a heated debate over a real issue that involves my children. Sorry for the name calling , but i`m a blue collar guy and i write like i speak. thanks for your insight , but i can`t see your side of this. have a great holiday season !!
Fair enough…Merry Christmas to you too!