Little League Coach Spotlight: Pizza Inn Travis Ward

Due to the current coronavirus situation and all sports being shut down, there are a lot of coaches who have had their chance to coach Little League players one last time cut short. ENC Sports Review in partnership with the Athletics Division of City of Rocky Mount. We thought it would be nice to highlight some of these coaches since their season has been delayed. Today, we will highlight Pizza Inn Head Coach Travis Ward. We thank Travis for taking the time to sit down with ENC Sports Review and answer these questions for us. We had fun learning more about him and we hope you will too.

How long have you been coaching and/or involved with youth sports? Include your time affiliated with Rocky Mount Little League?

I have been coaching 24 years total and have spent the last 4 years in the Rocky Mount Little League program.

What do you enjoy most about coaching in youth sports? 

What I enjoy the most about coaching in youth sports is the kids, themselves, and playing a part in helping them win.  I personally love to win but I get even more enjoyment in seeing the kids win.  I love watching the kids gain satisfaction from knowing they put their heart into something and were rewarded for doing so.  Winning is not defined simply by which team leads on the scoreboard at the end of a game or what the book records as a respective team’s final record.  That is a large part, sure, but winning is also about an individual kid recording his own personal accomplishment(s) and becoming better. Winning, most of all, occurs when those kids are able to apply lessons learned on the field and apply them to their faith, family, school, and life in general.

What is one of your fondest memories coaching youth sports – in RM Little League or other sport?

My fondest memory in coaching youth sports would have to be the 2-year ride in 2004 and 2005 that our Nash Co. Babe Ruth All-Star team went on.  It is hard to describe how those kids seemed to galvanize so many in our area during that 2-year span.  They were able to accomplish a lot on the field but there were actual “listening parties” hosted at local sports bars and people’s homes, people gathered around radios listening to our journey to the World Series  in VanBuren, AK in ’04 and Quincey, MA in ’05.  That is incredible to think about.  There were a few people from RM taking private planes on the day of the national championship, just to come watch us play.  I do not think we realized at the time what a special journey we were on.  In hindsight, I am not sure improving on our 3^rd place finish in ’04 and our national runner-up finish in ’05 would have done much to change the memories we made in those 2 summers.  The journey was so much better than any result could have provided and, in a way, coming up short helped teach us life lessons just as valuable as any we could have learned from winning.

 What message would you like to share with your team right now?

The message I would share with my team right now is to not take tomorrow for granted.  What if during the last game you played, someone would have told you that the spring season may not come?  Would you have played harder, had more fun, and appreciated it more?  We are not promised another game, another practice, or another day so make the most of today and appreciate the moment.

If you could go back and change an outcome (or coaching decision) of a game in the past 5 years, that you have been coaching, which would it be and why? 

I wouldn’t change an outcome or decision.  However, what i would change goes back to question 4.  I would appreciate each practice and game as if it were my last.

Give a preview of your team for the upcoming season? – could you list the team when you do it?

This year’s Pizza Inn team, along with Chambliss & Rabil, will have the fewest returning players and the fewest 12-year old’s on the roster of any team in the league.  So, we will be young and inexperienced.  We return only one player who pitched any at all last year and we do not return a single kid who caught an inning for us.  We have discussed embracing the underdog role and will do everything we can to maintain a culture of hard work, discipline, and toughness.  Youth and inexperience aside, we expect to compete and our goal will be to improve greatly over the course of the season.  We have a great group of kids who despise losing but, at times, with such young kids, it can be very tricky learning to harness that competitiveness in a positive manner.  If we can navigate that hurdle, I think we can compete in the upper half of the league.  Stay positive, compete with confidence, and trust in the process.  I like our team and our chances.

What is the 1st thing you and your team will do once the Coronavirus is over?

WORK!!!!!!!

We thank Pizza Inn Head Coach Travis Ward for sitting down and talking with ENC Sports Review. It is our hope that you learned more about the person you see on the field. We can’t wait for this season to start. Games begin tomorrow July 8th at the Rocky Mount Sports Complex. ENC Sports Review is your home for Little League Baseball. Be on the lookout for more coaches spotlights as well as game highlights and interviews.