Category: KCKCC

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kylie Heim, a former volleyball standout with a background of six years in athletic training at the collegiate level, is the new assistant athletic trainer at Kansas City Kansas Community College.

An athletic trainer at Stetson University in Deland, Florida, for the past two years, Heim will be working with the Blue Devil volleyball and softball teams.

She joins a staff of head Athletic Trainer Rodney Christensen and assistant Jordan Williams.

A graduate of Nixa High School near Springfield, Missouri, where she was an outstanding basketball and volleyball player, Heim got her bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri.

A four-year volleyball starter, she captained the team her senior year.

While at Southwest Baptist, Heim also participated in the college’s mission program and after graduating, she spent a year volunteering at an orphanage in La Mision, Mexico.

“I had gone on mission trips and had the opportunity to work in Mexico,” she said. “It was very nice and I learned a lot.”

She returned to Southwest Baptist in August of 2013 to pursue a master’s in athletic administration, working part-time in athletic training and at the hospital in Bolivar.

The following August, she joined the university on a full-time basis, working three years with the college’s women’s soccer team and men’s basketball team.

Heim holds certifications in Graston M1, Mental Health First Aid and BFR Smart Tools.

She joined the Stetson University training staff in 2017, working with the indoor volleyball and beach volleyball teams for two years before taking the assistant’s position at KCKCC.

“It was a chance to get back closer to my family and create a better work balance in my life,” Heim said. “I really like it, the people, the area. It’s nice.”

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

With non-conference play over, Kansas City Kansas Community College returns to the Jayhawk Conference men’s soccer war Wednesday with a crucial home game with Neosho County.

The Blue Devils (4-4-1), who are just one of two teams to defeat the No. 13 ranked Panthers (10-2) this season, a 2-1 decision in Chanute, are locked in a tight battle for a playoff spot as they enter the second round of Jayhawk Conference play.

Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. followed by a women’s game at 5 p.m.

Johnson County (4-0-1) leads the Jayhawk followed by Cowley College (4-1-1), Neosho (4-2), KCKCC (3-2), Allen County (1-5) and Coffeyville (0-6).

The Blue Devils dropped a 4-1 decision to St. Louis Community College (9-3) in their final non-conference game of the season Sunday, a game in which KCKCC head coach Ruben Rodriguez went deep into his bench.

 “We wanted to give much-needed playing time to as many players as possible in order to give them the experience they’ll need for next year. Because of the closeness of our games, we haven’t been able to do that much this season,” said Rodriguez, who used 27 players in the contest.

KCKCC’s lone goal was scored by freshman Cheslyn Ashby on an assist from sophomore Leonardo Notarnicola 31 minutes into the first half.

St. Louis had taken a 2-0 lead earlier, scoring the two goals in a span of just four minutes.

The Archers then put the game out of reach with two goals early in the second half.

“We played the first team the last 20 minutes and played well,” Rodriguez said. “Unfortunately by then goalkeeper errors had put us behind the eight ball.”