McHenry County Youth Sports Association
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History/About Us
Current Information
In 2009 MCYSA, in conjunction with USSSA, will be hosting the Summer International Championships from July 24 - August 2 for the 15, 11 and 9-year old age groups. Additionally, MCYSA will be hosting the 13U National Invitational Championship from July 29 - August 2. The 15U Summer International Championships will be the USSSA feature event of the year for that age group. In off-season discussions and negotiations MCYSA prevailed upon USSSA to drop the 15U event in Orlando, Florida thereby making the Crystal Lake, Illinois event the top and final stop for 15U tournament play for USSSA across the globe.

USSSA top administration recognized that the community of Crystal Lake and MCYSA bring a level of professionalism and community involvement that is far beyond what is experienced or expected in any other community or event that they promote. The feedback and comments from 2008 participants reflects the commitment of our community to putting on the best tournament in the country. USSSA is supporting Crystal Lakes efforts by eliminating the 15U Elite tournament that USSSA has run for a dozen years in the hometown of the president of USSSA.

Along with the aforementioned events, MCYSA will be co-sponsoring four (4) Girls Fast Pitch Softball events and an additional three (3) Boys Youth Baseball events. These seven (7) tournaments will bring a total of approximately 200 boys and girls teams to Crystal Lake for the 2 & 3-day events in April, May, June, July and September 2009. The Summer International Championships will bring a total of 99 teams on four age levels in late July & early August.

As of November 26, 2008 MCYSA is at a point for the 2009 Summer International Championships that was not reached until May of last year for the 2008 events. On the International side MCYSA has commitments from: Japan, the Dominican Republic, and five Puerto Rico teams. We are in serious discussions with the Bahamas, Sri Lanka, Russia and St. Maarten. MCYSA has had multiple discussions with Italy, Germany, England, Australia, Taiwan and China. We hope that at least two new International teams will be added in 2009.

On the United States side MCYSA has been contacted by national travel organizations from Arkansas, Florida, California, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin. These are all new contacts from teams that did not participate in our event in 2008. Four of these organizations have already registered for the event. In 2008 our first out of state registration did not happen until March. To say that MCYSA is pleased regarding the current position of the 2009 event would be an understatement.

An important note is that MCYSA currently has all but one City of Crystal Lake hotel under contract for the 2009 event. In 2009 it will be a requirement that teams coming in for the tournament stay at hotels that are under contract with MCYSA. This will ensure that all Crystal Lake hotels are utilized to their fullest extent during the tournament. Crystal Lake Holiday Inn is the "Official Tournament Headquarters" for the 2009 event. Thank you to the City of Crystal Lake and especially Mayor Shepley for their support in assuring that the City of Crystal Lake benefits from this event.
History
In 1993 the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce was approached by Jim Albright regarding hosting a 15-year old youth baseball World Series event. That first year 18 teams participated including three local host teams; CL Babe Ruth, CL Travelers (now Cardinals) and McHenry County Hurricanes. After the first tournament a not-for-profit known as the Greater Crystal Lake World Series Association (GCLWSA) was formed to oversee the operations of the event in future years.

1995 was a hallmark year as Tournament Director Barry Gruner brought Team Japan to Crystal Lake for the first time. It is due to Gruner's efforts that Crystal Lake was put on the map internationally for youth baseball.

The year 2001 saw a change in the direction and name of the organization. The 15-year old tournament was entering its 9th year in Crystal Lake. The GCLWSA changed its name to the McHenry County Youth Sports Association (MCYSA) and began to more actively explore expanding the scope of the tournament beyond the boundaries of Crystal Lake.

In 2003 MCYSA created The Justin Schroeder MCYSA Student/Athlete Achievement Memorial Award. Justin played on the CL Babe Ruth host team and had applied for the award in its first year. He was a unanimous choice to receive one of the first scholarships. Tragically, Justin had lost his life in a car accident in the previous week. While Justin is no longer with us it is hoped that future generations will always remember what is most important about the event and what it means to the young men who participate in it. Since its inception, over $24,000.00 in scholarships have been awarded.

In 2004 the tournament hosted 47 teams our largest event to that point. Included in that number were three foreign and twenty-nine out of state teams. Almost 70% of the participating teams were coming from out of state or country to Crystal Lake and McHenry County to spend up to 10 days.

A couple of weeks prior to the CABA national meeting in December 2005, the national hierarchy asked the MCYSA board if the MCYSA would consider taking over the 9 and 11-year old tournaments. Both age groups had been struggling to draw teams for a number of years. The board of the MCYSA made the decision to attempt to run all three age group events simultaneously beginning in 2006.

The summer of 2006 saw 82 teams come to Crystal Lake and Woodstock to compete for the title. In 2007 the MCYSA and the local host teams again played host to over 80 teams on the three different age levels.

As of December 2008, MCYSA has contributed over $110,000.00 to various youth sports groups, the local high schools and McHenry County College. Each year somewhere between 60 - 70% of our budget is spent locally with vendors that we actively seek out.

Beginning in 2005 and continuing on to 2007, a trend of having more and more Illinois teams in the 15-year old tournament has been observed. By the 2007 tournament the % of out of state/country teams had fallen from a high of 68% in 2004 to only 44% in 2007. Beginning at the 2005 national meeting and continuing through this past fall, MCYSA officials had a number of discussions with CABA national officers to attempt to rectify the change that was evident. Also during this same time period MCYSA members were investigating what other sanctioning association options were available.

In the fall of 2007 the MCYSA contacted and began negotiations with representatives from the United States Sports Specialty Association (USSSA) regarding what possible events might be available. In mid-November 2007 the MCYSA and USSSA came to an agreement to have MCYSA host five different national/international age group events beginning in the summer of 2008.

2008 Tournament Recap