By Anonymous (not verified), November 20, 2023
By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association
November 20, 2023-The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) is very pleased to announce that James Volpe, the longtime Director of our Olympic Development Program (ODP), was inducted into the Oceanside High School Hall of Fame Circle of Pride on November 13 in front of 200 people and other honorees at the Oceanside Knights of Columbus Hall. The Circle of Pride is reserved for those who have achieved the greatest level of success in their athletic careers at Oceanside High School and beyond plus certain others deemed worthy of this honor.
“It was a great night, more than I ever could have anticipated,” Jim explained. “Players who I played with in high school, players who I coached on my first boys travel team and players who I coached on my first girls travel team were all there. I took it to heart to receive an award and was with the people I grew up with.”
Jim’s soccer career kicked off when few Americans were paying any attention to the sport. He started playing for the Oceanside Dynamo in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League (CJSL) even before the Oceanside United Soccer Club was founded in 1962. He graduated from Oceanside High School in 1968.
Jim coached a half-dozen Oceanside United teams in Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) games through the years. He was an ODP coach for 15 years and a LIJSL Select Team coach for a couple of years in the period from the early 1980’s to 2001. Additionally, from 2006 to 2010, he was an assistant coach for the St. Peter’s College women in New Jersey.
He volunteered as Oceanside United President from 1989 to 2000 and remains on the Board of Directors today as Director Emeritus. The soccer lifer was inducted into the LIJSL Hall of Fame in 2015.
Jim, currently a Long Beach resident, has been our ODP Director since 2014 and under his leadership, many of our ODP players make the Regional Team plus the Boys South ODP Team of players born in 1999 won the ODP national championship in 2016.
Jim’s children, Chelsea and Shaun, grew up playing in the LIJSL and then for the Manhattan College Jaspers and are still involved with the game today. For the past 12 years, the Volpes have teamed up and raised over $300,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) through the Marianne Volpe 5K and Pumpkin Fun Run after Jim’s wife Marianne passed away from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) at the age of 56.
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 10 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 Children With Special Needs. 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