MINOT HONEYBEES ANNOUNCE ZOYA ROBBINS AS ASSISTANT COACH

South Dakota State Graduate Assistant Coach to Return to Minot  

MINOT, ND – She’s trading “Go Beavs” for “Go Bees”! 

The Minot Honeybees’ talented roster continues to grow as the team announces that Zoya Robbins, a graduate assistant coach for the South Dakota State Coyotes softball team, will be joining the Honeybees as an assistant coach for their inaugural season.

A graduate of Minot State University, Robbins is returning to Minot after serving as a graduate assistant coach at South Dakota State in the 2024 season and a season playing for the Czech Republic’s Arrows of Ostrava professional softball team in 2022 season.

“The Minot community is unmatched!” said Robbins, “The community is just one huge family, and I’m very happy to go back to the place and people that helped me kick start my coaching career.”

While she is returning to Minot as a coach, Robbins made her mark as a pitcher – tossing in 67 games and striking out 115 batters across 237 innings – and an infielder – maintaining a career fielding average of .953 and achieving 35 putouts and 67 assists with only 5 errors – throughout her time at Minot State. As a batter, she scored 33 RBI and hit 6 home runs. 

Robbins graduated from Minot State in 2022, earning a degree in criminal justice. She returned to Minot State in 2023, this time as a graduate assistant coach. However, she was not a stranger to the coaching role, as she worked as a private softball coach. Now pursuing a master’s degree in sports management, Robbins is continuing her softball coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at South Dakota State and as the first assistant coach of the Minot Honeybees.

On making the transition from player to coach, Robbins commented, “After I graduated from Minot State, I was able to go play in the Czech Republic and Spain. After my short time there, my passion for coaching grew because I was able to see first hand how softball brought people together.”

Originally from Aurora, Colorado and attending school at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, Robbins has always had an affinity for sports, participating in softball, basketball, and track and field during high school. And although she found success in other sports, even being named her high school’s Player of the Year for basketball, she felt that she belonged on the softball field, earning four First-Team All-League honors, two Second-Team All-State honors, and played summer softball for the Colorado Bombers and Colorado Eclipse. In her senior year, she accepted a full ride scholarship to Minot State to play softball.

For Robbins, having spent many years in Minot, the addition of a softball team in the line-up of local collegiate-level teams is an important, necessary, and exciting inclusion.

“After spending summers in Minot watching the Hot Tots and Sabre Dogs, all I could ever think was, ‘It’d be so cool to have a summer league here for softball too.’ I truly was almost in tears when I heard that this vision was coming to life,” she said. “In the back of my mind, I always knew something special like this was bound to happen in the Magic City, and I’m just grateful I get to be part of it. To be a part of this historic moment is such an honor.”

Although Robbins’s graduation from Minot State meant that she wouldn’t be eligible to play for the team, she knew that she wanted to be a part of the Honeybees in some capacity. “I probably bit off more than I can chew, but I was so excited to see that Minot was getting a collegiate summer softball team that I just said, ‘I’m going to apply to be head coach!’” she joked.

However, being able to work alongside Honeybees head coach Craig Montvidas is a dream come true. “A couple months after hearing Coach Craig got the job, he called me all the way from the Netherlands, offered me the assistant coaching job, and I could not be more excited!” she said.

As a softball player herself, Robbins counts her ability to connect with players and build relationships with them among her strengths as a coach. Her experience as both a collegiate player and a coach for collegiate teams 

Thinking forward, Robbins is eager to get the season underway. “I’m super excited! Very eager to meet all the athletes and get things rolling. I love experiencing new things and [meeting] people. Coaching has collided with my two passions: bringing people together & softball. And having a stud head coach in Craig Montvidas, I can imagine I’m going to learn so much this summer.”

“With it being the first year, I’m looking forward to seeing how the Honeybees impact the Minot community and the softball world,” she concluded. “Of course winning is on the agenda, but as a developmental league, at the least I hope that with Coach Craig’s and my guidance, all these players leave more sharp and more confident than when they came.”

Get ready to swarm Corbett Field when Robbins and the Honeybees take the field in their first season. Opening day is June 25.