Moses Lake Youth Baseball recruiting coaches
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 4 months AGO
Moses Lake Youth Baseball is looking for coaches after recent changes caused complications as the start of summer baseball approaches.
FILE PHOTO
MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake Youth Baseball Association needs coaches to continue the 2025 season after changes to coaching requirements were put in place recently. Association President Justin Morigeau went live on Facebook on Monday to provide more information on the requirements necessary.
These requirements needed for coaches include background checks, abuse training and coaching training administered by the Babe Ruth organization. The requirements had been in place for other sports prior but were just made mandatory for baseball this year, said Morigeau.
The league was not aware that new coaching requirements would be mandatory this year and going forward until they were notified Feb. 26.
“The league did not know about these items ahead of the start of the season and ahead of setting the fees and the rate schedule,” said Morigeau.
A notification has since been sent out to the coaches about the new requirements. The note also stated that the league would reimburse coaches for the fees that come with the new training.
“Other leagues the fees are covered by the coaches,” he said. “We did make that an option to be refunded and we will refund the fee for the coaches.”
These include a charge of $25.50 for a background check and another $20 for the Babe Ruth coaching training. This makes for a total of $45.50 needed to meet the proper requirements to be a volunteer coach.
“Next year we will be wrapping that into the new rate structure for the league,” he said. “This year we weren’t able to do that because the information came out well after we started registration.”
Those interested are invited to reach out if there are any questions regarding the requirements through the Moses Lake Youth Baseball Facebook page, their website or through email.
“Again, we apologize for the impact this has had,” he said. “We’re adjusting to a last-minute requirement and we’re gonna deal with it.”
Morigeau ended his livestream by thanking the coaches and volunteers and promised to help everyone along the way as they move forward with this transition.
ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
Sushik comes full circle ahead of first season at BBCC
MOSES LAKE — The next step in Liana Sushik’s athletic journey has led her to play for the Big Bend Community College Vikings volleyball team this fall after a successful career with the Soap Lake Eagles. Joining the Vikings is something she feels has deepened her love for the sport, she said. “I fell in love with the fact that there’s more than just high school volleyball; there’s another level,” said Sushik. “It’s like a whole new chapter and I’m so excited to see what I have next because there’s a lot that I’ve been through to get here.” Despite her success on the court, Sushik said she didn’t initially start out as an athlete.
Building a community at Desert City Fitness
EPHRATA — The city of Ephrata welcomed its newest athletic club earlier this summer with Desert City Fitness setting up along Basin Street. Since their grand opening June 6, the club has worked to become a strong contributor to the community in Ephrata. “We just opened our doors and whoever comes in, that’s how we do it,” said Bryan Boney, owner of Desert City Fitness. Boney, who owns the club alongside his wife Tracy Fillion, decided to open Desert City Fitness to keep himself active after retiring six years ago. Boney said he has invested all his money from retirement into purchasing the property, remodeling and getting the equipment necessary to open his fitness center.
Grid Kids expands opportunities this season
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Grid Kids football program is gearing up for the start of its 26th football season this fall. This year, alongside their tackle football program, the Grid Kids have expanded their flag football options. “It’s one of those things that you just don’t really know how well it’s going to go, but right now we’re looking pretty strong,” said Brian Gwinn, the Gird Kids administrator and communications contact. The tackle opportunities remain the same for third through sixth grade with third and fourth graders playing together and fifth and sixth graders separately from the younger players. The format for third and fourth grade will remain at a regular 11-man game, but for fifth and sixth grade there is consideration for moving down to an eight-on-eight format.