McHenry County Youth Sports Association
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History/About Us
In 1993 the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce was approached regarding hosting a 15-year old youth baseball World Series event sanctioned by the Continental Amateur Baseball Association (CABA). That first year 24 teams... including two host teams; Crystal Lake Babe Ruth and the Fox Valley (now 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. The Crystal Lake Travelers (now Cardinals) became a host team in 1995, the Crystal Lake Cyclones were accepted as a host team in 2000 and the Crystal Lake Bombers joined in 2005 as a site team. For 2008 the host teams are: Crystal Lake Babe Ruth, Crystal Lake Cardinals, Crystal Lake Cyclones, Crystal Lake Bombers, Lake in the Hills Thunder and the Lake in the Hills Youth Athletic Association (LITHYAA).

1995 was a hallmark year as Past-President Barry Gruner brought Team Japan as well as other international teams 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 competing on the fields and exploring our community.

One week 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 83 teams come to Crystal Lake and McHenry County to compete for the three different age group titles. In 2007 the MCYSA and the local host teams again played host to 86 teams on the three different age levels.

As of December 2007, MCYSA has contributed over $95,000.00 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.

A trend of having more Illinois teams in the 15-year old tournament had been observed. By the 2007 tournament the % of out of state and international teams had fallen from 70% in 2004 to only 44% in 2007. In 2005 MCYSA members began 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). In mid-November 2007 the MCYSA and USSSA came to an agreement to have MCYSA host four or five different national/international age group events beginning in the summer of 2008.

In 2008 MCYSA in conjunction with USSSA will be hosting 15, 13, 11 and 9-year old age group National Championship and World Series events in late July - early August. Additionally, MCYSA will be co-sponsoring a minimum of three Girls Fast Pitch Softball events and an additional three Boys Youth Baseball events. It has been a goal of MCYSA to expand beyond the traditional World Series events and the partnership with USSSA will aid in accomplishing this long-standing but previously unattained goal.