This year, the Rolla public school system is entering into the unknown. For the first time, Rolla is not a part of a conference.
Conferences are formed by a collection of schools. Region and size help determine which schools are likely to join a conference and compete against each other. Every school in a conference has to have a certain number of competitions within that group, and away from it. Last year, the Ozark Conference, the group that Rolla was a part of, disbanded. Rolla looked into joining other conferences but was unsatisfied with its options. So, the school system decided to become ‘independent’. To learn more about the shift visit the front page article of ECHO’s Nov. 2023 newspaper. Rolla High School’s Athletic Director, Mark Caballero, said that the shift has had a great impact on Rolla’s sports and activities.
“Not being in the Ozark Conference, having that dissolve, was really a big deal for all the schools that were involved. It changed the landscape and scheduling…not having any conference tournaments, academic all-conference teams, it’s a lot, and so it was a big change,” Caballero said.
The new conference status affects students and faculty all across Rolla’s school system. Many different sports, competing clubs, and organizations have had to adapt to their independence.
“It has impacted us a lot at the junior high level because we’re the biggest school in a small area, and a lot of the small schools will play their fall seasons, maybe in the winter or in the fall or in the spring, because of the lack of facilities. So that’s really been a challenge for us, because like in basketball, for girls and boys basketball, a lot of the schools around us within probably a fifty-mile radius play some of their season in the Fall…and volleyball is either winter or spring. So that has really challenged us to dig hard,” Caballero said.
But the new independent status has also allowed for more freedom in some areas. Nick Zink, the head coach of the RHS volleyball team, said that the new circumstances have allowed him to schedule games without as many restrictions.
“I think the biggest positive is the flexibility. You don’t have to play a set school, so you can kind of make a schedule of surrounding schools for volleyball, it works out. I know some people have to travel really far, which is not great, but it allows us some flexibility to pick opponents, and you’re not playing these same ten schools no matter what,” Zink said.
Zink believes that the more diverse schedule resulting from the conference change will benefit his team.
“I think it’s gonna be good because they’re not going to know these teams as well. Some of the new teams that we’re playing worry [us]. We played the same conference schools every single year, but then they [RHS volleyball team] know the exact players. We’re gonna have to do some more in-game adjustment, which I think is gonna end up making us better throughout the season,” Zink said.
Caballero believes this change will be a reset for RHS and a great chance to eventually join a conference that is a perfect fit for the school.
“It [Rolla’s independent status] helps us redefine our focus a little bit. We want to belong to a conference that is going to make us look good, but also, we have a lot to add to a conference…This is making that right fit, and it’ll happen. It’s just probably going to be a two year process,” Caballero said.
Along with the positives of independency, there are also some problems that have surfaced.
“The biggest negative is [that] all the other schools are in a conference, [and] they can’t fit us in their schedules. So we had to work around that…We’ve had to do some Saturday games to make a full season…Athletes also lose the chance of getting conference awards, being independent,” Zink said.
RHS becoming an independent school will not be a permanent change. The district is hoping to join a conference in the next few years that will benefit the school. But, there is no perfect fit yet.
“I would love to see us get into a conference that not only can we can compete in, but also it’s going to be very good for us academically,” Caballero expressed
