The American Youth Basketball Tour, AYBT, is a summer, high school and middle school based, youth basketball organization. The tour hosts 5 on 5 basketball events throughout the Midwest and East Coast called District Series Events. These DSEs, which guarantee each team five games in a round robin format, are held on weekends starting in May and finishing in mid-July.
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The culmination of the summer events is one of three National Tournaments. The National Tournaments guarantee seven games and are held over a four-day period in one of the last two weeks of July. All teams have the opportunity to attend a National Tournament of their choice. Some National Tournament sites fill quickly and are filled on first-come, first served basis. The National Tournaments are set up to give teams seven round robin games with the eighth game starting a single-elimination tournament.
Divisions
The TOUR is a grade-based program using the current school year, not the grade they are going into. This is why so many school-based teams enjoy the TOUR. The grade divisions: Boy’s 3rd-4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th-11th and Girl’s 4th-5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th-11th.
As a coach, you and your director rate your team as “Highly Skilled (HS)”, “Good (G)”, or “Average (A)”. If you are an all-star team, hold tryouts to select top players, or recruit players because of their skill level, you must play as a Highly Skilled team. Since there are no trophies or awards at the District Series Events, many teams will choose to play up or down a division, depending on skill level.
Rules
(H.S.A.A. rules will apply except for the differences listed below.)
Site of the National Tournaments
- Bloomington, Illinois (Normal Community High School)
- The Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University- not used anymore.
- Normal Community High School, Normal West High School, Bloomington Central Catholic High School, Kingsley Middle School, Parkside Middle School, and Chiddix Middle School for 12 courts.
- Ft. Wayne, IN (Spiece Fieldhouse)
- Sports complex at Spiece Center and additional gyms in Ft. Wayne allow for 23 courts. (1st Session July 16–20, 2nd session is July 20–24)
- Cedar Falls, IA (University of Northern Iowa)(Defunct)
- Best facilities are at this National with 20 courts.(1st Session July 23–27, 2nd session is July 27–31)
- Williamsport, PA (Local Gyms)
- Games are headquartered at Lycoming College, which houses 7 of the 12 courts used. (1st Session July 20–24, 2nd session is July 27–31) Youth Basketball Tournaments Search