Theresa Baetzel  - Co-Director/Coach

Theresa played for Lakeland College before finishing her degree in Liberal Arts at UIC. She has coached both Girls and Boys volleyball for over 30 seasons at various clubs and high school programs, including Riverside Brookfield, Fenwick, Hinsdale South, and Resurrection. She has claimed both Regional and Sectional titles as the head Varsity coach at Resurrection College Prep. She is the co-founder of Ignite. 

Laura Witteman  - Co-Director/Coach

Laura is a Hall of Fame recipient from UIC, where her volleyball team finished 6th in the country. She has coached both Girls and Boys volleyball at every level for various clubs and school programs for over 30 seasons. She started the Boys volleyball program at Riverside/Brookfield H.S. She is the co-founder of Ignite.  Laura majored in Physical Education and is ASEP and Impact certified.

Rita Rouleau- Coach

Rita has coached with Ignite for 9 seasons and played for Ignite VBC and Nemesis from ages 14-18. She also coached at the freshman volleyball level at Resurrection College Prep High School for 2 seasons and was the assistant Varsity Volleyball coach to both boys and girls teams at St. Joseph High School for 4 years. Rita played at Riverside/Brookfield High School all 4 years in high school and was all conference on varsity her junior and senior years. She led the team as a varsity captain her senior year. Rita then went on to play Division I volleyball her freshman year of college at UIC. She finished her college career at Resurrection University with her Bachelors of Science in Nursing and has been an Emergency Room Nurse for the past 4.5 years.

Richard Green- Coach 

Richard Green (Coach Richie) will be coaching his 5th season with Ignite this year. He has coached at the 16U and 18U levels. Coach Richie played volleyball at Riverside Brookfield High School for 4 years, playing on the varsity team for 3 of his 4 years. He was a setter, but has experience as a libero, outside hitter, and opposite hitter. He took a break from competitive volleyball during college as he began studying medicine, but he could not stay away from volleyball and began coaching with Ignite.

Matt Escobedo- Coach

Matt is excited to be entering into his first season at Ignite Volleyball Club!  He previously coached at the 12U and 13U levels at a previous club. Matt was coached by both Theresa and Laura in high school.  He also played on the first Men's Volleyball Club team at Concordia University Chicago. When Matt is not coaching, you can find him competing in competitive pick up games or leagues year round, both indoors and outdoors.  His true passion is playing sand volleyball and hopes to bring a new beach program to Ignite. Matt has his USAV CAP-I certification and is working on completing his CAP-II. In addition, he plans on pursuing a BCAP-I.  Matt is also CPR/AED certified.

Sarah James- Coach

Monica Kasper- Coach

This is Monica’s 2nd year coaching at Ignite VBC. She played DIII volleyball at Carthage College as an outside hitter and defensive specialist. Now an alumna from Carthage and Riverside Brookfield High School, she has been playing volleyball for 11 years and counting. She is excited to coach another year at Ignite, cultivating a team environment of hard working players! 

Tommy Witteman - Manager

All of our coaches are IMPACT certified, and safesport trained. All Ignite staff are background screened and cleared.

Most of our coaches have also played in college, coached at the high school level, and are USAV IMPACT and ASEP certified.