Soccer has always been the redheaded stepchild of all of the North American major sports. And while the world’s most popular team activity seems to be showing signs of life via the resurrected Cosmos calling Hofstra home and the New York Yankees and Manchester United FC uniting to put a yet-unnamed football club in Flushing Meadow Park, Garden City is the one place where soccer has always been robustly embraced. Ever since 1969, the Garden City Centennial Soccer Club (GCCSC) has had a big hand in ensuring that soccer has not only thrived but significantly grown to the point that the GCCSC is now the largest independent youth recreational activity organization in the village’s history. The annual year-end Soccer Fest that was recently held at St. Paul’s not only proved to be the culmination of the soccer season, but reinforced the idea that at least in Garden City, the sport’s popularity is far from flagging.
– Dave Gil de Rubio
