John Bussi with one of his team. (Photo courtesy of ENYYSA)
The coaching ranks of the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association will be a little poorer after John Bussi retires from coaching next month.
Bussi, 65, grew up playing for New York Hota in the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League and started coaching his two children, Jacqueline and Michael, playing intramurals in the Farmingdale Soccer Club.
The Farmingdale T-Birds in 1996. Bussi is standing on the far right. John’s daughter Jacqueline is kneeling, third from the right.
“As my children’s Farmingdale teams got into travel, and people watched them play, I began to get offers from other clubs to be a trainer for their teams. For 10 years, I traveled to clubs all over the Island, sometimes working with eight clubs simultaneously, doing 10 to 12 sessions a week. A lot of driving around!” Bussi said. “I did that for 10 years. Then a fellow I used to coach against at Commack, John DeAngelis, asked me to train his teams, and then other Commack teams hired me.
“At that point, I fully committed to Commack, and have been there for almost 20 years. About a dozen years ago, the club asked me to design and run the developmental training program for Under-7 to Under-9 and I have been doing that ever since. I truly found my niche in the sport as working on skills with young players is really what I love to do. Commack is an excellent and devoted club and they have treated me very well!”
Over the years, Bussi’s teams have played in State Cups plus won tournaments and Long Island Junior Soccer League Sportsmanship Awards. Bussi also never received a yellow or red card in three decades of coaching.
“I just never thought that a ref would ever change a decision based on what I had to say,” he said.
“My philosophy was developed through some of my experiences working with and learning from talented coaching peers such as the Alber brothers, Kurt Kelley and Kaz Gungor. Simply put, skills are everything! I have rarely worked on tactics with youth players, unless you consider 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 tactics, which I do. If you can provide a strong technical base, the game will teach them how to play well and effectively.”
The Farmingdale, N.Y. resident is a singer and songwriter mainly of country music. You can listen to his music at Reverbnation/Johnbussi. He is the male singer on the track. Bussi owns TAB Technology Electronics, an electronic component distribution company that supplies the transport industry, primarily.
“I am looking forward to watching my 2-year-old granddaughter, Lennox, play soccer,” Bussi said. “But I would be just as happy if she took up the piano instead!”
