Patrick Henry's Geno Glynn Has Baseball In His Blood
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – It's the pregame for Minneapolis Henry's baseball team. The Patriots don't feature big numbers or talent, but they are trying to get it right.
So too is their first year head coach, Geno Glynn.
"Well Henry isn't necessarily known for its baseball, but it has a lot of great athletes. And baseball's the type of sport where it's a fundamental-based, skill sets sport, so just over time and repetition, that's how you improve," Geno said. "I love being around kids in general, but these guys have such a positive influence on each other and the energy they bring to one another, it's good to impact and feed off of."
It's pregame at Target Field for the Minnesota Twins. A much different ballpark and a much different level.
Gene Glynn is the team's third base coach and the father to Geno, which means he understands -- understands that his son's mission is to create an environment that promotes baseball.
"It's a program with a lot of athletes that probably haven't played as much baseball as a normal big group of guys throughout a system. So he gets it, and he says he loves the guys and the program," Gene said. "There's just a lot of work to do, but it's playing time because if they're athletic – you know, we see guys come out that might be a football player or a basketball player that might get drafted because he's played baseball, and he really feels there's some really good talent there, they just haven't really played enough."
See Gene the father has been around this game -- managed at Class AAA Rochester -- and has spent his adult life trying to figure out this game.
"We're talking strategies, certain scenarios, gameplay, outfield play, adjustments in the infield and outfield, hitting," Geno said. "Just kind of encompassing the whole field, the whole gameplay itself. A lot of detailed talk about what positioning where, infield set up."
What he's passed down to his son is simple: Know your team.
"I think he's really open to trying to build that program into something that's going to be strong in the Minneapolis community. I know he's really eager to do that and patience comes with coaching," Gene said.
His son has listened, understanding what he can control comes from his father.
"He's taught me a lot in the day. I think it's be positive, influence the kids in the best way you can, teach the game in the right manner. Just have a lot of energy towards the kids and the athletes," Geno said.
But what makes him happy is that his son loves this game like he does, even though there is a danger to it.
"Sometimes you think, you know, you wish he would've done something else. But baseball's in my two boys' blood, I think it'll always be a part of them and hopefully good things happen for them," Gene said.
And for Geno -- he doesn't know his future, but he knows this is the right place for him right now.
"I think it's just staying positive with the guys," Geno said. "Baseball's a hard sport and you can get frustrated easily, and so I think just trying to stay positive and keep the guys knowing that it's a hard sport and when you do succeed you'll feel that excitement and that positive feeling you get when do you have a good play or a good hit and just feeding off that."
