MSHSAA All Access Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Fall Sports Officials Appreciation Episode 1 Oct 06, 2026

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Officials Appreciation Week: Celebrating Missouri Fall Sports Officials | MSHSAA All-Access Podcast

During Officials Appreciation Week, Dr. Jennifer Rukstad hosts the MSHSAA All-Access Podcast highlighting volleyball with Associate Director Toni Hill and veteran Missouri officials Dixie Wescott and Cathy Viets. Wescott, a Kansas City/NW Missouri official in her 20th year and former assistant principal, and Viets, a central Missouri official in her 51st year and retired teacher, discuss their roles as rules interpreters, observers, and mentors who help develop officials and inform postseason assignments. They describe the varied backgrounds of officials, recruiting parents and students into officiating, and the enjoyment of staying connected to the sport and meeting former students and players. They also address challenges such as loud misconceptions from spectators, nerves in big matches, coach interactions, and the importance of emphasizing students, sportsmanship, education, and positive instruction, especially at the middle school level.

MSHSAA.TV New Pricing Structure Oct 02, 2026

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MSHSAA TV Announces New Fall Postseason Pricing: One Pass Per Round + Final Site Options

On the MSHSAA All Access podcast, CFO/COO Craig Long and Communications Director Andrew Kauffman announce a new MSHSAA TV pricing structure for fall postseason championships. Previously $10 bought one individual postseason game; now football is $10 per round for access to all games statewide that weekend, while other fall sports (girls volleyball, boys soccer, fall softball) are $5 per round for all games in that round. Final site passes include $25 for the football Show-Me Bowl (all seven games) and $25 for cross country (all 10 races), with fall softball finals priced at $20 due to semifinal logistics and no announcers; an additional $20 single-game option is offered for the Show-Me Bowl. They explain buying through mshsaa.org and school pages, confirm the 20% revenue share to host schools remains, emphasize supporting commercial broadcasters, and note purchases allow rewatching games in that round, with games becoming free after June 30 each year.

MSHSAA Championships RFP Announcement Sep 29, 2026

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MSHSAA Championship Venue Updates (Through 2031) + How the RFP Process Works | Craig Long

On the MSHSAA All Access Podcast, Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Rukstad and CFO/COO Craig Long explain how MSHSAA selects championship venues through a competitive RFP process and why the association is shifting from multiple staggered five-year cycles to a consolidated, shorter three-year approach, with the next comprehensive RFP planned around January 2029. They recap board-approved venue decisions designed to align all agreements by 2030–2031: football remains at Missouri Western in St. Joseph; wrestling stays with Mizzou, using Hearnes Center for girls and Mizzou Arena for boys on consecutive weekends due to added girls classes; basketball remains at Mizzou despite higher costs; boys and girls volleyball move to Cape Girardeau’s Show-Me Center with host support bringing net cost to zero; and theater transitions in spring 2027 with speech and debate staying in Springfield one more year before both move to Jefferson City/Lincoln University starting 2027–2028.

Storytellers Ep. 3 - Nicholas Timbrook, Rock Bridge High School Senior Sep 25, 2026

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Rock Bridge’s Two-Sport Star: Nicholas Timbrook Balances Soccer & Football, Scores Big, Commits to South Dakota State

In this MSHSAA All-Access Podcast episode, Rock Bridge High School senior Nicholas Timbrook and head football coach Matt Perkins discuss how Nick simultaneously plays varsity boys soccer and football in the same season. Nick, a lifelong soccer player and first-time football wide receiver, explains how he splits practices and coordinates daily with both coaching staffs, while Coach Perkins describes the planning and cooperation with the soccer program to keep the arrangement student-focused. They highlight Nick’s standout early-season feat of scoring a varsity soccer goal, then scoring his first football touchdown about 45 minutes later, plus a week in which he recorded a soccer hat trick and three football touchdowns two days later. The conversation also covers Nick’s commitment to play college football at South Dakota State after being noticed during spring practice.

A Discussion with MSHSAA Board Members Sep 22, 2026

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MSHSAA All-Access Podcast: Board Members Reflect on Appeals, Leadership, and Strategic Planning

Following the September MSHSAA board meeting, the All-Access Podcast features board members Craig Gibbs (Southeast District, principal at Valle Catholic), Dr. Lori Wilson (new member, Southwest District, superintendent of Ozark School District), and Dr. Josh Hoener (South Central District, superintendent of New Haven) discussing key themes from the meeting. Wilson shares first-time lessons from the student appeals process, emphasizing applying bylaws fairly while ensuring schools and families feel heard. Gibbs, in his first meeting as board president, describes increased preparation, managing agendas, and adhering to Missouri Sunshine Law and proper closed-session procedures. Hoener reflects on seven years of service, noting turnover, longer and deeper board discussions, and a shift toward examining practices through strategic planning. The group discusses changing pressures on schools since COVID, accountability, evolving learning models, member-school engagement, and the complex tradeoffs in playoff structures, including geographic representation, travel, and equity across Missouri’s diverse schools.

Emerging Sports Update Sep 18, 2026

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How Emerging Sports Become MSHSAA Championship Activities (and What’s Next for Girls Flag Football & Esports)

Dr. Jennifer Rukstad, Executive Director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association, explains how “emerging” sports and activities are recognized and what it takes for them to become fully interscholastic with MSHSAA-sponsored championships and services. She outlines the 2026–2027 list of emerging offerings (including girls field hockey, girls lacrosse, boys and girls water polo, girls stunt, unified track and field, bass fishing, bowling, chess, and target shooting) and clarifies what schools do and do not receive when registering an emerging program. Rukstad details the bylaw 5.2 registration thresholds (50+ schools across at least three board districts in consecutive years) and highlights girls flag football’s rapid growth toward a membership vote, esports’ provisional status after a failed vote, and the push to expand unified track and field participation.

Special Olympics & Missouri Unified Sports Sep 16, 2026

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Unified Track & Field in Missouri: MSHSAA Partners with Special Olympics Missouri

On the MSHSAA All-Access Podcast, Dr. Jennifer Rukstad is joined by Luke Lamb and Ben Johnson of Special Olympics Missouri to discuss Unified Champion Schools and the launch of Unified Track and Field as an emerging MSHSAA sport. They explain Unified Sports as teams made up of roughly a 50/50 mix of students with intellectual disabilities (Unified Athletes) and students without intellectual disabilities (Unified Partners), with everyone competing and team points determining meet results. The group addresses Missouri’s historically limited relationship with Unified Sports, notes growth to about 250 Unified Champion Schools (about 20% elementary) with a goal of 300, and contrasts that with just 11 MSHSAA-registered Unified Track and Field programs in year one. They share early success stories like McDonald County’s small roster and Webb City’s state title celebration, emphasize the benefits and community impact, and encourage schools to connect special education and athletics departments to expand participation and move toward full sanctioning.

New medals with Collegiate Awards Sep 11, 2026

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Inside MSHSAA’s New Medals: Design, History & the Partnership with Collegiate Awards

On the MSHSAA All Access podcast, Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Rukstad and CFO/COO Craig Long welcome Frank Boster of Collegiate Awards to discuss the history and scale of MSHSAA trophies and medals and reveal the association’s newly redesigned medals. They explain MSHSAA’s long-standing bidding process and vendor partnerships, the production volume (nearly 30,000 engraved medals plus additional music medals, thousands of plaques, and hundreds of trophies), and how Collegiate’s in-house laser engraving supports fast turnaround. The group details how the new Missouri-shaped medal evolved from the centennial design, featuring topographic relief, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, “Established 1926,” the MSHSAA logo with eight stars for board districts, and updated ribbons, along with how the medals are manufactured and engraved.

Storytellers Ep. 2 - Mike McGurk, AD Lee's Summit North Sep 08, 2026

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Building Student Leaders: Lee’s Summit North’s Student Activities Advisory Council (SAC)

In this MSHSAA All-Access episode, Executive Director Dr. Jennifer Rukstad interviews Lee’s Summit North Athletic/Activities Director Mike McGurk about the school’s Student Activities Advisory Council (SAC). McGurk explains how the program evolved over the past 13 years from a liaison group into a leadership development “train-the-trainer” model that equips about 30 students across sports and activities to bring lessons back to their teams and clubs. He describes how students are selected for representation and balance, including bringing in freshmen to build leadership early. The conversation highlights book studies, monthly student-led community service projects, role-play scenarios, and structured debriefs that teach trust, accountability, feedback, and learning from failure, along with examples of student growth and alumni returning to share real-life applications.

2026-27 Annual Membership Update Sep 05, 2026

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MSHSAA Annual Membership Update: Transfer Exceptions, Coaching Requirements, Championship Factor & 2027–28 District Changes

This episode explains MSHSAA’s annual membership updates required for member-school principals and activities administrators, held in early September across eight board districts, and previews key topics for the new school year. It covers by-law changes including new transfer exceptions (military, nonresident parent employee, and refugee/asylum with I-94), expanded preseason non-school competition allowances across all sports, expanded cooperative sponsorship participation beyond the regular season, and sport-specific updates (team tennis jamborees, speech/debate contest and start-time changes, Scholar Bowl competition-date limits, and dance contest increases). It also outlines revised coach/director minimum requirements with a five-year NFHS-based training progression, board policy updates to the championship factor using a depreciating point system and removing the two-class cap, a new sending-school response-time policy for transfers, postseason streaming and media credential updates, a pilot point-based district seeding system for 2026–27 leading to implementation in 2027–28, district host-site selection changes beginning 2027–28, officials reminders, girls flag football reaching provisionally interscholastic status for a 2027 vote, enrollment type reviews, and a possible special ballot to expand the board from 10 to 11 members and increase at-large positions.

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