MAYB Finale Slated For This Weekend
The annual MAYB Winter Season Finale basketball tournament is scheduled for this weekend, with games being played in Hesston, Moundridge, Halstead and Newton.
Greg Raleigh of Hesston, who started the MAYB program 16 years ago, is expecting about 150 teams – 1,500 players – from about five states to participate in the tournament this weekend. There will be a total of 16 gyms in the four towns being used for the tournament.
The entire tournament is for 3rd-12th grade boys and girls. It is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. Games start at 8 a.m. and run through the day until 10 p.m. on Saturday. They will end about 6 p.m. on Sunday.
MAYB sponsors tournaments throughout the year, and the one this weekend is one of the larger ones during the winter season.
“Our summer ones are much bigger,” said Raleigh. “For example, in June we run the MAYB Summer Kickoff. It will have around 800 teams and we use all the gyms in Hesston for that one. We use over 90 courts for that tournament. That means gyms from Lindsborg to Hutchinson, all of Wichita, to Hillsboro and Marion. Over all MAYB runs over 400 tournaments in 26 states during the year.”
This weekend, they are not using Hesston College because of the MCAA-HOA all-star games there on Saturday, but will be using the public school courts in Hesston.
“The 11th-12th boys division will have some games at the high school,” said Raleigh. “Players such as Perry Ellis, the Wichita Heights freshman who has been getting all the attention, will be there. There are a couple of teams from the Chicago area, and many others.
Fifth grade boys will play at Hesston Middle School and 9-10th and 11-12th divisions will be at Hesston High School. Only boys teams will be in Hesston this weekend.
Teams from Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska have entered the tournament this weekend. They include a couple teams flying in from Chicago, weather permitting. The majority of teams are from Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
“If the weather gets bad, updates are posted on the Channel 12 weather system,” said Raleigh. “We thought we had missed the bad weather this year, but who knows. It is a mess if it does get bad, but we’ll get through it. Hopefully weather will not get that bad.
“Teams from western Kansas could be the ones with problems from what I hear,” said Raleigh. “There is a team from Amarillo, Texas, that may have problems getting here.”
Gate prices are $7 for an adult weekend pass and $4 for a school-age kid. Day passes are $5 and $3. Raleigh said the funds in Hesston will go to the Hesston After Prom Committee and Hesston Football Club.
MAYB has held tournaments for 16 years. The Winter Finale is in its 12th year. The Summer Kickoff was the first one ever run 16 years ago and it started with 69 teams.
Raleigh said there are a lot of Hesston kids who play MAYB basketball and will be in action in this winter tournament.
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