News from the Long Island Junior Soccer League

February 8, 2010-When do you know that the long winter is over and spring is about to arrive? When a groundhog fails to see his shadow on February 2? When baseball players begin Spring Training in Florida and Arizona? Or when the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano around March 19?

For soccer lovers in Suffolk, Nassau and Queens, the Long Island Junior Soccer League Convention has been ushering in spring for nearly three decades and has something for everyone. More than 10,000 soccer players, coaches, referees and fans are expected to flock to the 28th Annual LIJSL Convention on Friday, March 5, Saturday, March 6 and Sunday, March 7 at the Huntington Hilton on Route 110 in Melville. Admission is free.

The convention kicks off at 7:30 pm on Friday night, March 5 with the Volunteer Awards Dinner. The Volunteer of the Year from each LIJSL club as well as the league's newest Hall of Famers will be honored.

Throughout the course of the weekend, there will be vendors selling their products. Last March, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went down to 6,440 and there was worried talk of nationalizing the banks and another Great Depression approaching. But that did not prevent an enthusiastic crowd from purchasing soccer uniforms, tapes, books and tours from these exhibitors. With the economy on a bit firmer footing this March—as green shoots have been seen starting to sprout on Long Island’s soccer fields—vendors are expecting business to be brisk.

During the Convention, the LIJSL's Sportsmanship Award-winning teams are honored, Olympic Development Program teams, club presidents, coaches and division coordinators hold meetings, referees learn at clinics plus kids trade soccer patches and pins.

"Our convention provides the Long Island soccer community with a place to network," LIJSL convention co-chairperson Gina Titus said.