McMurray has taken over from Craig Lee as president of Tamworth Baseball Incorporated having previously served as a player, coach and umpire.

The allrounder landed in Tamworth as a 12-year-old and baseball has been a constant in his life ever since.

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And the opportunity to become president was another way to give back to the game.

"There was a vacancy as president so I thought 'maybe I can throw back a bit to the organisation as well by becoming president'," he said.

McMurray added: "A lot of young men that are playing baseball today started off in the juniors when I was umpiring. I've seen them come up into the senior ranks and it's really good to see."

The 2021 season kicks off this Saturday with three teams - Warriors, Cougars and Armidale Outlaws - contesting the A grade competition and five in B grade.

McMurray said the Warriors had entered one team into B grade while Pandas and Cougars will field two teams each in B grade.

"It's good to see a women's side in B grade. They've actually grown their club - Pandas - to have another team and they're actually having a mixture of male and female players. It's good to see that involvement and growth happening," he said.

The TBI committee is looking to continue to grow the game with the juniors a focal point.

"We've got a strong committee led by Hayley Bullock who's heavily involved with the juniors," McMurray said.

"We had come and try days at the end of the season and we're going to start, in earnest, getting the juniors off the ground and running this year.

"We're going to have the juniors on a Sunday and we're going to have to see how it goes for the first couple of weeks but the intent is they will be playing a form of baseball that's appropriates for their age group."

Tamworth Baseball will also recognise past and present life members on Saturday with a presentation at 2pm in between games.

Head to tamworthbaseball.com or the Tamworth Baseball Facebook page for more information about the season and how to get involved.

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