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Coach Gierlach embarks on his fourth season with Captial City Volleyball Club. Like Coach Gierlach himself, his ages of the teams he coaches have gotten progressively older. Coach began at CCVC with a 13/14 Development Team followed by a 15-3 Development team the next year, both times as an assistant coach.
Last seaosn, Coach Gierlach broke out of his shell (which is fitting for a University of Maryland graduate, yes?) and was the head coach for the 16-3 team. He now finds himself as the head coach of the 17-2 team. Coach Gierlach offers sincere admiration to each player who has managed to make the journey along with him.
Outside of CCVC, Coach Gierlach served as the head coach of The Franciscan School (TFS) middle school program for 6 years. Under his direction the team collected the school’s first championship trophy of any kind in 2004. Coach Gierlach does not play competitively but does try to get on the courts every Monday night for church pick-up games—although typically the "pick-up" comes from tripping over his own feet and having to get up off the floor to play the next point.
Outside of volleyball, Coach Gierlach worked at IBM for 26 years and is married with two daughters (one in college, one getting ready to pick a college). He credits his younger daughter with getting him involved in coaching volleyball. She was a member of that first TFS team he coached when his beard wasn't so white and his head wasn't so shiny. Coach is a big Carolina Hurricanes fan, a soccer fan (DC United being his favorite MLS team, for those keeping track at home), as well as a Terp alumni and will gladly talk about any/all of those subjects with anyone willing to bring them up. We are pleased to have Coach share his enjoyment of helping young junior girls grow to love the sport.
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