Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could play wiffleball, make new friends, score a date, and even relive your college days with a game of flip cup all at once? Well now you can, with Backyard Sports Club, Hampton Roads’ own adult, co-ed social sports league!
Backyard Sports Club is a co-ed adult sports league in the Coastal Virginia area. This alternative sports league is built on being social and fun with a new twist to the old pastime sport of picnic outings and field day from elementary school.
- THE event of the fall. Do not miss it. This event is ONE OF A KIND. It is the only craft beer event that pits ONLY Hampton Roads-based breweries against each other to see who has the best brews! Ticket holders will be treated to an afternoon of the best Hampton Roads craft breweries, as they compete in two categories, best IPA and best Seasonal. Everyone will vote on each category while.
- Jun 28, 2019 Backyard Sports Club is offering you an opportunity to learn and play Cornhole. We have several locations that will be hosting our Virginia Beach cornhole league play through Hampton Roads, VA. How to play Cornhole. This game needs two or four players onboard. The boards are typically set up by Backyard sports. Each of the players chooses a side.
The club was formed in May 2011, by brother-sister team Jon and Charm Reyes, and friend James Salgado, with the catchphrase, “Playing our childhood sports…today!”
Opening with a beach wiffleball season featuring 11 teams, the club now has over 600 players registered in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, with the number of teams having almost doubled in the first year. “There was no wiffleball league in the area,” said Jon. “So we thought, ‘New sport, no league – let’s make one up!’”
They also offer dodgeball and volleyball, and as of this summer, now have the only all-female flag football league in Hampton Roads. Next year they are looking to include bowling and kanjam, and expand throughout the region.
But for those having gym class flashbacks of being picked last for the team, there’s no need to worry. “You don’t have to be great at sports,” said Jon. “You just have to want to meet people.”
Backyard sports pool. “We want to stay away from recreational sports, and stick with more social sports where you can have a drink in your hand, if you know what I mean,” added James.
But it’s not just about the games; it’s also about meeting other young professionals in Hampton Roads. “I met my current girlfriend through another kickball group,” said James. Jon’s sister also met her fiancé through kickball.
(From l-r) James Salgado, Charm Reyes, and Jon Reyes
After each game, the players head to the nearby sponsor bar for some happy hour-style food and drink specials, and maybe even a little beer pong. “It got to the point where I opened up my tab before I played, then just left it and came back after the game,” said James.
Add to that the end-of-season parties, such as last month’s ‘Backyard Ball’, and your social calendar can quickly fill up. For many single young professionals, getting outside and throwing a ball around is much more appealing than scrolling through online dating pages or trawling the bar scene at last call.
The club’s newsletter, written and produced each week by Charm, even profiles league singles in a jokey, laidback way. “It’s just something I do for fun,” she said. “And I think it’s a good way to put people out there and get everyone involved within the league.”
Partying after a dodgeball game at the sponsor bar
Backyard Sports Club Virginia Beach Va
Another bonus of bringing so many people together is the chance to make a difference in the community. If there’s a local need, they can host a tournament and quickly raise funds through registration fees – as they did for a friend who got laid off and found out he had cancer.
Sponsor bars have donated 10% of their sales to the group’s charity of choice, such as the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, and on Saturday, 18 August, the league will host its first big one-day tournament for charity: the American Red Cross Sand Wiffleball Tournament.
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Finally, if you thought this summer was the last you’ll see of the Olympics until 2016, think again! Mark your calendars for the first ‘Backyard Olympics’, taking place February 2nd and 3rd, 2013, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
An initiative led by the City of Virginia Beach, the two-day sporting event will see Backyard Sports Club team up with Wheeler Dodgeball and Virginia Beach Cornhole, for the ultimate faceoff in wiffleball, dodgeball and cornhole.
Anyone can play…so form a team, get practicing, and you may just win the gold!
Backyard Sports Club Virginia Beach Reviews
Meet the Founders:
James Salgado
A district manager and Virginia Tech alum, he most looks forward to dodgeball season. This Hokie also won an all-male beauty pageant in college.
A district manager and Virginia Tech alum, he most looks forward to dodgeball season. This Hokie also won an all-male beauty pageant in college.
Jon Reyes
When not busy working as a civil engineer, this University of Memphis alum can be found playing wiffleball and hanging out with friends.
When not busy working as a civil engineer, this University of Memphis alum can be found playing wiffleball and hanging out with friends.
Charm Reyes
A marketing analyst and University of Tennessee alum, she loves wiffleball but prefers to play against her brother so he can’t tell her what to do.
A marketing analyst and University of Tennessee alum, she loves wiffleball but prefers to play against her brother so he can’t tell her what to do.