MANILA – The Philippine Youth Basketball Championship (PYBC), an innovative, stats-focused platform for future stars, will get off the wraps in August this year.

The inaugural season, which will run until June 2026, has two conferences with rotating age divisions under a single round-robin format.

The first conference, scheduled from August to October, features the Under-11 (born 2014), Under-13 (born 2012), and Under-15 (born 2010) divisions.

Tournament format calls for single-round eliminations, quarterfinals, knockout semifinals, and best-of-3 finals.

PBA Legend Benjie Paras (commissioner), Women’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (WMPBL) coach Paolo Layug (deputy commissioner) and Momentum PH founder Carl Villanueva (tournament director) are leading the league, which aims to provide top-notch action with focus on details by combining tradition and analytics.

“I think the most important thing for data and analytics, not only for the youth but basketball players in general, is to make things simple,” said Layug in a press statement Tuesday.

“It’s important to help the players understand that the data is just there to help them improve as players,” added Layug, who steered Pilipinas Aguilas to the title in the WMPBL inaugural season.

The PYBC's program has a structured competition that is complemented by digital solutions.

“It’s important, especially at the younger age groups, to be able to record the statistics and be able to have that data over a long period so players can also track their progress as they grow older,” Layug said.

The PYBC will provide halftime analysis for team performance evaluation, post-game performance reports with detailed analysis, statistical review of player performance, strengths, and growth areas, and advanced analytics and performance metrics.

The league also wants to be a pioneer of using player ranking per age group, by adopting a system used in the US and Europe. (PNA)