A boys volleyball team could become a reality during the 2023-24 school year.  

  Coach Annie Zimmerman, head volleyball coach and gym teacher, learned more about boy’s volleyball and spoke to others about how to integrate it into Nixa’s school district. Slowly but surely Zimmerman was able to make the idea a reality as the boy’s volleyball team is coming together with open gyms and advertising fliers that can be found throughout the school.

  “Boys volleyball has been classified as a Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) emerging sport since 1996 and has been established in St. Louis [Missouri] for several years now.  Over the past few years, it began to gain traction in the Kansas City [Missouri] area and most recently in Southwest Missouri with the start of 417 Boys Volleyball Club. A few high school coaches in our area started putting together school club teams and encouraging other schools and coaches to do the same. After speaking with them and getting ideas on how they initiated it in their schools, I met with [coworkers] and proposed the idea of starting our own Boys Volleyball Club here at Nixa.”

  As the newly formed boy’s volleyball team starts up Zimmerman is actively trying to get as many students to sign up as possible. 

  “There are currently 18 students that have expressed interest. I’ve posted an announcement on [the televisions] TV’s in the commons and flyers on bulletin boards around the school… [The first season will be] in the spring and I expect it to be challenging, but a lot of fun. The majority of our players won’t have competitive playing experience so there will be a lot for them to learn. If they come into it with an open mind and embrace the challenge, I think it will be a rewarding experience for them.”

  Sophomore Max Mulyk has been playing boys volleyball at the competitive level for about a year and recently Mulyk has been playing boys volleyball for Play It Forward at Volleyball Beach Ozark. Mulyk found out Nixa High School was going to start a boys volleyball team and decided he’d like to take part.

  “I first heard some rumors about it and I wasn’t really sure if it was official or not but then I saw it on the TV in the commons and I talked to some friends and to Coach Zimmerman and found out that it was real,” Mulyk said. “I’m excited to play at school with friends and I’m excited to watch boys volleyball grow in Nixa.”

  Zimmerman said the boys volleyball team is currently considered a school club, although MSHSAA will have the final say in whether or not it is an official school sport. If they vote that it is to be an official school sport they are likely to play surrounding schools boys volleyball teams.

  “At this point [the boys volleyball team] is classified as a school club,” Zimmerman said. “MSHSAA member schools will be voting in May to decide if it will be added as an official interscholastic sport. [We will play] other schools in the area that have club teams including Branson [high school], Central [high school], Kickapoo [high school], Logan-Rogersville [high school], Ozark [high school] and Republic [high school]. At this stage of our program, we aren’t ready to compete against other schools.”

For more information about the Nixa High Schools’ boys volleyball team visit @nixaboysvolleyballclub on instagram.