The announcement of three new head coaches for Galion High School recently included the naming of a new leader for the Galion Lady Tigers tennis program. Although it will technically be a “new” head coach, the name and face are familiar to both of the tennis programs and Galionites in general.
Terry Gribble, Chief Executive Officer of the Galion YMCA, will be officially taking over the program beginning in the fall of 2019, replacing long-time coach Bob Roesch.
Gribble, who has been the assistant coach under Roesch for the past nine seasons, served as the interim head coach for two of the past three seasons due to Roesch’s health concerns.
“I enjoyed the lead role as the head coach,” begins Gribble in an email. “It gave me the opportunity to try some new drills and line-up changes.”
Galion’s girls tennis program has seen tremendous success in the past few years under both Roesch and Gribble, including back-to-back Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference tournament wins, something that the official new leader looks to keep going despite losing key elements of their past successes, namely the graduation of Findlay-bound Kayley Gimbel and Mount Union-bound (track and field) Jalyn Oswald.
Gribble states, “the biggest challenge (we face) will be replacing Kayley and Jalyn. They really never lost a match over the past three years and we were almost always guaranteed to win their two points.” The new coach continues, “we may not go undefeated this season but we have a strong nucleus of players back. Bob and I enjoyed some tremendous success and I hope to carry on what we started.”
Moving forward, the new coach looks to get back to the roots of what it is that helps athletes compete on a day-to-day basis, roots that he himself follows by “running several miles a day and keeping to a healthy diet”.
“I will emphasize more conditioning than we did over the past few years. In the early years, we did a lot of conditioning which helped us win some long, marathon-type matches. Over the past few years, we had such a strong team and we knew we could win every night, so we focused more on strategy.”
“I was very excited when the school named me the head coach,” says Gribble. “I enjoy coaching tennis, working with the student athletes and helping them understand that hard work is something you need to do in the real world as well, not just in athletics. The girls have worked hard all summer at our open courts and we are anxious to officially begin on August 1. We believe that we can win the league again with the veteran players that we have returning.”
With the road ahead of him, Gribble, who will also continue to be an assistant for the boys tennis team alongside head coach Tom Pawsey, is incredibly thankful for the opportunity and for his predecessor.
“I really want to thank coach Roesch for teaching me the past several years in the dynamics of coaching at this level. Also, thanks to Galion High School Athletic Director Kyle Baughn and the school administration for giving me this chance.”
