Saturday, November 8, 2025
Michael Puma, a longtime coach and board member of the East Rockaway-Oceanside Raiders youth football program, was “speechless’’ when he learned he would receive the 2025 Kiwanis Club of Ocean-side’s Heart of Gold Award — an honor that recognizes service to youth and the community.
The Kiwanis Club will present Puma with the award during its 80th anniversary charter and installation dinner dance on Oct. 16 at Temple Avodah in Oceanside.
“They told me that I was the recipient, and I was kind of speechless,” Puma said. “I enjoy watching the camaraderie, the wanting to be with each other, even outside of football. I love watching the kids grow together.”
Puma, a Baldwin resident whose children are in the Oceanside school district, retired as a New York City detective four years ago, has been involved with the Raiders for about 11 years. He first volunteered when his son, Santino, joined the program at age 5 in 2014, and Puma later coached the same youth teams for ages 6 to 12. He said the organization has grown steadily during his tenure and now includes youngsters from both East Rockaway and Oceanside. Since Puma got involved he has seen enrollment increase from around 130 to 200 kids.
“When I first got into the program, it wasn’t as big. We didn’t have the enrollment that we have now,” Puma said. “We have really grown the product, and we’ve grown it so much into adapting into the Oceanside area as well. Hence, why we’re now the East Rockaway-Oceanside Raiders.”
Puma, who will turn 51 next month, described his board member duties as hands-on, handling registration paperwork for players and cheerleaders, setting up fields on game days and addressing day-to-day issues involving parents, players and league officials. He also remains active in coaching and in high school athletics and now is helping to lead the Oceanside High School parents association.
For Puma, the value of youth sports extends beyond scores and standings.
“It’s not about wins and losses,” he said. “It’s about the camaraderie. It’s just about those kids wanting to go to practice, maybe to just be around these other kids that they don’t see in school every day. It’s an escape from the everyday.”
Puma said he and other Raiders’ volunteers place a premium on player safety and training for coaches. “We are all certified in concussion awareness,” he said. “We’re very cognizant of the dangers of football, and we have people in place to make sure that the kids are in the safest position that they can be.”
The football program serves children ages 5 to 12, and Puma said retention is one of the organization’s ongoing challenges — and achievements. “We could take pride in that we’ve had a very high retention rate and growth,” he said.
Oceanside resident Brian Driscoll, a Raiders’ coach who has known Puma for almost eight years, called his award “well-deserved,’’ adding that Puma’s work has helped knit the two communities closer through youth athletics.
“He’s all about giving back to the community, and especially the football community,” Driscoll said. “He’s worked very hard on building the Raiders organization up. Oceanside has always been involved because East Rockaway is a very small town, so there’s always been a lot of Oceanside kids involved in the program, and he’s just built it up.”
The program expanded from the East Rockaway Raiders to the Oceanside-East Rockaway Raiders last year. Driscoll said the football program’s volunteers have spent many hours preparing young players for the next level.
“Every football season, myself and the other coaches, we probably spend 30 hours a week on the phone with each other between texts and phone calls, just building these kids up, getting them ready for the next step — middle school,” he said.
Puma is the father of three student-athletes — his sons, Santino, 16, and Matteo, 15, and his daughter, Izabella, 16, who has cheered for the high school varsity squad. Puma said his children also play lacrosse. He said he hopes his teams continue to attract “good families’’ and children who want to learn and play.
Puma said he wants the Raiders to continue growing and improving while maintaining the program’s community focus. Recent efforts include youth nights at high school games and joint activities that bring East Rockaway and Oceanside families together, he said.
