(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos courtesy of Rob Hendriks)
 Rob Hendriks new Head Coach of Gryphons
Nederlands
 ROSMALEN (Neth.) -
Former baseball-coach Rob Hendriks has been named the new Head Coach of the women softball-team of Gryphons.
There, he succeeds Vera Van De Ven, who led the team in the last three seasons.
An Assistant Coach has not yet been named.
...Rob Hendriks... |
After having relegated from the Dutch big league last year, Gryphons played in the newly created Silver League this season.
The team finished in a tie for seventh place, meaning it had to play in the Silver League Relegation Pool in the second half of the season.
Gryphons finished the season by ending in first place in this pool and with that secured itself of a spot in next years Silver League.
Hendriks: ,,I like to combine coaching with practicing, but also wants to see the progress on the field.
This is a great opportunity and it it will be a very fun new challenge.
I'm happy to be able to coach this team, which has a lot of talent.
Our goal for next season is to finish in the top-six and then be a contender for a higher position the following year.''
Rob Hendriks has played most of his baseball-career for Rotterdam-based Sparta, which later was renamed Sparta-Feijenoord after a merger with Feijenoord.
Initially, Hendriks was a short stop, but later, he became a pitcher and first baseman.
In 1979, he made his debut in the main-squad, which then played in the Dutch big league, but relegated.
Hendriks then played for the team in the following next two seasons, celebrated the championship and returned to the highest division in 1982.
He played in his last big league-season in 1987.
In following years, Hendriks played on a lower level for Orioles and The Hawks.
In his playing career, Hendriks played some eleven years for various national teams, with whom he participated in European Championships and World Championships.
As a member of the Netherlands National Baseball Team, Hendriks participated in the international, invitational Chung Hua Tournament in 1984 in Taiwan.
After retiring as player, Hendriks focused on coaching.
He initially started coaching softball, as he led the women softball-team of Zwijndrecht in 1994 and 1995, when it played in the second hightest division ('Overgangsklasse').
...Rob Hendriks with his Blue Angels-team this year... |
Hereafter, Hendriks started coaching in baseball.
He first served as Assistant Coach of Sparta in 1996 and then took over as Head Coach, leading the big league-squad in 1997-1999.
In his first season as Head Coach, Hendriks led Sparta to the Play-Offs.
After his coaching-period at Sparta, Hendriks coached several youth-teams, but then returned to the senior-level again after a few years.
He was the Head Coach of the baseball-team of The Hawks in 2009-2011, whom he led to the championship in the Second Division, then the First Division the next season.
In his third and final year with The Hawks, 2011, the team finished in third place in the second highest division ('Overgangsklasse').
In 2012, The Hawks won the championship in the 'Overgangsklasse', then promoted to the Dutch big league after winning the best-of-five Promotion/Relegation Series vs. Sparta-Feijenoord.
In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Hendriks was the Head Coach of the baseball-team of Blue Birds, whom he led to the championship in the Second Division in his first season.
A year later, Blue Birds finished in second place in the First Division.
This past year, Rob Hendriks was active as an instructor and coach in the Blue Angels softball-organization, which is a development academy in which young talented softball-players from various clubs pay together in the same team.
This season, his team, the Blue Angels Tigers, finished in second place in the Under-18 league.
He also led the Little League Seniors South West Thunders this year.
This team won the Dutch championship in Hoofddorp to qualify for the European Senior League Championship.
On that event in Italy, the team lost the semi-final to the Czech Republic and finished in third place.
(October 23)
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