By Arv Koontz | The Tribune

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Winning sectional trophies at Trinity Lutheran High School has been special for Bob Tabeling and his children.

When Tabeling coached the Trinity softball team to the title at the Henryville Sectional last month, it marked his fifth sectional trophy at TLHS with the other four coming in baseball.

He coached the girls basketball team from 2006 to 2008 but wasn’t able to bring home any sectional titles during those seasons. His daughter, Brittany, was a member of those teams.

He became an assistant baseball coach in 2003, and a year later, he became the Cougars’ head coach, a position he held for 12 years.

He won 2009 and 2011 baseball sectionals with his son, Bradley, on the team and coached the 2013 and 2016 Cougars to sectional titles with his son, Bobby, on the team.

Bailey Tabeling is a junior on the softball team, and she helped Trinity win sectional titles in volleyball and girls basketball this school year, and this is the seventh sectional-winning team she has been part of.

Bradley also won three sectional titles, in soccer, boys basketball and baseball his senior year.

“The kids have won 15 sectionals,” Bob said after doing some research. “The fun part is I just really enjoyed being with them, just being involved in sports. I grew up in sports. I played three sports when I was young. I played high school soccer and baseball at DeSales High School in Louisville.”

He then went to Bellarmine College on a baseball scholarship and also walked onto its soccer team and played that sport for two years.

“I didn’t start playing soccer until I was in high school. I really enjoyed the sport,” he said. “Being around family and having your kids (three sons, two daughters) around all the time and being able to do things with them was nice. Barb (his wife) grew up in a sports family. She has brothers that played college football. So we just thoroughly enjoyed the sports, and when our kids were old enough to get involved in it, I’ve been coaching since 1992 in one fashion or another with one of the kids in one of the sports.”

After college, Bob pitched for two years in the Minnesota Twins organization before he began his coaching career.

Brandan, the Tabelings’ oldest son, played soccer at Seymour High School, and the other four siblings all played sports at Trinity. Brandan coached Trinity’s boys soccer team to two sectional titles, and Brittany helped coach the Trinity girls basketball team for two years.

Bob said all of his children have grown up in Seymour.

“They played for the Cyclones and they played in the rec leagues and a variety of leagues, and I’ve coached in a variety of leagues, from the rec league environment to the travel environment to grade school and high school,” he said.

“I’ve loved coaching, and that’s what I’ve tried to convey to the players,” he said. “Really, coaches get involved because they love sports, they love being around sports, they love teaching sports, they love showing how to get better at sports, interacting with all the players, whether that be 8-, 9-year-olds or high school students. I love the sports that we’re involved with, and I just love teaching to other players and children. It has been an absolutely great experience.”

This is his fourth year coaching Trinity’s softball team. The Cougars (14-9) will play Hauser (23-4-1) at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the North Daviess Semistate.

He said going to the semistate is remarkable.

“I have four baseball sectionals, but I was never fortunate enough to advance to the regional championship, so for me as a coach, this is just as exciting as it is for the players from that standpoint,” he said. “You get to see the players advance to that next step, but you also get to see that as a coach, and that’s a nice piece of it. The girls have worked extremely hard to get there. I’m so proud of what they’ve put into it because we’re not a team of travel ball players.”

Tabeling said Trinity is unique, so he has to be adaptable as a head coach.

“We have to really focus on some of the minor things to teach at all levels,” he said. “That’s one thing at Trinity, you get a range of players that are ‘I haven’t played in 10 years, but I want to play’ to ‘I’m a travel ball player and I play 50 games a year.’ It’s not like that at most schools, and that’s what makes it so unique at Trinity. Sports offer those players that opportunity to get that experience.”

The Cougars lost 10-0 to Hauser during the season.

One of Tabeling’s concerns heading into Saturday is Hauser’s speed.

“That will challenge us,” he said. “We’ll have to make sure that we make the defensive plays. Hauser is fundamentally very sound. They didn’t give us any extra outs, and that’s how we’re going to have to play. Since we’ve hit the postseason, that’s how we’ve been playing. Kamzi (Gross) is back fully healed, and it has been great to see her thrive in the postseason.”

Bailey Tabeling, Gross and Madison Keith also were on the volleyball team that advanced to the volleyball state finals last November.

Tecumseh will play Clay City in the second game at North Daviess with the championship game scheduled at 7 p.m. Saturday.