SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
NEWTON, Kan. — The Mid America Youth Basketball (MAYB) organization will host its 30th annual MAYB Nationals this weekend in two different states. The boys’ nationals will take place in Wichita, while the girls nationals will play in Oklahoma City, both happening Aug. 4-6.
MAYB was founded by Hesston native, Greg Raleigh, and has been going strong since 1993.
"We started this when I first got out of high school coaching and was doing a little bit of coaching at Bethel," Raleigh said. "I just wanted more opportunities for kids to be able to play ball during the summers. It kind of has just grown since then. It was never a plan to get as big as it has, but it's been special seeing it take off like it has."
What started as one summer tournament with 69 teams has grown into more than 170 summer tournaments involving 3700 teams from at least 27 states and two foreign countries.
The boys’ nationals will get underway on Friday in Wichita and will have over 10,000 athletes on over 1,000 teams from over 25 states, ranging from first grade through 12th grade teams. MAYB will use nine different sites over the course of the three days, including Wichita Hoops, Newton High School, Halstead High School, Hesston High School, South Farha Center, Wichita Sports Forum and the Andover Farha Center.
The younger kids will get to play their national championships at Charles Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State University, while the seventh grade through high school kids will play theirs at Wichita Southeast High School.
"Numbers are way up for this year’s nationals," Raleigh said. "This one tournament will bring in well over $10 million into the Wichita area economy. The city of Wichita has been great to us and we love continuing to use facilities in Wichita for not only our nationals, but also just tournaments throughout the year."
The girls national tournaments will take place in and around Oklahoma City over the course of three days. Sites included will be the Oklahoma Athletic Center, First Moore Church, Premiere Sportsplex, The Hive, Santa Fe Life Center, and Solid Rock, while the championships will be played at Moore High School.
"We are extremely happy with our partnership with Oklahoma City and its surrounding areas," Raleigh said. "This is the site I go down and will be there to help run firsthand, and it's something I enjoy doing each year."
These events wouldn't be possible without officials, especially when the country is struggling to find youth sports officials.
"We'll use over 500 officials this weekend," Raleigh said. "We're very fortunate that we have very qualified officials, most of these guys are working high school and college ball during the season. They've got a lot of experience, and our supervisors do a great job of making everything run smoothly. We'll have guys from five or six different states doing these games."
Raleigh made sure to recognize and thank his staff that works in the MAYB office in Newton for all of their hard work to put this event on.
"We have six guys and a girl that work year around in our main office," Raleigh said. "This time of year they're putting in long long hours. They're great, and are really what makes this go. I can't thank them enough for their hard work and dedication."
The next 80 hours or so will be extremely busy for Raleigh and his team.
"I'll arrive in Oklahoma City on Thursday morning and will unload boxes of awards, t-shirts, scorebooks, pencils and all of those things," Raleigh said. "We'll have check in for the teams from 6-10 p.m. on Thursday night where they'll show proof of grade and all of that. Then on Friday games get going, so I'll be doing a lot of driving around the rest of the weekend and checking out all of the gyms and making sure everything runs smoothly."
To find more information about MAYB, or to learn more about the national tournaments, click here.
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