Dan Baurkot – Basketball  “Dan is a great guy & everyone loves him” that’s how one person described Dan Baurkot and we couldn’t agree with that more. Dan, along with his lovely wife, Peggy and four children, Sophia, Elena, Juliana & Christopher have called Basking Ridge home since 2000. He attended Notre Dame University & then went on to study law at St. John’s. He is a practicing attorney here in BR. Dan has a love for sports, especially basketball. He has been coaching & evaluating tryouts for over 10 years with RYSI. This includes the past 6 years not even having a child in the program. Dan has also coached the Ridge High School Fall & Spring basketball teams for both the boys & the girls. What the players on Dan’s teams like the most about him is his way of coaching them. He is encouraging and teaches the players great sportsmanship. Dan has a great command of the skills & strategy of the game. Being the busy man he is, he can usually be found rushing in to get to the games just before tip off!                                                                                                        
 Jay Bober – Football  With unbridled enthusiasm & passion, Jay Bober has devoted over 14 years of service to Ridge Youth Sports in various capacities.  As an administrator, he has overseen & ensured the safety of thousands of RYSI student-athletes during his still-running tenure.  At the same time, he has given countless hours to the RYSI family as a volunteer coach, committee member & as Head of Special Projects.  A long-time resident of Basking Ridge, Jay & his wife Michelle have 3 beautiful children, Joshua, Ashleigh & Matthew, all of whom have seen & experienced first-hand the RYSI values & mission – which are paramount to Jay as a parent & as a volunteer.  Whether he is coordinating RYSI’s safety requirements, communicating with parents, enthusiastically entertaining a crowd of young student-athletes or offering his insight on the field, Jay Bober is the model RYSI volunteer.  For many in our community, Jay is still & long remembered for his rousing flag football half-time cheers. A memory that embodies his commitment to RYSI, its values & our community.     
John Salaki – Flag Football  John is a life-long resident of Basking Ridge, having graduated from Ridge High in 1994.  He has been married to his wonderful wife Mary for almost 14 years & is the father of four terrific children: son's Jack, Matt, & Luke, a daughter named Finley (and a soon-to-be named dog).  John has been coaching youth sports for the past six years, ranging from rec & travel baseball to flag football & CYO basketball.  John's passion for teaching our youth the fundamentals of sports, good sportsmanship & the value of being a good teammate, has been exceptional throughout the years. Topping the growth charts at 6 ft 5 in, he has been described by many as a gentle giant who has a way of making the kids strive to be their personal best, learn how to win & sometimes, more importantly, how to lose, & how to have fun along the way. Thank You John for your time & commitment to the youth of Basking Ridge.     
Brian Murray – Softball  Brian has been part of the RYSI softball fraternity since 2016 either through coaching his twin daughters, helping with the field set-ups, training other kids in clinics, or doing whatever was asked of him without hesitation.  He truly embodies the meaning of a true volunteer.  He continues to coach his daughters, Kiersten & Kari, on the Jersey Lightning, a club softball team.   Brian is from Bellefonte, PA, where he loved the game of baseball, & played several positions for his High-School baseball team.  His wife Lynn, a Ridge graduate, played softball at Ridge.  The love of Softball also brought Brian & his wife together as they met on a softball field.  So, Softball runs through their blood & has been passed on to their daughters. Univ. of Bucknell seems to have strong connection with our Volunteers as last year’s award winner, Bill Kosakowski  & Lynn are both alumni. It’s a small world. Brian is the consummate volunteer, balancing his demanding work schedule as an IT Supply Chain manager at Johnson & Johnson with the time & effort to run Softball every season – Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter.  Brian never took any breaks, & always did what was always best for the growth of the RYSI program. While winning is always great, it was not always about winning with Brian but making sure that the kids learned to play the game the right way.
Michael Cinosky – Girls LAX  Michael went to Mountain Lakes HS where he was an all-state linebacker for the HS Football team. He was recruited to play football at Moravian College, but opted to play club lacrosse & fell in love with the sport. He has a long history as a coach. As a high school athlete, he helped coach football & girls basketball with his dad. After college, he helped coach Randolph boys lacrosse for two seasons. Later he coached first & second grade girls lacrosse in Glen Rock. In addition to coaching, Michael designs commercial kitchens & bars through his company, Chef Mike Consulting & Design. As a former chef, he enjoys good food & wine.  More importantly, we would like to recognize Michael’s dedication to the RYSI Girls Lacrosse program. After taking on head coach for the 3rd/4th grade teams for the past two years, Michael spearheaded the launch of RYSI Girls Lacrosse Fall Ball program. His commitment & enthusiasm has inspired more girls to pick up a lacrosse stick beyond the spring season. The fall program was a great success, giving girls the opportunity to improve their skills, bond with teammates, & compete against neighboring towns. Michael & his wife, Justine, have two daughters, Ivy (10) & Sawyer (7), both players in the RYSI girls lacrosse program.  Thank you Mike for your commitment & your inspiration!                               
John Gannon – Boys LAX  John has been with RYSI for almost a decade, coaching football, basketball &, most recently, lacrosse.  John’s dedication to boys’ lacrosse extended beyond coaching, as he was also responsible for fields for the entire program for the past 5 years.  Despite much of this work occurring during tax season - John’s busiest time as an accountant - John ensured the 10 teams & 200 players had the right fields, at the right times, with the right lighting.  Occasionally, John had to step in to navigate disagreements with other groups that thought they had the fields at that time - oh those poor people that had no idea what they were stepping into!  John grew up playing football, basketball & baseball in Oradell, NJ, went on to play football at Albright College, & brought that passion for sports & teamwork to RYSI.  His commitment to the community goes well beyond RYSI.  John has served on the board for Red Devil’s flag football for a decade, as a mentor for a young man from Newark for the last 19 years, & as a CPA for a number of local charities (pro bono).  John has lived in Basking Ridge with his wonderful wife Kristen since 1998, & has two high school sons, Johnny & Brian.  Now that his boys have both moved on to Ridge High School, the program will miss John’s commitment, energy, competitive fire, & sense of humor - which kept everyone grounded in what matters, the kids’ enjoyment of the game.                                        
Lydia Kerrick – Cheerleading   Lydia has been coaching in the RYSI Cheer program for 4 years & has been active on our cheer committee to help run the program. As a wife to Steve & mom to 2 daughters Kaylin (8th grade) & Ashlee (4th grade) she has been a force in our cheer program for some time now. Lydia has made an impact in our cheer program by stepping up to learn how to coach cheer & going "all in" when she came with us to nationals (in Florida) 3 years ago when he had no child on the team~just to learn about the process. At that point we knew that she was pretty special!  She has continued to go above & beyond each year! She has an amazing creative talent & designed new logos for our cheer apparel. She managed our on line store this year & in 2019 we had record sales & profit thanks to all of her hard work. Lydia gets the job done with a smile & is truly a pleasure to have as part of our RYSI cheer program. Managing her famly’s busy schedule that includes softball, dance & cheer (just to name a few) & fundraising for our Varsity team has her running from the field to the gym & she makes it look easy. We are thrilled to have her on board with our Varsity team as they head to Regionals to hopefully earn their bid to Nationals. Having Lydia on board has been a great asset to the team. Her unwavering support & willingness to support not only her children but all of our athletes showcases the type of involvement we always welcome & appreciate from our parent volunteers.  She serves as a wonderful role model to our cheer families & we hope that her involvement continues!