by Carl Coffee
Unless you are from Lenawee County, MI, you probably never heard of Morenci, MI. I was born and raised 90 minutes from Morenci, and I never heard of it. Most people only know of Morenci because of a kidnapping that was in the national spotlight, but for one weekend, it was the focus of the wiffleball world.
Michael Sessions, former 18 year old mayor, is currently the City Manager of Morenci, and is in his 4th year for WSEM. When given the chance to potentially host one of the four NWLA Tournament Regionals, he jumped on it. Once he was accepted to host, he got right to work. Morenci was the underdog regional, with two of the other sites having hosted in 2015, and the other being in New York City. I was lucky enough to attend all but the MN regionals, and I must say, Michael did a great job.
During my college days, I had to write a bunch of SWOT Reports. You take a team, event, location, etc, and you break it down into four categories. S is for Strengths. W is for Weaknesses. O is for Opportunities. T is for Threats.
Strengths
The biggest strength for the Morenci Regional was the power Michael Sessions had. He runs the city, so when something needed to be done, it got done. For example, one of the trees hung over right field fence on Field 1, and Michael needed it trimmed. He made a call, and it was done. The grass was cut short because Michael wanted it cut short. Annoying things like pulling permits, organizing concessions, and field maintenance, wasn't tough at all.
The 2nd biggest strength was the way the community pulled together for this. The local grocery store donated over 350 bottles of water and Powerade. The local gas station had ice ready throughout the hot day. The local printing shop made shirts for the teams playing in the Friday night slow-pitch tournament. The local pub welcomed everyone Friday night and did a great job. You could really tell they were proud to have this tournament in their small town.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of the Morenci location were made obvious the second Morenci was chosen to host. The small town of 2000 people doesn't have any hotels, it isn't close to any big airports, and it is located in the middle of nowhere. Yes, you can get there pretty quickly from the OH turnpike, but wifflers are pretty cheap, and will avoid paying for just
about anything. Michael was able to lock down some rooms at a nearby Best Western, which was about a 15-20 minute drive. It was very inconvenient for those flying in, but if you can afford a helicopter ride, you look like a baller and you avoid all that Detroit to Morenci traffic. I also can't ignore the horrible cellphone connection I got in Morenci.
Opportunities
We kicked off the weekend of wiffleball with a Friday night slow-pitch tournament for the locals. It was very successful and many people told Michael they would love to play again. The park in Morenci is perfect for a large tournament, with all of its fencing in place. You could easily build 10-12 fields, and bring in many teams. There has been some talks about a potential slow-pitch tournament in September. Michael could easily find 24-32 for a huge tournament in September.
Threats
It is tough to think of many threats. I guess you could get sun poisoning if you don't find shade. Then, since their isn't a nearby hospital you may not get there quick enough. Ok, that is a stretch. I just didn't want to leave this blank.
