[nky]

While former Cincinnati Reds player Dave Collins has just a year’s worth of experience coaching high school, he has over a decade’s worth of experience as a Major League Baseball coach and minor league manager. St. Henry is hoping that experience will serve its baseball program well.

The 60-year-old Collins, who amassed 1,335 hits and stole 395 bases in a 16-year playing career (including two stints with the Reds: 1978-81 and 1987-89), was named St. Henry’s head coach on Thursday.
Collins last coached in MLB in 2010 when he served as first base coach for the Florida (now Miami) Marlins and has worked the last few years giving individual instruction to youth players at the Erlanger Batting Cage.

“Since getting out of the pros and working with youth baseball, what I really enjoy is seeing the personal development and character come out in the kids,” said Collins, who also served as a coach with the St. Louis Cardinals (1991 and 1992); Reds (1999 and 2000) and Colorado Rockies (2003-2006). “The whole premise is trying to teach life lessons and teach the fundamentals. You can really help younger kids with their thinking and the mental game, like how to deal with the pressure of playing. You just can have more of an impact on younger kids.”

Collins served as a high school basketball coach in his offseasons with the Reds, coaching boys’ teams at Mason and Springboro and then - when his playing career ended - he coached boys’ basketball at Anna High School in Anna, Ohio and was boys’ basketball and baseball coach at Lake Orion High School in Lake Orion, Mich.

“Those experiences coaching in high school helped me a lot, because it’s when you realize you’re not a good coach that you become a good coach,” said Collins. “It’s not just about Xs and Os, it is about having philosophy of life and developing the kid and not the player. That’s what I want to do at St. Henry. This is not about Dave Collins, it’s about the kids at St. Henry. If there’s a kid that wants to get to the next level hopefully I can help them do that, but if it's kids who will finish their careers in high school, I hope they take life lessons we try and teach them and apply it to life.”

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/201...ck_check=1

[nky]

Hopefully he last longer than 2 years

[eagle 777]

Hopefully he last longer than 2 years

or more!