WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.459 Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley 00:00:02.459 --> 00:00:04.599 Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:06.860 who want to dig deep into what is going on in 00:00:06.860 --> 00:00:09.859 NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host, 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:11.619 Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball 00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:14.820 world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and 00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:17.739 longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And 00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:19.879 I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:22.800 volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:27.780 guy. It is VNL week, everybody. Giddy up. Week 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:34.090 one. A VNL kicks off Tuesday, June 3rd. The women's 00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:37.630 teams are going first, which means that the men's 00:00:37.630 --> 00:00:41.590 teams are following close behind next week. This 00:00:41.590 --> 00:00:45.090 week's episode will be similar to last week's, 00:00:45.090 --> 00:00:46.670 but we're going to preview the men's tournament 00:00:46.670 --> 00:00:49.789 and how things are looking on that side, what 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:53.710 our predictions are, what we can expect, etc. 00:00:55.229 --> 00:00:59.060 Admittedly, we are not as well -versed. in the 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:02.759 men's side as the women's. Fortunately, the U 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:04.760 .S. aren't bringing back any of their old players, 00:01:04.859 --> 00:01:06.280 and there are a lot of college players, which 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:07.879 we just finished watching, so we should have 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.739 some things to talk about. Perfect. Okay. We 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:14.879 are excited to dive in, so let's get started. 00:01:28.430 --> 00:01:31.090 Okay, to start things off this week, we have 00:01:31.090 --> 00:01:37.250 some Love Season 2 signings. Love has been posting 00:01:37.250 --> 00:01:40.489 about the athletes that have signed with the 00:01:40.489 --> 00:01:45.750 league as they come in. So the ones we have so 00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:50.450 far, and I would say the headliner so far, is 00:01:50.450 --> 00:01:53.569 Kettle from Brazil. I love how the Brazilians 00:01:53.569 --> 00:01:56.370 just have one name. I say Kettle, you know who 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:59.370 I mean. That's it. Cattle. Exactly. But that 00:01:59.370 --> 00:02:02.750 is a big pickup for them. She's great internationally. 00:02:02.950 --> 00:02:06.349 She's played for top teams. She's still, she's 00:02:06.349 --> 00:02:08.370 getting a little bit older, but still kind of 00:02:08.370 --> 00:02:10.849 in her prime and competing. That was, that's 00:02:10.849 --> 00:02:13.310 a very good pickup for them. I was surprised 00:02:13.310 --> 00:02:16.449 to see that, actually. Well, and I mean, you 00:02:16.449 --> 00:02:18.509 told me why. So the reasons kind of make sense. 00:02:18.930 --> 00:02:24.389 Well, I was speculating why. Her partner in Buisse, 00:02:24.650 --> 00:02:26.370 I think that's how you say it. I'm not sure. 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:32.900 The Dutch outside also signed. Those two have 00:02:32.900 --> 00:02:37.599 been together for quite a while, but have not 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.780 really played in the same country or leagues 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:43.819 that often. So when I saw that both of them signed, 00:02:43.939 --> 00:02:47.199 I was like, okay, this makes sense. They kind 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.780 of maybe want to spend a season in the same place. 00:02:50.349 --> 00:02:53.909 And she's not on the VNL roster, so I'm not sure 00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:56.590 if she's done playing internationally, but it's 00:02:56.590 --> 00:02:59.830 a nice way to continue playing while being together. 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:03.509 So it makes a lot of sense. Bree O 'Reilly, the 00:03:03.509 --> 00:03:06.530 setter for Canada, signed. We have a bunch of 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:08.509 Canadians that have signed, actually. Alexa Gray, 00:03:08.750 --> 00:03:13.030 that's a big pickup. She went to BYU, has been 00:03:13.030 --> 00:03:15.729 playing the last few years for top teams in Turkey 00:03:15.729 --> 00:03:20.699 and Italy. So big pickup there. Jazz White. Another 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:24.319 Canadian played at Michigan State. Andrea Mitrovic, 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:27.080 another one, played at Buffalo and Arizona State. 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:31.419 So the Canadians are slowly making their way. 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:35.080 Ella Mae Powell, who is on the VNL roster this 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:38.120 summer, she signed. Callie Schwartzenbach, former 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:41.159 player for Nebraska, Long Beach State, just won 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:44.560 the Brazilian Superliga. Anika Legros, she played 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.169 at Coastal Carolina. She's recently been playing 00:03:48.169 --> 00:03:51.750 in Switzerland and France. We have a Colombian 00:03:51.750 --> 00:03:55.889 opposite who signed, Ivani Montano. Jess Robinson, 00:03:56.150 --> 00:03:59.770 she played for Michigan, recently started playing 00:03:59.770 --> 00:04:05.210 pro in France. Argentina Ong is Mexican. You 00:04:05.210 --> 00:04:07.949 might remember her from this past NCAA season 00:04:07.949 --> 00:04:11.870 playing for Arizona State. played the second 00:04:11.870 --> 00:04:15.590 half of the season for Scandici in Italy. And 00:04:15.590 --> 00:04:19.050 Julia San Giacomo, she played for Santa Clara 00:04:19.050 --> 00:04:21.610 in Northwestern and just finished her first pro 00:04:21.610 --> 00:04:25.730 season in Turkey. So we've got a mixture of some 00:04:25.730 --> 00:04:29.389 young athletes who are pretty fresh out of college 00:04:29.389 --> 00:04:33.069 with one season, maybe two under their belt professionally. 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:37.610 And then we've got some... veterans and some 00:04:37.610 --> 00:04:42.069 players who have a ton of experience in alexa 00:04:42.069 --> 00:04:47.589 gray brio riley cattle and players like that 00:04:47.589 --> 00:04:51.170 so good mix what what's your initial take on 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:53.269 those obviously they're not done we have players 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:56.509 coming back you know we talk about the caliber 00:04:56.509 --> 00:05:00.310 of the league looking at that list and what they 00:05:00.310 --> 00:05:03.370 put out so far what's your instinct are we looking 00:05:04.170 --> 00:05:07.529 More skilled, more physical than last year, similar. 00:05:08.449 --> 00:05:13.089 What's your early butt gut feel? Well, my first 00:05:13.089 --> 00:05:15.329 feel when I see these, and I think that this 00:05:15.329 --> 00:05:17.490 is for sure not the end of the signings, I'm 00:05:17.490 --> 00:05:20.649 like, okay, what is the turnover like in love? 00:05:21.810 --> 00:05:23.910 You're not going to keep adding players like 00:05:23.910 --> 00:05:26.970 this. So I'm wondering who from season one has 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:29.350 decided to leave. It's kind of like a reality 00:05:29.350 --> 00:05:32.699 TV show. Yeah, like I know we probably have a 00:05:32.699 --> 00:05:35.759 couple retirements, but you're not with only 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.339 six teams in the league. You can't keep bringing 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:40.319 in players like some are going to have to go. 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:42.939 So that was my first thought is like, who is 00:05:42.939 --> 00:05:46.620 leaving? My second thought, when you're bringing 00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:50.019 in players like Cattall, Bree and Alexa Gray, 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.100 it gives me hope that the level is going to increase. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:57.259 But again, those are only three players. But 00:05:57.259 --> 00:06:00.819 those three players. I think can make a difference. 00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:04.819 So it is encouraging to see players of that level 00:06:04.819 --> 00:06:07.519 make the commitment. I like seeing Alexa Gray 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:09.420 there. I think she's automatically going to be 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:12.259 one of the top outsides in the league, probably 00:06:12.259 --> 00:06:14.899 cut all lots of international experience. I find 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:16.100 it interesting that they're starting to bring 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:19.019 in more setters. Like that was kind of, you had 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:22.379 a crop of American setters who were maybe on 00:06:22.379 --> 00:06:25.079 their way out. I'm curious to see which of those 00:06:25.079 --> 00:06:28.560 stay, who's still playing or whether. I have 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:30.220 a hard time believing Bree's going to be a backup 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:34.579 somewhere. No. I would be shocked. But when you 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:36.180 look at the setters from this season, they were 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:39.139 all kind of American staples. Well, I was wondering 00:06:39.139 --> 00:06:43.279 which ones are going to take a back seat. I'm 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:48.079 like, okay, Sage and Carly, which one is leaving? 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.879 Because I'm pretty sure Bree signed with Austin. 00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:54.920 Don't quote me on that. I'm not 100%. But when 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:58.060 you have, like, the teams that had the duo already, 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:02.740 like, you saw Fairbanks and Bug together. As 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:06.639 I said, Lloyd and Sage together. I'm curious 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.279 how those dynamics are going to work. If they're 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.480 going to move players from the teams they were 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:14.379 in last season and just kind of mix it up. Like, 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.199 I'm very curious to see how that goes. Yeah. 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:21.480 But overall, I think good moves for them. Good 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:23.639 for love. Yeah, they need to keep picking off 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:27.680 players like Cattle, like Alexa Gray, with experience, 00:07:27.779 --> 00:07:29.819 who are still physical and kind of in the prime 00:07:29.819 --> 00:07:31.699 of their career. Well, because I think Cattle 00:07:31.699 --> 00:07:36.740 you could compare to Bia, but better. Yeah. Like 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:41.699 similar situation, Bia just isn't as good as 00:07:41.699 --> 00:07:43.699 Cattle. You know what I'm saying? So it's like 00:07:43.699 --> 00:07:47.500 players that are in that age. Alexa and Bree 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:50.709 are a little on the younger side, but... Yeah, 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:54.029 very cool stuff. We'll keep you posted on any 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:58.110 more signings that we see. The VNL Week 1 rosters 00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:00.430 are out for women, obviously. The tournament 00:08:00.430 --> 00:08:04.449 starts on Tuesday. So this week's matches are 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:09.589 happening in Beijing, Ottawa, and Rio. We have 00:08:09.589 --> 00:08:13.449 received a lot of messages about the American 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:17.899 Week 1 roster. So we just wanted to address it 00:08:17.899 --> 00:08:21.040 before we got into the men's side. I think it's 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:26.379 fair to say this isn't a great roster. We have 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:31.259 10 players on that list out of 14 that are making 00:08:31.259 --> 00:08:35.659 their VNL debuts. That's a lot. That is a lot. 00:08:36.539 --> 00:08:39.559 So the four players on the roster who do have 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:42.879 VNL experience are Maddie Skinner, Ronnie Jones 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:47.299 -Perry, Morgan Hentz, and Zoe Jarvis. The other 00:08:47.299 --> 00:08:53.139 10 have none. So this will be interesting. I 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:56.419 think my biggest concern is just the lack of 00:08:56.419 --> 00:09:01.320 experience. Not from an on -court perspective. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:06.649 That is a separate thing for me. Normally when 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:09.330 you're traveling and things are brand new and 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:12.289 it's just like a new experience kind of overwhelming, 00:09:12.350 --> 00:09:17.769 you want a couple older or more veteran athletes 00:09:17.769 --> 00:09:20.490 there to kind of like hold down the fort from 00:09:20.490 --> 00:09:24.250 like an emotional perspective and like not even 00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:27.350 that they have to play. But just to be there, 00:09:27.409 --> 00:09:30.690 to be a steady influence of like, this is how 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:33.490 this works. This is what we're doing. This is 00:09:33.490 --> 00:09:36.809 normal. Things like that. I was kind of surprised 00:09:36.809 --> 00:09:40.330 to see that there wasn't really any of that. 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:43.230 Because even the players that have VNL experience, 00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:47.429 I would say Morgan Hentz is the most experienced 00:09:47.429 --> 00:09:49.730 out of all of them. And even then, it's like... 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.399 Well, and I've engaged in a few conversations 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:56.139 and I've seen some dialogue this past week of 00:09:56.139 --> 00:09:58.700 people saying, well, you know, it doesn't really 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:01.720 matter because the U .S. is going to get the 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.299 number one seat in the Olympics in 2028. Like 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:07.480 it's that's just going to happen. So the next 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:10.220 four years don't don't really matter, essentially, 00:10:10.299 --> 00:10:14.419 is the conversation. And I very much disagree 00:10:14.419 --> 00:10:17.720 with that. I think that you find the U .S., and 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:19.139 we'll talk about this on the men's side, but 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:21.240 both on the women's and the men's side in a period 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:24.679 of transition for their rosters. And, you know, 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:26.860 in fairness, we don't know which women are going 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:29.460 to play Worlds at the end of the summer and who's 00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:31.460 coming back. So I think that will be very telling. 00:10:31.779 --> 00:10:35.580 But from a standpoint of creating a culture and 00:10:35.580 --> 00:10:38.899 expectation and passing down the knowledge that 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:42.580 your program has had. you can't do that when 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:44.960 you have all new players like to throw a whole 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:48.539 bunch of people into one team who don't really 00:10:48.539 --> 00:10:50.840 know what's going on or who haven't played internationally 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:52.740 you're learning how to travel you're learning 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:55.480 how to compete in a different situation you haven't 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:57.519 had a ton of time together you don't have any 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:59.639 leaders who know what's going on like it's really 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:02.220 hard to pass that culture on so now you're expecting 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:05.059 people to raise their level without kind of anybody 00:11:05.059 --> 00:11:08.720 leading the way and I just think it's really 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:12.230 hard to do that without experience. And that's 00:11:12.230 --> 00:11:14.210 my concern with the young roster. Not that they 00:11:14.210 --> 00:11:16.549 need to get experience, they need to try it, 00:11:16.590 --> 00:11:19.110 but who is kind of guiding that? And you have 00:11:19.110 --> 00:11:21.450 a new coaching staff. Everything about this is 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:24.230 new. And that's the kind of question mark or 00:11:24.230 --> 00:11:28.669 concern for me. Well, for me, it's like it doesn't 00:11:28.669 --> 00:11:31.830 matter. They're going to be the number one seed. 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:34.909 When I hear comments like that, it's just like... 00:11:35.289 --> 00:11:37.490 You clearly have never played high -level sport 00:11:37.490 --> 00:11:41.149 before because, like, if you are really a competitor, 00:11:41.450 --> 00:11:44.090 it always matters. Well, the expectation for 00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:46.049 the U .S. It always matters. And the expectation, 00:11:46.370 --> 00:11:51.470 like, the U .S. has laid down expectations of 00:11:51.470 --> 00:11:55.730 meddling or winning a gold medal always. So it 00:11:55.730 --> 00:11:59.759 always matters. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Oh, 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:02.379 don't worry. Just at the end, we'll get the result 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:04.820 we want and we'll be the number one seed. So 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:08.220 who really cares? It's like, no, if you're a 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:10.500 true competitor and you're a program that expects 00:12:10.500 --> 00:12:14.139 excellence, you're pushing for those wins all 00:12:14.139 --> 00:12:16.399 the time. And I understand, like Adam said, there 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:19.600 is a transition, but like that is not the attitude 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.539 that you expect from programs like that. Well, 00:12:22.580 --> 00:12:24.279 and the other thing to think about too, and this 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:27.000 has nothing to do with volleyball, but. the programs 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.279 from an olympic standpoint generally receive 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:33.100 funding in at least partly in their results and 00:12:33.100 --> 00:12:35.419 how they do at world championships and things 00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:38.659 like that so you can't just stink you can't just 00:12:38.659 --> 00:12:41.779 say oh who cared because yeah funding depends 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:44.440 on so there's a lot there's program expectations 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:47.759 and things like these next two years like they're 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:49.899 not throwaway years you can't just try and get 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:52.279 experience like you have to see what these new 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:55.220 players are and perform at the same time it's 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:58.019 a It's a tricky balance. Well, and I understand 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:01.100 that coaches can't control what players want 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:03.980 to do with their lives. They can't control if 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:07.559 they want a break, if they are retiring. Those 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:12.919 are variables that just happen. But just looking 00:13:12.919 --> 00:13:17.179 at this roster in particular, for example, a 00:13:17.179 --> 00:13:20.200 Danielle Coutinho. She has been through several 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.159 cycles. Do I think that she should necessarily 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:29.669 play? No. But I think having her experience and 00:13:29.669 --> 00:13:32.730 being able to share her knowledge and stuff like 00:13:32.730 --> 00:13:36.330 that is an asset. So it's things like that that 00:13:36.330 --> 00:13:41.490 I find interesting with this roster. But that 00:13:41.490 --> 00:13:46.750 being said, there are some reasons why this happened. 00:13:46.950 --> 00:13:51.070 Some extenuating circumstances. So as I said, 00:13:51.090 --> 00:13:54.070 we got a ton of messages being like... what the 00:13:54.070 --> 00:13:56.909 heck is up with this roster? This is not going 00:13:56.909 --> 00:14:00.529 to go well. I don't disagree with you. But from 00:14:00.529 --> 00:14:03.409 our sources, this is secondhand, so we're not 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:05.929 like 100 % sure about this, but from what we've 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:09.129 heard, here is the deal of why this happened. 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:11.789 Jenna Gray and Rachel Fairbanks are injured. 00:14:12.070 --> 00:14:16.409 Okay, so that's why we're seeing Sage and Ella 00:14:16.409 --> 00:14:19.950 Mae Powell on the setting list. Mackenzie Adams 00:14:19.950 --> 00:14:23.370 and Allie Franti also injured. Avery Skinner 00:14:23.370 --> 00:14:26.909 and Kalia Lanier haven't shown up to training 00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:30.389 yet. So they were probably given some extended 00:14:30.389 --> 00:14:33.690 time off after their pro season. Dana Reckie 00:14:33.690 --> 00:14:36.370 just arrived in California to train this week, 00:14:36.490 --> 00:14:40.370 which probably not enough to then turn around 00:14:40.370 --> 00:14:44.629 and go to VNL right away. And then Lexi Rodriguez's 00:14:44.629 --> 00:14:47.970 sister is getting married. Okay, so with all 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:51.730 of those things going on, the players that are 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:56.659 technically available who weren't selected are 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:01.759 Jordan Poulter, Breon Butler, Taylor Mims, Amber 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:06.539 Igied, Asia O 'Neill, Danielle Cattino, Lauren 00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:12.879 Briseño, Tia Jimerson, and Steph Samity. And 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:14.379 that's not to say, like, this is the information 00:15:14.379 --> 00:15:16.200 we had. That's not to say other people aren't 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:18.440 injured or bagged up or whatever. This is what 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:20.799 we have heard, and we're just sharing it with 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:25.750 you guys. If you're assuming all things are equal 00:15:25.750 --> 00:15:28.990 and those players were available, what surprises 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:31.889 does that leave you with? I'm like, where's Jordan 00:15:31.889 --> 00:15:37.409 Poulter? Fair. What is she doing this week? I 00:15:37.409 --> 00:15:42.149 think that she is a veteran. She is in a position 00:15:42.149 --> 00:15:45.490 that could influence a lot of what happens this 00:15:45.490 --> 00:15:49.409 week, being a setter, obviously. She automatically 00:15:49.409 --> 00:15:53.450 stabilizes that roster. So I'm wondering where 00:15:53.450 --> 00:15:57.289 the heck she is. I think Breon Butler, I'm kind 00:15:57.289 --> 00:16:00.590 of wondering where she is because while she might 00:16:00.590 --> 00:16:02.629 not have a lot of international experience, she 00:16:02.629 --> 00:16:06.730 has been playing pro for a little while. And 00:16:06.730 --> 00:16:08.990 so I'm thinking that she could have potentially 00:16:08.990 --> 00:16:12.830 been an asset. Danielle Coutinho, I already mentioned 00:16:12.830 --> 00:16:16.629 my reason for her of where I'm wondering where 00:16:16.629 --> 00:16:21.490 she is. The word on the street is that Logan 00:16:21.490 --> 00:16:24.350 Lednicki and Olivia Babcock were just the highest 00:16:24.350 --> 00:16:28.850 performing opposites in training. So if you're 00:16:28.850 --> 00:16:32.690 a Samity fan or things like that, that apparently 00:16:32.690 --> 00:16:35.889 is the reason why those two are picked. But I 00:16:35.889 --> 00:16:38.870 would say those that like even Asia O 'Neill 00:16:38.870 --> 00:16:41.850 has a bit of experience. The big one for me is 00:16:41.850 --> 00:16:45.049 Poulter. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting 00:16:45.049 --> 00:16:48.690 to watch this roster perform this week. You have, 00:16:48.730 --> 00:16:51.149 for a lot of these young kids who are out there 00:16:51.149 --> 00:16:53.049 for the first time, if you get a chance to play, 00:16:53.250 --> 00:16:56.789 it's going to be intense and nerve -wracking. 00:16:57.169 --> 00:17:00.309 These are your chances to prove that you belong 00:17:00.309 --> 00:17:03.210 in the gym when the world's roster comes along 00:17:03.210 --> 00:17:07.990 for the rest of the years. You are in tryouts 00:17:07.990 --> 00:17:11.670 this whole summer for a potential spot. And I'm 00:17:11.670 --> 00:17:14.490 just curious to see. how they deal with the pressure, 00:17:14.609 --> 00:17:16.410 how they deal with the new team, how they deal 00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:20.269 with new opponents who are bigger, physical, 00:17:20.450 --> 00:17:24.470 more experienced. I'm very excited to watch them 00:17:24.470 --> 00:17:27.029 play this week. Well, and they don't have an 00:17:27.029 --> 00:17:29.250 easy week either because they've got Italy and 00:17:29.250 --> 00:17:33.390 Brazil in their grouping, and Italy is showing 00:17:33.390 --> 00:17:38.769 up basically with their Olympic roster. I think 00:17:38.769 --> 00:17:43.529 Brazil's missing Gabi this week, but yeah. It'll 00:17:43.529 --> 00:17:46.630 be a good test for these kind of young professionals 00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:49.329 to see where they stack up against good competition. 00:17:50.170 --> 00:17:53.569 So there you go. That is kind of the explanation 00:17:53.569 --> 00:17:58.910 of why this roster is the way it is. And yeah, 00:17:59.049 --> 00:18:02.109 we'll let you know some games that we're excited 00:18:02.109 --> 00:18:04.950 about at the end of the episode. All right, so 00:18:04.950 --> 00:18:10.210 moving into the men's VNL roster. Last week we 00:18:10.210 --> 00:18:13.140 went over how VNL works. So if you didn't listen 00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:14.880 to that episode and you have some questions about 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:16.779 the format, it's the same for the men and women, 00:18:16.839 --> 00:18:19.579 but they just alternate weeks. So give last week's 00:18:19.579 --> 00:18:22.420 episode a listen. All of the information is there. 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:25.700 Again, this is a little bit of a repeat, but 00:18:25.700 --> 00:18:28.839 as the host country for the next Olympics, the 00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:32.039 U .S. automatically gets a berth and is automatically 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:35.140 ranked number one. Which apparently, who cares 00:18:35.140 --> 00:18:41.859 then? No, just kidding. I'm being a jerk. the 00:18:41.859 --> 00:18:47.140 men's VNL roster compared to the Olympic roster. 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:51.059 The men are in a very similar spot to the women 00:18:51.059 --> 00:18:56.859 in terms of they are returning far fewer players 00:18:56.859 --> 00:18:59.279 from their Olympic roster than any other country. 00:18:59.539 --> 00:19:00.980 Well, I think the men and the women are returning 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:04.660 the same number. We have three returning men's 00:19:04.660 --> 00:19:08.450 athletes. From the last Olympics. So we have 00:19:08.450 --> 00:19:11.009 Jendrik coming back, who's a middle blocker. 00:19:11.069 --> 00:19:16.210 We have Ma 'a setting for them. But apparently 00:19:16.210 --> 00:19:18.049 he's coming back, so he's there. I'm assuming 00:19:18.049 --> 00:19:20.890 he's going to be setting. He was the backup last 00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:24.589 year. So on the team, but didn't play a ton. 00:19:24.730 --> 00:19:28.509 And then we have the lifelong libero in Eric 00:19:28.509 --> 00:19:32.609 Shoji back for another twirl. Another twirl. 00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:36.119 Well, the alternate, too. And the alternate. 00:19:36.140 --> 00:19:40.180 So my kind of four came back and Singh on the 00:19:40.180 --> 00:19:43.720 right side. And so there's not going to be a 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:47.059 lot of experience on the men's roster. And just 00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:50.500 for a little context, we'll go over some of the 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:52.440 other countries who we're expecting to be good 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:55.740 and how many players they're returning. So Brazil 00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:58.099 returning six. Now they've turned over their 00:19:58.099 --> 00:20:00.720 setter and a couple key players, but they've 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.500 still got experience on the roster. So we'll 00:20:02.500 --> 00:20:05.410 see. what they end up looking like. They've turned 00:20:05.410 --> 00:20:12.109 over some lifers. Yeah. In Bruno, in Lucas, Leao's 00:20:12.109 --> 00:20:16.250 gone. So, like, those are some staples. They've 00:20:16.250 --> 00:20:18.430 been around the program for a long time. But 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:21.109 they are definitely in their late 30s, so I'm 00:20:21.109 --> 00:20:24.650 not shocked. And then Argentina's returning eight. 00:20:24.869 --> 00:20:29.529 Canada also returning only five. So a little 00:20:29.529 --> 00:20:32.609 bit of roster turnover for Canada. France returning 00:20:32.609 --> 00:20:37.549 12, so they're going to be good. I thought Engapeth 00:20:37.549 --> 00:20:40.670 would call it quits. No, the man is father time. 00:20:40.809 --> 00:20:43.589 He just keeps coming back. The only player that 00:20:43.589 --> 00:20:47.750 France lost is Tilly. I mean, good player, but 00:20:47.750 --> 00:20:52.130 that whole team is back. I wonder if Engapeth's 00:20:52.130 --> 00:20:55.089 vertical is increasing with age. Right? But, 00:20:55.190 --> 00:20:59.250 like, Argentina. Facundo Conte and Di Cecco are 00:20:59.250 --> 00:21:02.029 gone, which are, again, two... Program staples. 00:21:02.170 --> 00:21:05.089 Program staples, but on the older side. You know, 00:21:05.130 --> 00:21:07.410 Italy returning 10 players, Poland returning 00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:10.829 8, Serbia returning 8. And this is kind of what 00:21:10.829 --> 00:21:13.369 we talked about in terms of, you know, you keep 00:21:13.369 --> 00:21:15.890 those older players along and bring in younger 00:21:15.890 --> 00:21:18.529 players, and they kind of learn your system and 00:21:18.529 --> 00:21:22.109 your philosophy. The wholesale change is here 00:21:22.109 --> 00:21:24.089 for the U .S. on both the men and the women's 00:21:24.089 --> 00:21:27.400 side. And Canada. is it's interesting. It presents 00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:31.140 a unique set of problems or challenges. You definitely 00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:35.279 want that overlap. 100%. In a team sport environment, 00:21:35.539 --> 00:21:37.920 because even if the older players are kind of 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:42.779 past it from a physical perspective, just like 00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:47.079 having that overlap in the gym creates just a 00:21:47.079 --> 00:21:50.700 much more seamless transition. Yeah. Well, I 00:21:50.700 --> 00:21:52.980 mean, if we compare this to professional sports 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:55.890 and you had a... you know, a GM looking at roster 00:21:55.890 --> 00:21:58.109 management, like you don't want all your players 00:21:58.109 --> 00:22:00.549 to leave at the same time. And again, you don't 00:22:00.549 --> 00:22:03.130 have as much control because players can make 00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:05.750 their own decisions, but it is something you 00:22:05.750 --> 00:22:07.529 should be thinking about as you construct your 00:22:07.529 --> 00:22:09.549 roster year to year. And to see this turnover 00:22:09.549 --> 00:22:12.269 on both the men and the women's side is, it's 00:22:12.269 --> 00:22:14.609 interesting from a planning standpoint of how 00:22:14.609 --> 00:22:18.490 that's worked out. Well, and it's like, how often 00:22:18.490 --> 00:22:24.430 do you see athletes want to kind of be? altruistic 00:22:24.430 --> 00:22:28.410 for a lack of a better term like how many athletes 00:22:28.410 --> 00:22:32.609 do you see want to kind of take the time to pass 00:22:32.609 --> 00:22:35.069 the torch and it's like if this if there's nothing 00:22:35.069 --> 00:22:36.990 in it for me like what am I going to do here 00:22:36.990 --> 00:22:39.849 why would I stay and I'm not saying that that's 00:22:39.849 --> 00:22:43.250 what happened here but it takes a very passionate 00:22:43.250 --> 00:22:47.950 person who like really loves the sport and is 00:22:47.950 --> 00:22:52.220 willing to kind of make those longer -term sacrifices 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:55.420 without the direct payoff to be willing to do 00:22:55.420 --> 00:22:59.960 that. Now, that being said, with the senior athletes 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:02.859 knowing that the Olympics is in the U .S., I'm 00:23:02.859 --> 00:23:05.940 going to be, this is the very beginning, and 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:08.059 I think we'll have a clearer picture come Worlds 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:11.240 and next year as to if anybody is kind of on 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:13.339 the fence as to whether they still want to play. 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:17.519 So I think that the men's situation is slightly 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:20.400 different than the women's in that the men's 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:25.720 Paris roster was pretty old. Like we had a lot 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.759 of guys in their late 30s. In going through that 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.640 roster, there were only like four names that 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:35.380 popped out to me that I was like, they could 00:23:35.380 --> 00:23:40.289 be back for LA. And that was Taylor Avril. TJ 00:23:40.289 --> 00:23:43.170 DeFalco, Micah Christensen, and Aaron Russell. 00:23:43.289 --> 00:23:48.109 All of those guys are, by the time LA rolls around, 00:23:48.269 --> 00:23:52.589 will be in their mid -30s at that point. I think 00:23:52.589 --> 00:23:57.569 Christensen will be 35 maybe. So, and he's the 00:23:57.569 --> 00:24:02.240 oldest. So I'm... There's a pretty good chance 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:05.160 we'll see at least some of those guys come back, 00:24:05.259 --> 00:24:07.220 maybe even for Worlds. But those were the only 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:09.400 four names when I was going through the Paris 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:12.380 roster that I was like, interesting that they 00:24:12.380 --> 00:24:15.640 didn't come back for the summer. Interesting 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:17.579 that they're taking the summer off because they 00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:19.900 are in that age that I think will probably be 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:25.220 back. Whereas the women, the women veterans were 00:24:25.220 --> 00:24:29.529 a little bit younger. I mean, you could see Jordan 00:24:29.529 --> 00:24:33.170 Thompson still playing. You could see... Justine 00:24:33.170 --> 00:24:37.430 Wangerontes. You could see Ogbogu. So I think 00:24:37.430 --> 00:24:40.190 there are more potential athletes from the women's 00:24:40.190 --> 00:24:42.609 side that will make a comeback versus the men. 00:24:42.950 --> 00:24:46.450 Yeah, I think that's fair. So on this roster, 00:24:46.569 --> 00:24:50.609 we have, as Adam said, three returning from Paris, 00:24:50.809 --> 00:24:56.859 four Olympians, period. Eleven athletes have 00:24:56.859 --> 00:25:01.000 competed in previous VNLs for the U .S. Seven 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:03.759 have competed for the U .S. in continental events. 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:07.160 And then we have eight brand new athletes to 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.039 the national team. Freshies. Fresh meat, you 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:14.259 know. I love that Eric showed you him back. He's 00:25:14.259 --> 00:25:17.799 35, like 36 now, I think. He's a guy that just 00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:21.640 loves volleyball. He's infectious. You can't 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:25.029 help but just. Him being in the gym, I think, 00:25:25.029 --> 00:25:27.549 is amazing for the program. I mean, he makes 00:25:27.549 --> 00:25:31.269 bank off of volleyball content creation, so he 00:25:31.269 --> 00:25:33.450 needs to keep that rolling. You know what I mean? 00:25:33.490 --> 00:25:35.269 He's like, what am I going to do if I take time 00:25:35.269 --> 00:25:37.690 off of volleyball for a whole summer? I'm just 00:25:37.690 --> 00:25:39.250 kidding. We're going to be missing the TikToks. 00:25:39.269 --> 00:25:45.769 Yeah, exactly. But it's nice. That veteran presence, 00:25:46.009 --> 00:25:52.410 I think, is very important. You do see... Eight 00:25:52.410 --> 00:25:56.089 UCLA or former UCLA athletes on this roster. 00:25:56.369 --> 00:25:59.049 Oh, not from Texas? Have we switched schools 00:25:59.049 --> 00:26:03.029 on the men's side? Well, Karsh is a UCLA alum. 00:26:03.670 --> 00:26:05.950 So is Eric Sullivan, but he coached at Texas. 00:26:07.269 --> 00:26:10.089 Eric Sullivan hits both the buckets. Exactly. 00:26:11.049 --> 00:26:17.009 So, yeah, lots of UCLA, a lot of young guys. 00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:21.880 We do have a lot of winning experience. Do I 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:25.180 think it'll necessarily translate to the international 00:26:25.180 --> 00:26:29.220 side? Winning in the NCAA does not equate with 00:26:29.220 --> 00:26:31.059 winning internationally. Let me just say that. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:35.660 Well, here's my first concern. These guys who 00:26:35.660 --> 00:26:40.200 are in college, most of them are still a little 00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:45.640 spindly. True, yeah. I think this is less of 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:47.920 an issue on the women's side because you see 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:51.279 kind of women mature a little faster. And I think 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:54.980 that physical gap from a strength standpoint 00:26:54.980 --> 00:26:58.420 isn't necessarily as big from college to professional. 00:26:58.859 --> 00:27:01.980 But these college guys, they haven't been lifting 00:27:01.980 --> 00:27:03.940 a ton. They're still a little long. They're probably 00:27:03.940 --> 00:27:06.339 not hitting the ball as hard as some of these, 00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:08.880 we'll call them grizzled vets from some of the 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:14.470 other rosters. My initial instinct is we might 00:27:14.470 --> 00:27:18.869 see a little kind of boys against men. It's definitely 00:27:18.869 --> 00:27:23.829 possible. Even looking at David from UCLA compared 00:27:23.829 --> 00:27:27.609 to some of his teammates, he is a man and some 00:27:27.609 --> 00:27:29.769 of those other guys, they just need a little 00:27:29.769 --> 00:27:33.470 time to kind of fill out and find some strength 00:27:33.470 --> 00:27:35.450 within those long frames that are going to be 00:27:35.450 --> 00:27:38.309 very beneficial down the road. But I think if 00:27:38.309 --> 00:27:41.390 you line some of those young players up, against 00:27:41.390 --> 00:27:46.130 the italy's against their grocer yeah it's it's 00:27:46.130 --> 00:27:50.329 gonna take some getting used to and that's i'm 00:27:50.329 --> 00:27:54.130 expecting to see a little bit of a physical discrepancy 00:27:54.130 --> 00:27:57.430 with how young the roster is compared internationally 00:27:57.430 --> 00:27:59.789 that's that's was kind of the first thing that 00:27:59.789 --> 00:28:01.869 jumped out to me you know when we start talking 00:28:01.869 --> 00:28:06.230 about the men's long list for vnl i'm not sure 00:28:06.230 --> 00:28:10.440 that there are many surprises or many snubs. 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:12.519 Like there just aren't as many athletes competing 00:28:12.519 --> 00:28:15.420 for those spots as there are in the women's side. 00:28:15.579 --> 00:28:18.940 But I was glad to see, you know, Cameron Thorne 00:28:18.940 --> 00:28:22.359 get on the roster. Okay. That surprised me. You 00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:25.279 know what? Here's the thing. Let's go through. 00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:27.380 Let's just go through position by position here. 00:28:27.420 --> 00:28:29.579 Okay. Okay. All right. Let's do it. Okay. So 00:28:29.579 --> 00:28:32.500 for setters, we have Quinn Isaacson who played 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:36.039 for Ball State. We have Micah Ma 'a, as we said, 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:40.160 played for UCLA. was in the last Olympics. Andrew 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:45.880 Rowan, also UCLA. And Tred Rosenthal, who plays 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:49.059 for Hawaii. We also have Michael Wright, who 00:28:49.059 --> 00:28:52.519 plays for, or played for Ohio State. I don't, 00:28:52.519 --> 00:28:55.259 I mean, I don't think we're missing anybody that. 00:28:55.400 --> 00:28:58.240 I mean, you have your setter. You're missing 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:02.359 Micah Christensen. Sure. Yes. Okay. That's, that's 00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:06.559 a given. Missing Micah Christensen. Micah Ma 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:11.089 'a. Okay, he has the Olympic experience. I think 00:29:11.089 --> 00:29:16.490 good transition without a huge gap. I mean, Micah 00:29:16.490 --> 00:29:18.950 Christensen is absolutely unbelievable. I'm not 00:29:18.950 --> 00:29:22.150 talking skill gap here. I'm talking, you know, 00:29:22.190 --> 00:29:24.369 we have somebody who has experience. He's been 00:29:24.369 --> 00:29:26.369 in the gym for four years. He understands the 00:29:26.369 --> 00:29:28.549 program. Has been playing for great clubs, Final 00:29:28.549 --> 00:29:31.329 Four this past season with Ankara in Champions 00:29:31.329 --> 00:29:34.569 League. Okay, and then you also have your transition 00:29:34.569 --> 00:29:39.269 to the future. with Rosenthal and Rowan. Which 00:29:39.269 --> 00:29:42.089 I think are the right picks. Like, we'll see 00:29:42.089 --> 00:29:45.109 where Rosenthal goes. He's a massive human being 00:29:45.109 --> 00:29:47.569 in general. So having him, if he develops the 00:29:47.569 --> 00:29:49.470 ability to run the offense and do that, like, 00:29:49.490 --> 00:29:52.349 that's a huge piece moving forward. Like, you 00:29:52.349 --> 00:29:54.390 want those two guys. I think Rowan is just super 00:29:54.390 --> 00:29:58.309 cerebral. And just technical. Yeah. So, I mean, 00:29:58.329 --> 00:30:01.990 I'm not... Rowan and Rosenthal need to put on 00:30:01.990 --> 00:30:04.170 some weight. Yeah. And this is what we talked 00:30:04.170 --> 00:30:06.680 about, right? They need to spend... this summer 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:09.400 with men understanding how they lift, how they 00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:11.799 prepare, you know, all of those things, understand 00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:13.880 the level, but those are good choices to me. 00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:18.940 On the outside, we've got Caleb Janess from Ball 00:30:18.940 --> 00:30:23.619 State. We've got Jacob Pasteur, Ohio State, Cooper 00:30:23.619 --> 00:30:30.000 Robinson, UCLA, Nolan Flexen, UC Irvine, Ethan 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:36.579 Champlin, UCLA, Jordan Ewart from Stanford. I 00:30:36.579 --> 00:30:38.980 mean, to be honest, I'm not super familiar with 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:41.539 any of those outsides other than the ones who 00:30:41.539 --> 00:30:44.960 played in college this year. I'm assuming a bunch 00:30:44.960 --> 00:30:48.299 of them are playing pro overseas right now. That 00:30:48.299 --> 00:30:51.579 is kind of a question mark to me about how their 00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:54.259 outside hitting core will be. You're missing 00:30:54.259 --> 00:30:59.160 TJ DeFalco. Real bad. And you're missing Aaron 00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:02.579 Russell. You've got to hope that... Your two 00:31:02.579 --> 00:31:06.880 guys from Paris are missing. you've got to hope 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:11.599 that DeFalco enjoys a month or two off and then 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:13.579 is itching to get back into the gym for Worlds 00:31:13.579 --> 00:31:16.900 because he makes a huge difference. Well, I'm 00:31:16.900 --> 00:31:23.819 pretty sure he wasn't starting in Paris and then 00:31:23.819 --> 00:31:26.660 he came in to a couple matches and just completely 00:31:26.660 --> 00:31:28.900 turned things around and then kind of solidified 00:31:28.900 --> 00:31:33.279 his spot. Yeah, I believe that is accurate. They 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:36.900 have to be hoping. that he's coming back, and 00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:40.059 I'm assuming that Karch is having some conversations 00:31:40.059 --> 00:31:44.539 with him. Does anybody surprise you? Again, I'm 00:31:44.539 --> 00:31:48.240 not as familiar with some of these. Nolan flexing 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.900 a little bit. He was a little inconsistent for 00:31:51.900 --> 00:31:54.680 me this season. Well, he got thrown over to the 00:31:54.680 --> 00:31:58.900 outside, partly near the end of the season. I 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:01.319 felt like he was a more natural opposite, personally. 00:32:01.740 --> 00:32:05.420 Agreed. But if they can get him going at 6 '11 00:32:05.420 --> 00:32:09.059 or 6 '10 or whatever he is, he's probably 6 '9. 00:32:09.579 --> 00:32:12.380 The range is there, you know what I mean? Yeah, 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:15.900 and again, I was a little surprised to see him 00:32:15.900 --> 00:32:19.359 on the roster, but I can see, like, he's your 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:21.740 project, right? Can you teach him how to pass? 00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:23.819 Can you get him in there? Let's get him into 00:32:23.819 --> 00:32:25.940 the gym, see what his attitude is like. I know 00:32:25.940 --> 00:32:30.579 that Karch is... very much about kind of attitude 00:32:30.579 --> 00:32:33.480 and what your habits are and you know doing things 00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:35.880 right so if he fits that mold and he's willing 00:32:35.880 --> 00:32:38.519 to work like in my experience Karch always has 00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:40.880 time for players who are willing to work and 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:43.119 get better so physically I think it makes sense. 00:32:43.539 --> 00:32:47.079 Cooper Robinson I think that he will be integral 00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:49.220 in the future so I think it's good that he's 00:32:49.220 --> 00:32:53.200 getting his start now but they are definitely 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:56.759 going to miss those two on the outside this summer. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:01.859 100%. On the opposite, we've got Camden Gianni 00:33:01.859 --> 00:33:05.660 from Grand Canyon. Kyle Ensing, who was the alternate 00:33:05.660 --> 00:33:08.660 for the Paris Olympics from Long Beach State. 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:13.839 Kevin Cobreen went to UCLA and USC. Gabby Garcia, 00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:18.039 he went to BYU. He is of Puerto Rican origin. 00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:26.359 Kyle Hobus from CSUN. Zach Rama from UCLA. And 00:33:26.359 --> 00:33:30.559 that is it. and they are looking for the next 00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:34.000 Anderson. Well, okay, Gabby Garcia played in 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:37.759 Italy this year. He is solid. So I think this 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:42.339 transition, yes, you have to find a new Matt 00:33:42.339 --> 00:33:47.460 Anderson, but I think with Gabby Garcia and with 00:33:47.460 --> 00:33:51.640 Kyle Ensign, I think they've got a solid transition 00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:55.119 in place there. Yeah, they're not going to be. 00:33:55.849 --> 00:33:57.670 I don't think that's going to be a position of 00:33:57.670 --> 00:34:02.069 weakness for them. No, like Garcia's good. Yeah, 00:34:02.150 --> 00:34:05.069 but I also think that the position is up for 00:34:05.069 --> 00:34:08.690 grabs. So who is going to be, who's going to 00:34:08.690 --> 00:34:12.750 come in and solidify that spot? And, you know, 00:34:12.769 --> 00:34:15.409 right now I think it's Ensign and Garcia who 00:34:15.409 --> 00:34:18.010 are going to fight for that spot. But you've 00:34:18.010 --> 00:34:21.309 got some interesting young kids coming up as 00:34:21.309 --> 00:34:23.969 well. I'm surprised Rama's on the list, to be 00:34:23.969 --> 00:34:27.780 honest. Again, I think that there were a lot 00:34:27.780 --> 00:34:31.960 of looks to the future. I think that... Okay, 00:34:32.019 --> 00:34:34.880 so let's go back to what we said about UCLA this 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:36.460 season, is that they were a little inconsistent. 00:34:36.539 --> 00:34:38.460 They were a little nonchalant. I think Rama weighs 00:34:38.460 --> 00:34:42.539 less than I do, and that's... I'm not a massive 00:34:42.539 --> 00:34:48.519 person. Pregnant or pre -pregnant? Pre! And so 00:34:48.519 --> 00:34:51.320 I think when you look at... The physical capabilities 00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.539 of a lot of the UCLA players, I think there's 00:34:54.539 --> 00:34:57.420 potential there. And my guess is that you want 00:34:57.420 --> 00:34:59.900 to get them into an environment where instead 00:34:59.900 --> 00:35:02.219 of being kind of the best where they've always 00:35:02.219 --> 00:35:05.820 been, they're the worst. And they start to understand. 00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:08.840 what it takes to play at that next level. Like 00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:11.000 if I'm in Karch's shoes, I'm doing the exact 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:13.199 same thing. I want those guys who I think have 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:15.440 physical potential to compete at the next level 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:18.119 to understand what it takes. So I'm not surprised 00:35:18.119 --> 00:35:21.699 that those guys were included. In the middle, 00:35:21.699 --> 00:35:25.760 we've got Jeff Gendrick, who was in the Paris 00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:29.429 Olympics, went to Loyola Chicago. We've got Shane 00:35:29.429 --> 00:35:33.190 Holdaway from Long Beach State, Patrick Gassman 00:35:33.190 --> 00:35:37.510 from Hawaii, Cameron Thorne from UCLA, Merrick 00:35:37.510 --> 00:35:41.369 McHenry from UCLA, Michael Marshman from St. 00:35:41.590 --> 00:35:48.889 Francis, Matthew Nignig, I don't know, from Vassar, 00:35:48.889 --> 00:35:53.530 and Daniel Wetter from CSUN. Oh, and Parker Tomkinson 00:35:53.530 --> 00:35:56.539 from USC. Okay, you've got one with experience 00:35:56.539 --> 00:35:59.880 who played in the Olympics in Gendrick. Correct. 00:36:00.619 --> 00:36:04.280 And then after that, I don't recognize a lot 00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:08.739 of those names. McHenry was first -team All -American 00:36:08.739 --> 00:36:12.679 for the UCLA Championships. Okay. Like, solid 00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:15.920 player. Parker Tomkinson, we were hoping. We 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:18.780 were like, he has a bright future. He's only 00:36:18.780 --> 00:36:21.519 going into his sophomore year. That will be... 00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:23.739 Huge just to be in the training environment. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:26.519 Do I necessarily think he will travel? I'll be 00:36:26.519 --> 00:36:29.139 surprised. No, the game was a little too fast 00:36:29.139 --> 00:36:30.980 for him internationally. I think he's going to 00:36:30.980 --> 00:36:34.519 struggle block -wise with that. But again, I 00:36:34.519 --> 00:36:38.019 like where Karch is at in terms of trying to 00:36:38.019 --> 00:36:39.980 have some experience, bring in young guys who 00:36:39.980 --> 00:36:43.820 he sees might have a potential. I think overall 00:36:43.820 --> 00:36:46.900 this is a very thoughtful roster in terms of 00:36:46.900 --> 00:36:49.900 young players' experience. I'm curious to see 00:36:49.900 --> 00:36:52.619 how he weaves some of the younger guys into the 00:36:52.619 --> 00:36:55.679 VNL roster. Is he going to go some rosters all 00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:57.619 young? Is he going to kind of bring them in, 00:36:57.639 --> 00:37:00.179 let them play one at a time? I'm curious to see 00:37:00.179 --> 00:37:02.539 how he manages. Well, he made sure to hold on 00:37:02.539 --> 00:37:06.280 to experience in every single position. I think 00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:08.840 the only one that's missing is the outside right 00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:12.420 now. But he held on to a setter with Olympic 00:37:12.420 --> 00:37:16.400 experience. There's a middle. There are two opposites 00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:19.539 who have a lot of experience. The libero list, 00:37:20.019 --> 00:37:25.539 Eric Shoji, the staple. Eric Shoji can help stabilize 00:37:25.539 --> 00:37:28.519 the young outsides from a passing standpoint, 00:37:28.659 --> 00:37:34.760 which will help. So I'm curious to see. Going 00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:37.000 back to the middles, I'm glad Cameron Thorne 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:40.739 got a chance. I think with the way that he's 00:37:40.739 --> 00:37:43.559 played so far in his collegiate career, he's 00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:47.280 earned a shot. I think our concerns are still 00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:50.139 valid in terms of how he will compete internationally. 00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:56.099 But I think from a work ethic and performance 00:37:56.099 --> 00:37:58.780 standpoint, as a program, you want to reward. 00:37:59.500 --> 00:38:01.900 those players who do the things that Cameron 00:38:01.900 --> 00:38:03.420 Thorne does is he going to get to play maybe 00:38:03.420 --> 00:38:06.440 not but acknowledging what he's accomplished 00:38:06.440 --> 00:38:10.519 so far I think I think it sets a good message 00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:12.900 and a precedent for the program well Eric Shoji's 00:38:12.900 --> 00:38:14.940 named the captain actually too yeah there you 00:38:14.940 --> 00:38:17.920 go makes sense so we got Shoji Jacob Riley who 00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:20.760 played for Pepperdine this past season Kyle D 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:25.360 'Agostino who played for Stanford and Mason Briggs 00:38:25.360 --> 00:38:28.179 who played for Long Beach State Yeah, going back 00:38:28.179 --> 00:38:34.159 to Cameron Thorne, he is a surprise to me. Am 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:38.500 I surprised? Jacob Riley showed up in the last 00:38:38.500 --> 00:38:40.380 half of the NCAA season. I think he definitely 00:38:40.380 --> 00:38:45.440 deserves a shot. My favorite NCAA liberos were 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:48.400 all, like, freshmen. They were very young, so 00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:53.880 a little more time for them. I prefer even though 00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:59.460 this roster is very young I feel like it is more 00:38:59.460 --> 00:39:02.699 well thought out than the women's roster because 00:39:02.699 --> 00:39:06.980 you do have a core group of guys and you have 00:39:06.980 --> 00:39:10.440 someone who can clearly step up as a leader in 00:39:10.440 --> 00:39:13.699 each of the positions because you do set break 00:39:13.699 --> 00:39:16.559 up into positional training like frequently you 00:39:16.559 --> 00:39:22.510 have that of at least one guy per position who 00:39:22.510 --> 00:39:25.909 can kind of hold things down. And set expectations. 00:39:26.309 --> 00:39:30.389 Set expectations. Again, the outside is a little 00:39:30.389 --> 00:39:33.670 up in the air for me. I think they have potential, 00:39:33.889 --> 00:39:37.710 but yeah. This construction, like I said, seems 00:39:37.710 --> 00:39:43.030 more well thought out, even though they're not 00:39:43.030 --> 00:39:48.340 returning. Hardly anybody. I'm... curious to 00:39:48.340 --> 00:39:51.860 see how this goes for them. What are your predictions 00:39:51.860 --> 00:39:56.719 of how this team will do, or who are the main 00:39:56.719 --> 00:40:01.159 contenders for you for men's VNL this year? I 00:40:01.159 --> 00:40:04.320 mean, I think that France is still going to be 00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:09.239 top dog. I think that Italy is going to be good. 00:40:09.460 --> 00:40:13.599 Poland is going to be good. Brazil is probably 00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:16.769 still going to be good. Bernardinho, back at 00:40:16.769 --> 00:40:19.449 it, baby. Yeah, you can never count him out. 00:40:19.610 --> 00:40:22.130 I mean, Argentina will be solid. Serbia will 00:40:22.130 --> 00:40:24.550 be solid. So Adam's just listing every single 00:40:24.550 --> 00:40:26.989 team. So I will break it down, and I will say 00:40:26.989 --> 00:40:29.409 I think it's going to be between Italy and France. 00:40:30.300 --> 00:40:34.159 For the win. Adam's like, all the teams that 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:37.340 I listed. I was thinking about the teams that 00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:39.079 the U .S. is going to have to beat to make the 00:40:39.079 --> 00:40:41.719 finals. They're going to have to beat some of 00:40:41.719 --> 00:40:44.119 those. Do you think this American roster will 00:40:44.119 --> 00:40:48.719 make the final eight? Yes. Really? Yeah. But 00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:52.460 I think it's going to be squeaking in. All right. 00:40:52.460 --> 00:40:56.440 The final eight is in China for men. So final 00:40:56.440 --> 00:41:00.409 seven. Yeah. You know, it's not like the Poland 00:41:00.409 --> 00:41:03.170 situation with women where it's like, nah, Poland 00:41:03.170 --> 00:41:06.530 is legit. They would likely finish top eight. 00:41:07.110 --> 00:41:09.210 China's not on the radar for final eight for 00:41:09.210 --> 00:41:11.550 men, okay? So we're looking at, like, will they 00:41:11.550 --> 00:41:17.230 make the top seven? I think they will. Interesting. 00:41:17.849 --> 00:41:19.769 You know who I don't think will make the top 00:41:19.769 --> 00:41:25.070 seven? Canada. Canada. Yeah. That roster, I am 00:41:25.070 --> 00:41:29.460 very concerned, okay? Yeah. Well, and again, 00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:32.119 I'm Canadian and I didn't even recognize like 00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:35.599 hardly any of the names Vargas on the list. Skylar 00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:41.119 Vargas there. Okay. But yeah, I was like, I mean, 00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:44.179 this is not good. Canada lost Demienko. They 00:41:44.179 --> 00:41:48.619 lost Mar. They lost Van Berkel, Arthur Schwartz, 00:41:48.619 --> 00:41:52.119 Lepke, like literally. Schwarz was on the right 00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:54.320 side. Lepke was the left side. Maher was the 00:41:54.320 --> 00:41:56.699 left side. Demyanko was like the middle. Hogue 00:41:56.699 --> 00:41:59.500 is not playing. Hogue is out. Well, no offense. 00:41:59.619 --> 00:42:00.840 I think he should have been out for a while. 00:42:00.940 --> 00:42:03.559 Yeah, but from an experience standpoint, I mean, 00:42:03.579 --> 00:42:05.760 and then they have a whole new coaching staff, 00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:11.119 you know, which is. Our Canadian hearts are bleeding 00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:13.719 looking at this roster. We are not hopeful. And 00:42:13.719 --> 00:42:15.500 listen, part of me when I say the U .S. is going 00:42:15.500 --> 00:42:18.079 to make it is because I think that Karch. is 00:42:18.079 --> 00:42:21.579 an incredible coach. I think he finds a way to 00:42:21.579 --> 00:42:24.039 motivate his players and to get the best out 00:42:24.039 --> 00:42:25.539 of them. Well, when you're like one of the best 00:42:25.539 --> 00:42:29.780 ever, your players have no excuse but to completely 00:42:29.780 --> 00:42:32.699 buy in. You know, it's not like he's some guy 00:42:32.699 --> 00:42:35.039 that's like, hey, everyone, I'm so happy to be 00:42:35.039 --> 00:42:37.760 here. He's like, no, I legitimately was the best 00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:41.539 at beach and indoor. At everything. And I win 00:42:41.539 --> 00:42:46.599 wherever I go. So I think it's going to be a 00:42:46.599 --> 00:42:49.760 battle. I think they're going to be fighting 00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:52.059 for that last spot, but I think they're going 00:42:52.059 --> 00:42:57.199 to make it. Maybe. We will find out. As we said, 00:42:57.400 --> 00:43:00.039 the women's VNL starts this week, so we will 00:43:00.039 --> 00:43:03.139 see. We'll find out who the week one roster is 00:43:03.139 --> 00:43:07.300 for men this week, but they will play next week. 00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:10.840 Yeah, I think there's lots of interesting choices 00:43:10.840 --> 00:43:13.360 and futures ahead for both the men and the women. 00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.880 I'm really excited. for the competition to start, 00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:20.400 to see who steps up, to see who can elevate from 00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:22.920 college to pro against those different teams. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:24.860 Because it's a different level. It's a different 00:43:24.860 --> 00:43:27.139 expectation. It's a different pressure. It's 00:43:27.139 --> 00:43:30.380 a different game. Yeah. So I'm excited for the 00:43:30.380 --> 00:43:31.659 summer. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. 00:43:32.179 --> 00:43:34.000 All right. Let's dive into some listener questions. 00:43:35.579 --> 00:43:38.960 Question one. If Russia were allowed to play, 00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:41.599 would they be one of the top teams and favored 00:43:41.599 --> 00:43:45.519 in VNL and the Olympics? Yes. I think on the 00:43:45.519 --> 00:43:50.619 men's side, yes. Fair. The women were super strong 00:43:50.619 --> 00:43:54.840 like early 2000s. And they kind of were always 00:43:54.840 --> 00:43:57.420 good, but not like... In recent years, were good, 00:43:57.539 --> 00:44:01.739 but not dominant. The men, however, if they were 00:44:01.739 --> 00:44:05.179 allowed to play, I 100 % think that they would 00:44:05.179 --> 00:44:06.900 be contenders. You don't think the women would 00:44:06.900 --> 00:44:09.280 be in the mix? No, I said that they're like... 00:44:10.279 --> 00:44:13.179 Do I think that they would medal? No. Okay, so 00:44:13.179 --> 00:44:16.699 yeah, the Russian men are very good. That's what 00:44:16.699 --> 00:44:18.960 I'm saying. The men I think would medal. The 00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:22.059 women would be in the conversation of making 00:44:22.059 --> 00:44:25.519 a top eight or something, but I don't think that 00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:27.579 they would medal. Yeah, fair enough. I think 00:44:27.579 --> 00:44:30.679 that's accurate. Question two. Do you think most 00:44:30.679 --> 00:44:33.860 current college players are too young and unseasoned 00:44:33.860 --> 00:44:37.099 to make the VNL teams? Like, why not have a roster 00:44:37.099 --> 00:44:40.550 with... Izzy Stark, Andy Jackson, Olivia Babcock, 00:44:40.670 --> 00:44:43.170 Kennedy Martin, Brooklyn DeLay, Tori Stafford, 00:44:43.210 --> 00:44:47.889 etc. I mean, we've kind of already answered this, 00:44:48.010 --> 00:44:52.269 but we'll say it again. You have program expectations. 00:44:52.730 --> 00:44:56.210 You have... There's a transition in a process 00:44:56.210 --> 00:44:59.190 to going from college to pro. You have to learn 00:44:59.190 --> 00:45:01.289 how to travel. You have to learn how to deal 00:45:01.289 --> 00:45:04.110 with jet lag. You have to learn how to deal with 00:45:04.110 --> 00:45:05.929 all of these things that these college athletes 00:45:05.929 --> 00:45:08.969 aren't experienced to. It's not just about the 00:45:08.969 --> 00:45:12.110 volleyball. It's about understanding a totally 00:45:12.110 --> 00:45:15.530 different lifestyle and expectation. And having 00:45:15.530 --> 00:45:18.610 professionals who have done it before help guide 00:45:18.610 --> 00:45:21.210 you and mentor you is a big part of making that 00:45:21.210 --> 00:45:24.260 transition quicker. and more successful. And 00:45:24.260 --> 00:45:26.880 I think that's why you don't just see a college 00:45:26.880 --> 00:45:28.840 roster going and doing that. Well, and the other 00:45:28.840 --> 00:45:32.960 thing is, if you just had a college roster, you 00:45:32.960 --> 00:45:37.599 would see college volleyball. Having players 00:45:37.599 --> 00:45:40.460 with international experience, with professional 00:45:40.460 --> 00:45:45.239 experience, you, in being immersed in those environments, 00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:49.659 forces you to elevate your game, to learn new 00:45:49.659 --> 00:45:53.960 tactics, to figure out new tricks and techniques 00:45:53.960 --> 00:45:58.699 in how to score and be crafty and figure out 00:45:58.699 --> 00:46:02.519 how to be successful. Having that experience 00:46:02.519 --> 00:46:06.760 in the gym inherently transforms younger players 00:46:06.760 --> 00:46:10.460 to make them raise to that level as well. And 00:46:10.460 --> 00:46:13.079 so I think if you had a roster of just college 00:46:13.079 --> 00:46:16.119 kids, You'd be seeing college volleyball in the 00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:19.260 practice gym every day and they wouldn't get 00:46:19.260 --> 00:46:24.480 better in the sense of like learning how to figure 00:46:24.480 --> 00:46:28.400 it out. You would see, yeah, high level practices, 00:46:28.500 --> 00:46:32.400 but you wouldn't see them take that leap to be 00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:36.159 able to play at the next level. Well, I think 00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:39.559 Nikolov is a... prime example of that he grew 00:46:39.559 --> 00:46:42.360 up in a professional sport environment he came 00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:47.199 and he played one year in college was the dominant 00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:49.539 player in there and now he's going to go play 00:46:49.539 --> 00:46:52.059 pro and he's going to be good but he's not going 00:46:52.059 --> 00:46:53.840 to be a difference maker it's not going to be 00:46:53.840 --> 00:46:57.940 the best player it's just it's a different level 00:46:57.940 --> 00:47:01.139 okay question three in previous episodes you 00:47:01.139 --> 00:47:02.860 guys talked about needing to go overseas and 00:47:02.860 --> 00:47:06.199 train with the very best players and teams But 00:47:06.199 --> 00:47:09.559 how can USA home grow their players to rise up 00:47:09.559 --> 00:47:12.400 to that level? How did Italy and Turkey get to 00:47:12.400 --> 00:47:17.019 be so good in the first place? They paid money 00:47:17.019 --> 00:47:20.980 to bring top athletes to their leagues. Well, 00:47:21.079 --> 00:47:23.820 there's that, but there's a fundamental difference 00:47:23.820 --> 00:47:27.199 in how they approach athletics at a young age. 00:47:27.460 --> 00:47:32.119 Also that, yeah. I mean, that plays a huge role 00:47:32.119 --> 00:47:35.889 in... the 1 % of your athletes who are going 00:47:35.889 --> 00:47:37.809 to play professionally. Like those athletes, 00:47:37.989 --> 00:47:41.730 they don't go to school. They go to school, but 00:47:41.730 --> 00:47:44.230 they're training in a professional environment 00:47:44.230 --> 00:47:47.070 from the time they're 14, 15, 16. Like there's 00:47:47.070 --> 00:47:50.250 no club sports. Right. It's like, if you are 00:47:50.250 --> 00:47:53.469 identified as a good athlete, you go to high 00:47:53.469 --> 00:47:55.590 school and then you get sent to train with the 00:47:55.590 --> 00:48:00.130 pro team. And until that fundamentally changes 00:48:00.130 --> 00:48:03.119 in the US, which it won't. because you have such 00:48:03.119 --> 00:48:07.960 a big college experience, you won't see US and 00:48:07.960 --> 00:48:10.519 Canadian athletes develop at the same rate that 00:48:10.519 --> 00:48:13.519 European athletes do because it's not your only 00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:16.659 job. It's not your only, it's not the only thing 00:48:16.659 --> 00:48:18.659 you do. And you're not playing, like you're not 00:48:18.659 --> 00:48:22.739 14 playing with Nebraska, right? That 14 year 00:48:22.739 --> 00:48:24.400 old would be incredible being in that gym every 00:48:24.400 --> 00:48:26.539 day. It's just not an option here, which is why 00:48:26.539 --> 00:48:29.920 you see American players. and Canadian players 00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:32.519 generally hit their peaks a little bit later 00:48:32.519 --> 00:48:36.079 on. And, you know, love is a great start for 00:48:36.079 --> 00:48:38.400 that. And you might start to see some young kids 00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:41.199 coming into those gyms to practice and do that, 00:48:41.260 --> 00:48:43.239 which I think is the beginning of that transition. 00:48:43.559 --> 00:48:47.500 But you're missing that experience for the young 00:48:47.500 --> 00:48:51.280 athletes. And I think that's ideally how Italy 00:48:51.280 --> 00:48:54.420 and Turkey and the rest of Europe, quite frankly, 00:48:54.480 --> 00:48:56.119 build their athletes, which is different than 00:48:56.119 --> 00:48:59.670 North America. Like you don't see 16 year olds 00:48:59.670 --> 00:49:03.030 in North America finish high school and then 00:49:03.030 --> 00:49:07.030 go train with a love team. Like, you know, like 00:49:07.030 --> 00:49:10.570 the top 1%. They finish their class and then 00:49:10.570 --> 00:49:14.570 they go play with their own age. In Europe, as 00:49:14.570 --> 00:49:17.269 Adam was saying, you finish class and you go 00:49:17.269 --> 00:49:19.889 train with your top team. And then on the weekends 00:49:19.889 --> 00:49:23.570 you go to compete with your age. Huge difference. 00:49:23.989 --> 00:49:28.940 Yeah. But. I will stand by what I said. Even 00:49:28.940 --> 00:49:34.840 though that system is inherently creating better 00:49:34.840 --> 00:49:38.039 athletes, those countries in Italy and Turkey 00:49:38.039 --> 00:49:42.380 also made the investment to bring foreign athletes 00:49:42.380 --> 00:49:45.579 in and they made it worth their while to be there, 00:49:45.780 --> 00:49:49.019 which further increased the level in their gym, 00:49:49.179 --> 00:49:52.380 which further increased the level of their young 00:49:52.380 --> 00:49:56.949 athletes. They're like... domestic young athletes 00:49:56.949 --> 00:50:01.989 so they just don't prioritize post -secondary 00:50:01.989 --> 00:50:04.210 education in the same way that North Americans 00:50:04.210 --> 00:50:08.530 do and I I am a proponent for academics and education 00:50:08.530 --> 00:50:14.309 so yeah it's there it's a pros and cons for both 00:50:14.309 --> 00:50:18.630 systems yeah question four I was wondering what 00:50:18.630 --> 00:50:21.090 you guys think about Virginia Adriano going to 00:50:21.090 --> 00:50:24.949 Nebraska and then we actually had another that 00:50:24.949 --> 00:50:28.289 was very closely tied to this. How are foreign 00:50:28.289 --> 00:50:31.469 pro players allowed to play NCAA? Because Virginia 00:50:31.469 --> 00:50:35.610 Adriano has been playing in A2 and I think most 00:50:35.610 --> 00:50:39.590 recently A1 Italy. I asked some questions about 00:50:39.590 --> 00:50:44.869 this because I have also been wondering how professionally 00:50:44.869 --> 00:50:49.909 paid athletes are able to play NCAA. Back in 00:50:49.909 --> 00:50:54.389 my day, We saw some programs get stripped of 00:50:54.389 --> 00:50:58.829 their NCAA titles when it came about that athletes 00:50:58.829 --> 00:51:02.489 on their team had earned money in Europe. Not 00:51:02.489 --> 00:51:05.849 the case anymore, apparently. So I found out 00:51:05.849 --> 00:51:09.929 that Italy in particular does not view volleyball 00:51:09.929 --> 00:51:15.889 as a professional sport. They only declare basketball 00:51:15.889 --> 00:51:19.590 and soccer to be true professional sports because 00:51:19.590 --> 00:51:23.469 there are certain... guidelines in Italy that 00:51:23.469 --> 00:51:27.070 you have to meet and standards to really be qualified. 00:51:27.210 --> 00:51:29.210 You guys, volleyball is a professional sport, 00:51:29.309 --> 00:51:31.869 okay? I don't care. Nonsense. They might not 00:51:31.869 --> 00:51:34.530 be official, but these women are making money. 00:51:34.869 --> 00:51:41.929 I think the NIL has made this very fuzzy. That's 00:51:41.929 --> 00:51:43.590 what I was going to say. She is a professional 00:51:43.590 --> 00:51:46.449 athlete. I don't care what anybody says. She 00:51:46.449 --> 00:51:50.710 might not be making seven figures like some of 00:51:50.710 --> 00:51:53.010 the top athletes out there, but she is making 00:51:53.010 --> 00:51:56.190 more money than she would ever have as expenses. 00:51:57.170 --> 00:52:00.030 She's also not making as much money as Tori Stafford, 00:52:00.050 --> 00:52:02.530 so who cares? Well, exactly, and that's the thing. 00:52:04.409 --> 00:52:06.750 You're paying athletes to play now anyway. Yeah, 00:52:06.750 --> 00:52:12.340 NIL has made this so fuzzy that... Yeah, a Tory 00:52:12.340 --> 00:52:15.500 Stafford or a Kennedy Martin who go and sign 00:52:15.500 --> 00:52:19.079 these NIL deals are making more than these European 00:52:19.079 --> 00:52:23.559 kids were making playing professionally. These 00:52:23.559 --> 00:52:26.980 European athletes are very young, so are they 00:52:26.980 --> 00:52:29.559 being paid top dollar in the countries they're 00:52:29.559 --> 00:52:33.559 playing? No. But they're also, they are pros, 00:52:33.880 --> 00:52:36.980 but NIL is paying players more. So I think it's 00:52:36.980 --> 00:52:40.500 hard to argue. when that's the case well and 00:52:40.500 --> 00:52:42.800 if we're talking about raising the level of a 00:52:42.800 --> 00:52:45.059 game like you want those athletes to come over 00:52:45.059 --> 00:52:47.300 here and play the nebraska players will get better 00:52:47.300 --> 00:52:49.599 playing against her when she's in the gym like 00:52:49.599 --> 00:52:52.699 this is similar to what you see in the european 00:52:52.699 --> 00:52:54.599 clubs right the young players and not that they're 00:52:54.599 --> 00:52:57.360 the same college age but now you have better 00:52:57.360 --> 00:53:00.099 athletes in the gym that raises the level and 00:53:00.099 --> 00:53:02.820 i agree if the ncaa players weren't getting nil 00:53:02.820 --> 00:53:05.159 money this is unfair but now they're being played 00:53:05.159 --> 00:53:07.340 paid to play as well so what's the difference 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:10.719 Well, and I don't know this for sure, but I'm 00:53:10.719 --> 00:53:13.760 willing to bet that Nebraska offered her more 00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:18.780 than she was making professionally because otherwise, 00:53:18.920 --> 00:53:23.719 why would she go? Quite frankly, she was in A1. 00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:26.019 She had made it, started to make a name for herself. 00:53:26.239 --> 00:53:29.360 She was playing internationally for Italy. She 00:53:29.360 --> 00:53:35.329 has no reason to come to the NCAA. and pause 00:53:35.329 --> 00:53:38.289 her professional career unless they were paying 00:53:38.289 --> 00:53:40.389 her more than she was making professionally, 00:53:40.550 --> 00:53:43.230 which I would be willing to bet is the case. 00:53:43.429 --> 00:53:45.469 Yeah, that's fair. Or she's really smart and 00:53:45.469 --> 00:53:48.150 she wanted an education. Given everything we 00:53:48.150 --> 00:53:50.829 just said about the priority of education, I 00:53:50.829 --> 00:53:55.130 don't know her. Maybe that's true, but probably 00:53:55.130 --> 00:53:58.409 not. Yeah, that's a good pickup for them, though. 00:53:58.650 --> 00:54:01.909 Yeah. Thanks so much for these questions, everybody. 00:54:02.070 --> 00:54:04.130 I say it every week and I mean it every week. 00:54:04.150 --> 00:54:06.070 We love them. We love to see what you guys are 00:54:06.070 --> 00:54:08.809 wondering about and coming up with. So keep them 00:54:08.809 --> 00:54:12.309 coming. So let's look forward to the week. Let's 00:54:12.309 --> 00:54:14.949 highlight a few things. VNL is starting. We've 00:54:14.949 --> 00:54:17.710 been in a bit of a volleyball lull the last couple 00:54:17.710 --> 00:54:20.690 of weeks. But my time on the couch is about to 00:54:20.690 --> 00:54:24.670 increase and I'm looking forward to it. So VNL 00:54:24.670 --> 00:54:28.130 starts this week. There's matches going on all 00:54:28.130 --> 00:54:30.789 day, every day, everywhere in the world. They're 00:54:30.789 --> 00:54:35.230 all on VBTV, which you can get a subscription 00:54:35.230 --> 00:54:40.289 online for more than you could before. At least 00:54:40.289 --> 00:54:42.170 in the US. I don't know what they did to pricing 00:54:42.170 --> 00:54:44.210 elsewhere in the world, but they've jacked those 00:54:44.210 --> 00:54:49.150 prices for the US, which is shady. Yeah. So here 00:54:49.150 --> 00:54:53.530 are the times that you can watch, you know, reasonably. 00:54:54.360 --> 00:54:56.340 In the U .S., but there are matches everywhere. 00:54:56.440 --> 00:54:58.940 And to be fair, all of the matches are on demand, 00:54:59.039 --> 00:55:00.559 so you can watch them whenever you want after 00:55:00.559 --> 00:55:02.239 they've happened. But if you want to watch live, 00:55:02.420 --> 00:55:03.619 here's a few I would pay attention to. Well, 00:55:03.619 --> 00:55:09.059 we picked one match per location for the week 00:55:09.059 --> 00:55:11.699 of the ones that we thought would, A, the time 00:55:11.699 --> 00:55:15.860 isn't ridiculous, and B, was a good match. So 00:55:15.860 --> 00:55:21.559 Thursday, we've got USA versus Brazil at 8 p 00:55:21.559 --> 00:55:25.900 .m. Eastern. That's must watch. I'm very curious. 00:55:26.800 --> 00:55:29.599 I think these first couple matches for the U 00:55:29.599 --> 00:55:31.260 .S. on the women's side will kind of set the 00:55:31.260 --> 00:55:33.539 tone. Well, they can't play Italy first first. 00:55:34.099 --> 00:55:39.059 Well, yeah, but I mean, that result is probably 00:55:39.059 --> 00:55:41.679 written in the books. But against Brazil with 00:55:41.679 --> 00:55:44.000 Nogabi and a few other players, I think that 00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:48.119 should be a decent match. Saturday at 4 p .m. 00:55:48.119 --> 00:55:52.050 Eastern, we've got Canada versus Japan. I'm curious 00:55:52.050 --> 00:55:54.510 to see. Very different styles. Yeah. But two 00:55:54.510 --> 00:55:57.969 similarly ranked teams. So I'm looking forward 00:55:57.969 --> 00:55:59.789 to seeing that one and seeing what Canada can 00:55:59.789 --> 00:56:02.349 put on the floor. They got a new coach. They're 00:56:02.349 --> 00:56:06.010 in Canada. So expectations will be high. Japan 00:56:06.010 --> 00:56:09.809 is very technical, very fast, very good. So that 00:56:09.809 --> 00:56:11.590 should be a good one to watch. And then Sunday 00:56:11.590 --> 00:56:15.829 at 7 .30 a .m. Eastern, we got Turkey versus 00:56:15.829 --> 00:56:22.179 China, which... Turkey's coming off a good year 00:56:22.179 --> 00:56:26.900 minus the Olympics, and China is always good. 00:56:28.099 --> 00:56:30.599 China's got a little bit of turnover, but they're 00:56:30.599 --> 00:56:33.139 playing at home, and Turkey is bringing back 00:56:33.139 --> 00:56:37.099 most of their Olympic roster. I'm not sure who 00:56:37.099 --> 00:56:39.800 Turkey actually announced for their week one, 00:56:39.860 --> 00:56:43.309 though. But again, that should be a pretty good 00:56:43.309 --> 00:56:44.650 game. So if you're looking for some volleyball, 00:56:44.949 --> 00:56:46.789 there's definitely things to watch this week. 00:56:47.409 --> 00:56:50.190 Those would be our choices. But yeah, let us 00:56:50.190 --> 00:56:52.929 know what you think as you watch all of the volleyball 00:56:52.929 --> 00:56:56.090 that's now available. That concludes this week's 00:56:56.090 --> 00:56:58.090 episode of Volley Talk. There's always something 00:56:58.090 --> 00:56:59.949 shaking in the volleyball world, and we hope 00:56:59.949 --> 00:57:02.750 you enjoyed this little fix. Be sure to follow 00:57:02.750 --> 00:57:04.849 the show so you don't miss any updates, and we'd 00:57:04.849 --> 00:57:07.170 be so grateful if you'd leave us a five -star 00:57:07.170 --> 00:57:10.429 review. You can also find us on Instagram at 00:57:10.429 --> 00:57:13.469 volleytalk underscore podcast. If you have a 00:57:13.469 --> 00:57:15.349 topic that you'd like us to discuss, be sure 00:57:15.349 --> 00:57:17.530 to let us know by reaching out to us on Instagram 00:57:17.530 --> 00:57:21.750 or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much 00:57:21.750 --> 00:57:24.030 for joining us, and we'll be back next week.