Hundreds of clinics and camps conducted by its players established a solid youth soccer base throughout northeast Ohio — though the club did not play long enough to reap the benefits of the kids growing up to becoming ticket-buying adults.
The club annually brought in numerous players from the largely ethnic Lake Erie Soccer League, which included among its many teams Belgrade United, Canton Hercules, Cleveland Inter, Cleveland Sannitics, Croatian Rebels, Donauschwaben Concordia, German Central Jets, German Kickers, Greek Olympic, Hrvat Knights, Hungarian Hunters, Karadjordje Stars, Latvian Hawks, Lazio Romans, Pan American Bulls, Polish Red Sox, Ukrainian Lions, Umoja Tigers, Warren Hellenics and Zagreb Rams.
It made it difficult for the Cobras to mesh into a cohesive unit when players would not pass the ball to a new teammate, instead carrying a grudge borne from previous play in the LESL.
The Cobras' long-time general manager was Dr. John P. Gyekenyesi, a native of Hungary who grew up on Cleveland's east side, earned his doctorate at Michigan State University, and has been an aerospace researcher at NASA for more than 35 years.
Randy Lerner served as the Cobras' equipment manager, a glorified term for a locker-room assistant who picked up soiled towels and jerseys and did all sorts of mundane tasks.