Galbreath takes reins of Lady Broncos volleyball squad

When Cari Galbreath was in sixth grade, coaching a volleyball team wasn’t her first priority. Instead she was a club volleyball athlete who advanced to play at the collegiate level. Today, she has parlayed her player experience into a head coach’s job at Ritzville High School.

For two seasons Galbreath has served as the assistant coach for RHS, leading the junior varsity team. Her high school coaching experience is bolstered by two years of work as the assistant volleyball coach for Big Bend Community College.

Married to John Galbreath, a shining star as an athlete in his own right, Cari is combining her coaching assignment with the role of stay-at-home mom, raising three children: Taylor, six; Zoe, three and Cade, one.

Born and raised in Peoria, Ariz., Galbreath played junior high and high school volleyball as a setter. As a senior her high school team claimed the state volleyball title and she was team captain and a first team all conference player.

The result was a chance to play junior college volleyball at West Hills Community College. Galbreath was actually a two-sport athlete, also playing tennis. Once moving up to the university level, Galbreath was still a hot prospect, playing setter and defensive specialist for University of California at Riverside for two years. A year before she graduated, Cari married John in 2004. In 2004 she collected a degree in biology before the couple returned to Arizona briefly before migrating to Ritzville five years ago.

If you watch a team practice, it’s clear Galbreath expects a strong work ethic.

“I make them work hard,” she said of the team. “Work ethic is important and they have to have it in athletics and in life.”

On the volleyball court, Galbreath logged hundreds of hours developing her own work ethic.

“I have been around the game a lot,” she said. “All these opportunities that have been given to me have benefitted me in stepping into coaching.”

When conducting her first parents’ meeting this season, Galbreath set the bar high, while trying to remember both a coach’s and parent’s perspective.

“I told them I expect the players to be fully committed,” she said. “I am here to better the program and the players want to succeed.”

When the Lady Broncos take the court, Galbreath will be their biggest fan, working to give the players the tools they need to be competitive and the inspiration to do what’s necessary.

“I want the players to play their best, in skill, attitude and work ethic,” she said.