Not a professional in America, but now as a young coach (25) at JEKA in Breda: ‘Giving young players the chance to make it happen’ | Regional sports

As a young player, Henson quickly fell in favor with scouts and it earned him an offer to sign with an MLB team (the top level of baseball in the United States). But pursuing his dream in Florida had to wait a few more years. “My mother didn’t want it. School is more important.

At fifteen, the talent still left Curaçao to invest as much as possible in his sport. He found a high school in the United States where he could combine his hours in the field with his studies. Start training before breakfast. Then go to school all day and train again in the evening. It’s not such an easy life, but you get used to it,” Henson says, laughing at the discipline imposed on him at a young age.

“But then I got injured.” A torn tendon in his shoulder abruptly ended his baseball career. He left the United States, but once back in Curacao, it soon became clear that he would not give up the sport. “Of course it was a real to move back, but you have to learn to live with reality. And if you can’t play baseball yourself, you have to make others better. I want to give young players a chance to do that.

In America and Curaçao he mainly trained young people, until he came to the Netherlands as a pitching coach with Storks in The Hague. His uncle Eugene Henson was a coach at the time with the Dutch big league team. He would need some help and wanted to teach his nephew a thing or two about coaching.

And now there is the first club where Yorick Henson is a single-handed head coach. With many young talents knocking at the door, JEKA has expressed the ambition to play at the highest level. The new coach sees himself in this long-term plan. He is at the club seven days a week coaching not only the first team but also the youth teams. “Yeah, sometimes my girlfriend gets mad because I’m here so often,” he laughs.

The fact that he is only 25 plays no role at the club. ,,Many of the first players are older than me. But communication is key. I’m always right. From the first day, there was a click and I immediately told them: ‘We are not training here for this first class, but we are training to reach the main class and play there again’.

That he and the team are looking forward to the opener against the Twins after intensive preparation is an understatement. “When we come, we come really strong. We will show ourselves. To me, baseball is seventy percent a mental game. We can do with a little garland on this field. If you hit a home run, you can show it. But one thing is even more important than that: we always have respect. We come well dressed, but in the field only profit counts. We are ready!”