Al Micucci: The Epitome of Sachem Soccer

Al Micucci's involvement with soccer began back during his days at Commack High School South. The goalie was the best player on the field, so Micucci was thrown in net and left to fend for himself.

Quickly he learned discipline, sacrifice and playing for the benefit of the team, something he's preached for decades as a key figure in the Sachem Youth Soccer program, as well as Long Island Junior Soccer.

He was a baseball kid at heart and continued to play through college for a season and a half at SUNY Oneonta, then into his early 30s in men's leagues. After he matured, got married and began to raise his children, the Long Island soccer boom was hitting the suburbs full force. Sachem was already an athletic power in most sports during the 1980s, but Micucci, now 55 and a resident of Holbrook, became a father at the perfect time for soccer supremacy.

Though not his master plan when setting out to be a parent, Micucci began coaching his son AJ's intramural soccer team in the SYSL when Diego Maradona was still in his prime. Former SYSL President Lou Sventora, an LISJL Hall of Fame inductee, asked Micucci if he wanted to be Director of Fields – a position he held until 1996.

"It was all down hill from there," Micucci jokes. "My dad was always an umpire, that's how he helped out. I was more tuned into coaching."

Through the years Micucci, a plant manager at American Casting &Manufacturing in Plainview, coached his son's team, which eventually grew to be most of the Sachem High School varsity squad in the late 1990s, early 2000s that wreaked havoc across Long Island.

Through this came a strong bond with the Sachem Central School District and the varsity coaching staffs for both the boys and girls. In a society drenched with egos and people who are living in their children's present, Micucci pushed that aside and volunteered his time for the prosperity of the children and the district.

"He simply gets it," said former legendary Sachem soccer coach Frank Schmidt. "It is a very sad fact about soccer, and probably other sports, where there is tension between club soccer and school soccer. What Al has always done is foster a relationship between school and club. When he speaks and tries to motivate his club team, he always mentions the importance of making the varsity team at school."

Micucci, whose daughter Kristina played varsity soccer at Sachem and son Nick played varsity at East, helped created the varsity summer soccer camp where club players are coached by the school coaches.

"What makes him unique is that he truly works hard at his craft," Schmidt said. "He has taken national coaching courses when most parents/club coaches won't go further then getting the minimal local coaching certificate."

Today, Micucci and Schmidt have been working side-by-side with a 15-year old club team. For Micucci, he couldn't ask for a better partner in crime.

"It was always an aspiration to coach with Frank," he said, "as opposed to working towards the same goal at opposite ends."

Among the many projects and influences he's had on SYSL is the irrigation system implemented at the Sachem Youth Soccer Complex on the Long Island Expressway Service Road in Holtsville. It was a $90,000 project he oversaw as vice president of the league.

In 2009, he was inducted into the Long Island Junior Soccer League Hall of Fame. In his induction speech, aside from thanking all possible figures from his wife Linda to Schmidt and Sachem coaches like Pete Montalbano and Mike O'Flaherty, he also spoke of the varying types of inclusion in life.

"They look for you, you look for them," he read aloud.

He spoke of being asked to initially volunteer. Then paid homage to those coaches who gave him advice or allowed him to learn from them. It was cyclical, like the rotation of a ball on a summer morning at the Sachem Youth fields.

For a baseball guy, he's done pretty well in soccer.

More on Micucci

-He served as vice president of the SYSL from 1996-1998 and president from 1998-2007

-He won two Division I titles and two Waldbaum Cups between 1993 and 2000, while coaching his son AJ.

-He coached in the LIJSL Select program for the ages U13A, U13B, and U15A from 1998-2001. He also assistant coached the ENYYSA ODP GU12 from 2004-2006.

-In the LIJSL, he has served on the competition committee, technical director search committee, summit steering committee, director of coaching search committee and the player's arbitration committee.