The girls that were playing on Mizzou’s court on Dec. 1 were smaller than usual.

That’s because 12 girls on the Mexico Area Family YMCA third- and fourth-grade girls team played five minutes during halftime of the University of Missouri women’s 79-45 win over Jacksonville State on Dec. 1. The girls played six-on-six on the same court where they saw the Tigers compete.

David Fouch and Derek Stuckenschneider coached the YMCA fall league team 14 from Nov. 2 to Dec. 14. Fouch said he and Stuckenschneider realized that basketball can be a physically and mentally demanding sport so they thought of something fun to help convince the girls to stick with the sport.

“We were brainstorming one day and thought it would be a good opportunity to reach out to Mizzou and see if we could go to a women’s basketball game and try to find a good deal on a box seat for the team,” Fouch said. “Derek reached out to the promotional people at Mizzou Athletics, and while we were talking about some of the box seat options, they actually offered us an opportunity to play halftime at one of their games.”

Stuckenschneider was definitely aware of the precedent of kids playing on the court at Mizzou games and even recalls that being a practice at NHL games intermissions. He remembers being encouraged to by another coach whose kids did the same so Stuckenschneider went to the same contacts within Mizzou and ended up with 105 tickets for the kids and their families. 

“We wanted to just attend a game and then right before I called, because we would talk about a box or whatever to just try and treat the girls, I found out about somebody telling me about this contact,” Stuckenschneider said. “I just called them first before ordering tickets, and it turned into a whole thing.”

Fouch is a state trooper sergeant in Audrain County with four kids that grew up in a basketball family. He said his father was a coach for 30 years, and Fouch decided to coach after playing as well, being with his daughters at the YMCA fall and winter leagues.

Being from a sports background, Fouch knows how important it is for kids to stay active so he has coached kids for years at the YMCA. Teaching the fundamentals is obviously important at their ages, so after reaching out to the parents, Fouch said the Mizzou women served as good role models on a fun trip.

“We try to get them to watch basketball outside of practice because it’s hard to explain to little kids when they haven’t seen as much,” Fouch said. “We tell them to watch, and we tell them to watch Mizzou women’s. Just being there, like even before the game they were up on the jumbotron, they were loving that. They got T-shirts from cheerleaders and went down and shook the Mizzou players’ hands after the game.”

Stuckenscheider is the northern region president at Peoples Savings Bank branch, whose office is located at the Mexico branch. He said he and Fouch have “tag teamed” coaching these girls as they have grown up since kindergarten. Tag teaming as in they split coaching responsibilities at practice, according to Stuckenscheider, but also said Fouch is “definitely the brains” behind it while he provides help and guidance when he can.  

Prior to Stuckenscheider’s kids being old enough to play, he was a member at the YMCA and was on the board for five years. The former player said he saw all the good things the YMCA did for the kids in the community and wanted to do that and more, including the Mizzou game.

“Once they got to go out there, you could tell they were a little nervous,” Stuckenschneider said. “The floor is huge to them, and they’re like, ‘Here’s the ball. We’re going to announce you guys and then you just start.’ They got going, and all of them were really excited and appreciated it.”

Stuckenscheider said the whole day was a reward for pushing themselves to improve this year and simply provided some “fun and excitement” to help them love the sport even more. He added Fouch does a great job of keeping practices fun and challenging.

Fouch said youth sports director Seth Cooke does a great job at the YMCA keeping activities fun while teaching the fundamentals. The kids on his team — most from Centralia — said they want to play in the Community R-6 league for the winter season and “every single one of them” decided to come back next fall. This interest in the sport that Fouch said was clearly shown at Mizzou Arena that day is a great feeling for a coach.

“The girls had smiles on their faces from the time we walked into Mizzou Arena to the time we left,” Fouch said. “I think they all left loving basketball just a little bit more.”