Backyard Soccer

I've lately been thinking back on some of my time spent with old video games.

I used to play on a travel soccer team, and in between trips to practice and tournaments I would spend a lot of time playing Backyard Soccer on PC. At the time, I think it was somewhere around 1998, our family purchased our first home computer running Windows 98.

While, I don't remember the exact model, I do remember that it was a Gateway. I have vivid memories of the big white box arriving at our house, covered in big black spots resembling a cow - their famous brand that some might recall.

I used the machine mostly for downloading music and playing games and Backyard Soccer was one of the earliest games that I can remember playing on it. The game was targeted toward kids much younger than me, but it was such a genuine experience that I enjoyed it from the moment I started playing it.

I would spend hours pretending I was the coach of the team - mimicking some of what I had learned from my own coach and leading the characters to victory.

One thing that stood out to me is that they had such a diverse collection of characters - including one who played in a wheelchair. His name was Kenny and he was my favorite (and always my star player). Thinking back on it - the game did a wonderful job including people from all races, genders, and abilities. It was neat.

Overall, it wasn't a very popular game among my group of friends (I'm not even sure they knew it existed), but it definitely meant a lot to me in between soccer tournaments. Playing it is a very fond memory of mine.