Local Navy veteran, Steve Bartosik is preparing to approach the school district with a plan of execution of how Soccer can be successfully executed at the High School level in Higginsville.

Q: How will this be different from your previous engagements with the school district?

A: Well, the previous approach was designed to present the data as far as enrollment, opponents, and interest from the local community that this was something we can absolutely support. The concern from the district at the time was from a financial standpoint, which is what my plan of action centers around and how we can overcome that concern from the district.

Q: You mentioned enrollment, opponents, and interest; do we actually have all of that?

A: The short answer is yes. We’ve actually always had the enrollment numbers required all along. I had a conversation with someone very high up in MSHSAA about a month ago and without skipping a beat, he looked at our numbers and said we had more than enough students, as long as we have the interest from the community.

Q: What indicators lead you to believe there is interest?

A: I reference the attempts by the community in 2018, 2022, 2024, and the next attempt coming here shortly in 2026. That’s at least four attempts in eight years. Petitions, surveys, etc., you name it, this community has attempted just about everything. I think there may have been an attempt back in 2010 or 2011 as well, but I can not confirm that.

On top of that, we are entering our 2nd year of Winter Soccer out here. It was a smaller group last year and grew to three teams this year. We also had 110 kids come out for Fall Soccer in 2025, plus local Summer camps and some other ideas I am working on in the background for local tournaments, but Soccer is pretty much going yea round now. We carpooled a small group of students to a Summer Soccer camp at Columbia College last year. The camp was run by college coaches and players. It’s a really nice campus and bringing the players up there to compete was inspiring to some of them, knowing the potential exists for them to go to school at a place like that and also play Soccer while pursuing their education, so it was good on many levels.

I have parents of 1st and 2nd grade Huskers starting to ask me about where the best Club/Competitive Soccer travel teams are in the region. I would say that’s a very strong indicator for interest. To put that into perspective, we are talking about 2037 Husker graduates, coupled with the group that tried to get Soccer approved in 2018, you’re talking about 20 years of Husker graduates.

Parents are starting to “gear up” in reference to soccer training for their kids because they know High School Soccer is coming and they want their kids set up for success when the day arrives for them to don the Husker Blue and Gold as a High School Soccer player. How cool will that be? This will create new opportunities for our youth. It opens more doors for College and whatnot. I’m very happy for them all and humbled to be a part of this process.

Q: Is this the right time considering the task?

A: It depends on your perspective about time. Everyone treats time differently. Some see time as an abundant resource. My perspective is different. Time is the most precious resource we have. You can’t buy it back with money and once it’s gone, that window is closed forever. The right time is probably a better question for the 2018 through 2025 Husker crowd that missed their chance, they might have a more in depth and meaningful response.

As far as the task itself, the level of difficulty is more perception than reality. The heavy lifting has been done and we have until August of this year to declare for soccer in the Fall of 2026 as per my discussion with one of the top dogs at MSHSAA.

Q: Can you provide some details on the plan of action will look like?

A: It includes Non-Profit Organization Sponsorship for the Soccer Team…I already have one commitment that will effectively cover just about everything. There was concern about money being donated from individuals or privately owned businesses and the alleged impact on playing time for student athletes. A Non-Profit Organization eliminates that and will serve as a proxy since it is a general organization not individually represented. The plan represents no financial risk to the school district.

I also acquired a pair of used High School goals, which is the largest upfront cost when starting up a program. They need some minor work, but they are regulation size and still functional. The goals should carry us through the first three to five years until the program matures and we can eventually replace them.

Q: Let’s assume for a moment that Soccer gets approved, what does the program look like in the first couple of years?

A: We would be a JV program to start out for the first couple of years of course, and it would be co-ed for as long as we need it to be, there are no time requirements for that. Co-ed can change down the road when interest grows. Girls Soccer would be in the Spring and the boys continue to play in the Fall.

There are more than enough schools within a 60 mile radius to fill out a schedule every year, and plenty of MRVC teams too: Oak Grove, Grain Valley, Odessa, Knob Noster, so a handful of close teams. With the potential for other schools like Richmond or Lexinton to follow our lead.

There’s also St. Paul’s, Warrensburg, Summit Christian Academy, Boonville, Marshall, La Monte, Excelsior Springs, Lone Jack, Center, Pleasant Hill, Smith-Cotton, Paseo Academy, Green Ridge and over a dozen schools just over an hour away like: Chillicothe, Harrisonville, Cameron, Barstow, St. Pius, Clinton, Cole Camp, etc. As a JV team, those first three to five years, we would play about 8 to 10 games, so travel would be minimal as well.

The bottom-line is, there is no challenge we face in this endeavor that we can not overcome. I have close regular contact with the President of the Missouri High School Soccer Coach’s Association in Columbia. He has the playbook on towns our size. They have seen every obstacle, real or imagined, that there is to see. There is nothing I have brought to them that they have not had an answer for.

Q: Thank you for your time, any closing thoughts or comments?

A: Some may say that we have more pressing situations that are of higher priority. I understand that sentiment and I definitely value the system of prioritization. However, as a coach and leader, I also prescribe to the organizational model/method that states if we don’t do the “little things” right, how can we ever have an expectation to successfully accomplish those higher priorities.