CULLMAN, Ala. – After several standout years on the baseball field with the Cullman Bearcats, the Wallace State Lions and the Alabama Crimson Tide, Kolby Robinson is ready to help groom a new generation of young players. Robinson is the newest addition to the All Star Sports Training Staff but it won’t be his time working with them. Robinson has already been part of lessons in the past and has a good relationship with the people working there.
“They originally reached out to me over Christmas break because they do these “Sunday Swings” where they bring in a guest coach and stuff and I went over there a couple times over Christmas break to work with some kids,” Robinson said. “I played at Wallace for Chad Shannon and he’s one of the owners up there so me and him have known each other for a while now and once I finished up this season, I reached out to him and told him I’d be interested in coming back to work for him and keep working with kids up there. So, he was excited about it.”
Kolby’s father, Kelly Robinson, is the varsity girls basketball coach at Mortimer Jordan High School so coaching is in his blood but he’s always known this is something he was interested in.
“I’ve always considered it,” Kolby said. “As far as coaching at the high school or college level I don’t know if that’s something I’m going to do but being able to coach younger kids and give back to the community with some of the stuff I’ve learned throughout my career and help kids reach their dreams is something that I’ve always wanted to do.”
Robinson learned a lot from watching older Cullman players while he was growing up and since his older brother, Kristian, started at second base for the ‘Cats for two years, Kolby has been close to the program for a long time. Now, he’ll be working with young athletes who have been watching him play.
“It’s definitely a cool feeling because I remember growing up watching guys like Ben Moore, Keegan Thompson, my brother and guys like that,” Kolby said. “I wanted to learn from them and how they went about their business on and off the field so its definitely going to be a cool opportunity to teach some of the kids that have watched me and get to know them better.”
Cullman seems to produce an unusual amount of baseball talent for a relatively small community and Robinson credits the community itself for those results. He was one of many kids who grow up in Cullman wanting to play for the Bearcats and not only did he make it happen, he’s now excited to help contribute to the next generation of local ball players.
“I just think the community as a whole is very supportive of the baseball program. Whenever you’re little and growing up, the big thing to do is go watch Cullman baseball and kids get that in their minds. You want to be able to play for Cullman and play in front of a big crowd every game and so I think that helps instill a good work ethic from a young age,” Robinson said. “Kids train harder because they want to perform at a high level to keep the winning tradition alive that Cullman has and will continue to have. Obviously, the coaches Cullman has had with Coach (Bryan) Bowen a while back and Coach (Brent) Patterson now have done a great job building and coaching players.”
Kolby brings some very valuable experience to All Star’s staff, having played at the division I and junior college levels and knowing what it takes to play in both.
“I think that experience will help me relate to kids because a lot of times people see these players at Alabama or other SEC schools and think, ‘Wow they must have so much God-given talent and everything ‘s been easy for them to get where they’re at.’ So, having played in JUCO and gone kind of under the radar my whole career allowed me to humble myself and just work even harder. I wasn’t just handed to me, I had to go out and earn it so I feel like that will help me relate to these kids more because they’ll know if I was able to do it they can do it as well.”
To get in touch with Kolby and set up a session, you can reach him directly at (256)-620-0608.
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