FC Lehigh 2nd Annual Banquet, Penn's Peak, February 28th, 2010

FC Lehigh held their 2nd Annual Banquet at the beautiful Penn's Peak Concert Hall this past Sunday. The banquet was a huge success with over 260 people in attendance, including parents, players, coaches and special guests.

Everyone was treated to an amazing picture collage synchronized to music that was created by Scott Frisch, ran by Theresa and Andrew Frisch, to begin the evening. Paul Marco, Head Coach of Binghamton University was the guest speaker and he captivated his audience with incredible presentation, thoughtful insights about the game and very entertaining video clips! Few of us will forget the "finger juggler", the incredible fus ball clip and of course how to grow a tomato plant. Coach Marco's remarks were poignant and effectively spoke to the essence of our club as well as the players in the audience.

Every player in attendance was recognized and received our traditional FC Lehigh banner to honor their commitment to the club and their team. As well, we recognized the Most Improved Player from each team and presented each of them with a ball for their dedication to improving as a player.

Team Managers were appropriately thanked for their contributions to the club as well as the many people who helped coordinate the banquet. Stephanie Weitzman and her committee did an outstanding job coordinating the banquet and raffle prizes. Dave Weitzman was also recognized for his many contributions to the club on and off the field. His passion for coaching and his unwavering desire to see the club grow is unparalleled.

A special thanks to Holly Roth Ivory for putting together the basket raffle. She did a wonderful job! Also, thank you to all the parents and families that donated baskets for our raffle this year.

Finally, Mark Masenheimer was recognized as the FC Lehigh "Parent of the Year" for his significant contributions to the club. As a member of our Advisory Board, Mark helped launch the TeamPages to improve communication throughout the club, he oversaw the development of our new website that was launched this past week and secured a sponsorship from PenTeleData for FC Lehigh. Mark was also instrumental in foregoing an affiliation with FC Sonic and ensuring that as a club, we will benefit from this association.

The evening was capped with some wonderful ice cream sundaes provided by the Webber family and, of course, the players found the dance floor thanks to the music from Coach Fernando Carrizzo and Jose Yunez.

To paraphrase, Paul Marco summed the evening up during his presentation when he said "This is an amazing banquet that we should all be very proud of as a young club and growing organization".