Central Park

The Daily Plant : Thursday, February 6, 2003

SUCCESS FOR STATEN ISLAND’S SOCCER SUPERSTARS

Take two international soccer coaches from Staten Island’s Cromwell Recreation Center. Mix in five energetic and enthusiastic Staten Island boys ages 11-12. Add lots of practice and teamwork. Finally, enter the mixture into a national competition. Voila! You now have a recipe for the unstoppable Staten Island Lions, a team organized by Parks & Recreation at Cromwell Recreation Center.

Last Wednesday evening at the Arsenal in Central Park, Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe presented trophies to these five Staten Island athletes who just returned victorious from the "Got Milk? 3 vs. 3 Soccer Shootout" in Orlando, Florida, the official three-versus-three tournament of Major League Soccer. They won all seven games in the 12 and under national tournament, including the championship game against the defending champions from Pennsylvania. To celebrate their achievement, Commissioner Benepe joined Staten Island Recreation Chief Mary Cali-Dalton, coaches Ben Amarfio and Sebastian Nagbe, and some of the boys’ family members at a dinner for the rising athletes.

"As soon as these boys won their first game, other coaches started noticing them and realized they were the team to watch," head coach Ben Amarfio proudly remarked. "By the second game, they had quite an audience." His assistant coach, Sebastian Nagbe, added, "Coaches told us that they had never seen kids at that age play that well before. Some told us we were a model team."

Still, Amarfio is himself a key ingredient in the formation of this "model." A native of Ghana, Amarfio had been the coach of the national team in Liberia for many years, during whose tenure the team won the National League championships and also represented Liberia in the African Cup three times. He immigrated to the United States in 1988 and ultimately settled in Staten Island, where he lives today. He joined Parks & Recreation in 1996 as a recreation specialist at Cromwell. Eventually, he brought Nagbe on board, who came from Africa to the United States in 1993, and began working at Parks & Recreation in 1997 as a volunteer. Also a resident of Clifton, he works at Cromwell where he coaches soccer as well as black and white photography classes.

The Staten Island Lions are Richard Arkoi (age 11), Ajani Jackson (11), James Kennedy (12), Tyrone Momo (12), and James Ponpon (11). They made it through qualifying tournaments in Long Island and then New Jersey before heading to Orlando as the official New York representatives. In Florida, they defeated South Dakota 6-0, Louisiana 9-1, South Carolina 11-3, Colorado 8-2, Illinois 10-3 (quarter finals), Illinois 8-4 (semi-finals), and Pennsylvania 8-4 (championships).

At their recent celebration, the teammates spoke of the lessons their coaches taught them. "We’ve always been told to pass the ball and play like a team," said James Ponpon. "We practiced hard," chimed in James Kennedy. "The coaches always told us good words, like ‘good job.’" Tyron Momo, agreed: "Our coaches prepared us a lot for the game, so we had a lot of confidence," he said.

Confidence was not something that 11-year-old Richard Arkoi lacks. "My dad plays soccer and my sisters play soccer. I was four years old when I played my first game. I won."

Parks & Recreation reaches out to over a million neighborhood children and adults each year at its 36 recreational centers, offering educational and fun afterschool programs such as Learn-to-Play sports clinics, specialized art classes, job training courses, and citywide athletic tournaments. Cromwell Recration Center offers many classes including fitness, art, woodcarving, boxing, computer, Teens at Parks, and free afterschool programs including photography, martial arts, basketball, soccer, and drama.

Congratulations to the Staten Island Lions and their coaches, and best of luck.

"Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?"

Christopher Marlowe

(February 6, 1564–1593)

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Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center