Bridget has been the business manager for Club 1 for the past 13 years.  She has also spent 13 years working with our volley kids, volley league and summer camp programs.  She coaches in both the boys and girls programs.

Bridget is married to her husband Jim who is a teacher and assistant varsity basketball coach at Downers Grove North High School.  They have 4 children, Matthew, Patrick, Kylie and Maxwell, as well as daughter-in-laws Jenny and Joy and grandsons Owen and Benjamin.  

My name is Brenda Benz.  

I have 5 years of coaching experience.  I have coached from 12’s to 17’s.  I think my favorite age group to work with is 15’s.  I enjoy teaching the technical aspect of the game.  I love working with these young ladies as they work hard at something they love.  I hope by guiding them, they learn to not only be strong players but strong humans. 

I try to support them through all of their moments on and off court. 

I am IMPACT and Safe sport certified. 

In my non-volleyball time, I work in Human Resources at a local bank. 

I am married to Jack and we have 2 grown children.  Jack and I like to spend our time with our dogs and in the gym.

This is Bre's fifth year coaching at Club 1. Bre began playing volleyball at the age of 10. Bre played club volleyball for Chicago Juniors where she was a setter. Bre played in the National and American divisions at the USAV Junior Olympics during her time with Chicago Jrs. 

Bre graduated from John Carroll University in 2015. Bre is married to her husband, Conor. She currently works for a large consulting firm in Chicago and coaches the girls 15 Royal and 17 Blue teams.  Bre is very excited to be coaching and sharing her knowledge of the game with the girls. 

Phil has been coaching volleyball for 4 years, played for 12 years leading up to that. He was a standout at Marist and continued playing at the club level at Loyola. In his free time he enjoys bowling, golfing and watching the Packers consistently beat the Bears.

Meghan began playing volleyball in middle school…and now works as a coach in the 12s program with the elementary and middle schoolers, who are just starting their volleyball careers.  She has been with Club 1 since 2018.  Volleyball is such a fun sport, and Meghan’s primary goals for the athletes in the 12s program are to teach the foundations and instill a love of the game.  

During her own volleyball career, Meghan played as a middle blocker, so it is always especially fun for her to see MBs coming into their own on the court. 

When she’s not coaching, Meghan works as a pediatric neuropsychologist and does agility training with her little mountain goat of a dog.

I am a design engineer @ AT&T where I have worked for 25 years.
I graduated from Lincoln Christian College with a bachelors in religious studies, and then Illinois State University in History Education.
I played baseball and bowled in college and was amateur Illinois and Indiana Disc Golf state champion.
I was inducted into the United States Disc Golf Championship hall of fame.
I have been married to my wife Aimee for 27 years. She is a 1st grade teacher in Valley View school district.
We have 2 daughters.
Corinne is a graduate student at the University of Iowa studying data science and finance.
She also played volleyball for Club 1 for 6 years and was a setter on her HS and college volleyball teams. 
My younger daughter, Emily, is a junior at Coe College. She studies business and managerial accounting, and is on their dance team.
I love the sport of volleyball, and am thrilled to continue coaching at Club 1.
I love how team sports bring people together to achieve something that we can’t do alone.
I believe it’s also one of the best ways to not only develop quality on the court, but also in life.

Jackie played volleyball for 10 years starting when she was 12 years old at Club 1 through 18 years old. She has played competitively as a middle at Plainfield North where she graduated in 2019. 

She decided to come back to coach at Club 1 since it felt like her second home and she wanted to teach her love and knowledge for the sport that she grew up loving! She is currently coaching 14 Blue and 15 Black, and loves to see the progress the girls make!

Jackie is currently working towards a Radiology degree. In her free time, Jackie loves to spend time with friends, her dog, travelingand watching movies. 

Bob developed passion for volleyball in high school, played at a local club and began coaching for an 18U boys and 18U girls team while in college. He had the opportunity to be around some elite levels of play as a manager for the Men’s National Collegiate team in 1994, coordinating the Power League and coaching in several summer camps for multiple age groups. Once graduating from college, he focused on his family and career, but continued his passion for volleyball through play in adult leagues. He re-entered the coaching world 4 seasons ago with the 12’s here at Club 1 and has been coaching in our 13's program for the past 2 years.  He is married to Kristen, and their family lives in Plainfield. They have 4 kids, Dustin, Kellynn, Jenna and Marissa. 

Ryan joins the Club1 staff as a coach in the boys program. Ryan is a Club1 Alumni! He also now coaches in the boys program at Naperville Central high school! 

"Only those with a positive mindset can go beyond achieving their goals"

Kendall has been playing volleyball since the age of 12 and is very excited to pass on her knowledge and love of the game to her players!

During her volleyball career, Kendall played as an outside hitter for 3 years in club, all four years in highschool, and then the last two years she played libero for her club team. 

Kendall played at Waubonsee Community College, Trinity International University, and Benedictine University.  Kendall received her Associates degree for education at Waubonsee Community College and received her Bachelor's degree for Elementary Education in December 2021. Kendall currently works in a school district as an Elementary teacher.

Kendall has coached boys volleyball and girls volleyball at Plainfield Central High School and is currently the freshman coach at Neuqua Valley High School.

Sawyer Jackson has been coaching volleyball for 3 years. He currently coaches in the 15s program at Club 1. During the school season, Sawyer coaches girls volleyball at Plainfield Central High School and boys volleyball at Heritage Grove Middle School.  

In 2015, Sawyer graduated high school from Naperville Central. He pursued higher education at Lewis University, where he graduated honors with a bachelor's degree in middle level science education, with a focus in biology teaching.

Sawyer has been teaching for 3 years at Heritage Grove Middle School, where he currently teaches sections of 7th grade biology and 8th grade earth science. Sawyer is also an active member of Heritage Grove’s social-emotional learning committee.

Coaching volleyball has become a passion for Sawyer, driven by its similarities to working with students in the classroom.  Sawyer is thrilled to be part of the coaching staff at Club 1 and happy to continue sharing his knowledge of the game with the girls. 

Mary Pat started coaching volleyball back when club volleyball was just beginning. She coached girls and boys volleyball for 2nd City VBC, one of the premier clubs in the country, until the director folded the club. She won gold at Junior Olympics with a 14 open girls team.  Mary Pat has coached girls and boys volleyball at several high schools: Homewood-Flossmoor, Marian Catholic, and Oak Forest High School. She was the first woman coach hired at Mt. Carmel High School, where she coached the boys JV volleyball team.  More recently, Mary Pat has coached girls and boys volleyball at Plainfield East, Plainfield North and Hinsdale Central.  Mary Pat lives in Plainfield with her daughter, Amanda, and dog, Payton. Her other three daughters, Marcia, Missy, and Kelly all live nearby. She is a substitute teacher in the Plainfield School District and tutors after school.

Grace Knutsen is in her first year of coaching at Club 1 for 13 Blue. She has played volleyball for the past 9 years and has played at Club 1 for 3 years. 

Grace attended Plainfield East High School playing on JV her freshman year and played Varsity the following 3 years. 

She currently attends Benedictine University playing right side on the women’s volleyball team and majoring in digital marketing and graphic design.

Outside of coaching Grace loves to be outside, working out, paint, read, and hang out with friends. 

A quick fun fact: Grace has played all three front row positions throughout her volleyball career. 

She loves being a part of such a supportive and encouraging environment and can’t wait to teach others what she’s learned from her time at Club 1. 

Paige Kovalcik has been coaching at Club 1 now for 4 years. She started playing volleyball at the age of 12 and has been passionate about the sport since then. She decided to return to coach at Club 1 due to the family environment. 

When she was younger, she went to Joliet Catholic Academy for high school and Illinois State University for college. Currently, she is an HR Supervisor at the 6th largest cold storage company in the country.

In addition to volleyball, Paige loves to spend time with family and friends, ride 4-wheelers, and travel. Hawaii is the best place she has visited so far. 

Paige is dedicated to help kids grow in their volleyball and personal skills.  

Becca Langys is a first-year coach at Club 1. Becca began playing volleyball at 11 years old. She started her club career at UNO VBC where she played for two years, and then moved on to play for Club 1, where she played for the next 3 years as a Libero. Becca also played volleyball all 4 years at Plainfield South High School. 

Becca went to Western Illinois University where she earned her BS, majoring in Computer Science. Becca currently works as an Analytics Quality Assurance Engineer at Paramount. Becca spends her free time working out, reading, and spending time with family. She also has a black cat named Shadow. 

Becca is beyond excited to be coaching for Club 1 because this club provided so much for her as a youth player, and now she looks forward to providing her players with the same awesome experience that she had.

Marcia Malek has coached volleyball at the club level, high school level, and college level. She coached at 2nd City Volleyball for 5 years and was the assistant to the 15's team that took 5th at Junior Olympics. She coached the 16's and 14's at Avalanche Volleyball Club.  In the first season of Club 1, Marcia's 16's team took 5th place at AAU's and she had an All-American.  Since that time Marcia has coached in many different age divisions at Club 1 from 13’s up to 18’s. 

After graduating from Benedictine University in Lisle, with a degree in Elementary Education, Marcia became the Head Women's Volleyball Coach at Dominican University. She coached the women for 2 years and the men for 1 year.

As a player, Marcia played 4 years in high school at the varsity level. Marcia played club volleyball for 2nd City Volleyball Club. She went onto play at Benedictine University for 4 years, was the team captain for her junior and senior year. Marcia also played softball for Benedictine.

Marcia is a 4^th Grade Teacher at Crystal Lawns Elementary School in Plainfield School District 202. Marcia currently resides in Plainfield, with her husband Ted, and 3 kids, Emma (17, plays on 17 Skronkstrong), TJ (16), and Grace(14, plays on 14 Skronkstrong).

My name is Jack Martens and I wanted to introduce myself as a coach here at Club 1 Volleyball. I have coach for 12+ years in women’s volleyball.   I coach multiple age groups from 14’s to 17’s.  I am also the Master Coach for the 15’s division.  I strive as a Master Coach to work with all teams and abilities to make sure each athlete reaches their fullest protentional. 

My mission as a coach is always to challenge each individual, develop not only a strong foundation of skills but mentally preparing themselves for the challenges they will face on and off court while having a good time.  I will push each player to do their best.  I will also encourage them to think for themselves and increase their volleyball IQ.   I love to coach volleyball and help each child reach their full potential as a player.  In addition to coaching club I have also coach high school.  

My wife Brenda and I have 2 grown children.  We also have 2 dogs. A mastiff and a Rot mix. 

Certifications - 

• Winner of PCA Double Goal Coach, Chicago Region (National Finalist)  
• USA Volleyball IMPACT Certified Coach  
• ASEP IHSA Certified Coach  
• Positive Coaching Alliance Accreditation – all 3 levels  
• USAV Safe Sport Certification  
• USAV Scoring Module Certification  

Record 

• Winner of  MLK, President and SkyHigh multiple tournaments 
• 1^st Place Gold JVA 15's  
• National Runner up AAU 15 repeat 
• Multiple top 5 finishes at AAU

Ryan has been with Club 1 since 2018 and brings plenty of knowledge and experience to our program.  Ryan played high school and club volleyball, and continued on to be a four year varsity volleyball player at St. Ambrose University.  Upon graduating college, he joined the St. Ambrose University volleyball staff as Varsity Assistant Coach/Junior Varsity Head Coach where he prepared the Fighting Bees in their bid to the NAIA national tournament and top 6 national ranking.  After taking a 4 year hiatus, Ryan began coaching 7th grade girls and 7th grade boys volleyball at Mokena Junior High School.  It was at Mokena where he began coaching with the Lincoln-Way High Schools as well.  He began with the freshmen boys volleyball team at Lincoln-Way North, but after that school closed in 2016, Ryan moved over to Lincoln-Way Central High School where he has been the JV girls head coach and varsity boys assistant coach ever since.  In the same year that Lincoln-Way North closed, Ryan accepted a new position with Troy 30c School District located in Plainfield, IL.  He now coaches the 7th grade girls volleyball team at Troy since making that transition.  

In addition to volleyball, Ryan enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie, and his 6 kids, Lilliana, Isabella, Sophia, Max, Adriana, and Vivia.  On the off chance Ryan has some free time, he also loves to compete in bass fishing tournaments, watch Chicago sports (except for the cubs), play volleyball, go to concerts, and play the ukulele.  

John joined our coaching staff in the 2020-21 season. John is a Club 1 alumni, playing from 2016 to 2019 as well as graduating from Naperville Central High School in 2019 while playing volleyball for all four years. John currently attends Aurora University where he is studying nursing as well as playing for the AU men's volleyball team. In his sophomore season, John earned 2nd team all-conference honors as well as finished as the leading blocker in all of NCAA Division III. John plans on continuing his volleyball career into his last 2 years of college and hopes to graduate from AU with his nursing degree where he hopes to work in the intensive care unit setting. John is always looking to stay involved in the game through coaching and playing recreationally. 

Omari Morris is a first-year coach at Club 1. Omari has been playing volleyball since he was 14 years old. He started his club career as a Middle Blocker at Cyclones Volleyball Club where he played for two years, and then moved to play for Sports Performance Volleyball Club where he played for 1 year. Omari also played all 4 years at Oswego East High School.Omari is excited to be coaching at Club 1 because he is excited to bring  on a new perspective to the game. He looks forward to provide his players all of his knowledge and insights to the game to get them to perform at a high level. Omari spends his free time watching countless hours of volleyball, making content for his YouTube channel and spending time with his family.

This is Steve’s first year with Club 1 working as an assistant coach. Steve has 35 years of volleyball experience and began playing in high school as a defensive specialist and was soon moved to an outside hitter in his senior year. He played at Illinois State University for two years as an outside hitter and has continued to develop his skills and love for the game post college, both indoor and in the sand.

Steve graduated from Illinois State University with his Bachelor’s degree and DePaul University with his Masters degree. He currently works as an IT Director within the financial services vertical and is the assistant coach to the girls 16 Skronk team. His daughter is also club 1 athlete and he is very excited to be coaching and sharing his knowledge of the game with the girls.

Andrew joined the Club 1 staff in 2022 as the coach for Boys 14U Skronk. While he has coached multiple sports, Andrew's passion for coaching volleyball stands out as he considers it the ultimate team sport.  As a player, Andrew competed at the collegiate level at Columbia University in both volleyball and golf.  When he is not coaching, Andrew serves as the Assistant General Counsel for United Airlines.  Andrew is married to MiWon, and together they have three children: Lincoln, Penny (who plays for 13U Skronk) and Teddy.  

I have been playing volleyball for 10 years, and I played at Club 1 from the ages 12-18.  I attended high school at Joliet Catholic Academy and was a varsity volleyball starter all four years, and I graduated in 2020.  I currently attend Lewis University where I am studying to become a middle school teacher, and I also play on the women’s volleyball team.  Playing at Lewis allows me to constantly grow as a volleyball player, learn something new about the sport I love every day, stay close to home and be near my family, and coach at the club that I played at for 6 years.  Volleyball has been such a huge part of my life since I was in grade school, and I love that coaching is a way to keep it in my life forever.

Kendall Rivecco has been coaching at Club 1 for 7 years. She also is the Head Varsity Coach at Lisle High School. She has played volleyball competitively since she was 10 years old and has spent the majority of her volleyball career as a setter and defensive specialist but has experience everywhere on the court. She played at Plainfield Central High School, as well as competed at the club level, and graduated in 2016. After graduating she continued on to play as a setter and libero for JJC. 

Kendall has coached in the 14U, 15U, 16U, and 17U girls divisions and loves to see the progress in all the athletes as the season goes by. Kendall is very passionate about volleyball and loves to share her knowledge of the game with the athletes that she coaches. 

In addition to volleyball, Kendall enjoys spending time with family and friends.  When she isn't coaching or working at her job in Logistics and Retail Merchandising, Kendall loves to cook, play with her dog, listen to true crime podcasts, and spend time outside.

Hi, I’m Stefene Skowronski. This is my first season coaching a 14u girls team but I’ve coached leagues and many camps. I played at club 1 since I was 13 years old. This club became a family to me which is why I’m back coaching now. I played my four years of high school volleyball at Naperville Central. During my volleyball career I mainly played setter but got opportunities to play other positions as well. Through my volleyball career I learned many important life skills that I hope to teach to my players. I’m currently in my last semester of college at Illinois State University and I will graduate with a degree in Special Education. My career goal is to be a teacher and volleyball coach. My plan is to stay in the Naperville area where I live now because family is an important thing to me. I currently live with my parents Marc and Kelly and my sister Kaitlyn. 

Unfortunately in 2015 when I was in my freshman year of high school I experienced the hardest trauma in my life. My older brother of 1 year was born with an enlarged aorta causing him to have a heart condition that sadly ended his life June 6, 2015. During the year of 2015 my entire family was playing club volleyball at club 1. My siblings and I shared the bond of volleyball. We also all loved wearing number 20. After my brother passed the entire club 1 community came together to support my family. SKRONKSTRONG became the thing everyone said and posted in support of my family and brother. Club 1 has now made every top team name SKRONKSTRONG in honor of my brother and family. My brother was always a positive player with the biggest heart. My brother's jersey is up in club 1 so that we can continue to honor him everyday by playing for him. After my brother passed my sister and I got the opportunity to be the only ones in the club to wear number 20 in honor of him.

Club 1 will forever be more than a volleyball club to me; it's a family.

Coach Jackson Spencer has been with Club 1 for two years.  He played at Club 1 for his senior club season in high school before going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  At UIUC, Jackson played on the Men's club team. His junior season his team placed second in the nation.  Coach Jackson also coaches high school volleyball at Waubonsie Valley High School and teaches at Granger Middle School.

Lauren grew up in Shorewood.  She graduated from Joliet Catholic Academy, where she played four years of volleyball and basketball.  Lauren attended Western Illinois University, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Law Enforcement and Justice Administration. 

Starting in 2010, Lauren coached three seasons of volleyball at Wilmington High School.  In 2011, Lauren started coaching at Uno VBC.  While coaching there, she led a 14u team to win the Asics Junior National Volleyball Championship held at Navy Pier (2013) and won a 14u regional bid USA Volleyball Nationals Championship (2014).   Lauren coached sophomore girls’ volleyball at Aurora Central Catholic for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.   

In 2015, Lauren joined the Club 1 family.  During the 2016-2017 season at Club 1, she coached the 14 Red girls team to winning Silver bracket (14/129) at AAU National Championships, the 16 Royal girls finishing in silver bracket (21/128) at AAU National Championships, and the 16 Red boys team to winning Bronze bracket (17/85) at USA Volleyball National Championships.  Lauren currently resides in Romeoville with her husband Ryan and their children; Morgan, Kiera, and Violet. 

Mark has spent over 20 years coaching volleyball in both the Naperville and Aurora community school districts.  For ten years he was a junior varsity or varsity coach for Naperville Central High School. While there he assisted the boys’ volleyball team to their first state championship. He also spent four years coaching in both the boys and girls volleyball program at Waubonsie Valley High School.  

Additionally, Mark has coached for Club 1 volleyball club for over nine years. He coaches teams for the both boy’s and girl’s programs as well as running the Beach Volleyball program for Club 1.  In 2021, his 14 Skronkstrong team took second place at the AAU National Championships.

As a player, Mark played at the varsity level for his high school in Kouts, Indiana.  He continued to play competitive volleyball throughout college and still competes today in co-ed and men’s doubles sand tournaments and indoor leagues.

Mark is a physical education teacher at Fischer Middle School for Indian Prairie School District 204.  He has been teaching and coaching multiple sports in this district for over 20 years. He has an education degree from Ball State University and master’s degree in physical education from Chicago State University.