For almost two decades, Jeff Hahn's name has been synonymous with youth and high school sports in Guilford and he is now ready to take office as the leader of a re-emerging organization.

After growing up in Rhode Island, Jeff moved to Guilford about 20 years ago, where he first started coaching when he piloted his younger brother's baseball squad. From there, Jeff has been a man of all seasons and many hats in town-including being the Guilford Little League president for eight years while also the Umpire in Chief, part of Guilford Youth Basketball as a current head referee, and also acting as a high school baseball and hoops official. Jeff now tacks on another leadership role to his laundry list of titles as the president of the newly restarted Guilford Baseball.

"I got my son involved in Little League and just worked my way up from there," says Jeff, who has also organized the town's youth spelling bee at the Guilford Fair for the past 19 occasions. "I'm excited for this and it's a good opportunity. They came and asked me if I wanted to be involved and be president so I'm excited to do it. There is a great group of people involved already with it, as well."

The group oversees ballplayers from the ages of 13 to 19 in the town, which Jeff knows is a crucial time when young athletes have many playing options. His sole concern is making Guilford the home base to swing the lumber.

"In the short term, we want to help with communication to players so they know all the opportunities for them with Guilford Baseball," says Jeff, whose organization looks over Guilford American Legion and travel baseball for ages 13-18. "I know it becomes splintered at their age with other places to play, like AAU, but we want to give them the chance to play high quality baseball."

Jeff adds that he not only loves the task of helping kids improve with the sport, but additionally working with their families and friends that he's come to know over time.

"The joy is spending time with the players and their parents and also working towards helping the players get better," Jeff says. "I also enjoy working in the community with the kids and people I know, which is also a true joy of being involved in youth sports."

Being such a big piece in Guilford's sporting scene, Jeff feels there is an added comfort level for him as he enters this new venture of trying to construct a competitive program.

"Trying to build a competitive program in this town is also a joy to me," says Jeff. "To work so closely with everyone trying to make baseball successful here is a big plus."

Guilford American Legion General Manager Ralph Schipani mentions that Jeff has the right skills and connections to hit the ground running.

"I'm very excited about having him on board because I wanted someone that showed organizational skills to get us started here with a focus on making things more competitive than AAU teams," says Schipani. "He's an easy-going guy, but the biggest thing was his organizational skills, plus the contact he had. He was a natural choice for us and I'm more than excited to be working with him."

Jeff is ecstatic to be collaborating on ideas with so many great colleagues, although when it boils down to the task at hand, he desires only the best for the game and the entire town of Guilford.

"It's an opportunity for me to remain involved with the community. I've worked with a lot of these people for a long time so to be really involved with people excited to make it a successful program makes it special," Jeff says. "I love the sport and also helping kids make decisions on where to play. We want to build this into one of the best programs in the state."