Pamela Cohen

  Pamela Cohen attended her first AYSO game before she could walk. Bundled in a baby backpack, she watched over her father’s shoulders as her older brothers raced across the Marine Park field. As soon as she was old enough and until she moved to Florida, she was on the field herself. First as a player and then as a junior referee, she spent every weekend of each season playing the game she loved and showing others how to play it.
   
  Pamela played with passion but with constant attention to fair play and sportsmanship. She made many friends on the field and she learned lessons that served her off the field as she went off to college.
   
  Pamela’s life was cut short by a traffic accident just weeks after her college graduation. We remember her friendly smile and joyful laugh as we think of her today, at the close of another season.     

I coached Pam every couple of seasons and knowing that she was going to be on my team that year, always brought a smile to my face.  To those that didn't know her, players and coaches alike, she was just this quiet, angel-faced kid.  But to me, she was much more than that.  She was my "secret weapon".

 Having a girl in this boy dominated league that played with such heart, such skill, such determination, was truly refreshing to me.  So much so, that when I decided to create a travel team, Pam was on it. Week after week, I'd watch her out play most of the boys on the opposing team, reinforcing the respect and admiration of her own team mates.

 We didn't always win, but Pam always played, and played hard.  So much so, that one day her mom pulled me aside to say that she was taking Pam off the travel team, for fear that she might get hurt.  I wish I could have come up with an adequate defense to keep Pam, but I knew that her mom was right.  It was ironic that her spirited play was both the reason she made the team, as well as the reason why she left.  

  So on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we invite friends, family, alumni, and the entire U19 division, to play the final game of this 2011 season, in memory of Pamela Cohen.   A daughter, sister, person, and player, who at the very least, exemplifies all that we strive for in our children, at Marine Park Soccer.

-Coach Steve

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