A Youth Sports Tournament Platform Designed For Development

John Verduin had just moved back home to the Seattle area after playing D3 basketball at Willamette University when he landed a side hustle with his high school coach’s new AAU program.

It was a good gig for a graduate student, but not always a smooth one.

“We were a level, at most, above the Bad News Bears,” Verduin told Buying Sandlot. “We would just get annihilated at tournaments. There is losing and then there is you can't even get the ball across half-court.

“The kids were defeated. The parents were pissed because they were paying for it. It was a nightmare for the guy trying to put a program together. So I was like, ‘What if we just ran a tournament for lower-level, developing teams?’

That idea has become DY Sports, a platform that specializes in operating competitive tournaments designed for developmental teams.

Boys, girls in grades 3-11
Currently in 8 states
Will host about 5K teams in 2026
At least 100 events this year, all corporate-owned
Average event is about 50 teams

DY Sports held its first tournament in 2019 with about a dozen teams. The business then took off coming out of the pandemic, becoming Verduin’s full-time job after working in the supply chain industry. The platform caters to AAU teams outside of the top travel levels, school feeder programs and “advanced” rec league squads with a heavy emphasis on local play; only about 10% of teams at any event travel in.

"We sell competitive games to teams still learning the game," Verduin said. "We put all of our energy into screening and matching up teams based on all of the information we have. We’re really utilizing AI this year to take it to another level. … We get teams showing up that win their first game ever. It’s huge for them."

Events are frequently praised for their organization — on-time starts, clear communications, quality officials and on-site staffers. DY Sports also has media operations alongside events. "They get all the same experiences in our events that the elite teams get out of another tournament around the corner," Verduin said.

The bulk of DY Sports’ footprint is on the West Coast — Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, plus Illinois and Wisconsin. All events are corporately-owned with DY Sports employees in each market. Most markets will run about one event a month with 50-100 teams participating; others will host a 200-team event every few months. DY Sports also partners with organizations to help them run their own events.

Verduin said the company is looking to expand into more markets imminently. He wants to eventually grow into other sports as well, but that will be a cautious process after a previous move into the pickleball space was unsuccessful.

"It's a forgotten level,” Verduin said. “It's not very flashy. But there are so many kids at that level. We take pride in hosting events where you know what you are going to get."