(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Austis Gibbs heads new coaching-staff of HCAW
Nederlands
 BUSSUM (Neth.) -
Austis Gibbs is the new Head Coach of the big league baseball-team of HCAW, the club confirmed on Sunday (November 15).
At the same time, it was announced that former player Roy Berrevoets returns to the coaching-staff, while Shane Gnade has been named Pitching Coach.
This year, Dè Flanegin was the Head Coach of HCAW with whom he was 12-8-1 in the regular season to finish in fourth place and qualify for the Top-4 Pool.
After five games in this Pool (the team was 1-4), Flanegin stepped down.
In the remaining three games of the season, 3B Coach Rudy Dirksen was the Interim Head Coach.
Dirksen stopped after the final game, as he already had announced he would do so before the start of the season.
...Austis Gibbs...
...new Head Coach of HCAW... |
Also on Sunday, HCAW announced its comings and goings, as the transfer-period ended at midnight.
The team added nine new players, including this years Most Valuable Player and Best Hitter Victor Draijer, who played for Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Also moving from Hoofddorp to Bussum were infielder Max Draijer and righthanded pitcher Lars Huijer.
The latter was not on the Pioniers-roster since late August.
Instead, he played in Germany for Heidenheim Heideköpfe.
Returning to HCAW is lefthanded pitcher Jim Ploeger, who comes from L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Go here for a complete overview of all transfers
The 56-year old Austis Gibbs was the Head Coach of the baseball-team of De Hazenkamp this year.
Gibbs led the team to first place in the B-Pool of the First Division, which this season was the fourth highest league.
In the shortened 2020 season, De Hazenkamp was 8-1.
Gibbs also coached the second team of the Nijmegen-based club, which finished in first place in the C-Pool of the Second Division.
He also was involved in coaching and training youth-teams at De Hazenkamp.
In 2019, Gibbs came to the Netherlands from Aruba and coached the Juniors baseball-team of Tex Town Tigers in Enschede.
Gibbs was born on Curaçao, but at a very young age he moved with his family to Aruba where he grew up.
Gibbs started playing baseball there at age seven in little league-teams.
Gibbs developed into a talented player and played for several teams, including Amstel, which was one of the most successful teams in the eighties.
As first baseman, at age 19, he participated with the National Team of the Netherlands Antilles in the 1983 Pan American Games in Venezuela.
There, his play was noted by scouts, which led to a try-out for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That went successful and Gibbs signed a professional contract.
First, Gibbs played for Tigres de Licey in the Dominican Republic in the 1983-1984 season.
He then played in the Rookie League-team of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Florida in 1984 and 1985.
In those two seasons, the lefthanded hitting Gibbs played in 96 games, hitting .232 with five homeruns and 36 runs batted in.
In following seasons, Gibbs kept on playing in the professional winter leagues in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
He played for Tigres de Licey in the Dominican Republic and for Tigres de Aragua in Venezuela.
Later, Gibbs became a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins.
He also served as a Hitting Instructor in the Minnesota-organization.
Roy Berrevoets returns to the coaching-staff of HCAW.
He was the team's Head Coach in 2007-2008 and in 2016.
In the first two seasons, he coached the team together with former player Jurjan Koenen.
In 2016, Berrevoets was assisted by Roeland Henrique.
In between, Berrevoets served as an Assistant Coach himself in the staff of Ronald Jaarsma when he took over the Head Coach-duties during the 2011 season.
Last year, Berrevoets filled in as coach for some games late in the season.
As a player, Berrevoets started his career with Giants Diemen in Diemen.
He then transfered to HCAW where he made his debut in the main-squad in 1987.
Since then, he played his entire big league-career for the Bussum-club.
In thirteen full big league-seasons, Berrevoets played in more than 400 games and retired after the 1999 season.
However, he then played in one more game during the 2000 and 2004 seasons.
In 2007, the uniform number of Berrevoets (24) was retired by HCAW.
As player of the Netherlands National Team, Berrevoets participated in the World Port Tournament and the European Championship in 1997.
Shane Gnade pitched for Almere '90 and Hoofddorp Pioniers.
After his active career, Gnade became the Pitching Coach of HCAW's second team, which he was for four seasons, including this year.
His brother Bobbie Gnade is one of the pitchers of HCAW.
(November 15)
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