The Long Beach Post is pleased to announce that it is joining forces with The562.org, a local sports news website run by long-time local journalists Mike Guardabascio and JJ Fiddler.

The Post will be featuring a weekly multimedia story package each Thursday from The562 called “Game of the Week,” highlighting Long Beach athletes and issues of interest in the sports community. The562, a nonprofit founded in March 2018, will also collaborate with the Post on two weekly podcasts: one focusing on sports, to be released Fridays, the other focused on local news (called the “Long Beach 30”), to be released Thursdays.

The partnership marks something of a homecoming for Mike and JJ, who got their start covering sports with the Post 11 years ago, under the mentorship of the Post’s original publisher and co-founder Shaun Lumachi.

“Shaun had no reason to give us a shot in 2008 when we were first hired as sportswriters here,” said Guardabascio. “It’s exciting for us a decade later to be producing content at the site where we started.”

Mike and JJ went on to write for the Grunion Gazette, and later, its sister publication the Press-Telegram. The duo were laid off in January after the publications’ parent company made the decision to significantly reduce local news and sports coverage.

“Mike and I have been able to continue to cover Long Beach sports because this community is so strong and supportive,” Fiddler said. “Our local sports coverage is by Long Beach, for Long Beach. We will continue to produce all of the articles, photos and video highlights local sports fans have enjoyed.”

The562.org will remain a separate entity, supported by donations from Long Beach sports alumni and the public at large.

The Post, meanwhile, has quadrupled the size of its staff over the last two months, and now features the largest team of journalists in one newsroom in southern Los Angeles County. Since the start of the editorial expansion in June, readers have turned to the Post’s stories and coverage nearly 1.5 million times.

To read sports features, game coverage of local high schools, readers can visit The562.org, or the Post, lbpost.com. Follow Mike and JJ on Twitter @562Sports.

Listeners can subscribe to the weekly shows on Apple podcasts, and they will also be available at lbpost.com and The562.org.