Coach Danny Bernstein • Coach Vin Minotti • Coach David Villalobos • Coach Ural Hogans • Coach Doug Barshop • Coach Dillon Faulkner • Coach Dave Boykin
Backyard Sports Purchase Colleges
On Deck Sports is currently open, fully operational and ready to help you! They’ll be at home in any backyard, youth league or high school field. Built to last, our batting cages are sturdy enough for most demanding college and professional use. We’re proud to have decades of experience designing, suppling, and installing batting cages.
Danny Bernstein
- Executive Director and Founder
- M.A.T, Physical Education, Manhattanville College
- B.A., Economics, Amherst College
Backyard Sports Online
Danny Bernstein learned to love all sports right in his own neighborhood. Raised in Long Island, Danny played in the schoolyard, driveways, and backyards of suburbia. He attended Amherst College where he played goalie on the varsity soccer team and was elected captain his senior year.
His positive experiences throughout his youth inspired him to create Backyard Sports. Now as an adult, Danny continues to be athletic. He still plays soccer on Saturday mornings, and believes that the love of playing sports can continue throughout your life.
Vin Minotti
- Program Director, Backyard Sports
- Two Time New York State Private School State Champion as Head Coach (2010, 2012)
- New York State Small Private School Coach of the Year (2012)
- Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Darien, Mamaroneck and Rye Country Day
- Graduate Assistant Coach at the birthplace of basketball, Springfield College
- Awarded Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award, Springfield College
- Helped development of numerous high school players who went on to play at:
- Vanderbilt University
- Boston University
- Loyola University
- Lemoyne College
- Springfield College
- Union College
- Norwich College
- Health Education Instructor, Mamaroneck Public Schools
- Three sport standout at Fox Lane High School (Basketball, Football, Baseball)
Coach Minotti spent the early years of life watching his father teach elementary physical education and coach high school soccer. By the time Minotti entered his freshman year at Fox Lane High School he already knew his chosen profession. Minotti earned both his undergraduate and Master’s Degree from Springfield College. At SC, Vin taught physical education courses and became the Assistant Men's Basketball Coach. After his college teaching tenure, Minotti's passion led him to coaching High School Basketball and teaching both elementary physical education and health.
Vin brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Backyard Sports, infusing both solid teaching progressions and dynamic lessons that enable our Backyard Sports Athletes to develop love of the game and increase their maximum potential. Minotti currently teaches health education at the Mamaroneck Public Schools and is the head boys’ coach at Rye Country Day. Vin lives in Bedford New York with his wife Lorraine and two children.
David Villalobos
- Director of Soccer Operations at Backyard Sports
- Retired Assistant Principal, New York City Department of Education
- Trainer & Assistant Varsity Coach at Edgemont High School
- Travel Soccer Trainer and Coach at Edgemont Travel Club and Rivertowns Football Club
- Player at Brignorth Town FC, Newport Town FC and Shrewsbury Town FC - England
- 3 year All State college player at Manhattanville College
Born in Chile, Coach Villalobos brings over 30 years of playing and coaching experience to Backyard Sports. He has coached all age levels from Pre K through college. A former professional player and received all-American distinction in his collegiate career. In addition to Backyard Sports, Coach Villalobos coaches at Edgemont High School, CSA New York - Complete Soccer Academy, and trains many travel soccer teams in the WYSL. He has Masters in education and school supervision. Coach Villalobos is retired from the New York City Department of Education after serving 30 years as a Teacher and Assistant Principal. He resides with his family in Yonkers, New York.
Ural Hogans
- Assistant Coach at Woodlands High School for 7 yrs
- Head Coach at Alexander Hamilton High School for 4 yrs
- Helped Woodlands win two league titles
- Coached Sectional Title at Hamilton in 04'
- Won 3 Sectional Title and a State Title as a player
- Played Division I Basketball
Doug Barshop
- Associate Director
- B.A., Speech Communication, University of Maryland
Doug never met a sport he didn’t like. Growing up in Westchester County, Doug was always ready for pick-up game of baseball, basketball, football, kickball, soccer or anything else that was being played at school or in the neighborhood. That enthusiasm continued through high school where Doug played Varsity football and Lacrosse.
Doug’s lifelong passion for sports and desire to work with kids lead him to join Backyard Sports. He believes, the positive lessons learned through sports can impact everyone in helping build better communities. Doug lives in Weston, Connecticut with his three children.
Coach Dillon Faulkner
- Backyard Sports Home Field Advantage Coordinator
- B.A., Sport Management, Minor in Communications, SUNY Fredonia
- M.S. Sport Business Management, Manhattanville College (May, 2018)
- Student Assistant Coach, SUNY Fredonia Men’s Basketball
Dillon Faulkner has always been passionate about sports. Growing up in Westchester County, Dillon was competitive in multiple sports, leading him to pursue a degree in Sport Management at SUNY Fredonia.
Dillon quickly became the President and Founder of the Club Basketball team at Fredonia before earning his title as Intramurals Commissioner and Student Assistant Coach of the Men’s basketball team during his final two years at Fredonia. Graduating Summa Cum Laude in May of 2016, Dillon received a B.A. in Sport Management with a Minor in Communications and went on to pursue an M.S. in Sport Business Management from Manhattanville College. Dillon’s passion for sports steered him to Backyard Sports, where he immediately felt right at home.
Coach Dave Boykin
- Dave Boykin is White Plains, NY native.
- He starred as White Plains high school's point guard from 2002-2006
- Played college basketball at Fordham University.
- After two years at Fordham University, Dave transferred to the University of Bridgeport where he won 2 conference championships and managed to score 1,000 points in only 2 seasons
- In 2010, he was named the Scholar-Athlete of year of the ECC. After his college career, he played professional ball in Germany, China, Colombia and most recently Brazil in 2016.
- Coach Boykin has been with Backyard Sports for the past five years and loves teaching young athletes
- Dave has a great demeanor while coaching and serves as a terrific role model to all of our Backyard Sports Athletes.
| Backyard Sports | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Developer(s) | Humongous Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Android, Game Boy |
| First release | Backyard Baseball 1997 |
| Latest release | Backyard Sports: Baseball 2015 and Backyard Sports: Basketball 2015 2015 |
Backyard Sports (originally branded as Junior Sports)[1][2] is a series of video games released for consoles and computers. The series is best known for starring kid-sized versions of popular professional sports stars, such as Albert Pujols, Paul Pierce, Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan, Clint Mathis, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Joe Thornton and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series is licensed by the leading professional U.S. sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS).
The series includes Backyard Baseball, Backyard Basketball, Backyard Football (American football), Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey (Ice hockey), and Backyard Skateboarding. In the games, players form a team consisting of Backyard Kids and pro players, which they take through a 'Backyard League' season, attempting to become the champions. Players can create their own athletes, starting in Backyard Football (1999). Another aspect of the games is the use of Power-Ups, allowing players to gain 'super-abilities'. For instance, 'Super Dunk' allows a basketball player to make an incredible dunk from nearly anywhere on the court, 'Leap Frog' allows a football player to jump over the entire defensive line, and 'Ice Cream Truck' causes the other team to be completely distracted for a brief period of time.
Some of these games are playable with the ScummVM emulator.[3]
History[edit]
The series began in late 1997, when Humongous Entertainment created their first game, Backyard Baseball. Humongous Entertainment was owned by GT Interactive. Later Infogrames bought the company, and along with it came all of the game titles. Infogrames allowed Humongous Entertainment to expand the series, and they developed more titles such as Backyard Soccer, Backyard Hockey, Backyard Skateboarding, Backyard Basketball and Backyard Football.[4] Following the buyout by Infogrames these titles from the Backyard series have seen releases for game consoles, including the Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii.
On July 24, 2013, Epic Gear bought the Backyard Sports franchise from the Atari bankruptcy proceedings.[5]
On December 11, 2014, Day 6 Sports Group announced the relaunch of the Backyard Sports series with Backyard Sports NBA Basketball for smartphones and tablets, with Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry as the cover athlete.
On April 19, 2019, Humongous Entertainment tweeted an image of the original Junior Sports logo, hinting at a possible re-release of the original games and/or the developer having re-secured the rights to the series proper.[6][1][2]
Film[edit]
In 2016, it was reported that Cross Creek Pictures and Crystal City Entertainment were developing a film based on Backyard Sports with Brian Oliver and Ari Daniel Pinchot producing.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ abSchmidt, Eugene (April 24, 2019). 'Humongous Entertainment coming to consoles'. Barrelrolled. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^ abFrech, Ricky (April 24, 2019). 'Humongous Entertainment is Bringing Their Collection of 90s Classics to Consoles'. DualShockers. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^http://gamesdbase.com/list.aspx?in=1&searchtext=backyard&searchtype=1
- ^'Backyard Sports - Backyard Basketball and Backyard Football'. Barcodespider.com.
- ^http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130724006402/en/Evergreen-Group-Agreed-Acquire-Backyard-Sports-Video/
- ^Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (April 19, 2019). '[Image-only tweet; image shows a red exclamation point on a transparent background overlaid with the words 'It's Junior Sports' in blue.]' (Tweet). Retrieved May 17, 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^Fleming Jr, Mike (March 30, 2016). ''Backyard Sports' Video Game In Movie Deal With Cross Creek & Crystal City'. Deadline.
External links[edit]
- Official website (2007 archive on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine)
- Backyard Sports series at MobyGames