From the beginning, 38-year-old Sedona resident Jeff Wassell knew things weren’t going to be easy when taking the Sedona Little League president’s job, but he never imagined what it would be really like.

“The first year was educational … yeah, that’s a good way to put it,” Wassell said Wednesday,

July 13. “Besides all the rules you have to know there is a ton of paperwork and deadlines you have to stay on top of as the president.”

Wassell has worked with the Sedona Little League on and off for the past four years, being part of the board and even spending time as its vice president when Rob Henry was president.

Currently the head baseball coach at Sedona Red Rock High School, Henry stepped down from his position, giving way to Wassell.

Originally from Sedona, Wassell attended Flagstaff High School for two years but transferred to Mingus Union High School his junior year and graduated as a Marauder in 1991.

Wassell transferred because Mingus was starting its boys soccer program, something Flagstaff didn’t offer at the time.

“I swapped with another student to transfer and I was finally able to play soccer,” Wassell said.

Although there’s no love lost when it comes to talking about his first high school in Flagstaff, Mingus was the better choice for him, according to Wassell.

Next to baseball, soccer is Wassell’s favorite sport. In fact, when asked which was his favorite, Wassell said, “It’s split down the middle.”

Nevertheless, after playing two years for Mingus on its varsity soccer team, Wassell moved on from the new Marauders program to attend Yavapai College in Prescott Valley.

Wassell played soccer at Yavapai College and helped the program win a National Junior College Athletic Association championship in 1992.

“It was awesome. It was an exciting part of my life. I learned to grow up quick,” Wassell said.

Although Wassell is a self-admitted better soccer player than baseball player, he wasn’t a bad starting second baseman his senior year for the Marauders.

His experience in baseball as a young kid has helped him through the first year of duty as president of the Sedona Little League, Wassell said.

After Yavapai College, Wassell attended Northern Arizona University where he received his degree in exercise physiology in 1997.

Wassell wound up taking an emergency medical technician course while doing an internship in his area of study out of college. He fell in love with the EMT work and never looked back.

“I took an EMT course and a fire course after I moved back to Sedona to do an internship out of college. I fell in love with the fire service and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Wassell said.

Fifteen years later, it seems Wassell made the right choice. Currently, he is a captain paramedic for the Sedona Fire District.

When asked what his future plans are for the Sedona Little League, he had plenty to share.

“There are five people on the board, but I’d like to have nine or 10,” Wassell said. “We have open board positions and I’m hoping to fill them by next season.”

The next goal Wassell has is to become more involved with the community and continue to get sponsorships from the community, which he said showed great support this past season.

When asked what he plans to do about the lack of All-Star teams representing Sedona in the District 10 tournaments in July, Wassell had an answer for that too.

“We had trouble fielding several levels of teams for All-Stars, sending only one in the 11 and 12 kids. I hope that will change. We need to get more parents involved,” Wassell said.

Wassell hopes to accomplish that feat by setting up coaching clinics for those interested in volunteering their time and showing them just how rewarding it can be.

“There’s no hiding it. We struggled to find coaches this year. If you don’t have coaches, you don’t have teams,” Wassell said.

Wassell added it’s going to take time to get the ball rolling in the Sedona Little League, to compete at a higher level, but he believes with hard work it’s going to get done.

“All the coaches and players did a great job this year. It’s a building year and we hope to continue to get better,” Wassell said.