Sporting Club Gjøa Plays in Scandinavia and Discovers Roots
New York Youth Soccer News: Gjøa is New York State’s oldest youth soccer club
Tracing one’s heritage has now become trendy but while DNA searches may be commonplace, discovering the roots of an old youth soccer club is not. So few clubs know their origins, fewer still remember their history as founding coaches often failed to ever create written accounts.
In New York, Sporting Club Gjøa of the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) rediscovered its roots recently when six youth travel teams, five boys squads, and one girl’s team, ventured to Norway to play ball.
Sporting Club Gjøa’s teams competed in one of the world’s largest youth soccer tournament, the Norway Cup, held in the capital of Oslo from July 28 to August 5.
Over 2,000 teams participated and SC Gjøa Berg, who won the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association’s Boys-Under-15 Arch Cup in June, advanced the furthest of the Gjøa teams, making it to the quarterfinals.
“The Norway Cup was amazing! Their slogan is ’Memories for life,’ and that’s exactly what our trip was,” commented SC Gjøa Director of Youth Soccer Lee Kellett. “There are multiple field complexes and they bring in a carnival with a big stage. Our whole club there watched our teams play and we had 83 players, seven staff plus parents on the trip.“
The following week, August 5 to 11, Gjøa was hosted by the Nesodden IF club, a short corner kick from Oslo. The New Yorkers toured the Viking Museum as well as the Fram Museum, where they saw the Gjøa boat for which the club is named. It was skippered by Roald Amundsen, the first person to make it to the South Pole. The boat was recently restored at the museum by Hardanger Fartøyvernsenter.
Gjøa’s philosophy has always been to provide soccer training to as many children as possible, regardless of their family’s financial status.
Currently, over 400 players, both boys and girls, are registered in the Brooklyn club, which is New York’s oldest youth soccer club.
Soccer and darts are the only sports Gjøa competes in nowadays as whaling and tug-of-war were both dropped nearly a half-century ago after having champion teams for many years in both. Gjøa’s soccer program is celebrating its centennial in 2018 although the club was originally founded in 1911.
Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association: With over 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. 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.
