Longtime Gulf Coast volleyball coach Christy Wright scores win No. 400 over Sarasota Riverview
Building any program and finding sustained success for nearly two decades is hard to come by.
For Gulf Coast coach Christy Wright, it's her motivation.
Wright, in her 16th season at Gulf Coast, got her 400th career win in the Class 7A-District 12 semifinals against Sarasota Riverview, with a 3-0 sweep of the Rams.
"When you look at that, that's a big number that makes me feel so old," Wright said. "It's my 23rd year, and man, that's a long time to be coaching, but I love it. To me, it just means that I've been blessed to coach a lot of good players and keep my job. I'm at a school that supports volleyball, and I'm blessed by that."
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During Wright's time leading the Sharks, she's compiled over 300 wins with a 302-124 record. That includes nine 20-plus win seasons, including a six-year streak from 2012-17 where her teams went 134-37 (.783).
Finding stability at Gulf Coast was one of the keys to longstanding success, as she led three teams across seven seasons after finishing up her volleyball career at UCF.
"It's been great," Wright said. "I love this school. My first seven seasons, I was at three different schools, and it was good. I had good experiences. I didn't have horrible experiences anywhere, but it's nice to find someplace where you can feel pretty comfortable and get to know people. I've been here longer than all the administrators. I do love this school, and they've been very supportive of me."
She's also coached a handful of Collier County volleyball standouts, including Kenzie Ackerman, Mackenzie Allen, Gabrielle Curran, and Emily Damon, all of whom made the Naples Daily News All-Decade Girls Volleyball team in 2020. Ackerman and Allen were on the 2013 Sharks team that finished as runner-ups in Class 7A.
"Throughout the program, we've been pretty consistent," Wright said. "... One of my favorite things about this program is that I have my former players coming back to coach with me, which is so cool. My first one was Kelly Lancelot, who was my assistant coach ... for several years.
"Now, my freshman coach is a former player (Sydney Lawhon). Our two managers are former players who love to be around the program and help the girls out and help me out. Sundai Grillo (Weston), I coached her before she went to the University of Florida and played overseas, now she's back teaching and working here, and helping out when I need her. That's just really cool for me to see, people coming back."
Lawhon graduated in 2019 and has been the program's freshman coach since the start of this season.
"I think it's cool to have those connections," Wright said. "You have Sydney, who's our freshman coach, and she's young. She can relate to the players, but she also has my back, because she knows me. She went through the program for four years. She trusts me, I trust her.
"We know each other really well, and makes me and the players more comfortable, because she's young and she can relate to them better than I can. I'm not in their age group anymore."
Of the elite players to walk through Gulf Coast's doors, outside hitter Lily Lucas became the first Shark to eclipse 1,000 kills. She did it earlier this season against Golden Gate on Oct. 5.
"It's really cool to be a part of her 400th because I feel like being here for four years made a big impact on the program," Lucas said. "Getting 1,000 is such a big accomplishment because this place has been here since 1998, and so many amazing players have gone through here. To be the one that got it makes me really proud of myself."
Next, Wright's team will face Venice Thursday night, a program she grew up playing against when she attended Lemon Bay High. The Indians are the top seed in Class 7A-District 12, and Gulf Coast is looking for its first district championship since 2017.
"Venice was one of our rivals," Wright said. "Of course, we beat them all the time when I was in high school, but that was before Brian (Wheatley) got there, so they had a little different program then."
Christy Wright's coaching stints
1998-01: West Orange
2002-03: Port Charlotte
2004: Dunbar
2006: Gulf Coast (assistant)
2007-present: Gulf Coast
Follow Southwest Florida Sports Writer Alex Martin on Twitter: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: High school volleyball: Gulf Coast Christy Wright gets 400th career win
