An Open Letter to the Hauppauge Soccer Community

 Now that the season has been completed I wanted to thank all the coaches for volunteering and making the program work. Without you being there for the program, Hauppauge would have no soccer club. I also wanted to thank all of the Division Reps for their dedication the past few years. Your work does not go unappreciated or unnoticed.

Since this was my last season as Intramural Coordinator I also wanted to let you know about the Executive Board that Hauppauge Soccer has the benefit of having.

Steve Goldman has worked tirelessly the last number of years. Steve had been intramural Coordinator prior to ascending to the role of President of the club. He is the one who recruited me to be Division 1 coordinator many years ago. I’m actually glad he did. 

Carl Ritter is the one in charge of the fields. Without Carl’s diligence we’d be playing in the parking lots. Twice a year, Carl takes out the paint, the field marker, lines of string, caked with paint and field stakes along with his trusty tape measures and lines 6-8 fields throughout Hauppauge. It is also Carl we have to thank for the somewhat new Rocky Road field.

Frank Scozzari is in charge of equipment and is the one that lets me order the great shirts and hats we provide to the coaches. Frank spares no expense much to the chagrin of our treasurer,

Pedro Contreras. Pedro is the one who keeps the rest of the board’s spending in check. He has worked many hours to get the club to a non-profit status allowing us to do things we weren’t previously able to do.

Andrew Black, the Clubs Registrar came up with the new and vastly improved online registration system. He has worked many hours making sure all the players are properly registered and insured.

Mike LoRusso is Andrew’s counterpart, but for Travel Soccer. The Travel program has roughly 26 teams who all look to Mike to resolve any problems and get their teams registered with Long Island Jr Soccer. Mike has done a great job over the years.

Manny Morales, past President and as of this writing, past Referee Coordinator has been involved in the soccer program since the invention of the wheel give or take a few decades. Manny has been a wealth of knowledge and wisdom for the club and his shoes will be tough to fill, although incoming Ref Coordinator, Pete Crociata has some pretty big feet.

Lastly is the club’s secretary and super mom Joanne Goldblatt. Joanne watches over all of us including keeping the minutes of the meeting to remind us what we are trying to achieve as a club.

These people all volunteer their time for the benefit of the kids in the program and the community and they are to be applauded for it. It takes a lot of time and effort to get each season underway and these people do a fantastic job. I’ve spent the last few years serving on the board and I’ve had my share of headaches along the way, I’ll admit. But the rewards of seeing some of these players come through the ranks far outweighs the few issues I’ve encountered. 

As I stated earlier, these board members are volunteers. The funny thing is that only one Executive Board member still has a child in intramurals. The rest have either kids in travel or not in the program at all anymore.

The time for others to step up is now. This program cannot run without volunteers. We are constantly looking for new coaches and division coordinators. At this moment I am looking for someone to step up and assume the Executive role of Intramural Coordinator.

The preference is for someone who has a Division 1 or Division 2 player to step up, but anyone interested would be considered.

It was an honor and privilege to serve the community and soccer club for the 9 years I was involved.  I have made many new friendships through Hauppauge Soccer and I will always be grateful for that.  I also will still be involved with a few of the travel teams so I’m sure I’ll see you around.

Thanks again,

Jeff Segal

Former Intramural Coordinator