GREEN RIVER — As the much-anticipated fall sports season approaches, the Green River High School (GRHS) Lady Wolves volleyball team is gearing up for their second season under the guidance of head coach Jessica Demaret.
After a successful first stint leading the program in the early 2000s, Demaret has returned to lead the Lady Wolves, looking to ignite a sense of excitement and optimism amongst players, parents, and fans alike. With her exceptional coaching acumen and a deep passion for the sport, Coach Demaret is set to leave a lasting impact on the team and continue the legacy of excellence at GRHS.
Her journey as the current head coach of the Lady Wolves began in the fall of 2006 when she took the reins of the team for the first time. During her first term, she worked hard to connect with the players, instilling a sense of discipline, teamwork, and dedication. Under her leadership, the Lady Wolves achieved 2nd place at regionals while coming up 4th place at the state championship.
SweetwaterNOW had a chance to sit down with Demaret to get some insight on how the team is progressing, and her mindset going into her second season back as the head coach. When she first stepped in as head coach in 2006, the program was having some success and was well established. When asked how it’s been different this time around, Demaret said, “We started to rebuild last year so it has been a huge change and I think a really good change and challenging. Me and my coaching staff, all my assistants, have really put in a lot of time and work to get this thing turned around”.
Last year the Lady Wolves went 8-21 with a 2-8 conference record. This was a significant improvement over the two years prior when we saw Green River with a 1-36 record while going 0-11 in conference games. The 2021 season, the season prior to Coach Demaret stepping in, was a winless season for the Lady Wolves.
Demaret spoke highly of how her team did last year but wants to see them take another step forward this season.
“[Last year] was a great start, they have not won in a few years, so we thought eight games was a good start, especially with implementing our new team culture and expectations. Anything new to the girls we thought was a good start but this year we are really looking to build on those eight wins. We have higher expectations in the win/loss column as well as higher expectations as of what we expect of these girls. We’re going to push them out of their box just a little bit and change our volleyball game to hopefully be more competitive with everyone else in 4A and do some things that the program hasn’t done in a while,” she said.
Looking back at the Lady Wolves’ recent history, they haven’t had a lot of success in the win/loss column since their championship season back in 2009. The program hasn’t seen any postseason action in the last three years as well.
Training during the off season is something Demaret believes will help get this team back into the postseason.
“We have girls who are hitting the weight room hard. We have girls that have been to every open gym. We have had several camps over the summer. The time being spent other than just the 4 months during volleyball season is going to be a huge thing for us this fall,” she said.
Coach Demaret has no lack of experience outside of GRHS volleyball, both on and off the court. She also works as a registrar for GRHS. Additionally, Demaret most recently coached the Lincoln Middle School boys 7th grade basketball team as head coach, and took a position as the 8th grade volleyball coach. For GRHS she has been a freshman boys basketball coach and a sophomore volleyball coach. Coach Demaret also has had experience in the second level of coaching with one season as an assistant volleyball coach at Iowa Central Community College in 2001-2002.
Later in the interview, Demaret spoke about her time as a coach at Iowa Central and how different it was for her coaching college versus high school.
“So I coached community college a long time ago, almost 20 years ago. I would say a high school game now is more in line with a community college game, even a D1 type of game if you want to be successful you have to be moving towards those things and I would say that college experience 20 years ago is about the same thing as what we want our high school teams to be doing today,” she said. “The game has just evolved so much that a high school volleyball team is comparable to the community college team I coached 20 years ago. It has just come a long way and sped up so much that I feel like what we’re doing today in high school is much more advanced than what I did at community college 20 years ago.”
As the Lady Wolves prepare to embark on their second season under the guidance of Coach Demaret, optimism and excitement has been palpable in the community. Coach Demaret is poised to leave her mark on the team’s legacy. GRHS volleyball fans will get a taste of what’s to come in the upcoming season as action kicks off September 7 with a game against Rock Springs.