Bratt carries on WW South’s strong boys volleyball tradition
For 28 years as the boys volleyball coach at Wheaton Warrenville South High School, Bill Schreier has preached the same message: “The Tradition Continues.”
The Tigers have been perennial state contenders for decades, having totaled seven state titles in Schreier’s tenure. Year in and year out, they have had some of the state’s premier talent pass through the program. Now, Simon Bratt has cemented himself in the tradition forever after setting IHSA records for career kills and career aces.
“It’s an accumulation of everything I’ve done the last four years, all the hard work I’ve put in, all the time I’ve spent training when no one was watching,” Bratt said. “Those two records, I’m super, super proud of myself.”
After Bratt picked up volleyball in middle school and made the 14 Elite team for Sports Performance, his club team, he realized he had the talent to make a career out of volleyball if he devoted the necessary time to it.
When Schreier first saw Bratt play as a freshman, he immediately noticed Bratt was far from the normal first-year student.
“He was probably a little bit ahead of the curve in the beginning, as a freshman,” Schreier said. “He was a lot more polished than what we normally see. For a freshman to come in and actually be a jump server is pretty impressive.”
Four years later, Bratt has developed into a record-shattering outside hitter for WW South and will continue his volleyball career next season at the collegiate level with Manhattan University.
Before he takes the court for the Jaspers, though, he will look to close out his high school career on a high note. He and the Tigers enter the postseason with a 28-3 record.
“We’ve lost three, but those losses, they were against some very good teams, and we did not play how we wanted to play,” Bratt said. They weren’t very good demonstrations of our skills, but the matches we won — super, super happy that we have the record that we do.”
As the top seed in the regional they’re hosting, the Tigers will play the winner of St. Charles East and South Elgin on Tuesday.
With his high school career nearing its conclusion, Bratt has reflected on the limited time he has left. Bratt has his eyes set on helping the Tigers to their first state championship since 2012.
“It’s a lot of last everything’s,” Bratt said. “I have more of a drive to win than I ever have — not saying that I had a small drive to win last year. This is my last playoffs. Doing a lot of last everything’s, there’s a lot of sadness that my favorite sport is ending for my high school career.”
For Bratt, breaking a pair of long-standing IHSA records was not what the goal when he first picked up a volleyball. The dream was always Division I volleyball, which is exactly what Bratt accomplished through his hard work.
“When I was younger, when I first started playing volleyball, I had a dream that I wanted to play Division I volleyball in college,” Bratt said. “I think my why would be not only to make my parents, my family proud, but to make that younger self of me proud. If I could talk to him right now, (I would) say that, ‘I did it. I got what we wished for.’”