Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week -- Brian Gallagher: Rhythm and dues

Barry Faulkner

Brian Gallagher gave up playing the drums soon after he picked up

volleyball. Ever since, he has satisfied his passion for percussion by

banging sets.

The Corona del Mar High senior outside hitter helped make the Sea

Kings difficult to beat this spring. He led the team in kills to help CdM

share a Pacific Coast League crown and reach the CIF Southern Section

Division IV championship match.

“He’s a really, really aggressive player, especially when he’s

hitting,” CdM Coach Steve Conti said of the two-year varsity starter, who

stepped up in his swan song postseason to help the No. 4-seeded Sea Kings

advance to a section final for the fifth straight year.

Gallagher, who played almost exclusively in the front row as a junior,

when the Sea Kings won PCL and CIF Division I titles, pounded 16 kills in

a semifinal “upset” of top-seeded and previously unbeaten Village

Christian, May 23.

The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week then hammered a team-high 14 kills

and added six digs in a three-game loss to Santa Ynez, in the Division IV

final May 26 at Cypress College.

Gallagher’s rise to a leading role in one of the section’s most

consistently powerful programs was, hold the drumroll please, anything

but meteoric.

“The thing that amazes me is, when he started in this program as a

freshman, he had never played volleyball before,” Conti said. “He was

playing with and against guys who started playing club volleyball in the

seventh grade and he could hardly serve the ball across the net.”

Conti, Gallagher confirmed, was not overstating things.

“I was playing in the offseason program one day and there were three

senior all-stars and me,” Gallagher recalled. “We were playing doubles

and I was horrible. They served me every time and I remember the other

guys were fighting over who would have to play on my team.

“My (older) sister Megan (who won a CIF crown and earned All-CIF

laurels for Conti’s girls teams and prompted Brian to try the sport),

told me the coaches called me pipe-cleaner arms.”

Gallagher’s slight frame made little impression on the junior varsity

team’s bench his freshman year. But, despite playing little, he fell in

love with the sport.

“Even though I wasn’t very good, I told myself I wanted to be on the

varsity the next season and, when I was a senior, be a varsity captain,”

Gallagher said.

He was a standout and a captain for the junior varsity as a sophomore,

then got a taste of the varsity routine when Conti called him up for the

1999 playoffs, which ended in a Division I title-match loss to Back Bay

rival Newport Harbor.

As a junior, Gallagher’s work ethic propelled him into the starting

lineup, though Conti made sure his role was clearly defined.

“We didn’t ask him to play six rotations and, being able to focus on a

few tasks, made him a real strong player for us,” Conti said.

He pocketed second-team All-PCL honors, but yearned for the spotlight

that consistently found him this year. To help achieve his dream, he

gained 20 pounds in the weight room.

“It was great to be depended upon,” said the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder,

who was one of the team’s captains, as well as it’s most dangerous

hitter.

“He had to become a complete player and a leader and he did both for

us,” Conti said. “He gave us everything we wanted from him and more. One

of the biggest things he did for us was set an example with his work

ethic. He gave 100% every single day in practice for the two years I

coached him. That’s really the reason why he’s where he is today.”

Today, Gallagher has made the quick transition to the Balboa Bay Club

program, for which he will play in the Junior Olympics, July-4-8, in

Arizona.

A first-team All-PCL performer who is in line for All-CIF recognition,

Gallagher’s future includes playing at Division III UC Santa Cruz, where

he will major in music.

“I switched from drums to the guitar and I’ve written tons of songs,”

said Gallagher, who obviously has some high notes left, both on and off

the court.