Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) TOPSoccer Volunteers Preparing For the Spring Season
New York Soccer News: The Long Island Junior Soccer League has 30 clubs with TOPSoccer programs – The Outreach Program for Soccer. 2020 TOPSoccer was canceled because of the Coronavirus pandemic but plans for the youth soccer TOPSoccer program are underway.
TOPSoccer stands for The Outreach Program for Soccer, providing an opportunity for children with intellectual, physical and/or social characteristics that may require modified educational practices and services in order to develop to their potential.
The program has grown by leaps and bounds since the Huntington Boys Club (HBC) and Massapequa Soccer Club separately kicked off programs back in 1978. These Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) clubs started the first soccer program ever for Children With Special Needs, not only in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) but in the entire world. Using the slogan of “Come Play With Me,” today there are 30 LIJSL clubs with TOPSoccer Programs as Syosset recently merged into Plainview/Old Bethpage’s TOPSoccer Program.
The 2020 TOPSoccer Spring Season was canceled because of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic but some clubs played last fall with the hope that more clubs will return this upcoming spring.
“The Fall Season worked out well for the clubs that did play,” commented LIJSL TOPSoccer Program Chairperson Ann Marie Toth. “The kids had a good time which was the most important thing.”
Just like anything else that the LIJSL does, the strength of the LIJSL TOPSoccer Program comes from its many volunteers. In 2019, Jessica Lee of the West Hempstead Chiefs TOPSoccer Program was honored by US Youth Soccer as the National TOPSoccer Buddy of the Year. Last year, East Islip Just For Kicks’ Bella Pepe received East Region TOPSoccer Buddy of the Year honors.
“Our TOPSoccer players are the nicest and most loyal people that you will ever meet,” Toth added. For more info or to register your child in the LIJSL TOPSoccer Program, please call her at 516-694-3567.
Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association: With 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) reaches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border.
