Rodney van Buizen

Rodney van Buizen (born September 25, 1980) is an Australian baseballer from Dutch descent.

In 2004, he was part of the Australian Olympic baseball team, who achieved a silver medal in the baseball tournament at the Athens Olympics.

As a child, Van Buizen began playing baseball with the Pittwater Baseball Club. During his teen years he displayed natural ability at shortstop, with noteworthy speed around the base paths and competent batting ability. At the age of 17 he was the starting shortstop for the Hunter Eagles Baseball Club, which was a team in the former Australian Baseball League. He also later played for the Sydney Storm Baseball Club.

In 1998, he graduated from Narrabeen Sports High in Sydney having already been signed to a multi-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Organisation. From 1999 to 2004 he played for the Dodgers affiliate teams in the Minor Leagues.

Van Buizen represented Australia at the Intercontinental Cup in 1999, which was played in Sydney. The Australian's defeated the highly regarded Cuban team in the gold medal game to finish tournament champions. The Australian newspapers captured the winning moment in photo and Rodney was joyfully the Australian flag bearer during celebrations. He also represented Australia in baseball at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

After a distinguished baseball career, Van Buizen has temporally retired from playing baseball, following extensive knee surgery in June 2006.

At present, Van Buizen is a self-employed professional sports coach and personal trainer. He provides specialist baseball, fitness and exercise training. In 2006 he was appointed head coach of the Macquarie University representative baseball team. At the 2007 Australian University Games, Van Buizen guided the Macquarie University Baseball Team to a silver medal. After a high volume of player turnover from the 2007 campaign, the Macquarie University Baseball Team entered the 2008 Australian University Games with less experience. Despite this Van Buizen coached the team to a bronze medal finish.