The Wright City Wildcats have found their new head coach for the girls volleyball program and it happens to be a very familiar face to the current players on the team.

Shannon Brunnert, who once was the eighth-grade girls volleyball coach, will lead the varsity team as the new head coach this fall. 

In addition to being a coach, Brunnert has also been a fourth-grade teacher at West Elementary School for three years and will be entering her fourth year. 

“I’m really excited, longevity wise, to have some of these girls from the time they were in eighth grade until they graduate,” Brunnert said. 

Brunnert comes to the position with loads of experience having played volleyball most of her life. She played throughout high school, with her club team and played collegiately at St. Louis Community College. 

One of the reasons Brunnert wanted to become the head coach was because of her experience playing and she did not want to discard what she learned throughout the years. 

“I hated the idea of what I learned going to waste, especially in college, because I feel like I learned the most then,” Brunnert said. 

Brunnert recalls being younger and having coaches that sometimes did not play the sport and have that experience, which made it hard to take players to the next level. 

“I’m hoping to be able to bring that higher level of volleyball and bring in those little tweaks that you maybe don’t notice until you have been in those situations,” Brunnert said. 

The Wildcats played in a summer scrimmage this past Wednesday against Warrenton and Bowling Green. After watching them play in a game setting for the first time this offseason, Brunnert has high hopes for the girls. 

“They have a lot of power and there is still room to grow, but they did really well,” Brunnert said. 

Brunnert will be working with a very young team, with the majority of the girls being freshman and sophomores. However, Brunnert has worked with a lot of these girls before from being the middle school coach and is excited to continue to watch them grow. 

Brunnert has many goals for the girls this season, but noted that she wants to see them develop and learn. 

“I want to keep an open mind and help the girls,” Brunnert said. “I want them to accept me as their coach and set my expectations high.”