5 Star Soccer Academy Taking On All Challengers in Virtual Soccer
New York Soccer News: All you need is a soccer ball and a chair to play
While a penalty kick shootout is not the best way to decide a winner of a tied game in soccer, it’s a wonderful way to kick out boredom when you are locked down because of the coronavirus.
It was the brainstorm of Nahum Romero, President of the Five Star Soccer Academy in the Big Apple Youth Soccer League (BAYSL), to set up a penalty kick shootout against opposing teams from the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA). The players take a chair in their home and walk 11 feet (a foot is their actual foot, not 1/3 of a yard) and that’s where they attempt the penalty kick. If they kick the ball through the chair’s legs, they have scored.
“I needed to come up with a competitive idea so our players would not be so bored,“ Nahum explained. “The shootout works out great as the kids are so excited and their parents are very excited too. All you need is a chair and a soccer ball and we have teams from Under-6 to Under-10 that would like to play other squads.”
It’s obviously different from a penalty kick which is 12 yards away from the goal, defended by a goalkeeper.
On April 6, Five Star’s Boys-Under-9 players participated in a shootout against Queensborough United of the Long Island Junior Soccer League
(LIJSL):
Nahum has given his players other challenges during this break from soccer games, including trying to balance on a soccer ball for 40 seconds. Your team anywhere in the world can take on Five Star in a shootout by contacting him at 347-353-5307.
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. 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.
