By D.L. FICALORA
Now coach Eddie Otto is drawing from his experiences in pro football ‹ and his knowledge of sports medicine ‹ to do something unique: bring football to Island Park.
Until now there have been no opportunities for younger kids to play the game in the village. If they wanted to play football, their parents had to drive them to East Rockaway, Long Beach or Valley Stream.
³I realized that most of the kids that play [high school] football have to go to West Hempstead,² said Otto, who moved to Island Park four years ago. ³The problem with that is how West Hempstead High School would most likely look to the kids coming from West Hempstead Middle School, because they have a football program. Island Park didn¹t have anything. I wanted to give them a chance.²
Ever since he arrived, Otto has been working on a plan to bring football to his new hometown. His plans materialized this summer, when villagers were introduced to the Island Park Patriots. The Pats officially brought football to their town on Sept. 16, when they kicked off to a team from Hicksville at their first home game at Lincoln Orens Middle School.
³As a parent who had to travel to East Rockaway to get my kids to play football, this is the best thing ever,² MaryAnna Baldino said as she cheered for her son, Robert, at the game. ³I couldn¹t even go to Oceanside because it¹s not part of the Nassau-Suffolk league. Now I don¹t have to worry.²
Otto has registered both of the Island Park teams with the Nassau-Suffolk County Football League. One group of Patriots consists of 13- and 14-year-olds, and Otto coaches another group of 11- and 12-year-olds who are still a few players shy of a full roster, and need to recruit more players before the team can participate in any games.
³We don¹t have enough kids yet to make a full team,² said Danny O¹Connor, the quarterback on the younger Patriots squad. ³Maybe next month. We¹ve got a pretty good team.²
Even without a full roster, Otto still found a way to give his younger team a chance to compete during the first home event. At half-time, it was the younger Patriots¹ turn on the field. ³We¹re doing a half-time show,² said Justin DeGorgia, 11, before running out onto the field to join his teammates. ³We¹re not dancing or anything like that. It¹s a scrimmage. Seven on seven.²
Otto explained that his football philosophy is all about starting players young. ³By ninth grade, if players don¹t know what they¹re doing with football, they¹re still going to be up against kids who¹ve been playing since they were five. Once you play under refs, pads, helmets, on a high school level, these kids will be at a loss.²
Otto said he also believes that introducing football to children at an early age adds structure and direction in their lives, since football is such a disciplined sport. ³It keeps kids out of trouble,² he said. ³They can use this to get focused, to play football in college, and get a scholarship. If I can get one out of 50 kids to do that, then I did my job.²
Otto¹s wife, Carolyn, has already noticed a positive change in her husband¹s players. One telling sign is that they ride their bikes over to the Ottos¹ house to play street football with their coach. ³My husband will go out to play football with the kids whenever,² she said. ³The kids are really enthusiastic. They haven¹t had the opportunity to do this before.²
³Eddie is great,² said player Damiano Bonadonna. ³We have to practice hard and we like to play hard, too. I mean, we joke around a lot, too. We have a lot of fun.²
Otto runs four practices during the week: at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and at 11 a.m. on Saturday, unless the team has a game. To supplement their training, he encourages his players to spend time in his gym, Eddie¹s Sports ¹N¹ Fitness Club of Island Park, to do agility work and strength training.
³We go to the gym two to three times a week with Eddie,² said Matt Levine, 14. ³He lets us work out at his gym all the time. He wants us to be a good team, so we try to be really serious in the gym and not fool around.²
Joe Lovero, 13, noted that the gym is also a kind of players¹ hangout. ³The gym is a place where we go even when we don¹t have practice,² he said. ³Sometimes we get together there ‹ we¹ll just call up a friend and someone else might come. We do workouts for like an hour and half with just a few guys.²
Otto¹s wife agrees that the gym has become something of a rec center for the boys. ³Football is something positive overall for a community,² she said.
A good-sized crowd gathered at Lincoln Orens for the first game. Parents turned out in full Patriots regalia, and some in attendance didn¹t even have kids playing in the game. The adults watched and cheered, or supplied cold drinks to the players, or sold T-shirts and food to raise money for the two new units.
³It¹s awesome,² Rita Levine said as she watched her son charge down the field. ³This is a great thing for Island Park. We wanted a team for so many years, but we never had the insight to get it going.²
³We¹re so happy,² MaryAnna Baldino said, ³and the kids love Eddie.²
³Eddie is a great coach,² said Arsenio Vance, a running back and linebacker. Vance has played football since he was very young, but he has had to go out of town to do it, playing for teams in Hempstead and Long Beach. ³This team is definitely better than any of the other teams I played with,² Vance said of the Patriots. ³I¹m meeting lots of nice kids, and Eddie runs good plays.²
The Patriots fell far short of winning their first home game, beaten decisively by Hicksville, 39-13. But the parents and coaches were thrilled with how the players performed. ³The kids look better every week,² Baldino said. ³We can¹t wait for next time.²
The Patriots¹ next game, against Elmont, is scheduled for Sept. 30 at noon at Lincoln Orens Middle School.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
