WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080 Hi, volleyball fans, and welcome back to Volley 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.200 Talk, the podcast created for volleyball lovers 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:06.540 who want to dig deep into what is going on in 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:09.820 NCAA and international volleyball. I'm your host, 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:11.660 Sarah Pavan. I'm an Olympian, beach volleyball 00:00:11.660 --> 00:00:14.640 world champion, former Nebraska Cornhusker, and 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.179 longtime pro, both indoor and on the beach. And 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:20.480 I'm Adam Schultz, former indoor player, international 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.239 volleyball coach, and the show's resident stat 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:29.379 guy. So week one of the men's VNL is over. And 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:33.740 we saw, honestly, a lot of parody across the 00:00:33.740 --> 00:00:36.640 board. An absurd amount of five set matches. 00:00:36.979 --> 00:00:41.500 Which is why we weren't able to watch as many 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:43.920 matches as we did last week, because literally 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:47.780 every match, it seemed, was going five. It was 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:51.140 wild. It was an investment of time. It really 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:55.500 was. We do have a couple of teams that have separated 00:00:55.500 --> 00:00:59.570 themselves early, but... I mean, we said it last 00:00:59.570 --> 00:01:02.210 week with the women, but it's even more so this 00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:05.269 week with the men. Things are very much still 00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:09.150 up for grabs from top to bottom. So nobody's 00:01:09.150 --> 00:01:12.930 out of it yet. Nobody's safe yet. Which, honestly, 00:01:13.230 --> 00:01:17.409 you'll love to see it, really. I think the heartbreak 00:01:17.409 --> 00:01:20.730 of the week goes to Germany, though. Oh my gosh, 00:01:20.810 --> 00:01:23.329 poor guys. They lost a lot of five -setters. 00:01:23.349 --> 00:01:25.209 They won their last one, though. They did, and 00:01:25.209 --> 00:01:27.530 I was happy to see that. But up until that point, 00:01:27.629 --> 00:01:31.689 it was, man, you're almost there, and you're 00:01:31.689 --> 00:01:34.250 just losing in three. Like, crazy. Yeah, it was 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:37.250 tough. But we are going to take a look at what 00:01:37.250 --> 00:01:39.890 happened in that competition, share a little 00:01:39.890 --> 00:01:42.989 bit of news from the women's side as we head 00:01:42.989 --> 00:01:45.930 into week two. As always, we're very excited 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:49.010 to talk volleyball with you, so let's get started. 00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:05.700 Let's just go through a few weekly highlights, 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:08.659 shall we? Of course, we always have to report 00:02:08.659 --> 00:02:12.259 on the love signings. So we've got a few this 00:02:12.259 --> 00:02:16.919 week. First one is Alexis Hart. She was originally 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:20.020 supposed to play season one of Love, but suffered 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:25.840 a really tough knee injury. So she is back. She's 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.819 ready to play season two. She played at the University 00:02:28.819 --> 00:02:31.840 of Minnesota. And has played pro in Finland and 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:36.240 Germany. So she is joining. Isabella Bergmark. 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:42.219 She played at Texas. I want to say in 2022. Three 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:45.860 -ish. She played pro in France. Is she getting 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:48.199 an invite to the national team? Only if she plays 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:56.719 for Austin. And a huge one here. Chinese opposite 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.810 and captain Gong Xiong Yu. Signed. Oh, that is 00:03:01.810 --> 00:03:05.469 a big signing. That's massive. So they have collected 00:03:05.469 --> 00:03:09.629 a few big names so far. Do you know how old that 00:03:09.629 --> 00:03:12.389 Chinese player is? I want to say she's only like 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:19.150 26, 27. When I played in China, she was playing 00:03:19.150 --> 00:03:21.349 for the same team, Jiangsu. I want to say she 00:03:21.349 --> 00:03:25.349 was only like 17 at that time. Little baby. she's 00:03:25.349 --> 00:03:29.689 probably around 26 27 at this point so yes some 00:03:29.689 --> 00:03:34.250 big names they are making it happen so let's 00:03:34.250 --> 00:03:37.949 see what other players they're able to collect 00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:43.250 heading into this season women's vnl week two 00:03:43.250 --> 00:03:47.129 is coming up and i'm not gonna lie to you i didn't 00:03:47.129 --> 00:03:51.599 dive deep into which teams are bringing who. 00:03:51.819 --> 00:03:53.539 Well, not all the rosters are out yet because 00:03:53.539 --> 00:03:56.340 I did look and they're sporadically posted. It's 00:03:56.340 --> 00:03:59.580 hard to find them. It's hard to find them unless 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:04.159 the countries are very media forward. Into their 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:09.280 social media. So these are the things that kind 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:15.099 of came across my feed in my less than diligent. 00:04:15.790 --> 00:04:19.709 diving into this, I'm not going to lie. So Italy 00:04:19.709 --> 00:04:24.970 this week is leaving Oro, Silla, and Antropova 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:29.889 at home, but that's it. They're still coming 00:04:29.889 --> 00:04:34.129 with Anna Danesi, Sarah Farr, Paola Egonu, Moki 00:04:34.129 --> 00:04:38.389 Dagenaro. They're still moving and shaking. So 00:04:38.389 --> 00:04:40.670 they're rotating players through to give them 00:04:40.670 --> 00:04:44.069 a break while still wanting to win. Exactly. 00:04:44.269 --> 00:04:46.680 Yeah. I mean, I appreciate that. They're not 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:50.819 doing wholesale changes. They're letting players 00:04:50.819 --> 00:04:55.300 rest bit by bit. I'm guessing Carlotta Camby 00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:58.720 will be setting. So, I mean, they've got the 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:02.139 right side, the middle, Libero. I mean, Camby's 00:05:02.139 --> 00:05:06.240 a competent setter. Locked down. We'll see how 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:09.360 the outsides do. But I think, I mean, they'll 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:14.170 probably be fine. In Canadian news. I'm not sure 00:05:14.170 --> 00:05:17.970 if anybody saw the final match that Canada played 00:05:17.970 --> 00:05:21.509 against Serbia last week, but right near the 00:05:21.509 --> 00:05:23.410 end when Canada was making their comeback in 00:05:23.410 --> 00:05:27.310 set five, Brie O 'Reilly went up for a solo stuff 00:05:27.310 --> 00:05:30.709 block, came down, looked like she had really 00:05:30.709 --> 00:05:34.110 hurt her ankle, was taken off the court for the 00:05:34.110 --> 00:05:37.350 last few points. Turns out she is out for the 00:05:37.350 --> 00:05:41.110 rest of the summer. Not great. Well, it gets 00:05:41.110 --> 00:05:44.639 worse. Word on the street is that Kira van Rijk 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.279 will not be playing for the rest of VNL either. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:51.519 Death blow. Yeah. If losing Brie O 'Reilly was 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:57.100 bad, losing Kira van Rijk is tragic. I mean, 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:00.459 without her, O 'Reilly, and Alexa Gray, that's 00:06:00.459 --> 00:06:03.160 essentially your best three players. Without 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:06.240 a doubt. So instead of taking the Italian model... 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.740 Of being competitive. They're just getting rid 00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:10.500 of all of their top players. And we're just going 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:12.079 to see what happens. Now, I don't know exactly 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.720 what the deal is with Van Rijk. I have heard 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.500 rumors off the record. Which, out of respect 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:21.959 for those people, I will not share that. But, 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:26.120 yeah. Riley is an injury. Van Rijk up in the 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:29.060 air. They're in trouble. Period. It's not going 00:06:29.060 --> 00:06:30.319 to be pretty. They're not going to be able to 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.459 score points. But you know what I think a positive 00:06:32.459 --> 00:06:35.389 is? And I never look at the positives, you guys, 00:06:35.449 --> 00:06:40.110 so remember this moment. At least some other 00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:41.790 players are going to have to figure out how to 00:06:41.790 --> 00:06:45.550 score. Because they rely so heavily on Kira Van 00:06:45.550 --> 00:06:48.329 Ryk to score points. She's like the only one. 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:52.269 That now, if they want to hit double digits, 00:06:52.829 --> 00:06:55.350 you know, somebody's going to have to figure 00:06:55.350 --> 00:06:58.250 it out. Guidetti is going to get a really good 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:04.129 hold on people's... personality, grit, what they're 00:07:04.129 --> 00:07:06.370 willing to do, what they're capable of. I mean, 00:07:06.389 --> 00:07:08.970 you never want to see this, but if it was going 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:11.949 to happen year one after the Olympics for the 00:07:11.949 --> 00:07:16.449 VNL is kind of the best timing for an unfortunate 00:07:16.449 --> 00:07:19.529 situation. And you know what? Maybe those two 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:22.490 will be back for Worlds, and then by that point, 00:07:22.589 --> 00:07:25.269 the other players will have had time to develop 00:07:25.269 --> 00:07:28.800 literally being thrown into the fire. I mean, 00:07:28.819 --> 00:07:30.079 you're at a fork in the road in the program. 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:33.019 The V &L is either going to be an absolute disaster 00:07:33.019 --> 00:07:35.980 for them the rest of the way, or they're going 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:37.959 to figure it out and a couple people are going 00:07:37.959 --> 00:07:42.480 to step up and kind of earn a spot. Well, let's 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.800 see what they're made of. So the U .S., being 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:48.480 a big volleyball country, is social media forward 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.459 and did post their roster online for who's going 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:54.480 to week two of V &L. The Americans love the social 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:58.319 media. So what are we looking at here? Changes 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.779 at libero. Changes at middle. And then concerns 00:08:02.779 --> 00:08:06.000 about setters and outsides from yours truly. 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:11.720 So as we predicted, Zoe Jarvis sent home. Lexi 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:14.300 Rodriguez is replacing her. We, as we predicted 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:19.000 also, Anna Dodson, Serena Gray being left home. 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:22.279 They are being replaced by Breon Butler and Dana 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.279 Redkey. Totally fine with that. Now, I heard. 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:30.319 So we have the same setters as week one. Rachel 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.200 Fairbanks is going as an alternate. Instead of 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.320 Jordan Poulter. I heard that Poulter and Gray 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:40.779 are not at 100%. Who knows? But if you're wondering 00:08:40.779 --> 00:08:43.600 why the setter situation is what it is, that 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:45.679 is what I heard. I mean, Poulter didn't play 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:47.980 anyway. You're just missing a little... Well, 00:08:48.019 --> 00:08:49.700 you're missing the only coach, maybe, for the 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:52.440 team that was there in the last round. You're 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:57.570 not wrong. And... Okay. So that's the deal with 00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:00.669 the setters. The outsides, we are looking at 00:09:00.669 --> 00:09:07.090 the same four. Skinner, Ronnie Jones -Perry, 00:09:07.370 --> 00:09:11.549 Logan Eggleston, Sarah Franklin. Do we have any 00:09:11.549 --> 00:09:15.110 update on Avery Skinner? I don't know where she 00:09:15.110 --> 00:09:17.289 is. I don't know why she's not going. I don't 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:20.009 know why Lanier's not going. I don't know where 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:25.230 Mackenzie Adams is. No idea. Same opposites, 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:28.490 Babcock and Lednicki. I mean, I'm fine with that. 00:09:28.909 --> 00:09:31.789 You want to give Babcock another shot. Lednicki 00:09:31.789 --> 00:09:35.070 was fine. You know, see if she can get a little 00:09:35.070 --> 00:09:37.629 more comfortable. I thought she was okay last 00:09:37.629 --> 00:09:39.250 time. I want to see her take a few more risks. 00:09:39.370 --> 00:09:41.110 I think she needs to be a little more terminal 00:09:41.110 --> 00:09:44.590 if she wants that spot. But yeah, the outsides. 00:09:44.789 --> 00:09:46.570 Who's going to pass? Yeah, I thought you needed 00:09:46.570 --> 00:09:49.679 to make a change there. I said it last week, 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:51.460 Skinner and Eggleston can't be on the court at 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:54.460 the same time. Can they be on the roster at the 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.600 same time is also a question. Like, where are 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:01.700 these other players? Anyway, that is what's happening. 00:10:01.940 --> 00:10:04.220 I had a lot of questions when I saw that roster. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.919 Honestly, given the injury situation that I've 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.259 heard about and the changes they made, I'm fine. 00:10:10.500 --> 00:10:13.139 I can understand everything except the outside 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:15.500 position. Yeah, I thought you needed to change. 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:18.539 Now, if they're not available, they're not available. 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:22.720 But one of those other three, you need it to 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:25.720 bring, in my opinion. Change something. Because 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:30.019 you can't go one for three this week and expect 00:10:30.019 --> 00:10:35.620 to make it to playoffs. And their pool is no 00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:39.480 cakewalk. I mean, they have Canada now, who doesn't 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.860 have any players going. Oh, they already played 00:10:42.860 --> 00:10:44.960 Korea. I think Korea's going. Belgium's there. 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:49.350 regardless, nothing's a gimme. Yeah. So we had 00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:52.750 a bunch of questions kind of asking us where 00:10:52.750 --> 00:10:55.250 we put our focus in our episodes and why we talk 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:57.429 about what we talk about. So I know that we've 00:10:57.429 --> 00:11:00.409 done a lot of talk about the US and Canadian 00:11:00.409 --> 00:11:02.950 rosters. And that's because the majority of the 00:11:02.950 --> 00:11:05.970 questions that we get via Instagram or on YouTube 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:10.350 are about those teams. And we have a whole bunch 00:11:10.350 --> 00:11:13.730 of American listeners. Now, I will say that there 00:11:13.730 --> 00:11:17.039 were a lot of Turkish fans who posted questions 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:19.820 and asked, why are we not covering that team 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:23.039 a little bit more? Fair. Yeah, we are more than 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.480 happy to talk about every team. It's just like 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.179 the feedback we get and the questions we get, 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.659 that's kind of what directs our attention because 00:11:31.659 --> 00:11:34.860 that's the engagement. So keep the questions 00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:36.820 coming. We're open to talk about absolutely everything. 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:41.220 Those were the happenings this week. It'll be 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:45.070 interesting to see. which rosters from other 00:11:45.070 --> 00:11:46.889 countries show up at the Women's VNL Week 2. 00:11:48.129 --> 00:11:53.169 I'm expecting to see a few more complete rosters. 00:11:53.629 --> 00:11:58.009 The players have had two weeks at home. I'm expecting 00:11:58.009 --> 00:12:02.490 to see a few more rosters that we might see at 00:12:02.490 --> 00:12:05.129 Worlds or more players. Or a few more players. 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:07.570 Again, you're not complete. You're going to rest 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:10.409 some players, but I'm expecting a little more 00:12:10.409 --> 00:12:13.769 competition from the top rosters. Okay, so as 00:12:13.769 --> 00:12:16.970 we mentioned at the top of the episode, this 00:12:16.970 --> 00:12:20.889 was, or last week was, week one on the men's 00:12:20.889 --> 00:12:25.210 side of BNL. So as a little recap, Poland is 00:12:25.210 --> 00:12:28.330 currently the only undefeated team. Is there 00:12:28.330 --> 00:12:31.509 any shock there? Well, and we'll get into roster 00:12:31.509 --> 00:12:33.730 construction a little bit later, but they've 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:37.730 done that with none of their Olympians from Paris, 00:12:37.970 --> 00:12:45.480 which that is... slightly shocking i think japan 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:49.440 brazil italy slovenia they all have three wins 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.200 so those teams make up the two through five rankings 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:59.080 japan was in poland's group this past week i 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:03.059 believe poland beat them 3 -1 and then there 00:13:03.059 --> 00:13:08.519 are six teams with just one win but serbia is 00:13:08.519 --> 00:13:12.690 currently at the bottom of because they have 00:13:12.690 --> 00:13:16.330 just a 0 .3 set ratio. So Serbia is currently 00:13:16.330 --> 00:13:19.269 on the bottom of both men's and women's. That 00:13:19.269 --> 00:13:21.970 was a little surprising to me, given that they 00:13:21.970 --> 00:13:24.830 have the second most Olympians on their roster 00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:27.929 for this round. Honestly, we can get into it. 00:13:27.970 --> 00:13:32.289 I was not impressed. I don't think there were 00:13:32.289 --> 00:13:35.710 very many teams that I was. unimpressed with 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:38.769 this week. Like you didn't have teams go over, 00:13:38.929 --> 00:13:41.889 you didn't really have, I mean, a ton of blowouts. 00:13:41.889 --> 00:13:45.470 Like they were competitive back and forth, teams 00:13:45.470 --> 00:13:48.389 winning sets. Like it was, it was a good week. 00:13:48.549 --> 00:13:51.129 Yeah. There weren't many moments that I was like, 00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:55.269 what is going on here anyway? And I know Serbia 00:13:55.269 --> 00:13:57.409 is second last in women. So before you type it 00:13:57.409 --> 00:14:00.029 in, don't worry. I know Curry's at the bottom. 00:14:00.610 --> 00:14:05.769 So yeah. Again, there is no, there's so much 00:14:05.769 --> 00:14:09.330 parity right now. The fact that Poland got off 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:12.710 to the start they did is great. I think, you 00:14:12.710 --> 00:14:15.529 know, the teams that are in the three -win column, 00:14:15.590 --> 00:14:20.049 I'm not shocked. Poland's starters are sitting 00:14:20.049 --> 00:14:22.389 at home with their feet going, attaboy, boys. 00:14:22.570 --> 00:14:25.860 We're going to stay home another week. No, they 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:28.779 got to go to Chicago next week and they have 00:14:28.779 --> 00:14:32.480 got a gnarly pool there. So we might, who knows 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:34.440 what will happen? I don't know. You can never 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:37.159 predict in these situations, but that is where 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:41.960 we stand after week one. There honestly is just 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:43.940 like a small group at the top and then everybody 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.940 else is the same pretty much. Which were the 00:14:46.940 --> 00:14:50.919 teams? Again, we have trouble. We didn't watch 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:52.559 many of the games that happened in China. I watched 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:55.049 a couple of them. We didn't get a chance to watch 00:14:55.049 --> 00:14:57.809 absolutely every team, so keep that in mind. 00:14:57.830 --> 00:15:01.629 If we miss your team or your guy or whatever, 00:15:01.850 --> 00:15:04.289 we didn't get a chance to see absolutely everybody, 00:15:04.389 --> 00:15:07.009 so we will inevitably miss something. But of 00:15:07.009 --> 00:15:11.190 the teams that we were able to watch, who were 00:15:11.190 --> 00:15:14.549 you most impressed by and were there any disappointments 00:15:14.549 --> 00:15:19.370 team -wise? Okay, so my favorite match that I 00:15:19.370 --> 00:15:22.200 watched was the France -Italy match. I thought 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:27.360 that was a spectacular match. I expected Italy 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.240 to be good. They have five Olympians from their 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.500 other roster. From Paris. From Paris. Yeah, so 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:37.120 when I mention Olympians in this episode, it's 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.240 all about athletes who played in Paris. I was 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:42.279 a little curious because France has the youngest 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:46.259 roster of Week 1 in VNL with an average age of 00:15:46.259 --> 00:15:54.000 23. They had... Two players under 22 start for 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.299 them, including a 19 -year -old setter who I 00:15:57.299 --> 00:16:00.240 thought was phenomenal. And they had a 17 -year 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:02.740 -old come off the bench. Yeah, and then Heno 00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:06.360 on the left side at 20 I thought also was very 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:09.740 good. My favorite player of the week, Klevno, 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:17.370 was just straight up unbelievable. That guy can 00:16:17.370 --> 00:16:20.809 hit two inches of fingers from anywhere on the 00:16:20.809 --> 00:16:24.809 court. It's absolutely absurd how efficient he 00:16:24.809 --> 00:16:28.769 is. His defensive positioning is out of this 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:32.809 world. He touches everything. He was poetry to 00:16:32.809 --> 00:16:35.730 watch on the court. I loved watching that game. 00:16:35.830 --> 00:16:38.129 I was surprised by France, just given how young 00:16:38.129 --> 00:16:41.250 their roster was. France didn't have all of their 00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:43.710 Olympians there, but Klevno was just unbelievable. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.840 That was one positive surprise for me, watching 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:51.220 them play. I thought France was good. I was also 00:16:51.220 --> 00:16:54.100 pleasantly surprised by Canada's performance. 00:16:54.460 --> 00:17:00.279 I thought, given that Marr wasn't playing, they 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:03.600 have a brand new coach with a brand new system. 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:09.220 Marr, Lepke, Schwartz, Steven Yanko, like literally. 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.720 So many. Yeah. And, you know, in fairness, they 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:14.759 had five guys who were at the last Olympics, 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:17.400 but weren't necessarily kind of their main players. 00:17:17.500 --> 00:17:22.299 So I expected them to take a step back. And I 00:17:22.299 --> 00:17:26.200 was impressed with their focus and discipline. 00:17:26.819 --> 00:17:29.140 Now, I know the five set matches they lost in 00:17:29.140 --> 00:17:31.880 the fifth set, they weren't close, but they were 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:34.339 better than I expected them to be. So that was 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:36.660 I was pleasantly surprised by them. Yeah, I would 00:17:36.660 --> 00:17:38.799 say those were the two. Those are the two big 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:43.319 ones. Okay, we overlapped in one of them. I had 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:48.180 France as a team that I was so impressed by. 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:54.400 I, Klevno, same thing. I'm like, dang. I was 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:57.420 obsessed with him this week. Oh man, it was wild. 00:17:57.660 --> 00:18:02.359 He is so good. And I, okay. France has, what, 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:06.690 I think they have like 10 of their... or 11 Olympians 00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:10.730 from Paris on their wide roster. But when I saw, 00:18:10.869 --> 00:18:13.089 like, they had Teofor there, they had Klevno, 00:18:13.250 --> 00:18:17.490 and then very, very young guys. And so I was 00:18:17.490 --> 00:18:21.190 not expecting much from them at all, but I loved 00:18:21.190 --> 00:18:25.049 watching them play. I thought they were so good. 00:18:25.690 --> 00:18:31.069 Their setter, as you mentioned, at 19. Yeah, 00:18:31.309 --> 00:18:36.119 France shocked me. And while Four and Klevno 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:40.680 did carry a heavy load, you know, one of their 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:42.880 young guys in Heno got injured. They brought 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.460 someone off the bench who did amazing. They ran 00:18:45.460 --> 00:18:49.680 their middle well. I just, I loved watching them 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:54.220 play. My second team that surprised me was Bulgaria. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:59.299 Oh, good pick. Fair. I wasn't expecting much 00:18:59.299 --> 00:19:06.349 from them at all. They won two matches. They 00:19:06.349 --> 00:19:10.890 pushed teams to the distance. They kind of let 00:19:10.890 --> 00:19:12.750 up a little in their last match against Canada, 00:19:12.869 --> 00:19:16.470 getting beat three straight. But going into it, 00:19:16.509 --> 00:19:21.950 I was like, eh, they'll be okay. But they managed 00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:23.829 to put some really good performances together. 00:19:24.710 --> 00:19:28.470 And yeah, they were also a pleasant surprise 00:19:28.470 --> 00:19:31.309 for me. And while their roster isn't technically 00:19:31.309 --> 00:19:35.890 younger, than France's they have four starters 00:19:35.890 --> 00:19:40.690 under the age of 22 playing big minutes for them 00:19:40.690 --> 00:19:43.930 including like you said their setter so they're 00:19:43.930 --> 00:19:46.609 gonna be they're only gonna get better like their 00:19:46.609 --> 00:19:50.069 their ceiling is is very high I think were there 00:19:50.069 --> 00:19:54.430 any teams that you were less than impressed with 00:19:54.430 --> 00:19:57.609 I you know I didn't watch any games where it 00:19:57.609 --> 00:20:00.789 was blowouts and I wasn't I was thinking, man, 00:20:00.829 --> 00:20:03.430 this is not what I expected. And in fairness, 00:20:03.569 --> 00:20:05.890 before we talk about our highlights, I didn't 00:20:05.890 --> 00:20:09.849 watch Poland or Japan play. Okay, I watched Japan 00:20:09.849 --> 00:20:13.230 play against Serbia, and I watched that game 00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:16.869 because I had high hopes for it, and I know that 00:20:16.869 --> 00:20:21.269 I can't necessarily make a broad conclusion about 00:20:21.269 --> 00:20:25.470 Serbia after watching one game, but I expected 00:20:25.470 --> 00:20:29.069 more from them. I understand that the Japanese 00:20:29.069 --> 00:20:31.950 style is very different than theirs, and sometimes 00:20:31.950 --> 00:20:38.509 the styles just don't mesh well. I don't know 00:20:38.509 --> 00:20:41.829 if that was it, but just watching Serbia play, 00:20:42.029 --> 00:20:47.089 I was underwhelmed. I will say one other thing 00:20:47.089 --> 00:20:49.450 that surprised me was I was expecting the Chinese 00:20:49.450 --> 00:20:54.460 men team to be the Korea of the men's side. won 00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:56.599 a few matches i didn't think they were going 00:20:56.599 --> 00:20:58.839 to i don't think they're generally very good 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:02.319 they won two matches um so i was results wise 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:04.359 i didn't watch them but i was surprised by that 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:06.799 in the standings i thought poland and japan would 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:09.799 come out on top of that group but and i thought 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:13.079 serbia would be better than they they were but 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:17.480 the fact that china came out third of that group 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:19.539 i was surprised yeah good for them you gotta 00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:21.619 be who's in front of you Before we go any further, 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:24.559 I wanted to highlight a few other things. I find 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:27.440 the roster construction interesting from week 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:29.700 to week and what countries are doing. So I went 00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:32.160 through and looked at almost all the teams are 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.480 pretty much the same age. Almost all of them 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:37.619 have an average age of 25. So that's kind of 00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:40.940 across the board. And we hinted on France was 00:21:40.940 --> 00:21:45.519 young at 23. Bulgaria was young at 24. Iran. 00:21:46.600 --> 00:21:50.400 Also 24, so they're pretty young. And then the 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:52.619 oldest team is actually Ukraine at almost 28 00:21:52.619 --> 00:21:55.000 average age. Well, I want to say this is like 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:58.819 a Czech women's situation. I'm pretty sure this 00:21:58.819 --> 00:22:04.420 is Ukraine's first VNL. So it's like, yes, okay, 00:22:04.579 --> 00:22:07.059 we made it. Let's do this. You know what I mean? 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:09.380 So I feel like that's a similar situation to 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:11.519 the Czech women. Fair enough. And Germany's also 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:14.599 24, so they're on the young side, youngish side 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:16.900 of that. So I look at that, and that's interesting. 00:22:17.220 --> 00:22:21.779 Which Olympians did they bring? Again, according 00:22:21.779 --> 00:22:25.680 to the best I could look at, Brazil had seven. 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:29.140 Serbia, I think, had six. Italy, five. Canada, 00:22:29.180 --> 00:22:32.400 five. Argentina, five. So there were legitimate 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:37.019 rosters that showed up there. And were they all 00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:40.460 starters or were they Olympian bench players? 00:22:41.079 --> 00:22:45.519 It varied. But you still have that experience 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:47.279 and they were good enough to be on that roster 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.319 and good team. So you have options. Well, and 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:51.900 Brazil was at home, too. So that's always nice 00:22:51.900 --> 00:22:56.170 to draw the crowd, you know? Yeah. One other 00:22:56.170 --> 00:22:58.609 thing that I thought was interesting, I looked 00:22:58.609 --> 00:23:00.829 at some of the impact that young players had 00:23:00.829 --> 00:23:03.349 on programs and what they're bringing. We had 00:23:03.349 --> 00:23:09.190 six setters under 22 starting for programs or 00:23:09.190 --> 00:23:12.150 playing the majority of time. So you had USA, 00:23:12.390 --> 00:23:14.269 that one's a little fuzzy. Rowan was in and out 00:23:14.269 --> 00:23:16.569 and he started. a bunch of games, but he was 00:23:16.569 --> 00:23:19.349 playing. Turkey had a young setter. Slovenia 00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:21.650 had a 19 -year -old setter who I thought was 00:23:21.650 --> 00:23:25.529 very good. Iran had a 19 -year -old setter. France, 00:23:25.549 --> 00:23:27.410 we talked about their setter, was also young. 00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:30.730 And Bulgaria. So there is a crop of really good 00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:32.769 young setters coming through a bunch of these 00:23:32.769 --> 00:23:34.829 programs, which I thought was really cool. I 00:23:34.829 --> 00:23:38.789 absolutely love that. And I know we were talking 00:23:38.789 --> 00:23:41.170 about the Chinese setter last week and the women's 00:23:41.170 --> 00:23:44.710 side being 16, but the setting position is... 00:23:45.069 --> 00:23:50.089 so critical like whenever i think about okay 00:23:50.089 --> 00:23:53.329 if you need to bring experience somewhere yeah 00:23:53.329 --> 00:23:56.369 i think bring it with your setter but the fact 00:23:56.369 --> 00:24:01.190 that these young young athletes are running the 00:24:01.190 --> 00:24:05.769 show in arguably the most like critical position 00:24:05.769 --> 00:24:10.029 on the court is incredible i love it yeah and 00:24:10.029 --> 00:24:13.589 and not only do you have to execute But you also 00:24:13.589 --> 00:24:17.470 have to deal with your stud outside hitters who 00:24:17.470 --> 00:24:19.829 like, kid, I've been playing pro for a decade. 00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:22.250 You better get me the ball and it better be in 00:24:22.250 --> 00:24:24.549 this window or we're going to have an issue. 00:24:24.630 --> 00:24:27.069 And I'm not saying teams are like that, but there's 00:24:27.069 --> 00:24:28.589 that. Oh, there are players that are like that 00:24:28.589 --> 00:24:32.049 for sure. Okay. But there's that internal kind 00:24:32.049 --> 00:24:34.890 of pressure for yourself. You grew up watching 00:24:34.890 --> 00:24:36.849 these guys play for your country and it's like, 00:24:36.869 --> 00:24:39.410 I got to get on the ball and you got to make 00:24:39.410 --> 00:24:42.230 good decisions. And so it's impressive to see. 00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:45.079 Honestly, it is really terrifying playing with 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:49.440 your idols. Yeah. It really is. I've been there. 00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:54.160 It's really scary until you get used to it. So 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:57.579 I think this is a good segue talking about the 00:24:57.579 --> 00:25:01.980 young players making an impact. Which young players 00:25:01.980 --> 00:25:05.319 made the biggest impression on you this week? 00:25:05.700 --> 00:25:08.539 Oh, great question. Do you want me to go through 00:25:08.539 --> 00:25:12.519 my list or do you want to go one and one? Let's 00:25:12.519 --> 00:25:15.079 do one and one. And then if somebody on my list 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:17.920 overlaps with yours, then we can share. Okay. 00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:21.359 One of the first ones I have. So the Bulgarian 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:23.799 core four, I'm going to call them the core four. 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:26.819 Oh, wow. I thought were impressive overall, but 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:32.900 Nikolov was, he was good. A little moany. Yeah. 00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:35.599 Okay. He was on my list. Okay. I think he started 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:39.779 out a little more timid than we're used to seeing, 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:44.099 which. I can totally respect. You are coming 00:25:44.099 --> 00:25:47.559 from college where you are the show, and you 00:25:47.559 --> 00:25:50.799 got that swagger. You know what I mean? And so 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:55.180 I can understand being a little more timid in 00:25:55.180 --> 00:25:57.799 the international environment at the beginning, 00:25:57.900 --> 00:25:59.880 but let me tell you, he got over that after one 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:02.599 match. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he found his stride and 00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:06.259 serving well. He started to be much more aggressive 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:08.859 offensively as the matches went on. Yeah, I thought 00:26:08.859 --> 00:26:12.460 his set selection got better. I thought his location 00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:14.319 was a little off in the first match I watched 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:16.140 him. There were definitely some nerves there, 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.019 but he settled in. His choices in the first match, 00:26:19.059 --> 00:26:21.819 I'm like, you don't need to make the most spectacular 00:26:21.819 --> 00:26:26.740 set every time. Sometimes just like, let's focus 00:26:26.740 --> 00:26:30.839 on delivery instead of off actor. Yeah, fair. 00:26:31.529 --> 00:26:33.670 I think he settled in, though, for sure. So he 00:26:33.670 --> 00:26:37.049 was definitely on my list. Another player, I'm 00:26:37.049 --> 00:26:39.190 just going to say both of them, are Slovenian, 00:26:39.230 --> 00:26:42.069 the setter, and the opposite. The opposite came 00:26:42.069 --> 00:26:45.569 off the bench. He had that flow. You know what 00:26:45.569 --> 00:26:49.509 I mean? That man bun hairstyle. Those two, for 00:26:49.509 --> 00:26:52.490 me, were very good. Also, super young setter. 00:26:53.210 --> 00:26:55.609 Slovenia has some fiery outside hitters. Were 00:26:55.609 --> 00:26:57.970 they on your list? They didn't make the cut for 00:26:57.970 --> 00:27:02.569 you? Adam's ruthless. Well, I thought they played 00:27:02.569 --> 00:27:07.269 well. I had a hard time. Last week you accused 00:27:07.269 --> 00:27:09.349 me of having too many players on my list. You 00:27:09.349 --> 00:27:13.170 only had every single athlete. I tried to cut 00:27:13.170 --> 00:27:16.630 it down. I thought Bergman from Brazil had a 00:27:16.630 --> 00:27:21.849 good showing. I'm sorry to say I didn't see Brazil 00:27:21.849 --> 00:27:24.920 play, so I didn't. I didn't put that down. Yeah, 00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:27.440 21 -year -old outside. I thought he played well. 00:27:27.460 --> 00:27:29.960 Julia's brother, perhaps? His numbers were very 00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:34.500 good. Poro from Italy. And I also had Sani. You 00:27:34.500 --> 00:27:38.740 had both of them? I thought they were very good. 00:27:38.740 --> 00:27:42.619 I loved this kid, you guys. I loved him. Yeah. 00:27:42.980 --> 00:27:46.339 I thought he was so good. I thought... Until 00:27:46.339 --> 00:27:49.519 he got taken out on match point against France 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:53.049 on that serve. Yeah. Yeah, I thought those two. 00:27:53.089 --> 00:27:54.789 I watched those two outside hitters for Italy, 00:27:54.869 --> 00:27:58.029 and I was like, that's a dangerous combo moving 00:27:58.029 --> 00:28:01.730 forward. Like, they're very good. I got two left 00:28:01.730 --> 00:28:05.230 on my list. I thought the France setter was unbelievable. 00:28:05.609 --> 00:28:07.569 He's on my list. He's on my list. What is it, 00:28:07.589 --> 00:28:10.670 Tizzy Wallow? Tizzy Wallow. I loved his name, 00:28:10.750 --> 00:28:15.509 too. I mean, the composure. He's big. He's 6 00:28:15.509 --> 00:28:19.710 '7", I think, 6 '8". He blocks well. He moves 00:28:19.710 --> 00:28:23.819 well. His delivery was good. I really liked the 00:28:23.819 --> 00:28:26.779 offense. Not only the middle, but the pipe over 00:28:26.779 --> 00:28:32.799 top. Like, he was not making 19 -year -old decisions. 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:37.859 Like, this kid, he's legit. No, and that's why 00:28:37.859 --> 00:28:40.140 I want to highlight these players. Because I 00:28:40.140 --> 00:28:43.900 know I can be, in our listeners' words, very 00:28:43.900 --> 00:28:49.750 harsh. But, like, these kids. And yes, they are 00:28:49.750 --> 00:28:53.849 kids to me. He's 19. He's definitely a kid. They 00:28:53.849 --> 00:28:57.589 are playing at a very high level. And when I 00:28:57.589 --> 00:29:02.490 compare them to what most 19 -year -olds look 00:29:02.490 --> 00:29:05.970 like, there's no comparison. So I'm giving some 00:29:05.970 --> 00:29:09.069 props today, you guys. Remember this day. So 00:29:09.069 --> 00:29:12.569 for me, it's an interesting comparison. Think 00:29:12.569 --> 00:29:16.670 about him and Rowan. Because Rowan was also here. 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:21.000 And Rowan's older than he is. And, you know, 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:23.700 I thought Rowan struggled a little bit when he 00:29:23.700 --> 00:29:27.079 came in in terms of placement consistency, didn't 00:29:27.079 --> 00:29:30.000 love all of his decisions, you know. We said 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:32.660 it last week. I'll say it again. The Americans 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:36.680 are not young. They are very inexperienced. Sure. 00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:39.920 But I'm highlighting that to draw the comparison 00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:42.579 between, you know, younger and how he played. 00:29:42.619 --> 00:29:44.480 And, again, I think Rowan's going to get there. 00:29:45.630 --> 00:29:48.750 That was kind of the comparison in my mind when 00:29:48.750 --> 00:29:50.670 I was watching those two teams. I actually did 00:29:50.670 --> 00:29:53.710 have an American on my list. As did I. Cooper 00:29:53.710 --> 00:29:56.089 Robinson. Yeah, I thought he was very good. I 00:29:56.089 --> 00:29:59.529 didn't know what we were going to get from him. 00:29:59.569 --> 00:30:04.890 I didn't know if he would play, but he stepped 00:30:04.890 --> 00:30:08.630 up. He really stepped up, and especially from 00:30:08.630 --> 00:30:11.349 the back row. His attacking in the back row was 00:30:11.349 --> 00:30:17.640 outstanding. positive was his engagement and 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:20.759 his emotion you don't see that from him at ucla 00:30:20.759 --> 00:30:24.880 yeah he's he's california cool at ucla and he 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:27.859 was he was fired up to play and to put the usa 00:30:27.859 --> 00:30:29.839 jersey on it was good to see i liked watching 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:32.640 him he was a little out of his depth blocking 00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:38.299 sometimes i think understanding what has happened 00:30:38.299 --> 00:30:44.599 in the match he was playing a very again college 00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:48.519 type of blocking where this is my job I need 00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:51.619 to make sure that I do this and then react to 00:30:51.619 --> 00:30:55.619 this but when things are moving so much faster 00:30:55.619 --> 00:30:59.779 and matches are tight and you have to remember 00:30:59.779 --> 00:31:02.039 what has happened up until that point and he 00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:05.019 wasn't he was a bit of a liability in tight moments 00:31:05.019 --> 00:31:09.279 for me particularly at the end against Slovenia 00:31:09.740 --> 00:31:12.900 When he had a front row setter, he was so preoccupied 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.380 with him. Because in college, do not let the 00:31:15.380 --> 00:31:17.440 front row setter dump on you if you're the left 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:20.140 side. But the right side, they were flinging 00:31:20.140 --> 00:31:22.019 the ball back to the back row on the right side 00:31:22.019 --> 00:31:26.299 so fast. And he was leaving so much line. It 00:31:26.299 --> 00:31:31.299 was impossible. That aside, his serving offensively, 00:31:31.299 --> 00:31:35.200 his engagement, I thought was very good. That 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.839 was my list. Do you have anyone else? I had one 00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:40.859 more. Gomez from Argentina. Oh, yeah, fair. He 00:31:40.859 --> 00:31:44.740 only played the first half, and then they used 00:31:44.740 --> 00:31:47.039 somebody else. But in the matches that he was 00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:51.619 playing, I thought he did very, very well. Yeah, 00:31:51.700 --> 00:31:54.359 I thought there were a lot of young players who 00:31:54.359 --> 00:31:57.819 played very well. And I'm curious to see how 00:31:57.819 --> 00:32:00.380 this merging of some of the rosters comes together. 00:32:00.460 --> 00:32:03.299 Do these kids get chances to play week two, week 00:32:03.299 --> 00:32:06.380 three playoffs? Are they earning their spot? 00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:09.759 because there were a bunch of difference makers 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:12.720 who were playing for rosters, and it'll be interesting 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:15.299 to see how that kind of pans out. So one of the 00:32:15.299 --> 00:32:17.220 things we kind of hinted at last week, and there 00:32:17.220 --> 00:32:20.039 were lots of comments about this particular topic 00:32:20.039 --> 00:32:24.480 left on the YouTube channel, was kind of about 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:28.500 the U .S. women's approach to coaching and what 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:30.119 that looked at. And one of the comments I made 00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:32.690 was, I'm curious to see how Karch handles. you 00:32:32.690 --> 00:32:35.430 know, a pretty similar situation to the women's 00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:38.890 roster on the men's side. And I got to say, it 00:32:38.890 --> 00:32:43.029 was night and day different, their approach. 00:32:43.710 --> 00:32:46.329 We watched a bunch of the U .S. matches, and 00:32:46.329 --> 00:32:48.190 after, I think it was the first match we watched, 00:32:48.369 --> 00:32:50.970 the U .S. wasn't very good. And they asked Karch 00:32:50.970 --> 00:32:52.829 about, hey, what did you like about that match? 00:32:53.069 --> 00:32:56.789 And I believe his answer was, not much. Yeah, 00:32:56.789 --> 00:33:01.710 he said nothing. And... I appreciated that, actually. 00:33:01.910 --> 00:33:05.369 Yeah, just the frankness in which, and he wasn't 00:33:05.369 --> 00:33:11.069 upset. He wasn't angry. It wasn't an emotional 00:33:11.069 --> 00:33:15.609 response to their performance. It was a, we're 00:33:15.609 --> 00:33:17.650 not there yet. We're not good. I didn't really 00:33:17.650 --> 00:33:19.849 like anything, but we're going to work towards 00:33:19.849 --> 00:33:22.549 that. And you listened to him in timeouts, and 00:33:22.549 --> 00:33:26.490 he was giving feedback. He was telling the players 00:33:26.490 --> 00:33:28.329 where they should be, what they were looking 00:33:28.329 --> 00:33:32.500 for. teaching i thought he did a great job and 00:33:32.500 --> 00:33:34.799 quite frankly the u .s team got better and better 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:38.119 as the tournament went along they made adjustments 00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:41.380 they came back and had a reverse sweep well and 00:33:41.380 --> 00:33:43.599 they mixed up their rosters similar to the women 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:46.180 too they didn't just stick with one group and 00:33:46.180 --> 00:33:50.079 i i mean i have a lot of respect for him on the 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:52.460 coaching side or just in general but i liked 00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:55.200 what i heard and saw and i could see the differences 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:59.039 in what they were trying to do and what they 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:03.079 were accomplishing from game to game. And that 00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:06.279 makes me feel like, okay, they're going to get 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:08.380 here. There's a plan there, which was very different 00:34:08.380 --> 00:34:10.619 from watching kind of the women's experience. 00:34:10.699 --> 00:34:15.000 So I'm curious to see how the U .S. women look 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:17.559 this week. Are there going to be some changes 00:34:17.559 --> 00:34:21.139 from an execution, from a coaching standpoint? 00:34:21.420 --> 00:34:25.670 But that was a very stark contrast to me. Yeah, 00:34:25.690 --> 00:34:29.250 I liked that there was information. There was, 00:34:29.349 --> 00:34:32.630 this is what they are doing. This is how we will 00:34:32.630 --> 00:34:35.610 counteract that. Defensive positioning, let's 00:34:35.610 --> 00:34:39.690 go here. Blockers, let's look at this. And even 00:34:39.690 --> 00:34:42.730 though he was honest about their lack of performance 00:34:42.730 --> 00:34:47.010 early, he also said, like, this is what we're 00:34:47.010 --> 00:34:49.130 getting into. This is part of the process of 00:34:49.130 --> 00:34:51.630 bringing along new players. And I really appreciate 00:34:51.630 --> 00:34:54.150 the honesty. Honestly, listening to all the... 00:34:54.670 --> 00:34:57.210 A lot of the timeouts this week, a lot of the 00:34:57.210 --> 00:35:01.829 coaches were giving very technical, tactical 00:35:01.829 --> 00:35:07.449 feedback, which I appreciated. And, yeah, even 00:35:07.449 --> 00:35:09.530 in the women's side last week, you were seeing 00:35:09.530 --> 00:35:13.630 the same thing. I think the exceptions to this 00:35:13.630 --> 00:35:17.469 are just the American women. Yeah, and we'll 00:35:17.469 --> 00:35:20.090 see how that changes, and we'll see how it affects 00:35:20.090 --> 00:35:23.510 their performance. But it was a stark difference. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:26.619 In both genders to those timeouts, in my opinion. 00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:31.760 Well, week two for the men is being played in 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:37.000 Belgrade, Chicago, and Burgas, Bulgaria. Ooh, 00:35:37.079 --> 00:35:39.280 that's going to be rocking. That being said, 00:35:39.440 --> 00:35:43.599 since we're playing in Chicago, I have a suspicion 00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:47.159 that we'll see maybe a Micah Ma 'a, Eric Shoji 00:35:47.159 --> 00:35:50.860 return. I would say Shoji for sure. He's a fan 00:35:50.860 --> 00:35:54.360 favorite. He's been in the program forever. And 00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:57.099 they've got a really tough schedule. Yeah, it's 00:35:57.099 --> 00:36:00.880 not going to get easy on the men's side in Chicago. 00:36:01.460 --> 00:36:04.219 Belgrade, I mean, as you were saying, they brought 00:36:04.219 --> 00:36:08.559 a lot of their Olympians. So that will be interesting. 00:36:09.420 --> 00:36:14.179 Bulgaria, I don't know. I'm wondering if France 00:36:14.179 --> 00:36:18.900 will be satisfied with who they brought. Or maybe 00:36:18.900 --> 00:36:21.139 they'll trickle in some more of their veteran 00:36:21.139 --> 00:36:23.639 players. I wonder if Italy is happy. I mean, 00:36:23.659 --> 00:36:27.099 they won three of their four matches. They brought 00:36:27.099 --> 00:36:31.039 a decently mixed roster of experience and youth. 00:36:31.380 --> 00:36:34.960 You know, Canada, I'm not really sure how much 00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.519 stronger that roster can get. Yeah, I'm not sure 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:42.489 either. So, I mean, Poland. I mean, they won 00:36:42.489 --> 00:36:45.190 out. Are they going to bring some of their more 00:36:45.190 --> 00:36:48.130 big -time names, or are they just going to kind 00:36:48.130 --> 00:36:50.550 of... They're in Chicago as well. I don't know. 00:36:50.690 --> 00:36:52.949 I'm not quite as familiar with the men's rosters 00:36:52.949 --> 00:36:55.869 historically as some of the women, but looking 00:36:55.869 --> 00:36:59.429 at kind of who brought which athletes and how 00:36:59.429 --> 00:37:02.510 young teams are, I think you'll see potentially 00:37:02.510 --> 00:37:05.639 the biggest moves. in Poland and France, depending 00:37:05.639 --> 00:37:07.559 on how they're approaching the VNL. You mean 00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:10.579 I don't know just what they can. Yeah, what they 00:37:10.579 --> 00:37:12.800 can. Like there you have the ability to make 00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:16.079 changes. I would imagine Germany's young. They've 00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:18.829 got a really good... pro league like they can 00:37:18.829 --> 00:37:21.389 probably players they left behind too right so 00:37:21.389 --> 00:37:24.150 Germany I think can make some moves with that 00:37:24.150 --> 00:37:27.289 I think Argentina Brazil like they're they have 00:37:27.289 --> 00:37:29.590 a decent number of players there like I don't 00:37:29.590 --> 00:37:32.530 know who's going to come back or what they're 00:37:32.530 --> 00:37:35.710 looking at Cuba I don't know Iran if they have 00:37:35.710 --> 00:37:38.150 other players that they can that they can move 00:37:38.150 --> 00:37:40.389 in well the thing about the men though is it's 00:37:40.389 --> 00:37:44.630 so tricky like with women and we we often see 00:37:44.630 --> 00:37:46.849 this and we can talk about this in a second but 00:37:46.849 --> 00:37:50.190 with women you the women you can see like distinct 00:37:50.190 --> 00:37:55.829 groups like the usual suspects are usually the 00:37:55.829 --> 00:37:58.190 are the ones performing you know it's just very 00:37:58.190 --> 00:38:02.650 differentiated on the men's side there is so 00:38:02.650 --> 00:38:06.010 much more parity that it's like I feel almost 00:38:06.010 --> 00:38:10.190 riskier to not bring your players because when 00:38:10.190 --> 00:38:14.360 it comes down to it it's gonna be you know, a 00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:19.159 set ratio or points. Like the records are all 00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:21.619 going to be very similar. So it's like, how long 00:38:21.619 --> 00:38:23.420 do you want to wait? You know what I mean? Yeah, 00:38:23.420 --> 00:38:26.820 fair, fair. Yeah, it's really interesting on 00:38:26.820 --> 00:38:29.199 the men's side because you do have some teams 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:32.360 that can make adjustments, but there was nobody 00:38:32.360 --> 00:38:37.179 who was out of it this week. There were no gimmies. 00:38:37.300 --> 00:38:39.980 There were no teams who you're like, nah, that's 00:38:39.980 --> 00:38:44.900 a win. You have to manage it. The drop -off is 00:38:44.900 --> 00:38:47.420 not nearly as big. And quite frankly, for some 00:38:47.420 --> 00:38:51.199 of these teams who left talent at home, they've 00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:53.940 got young kids coming up. They've got players 00:38:53.940 --> 00:38:57.139 who are pushing. Like, yeah, I'm subbing this 00:38:57.139 --> 00:38:59.519 Olympian for a 22 -year -old, but that 22 -year 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:01.780 -old, he's got that look in his eyes, and he's 00:39:01.780 --> 00:39:07.420 coming. Like, it's... Yeah. Yeah. So, since we're 00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:11.869 on this track about parity in men, And like kind 00:39:11.869 --> 00:39:16.269 of the separation with women. Why do you think 00:39:16.269 --> 00:39:22.369 that is? Why do we see the men all like kind 00:39:22.369 --> 00:39:26.590 of clumped and like no teams are out of it or 00:39:26.590 --> 00:39:29.070 guaranteed anything? Like anybody can be anybody 00:39:29.070 --> 00:39:31.809 on any given night. Like why do we see so many 00:39:31.809 --> 00:39:34.889 five setters versus the women where it's pretty 00:39:34.889 --> 00:39:38.349 predictable for the most part? It's a great question, 00:39:38.429 --> 00:39:41.050 and I don't have a statistical answer for you, 00:39:41.090 --> 00:39:44.909 but I have... Unacceptable. Maybe a feeling. 00:39:44.969 --> 00:39:50.610 I think that there's a little more parity physically 00:39:50.610 --> 00:39:55.670 in the men's game. In the women's game, you have 00:39:55.670 --> 00:39:58.150 certain players who are just kind of unstoppable, 00:39:58.349 --> 00:40:02.090 and they're physically more dominant than... 00:40:02.929 --> 00:40:04.730 other players on the women's side if you look 00:40:04.730 --> 00:40:06.309 at some of the countries in terms of the athletes 00:40:06.309 --> 00:40:10.329 they have in the caliber and I think that because 00:40:10.329 --> 00:40:12.949 the physical parity and they jump so high you 00:40:12.949 --> 00:40:14.929 have the ability for certain players and teams 00:40:14.929 --> 00:40:17.030 to get hot or get into a rhythm you have the 00:40:17.030 --> 00:40:20.909 ability for for more men than you do on the women's 00:40:20.909 --> 00:40:23.449 side to go back and hit five spin serves that 00:40:23.449 --> 00:40:27.489 are just untouchable or to just be on fire I 00:40:27.489 --> 00:40:29.969 haven't watched Klevno play that much but he 00:40:29.969 --> 00:40:34.940 was I wouldn't be shocked if he hit 900 in VNL. 00:40:34.980 --> 00:40:37.039 Do you know what I mean? It was crazy. And so 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:39.460 if you have a player who's doing that and who's 00:40:39.460 --> 00:40:42.920 feeling himself in that way, you can't stop him 00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:46.199 no matter what you do. There's too much physicality 00:40:46.199 --> 00:40:50.719 there. And so I think teams and players or two 00:40:50.719 --> 00:40:53.980 players to get hot and... win a set and then 00:40:53.980 --> 00:40:55.940 cool off and somebody else does it. There's just 00:40:55.940 --> 00:40:58.320 more players, I think, who can have that kind 00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:00.900 of terminal impact in the men's game than on 00:41:00.900 --> 00:41:03.159 the women's side. What do you think? No, I'm 00:41:03.159 --> 00:41:05.400 going to try to clarify what you're saying. So 00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:12.199 is it fair to say that women, while their technique 00:41:12.199 --> 00:41:16.800 is sound and they're very skilled because of 00:41:16.800 --> 00:41:20.579 maybe some of the more physical limitations in 00:41:20.579 --> 00:41:25.130 jump height, sheer power, dynamic ability compared 00:41:25.130 --> 00:41:30.670 to the men, you don't often see that type of 00:41:30.670 --> 00:41:34.650 just sheer domination because the angles that 00:41:34.650 --> 00:41:38.030 a woman can hit are not the same. The power that 00:41:38.030 --> 00:41:41.510 they can hit with isn't the same. Whereas because 00:41:41.510 --> 00:41:44.690 of that physical nature of men, it just like 00:41:44.690 --> 00:41:48.690 brings everybody more together. Yeah, I think 00:41:48.690 --> 00:41:53.340 there's just more. variability in which men can 00:41:53.340 --> 00:41:57.480 go off and win you a match, I think. And, you 00:41:57.480 --> 00:41:59.760 know. And we're not sexist here. This is like 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:04.519 just biology. Okay. Yeah, and that's not to say 00:42:04.519 --> 00:42:07.019 there aren't women who can dominate a match. 00:42:07.260 --> 00:42:10.780 Let me rephrase that. When you watch women's 00:42:10.780 --> 00:42:14.519 volleyball, you go, okay, in this match, I can 00:42:14.519 --> 00:42:17.719 pick, you know, the potential three difference 00:42:17.719 --> 00:42:22.559 makers here. You know. Kira Van Rijk might go 00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:24.800 off from the service line, and she can win you 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:27.159 a match. Iganu might have a match of her life, 00:42:27.260 --> 00:42:31.380 and she's going to score you points. Even a Gabi 00:42:31.380 --> 00:42:34.320 who is solid technically and incredibly good 00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:39.099 can win you a match that way. But when you watch 00:42:39.099 --> 00:42:43.639 a men's match, the 22 -year -old who came off 00:42:43.639 --> 00:42:45.679 the bench for the left side could score eight 00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:49.420 points, and that's not unheard of. It's not shocking. 00:42:49.519 --> 00:42:51.820 And very rarely does that happen on the women's 00:42:51.820 --> 00:42:54.219 side where you're like, man, I never saw that 00:42:54.219 --> 00:42:56.579 player coming in here and dominating the match. 00:42:57.000 --> 00:42:59.440 And I think whether that's physicality, whether 00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:01.340 that's because the women are generally more technical 00:43:01.340 --> 00:43:06.300 than the men are, it's that factor. And I think 00:43:06.300 --> 00:43:08.940 a lot of that has to do with physicality and 00:43:08.940 --> 00:43:12.239 what you can do from player to player. We are 00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:17.039 going to be surprised at who shows up, who is 00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:22.949 sent. to week two of VNL. Week one was very entertaining. 00:43:23.130 --> 00:43:28.050 As we said, so many five -setters. So many. But 00:43:28.050 --> 00:43:31.590 it was a lot of good play, lots of fun. It was 00:43:31.590 --> 00:43:35.469 very entertaining. Yeah, I'm excited to see who 00:43:35.469 --> 00:43:38.590 is sent to these locations, how these matchups 00:43:38.590 --> 00:43:42.610 play out, see how things shake down next week. 00:43:43.269 --> 00:43:45.070 Okay, let's dive into some listener questions. 00:43:46.190 --> 00:43:47.949 So this was a really interesting one that we 00:43:47.949 --> 00:43:50.570 got, and I think you might be uniquely qualified 00:43:50.570 --> 00:43:54.250 to answer it. So the first question was, why 00:43:54.250 --> 00:43:58.389 was Olivia Babcock float serving in the VNL week 00:43:58.389 --> 00:44:01.329 one? And the preface here, for those of you who 00:44:01.329 --> 00:44:03.590 don't know, is she's got a very good spin serve 00:44:03.590 --> 00:44:07.769 that she used very effectively in the NCAA season 00:44:07.769 --> 00:44:11.630 this past year. Okay, I don't know for sure if 00:44:11.630 --> 00:44:16.150 this is the reason, but... Based on my experience, 00:44:16.429 --> 00:44:21.949 serving the FIVB ball after spin serving the 00:44:21.949 --> 00:44:28.610 NCAA college ball, it is so challenging. Okay, 00:44:28.710 --> 00:44:34.710 the ball that is used in college is so easy to 00:44:34.710 --> 00:44:38.550 spin serve. Just the weight of it, the way it 00:44:38.550 --> 00:44:42.460 moves through the air, the material of it. And 00:44:42.460 --> 00:44:46.280 then to make the switch to the Mikasa that they 00:44:46.280 --> 00:44:49.780 use on the FIVB, the ball is so much lighter. 00:44:49.980 --> 00:44:55.300 It's got the dimpled skin. Like, it's very unforgiving 00:44:55.300 --> 00:45:00.260 if you typically play with a different ball. 00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:03.780 That is my guess, is that she just could not 00:45:03.780 --> 00:45:09.480 get it to work because as somebody who has had 00:45:09.480 --> 00:45:13.489 to make the switch in the past, was very challenging 00:45:13.489 --> 00:45:19.329 to serve a Mikasa after serving the other balls. 00:45:19.409 --> 00:45:22.889 So they just float. Like if you hit it remotely 00:45:22.889 --> 00:45:26.869 wrong, that thing is like in the stands. So that 00:45:26.869 --> 00:45:29.789 is my theory. The other thing I thought about 00:45:29.789 --> 00:45:32.349 potentially was the coaches just said, hey, you 00:45:32.349 --> 00:45:33.829 know, we're going to get you comfortable. You 00:45:33.829 --> 00:45:36.269 haven't played before. Focus on your attacking 00:45:36.269 --> 00:45:38.469 and your blocking. I will say if you're a spin 00:45:38.469 --> 00:45:41.519 server though, like... And for me, when I was 00:45:41.519 --> 00:45:44.519 playing, spin serving was like my security blanket. 00:45:44.800 --> 00:45:47.820 If you're a spin server and you don't typically 00:45:47.820 --> 00:45:49.639 float serve, I would say it's more uncomfortable 00:45:49.639 --> 00:45:52.219 to switch and go to a jump float. And she didn't 00:45:52.219 --> 00:45:54.000 look comfortable. Yeah, jump float wasn't great, 00:45:54.039 --> 00:45:56.639 but I was wondering if that was potentially part 00:45:56.639 --> 00:45:58.659 of it too. It also helps with attack rhythm when 00:45:58.659 --> 00:46:00.539 you're in opposite to just keep it going. But 00:46:00.539 --> 00:46:04.869 anyway, question two. When a video review is 00:46:04.869 --> 00:46:07.190 called for a block or net touch, does the suspected 00:46:07.190 --> 00:46:10.130 person usually tell their team whether they touched 00:46:10.130 --> 00:46:14.849 the net or not? Yeah. 100 % yes. Yeah, definitely. 00:46:15.170 --> 00:46:17.469 Well, and now with the challenge system, I believe 00:46:17.469 --> 00:46:20.130 there's like a kitty or a pool at the end of 00:46:20.130 --> 00:46:23.190 the VNL for the team that calls their own touch 00:46:23.190 --> 00:46:27.110 on a challenge so that they can save time. So 00:46:27.110 --> 00:46:29.349 there's a little monetary incentive, I believe, 00:46:29.510 --> 00:46:32.670 to being honest. But no, when they don't admit 00:46:32.670 --> 00:46:36.449 it, When you go into the huddle, your team is 00:46:36.449 --> 00:46:39.050 100 % like, did you touch it? And you're like, 00:46:39.170 --> 00:46:43.809 yeah. Definitely, definitely. Question three, 00:46:43.989 --> 00:46:46.929 what is the impact when a coach uses a timeout 00:46:46.929 --> 00:46:50.210 too early or too late in a set? Because sometimes 00:46:50.210 --> 00:46:52.949 you see coaches call a timeout at like 3 -0. 00:46:54.030 --> 00:46:56.030 You know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean. 00:46:56.070 --> 00:46:58.090 I don't have an issue with that, to be honest. 00:46:59.480 --> 00:47:01.219 You're a coach and you're expecting something 00:47:01.219 --> 00:47:03.639 and it doesn't happen and you know your team 00:47:03.639 --> 00:47:08.059 is out to lunch or they need to be, you know, 00:47:08.059 --> 00:47:11.980 refocused or whatever. I mean, if you do it and 00:47:11.980 --> 00:47:13.860 it doesn't work or you don't need it, like, yeah, 00:47:13.880 --> 00:47:17.199 that's not the best, but it's all a feel thing 00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:20.860 to me. Volleyball is very much a game of momentum. 00:47:22.059 --> 00:47:24.539 You're either trying to keep it or you're trying 00:47:24.539 --> 00:47:29.300 to get it back. So I personally... I'm not a 00:47:29.300 --> 00:47:33.639 huge fan of the super early game timeout. I can 00:47:33.639 --> 00:47:36.719 understand not wanting a team to get too far 00:47:36.719 --> 00:47:39.719 ahead. There are situations, and you have to 00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:42.000 know your team and the makeup of your team too, 00:47:42.139 --> 00:47:48.420 but if you're up by four points and then teams 00:47:48.420 --> 00:47:51.940 are getting a couple, you want to stop that. 00:47:52.039 --> 00:47:54.440 You don't want to wait until a team ties you 00:47:54.440 --> 00:47:56.500 to call a timeout. You want to kill their momentum 00:47:56.500 --> 00:47:59.980 before they get to you. Yeah. So like in that 00:47:59.980 --> 00:48:02.820 situation too early, my thought is, you know, 00:48:02.820 --> 00:48:05.940 you lost, maybe you lost the second set, you 00:48:05.940 --> 00:48:09.420 know, in overtime 26 -24, you're down 2 -0. You 00:48:09.420 --> 00:48:12.199 go out into the third set, you're down 4 -0 at 00:48:12.199 --> 00:48:14.400 the beginning and your team is just heartbroken 00:48:14.400 --> 00:48:16.579 over that second set loss. I'm using the time 00:48:16.579 --> 00:48:18.760 out there because if that set gets away from 00:48:18.760 --> 00:48:20.519 you early, the game's over. Well, I wonder if 00:48:20.519 --> 00:48:22.639 the coach calls it like 2 -0. I'm like, really? 00:48:23.260 --> 00:48:25.820 Well, yeah. I'm like, dang, now you're only one 00:48:25.820 --> 00:48:28.940 left. Yeah. Or you're going to have to call bogus 00:48:28.940 --> 00:48:32.699 challenges to try to get more timeouts. Okay, 00:48:32.840 --> 00:48:35.619 our last question of the day. As the leagues 00:48:35.619 --> 00:48:37.920 in the U .S. develop, do you think we will get 00:48:37.920 --> 00:48:41.139 future stars for going collegiate careers to 00:48:41.139 --> 00:48:44.340 start pro careers young? Do you think North Americans 00:48:44.340 --> 00:48:47.400 are attached to the idea of college and universities? 00:48:47.579 --> 00:48:51.219 Because it seems like both USA Volleyball and 00:48:51.219 --> 00:48:53.820 Volleyball Canada favor athletes that go to college. 00:48:55.369 --> 00:48:57.110 There's many things to consider in this. It's 00:48:57.110 --> 00:49:01.250 a great question, actually. One is I don't think 00:49:01.250 --> 00:49:04.969 a lot of North American families look at women's 00:49:04.969 --> 00:49:07.309 volleyball as a viable way to make a career. 00:49:07.829 --> 00:49:12.130 And so because of that, you always, volleyball 00:49:12.130 --> 00:49:13.710 in North America is generally looked at as a 00:49:13.710 --> 00:49:15.909 means to get a scholarship, especially in the 00:49:15.909 --> 00:49:19.090 U .S. Because education is so expensive in the 00:49:19.090 --> 00:49:22.090 U .S. Right. And education, you know, allows 00:49:22.090 --> 00:49:24.599 you to make money after. volleyball. Whereas 00:49:24.599 --> 00:49:26.059 in other parts of the world, it's like, no, if 00:49:26.059 --> 00:49:27.980 I'm good at volleyball, I'm going to be all right. 00:49:28.380 --> 00:49:31.059 So there's a mindset shift that will have to 00:49:31.059 --> 00:49:34.280 happen. The second one is now with the NIL, you're 00:49:34.280 --> 00:49:37.619 going to see until North American League can 00:49:37.619 --> 00:49:40.760 pay athletes more than they'll make at college, 00:49:40.860 --> 00:49:44.719 which have huge booster programs. And I mean, 00:49:44.719 --> 00:49:47.280 rumor has it, Tory Stafford signed a half a million 00:49:47.280 --> 00:49:49.849 deal for one year. She didn't take that one. 00:49:49.929 --> 00:49:52.469 She got offered that. She didn't take that. She 00:49:52.469 --> 00:49:54.630 took less. Right, but that's the kind of money 00:49:54.630 --> 00:49:57.070 that we're talking about. And again, the landscape 00:49:57.070 --> 00:49:59.230 may change. Rules may come in, whatever else 00:49:59.230 --> 00:50:02.030 happens. But nobody at Love is making that much 00:50:02.030 --> 00:50:07.949 money. So until that changes, your college education 00:50:07.949 --> 00:50:11.550 plus what you can make at NIL outweighs going 00:50:11.550 --> 00:50:16.960 to play pro. And so, you know. Very few families, 00:50:17.019 --> 00:50:19.679 I would say, realize a female athlete can make 00:50:19.679 --> 00:50:22.000 over a million dollars playing pro in Europe, 00:50:22.019 --> 00:50:25.019 in Brazil, in China. So it's just not on the 00:50:25.019 --> 00:50:27.780 radar as a viable career path for the average 00:50:27.780 --> 00:50:29.480 family, I would say. Yeah, it's just a lack of 00:50:29.480 --> 00:50:32.119 education in North America, I would say. And 00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:37.400 I can get behind the American idea more than 00:50:37.400 --> 00:50:39.840 I can get behind the Canadian one because Canadian 00:50:39.840 --> 00:50:44.420 education is pretty cheap. Comparatively. Comparatively, 00:50:44.519 --> 00:50:49.820 and the level on the women's side is not very 00:50:49.820 --> 00:50:53.599 good. I will say Kira Van Ryk actually did this. 00:50:53.800 --> 00:50:56.699 She only played one year of university in Canada 00:50:56.699 --> 00:51:00.099 at UBC, and then she just left and went to play 00:51:00.099 --> 00:51:02.440 pro, starting when she was, like, what, 19, I 00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:05.760 guess? And she's doing all right. So she is actually 00:51:05.760 --> 00:51:09.679 one of the very few that did choose a pro career 00:51:09.679 --> 00:51:12.599 over university. I played with another girl. 00:51:13.239 --> 00:51:15.260 Tiffany Dodds, who only did, I want to say, two 00:51:15.260 --> 00:51:17.360 years of university, and then she left to go 00:51:17.360 --> 00:51:23.800 play pro, too. So it's still very rare, but the 00:51:23.800 --> 00:51:26.280 only people that I know that have done it are 00:51:26.280 --> 00:51:28.980 Canadian. As you're a kid growing up in the U 00:51:28.980 --> 00:51:31.800 .S., it's like, become really good at volleyball 00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:34.519 so we don't have to pay for education and go 00:51:34.519 --> 00:51:40.300 into debt forever. But I personally chose... 00:51:41.289 --> 00:51:45.710 to go into the NCAA system because I valued education. 00:51:46.309 --> 00:51:54.150 I was raised with the understanding that an athletic 00:51:54.150 --> 00:51:59.030 career is short. Your lifespan as an athlete 00:51:59.030 --> 00:52:03.230 is short, so you don't want to have nothing afterward. 00:52:03.730 --> 00:52:06.289 And my family was more savvy about volleyball 00:52:06.289 --> 00:52:09.050 than most, but I don't even think that they understood. 00:52:09.739 --> 00:52:13.719 the earning potential that was available to me. 00:52:14.239 --> 00:52:20.320 So that was a big reason why I chose to go to 00:52:20.320 --> 00:52:23.280 the NCAA. It's because my family valued education 00:52:23.280 --> 00:52:26.480 so much and was like, you're not going to play 00:52:26.480 --> 00:52:29.000 forever, so get a good education. I don't regret 00:52:29.000 --> 00:52:33.599 it, but yeah. I don't know if it'll change, honestly. 00:52:34.699 --> 00:52:38.389 Well, that's it for this week. I felt like it 00:52:38.389 --> 00:52:40.570 was really good to get our feet wet on the men's 00:52:40.570 --> 00:52:45.210 side. And while we haven't been doing game breakdowns, 00:52:45.210 --> 00:52:47.269 it's been good to kind of see the level and get 00:52:47.269 --> 00:52:49.949 familiar with some of the teams. And it was a 00:52:49.949 --> 00:52:52.690 good learning week, I would say. There's just 00:52:52.690 --> 00:52:57.210 so many games happening that I'm like, it's hard 00:52:57.210 --> 00:53:01.050 to pick just one, you know? Yeah, and even trying 00:53:01.050 --> 00:53:03.409 to figure out which matches are going to be competitive. 00:53:03.989 --> 00:53:06.170 I'll pop open the app and look at the score and 00:53:06.170 --> 00:53:11.230 be like, oh man, this one's 25 -23, 27 -25, 24 00:53:11.230 --> 00:53:13.409 -26, and they're going the distance and you throw 00:53:13.409 --> 00:53:15.070 it on and you watch the last because it's a battle. 00:53:15.210 --> 00:53:17.570 That happened to me at least three or four times 00:53:17.570 --> 00:53:21.130 this week. And so it's been good to see. I'm 00:53:21.130 --> 00:53:23.909 hoping or I'm assuming we're going to see a little 00:53:23.909 --> 00:53:29.030 more settling in in week two. And that'll be 00:53:29.030 --> 00:53:32.789 good to see. But as for the coming week, matches 00:53:32.789 --> 00:53:34.210 this week on the women's side are being played 00:53:34.210 --> 00:53:37.849 in Belgrade, Hong Kong, and Istanbul. Expecting 00:53:37.849 --> 00:53:41.929 to see more of a full roster or true roster from 00:53:41.929 --> 00:53:45.110 Turkey. So that'll be fun. We're definitely going 00:53:45.110 --> 00:53:47.150 to be looking at that. If you're looking for 00:53:47.150 --> 00:53:50.269 specific matches, Wednesday, 2 p .m. Eastern, 00:53:50.489 --> 00:53:55.050 USA versus Serbia. Also expecting to see a few 00:53:55.050 --> 00:53:58.500 more Serbia studs in the lineup. That will be 00:53:58.500 --> 00:54:05.360 interesting. Friday, 8 .30 a .m. Eastern, Japan 00:54:05.360 --> 00:54:08.699 versus Italy. I think that's going to be a great 00:54:08.699 --> 00:54:10.599 match. I will probably get up early to watch 00:54:10.599 --> 00:54:13.699 that one. That's 5 .30 our time, so I hope he's 00:54:13.699 --> 00:54:17.159 not up that early. That's just me. And then the 00:54:17.159 --> 00:54:18.980 other one I think will be great is Sunday at 00:54:18.980 --> 00:54:23.500 12 .30 Eastern, Turkey versus Brazil. And again, 00:54:23.559 --> 00:54:26.690 I'm expecting... More full rosters. That one's 00:54:26.690 --> 00:54:29.489 going to be a showdown, I think. Gabi and Rosamaria 00:54:29.489 --> 00:54:32.309 are with Brazil now. So they've added a couple 00:54:32.309 --> 00:54:34.889 pieces already. And you've got to think that 00:54:34.889 --> 00:54:37.510 Turkey A is going to want to put on a show at 00:54:37.510 --> 00:54:40.909 home. And that the fans are probably going to 00:54:40.909 --> 00:54:44.369 accept nothing less, given what I know about... 00:54:44.369 --> 00:54:47.349 The passion. Yes. So I think those are all going 00:54:47.349 --> 00:54:49.130 to be great games. That's what I would pay attention 00:54:49.130 --> 00:54:51.929 to this week. That concludes this week's episode 00:54:51.929 --> 00:54:54.050 of Volley Talk. There's always something shaking 00:54:54.050 --> 00:54:55.789 in the volleyball world, and we hope you enjoyed 00:54:55.789 --> 00:54:58.530 this little fix. Be sure to follow the show so 00:54:58.530 --> 00:55:00.969 you don't miss any updates, and we'd be so grateful 00:55:00.969 --> 00:55:03.710 if you'd leave us a five -star review. You can 00:55:03.710 --> 00:55:06.309 also find us on Instagram at volleytalk underscore 00:55:06.309 --> 00:55:09.230 podcast. If you have a topic that you want us 00:55:09.230 --> 00:55:11.949 to discuss, be sure to reach out to us on Instagram 00:55:11.949 --> 00:55:15.829 or at info at sarahpavin .com. Thanks so much 00:55:15.829 --> 00:55:18.150 for joining us, and we'll be back next week.