Thompson minor baseball's coaches just want one thing for the organization come next spring: more.

More players, more coaches, more volunteers, more good weather.

"Next year hopefully we can start it sooner and get volunteers out," says Quinton Mintenko, coach of one minor baseball's two teams, with Kevin Parsons coaching the other, at the association's wrap-up game and barbecue Aug. 25 at Westwood Elementary School.

Turnout was poor at the start of the season, Mintenko said, but grew through word of mouth as more kids got interested. Still, without combining the 8- to 9-year-old and 10- to 11-year-old age groups, he said, it wouldn't have existed at all because there weren't enough players for a full team.

The situation is a far cry from what it was when Mintenko was playing minor baseball in Thompson.

"When I grew up, May to the end of June was strictly baseball," Mintenko said. "Nowadays, not so much. We're trying to bring it back to what it once was."

One thing that minor baseball needs to do is a better job of promoting itself to younger players.

"There's doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in the younger groups," said Mintenko.

It's also key to start organizing and registration early, since baseball runs concurrently with other summer youth sports, including soccer and lacrosse.

"This is another option," he said, noting that several of this year's players were not only newcomers to baseball, but also to organized sports as a whole. The coaches also made sure that anyone interested in trying out the sport got the chance to play.

"If they wanted to come out and play, come out and play," was their philosophy, Mintenko said.

The parents of players involved this year offered their help to keep the association running, said Mintenko, but it would be better with a larger pool of volunteers to draw from.

From his perspective, Mintenko said the importance of minor baseball isn't in winning or losing.

"We want to give them another chance to have fun and learn how to play the game," he said. "Our goal is just to give the kids the best we can."

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