Jersey Bocas taking their act to Argentina – Ocean County Observer – Published April 12, 2003
April 12, 2003
Jersey Bocas taking their act to Argentina
Published in the Ocean County Observer 04/12/03
Staff report
TOMS RIVER — The Jersey Shore Boca Under-17 team has finalized its plans to travel to Buenos Aires over the Easter holiday for an 11-day Player and Team Development Tour with the club’s fabled namesake, the Boca Juniors of Argentina.
The team will depart from New York on April 18 and return April 28.
While in Argentina, the Boca Under-17s have a full itinerary planned that includes daily training with the full adult Boca Juniors team, several friendly matches, a tour of the historic La Bombonera Stadium and attendance at two Boca Juniors games.
“This will be the first international trip for this group of players. I am excited to have them experience the rich soccer history of CABJ in an environment that will allow them to actually live the history. The opportunity to train and meet not only the up and coming Boca Jr. stars, but to also train and partake in the full adult team’s training sessions, will be an opportunity these kids will not soon forget,” said Bill Carroll, head coach of the Under-17 Boca team.
Carroll, who holds a United States Soccer Federation ‘B’ coaching license, has been the Boca Under-17 head coach for several years. He is a 1983 graduate of Rutgers University and resides in Ship Bottom.
The Jersey Shore Boca Player and Team Development Tour was organized by The International Academy of New York with help from David Vaudreuil, the new head coach of Jersey Shore Boca’s Premier Development League team.
“I am sure the guys will not regret the trip to Argentina. I have been coached by two players from Boca Juniors during the time of Maradona and you immediately understand the privilege it is to be associated with that club,” Vaudreuil said.
“The world class standard of play and the rich tradition will make for an unforgettable experience,” Vaudreuil said.
Vaudreuil, a seven-year veteran of Major League Soccer, was appointed head coach of Boca’s PDL team in January.
The MetroStars of Major League Soccer completed a tour in Argentina, playing against the Boca Juniors in preparation for their 2003 MLS season.
The Jersey Shore Boca Under-17 team hopes the trip will benefit it in preparation of its 2003 Super Y-League season which will kick off May 17 a few weeks after the team’s return.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our Boca Under-17 players to experience an atmosphere unlike anything else. They will be training with and playing against some of the best soccer talent in the world,” said Al Schwartz, the president of Jersey Shore Boca, who will be among the traveling party on the trip.
“We hope this can develop into a longer-term relationship with CABJ and eventually enter into a youth player exchange program with them. Some groundwork has already been made and I’m going to try and finalize some items while I’m there.”
Members of the Jersey Shore Boca Under-17 team who will be making the Argentina trip include Colin Jennings (Wall), Kyle Zupancic (Middletown), Nick Raspanti (Middletown), Rob Galante (Parlin), Eric Hostnik (Burton Academy), Phil Kaiser (Manalapan), Gregg Arenson (Manalapan), Scott Gross (Manalapan), Patrick Gee (Spring Lake Heights), David Nicholson (Clarksburg), David Novak (East Windsor), Chris Zullo (East Windsor) and Jara Habib (Marlboro).
Habib was named the USL Super Y-League Under-15 National Player of the Week last July for his two goals against the South Jersey Barons in SYL action.
Jersey Shore Boca will compete in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United Soccer Leagues elite Super Y-League for the third straight year in 2003. Boca is the only soccer club from Monmouth or Ocean County in the Super Y-League.
The Super Y-League is the only North American youth soccer league designed for the top one percent of elite youth players in the United States and Canada. As a national affiliate of the United States Soccer Federation, the Super Y-League provides the national league structure to develop players and helps identify elite players for National Team programs through ODP status programs such as the SYL Finals and Regional Select Team weekends.
Several professional teams from Major League Soccer, A-League and ProSelect League, including MLS’s, DC United and MetroStars have entered youth teams in the Super Y-League.
DC United also competes in the SYL’s Mid-Atlantic region and similar to last year, will play a home and away series against all Jersey Shore Boca SYL teams in 2003.
Jersey Shore Boca will field four boys’ teams for the 2003 SYL season; Under-14, Under-15, Under-16 and the Under-17.
Jersey Shore Boca is also the newest member of the USL’s Premier Development League and will begin play with its PDL team May 4.
The Premier Development League is the only national men’s U-23 amateur league in the United States.
Designed to help develop players for professional careers, the PDL allows elite high school and college players to compete in a pro-like environment without losing their college eligibility. The PDL was also granted Olympic Development Program status by the United States Soccer Federation in 2001.
Jersey Shore Boca has been a fixture in the soccer community since 1978 and is one of the most respected soccer clubs in New Jersey. The club is celebrating its 25-year anniversary during 2003.
The club is based out of Toms River and in addition to their PDL and SYL teams, programs include youth level teams from Under-11 to Under-19, an Under-23 team and men’s “open” team.
Jersey Shore Boca alumni include several former National and Olympic Team members as well as numerous collegiate players, coaches and former local high school standouts.
One of the most recognized Boca alumni is current Under-18 United States Men’s National Team & University of Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch who played under Boca Coach Walt Pericciuoli while also staring at Wall High School in the 1980s.
Gelnovatch is also a former member of the United States National Team and played professionally with DC United of Major League Soccer.
Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of Jersey Shore Boca has announced the club has launched its official web site to the public — jerseyshoreboca.com.
The club’s new official web site was developed and designed in conjunction with a cooperative agreement between Jersey Shore Boca and eXostream Communications, Inc. and DigitalEffex LLC both based in Manalapan New Jersey.
“We are very excited to announce the launch of our new official web site to the general public. Our site has been developed with consideration given equally to our club’s 25 year old history and our present soccer programs along with the future direction of our club in mind,” said Walt Konopka, Boca’s Treasurer and a member of the club’s Board of Directors.
“The staff at DigitalEffex and eXostream provided the cutting-edge technology for the programming, design work and back-end data accumulation and scripts. We helped them with the overall content and visual look of the site that our soccer club was trying to achieve. It was a pleasure to work with such a talented and professional group of individuals.”
In addition to Headline News and News Archive sections, jerseyshoreboca.com features individual web pages for the club’s various soccer programs, a complete club history page and club affiliations page and also detailed information on field locations and Boca contacts.
Some of the latest technology features used in the development of jerseyshoreboca.com include various back-end programs for accumulation of Bo-ca Alumni and prospective player data, electronic mailing lists, numerous data bases for existing players, coaches and administrators, on-line player registration, player roster data and player statistical information are among scripts designed into the site.
The Web site also contains the necessary programming to easily add future scripts such as a shopping cart and web store for sale of Boca products; detailed electronic player profile infor-mation to be used as an aid for the college recruitment of Boca players; a world-wide communications database and other state of the art features.
“Our club has always been on the leading edge of overall soccer development here at the New Jersey shore. Take a look at our 25-year history and the previous programs we have been involved with. And now with our full, long-term commitment to the United Soccer Leagues, Premier Development League and Super Y-League, we needed our technology to be in the forefront as well,” said Schwartz. Our new web site is part of our plans for the future. It will now also put us in the top tier of soccer club technology if you will.”
from the Ocean County Observer
Published on April 12, 2003