Meet Pete Walls, Executive Director at Play It Forward (PlayItForwardNE.org).
Tell us a little about your business. – Play It Forward is a non-profit youth sports program that teaches multiple sports including basketball, soccer and volleyball to young athletes between the ages of 3-10 through the coaching from selected high school athletes in the community. In addition, we have an agility station and obstacle course station that focus on movement and exercise. Each session has a period called “Be Kind Time” where the high school athletes talk to the campers about the importance of being a good teammate, inclusion, sportsmanship and more. Ultimately our goal is for the young athletes to have a fun, positive experience playing multiple sports and games and meeting awesome new coaches.
How did you get started in the business? – I’m originally from Massachusetts where I coached high school basketball and youth sports for several years before moving to Omaha in 2013 where I continued to coach. Myself and two good friends and fellow coaches, Will Pope and Kyle Jurgens, saw an opportunity to provide young kids with the chance to learn multiple sports, get exercise and have a ton of fun while being coached by new role models, high school athletes in the community. We identified a gap in youth sports experiences that would introduce early elementary aged students to a wide range of sports in a fun and non-competitive setting. We also thought this was a great opportunity to provide high school athletes with leadership experience that will have a positive impact on the young athletes as well as their lives as they move on to college and the real world.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced professionally? – The biggest challenge we’ve had has been getting the word out to young families in the community about exactly who we are. Our program is unique in the fact that in one to two hour session campers have fun learning basketball, soccer, volleyball, run the obstacle course and have Be Kind Time, so unless you’ve seen our sessions it’s difficult to describe how much fun both our campers and high school athletes have.
Tell us a little about your family. – I’ve been married to my wife Meaghan for 13 years and we have two awesome daughters Avery and Kensley along with three dogs. We love sports, traveling and getting out in nature. In addition both of my daughters have been campers at Play It Forward and now that Avery is too old to be a camper she’s a volunteer helper with our PreK group.
What do you see as one of the biggest turning points in your life? – Moving to Omaha from Boston was a major turning point. My wife was pregnant with our oldest daughter at the time so both of my girls were born here. We love Omaha. It’s a great place to raise a family.
What local nonprofit organization(s) are you passionate about or involved with, and are there any special reasons why? – Imagine Inclusion is a non-profit my wife started with her co-founder Lauren Citro. Their mission is to support accessible and inclusive outdoor recreational opportunities regionally for schools, cities and neighborhoods, while providing disability awareness efforts in the community. Their first initiative was a partnership with the City of Omaha to build an inclusive playground in West Omaha that kids and adults of all abilities can enjoy. After five years of hard work the playground should be completed at Lake Zorinsky next month.
If our readers would like to contact you, how should they do so? – Readers can learn more about our program and contact us through our website at PlayItForwardNE.org. Our Saturday morning Fall Camp starts next month so we hope to see some of your readers at camp!