-
Bernie probably knows more of a practical nature
about how to use games in a healthy way with children, adolescents
or adults than anyone I know. It's amazing. He did it before
with new games. And now again he does it with old games. - Brian Sutton-Smith
-
Bernie is one of the most inspiring and ingenious teachers
I know. He is also a master of his subject -- learning through play.
- Herb Kohl
|
Bernie DeKoven
Registered Junkmaster
call (310) 792 7227
email:
223 Avenue G
Redondo Beach, CA 9027
Bernie's book, Junkyard
Sports, describes a radically new, paradigm-busting
concept for athletic events. one that took him 40 years in
theater, education, game design and group facilitation to develop.
He calls it "Sports for the fun of it."
Bernie's lifelong belief that things can be made more
fun led him to develop and implement new ways of playing,
new games for groups of all ages and sizes, from singles, couples
and families to schools, communities and cities, and, most
recently, to the idea of "Junkyard Sports."
His Interplay Curriculum, a comprehensive program in
self-esteem and social skills based on over 1000 children's games,
was used in classrooms and playgrounds throughout the city of
Philadelphia. For the Philadelphia Bicentennial, he designed
and orchestrated Playday on the Parkway, a community games event
involving hundreds of thousands of celebrants. He established The
Games Preserve, a retreat center in Eastern Pennsylvania
where teachers, therapists and recreators could conduct in-depth
investigations of games and play. In his book, The
Well Played Game, he voiced a philosophy of "healthy
competition" that formed the core teachings of the New Games
Foundation. He became co-director of the foundation, and has
developed internationally successful programs in facilitating
collaborative games, community events and business meetings.
Bernie has designed award-winning games for Ideal
Toy Company, Children's Television Workshop, CBS Software and Mattel
Toys.
He earned his Master's degree in theater from Villanova
University where he received a Rockefeller Fellowship in playwriting.
Bernie is a lifetime member of The
Association for the Study of Play and the 2006 winner of
the Ifill-Raynolds award
from the North American Simulation and Gaming Society.
Read this
article about Bernie from the Nov. 12, 2004 issue
of the Daily Breeze
Interviews with Bernie:
Read more about Bernie and his pioneering fun work
on his DeepFUN website.
|
www.junkyardsports.com - © 2004 Bernie DeKoven |
-
Life without fun is not worth much -- as
many people who have achieved success and wealth at the
expense of stress and depression realize. It should be
easy to have fun -- yet most of us have forgotten how to
play, how to invest life with enjoyment. Bernie is the
only person I know who not only knows about play, but knows
how to teach it. May his efforts prosper, for they help
us all. - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
|
