(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Jaap Braakman new Head Coach Tex Town Tigers
Nederlands
 ENSCHEDE (Neth.) -
Jaap Braakman is the new Head Coach of the women softball-team of Tex Town Tigers, the club announced on Monday (November 7).
Braakman succeeds Stanley Kock, who led the team the last three seasons.
Kock will now coach the softball-cadets team of the club.
Braakman will lead the team next season in the Golden League with an option to continue thereafter.
...Jaap Braakman (left) with André Prins coaching...
...the Netherlands Junior Team...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
Braakman will be assisted by Petra van Heijst, Rob Hassink and Lindsey Meadows, who all were members of this years coaching-staff.
Petra van Heijst and Lindsey Meadows both are coaches of the team since last year.
Van Heijst retired after the 2013 season when she played for Terrasvogels.
Meadows, who is the Pitching Coach, is still active as a pitcher herself.
Rob Hassink is one of the team's coaches since 2011 and was the Head Coach himself in the 2013 season.
With the naming of Jaap Braakman as its new Head Coach, Tex Town Tigers will continue even more in player development, the club stated in a press release.
The club has a long history doing so and many players went on to reach the National Teams.
Earlier this year, five players of the club were members of the Netherlands National Under-22 Team that captured the European title in the Czech Republic.
In the press release, Braakman states:
,,For next year, I would like to see that the players are going for the win in each game!
We want to continue develop youth players as much as possible to secure this for now and in the future.''
Jaap Braakman will become the tenth different Head Coach of Tex Town Tigers since 2006, which includes five American coaches in the periode 2007-2012.
Actually, it are nine different coaches, as Stanley Kock was the Head Coach on two occassions.
Before becoming Head Coach in 2014, he had taken over the team early during the 2011 season.
Braakman is an experienced softball-coach, who has been active for over thirty years now.
Initially, he was active in the The Hague-area, as he was a coach of the softball-team of Wassenaar, which plays in the place with the same name and is located near The Hague.
As Head Coach of Wassenaar, Braakman led the team when it played in the Dutch big league in 1989.
Later, Braakman became a coach at Robur '58 in Apeldoorn, which is located in the eastern part of the country.
There, he led the softball-squad to the championship-title in the First Division in 1994.
A year later, he coached the team when it made it debut at highest level in 1995 and secured a spot in the big league for the following year.
Hereafter, Braakman joined UVV in Utrecht, whose softball-squad he also led to the championship-title in the B-Pool of the First Division in 1997.
In a following best-of-five Promotion Series against Alcmaria Victrix, which had won the title in the A-Pool, UVV won 3-1 to promote to the highest division.
In 1998, Braakman then led his third team in the Dutch big league.
Unfortunately, due to several injuries, UVV relegated in its first year at the highest level.
A few years later, Braakman also was active as the Head Coach of the softball-team at Almere '90.
Hereafter, Braakman was closely associated with the National Youth Teams, together with André Prins.
Through the years, Braakman always has been busy in player development at several clubs and on a regional and national level.
In 2006-2009, Braakman was a member of the coaching-staff, which was led by Prins, of the Netherlands Junior Team.
In these years, Braakman also coordinated the development program for both the National Juniors, as well as the National Cadets Team.
Before this period, Braakman already led several other National Youth Teams.
Amongst his players then were current Assistant Coach Petra van Heijst and current players Nadine Marinus and Myrthe Smid.
For his many contributions in the field of player development, Braakman won the Nol Houtkamp Award in 2008.
This award is handed out annually to a person who has had many contributions to the development of (young) players.
The award is named after Nol Houtkamp, who had a long association with the Netherlands National Team, as he had been its Head Coach for fourteen successful years.
With the naming of Braakman as new Head Coach of Tex Town Tigers, it will set up a unique confrontation next season.
He then will face his son Nick Braakman, who since this season is the Head Coach of Terrasvogels.
It will be the first father-son confrontation ever at the highest level.
(November 7)
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