Bridger Pretz has put in the time as an unpaid volunteer, as an assistant coach and now will be debuting as a head coach next spring for the Fulton girls soccer team.
Pretz was announced as the next leader of the girls team Wednesday to replace Joel Henley, who will be stepping away to solely lead the boys team and spend more time with his family.
The former all-state goalkeeper at Moberly High School has been with Fulton High School since 2016 when he started as a volunteer assistant not long before Henley was hired and then became an assistant coach during Henley's tenure. Pretz said he had an interest in head coaching since he started at Fulton.
"I'm honestly just ready to get it going now," head coach Bridger Pretz said. "I wish girls season was coming up, but obviously we got to wait until the spring."
Pretz said this goal kept him motivated until now and his motivation in the future will be helping children so they can succeed, which is one of the main reasons he wanted to be a head coach. Using what he describes as his "funky and energetic personality," Pretz believes this will help him craft better soccer players and better leaders in life.
On top of relating to his players personally, Pretz said he can relate to their experiences playing in the North Central Missouri Conference, as a Moberly graduate and Fulton coach, and in Mid-Missouri in general, after spending time at William Woods University as well. He said he has probably been in many situations on the field his players have and can prepare them if they would like to play at the collegiate level.
Henley has been valuable, Pretz said, in helping him mature as a coach and developing his own philosophy. Pretz said, when Henley announced his intentions of stepping away before last season, he understood after seeing how hard Henley has worked in various roles at Fulton. Pretz mentioned Henley was the boys and soccer coach, an assistant boys basketball coach, a full-time teacher, has children who are involved in sports, including club sports, and does some work during the summer.
"That man, I have never seen someone who is as busy as him and is still able to get up in the morning," Pretz said. "The guy is nonstop. I don't know how he does it."
Fulton athletic director Ryan Waters said Henley's reignation was officially put in during March, and while it is unfortunate to lose Henley for a position, he acknowledged coaching sports year-round is tough and recommends coaches have a maximum of three sports for that reason.
Since he started coaching the boys and girls four years ago, Henley said he knew he would step away eventually from one of them but felt like it was time in January. Wanting to watch his children play sports more, especially after spending more time with them during the pandemic, was a big factor in his decision. He said he has seen his son play a handful of soccer and basketball games, his oldest daughter play once in person and hasn't seen his youngest daughter play at all.
After having him part of his staff, Henley said he views Pretz like a son and looks forward to observing Pretz, as he steps into his new role, like a father instead of a coach. Pretz being hired as the new girls coach is a "no-brainer," Henley said, after noticing how he relates to the girls and his mind, which will serve him well as a coach.
"He's probably one of the smartest soccer people I've been around," Henley said. "He really knows the X's and O's of the game."
Having someone who has been around the program like Pretz will help him know how the Lady Hornets need to improve better than an outside hire would. Knowing this would be his final season, Henley said he even had Pretz do some of the coaching, including during halftime of the team's recent district game against Owensville.
Besides, Henley said not much people can match Pretz's experience, especially when his time as president and coach of the Fulton Soccer Club is considered. The Fulton Soccer Club is a competitive travel team that plays games around the state and also molds boys and girls into better soccer players when they head into high school, Henley said. He said Pretz's work with them has also prepared him for this role.
While the YMCA and parks and recreation department offer soccer leagues of their own, Pretz remembers years ago when Fulton had its own competitive travel team and then it fizzled out. He started it up again so young children, in fifth- through eighth-grades, had the option of a longer season that molded them into better soccer players. They play games year round around the state, even indoor games during the winter.
Pretz said his time playing in a similar league, part of a squad called the Moberly Storm, helped him become a better player and believes it could help area children the same way before they head into high school, teaching them the basics so not as much time needs to be spent on those things.
"It was one of those things that now, as I'm older, I really appreciate having that as a kid because it helped me become the soccer player that I am," Pretz said. "When I was at Moberly, we were a very dominant team in the conference because we had kids who were coming up playing competitive soccer and playing at a high level."
Waters said there were multiple applicants, but Pretz was the standout candidate after putting in his time as an assistant coach and spending time working under a good system and Henley, who Waters considers to be one of the Fulton's best coaches. Pretz's soccer and coaching background also helped Waters have no reservations to hire him.
"Everything that coach Pretz has done, he has done in a very professional manner," Waters said. "He's a good communicator. He handles problems both with players and parents like a coach that has been doing it a lot longer than he has been doing."
To help the girls improve on last year's record of 9-13, Pretz would like to see them do more work in the offseason. Now that he is the head coach, Pretz said he can focus primarily on the girls and working more closely with them. This way, he said he can better instill what they need to work on as individuals along with teaching them what they can do better as a team.
Pretz said wants to thank Fulton Public Schools for "sticking with me" as he has gained experience and is eager to spend this summer preparing for his inaugural season.
"When your ambitions are pretty high and you really want to become a head coach, and the whole reason why you got into this is because you wanted to be a head coach, it's really awesome to finally get my chance to basically put my mark on Fulton soccer," Pretz said.