MYAS Grade State Welcome Letter

It’s hard to imagine that almost exactly one year ago, we began our fight against a virus that has had such a huge impact on our lives. In early March 2020, the phones at the MYAS offices were buzzing off the hook with questions on how we plan to navigate the largest youth basketball tournament in the Midwest with an impending pandemic around the corner. At the time, no one in this world had the right answers or insight on how to handle something that has never happened before in our lifetime. It was a scary period full of doubt and uncertainty for everyone on Planet Earth.

Over the past 12 months we’ve learned a lot about ourselves as a people. We have come up with new ways to communicate and stay operational in our professional lives. We have learned ways to continue to educate the youth of this country as well as new innovative ideas to try and keep our populace healthy. We have learned to never underestimate ourselves when faced with adversity and regardless of the trials and tribulations we’ve gone through, we continue to endure and push forward.

March 2021 looks a lot different than March 2020 with a vaccine available and the darkest days now seemingly behind us. We’re not out of the woods yet, but brighter horizons are becoming more clear. One of those horizons is the return of youth basketball. For that reason, on behalf of everyone at the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services, we would like to scream from the mountaintops…

WELCOME TO THE 2021 MYAS GRADE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS!

The entire Minnesota youth basketball community should be commended for their vigilance and commitment to providing the safest environment possible for our youth basketball participants as we resumed competition in January. The unified effort of the 150+ Minnesota Youth Basketball Alliance member associations and teams’ practices and competitions were conducted in a safe way during the abbreviated 2020-2021 community-based winter traveling basketball season.

The effort that so many made during the “pause” in November-December included the MYBA/MYAS Board of Advisors, the MYBA Return to Participation Task Force, Craig Perry from USCAH and the MYAS staff. The support and guidance from the MDH, MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes, Jayme Murphy, and NSC staff have been outstanding and have helped get us back to competition. This has been a true team effort and we will be forever grateful for the opportunities that were created through our universal plan to create the MYBA manual and guide.

As we move into March Mayhem – Minnesota style, the entire MYAS internal/external staff and our wonderful host groups are committed to ensuring the highest quality of programming in a safe and healthy way at each playing site.

The MYAS wishes each of the participating teams nothing but the best as you begin your journey toward the elusive state championship title. We strongly encourage all of you to Be A Good Teammate and follow all requirements and COVID safety protocols to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all participants.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MYAS Grade State Welcome Letter……………………….. Grade State Apparel……………………………………… Divisions/Locations……………………………………… Facility Info - Park/Cottage Grove High School…..………. Facility Info - Elk River High School…………………...….. Facility Info - Farmington High School………………....... Facility Info - Maple Grove Middle School…….….……… Facility Info - Monticello High School……….…………… Facility Info - Spring Lake Park High School….....……….. Facility Info - Stillwater High School…...…………..……. Facility Info - Stillwater Middle School……………..……. MDH Sports Quarantine Clarification…………………….. Grade State Participation Manual………………………... Back to the Hardwood Guidelines………………………...

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