Big/Little mentorship program creates lasting bonds between Nixa volleyball players

Published 5:30 am Wednesday, October 14, 2026

When Emelie Scott played volleyball in high school, her team had a “Bigs/Littles” program where a veteran member would take a younger player under her wing.

“The high school that I went to had a Big/Little mentorship program, and I just loved it” Scott said in an interview for QNTV. “I just loved being a Little and having Bigs that I looked up to, and when I got to be a junior and senior, I loved having someone I could mentor and help guide, because they always have a lot of questions coming into high school so new.”

This year, as an assistant coach for the Nixa High School Women’s Volleyball Team, Scott has helped implement the Big/Little program with the players that she coaches.

The concept isn’t new to Nixa, Scott said in an interview with the Headliner, but this year, the coaches have taken more of a role in making certain each new player, whether they are an incoming freshman or an older girl who has transferred from another school, is paired up with a more veteran team member.

“It’s been going on for a few years,” Scott said. “The only difference is the girls have always managed the big little sister part, and they haven’t really done a lot with it besides just assigning who those people are at the beginning of the season. And then this year as coaches, we (decided that we wanted) … to make this more into a leadership mentorship program. So we actually assigned the Bigs and Littles and then have created activities throughout the year to kind of help with that leadership.

“Basically, what happens is one of our underclassmen gets paired up with one of our upperclassmen. It’s usually a freshman with either a sophomore, junior, or senior just because we have a lot more freshmen than everyone else in our program, but if you are new to Nixa and you make our team, you will also get paired up with an upperclassman. That way, they can … show you the ropes, and if you have questions, that’s someone that they can go to for that.”

Scott said that the team takes part in a lot of bonding activities as part of the program. She shared what some of the activities looked like.

“Our bus trips (are) usually when we do our activities … because we have a little bit of time since we travel so far sometimes,” she said. “But on our first trip, we had them bring a pregame fuel, a snack and a drink for them, and then they sit with their Big or Little on the bus for about 15 minutes and kind of exchange that snack and just talk about how school had started. Our second one was that they wrote each other a good luck note, and it (couldn’t just be) ‘Good Luck’, there had to be some substance to it. And then they exchanged those, sat on the bus together for 15 minutes, kind of talked about those notes, their expectations for the game, and then went back to their seats.”

Andie Evans, a sophomore on the team, is one of the “little sisters”. She said that her mentor, Olivia Wood, has been very supportive of her.

“She helps encourage me in volleyball,” she said, “and I can talk to her about anything.”

Andie also said that she and Olivia play the same position on the team, so Olivia gives her tips on how to play. They also spend time together when traveling on the bus to or from a game.

“We sit together on the bus for the first half of the ride each time,” Andie said, “and that’s really fun because we get to talk and update about our day. And we bring each other snacks sometimes.”

Peyton Creed is one of the “Bigs” on the team. She said being a mentor to the girl assigned to her has created a sisterly bond between them.

“It really does just feel … kind of like a big/little sister (relationship),” she said. “Like you kind of have that bond just outside of volleyball, because we’re together so much and traveling so much and I mean, we’re really to see each other every day. I feel like I see her more than my family. So, just being able to build that relationship off the court too is really important.”

Scott said that she is optimistic that the relationships between the Bigs and their Littles will continue long after the volleyball season ends.

“(Annie Zimmerman), our head coach, has said that she has seen our Bigs (and) Littles already … walking in the hallway together and sitting and eating lunch together,” she said. “And I think that shows that this is not just (a) practice thing. This is something that hopefully goes with them to the lunchroom (or) driving home, maybe they’re driving their big little sister home. So not necessarily like a success story, but more so like they’re building relationships that are going to last a really long time.”