Karen Sonders
Co-Director
Karen Sonders is the Club Advisor for Piedmont VBC.
Karen Sonders serves as a Club Advisor for Piedmont VBC. Bringing her many years of experience as a club director and owner, Karen works as an advisor and mentor to the Piedmont staff. She also happens to be Kyle's older sister, so she is very comfortable in giving him advice!
Karen brings 19 years of coaching experience at the college, club and varsity high school levels. Karen's college coaching career began at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where she served as the Director of Operations from 2003 - 2005 before moving into an Assistant Coaching position at Northwestern University in 2006.
In 2007, Karen founded Wildcat Jrs. VBC in Chicago, IL, beginning with five teams ages U12-U14. Through its continued success, the club grew to 27 teams between U11-U18 and a thriving youth development program and became a premier club of the North Shore and Chicago area. In 2020, Karen merged her club with Division One Volleyball club, who had a nationally recognized boys program, and together they founded MOD Volleyball, which is currently one of the largest club volleyball programs in Illinois.
Karen is a teacher at heart and is passionate about growing the game and providing a positive training environment to players at every level. As a mother a two daughters, Karen also is appreciative of the role of the parents in club sports, and the value of quality communication and organization that can bring to families as they navigate their child's club careers.