Photo of the Oceanside Fusion with Steve Padaetz in the inset
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
June 12, 2015-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that soccer lifer Steve Padaetz (pad-itz), a Renaissance man who has been a player, coach, referee and administrator, is being honored as our Personality of the Month for June.
“We at Eastern New York are very pleased to honor Steve Padaetz as our Personality of the Month since he has taken on so many roles to give back to the game, including serving as one of our Trustees,” commented ENYYSA President Richard Christiano.
Steve’s first contact with soccer came when his alma mater, Far Rockaway High School in Queens, resurrected its boys varsity soccer team in the early 1970s after a nine-year absence. He tried out and made the team as a sophomore, playing central defender through his senior year, then played club soccer at Brooklyn College.
In college, Steve was a Communications Major and his passion for the Beautiful Game increased while working as a stringer and reporter for WBCR, the college radio station. Along with Roberto Abramowitz, now of ESPN and ABC Sports, Steve covered the Cosmos and New York Arrows when both were in their heyday, interviewing Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia, Werner Roth, Steve Zungul and Branko Segota.
“My start in youth soccer began in the early ‘90s when we relocated to Oceanside, Long Island from Orange County, New York for a business opportunity and my then five-year-old daughter brought home a flyer for Oceanside United's intramural soccer program,“ Steve said. “Eastern New York Hall of Famer Bessie Lamonica was the first person I met at Oceanside United and, 25 years later, I remain involved in the club.”
Steve’s “real job” is VP of Sales and Marketing of The Pedre Collection, a Hicksville-based timepiece manufacturer and wholesaler. His role takes him on business trips across the United States and internationally so he often uses soccer as a way to break the ice.
Steve coached six teams for Oceanside United during the past quarter-century, four as head coach and two as assistant coach. His current squad, the Boys-Under-16 Oceanside Fusion, is that rare Premier team where 17 of the 18 kids on the team live in the Oceanside School District and started out playing intramural soccer for the club. Nevertheless, the Fusion is currently at the top of the table in Division 2 of the Region 1 Champions League and were finalists of the FC Delco Players Cup in Pennsylvania on Memorial Day Weekend.
Steve volunteered as President of Oceanside United from 2010 to 2012 and served a dozen years on their Board of Directors in such roles as Vice President, Secretary, Travel Director, Tournament Director plus Training, Education and Development Director. As people in Oceanside realized, when you needed something done, you called Steve.
As if that wasn’t enough, Steve has volunteered as a Trustee for the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) since 2013 and served on the LIJSL’s Games Committee from 1995 to 2009.
Steve has volunteered as a Trustee for Eastern New York since 2012 and has served on the State Appeals, Risk Management, Competition and State Cup committees. Steve is also the Director of the ENY Premier League (ENYPL), beginning the finals format last year. Steve is organizing the ENYPL Finals on Saturday, June 20 at Owl Hollow Fields on Staten Island and helping fellow Eastern New York Trustee Jeff Wexler organize the ENY Champions Cup on Sunday, June 21 at the same venue.
Somehow, he also finds the time to referee youth soccer games after taking up the whistle in 1999. Congratulations to Steve Padaetz, Eastern New York’s Personality of the Month for June.
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) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with 11 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. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Special Children. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of the United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.