Battle, Hickman and Rock Bridge to add boys volleyball and girls STUNT

Boys volleyball and girls STUNT will be added to Battle, Hickman, and Rock Bridge’s athletic programs for spring 2025. Columbia Public Schools announced the decision Thursday afternoon via their athletics account on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“This is another chance, another opportunity to offer something that kids could choose to be a part of,” CPS Athletic Director David Egan said. “Most of the time those kids that become more active and engaged, their attendance improves in schools and those types of things, so we treat it as an opportunity to provide more opportunities, to provide more options for kids that hopefully positively impact their lives.”

The conversation about adding both sports began in 2023. In January of that year, the Missouri State High School Activities Association recognized that within boys' volleyball, there were enough teams registered in the state, which mandated a ballot issue.

It passed, which added an MSHAA championship for boys volleyball in 2024. Currently, there are 75 boys volleyball programs in the state.

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“That was one of the first signs to us that wow, this sport is truly growing and really expanding,” Eagan said. “At the same time, they also said that the other sport that is emerging and a starting to see a lot of participation is girls' STUNT… For us, we’re looking at it at that moment, we kind of realize that these are two very fast-growing sports, ones that are expanding across our state.”

CPS spent the 2023-24 school year observing, evaluating, and studying what it would take to add both sports. They saw plenty of interest in the sport, which was a positive result.

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Positive results came back from within the community, and students were willing to participate. Due to CPS already offering girls volleyball and cheerleading, start up cost will not be an issue as well as providing equipment. Egan vision’s that both sports will expand quickly.

STUNT will not have a state championship in the spring of 2025 due to not having enough schools participating, but it's only a matter of time before one is established. Five Missouri universities, Central Methodist, Drury, Maryville, Missouri Baptist, and Southwest Missouri State, have the sport. Missouri State and Missouri Valley will add the sport in 2025, while Fontbonne will include it in 2026.

Along with Columbia’s three CMAC schools, Camdenton, which will join the conference for the 2024-25 school year, will add STUNT as well. The other CMAC schools aren’t adding either sports as of now, but Egan envisions that will change as soon as 2025-26 or 2026-27.

Egan envisions both sports to grow similarly to girls wrestling.

“I like to think of these two sports as having a trajectory that is very similar to what we’re seeing in girls wrestling right now,” Egan said. “Girls wrestling became a new sport five years ago and started out kind of small, but just in the last five years, it has really grown and really expanded. The amount of schools sponsoring girls wrestling, the amount of kids participating in girls wrestling is really incredible.”

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Battle, Hickman and Rock Bridge to add boys volleyball and girls STUNT