Paul Young
Treasurer
Field Maintenance

Paul Young has spent the last 30 years as a volunteer at Grand Mesa.  Paul is a Grand Junction native, spending his entire life here in the valley.  He started volunteering while his son JT played at Grand Mesa.

The first three years that Paul served on the board, he was the Special Events Coordinator.  One day while his JT was playing in the minors division, Paul brought his dad to the game.  At that time, in the 90's, all of the walkways and spaces between the fields were pea gravel.  Paul's dad was in a wheelchair at the time and in Paul's view that experience was "not fun".  The next year Paul organized a fundraiser and sold Diners Club style cards raising about $6000 to be able to put the first cement path through the center of the park.

As the Special Events Coordinator Paul ran raffles, team parent meetings, score keepers clinics etc... Paul took over as Treasurer while still doing most of the Special Events and scheduling all of the games and practices for each field by hand.  

20 years ago, Paul became the Secretary and Treasurer for Colorado District 1, where he helped run 7 regional tournaments at Grand Mesa and where Paul personally cooked and served lunch every day to each team.

Paul followed JT when he went to Central High School (while still volunteering at GMLL) and joined the Booster Club.  Soon he became the Games Manager for them, running their BINGO sessions for 15 years.  During Paul's run, as the Games Manager he raised $1 Million dollars.

Paul has been named Grand Mesa Volunteer of the Year three different times, most recently in 2024.  Paul was inducted into the Grand Mesa Legacy Garden as part of its inaugural class in 2020.

After his retirement 2 years ago, Paul started helping out at the field by mowing the fields during the day.

Paul's hobbies include collecting coins and collecting and operating Lionel Electric Trains.

Amber Snoke
Secretary
Concessions Manager
Player Agent (Jr/Sr Baseball, Major Baseball, Minor Baseball)

Amber started volunteering for Grand Mesa when her son Riley and daughter Hannah came to play baseball and softball.  Riley has now aged out of the Little League program, but Amber remains as a valuable part of the Grand Mesa administrative team.  When Amber joined the board in 2017, she was convinced by Dave Mantlo and her friend Brittany (who also joined at that time) that being a member of the board would just be a one hour meeting once a month.  Amber initially assumed the Affadavit role on the board insuring that All-Star paperwork was done correctly and that players had all of the appropriate paperwork to be eligible.  Since then, Amber has made significant positive changes for concessions, returning it to profitability while still maintaining value to our members.  Amber also serves as the Player Agent for our Minor-Senior Baseball divisions, bringing issues to the attention of the President and Vice President as well as signing off on their All-Star eligibility.

Amber can be seen regularly in the concession stand, both teaching young people how to effectively work with people, managing our volunteer work force and insuring standards are met and costs are kept low.  Amber has been a pivotal part of working with Chris Riley and Dave Mantlo to make sure that at Grand Mesa kids and parents will never pay more than $1 for a hot dog or a bottle of water.

Amber and her husband Josh have two children.  They are avid Chicago Cubs fans.

Dana Palmer
All-Star Affidavits
Assistant District Administrator - Colorado District 1 Little League

Dana Palmer has been a long time volunteer, both with Grand Mesa Little League, and Little League in general. Dana has spent time volunteering at the district and league level over the last 40+ years.  Prior to stepping back to enjoy "retirement" as the Assistant District Administrator for Colorado District 1 (which includes current member leagues of Grand Mesa, Monument, Palisade, Orchard Mesa, Delta, Three Rivers and Colorado River Valley Little League), Dana served for 15 years as the District Administrator.  Going back further Dana spent 25+ years with Grand Mesa working everything from concessions & field maintenance, to coaching, being a board member and a run as President.

Dana has Grand Mesa baseball in her blood.  Both her Father (Marvin) & Brothers (Dennis & Don) also served significant roles in the development and growth of the Grand Mesa Little League that exists today.  Marvin, Don & Dana were all inducted into the Grand Mesa Legacy Garden in 2020.  The softball field (Field 4) is named after Don Barnes and the T-Ball Field (Field 5) is named after Dana for their meaningful contributions to the league and its players.

Dana also has lengthy experience running baseball/softball tournaments.  Most recently Dana last ran the South West Region Little League Intermediate tournament held annually at Grand Mesa until its move to Houston, TX in 2019.  Dana has also run many district state and regional tournaments in her time as a volunteer.

For Dana, Little League is a family affair with her children and grandchildren all playing Little League.

While Dana's primary volunteer responsibilities currently are to the district as a whole, we will see Dana regularly at the park for anything from a Frito pie and a game, to around All-Star time helping make sure kids have all of the necessary documentation to be eligible for All-Star play.  We are grateful for her continued help and support.

Michael "Mike" Schausten
Member At-Large
Equipment Maintenance

Mike Schausten has been around Grand Mesa for quite a while and feels a strong desire to give back and create "Legacy" for himself, his grandson Talon and the young men he coaches and helps coach.  Mike aspires to see kids develop, learn and love the game of baseball.

Mike started playing at Grand Mesa back in 1978 at the age of 9, long before the score towers, the concrete walkways, etc...  Mike played into the Senior Baseball division ending his time at Grand Mesa and joining the baseball team at Central High School.  While at Central, as a proud Warrior Mike played football, baseball and wrestled.  He was also a member of the Warrior marching and jazz bands.  After graduation Mike enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. and later attended Mesa State College.  Mike currently does auto body and paint as the owner of Schausten Auto Body which has helped with several projects at the park, most notably providing a classy custom paint job for our RTV after it was returned to us following being stolen.

Mike has had to work hard to get back on the field to help coach.  In May of 2022 Mike had both of his knees replaced.  But if you didn't know him before the knee replacement you wouldn't know.  Mike was back at the park within days and coaching the following spring season.  Mike made further improvement with his new knees, playing men's league baseball in the spring of 2024, primarily as a catcher.  Mike also coached our Junior Baseball All-Star team in 2024.

Mike has two daughters and is currently raising his grandson, and current Grand Mesa player Talon.

Dominique Marinello
Player Agent (Jr/Sr Softball, Major Softball, Minor Softball)

Sarah Troublefield
Special Events Coordinator

Jonathon Troublefield
Member At-Large

Rebecca Bradley
Player Agent (T-Ball & Pee-Wee)

Andrew Bradley
Member At-Large

Michael Criswell
Member At-Large

Kayleen Balsiger
Colorado District 1 District Administrator