Dolores’ new athletic director joins the Dolores School District with plans of rebuilding the Dolores baseball team.

Curtis Garver, who was recently hired to lead Dolores’ athletic programs, also hopes to revitalize Dolores baseball team, which has been on hiatus for years.

“We’re basically bringing the baseball program back. So, we haven't had a baseball program for a few years, and our goal is to bring it back, hopefully stronger than it was before,” Garver said.

Dolores had a baseball team at one time, but there hasn’t been a team in a few years, causing Dolores students who wish to play baseball to commute to Cortez or Dove Creek to play, something Garver said he hopes to change.

“It’s nice to give these kids opportunities that you know, that we don't have to bus them to other schools. They should have the baseball program here, and we want to get it back for them so they can have some pride in their own school instead of going and playing for Cortez or Dove Creek,” he said.

Anyone who wishes to join the team is welcome to join, and Garver said they won’t be hosting tryouts. This season will start with a junior-varsity team with the hopes of upgrading to both junior varsity and varsity next year.

“Everybody will get to play. We'll have a pretty wide variety of baseball games where they can showcase their talent and kind of work on building their skills for the next year. And then hopefully, we can build on that and have a pretty successful baseball program when we bring back the varsity the following year,” he said.

Before being hired at Dolores, Garver worked at Dove Creek and coached their baseball team for a period of time.

The Dolores baseball field is undergoing renovations, specifically to the outfield fence, to ensure it is ready to go by the time baseball season rolls around in spring.

Garver also noted he hopes to continue improving the athletics in the Dolores school district.

I'm not going to look at wins and losses, but I want to see some really good improvement in how we compete,” Garver said. “Our programs have struggled, but I think we’re at a turning point. These students are going to be able to showcase a lot of what they have, and I think it’s going to be a very successful year.”

I think it’s a turning point in our sports programs,” he said. And with the sports programs doing better, I think it’s going to help the schools and be an all-around good thing. I’ve always said when our sports are good, our schools are good.”