Alan Robbins’ dream was always to play for the big leagues. Ask his former teachers.

“When I was little, any time I had to write a paper about a goal or a passion, I always wrote about wanting to play major league baseball,” said Robbins, a 2002 graduate of Bridgeport High School and member of the Class AAA 2000 state champion Indian baseball team.

He gave his dream his best shot, winding up on the roster of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2006; a late-round amateur draft pick as he concluded his four-year catching career at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. Robbins’ talents were kept on the back burner and he was ultimately released in 2009. He went on to play independent ball for the Frontier League as catcher for the Pennsylvania-based Washington Wild Things.

It was all quite an experience and combined, accumulated first-hand knowledge worth passing on to his fellow baseball enthusiasts.

Robbins is back in his old stomping grounds, helping aspiring young baseball players hit their own career homeruns.

His training center is 1st University Athletics in Clarksburg, where he works with hundreds of kids from throughout North Central West Virginia – from Little Leaguers to college-age athletes.

“I don’t put an age limit on it. If they come in, I can work with them,” he said. “We mainly do batting, but we do some pitching and some defensive work and conditioning.”

Robbins has a multidimensional view when it comes to success.

View one is repetition.

“I tell the guys all the time that if they do things right and do them over and over again, they will get better,” he said. “And that’s not just hitting. If you want to get better at math, do math problems – a lot of them. Even after baseball, I hope that’s still instilled in them and when they get jobs, they’ll get better and move up.  The key to success is working hard and putting in time. I think the guys are seeing that.”

View two is building physical strength – in the gym and otherwise. He believes in backyard baseball, pickup basketball - running and being active on an ongoing basis; developing year-round strength and skill that will ultimately pay off big.

View three is heart.

“I encourage kids to play different sports because this is the only time in their lives that they’re able to do that. But I also tell them that if their heart’s not in it, don’t play,” Robbins said. “More guys are now turning to one sport and that’s what it takes to get to the next level – investing all of their time to get better.”

While at Winthrop University, Robbins earned a degree in business, a background which is now making sense.
The other education which he leans on is one of hard knocks.

“Baseball is a degree in itself; the experience and the different coaches I met all along the way,” Robbins said. “Coaches have their own philosophies and if you play enough games, you see a lot of things happen to where you start to know the game – especially being a catcher.”'

Robbins said he began picking up some key information when he was in his 20s.

“I sometimes feel if I would have gotten that information earlier in my career, I would have been able to put that right to work at an early age and it would have made a difference for me,” he said.

His dream now is that it will make a difference for the athletes at 1st University Athletics.

“My biggest goal is to turn this area into kind of a Warner Robins, Ga.,” he said. “I want to see a lot of baseball players coming out of this small town in West Virginia. That’s definitely not going to happen overnight, but years down the road, hopefully these guys will continue and move up to the next level.”

Robbins worked part-time with Reep Batting Instruction in Bridgeport before venturing out on his own. His facility is located behind Hite Field in Clarksburg. 

 

To reach 1st University Athletics, call 304-629-0746. 

 

See Robbins' stats and college/pro history HERE.