The Morris Minor Baseball program is a strong one and has been for years, but with some executives stepping down this year, they are in need of community members to step up, fill some roles and keep the program alive!
A strong season
Laura Epp is the President of Morris Minor Ball, she talked about the strength of the most recent season, "So this season saw us register approximately 65 kids, like from our Rally Cap, Grand Slam program all the way to U18 which we released all of our players to neighboring towns to play. Except for the Grand Slam and Rally Cap, those were well attended and well run within our hometown. So that was good to see. Some of the highlights this season saw a bunch of players in the respective towns that they played in enter and play provincial championships. There was some that played and made the AA programs in Altona and Central Charge. We've had a U19 player receive a scholarship for softball in the States and go out and play an international tournament in Italy this year where they won a bronze medal. So some really exciting stuff!"
A call out to the community
Laura Epp spoke on the need that the program currently needs the community to step up and fill, "We would like to encourage people to get involved with our minor ball program. As you just heard, we have a great number of talented kids in our area. That's Morris, St. Jean, Low Farm area, who just want to play ball. And we've also put in a ton of work over the past couple of years in creating and maintaining our facilities here. But we can't run a program without volunteers. So over the past number of years, we have been operating just on a simple skeleton crew on our executive. And like I mentioned before, we've been releasing our players to your neighboring programs, which we're super grateful for our neighboring communities to accept our players. But it's because we have no coaches or managers.
I know I've personally served in Morris Minor Ball in some capacity for over 20 years now. And I have seen how great it can be when people who give back to the community have come through and give back. It's so great to see. I've also had a privilege this last year to serve on Altona softball. And it's so great to see how so many people from all walks of life in that community serve in a capacity that fits their skill set, like administration, fundraising, former athletes coming through and coaching. Also the older players assisting the younger players in their development. And this is what makes It's a strong program, which I'd love to see happen in Morris."
Specific need
Laura touched on the specific roles that need to be filled, "Well, totally across the board, but specifically a call out to serve on the executive. Both Brittany and I are looking to need to step down this year. And so we desperately need people just to specifically step in to fill the executive positions so that at the very least, we can continue to take and have a platform for parents to register their kids and an administration that locates teams for these kids to play on.
I'd love to see people come step back as coaches and managers I know it's something to see parents come back and coach when their kids become involved. So I'd love to see that. But I'd also love to see younger adults that haven't, maybe don't have their kids involved, but would have the capacity to step in as coaches and managers and give back."
The 2025 AGM
Laura invited anyone who is interested to attend their upcoming AGM at the Morris Multiplex on October 1st and talked about what is all covered there, "Registration fees, of course, financials, equipment needs. and maintenance. And then, of course, the highlights from the past season and plans for the following season."
When: Wed, Oct 1st, 2025 - 7:00pm
Where: Morris Multiplex
Big Picture
Laura gave a parting shot on what she wants the future to look like for Morris Minor Baseball, "for whatever reasons, organizations within all communities go through lulls where volunteers are desperately needed. I think that if we, I mean, this is particular for baseball, but I think within all of our communities, we have organizations that have been put, set in place to serve the people of the community. I think it's important for the people of the community to recognize that we've all been given God-given talents and gifts for the purpose of serving our communities. So, when that perpetuates one another, we grow strong, and prosperity happens so that's what I'd like to see as a big picture."
You can contact morrisminorbaseball@gmail.com for more details and to get yourself in the mix!
Enjoy the full conversation between Morris Minor Baseball President Laura Epp and CFAM Host Zack Driedger below: