Oceanside soccer club has a ball with Turkey Bowl

This year might be a turkey, but that didn’t prevent three Long Island Junior Soccer League clubs with a long history in the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association from hosting their alumni games over Thanksgiving weekend, including the Oceanside United Soccer Club.
The events marked a time to renew old friendships while the weather was still conducive for kicking around a soccer ball on an open field. The alumni games have endured for decades as the friendships made on youth soccer fields often last a lifetime. Clubs from Oceanside, Rockville Centre and Garden City hosted alumni games this year.
The Oceanside United Soccer Club, founded in 1962, normally plays its Turkey Bowl at Oceanside Park on Thanksgiving Day, but there is nothing normal about 2020. Because of bad weather on Thanksgiving, the club’s game was switched to Nov. 29 at Rudy Lamonica Memorial Field at the Merle Avenue School. The field is named after the teenager who scored more than half of Oceanside High School’s goals in the 1968 and ‘69 seasons in leading the Sailors to consecutive Long Island championships before his tragic death from bone cancer in 1970.
Three dozen Oceanside United coaches, administrators and current and former players had fun in the 31st annual Turkey Bowl.
“The Turkey Bowl is a beautiful celebration of the camaraderie of guys who get together every year to play soccer,” explained Oceanside United’s Rich Eisenberg, who organizes this annual event, according to a news release.
With about 100,000 youth soccer players –– both boys and girls –– and more than 25,000 volunteers, the nonprofit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association stretches from Montauk Point to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with nine leagues throughout the association

Courtesy ENYYSA; compiled by Mike Smollins