Not faraway is a building that is sports-centric. It’s called MYAS and they fly their flag proudly in this part of the North Metro.
“This is a great central hub for our work,” said MYAS CEO Dawson Blanck. “We are Minnesota Youth Athletic Services, so our work is not just in the city of Spring Lake Park, it’s throughout the entire state within the sports we serve of baseball, basketball, football, wrestling and we have a pretty large swimming event as well…We found this great spot right off of highway 65 and Osborne.”
MYAS is a 501 C3 non-profit that specializes in fun and games. When MYAS began running sporting events in 1991, the inaugural grade state basketball tournament consisted of a combined 22 boys and girls teams.
Fast forward to 2026 and that total has mushroomed.
“We have 1,826 teams – 685 girls teams and 1,141 boys teams,” Blanck said. “It’s all grades three through eight. We are here to improve and enhance the delivery of youth sports services. I think because of the more partnerships that we’ve been able to create with all the youth sports organizations around the state it has had this great collaborative effort.”
Dot i’s, cross t’s
There are 20 full-time staff members and some part-time employees at MYAS. Recently they spent part of their day unloading apparel and boxing trophies for upcoming tournaments in what they refer to as “March mayhem.”
“The cool thing about it is the people inside this building take a lot of pride in it,” Blanck said. “There’s been a lot of people like me who have been here. There’s been longevity so we take our mission serious. We dot the i’s, cross the t’s. We want to make sure it is a great experience. A safe, positive, productive experience for the kids.”
Getting all these teams from various Minnesota communities on the floor to play basketball and other sports is quite an accomplishment and it doesn’t happen by accident.
Said Blanck: “This is a very unique setup.”
MYAS relies on corporate partners to create a price point that doesn’t put a financial squeeze on parents and youth sports organizations.
“We depend on the entry fees that come in and that allows us to pay for the overhead,” Blanck said. “It allows us to pay for the tournament director on site, the game officials, the trainer and all the work that goes into an event. In return we don’t pay for any host facilities. We don’t rent them out. We go directly and collaborate with a local host group. Their benefit is they are able to use it as a major fundraising mechanism and they retain all admissions and concessions from the event.
