The German Baseball and Softball Federation (DBV) announced this past weekend during a European Indoor Tournament in Hamburg that they have added André Prins to the coaching staff of the Women’s Softball National Team. He will serve as offense coach on the staff of head coach Udo Dehmel.

“We’re very happy that we were able to add such an extraordinary offense coach as André to our staff.”, said Dehmel in a DBV press release. “I am sure he will help to improve our team to make the next step towards our goal.”

The 68-year-old Prins is from the Netherlands. The leading coach of softball academies in Belgium and the Netherlands has worked with various softball programs in Europe. Between 1995 and 2004 he led Russia to the top of European Softball.

In his home country he coached the Dutch U16 and U19 National Teams during 2005 and 2009 with a vice world championship with the U16 being the highlight. The Czech Softball Association (CSA) hired him as senior national team coach for the 2013 European Championship in Prague and was rewarded with a bronze medal. Czech Softball has been on the rise since then.

New DBV Vice President for Softball, Lena Foerst, is also pleased with the signing of the new coach. “He will improve our players not only on the technical, but also on the mental side of the game. Also our coaching staff will take advantage of his experience. With his expertise we hope to make a stride to get into the Top 6 in European Softball.”

The German Women’s Softball National Team has finished in 9th in the last two European Championships. They will face the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Israel during the first round of this year’s European Championship in Rosmalen (July 20-25, 2015).

-office Germany-