With the warmer months approaching – though maybe not quickly enough – the summer sports programs are getting ready for the 2017 season.
Among these sports is baseball. This year, there’s a new president of Yorkton Minor Baseball - Brian Murray.
Murray took over the position approximately five months ago, but he’s been involved in the baseball community for much longer, having played himself and having two kids who play.
When asked if there’s anything he wanted to change during his reign as president, his simple answer was “yes.”
“I just want to get kids – and more focused on the younger ages – interested in playing ball,” Murray said.
“There’s a lot of athletic kids that are looking for more competition, and that’s what I want to bring to Yorkton Minor Baseball, is that competitive nature,” he said.
In his own years of playing at the peewee and bantam level, Murray’s team had provincial success which advanced them to national championships.
“That’s kind of what I want to do for these kids. Give them the opportunity to get to that level and get into more of those competitive baseball leagues, which is where I came from,” he said.
He also wants to help parents see the benefits of baseball during the summer time as opposed to an extra-long hockey season.
“It provides different skills that compliment other sports,” he explained.
In addition, Murray would like to see kids stick with baseball as they get older. He said there’s often a drop-off of interest once kids get into their teenage years. He’s hoping to change that.
“We want to start developing – especially in mosquito – getting a lot of people interested so when that drop off in bantam and midget [happens], you still have a good crop of kids to pick from.”
As with most sports, the number of athletes goes up and down from season to season. Murray said in the past they’ve faced challenges with time conflicts of other sports, like lacrosse and hockey. The baseball program is hoping to avoid that this year.
So far, the numbers of athletes registered for the 2017 season is hovering around what they usually see.
Murray said both the very young age groups and the older age groups are seeing the numbers that they usually see.
But the mosquito (8,9,10 year-olds) division has gone up.
Murray said the influx in numbers in the mosquito age division bodes well for the future of the older groups.
