From a legend to a Dymond: Pleasant Valley turns to Drew Dymond to lead volleyball program

BRODHEADSVILLE — When Drew Dymond spoke at the Pleasant Valley volleyball banquet, he made a joke referring to John Gesiskie, who just retired after 30-plus years as head coach, saying, "I feel bad for the poor sucker who has to take over for this guy."

Turns out that the joke was on him as he was tabbed as the successor to lead the Lady Bears after the program only knew one coach for over three decades.

Irony aside, the idea of taking over for a coach with over 500 wins and ended his career with an undefeated regular season is a tall order. Not to mention that this is Dymond's first time as a head coach.

Fortunately, this hire was far from surprising: Gesiskie and Dymond have know each other for 15 years, and Dymond's been a part of the volleyball program for 14, doing everything from running the junior high program at two different times while also serving time as the JV head coach before becoming the varsity coach.

"With all his help over the years, you know, he has really prepared me for this," Dymond said. "Without him kind of laying the groundwork for me, it wouldn't have been possible. But he's been preparing me for for a few years now."

Once Gesiskie knew his time was coming to an end, Dymond was at the top of his list to be the next head coach, but it wasn't solely because of a positive relationship. Gesiskie witnessed the effort Dymond put in on the lower levels of the program, showing that when the time ultimately came, he would be ready.

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"When Drew Dymond was one of the coaches that I had that when he was up here with JV, and also when he was at junior high, he would go out of his way to come to practices and to try outs just so he could see the type of tryouts and type of practices that I would run. And he would try to mimic those things, taking what he could," Gesiskie said. "He stood by my side when I was coaching the varsity, and he had very good input when I asked, 'Was there anything you would like to add?' And he would say, 'Well, the girls need this and that.' That's important, because the girls need to be able to hear not only from the head coach, but from other coaches that are listening.

"He had no problem stepping up. His information was good. He was my top choice, and someone I suggested to be in the position."

The valuable component of continuity is that the returning players know who Dymond is, and while it's a change in position, that's easier than a change in people.

"I know all of these girls, I've coached them for many years, so I already had the relationships with them," Dymond said. "That's made it the transition a lot easier as well."

One of those players is senior Amiyah Poliseno, who has played for Dymond before. From her perspective, not much has actually changed.

"It's not a huge change, but obviously he's not the same exact person as coach G is," Poliseno said. "So that's a change, but the team adjusted to it. It's been working well. Practices have been good, and it's been looking good."

Replacing a local legend isn't the only point of contention: there's the fact that last season, Pleasant Valley went 18-0. A lot of those players graduated, so now Dymond has to figure out how to lead a program with such high expectations.

"All he did was go undefeated," Dymond said jokingly. "But it's a new team this year, a new challenge, and I think we're all ready for it. It's no easy task replacing somebody like John Gesiskie with over 500 wins, but it's a challenge we're looking forward too."

There are a couple of returners from last year's team, most notably Rylee Ruggerio, who was an All-State performer and a powerful hitter who's back for her junior season. And the team overall has taken well to Dymond as they adjust to his more laid-back approach.

And Dymond won't have to deal with everything alone: Gesiskie is still around as a member of the school board while also being on the list as a volunteer coach. But Gesiskie wants to make sure his successor has the space to grow and evolve.

"I told him that I may be retired, but I have not moved away," Gesiskie said. "He has contacted me a couple times about different things. I'm trying to help him out with statistician type things. But I don't want to step too far until he actually needs me or would like me to come in, because I don't want the kids to get the wrong idea.

"Even after 30 years, I still went to er coaches and say, 'Hey, what do you think about this or that?' Good coaches know that you're never the best. There's always someone that you can just more you can learn and Drew, I feel he understands that, too."

All that's left now is for the matches to play out, and to see if Drew can become a diamond for Pleasant Valley volleyball.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: From a legend to a Dymond: Pleasant Valley turns to Drew Dymond to lead volleyball program