BYS Coaches

Staff and Coaches for backyard sports

Staff

Our Backyard Sports coaches align with our mission and values of putting the child first and making sports fun and engaging for all. These coaches include local school teachers, JV and Varsity coaches, college coaches, and many highly regarded youth sports professionals with decades of experience across all ages and ability levels.

 

Dillon Faulkner
President, Backyard Sports

Dillon, has always been passionate about sports. Growing up in Westchester County, his experiences playing multiple sports lead him to pursue a degree in Sport Management at SUNY Fredonia. After a decision to no longer pursue basketball as a player, Dillon became the Student Assistant Coach of the Men’s basketball team under Head Coach, Phil Seymore at SUNY Fredonia. Graduating Summa Cum Laude in May of 2016, Dillon received a B.A. in Sport Management with a Minor in Communications. Dillon went on to graduate with a 4.0 from Manhattanville College, earning an M.S. in Sport Business Management. Dillon’s passion for sports and community steered him to Backyard Sports, where he now serves as the President (BYS) and COO (BYSC), creating access to sports and recreation for deserving children across Westchester County.

Vin Minotti
Chief Program Officer, Backyard Sports

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.

Craig Butler
Program Director Backyard Sports

Craig, grew up in upstate NY and moved to Westchester in 2001. His wife is currently a middle school physical education teacher and coach for Valhalla Schools. Craig brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Backyard Sports having taught elementary physical education for Mamaroneck Public Schools for 20 years. He was a 3 sport athlete in high school and went on to play football collegiately at SUNY Cortland. Craig has been with Backyard Sports since 2020 and currently serves as Program Director. He enjoys working with kids of all ages, and especially athletes with special needs. Craig wears many hats as program director. He is involved in everything from running programs, developing new staff, organizing daily schedules, and planning events for athletes with special needs. In his free time, Craig loves to fish, and more specifically fly fish! He also enjoys golf, hiking, and being at his second home in the Adirondacks. Craig currently resides in Yorktown with his wife Stephanie and 3 children, Sophia, Darin and Dylan.

Luis Lizarzaburu
Assistant Program Director

Luis Lizarzaburu journey to Backyard Sports started with his interests with helping people at a young age. He would volunteer at the Yorktown Food pantry during the holidays and helped raise money for Relay for life. With his dedication to sports, soccer in particular, he enjoyed fundraising for his teams in order to participate in tournaments and camps, as well as purchasing of uniforms and attire.

He attended Mercy College where he played soccer, graduated with his BS in Psychology and was President of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) where he continued to fundraise money for all sports teams and donate time in running sports camps for kids with the help of his fellow student athletes.

After college, he pursued his passion in helping people and worked in fields such as social work and education of kids until he found Backyard Sports, where his interests came together all in one place. He knew this place was special and was where he could call home.

Jessica Riesel
Administrative Director

Jessica believes that her lifelong love of sports, both as a participant and a fan, along with her commitment to giving back to her community, makes Backyard Sports Cares a perfect fit. After graduating from the University of Michigan and Brooklyn Law School, Jessica practiced commercial litigation until she began her most important job as wife and mom of two.

While raising her kids, she went on to run the PTA of the Harrison Central School District for several years, as well as serving on various boards for local children's causes. Following Jessica's example of community service, her children both volunteered with Backyard Sports Cares while growing up. Jessica quickly fell in love with its mission, its people and the organization's hands-on approach to enabling our children to help make their world a better place. Now that her own kids have moved on, she is thrilled that it's her turn to be part of the Backyard Sports Cares team.

Jeanne Bernett
Chief Financial Officer

Jeanne a life long participant and fan of sports, came to join Backyard Sports in 2015 through her children’s volunteer commitment to the BYSC Sunday Special Needs Programs. Backyard Sports Cares enables Jeanne to continue her life long commitment to family, community and children.

A graduate of Fairfield University she has worked in various finance and accounting positions in the entertainment industry at Time Warner and Warner Communications. Although Jeanne’s 3 children have graduated out of the BYSC volunteer programs, she continues to be a valuable part of the BYSC team.

Stephanie Spiridon
Associate Director

Stephanie has joined our team after being involved with MVP Basketball Camp since 2013. Stephanie, a high school business teacher and varsity lacrosse coach at Danbury High School, originally received a B.S. in Management & Entrepreneurship at UConn.

She then went on to pursue two additional degrees, a M.A.T. in Secondary Business Education at Sacred Heart University and M.B.A. in Marketing & Management at UConn. These degrees have allowed her to not only be a contributive member in the business world but also allowed for her to teach dual credit college level classes to her students.

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