The Kentville Wildcats Senior Baseball Team have found a Head Coach for the 2019 season. John Ansara was officially accepted as Head Coach at the Executive Committee meeting on February 20th.
Ansara grew up playing baseball in Toronto, ON, and later went on to play college baseball at Vancouver Island University. He has lived in the Valley for 10 years and is a former Wildcats player himself having played 4 seasons with the team. John is a strong leader who has worked in the fields of Recreation and Community Development for several years.
“We are excited to have John joining us as Head Coach this season and are greatly looking forward to working with him as he develops the roster and gets started with spring workouts for the players”, said Sandy VanBlarcom, President of the team’s Executive Committee. “John knows some of the players including their strengths because of his past experience as a player, and is familiar with the league as well. Both of those things will be an asset to him as he works to round out the roster”, said VanBlarcom.
The Executive Committee had issued a press release on February 6th stating that the team was in urgent need of a coach, and John responded to that call to action. Last season, after the early departure of Head Coach Chris Salsman who moved out of the area, the team was able to get by due to the great efforts of player coaches who stepped up, namely Jason Pleasant-Sampson who has been with the team since 1996.
Ansara says he is looking forward to the position, “to fielding a competitive and fun team to watch, and to keeping baseball growing in the Valley”.
You can follow the Kentville Wildcats Senior team on facebook (@KentvilleWildcats) and on twitter (@ktown_baseball)
Photo: John Ansara from 2017 pictured with local athlete Ben Brown.