Tom Rabstenek Award

The Board of the Manhattan Soccer Club has created its first end of the year award, the Tom Rabstenek Soccer Citizen Award, to acknowledge excellence in one of our senior players in honor of Tom, a founder of the MSC who died in 2005.

The award will be given to the graduating player who best exemplifies the spirit of and enthusiasm for the game, sportsmanship and service to his/her team and the Club. This is not a best player award although the best player may win it. Candidates should be the “glue” of his/her team. Community service with soccer or other theme is valued by the Award Committee.

The amount of the award will be a $1000 scholarship.

Nominations for the award are due by June 1. The winner of the award will be announced at the end of the year Club meeting in June.

Details and Eligibility:
1. A candidate for this award must have played on an MSC team for at least 3 years, must graduate from high school this spring and must plan on attending a school of higher education after graduation from high school.
2. The award will be deposited in their school’s student spending account or its equivalent and is to be used for books, supplies or discretionary spending.

Procedure:
1. Candidates for this award are to be nominated by a committee of their coach and manager. The coach and manager of each team can nominate up to 2 candidates( 2 candidates at most from any team). Nominations should be submitted by the player’s manager and should be accompanied by a brief paragraph or two that explains why the candidate should win this award. A manager’s or coach’s child is eligible for this award.

For those who did not know Tom Rabstenek, what he meant to the Manhattan Soccer Club is described wonderfully by past President Ellen Josem: Tom was both a visionary and a pragmatist at the same time. He wanted everything in place yesterday, but was aware that it would take years to become the club he envisioned we could be. He worked hard, and expected all of us to work equally as hard to achieve our goals. While his focus was always on the kids, he deeply understood the need for process and consensus building in a community based organization comprised of a volunteer work force. He was a man of all seasons, and we were lucky to have him as our steward. While Tom loved to see MSC teams excel, what he cared most about were the lessons learned from team sports – self discipline, skill mastery, how to be a team player, how to win with grace and lose with dignity, and most important of all, how to treat others with respect. I can think of no finer way to honor him than by creating the MSC good citizenship award in his name for in essence, Tom will always be the MSC’s best citizen.