According to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), three states, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Missouri, made history in the sports world by adding boys volleyball as an official competitive high school sport.
Boys volleyball has been an active Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) sport in Kansas City and St. Louis and is now coming to CPS.
The Hickman Kewpies athletics page now features boys volleyball and girls stunt. Stunt “incorporates skills derived from cheerleading.” The district officially added the programs last April according to the CPS Fall 2024 Quarterly Connection.
While Hickman has had a history of girls volleyball, this year marks the first boys team.
The coach for the upcoming team, Greg Gunn, shared why this has been the case.
“It’s a budget issue. There’s the fact that there are no other central Missouri area boys programs…it’s going to involve a lot of travel, which is expensive,” Gunn said.
Even with the past budget issues, the upcoming team is looking forward to the new season.
“I’m excited to have some fun. I’m excited to watch other guys grow in their skills and stuff. I’m excited to play as a team and kind of share the sport that I really love with other people,” senior Stokley Wexler said.
However, height is an issue. Sophomore Riley Baugh expanded on this hurdle.
“The nets are a lot higher than a lot of people think, a half an inch below eight feet, and you have to get at least your head above it…there’s going to be a lot of much, much taller people at the other schools,” Riley said.
Additionally, junior Owen Schilling believed that basketball players may have potential to do well but was worried that “volleyball might become a horsing around kind of sport for them…they might think it’s kind of a joke.”
However, Stokley had a different view.
“I think we’re really just here to have fun, so as long as everyone can get along, and everyone that wants to be there…[and] there’s not too much goofing off…I think we’ll be fine.”
Coach Gunn and the prospective players are thankful for the Hickman community giving boys the opportunity to compete in this sport.
“It’s a lot of team building, and my favorite thing to do. There were a lot of freshmen at practice, so I think a lot of the freshmen are going to join as well, and keep it going.” Stokley said.
