New Hyde Park Wildcats
TOP Soccer Tournament
The quote “Soccer is a beautiful game” is used many times by athletes, fans and sports announcers. But to truly experience the wonder of soccer, one just had to attend the 16th New Hyde Park Wildcats TOP soccer tournament held Saturday, Oct. 5. This was an opportunity for the athletes who participate in the TOP (The Outreach Program for those with special needs) soccer program to have their own soccer tournament. Clubs that were represented at the tournament were from New Hyde Park, Sachem, West Hempstead, Garden City, Smithtown, Commack, HBC and Plainview- Old Bethpage.
The weather was cloudy and foggy with a slight chance of rain, but this did not deter more than 120 athletes from participating in the tournament. Counting the athletes, parents, siblings, fans and volunteers, more than 300 attended the event. There must be something wonderful about this game of soccer that draws everyone to the tournament that began early Saturday morning. The New Hyde Park Club was represented with 47 athletes and came to the field ready to play and enjoy the camaraderie of their teammates.
The Juniors played against Garden City and a few guest players to round out the teams. The Juniors had some great games with Coach Katie Bletsch guiding them on the field. The Juniors that participated were Christopher and Daniel Mendez, James and Jesse Sarro, Brando and Bryan Cisneros, Desmond O’Callaghan, Luke Schwartz, David Cheung, Jaydon and Kyle Marquardt and Lucas Mitacchione. This was the first tournament for some of the Juniors, but they all played their best, with sportsmanship and teamwork and enjoyed the game of soccer.
The Intermediates turned out in full force and Coach Maiken Bursig had to divide the Wildcats into two teams. The Intermediates held their own against a very strong Plainview team, but were very competitive with the West Hempstead and Commack teams. The Intermediates playing were John Bertuccio, Chris Cooney, Petros D’Amico, Stephen DiBiasi, Demetri Georgedakis, Sophocles Gianakis, Kyle Hanratty, Joshua Hom, Stephen Johnston, Elijah, Kim, Nicolas Krieger, Alex Laroia, Matthew Lausev, Nick Mazariegos and Sebastian Pinto all played with gusto.
All players took turns at different positions and even goal tended. It looked like their practice time really paid off. Some athletes that never scored before did so at this tournament. But what was more important was they had fun playing the game and made new friends along the way.
The Seniors also had a large representation, consisting of Joe Caban, Stefani Egre, James Fahey, Mary and David Glass, Sebastian Gonzalez, Samantha Duggan, Charlie Hinz, Sam Ho, Frank LaPinta, Justin Lim, Andrea Matteo, Tim Roth, Billy Russo, Matthew Saraiva, Harrison Stein, Adam Strominger, Patrick Williams, Tristan Yang and Jefferson Yen. The Seniors had difficult matches against some older, stronger and more experienced teams, but this did not stop them from playing their best. Coach Brian Evers couldn’t be with us at the tournament, but he would have been proud of the Seniors for their skill work and team play. Their coach Matt Bletsch did a fantastic job with his substitutions and motivating players on and off the field.
As the athletes finished their matches, they had team photos taken which will be given out at their annual luncheon in November. The athletes received medals and patches for their participation and fair play and were treated to drinks and food.
As always, thanks all the volunteers who run this tournament every year. Some of these volunteers have been coming for 16 years.
It all began with Sean McGonigle, Rich Bursig, Jay Abberton, Kevin Oster and Mike Horan, who gave more than 10 hours of their time to line all the soccer fields. On the morning of the tournament Rich, Kevin, Dave Gilroy, Rich Bletsch, Dawn Ward, Mike and Kiernan were there at 7 a.m. to set up all the nets, which is not an easy task.
The games were refereed by Dena Zornberg, Kyle Triptree, Kristina Horan and members of the New Hyde Prkt Memorial High School varsity girls soccer team. A big thank you to Matt and Jessica Bletsch, Katie Bletsch, Brenda and Rich Bletsch, Dave and Debbie Gilroy, Dominic and Holly Marrano, Kathie and Jay Abberton, Kevin, Ruth and Michelle Oster, Eileen Stevens, the Horan family, Rich and Maiken Bursig, the Boniello family, Sarahelena and Juan Barrios, Amanda Choy, Neil Duggan, Mark Soldatic, Kiera Ward, Daniella Lujambio, Olivia Namendoft, Danny Naso, Patricia Ferrente and all the other volunteers.
The NHP Wildcats had more than 50 volunteers at this tournament, many of them young adults who gave up their morning time to help with setup, food, medals, working as coaches with the NHP players and players from other teams. These volunteers are what make up a community and New Hyde Park is very lucky to have these volunteers living in their town.
