WAYNESBORO, Pa. — A proposal was approved unanimously by the Waynesboro Area School District Board on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to rename the high school gymnasium in honor of former Maidens volleyball coach Kim Saunders, who passed away on July 27, 2026, at the age of 53.
The name proposed to the board was the Kimberly Spottswood Saunders Memorial Gymnasium, and the proposal was presented to the board by Saunders’ mother, Ann Spottswood, who shared Coach Saunders’ legacy as a player, coach and community member.
“Waynesboro volleyball is a family,” she began. “It is a family that is strong and built to last, built to get through anything, and built to be there.”
She then addressed the board, the parents in attendance and the administration about the proposal.
“It is deeply meaningful to so many people.”
Spottswood said that the proposed name is much more than just a name on the wall, but the opportunity to recognize a woman who has meant a lot to the high school and the community.
Kim Saunders graduated from Waynesboro Area High School in 1991 where she was a student athlete in both volleyball and basketball. She excelled at both, winning several honors. She then attended Morgan State University and Drexel University, where she set an NCAA Volleyball record for single season serving aces, a record that is yet to be broken.
After graduating from college, Saunders went on to have a successful collegiate volleyball coaching career at North Carolina Central University, North Carolina A&T State University and High Point University, before returning to Waynesboro in 2012, where she took over as the high school volleyball coach.
Over her 14-year career as a coach for the Maidens, her teams accumulated over 200 wins and never had a losing season. She won Mid-Penn Capital Division Coach of the Year her first season with the Maidens, an accolade she would win several more times. She also led her teams to multiple championship seasons.
But it was not just the numbers and honors that made Kim Saunders so special to her teams and her community, it was the woman herself. During the presentation, a few of her former players shared recorded videos talking about the impact that Coach Saunders had on them, both on and off the court. The fundamentals that she taught the young ladies went beyond sports skills, but also life skills.
She was described as tough and pushing her players to achieve the potential she knew was in them. She was warm and caring and always sent text messages on their birthdays and came to see them when they performed in other sports. She was always just a phone call away.
Spottswood also shared that a memorial fund was being created in Saunders’ name to help young athletes whose family can’t afford to get them involved in school sports. She was quick to point out that the fund is not a scholarship, but a way to honor Kim’s legacy by helping those in need.
The purpose of the renaming of the gym is simple: to honor Kim Saunders as an athlete, a coach, a mentor, a leader and a member of the community that will connect the gym for future generations with the values that Saunders instilled every day.
