Roosevelt Island Youth Program Seniors All Stars Play Exciting Game And Learn Leadership Skills - RIYP Playoff Games Start Saturday November 15

Image Of RIYP Seniors All Stars From Adib Mansour

Roosevelt Island Youth Program (RIYP) Soccer Director Adib Mansour reports:

ALL STAR SENIORS GAME:

The Roosevelt Island Youth Program has initiated a Soccer program we call “the Seniors Initiative” which will benefit all the 13 to 15 years old players with compensation for showing respect to:

• Teammates, Coaches, referees, and the Field;
• for coming to all practices and games on time; and
• for sportsmanship.

The idea is to teach our young adults leadership through sports in general, and particularly through the international sport of soccer. Respect is often taken for granted and I wanted to emphasize these values that are the basis of all relationships and success in the professional world.

The coaches in this division have volunteered numerous hours of their time training the teams during the weeknights and weekends. The coaches have no children in this division, they do it out of their passion for the game and to be an active part of the community. Through the Seniors Initiative, I am hoping to install sportsmanship and higher values in the minds of the players. Teach them that respect comes in different forms and goes a long way.

With ongoing education, and in collaboration with the coaches, we chose 34 players that have excelled in showcasing their respect in the last 5 weeks and played a full game (90 minutes) Friday night Nov. 7, on the full field. 22 players started the game in two teams along with 12 substitutes:

TEAM 1:

STARTERS:

DANIEL WOLCZUK
TAJ YOUNG
JAROLL NAVARRO
YOUSSEF AFIF
KENNY HOLGUIN
MARK STRONG
UMAIS AHMED
ADAM KADRY
KIRAN WIJESEKERA
KERIN SHILLA
SERYONG RI

SUBSTITUTES:

KERWIN BARRERA
DESMOND BENT
JOSEY STRAUSS
KHALIF COLE
ANDREW FREEMAN

COCAHES:
DANIEL FOLLA
BRYAN BRAVO


TEAM 2:

STARTERS:

MICHAEL WILLIAMS
MICHAEL SHAHINYAN
ANDREW HERLIHY
THAI PHAN
LUIS TEJADA
MEPHAM YUGYEL
HOANG DO
OMAR RODRIGUEZ
FRANCINE ELISAIA
PARANAV SETHI
ADAM WOLCZUK

SUBSTITUTES:

MUHAMMAD ELBADRI
RICHARD CONDE
EZ MALIK
LOSINY SHERIFF
HOANG NGUYEN
TATIANA DICKENS

COACHES:
JACK MCMANUS
TAREK KADRY

The game ended with a very close score of 6-5 with a win for Team 2. Noteworthy is Kerwin Barrera who volunteered to play for Team 2 when some players were not able to make it on time and he noticed that they need help. He played the first half of the game and helped the team score 4-0 at half time. With a few players showing up a bit late, Kerwin went back to his Team 1 and played his hardest; the team pulled from behind to score 6-5 at the end of this thrilling game. The weather was a bit cold, but the energy emanating from the players kept the heat in the game.

“This was an amazing game to watch” said one of the parents, despite the blistering wind.

Both teams exhibited superior skills and prime sportsmanship. Noteworthy are the following players (just to name a few):

• Francine Elisaia who defended with steadfastness.
• Taj Young energized his team.
• Michael Williams performed superior goalie skills.
• Andrew Herlihy’s attacks culminated in several superb goals and a few assists.
• Mark Strong Shinozaki had advanced soccer expertness with dribbles and accurate passes.
• Youssef Afif excelled in his dribbling wizardry.

Image From Adib Mansour

Also, the RIYP Soccer playoffs start tomorrow.

SOCCER PLAYOFFS -ALL DIVISIONS:

The Roosevelt Island Youth Program / Soccer League invites all parents, families, and residents to join us this Saturday Nov. 15th during our first playoffs. The teams promise exciting games in a fight for survival and advancements.

Minors playoffs games are as follows:

• Semi Final 1 at 9:30 AM: Dan/Miguel’s team (currently in 1st place) vs Jorge/Eddie’s team (currently in 4th place)
• Semi Final 2 at 9:30 AM: Alan/Lee’s team (currently in 2nd place) vs. Nicola/Marco’s team (currently in 3rd place)

Sophomores playoffs games are as follows:

• Quarterfinal 1 at 10:30 AM (top 2 seated teams, no eliminations): John/Alan team vs. Sabrina/Marc
• Quaterfinal 2 at 10:30 AM: Johanne/Cristian’s team (currently in 4th place) vs. Luca/Lee’s team (currently in 6th place)
• Quarterfinal 3 at 11:30 AM: Andrey/Tony’s team (currently in 3rd place) vs. Carlos/Manuel’s team (currently in 5th place)

*One team from games 2 and 3 will be eliminated.

Juniors playoffs games are as follows:

• Quaterfinal 1 at 11:30 AM (top 2 seated teams, no eliminations): Scott/John’s team vs. Stephane/Julien’s team
• Quaterfinal 2 at 12:45 PM: John/John’s team (currently in 4th place) vs. Moses/Veejay’s team (currently in 6th place)
• Quaterfinal 3 at 12:45 PM: Jeff/Wallie’s team (currently in 3rd place) vs. Johan/Richard (currently in 5th place)

*One team from games 2 and 3 will be eliminated.

Seniors playoffs games are as follows:

• Semi Final 1 at 2:00 PM: Boris/Hector’s team (currently in 2nd place) vs. Tarek/Bryan’s team (currently in 3rd place)
• Semi Final 1 at 3:30 PM: Jesse/Romance’s team (currently in 1st place) vs. Jack/Daniel’s team (currently in 4th place)

Come join us and witness the excitement!!