The Jamestown Area Youth Soccer board honored Jeff Kroon for his 40 years of service to the program. Pictured is the board delivering Kroon his award at their picnic last. From left to right are board members Matt Canby, Tanya Greenawalt, Gabriella Brunner, Abby Brunner, Jeff Kroon, Jady Shirey, Brandon Randolph, Kevin Potter and Thom Brunner. P-J photo by Christian Storms

In the United States the sport of soccer usually finds itself outside the odd one out in a popularity contest with baseball, basketball, football and hockey.

While soccer might be the odd one out on the national level, the Jamestown Area Youth Soccer organization has made it an integral part of thousands of Jamestown area youths for the past 40 years and Jeff Kroon has been with the program from the start.

This past Saturday, at an awards picnic at Bergman Park, Kroon was honored by the JAYS for his 40 years of commitment to the youth in the area. Kroon was presented with a glass soccer ball trophy to commemorate his dedication to the community and youth soccer.

While Kroon did not start the JAYS program 40 years ago he was around at the beginning and the program would not be what it is today without his invaluable service.

“The JAYS program is close to a year-round program and he was doing a lot of that himself, especially a lot of the behind-the-scenes work,” said JAYS President Thom Brunner. “He has had help over the years but he was always the one spearheading it.”

In Kroon’s 40 years with the program he has had several different roles from coach to board secretary to president. Now Kroon is just a board member who gives a lot of direction to the board members thanks to his many years around the game.

Kroon’s time around the sport did not start off at a young age like it does for all of the athletes participating in JAYS, but rather he got his first taste of the sport at SUNY Brockport while he was in college.

“I graduated from SUNY Brockport in 1981, it was the first place I had any experience with any soccer at all,” Kroon said. “I didn’t know anything about soccer until I got to college, it was my first exposure to soccer in general.”

According to Kroon, prior to the JAYS program, soccer in the area was very unorganized. There were pick-up games and Jamestown High School had a team, but it was a lot of players without a ton of experience. Things didn’t really start to pick up until 1982, when a soccer team from Sweden came to play in Jamestown against the high school team coached by Spyros Kolivas. A year later, Kroon went with the JHS team as a chaperone to Oskarstrom, Sweden. Betty Lou Blixt and Sarah Weinstein coordinated the two-year exchange program with Oskarstrom, Sweden.

“The JHS team went to Sweden in 1983 and I went along as a chaperone,” Kroon said. “I stayed in Oskarstrom, Sweden for a whole year and that’s where I really learned anything about the game itself. It was a great experience and was the real jumping-off point. Some of the parents and supervisors became coaches for the first JAYS programs.”

As the 1980s went on, the program became more structured and began making its impact. The first groups of kids to come through were not coached by experienced coaches, but as time went on some of those players would become coaches in the future.

“We started to see second-generation players; for a long time it was just well-intentioned parents,” Kroon stated. “But now all of a sudden you’ve got a young family that has played soccer, coaches now know a little more. Second-generation players becoming coaches and wanting their coaches to have the same experiences they had is really satisfying.”

Being involved in youth sports for 40 years as a volunteer means for certain that you must truly care about the kids receiving the positive impacts.

“Enjoyment on the kids’ faces, that’s the best thing of all,” Kroon said. “It’s just very satisfying.”

Kroon added that it’s great to see kids stick with the program and go on to play for their high school teams and in some cases even go on to play at the collegiate level.

While Kroon has the seniority in the program, sticking around longer than anyone, he mentioned that there are too many people to name that have gotten JAYS to where it is now.

When JAYS was first starting out it really had to prove itself against the other sports, according to Kroon. He made sure to mention that the president of the board before him, Bob Moore, was instrumental in getting the program credibility.

“The president before me, Bob Moore, was an incredibly organized man and soccer really had to prove itself and Bob was really instrumental in that,” Kroon said. “When I took over it was really well established.”

While Kroon’s role with the JAYS has changed many times over the years, there is no doubt the impact he has made on thousands of people in the community and outside of the community where JAYS have also influenced youth soccer programs like Bemus Point, Cassadaga, Falconer and Frewsburg.

“He is probably one of the most calm people I have ever met,” current JAYS President Thom Brunner said of Kroon. “He doesn’t get rattled. I have never seen him raise his voice, he always treats people with respect. He’s just a great guy, who has just done a lot for the youth in the Jamestown community.”