directors

Coach Jesse Winter started his basketball career at South Side High School where he was a 2-year captain and a standout player. He was inducted into the program’s Hall of Fame for his achievements of being All-Long Island and leading the team to the Nassau County Championship Games. After high school, Jesse played at SUNY Cortland where he was a 2-year Captain. For the Red Dragons, he held the All-Time Leading Career Scorer record in the school’s history for 10 years scoring 1,525 points, was 2nd All-Time in assists and a 2-time All American that helped lead the team to a SUNYAC Championship that advanced to the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament. After College, Jesse played 1 season of professional basketball in Israel in the National League for Ramat Hasharon. Jesse is currently a FIBA Certified basketball trainer. He was the Basketball Director at Camps such as Camp Wayne, Coalman Country and the Junior Knicks Virtual Summer Basketball Camp. In 2021, he coached our 5th Grade Team to an AAU D2 National Championship in Orlando, Florida. 

Coach Trevor Stark started his basketball career at Robert F. Kennedy High School where he was a 2-year Captain. He was the school’s All-Time Leading Scorer and finished 2nd All-Time in assists. He then attended Hilbert College in Buffalo, NY, where he was 1st Team All-Conference in his Junior and Senior years. He capped his Hawk career as a 1,000 point scorer and the 8th highest All-Time scorer in the school’s history. He also helped lead the team to its first regular season conference championship. He finished 1st All-Time in free throw percentage and 2nd All-Time in assists. After college Trevor played 3 seasons professionally in Israel for Hapoel Tzfat and Hapoel Maboaim. 

Coach Nikko Callender starred at Baldwin HS where he was a 2-time All-County player. From there he played at Concordia College as a 3-year starter. He became one of a select group of student-athletes in school history reaching the 75 plateau in every major stat category — blocks, steals, points, rebounds and assists. After College Nikko began coaching at Mineola HS winning JV Conference Coach of the Year. He then joined the Baldwin HS coaching staff where he twice won JV Conference Coach of the Year and produced a record of 48-9. The past 2 years he was the Assistant Coach of D2 NYIT and Queens College. Currently, he is the Head Coach for LuHi’s Regional team. 

Coach Kelly Dempsey started her basketball career at Hicksville High School where she was a 5-year varsity starter and was an integral part of her team winning two Nassau County Championships. From there she played at Mount Saint Mary College and led her team to a Skyline Championship. After college she helped build the NCPAL Headquarters Activity Basketball program and is currently a basketball director for that NCPAL unit. Kelly is the Head Clinician for the Long Island Nets and New York Liberty. Nominated by the Long Island Nets, Kelly was a 2020 Jr. NBA Coach of the Year semifinalist. Also in 2020, Kelly was presented as a Community Hero by the Long Island Nets. She has been coaching at Mineola High School since 2015 where she is the Girls Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach. In addition, Kelly was also a 5-year varsity volleyball player in high school. Starting in 2017, Kelly began her volleyball coaching career. To give back, Kelly assists the NCPAL Special Needs Basketball team and volunteers to work the basketball Special Olympics.

Coach Evan Conti started his basketball career at Holy Cross High School where he was a standout player and Captain in his senior season. He finished 5th All-time in scoring and earned 1st-Team in the CHSAA, which is one of the best high School leagues in the country. Additionally, he was selected to the Jewish Sports Review All-American Team and 2nd-Team All-City by the New York Post, Daily News and was also a McDonald’s All-American game nominee. Conti was the MVP of the 18th world Maccabiah Games for the 16U age in 2009 leading them to championship victory with a game high in points. Fast forward a few years later to 2013, he won the gold medal in the 19th Maccabiah games in 2013 for the Open team under legendary European coach Brad Greenberg. After high school, Evan played Division 1 Basketball at Quinnipiac University where he played 121 career games and had a successful career. After College he played 3 seasons of  professional basketball in israel for Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Hapoel Migdal Haemek and Hapoel Afula. Evan was the Assistant Coach, then Head Coach at D2 NYIT. Now he is the Top Assistant Coach at St. Michaels in Vermont.

Coach Darren started his basketball career at West Hempstead High School (WHHS) where he was a 3-year varsity starter and 2-year team captain. At WHHS, Darren received two All-Conference awards, one All-County award, and won back-to-back Conference Championships. After graduating from WHHS, he attended Long Island University – CW Post where he red-shirted for a year. He made a quick stop at Misericordia University for his red-shirt freshman season, but later transferred to Fairleigh Dickinson University – Madison Campus (FDU) to finish up his remaining college basketball years. At FDU, Darren became an outstanding performer being the 3rd leading scorer in the conference his junior year and obtaining All-Conference and Team MVP honors during his tenure there. After college, Darren is looking to give back to the game that has given him so much. Outside of Level Up, Darren is the Basketball Director at Tyler Hill Camp in Pennsylvania.