Stephen Orr Elected President of the East Hudson Youth Soccer League
New York Soccer News: Stephen Orr is the first East Hudson President to live west of the Hudson River
Longtime soccer volunteer Stephen Orr has been elected President of the East Hudson Youth Soccer League (EHYSL), succeeding Jim Purdy, who will remain on the Board as Past President for the next year to ensure a smooth transition.
Stephen Orr, a Walkill resident, is the 15th President of the league that was founded in 1976 and the first to live west of the Hudson River. Much of the growth of the East Hudson league in recent years has actually occurred west of the Hudson.
The EHYSL currently has 15,000 registered players in 60 diverse clubs and eight different counties.
“We thank Jim Purdy for his lengthy service to the kids of East Hudson as a President, coach, and referee and look forward to working with Stephen Orr,” commented Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) President Richard Christiano.
Stephen first became involved in soccer like many other American adults, after he registered his daughter. Avery Orr started playing intramural soccer in Newburgh. He started as a team parent, then became an assistant coach with Nicole Silva as the head coach. After Avery moved into travel team soccer, he served as an assistant coach, then co-coached a few seasons with Jesse Morrill.
Before the Spring Season was canceled because of the virus, Avery played on the Washingtonville Blaze and the East Hudson Academy Girls-Under-17 team.
“During this time, I had the opportunity to serve on the EHYSL Board of Directors as Secretary for two terms,” Stephen explained. “While on the Board, I participated on multiple committees, volunteered for our Slater Indoor Tournament and Hudson Invitational Tournament, the Dinner of Champions and had the opportunity to experience our East Hudson Academy Program as a parent.”
It has become a very busy life as Stephen’s “real job” is a Distinguished Architect at Cisco Systems, working in the US Public Sector.
He works with a broad range of Public Sector customers such as the Department of Defense, other government groups as well as higher education on enterprise architecture designs.
“My near term goals for East Hudson are to carry on the great work that Jim Purdy has done for the past eight years as President, carry us through the current COVID crisis so that we can get our players, coaches, and refs back on the field safely and provide a great environment for families to enjoy soccer,” he said.
“Long term, represent East Hudson clubs within Eastern New York, with an increased focus on East Hudson Academy teams and lastly, develop some lessons learned from the current pandemic and enable East Hudson to adapt to these new situations.”
Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association: With 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) reaches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with nine 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.
