Kelli Barnett is the first volleyball coach of the Memorial Mavericks, helping set the standard for years to come. She was an assistant coach at Grapevine for two years and the head coach at Jacksboro for one year. She played volleyball in high school at Rider High School for all four years.
The Memorial Messenger sat down with Barnett to discuss this year’s plans, goals and key players.
Q: How do you feel being the first ever Mavericks volleyball coach?
A: I feel super honored to be doing what I’m doing. I think I spent a lot of time learning and growing as an assistant and learning the ropes, and when this job was presented, I interviewed and luckily got the job.
Q:What plans do you have for the team?
A: I want to grow people, that is the whole reason I do what I do is because of that. With that I get to coach volleyball and that is a great avenue for me to use to grow people, to grow women who are strong and independent and are unafraid to fail in their pursuit of success. I think that is what athletics does.
Q:What are you looking forward to the most about this new volleyball season?
A: There’s a lot of things. Just growing relationships with the girls. This is such a good group all the way from our freshmen to our varsity team. We have so many different personalities and they’re truly such a good group of girls. I’m so excited to build relationships and get to know them.
Q: Who are some key players this season?
A: Some key players this year are Madi Bobbitt, she’s a senior this year. She is an outside hitter, Another outside hitter is sophomore Eva Grisel, and then our setter is Addi Renner who is a junior. We have a bunch of defensive specialists who play the back row, Bella Wood, Taylor Davis and Regan Post are our defensive specialists. They’re all key players in what we do.
Q :What are your goals for this season?
A: We have quite a few goals for this season. We want to make it through the playoffs, but we also want to build relationships with the girls and trust within our program. This is the first year we’ve been together as a team and so I think it’s going to be one of our goals that will help us get through playoffs and further beyond that.
Q: What game are you most excited for this season?
A: Probably the home game against Legacy. We kind of have a big event planned. We are going to do a Stampede Night planned where we pack the gym floor and different things like that. I’m really excited to kind of see that rivalry start.
Q: Do you prefer home games or away games?
A: Definitely home games. Away games are fun as well, but the Texas heat and air conditioned on the buses are the most challenging for us when it comes to away games.
Q: What are your expectations for the rest of this season?
A: I feel like just playing the game of volleyball is just a game and we play it to have fun. I want the girls to compete every single day. I want them to play and to grow as a team. My whole program, I just want them to be the most respectful kids on and campus and to be able to compete in volleyball and to just have fun.
