MYAS Boys Grade State Preview: Bigger is Better

by Wally Langfellow

Picture this. Over 1,000 volunteers working to put on one of the largest and most successful youth sporting events in America. In a few days, you won’t have to picture it. You can see it in person as Minnesota Youth Athletic Services puts on the 2022 version of the Boys Grade State Basketball Championships, an annual get-together of traveling basketball teams from across Minnesota.

So what makes this behemoth of an event with some 878 boys teams over the next two weekends and 14,000 players at 30 different sites such an annual success? Like any good team, what makes it successful is practice.

“I believe all the hard work over the years from not only MYAS, but all of the host sites and their volunteers have made this a very special event for the teams,” said MYAS program director Eric Rathke. “I cannot stress enough how grateful MYAS is for the host sites and their volunteers. The teams are getting an opportunity to put the finishing touches on their winter basketball season and potentially be crowned state champion.”

And while MYAS depends on the host sites for their help, the hosts are more than grateful to be part of the action. Most hosts use the revenue generated from concessions and gate receipts to run their own organizations for an entire year, or more. Actually, most couldn’t live without the Boys Grade State Championships. And it’s not just basketball groups that benefit from hosting. Just ask longtime White Bear Lake High School track coach Tom Paulson.

According to Paulson White Bear Lake has been hosting the tournament for 15 years now. “MYAS is a great organization. Their staff is outstanding and the teams are very motivated for the State Tournament,” he said.

It’s an annual fundraiser for the White Bear track team and Paulson will have his track athletes serving as volunteers.

“This is truly a team effort for everyone involved. With an event this large to really be successful everyone has to do their part,” remarked Rathke.

Bracket Time

As with any tournament of this size, the range of ages and abilities is tremendous. MYAS breaks each grade level into multiple tiers to make sure teams are playing opponents of similar ability and to assure that everyone has an opportunity for success. That’s what attracted Brad Clarine’s 4th grade boys team. They’ll drive in from Brainerd to play this weekend, even though they went 0 and 3 last year at Grade State as 3rd graders.

“I like the fact that they have broken it down into different tiers to make sure that kids are playing similar competition,” said Clarine. “Winning by a lot or losing by a lot doesn’t teach the kids a lot in most cases. Our goals are to play well as a team and hope for better results than we had last season.”

Travel Time

While Clarine’s team comes from “up north” it will be Matthew Schonrock’s team coming from Blue Earth in the southern part of the state with eyes wide open coming to “the Cities” for this weekend’s championships.

“It’s a big deal for our team to come to the Cities, because down in Southern Minnesota we don’t have the caliber of players nor the size that the Cities’ schools have,” remarked Schonrock. “So I wanted to challenge our little kids to the bigger picture of basketball. Win or lose. We should have a great time coming up.”

Then there’s Chaska’s 6A team coached by Scott Thies. As one of the top teams in the tournament (24-and-10 record this year, including three tournament championships), Thies likes the idea of playing against the top teams in the state with the goal of winning it all.

“We have a team that is ready to compete against any team, anywhere, any time. We feel as though Chaska 6A is the best team collectively and we want to show all other schools the same thing by winning the State Tournament this year,” said Theis.

The opportunity to win a state championship. Just one more reason why teams love this tournament and keep coming back year after year.