(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Janneke Louisa-van der Ploeg, Henk Seppen & Robert Bos)
 Rob Hendriks new Head Coach of Twins Oosterhout
Nederlands
...Rob Hendriks coaching the...
...second team of Twins in 2021...
(© Photo: Janneke Louisa-van der Ploeg) |
 OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) -
Rob Hendriks has been named the new Head Coach of the big league baseball-team of Twins Oosterhout, the club announced on its website on Sunday-evening (September 25).
Hendriks succeeds Adonis Kemp.
Eleven days ago (September 14), the club announced that Kemp would not return as Head Coach next season.
Twins Oosterhout also announced that Hendriks will be assisted in 2023 by Bas Nooijens and Berend Ruben.
This year, Rob Hendriks was in his third season as Head Coach of the second baseball-team of the club, which played in the First Division.
On Sunday-afternoon (September 25), the team concluded the season by playing a make-up double-header at Sparks Haarlem in the Major League/First Division Pilot-Pool.
Twins recorded two shutout-wins and finished in fourth place in this new Pool, which was introduced this season.
In the Top-6 Pool of the regular season, Twins finished in second place.
Bas Nooijens also was the Assistant Coach of Hendriks this season, while Berend Ruben was one of the players.
In recent days, the club conducted talks with the three concerning their new positions in the 2023 season.
In the announcement of the new coaching-staff, Paul Bun, Chairman of the club's Technical Committee, states:
,,The search for new management for our big league team did not go unnoticed.
The roles of Berend Ruben and Bas Nooijens in the staff are very important.
It is also important for a staff to have characters that naturally have good qualities, but also complement each other.
With this Team-Hendriks we are focusing on an open and action-oriented culture as a leadership model in which everyone takes their role and is also given responsibility for it.
Specialists in their own field.''
In the announcement, it is mentioned that:
,,As a player for UVV and HCAW, Berend Ruben can boast of ample big league experience.
In addition to his role as a player, he also takes a prominent place in the technical staff.
His winning mentality, perseverance and tactical knowledge will come in handy for the talented big league team of Twins.
Bas Nooijens complements the staff with his knowledge and experience as a hitting coach.
He has been associated with Oosterhout Twins for many years, with whom he also played in the big league in the 1990s.''
...Rob Hendriks with...
...Blue Angels in 2015...
(© private-photo) |
Paul Bun also adds:
,,We are pleased that we have been able to appoint a coaching team from our own region.
This is important for the long-term vision that exists.
From there we can continue to build, also on the technical staff.
Twins is confident that this staff can fully utilize the potential of the team.
We are looking forward to many more years of big league baseball in Oosterhout''.
Club-chairman Kjeld Boerendonk added:
,,The composition of the staff with Rob Hendriks, Berend Ruben and Bas Nooijens is currently the right one to lead the big league team.''
As a player, Hendriks played in seven big league-seasons for Rotterdam-based Sparta.
He mostly was a third baseman and short stop, but also has been a pitcher in several seasons.
Hendriks made his big league-debut in 1979 playing for Sparta, which relegated in that season.
Hendriks stayed with the club and returned to the big league in 1982 after Sparta had promoted in the previous year.
He retired as a player at the big league-level after the 1987 season, but continued to play at a lower level for Rotterdam Orioles and The Hawks.
Rob Hendriks played several seasons for National Junior Teams, but in 1984, he played in his lone international tournament with the Netherlands Baseball Team, which then participated in the Chung Hua Tournament in Taiwan.
After he had retired as an active player, Rob Hendriks turned to coaching.
By focusing more on coaching, he followed in the footsteps of his father.
Henk Hendriks played in sixteen seasons at the highest level for Sparta.
Early 1968, he retired as a player when he was named new Head Coach of the team after the unexpected passing of John Heyt.
Henk Hendriks, who passed away in 2020, led the team in five seasons.
Thereafter, he acted as Assistant Coach during three more seasons, before retiring in 1984.
Rob Hendriks has been active as a (Head) Coach before in the Dutch big league, in both baseball and women's softball.
He first led the women's softball-team of Zwijndrecht in 1993-1995 in the second highest league, leading the team to one title.
Thereafter, Hendriks not only turned to coaching baseball, he also returned to the big league.
In 1996, he was the Assistant Coach of Koos van der Mark at Sparta.
Halfway that season, the coaching-staff was expanded with Leen Staub, who had been the longtime 1B Coach of Neptunus.
After the 1996 season, Hendriks succeeded Van der Mark as Head Coach and led the team in the next three seasons (1997-1999) after it had merged with Feyenoord to become Sparta-Feyenoord
In his first season, Hendriks guided the team to the Play-Offs.
From 2000 on, Hendriks coached several youth-teams, but in 2009-2011, he was the Head Coach of the main-team of The Hawks for three seasons.
In both 2009 (Second Division) and 2010 (First Division), Hendriks led the team to a title and promotion.
|
|
|
...Left: Berend Ruben with HCAW in 2019...
...Right: Bas Nooijens (92) during a mound-visit in 2020...
(© Photos: Henk Seppen (Ruben) & Robert Bos (Nooijens)) |
In the next three seasons (2012-2014), Rob Hendriks was the Head Coach of the baseball-team of Blue Birds in Delft.
Again, he was successful, as the team won the championship-title in the Second Division in his first season.
In 2015-2018, Hendriks was one of the instructors and coaches at Blue Angels, which is a softball development academy.
In 2016, for one season, he also was the Head Coach of the women's softball-team of Gryphons, which then played in the Silver League, the second highest division.
Thereafter, he coached both the main and second softball-team of Twins Oosterhout for two seasons.
In 2019, Hendriks was the Assistant Coach of Jeroen den Duijn of the big league softball-team of Twins Oosterhout.
From 2020 on, he returned to baseball and led the second team of Twins.
Bas Nooijens also earlier coached at the big league-level.
In 2004, he briefly was a member of the coaching-staff of then-Head Coach Olaf Tates.
After the club and Tates separated after only three games, Nooijens formed an interim-trio with Pitching Coach Parris Mitchell and player Pierre van Diessen, who led the team.
After four games, a new coaching-staff took over.
Nooijens then was the 3B Coach in the staff of Kevin Roovers in 2015 (First Division) and 2016 (big league).
And in 2020 (also big league), he was the Bench Coach of Jeffrey Arends.
Berend Ruben played in nine full seasons at the big league-level.
The utility player first played for Dordrecht-based The Hawks when the team played in the highest league in 2013-2015.
Thereafter, he played two seasons for UVV and four for HCAW.
After last season, Ruben transfered to Twins Oosterhout.
This year, he played in the second team of the club, with Rob Hendriks as his coach.
But he also played in three games of the big league-team of Twins.
(September 25)
|
