By Dylan Butler
Bayside United is more than the name of a northeast soccer club; it is also the organization’s philosophy, especially when it involves neighboring Auburndale Soccer Club.
“I would describe the two clubs as very friendly competitors with the emphasis on friendly,” said Kevin Meaney, the Bayside United Soccer Club registrar. “We talk all the time, we work together, share fields and we’ve even done some limited combining of teams.”
Along with Auburndale and St. Francis Prep girls’ soccer coach John Jenkins, Bayside United formed the Northeast Queens Soccer Association to set up a cooperative effort for the use and cost of maintenance of local fields, particularly those at Fort Totten.
“The one thing I’ve learned over the years is you don’t want to get into these turf battles. We’re in the same community; our kids go to school together,” Meaney said. “So much more can be accomplished if you can just communicate with each other and work together. Whenever you do that I find that people much more often than not bend over backwards to be reasonable.”
The first collaborative effort between Bayside and Auburndale on the field produced a championship team. The Auburndale Alliance, a merger between the Bayside Queens and the Auburndale Rapid Fire, won the girls’ under-17 Waldbaum’s Cup in 2001.
The team was comprised mostly of players from St. Francis Prep and coached by former Holy Cross and St. John’s player Dennis James.
According to Meaney, whose three children — James, Cheryl and Allison — have played for Bayside United, the goal of the club is to offer a competitive atmosphere for players of all skill levels. And one way to do that is by continuing to join forces with Auburndale.
“We’d like to be able to say that we can offer a quality soccer opportunity for the casual recreational player up to the very serious player,” said Meaney, who also coaches the Bayside United U-16 girls’ team. “We really have to work with some of the other clubs in the community to do that.”
Bayside United, which was founded in 1969, has between 200 and 250 players who range in age from 10 to 19 and are on about 17 travel teams. The teams, which compete in the Long Island Junior Soccer League, run the gamut in terms of skill level, playing from Division 1 to Division 7.
With help from coaches from the Storm Soccer Academy, Bayside United also runs a clinic for players from ages 4 to 10.
The real emphasis is on soccer education, skill development and playing experience for younger kids. It’s not meant to be competitive,” Meaney said of the clinic, which draws between 125 and 200 children each season. “We put them in game situations but it’s really training.”
Meaney has been a member of the Bayside United board for 12 years and, like so many others, started to volunteer when his oldest child, James, joined the club.
“I enjoy it. It’s a community service and it’s nice to be involved, but the big benefit, from a personal point of view, is it gives you an opportunity to spend more time with the kids,” Meaney said. “I think it gives you, as a family person and a coach, an opportunity to stay closer to your own kids and stay involved in their lives. Hopefully, it helps you communicate with them.”
Meaney’s own children are a good example of the club’s range of skill level. James Meaney, who was a standout at St. Francis Prep and is studying pre-med at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and sister Cheryl, also a standout at St. Francis Prep who will play at Queens College this season, were serious soccer players.
Youngest sibling Alison, a sophomore at St. Francis Prep, also enjoys playing soccer but more so recreationally.
While many of the club’s coaches are parent volunteers, Bayside United is starting to see a new group of coaches — the former players who return to the club. One example is the club’s president, Berdj Stepanian.
“He played in Bayside as a young person and then came back later on as a volunteer,” Meaney said. “He’s a guy doing it because he loves the game, he’s willing to volunteer and it wasn’t because he had a child on that team.”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
