On Saturday 11/09/13, Theresa Mandracchia received the East Hudson Youth Soccer League’s Volunteer of the Year Award for her continuing work on the Warwick Soccer Club’s Board of Directors. Upon her selection by EHYSL, Theresa’s nomination was then forwarded to the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association for consideration as their Volunteer of the Year. Theresa has also been selected as the ENYYSA Volunteer of the Year. Below is the text of the nomination submitted to both organizations:
Theresa has been a member of the Warwick Soccer Club since her children started playing soccer in our In House program in 2005 and a member of the WSC Board since mid-2007. Her official title on the Board is In House Registrar, but she goes way beyond the job description.
Twice a year Theresa spends numerous hours registering, then sorting and rostering the 45 to 55 teams we field in our In House program. She ensures each team is competitive for the age group and each team has a coach and an assistant coach, who have passed the Risk Management requirements, which she oversees as part of the rostering process.
Theresa has also taken on the responsibility of ordering the uniforms for the In House program, sorting and delivering to the coaches before their first practice at our In House coach’s clinic, in which she also participates. Before ordering the uniforms for the program Theresa has secured local community sponsors for most of the In House teams in the off seasons, making many local businesses a part of our soccer club.
After registering 700 to 800 players, forming 45 to 55 teams, assigning approved coaches and securing sponsors, Theresa then works with our Field Assignor to build a schedule for Saturday to fit all the necessary games on the available fields, which can be somewhat frustrating in the Town of Warwick as our field assignments come from our Town Parks Department and can change several times before our season starts.
If all of that was not enough for one volunteer, Theresa also bids out the Club/team photos and works with the photographer to schedule a picture day for each season and then she runs the Concession Stand at our fields each Saturday during the season. Theresa is there every Saturday morning before anyone else to open and stays throughout the day to be sure all goes well. She staffs the Concession with as many volunteers as she can round up and then fills staffing needs with some of our teenaged players, providing them the opportunity to earn some money and experience. From scraping the grill to cleaning the Slushy machine, Theresa can always be found in the Concession Stand on any and every Saturday of our In House seasons.
From my view as President of the Club, I realize what an asset Theresa Mandracchia is not only our Club but to our community. Several times each season Theresa organizes food drives for our local food pantries and coordinates fundraising activities by outside organizations when the Club is approached for permission.
Theresa is always willing to do whatever needs to be done and if she can’t do it, she always finds someone who can or will do it. It will take at least two if not three people to fill Theresa’s cleats when she finally decides to retire from the Warwick SC.
Craig Shields
Warwick SC President
