With a new owner and president at the helm of Nexus Sports Ventures Inc., this could be the time for a new era for two youth programs, Soccer Stars and Amazing Athletes.
Shawn Sam, a New Hyde Park native, has taken over these two youth programs on Long Island to empower kids through sports by teaching life skills in a fun, engaging environment while using sports as a vehicle.
“The youth sports space is a space that’s getting bigger,” said Sam. “There are a lot of options to choose from, so I wanted to come back to Long Island and focus on Long Island. I wanted to come back to Long Island with a mission to build something through my own story. I wanted to take the lessons that I learned on the global stage and bring them to where I first found my voice.”
Soccer Stars is an early-stage youth enrichment soccer program. It was founded in 2000 exclusively in New York City and didn’t expand to Long Island until 2010. Sam acquired the company from the franchisor, who was based in New York City.
Soccer Stars offers open enrollment for four seasons per year, with 10-week programs over the course of each season. Over 100 elite-trained coaches guide and teach children from a very young age, providing them with the skills they need to improve.
Regardless of where you live on Long Island, as long as your child fulfills the age requirement of one-to-12 years old, you can enroll in Soccer Stars.
“The idea behind [this program] is really teaching the fundamentals of the game through our curriculum, where we use imagery, themes, etc., in a fun engaging way to teach these kids the fundamentals of the sport,” Sam said. “Generally, our classes are structured where we have a warm-up, depending on what we’re focusing on that day, if it’s dribbling, we have three progressive dribbling drills and then we have what we like to call ‘small-sided scrimmages,’ too, where there is some sort of level of competition within the people of those classes.”
Amazing Athletes provides children as young as 18 months old, all the way up to 12, with the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of whatever sport they want to try out or that they’re passionate about. Though Amazing Athletes was founded in 2003, this is a new endeavor for Sam, one he’ll look to conquer come the fall.
“We run multi-sport programming with schools, daycares, religious institutions, community centers, etcetera,” he said. “American Athletes gives that experience in the multi-sports setting and gives kids the taste of different types of sports, to see what they like.”
Sam is a first-generation Indian-American who grew up loving sports and using the world of sports to help him find himself. He managed to find a community and something that he was passionate about at such an early age, which helped him shape multiple parts of his life, from discipline to leadership to resiliency.
“I’ve been able to live out every young amateur athlete’s dream before acquiring Soccer Stars and Amazing Athletes,” Sam said. “I worked at the NBA League Office, where I helped lead the league’s start of accelerator, working with an innovative company and shaping the future of youth sports, player health and wellness and player performance.”
“Through it all, I think the big thing for me is I’ve always been drawn to the local impact of sports and how it brings people together and builds confidence in kids,” Sam said. “That’s what brought me back home and opened the door to running a youth sports program for children who were just like me.”
The mission is simple—build a community of youth sports that empowers confidence, character, and passion. Sometimes, these athletes become bigger than some could’ve imagined.
Current Duke University men’s soccer captain Kamran Acito was part of the New York City program for 16 years.
“Not only do I think [college scouts will recruit these kids], it has happened,” Sam said. “Soccer Stars has been around for over 20 years, which began in New York City. There have been a ton of success stories in players that started at one year old in our parent-and-me program and have elevated. They stayed with us until the highest age, and we’ve fed them into soccer clubs and academies, and now they’re playing soccer at a high level.”
Sam has his eyes set on the short-term goal of teaching kids not only the rules of multiple sports at an early age but also the same lessons he learned growing up, but long-term, he has his eyes set on something much bigger.
“I want to see every town on Long Island and Queens have easy access to high quality, developmentally sound youth sports programming,” Sam said. “I want us to be the first experience the child has with the soccer ball or any other sports ball, and make sure that it’s a positive one, so they stay active for the rest of their life.”
Soccer Stars’ summer season kicks off on July 12, and there’s still time for families to register. Fall programming is also available, though spots tend to fill up quickly.
This fall, Soccer Stars is launching a new initiative.
“The Spirit League – a program designed to let elementary schools within a district compete in an engaging yet friendly skills-based soccer matchups,” Sam said. “It’s a fresh way to build school pride, teamwork and community through sport.”
Amazing Athletes will begin open enrollment this fall, with classes set to launch across Long Island and Eastern Queens. For schools, daycares, or other institutions interested in bringing Soccer Stars or Amazing Athletes programs to their children, inquiries can be directed to longisland@soccerstars.com.
