The Steve Glouberman Basketball Tournament, postponed from last November due to Covid and then planned for May 23-27 in Phoenix, will most likely be played in Los Angeles after all, school officials said tonight.

In addition, information was provided on six teams expected to attend the tournament, which has been hosted by Shalhevet since 2014 in memory of Steve Glouberman z”l, an avid basketball player who was the father of three Shalhevet alumni.

“I can tell you that Yeshiva [of] Flatbush, TABC, a boys club team from Chicago, a girls club team from Florida and Maryland combined are all coming,” said Rabbi Ari Segal, former head of school and current Chief Strategy Officer, in an email response to Boiling Point questions. 

“It’s also possible a boys club team from Miami will come,” Rabbi Segal wrote.

Rabbi Segal, who was head of school when the tournament was founded, also said the plan as of today is for the tournament to take place in Los Angeles. But he added that plans have been changing frequently. 

“75% LA vs 25% other in California,” he wrote in the email. 

The Boiling Point received information late this afternoon that the tournament’s location had been changed back to Los Angeles. Asked to confirm this, Coach Ryan Coleman, who heads the Firehawk boys and girls basketball teams, replied in the affirmative.

“This is true,” said Coach Coleman in an email. 

Shalhevet Athletic Coordinator Coach Jeff Remer also gave confirmation. 

“I did hear that we are moving it to Los Angeles,” said Coach Remer in an email. 

Just last month, they said that a Phoenix location was planned. Asked today whether a Los Angeles location meant the Shalhevet gym, Coach Remer responded:

“We would probably need access to more than just the Shalhevet gym.”

Plans for the tournament have been fluctuating ever since an initial announcement was made on Coach Coleman’s Instagram account in early March that Glouberman would be held in Mesquite, Nev., from May 10-14 for girls and May 23-28 for boys.

Now, all teams will be playing on the same days — on the later of the dates planned at first.

Coach Remer said last month that for Covid safety reasons, the tournament would be moved away from Shalhevet in order to have a safety bubble similar to the NBA, where all of the players would be at the same site using a multi-tier gym. 

Covid cases in Los Angeles have been declining steadily since then however. According to the County of Los Angeles Public Health, there were 273 new Covid cases reported today, May 4, and a 7-day average case positivity rate of 0.7%. 

Media reports say that California now has the lowest Covid infection rate of any state in the continental U.S.

This is a developing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.