Goro Sasabe

"#bf9932"

- Now, that's what I call a team!

Goro Sasabe (笹部 吾朗 Sasabe Gorō) is one of the main supporting characters of the anime series Free!. He is an alumnus of Iwatobi High School and a former member of their swim club. He went on to become a coach at the community-based Iwatobi Swimming Club where Haruka, Rin, Makoto and Nagisa used to practice when they were in elementary school. After the building closes, he works as a pizza deliveryperson, but begins coaching again when he observes the enthusiasm of the teen-aged Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei and Rin as they work together to win the medley relay at regionals. He sells his grandfather's old squid fishing boat and rebuilds he club himself, naming it Iwatobi SC RETURNS (Iwatobi Swimming Club RETURNS).

Appearance
Goro has short, golden hair, but despite that, his right bang is way longer than the rest of his hair. In the present he has a brown star shaded on the left side of his head, which he didn't have at the time when Rin came back from Australia to have a race with Haruka. Goro has a brown "anchor" beard and two earring pierced in his left ear.

When he's coaching or swimming, he wears a black, one-piece swimsuit. As a pizza deliveryman, he wears a red and white jacket, red and white shirt underneath it, both with a yellow star on the right side of his chest, red pants and a red helmet. When not at work, Goro often wears Hawaiian shirts and shorts in various colors. Most of the time, Goro is seen driving his pizza deliveryman vehicle, even when he's not working.

Personality
Goro seems to be a kind and friendly coach. He gets well with his students and knows them very well. Although he seemed to have enjoyed coaching, he seems fine with his job as a part-time pizza deliveryman. It is later revealed that he still likes to coach swimming and is a very hard coach, earning the nickname of "Goro the Demon".

Despite already having a part-time job and not getting wage, Goro decides to continue coaching the Iwatobi High School swim team for their relay competition. He continuously urges them to practice more and takes note of their faults like swimming form, kicks and time. He sometimes gets exasperated soon and tells them that they 'don't know what they're doing'. Goro also uses to set up recording equipment at the pool, letting the swimmers check out their form from multiple angles, which proves effective.

History
In the past, Goro was the coach of the elementary school swimming team at the Iwatobi Swimming Club, which consisted of Haruka Nanase, Rin Matsuoka, Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki and Aki Yazaki among others. However, the swimming club was soon disbanded and he found himself a part-time job as a pizza delivery man.

Trivia

 * Goro was one of the last members of the Iwatobi Swimming Club before it was shut down.
 * Goro knows Miho's secret of once being the swimsuit model Marin, whom he was a big fan of.
 * The flag on Goro's squid fishing boat says "Big Catch Sasa" (大漁 笹 Tairyō Sasa).

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Goro Sasabe