20 JANUARY 10, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
SPORTS
Local brothers honored for
work with soccer group
The Eastern New York Youth Soccer
Association (ENYYSA) announced
that brothers Dimitrie
and Sima Draguca have been selected
as our Personalities of the Month for
January. This is the fi rst time that
siblings have ever been selected for
this award.
Dimitrie and Sima are the only children
of Simeon and Jelena Draguca of
Middle Village, although the couple lived
in neighboring Ridgewood for 48 years
and that’s where their boys grew up.
Both Dimitrie and Sima were introduced
to soccer at an early age by their
father, an immigrant from Eastern Europe,
and they started playing in the
Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League
(CJSL) for the Blau Weiss Gottschee
(BWG) club.
Dimitrie coached his alma mater,
Grover Cleveland High School, from
1990 to 2001, and his best year was in
1992 when Sima was playing central
midfi elder. Sima was selected All-City
Best 11 as the Dragucas led the team
to the Public Schools Athletic League
(PSAL) “A” championship for New
York City.
The brothers have been certifi ed as
coaches and referees with Dimitrie
focusing on coaching and Sima doing
the same with offi ciating.
Besides coaching Grover Cleveland
High School, Dimitrie served as coach
and club director with the Asphalt
Green Soccer Club from 1998 to 2009
and as coach and administrator with
Downtown United from 2009 to the
present. He has also been a high school
referee since 2001.
Sima, meanwhile, coached one
season of Snoopy Soccer with the
Levittown Soccer Club of the Long
Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) in
2007 but found his calling as a referee
shortly thereafter. The Levittown
resident became a US Soccer referee
in 2007, a high school ref in 2009 and
a college referee in 2011.
In a vote of its members, Sima was
selected the New York Metro Intercollegiate
Soccer Offi cials Association
(NYMISOA) New Offi cial of the Year in
2011 and the Offi cial of the Year in 2013.
He remains the only ref to have ever
received Offi cial of the Year so quickly,
in his third year in the chapter.
While Sima was busy offi ciating
10 NCAA playoff games, college conference
fi nals, PSAL fi nals and the
State Cup fi nals, his older brother
was moving up the ladder at the CJSL.
Dimitrie, who now also lives in Middle
Village, was elected First Vice
President in 2009, then elected CJSL
President in 2011 and continued in
this role until 2016, when he became
CJSL Director. That was also the same
year the CJSL bestowed on him Life
Member status.
And all this soccer activity is in addition
to their “real jobs,” as Dimitrie
has been a Physical Education teacher
in New York City Public Schools since
1993. Sima, meanwhile, has been working
as Project Manager for Crown
Castle International, a wireless and
fi ber optic infrastructure provider.
Photo courtesy of the Draguca family
With over 100,000 youth soccer
players––both boys and girls––and
more than 25,000 volunteers, the
non-profi t Eastern New York Youth
Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches
from Montauk Point, Long Island to
the Canadian border. For more information,
log on to www.enysoccer.com.
Dimitrie and Sima Draguca
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