NYC MSBL

 VISION

The Vision of the NYCMSBL is to be the leading Middle School basketball league in America.

MISSION STATEMENT
The Mission of the New York City Middle School Basketball League is to provide a safe environment where middle school children can develop their athletic and academic skills.  This competitive program is also designed to build positive character traits, such as accountability and teamwork through basketball.  The league goal is to create a motivated student out of every student athlete through strict academic and behavior codes enforced by the league. 

HISTORY
The New York City Middle School Basketball League was formed in 1998 when two Bronx middle school teachers Mike Connors and Teddy Rivera recognized the dire need for after school sports at their schools.  They formed basketball squads and began coaching the kids on a volunteer basis.  Home and away games were played and it was an instant hit.  At the end of the first school year the program expanded to a four school league.

The league has grown each year since and the 2016/17 season was the biggest and best yet.  The program now boasts 240 schools and 330 teams throughout all five boroughs serving over 6,600 public school boys and girls. The Cheerleading program has 35 teams registered and that adds another 1,000 children tied into the league as a separate component with five independent competitions.  Basketball Champions were crowned in boys and girls in each borough and the NYC Champions for 2017 were crowned after some fantastic City Finals at Francis Lewis H.S. in Queens.  The Girls Varsity champion for 2017 is I.S. 230 and they made history for Queens as the first Girls Varsity NYC champion from the borough.  The Boys Varsity champions for 2017 was from The Bronx at MS 355.  They also made history becoming the first three peat NYC Champions for Boys Varsity.  In the BJV city title game MS 532 also from The Bronx took the championship for the third straight year and remain they only champions in this division.  In the GJV division MS 127 of The Bronx became the first NYC Girls JV Champions.  The league held All-Star events and the Champions Dinner was held in May.

The league is run by many volunteer coaches who continue to give their time and energy to serve the children of NYC.  The league committee also works very hard on a volunteer basis to ensure the smooth running of schedules and events.  The league recently acquired Non-Profit status to try to meet the huge demand for our program in schools around the city.

The league has strict academic and behavior codes which are enforced using student report cards.  These codes are designed to ensure our mission to produce great student-athletes is never compromised.  The committee is dedicated to offering our program to every middle school in the city and we hope that basketball can be the carrot that motivates our players to be the best possible people in and out of the classroom.    

Mike Connors
NYCMSBL Commissioner