I Think We’re Good Here: Volleyball Podcast

Our next guest is current Fresno State Head Women's Volleyball Coach Jonathan Winder. Winder is a 4x All American, AVCA Player of the Year and National Champion. On this episode we discuss Winder's upbringing as a multi-sport athlete, how Balboa Bay was the beginning of a legacy that he would constantly try to uphold. Why he chose to go to Pepperdine and not pursue his love for basketball. His joy for teaching in all walks of life not solely on the court and why that ultimately allowed him to walk away from the game in peace. His evolution as a coach from assistant to head coach and what he feels are essential for both position and much more. We also discuss self-confidence and assurance for a lot of the podcast. Where Winder's derives from and how he's maintained it over his life time. If it's something you struggle with or feel is something you could improve on I urge you to listen to this podcast. Enjoy!

We’re back in action with our first guest Professional Player Carli Snyder after a brief hiatus. Carli takes us through her club and recruiting experience. How much the club game has changed and why she believe’s so many recruits transfer after one year. She discusses her time playing for Mary Wise at UF and the track she took to becoming a multiple time all American. She also talks about how the players do evaluations on one another and what that brings to the table. Enjoy!

Our guest today is All Time Great Rainbow Warrior Taylor Averill. Taylor is a current USA national team member and 2x All-American. Taylor has also played professionally in France and Italy. Taylor took sometime a way from "workin' out" to chat about his process in becoming the best volleyball player/person he can be. He talks about his turbulent path from being an average athlete, a position-less volleyball player, to being kicked off of two different college programs. He was met with a tough decision, get your act together or go play in Canada. He found MAR Training a revolutionary way of strengthening the body that many of Hawaii's great volleyball athletes use and the guidance of Milan Zarkovic on the volleyball court. Taylor began investing his time to becoming the best version of himself on and off the court. He went from being kicked out of programs to an All-American. This is just a brief glimpse into the many topics we discuss on this podcast. It's an amazing message to everyone in all walks of life. If you invest in yourself anything can happen. Enjoy!

Our guest today is All Time Great California Bear Carli Lloyd. Carli is an Olympic Bronze Medalist, Italian League, Italian Cup, Champions League, and CEV Cup Champion, as well as a former AVCA Player of the Year. On this episode Carli talks about her path into the volleyball world. A majority of this podcast is discussing how to bring out the potential in your teammates regardless of skill level. Our conversation leads into how a team buys into the process, how individually you buy in, how to build relationships, bonds, and much more. 

The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Marv Dunphy joins us to discuss his journey in volleyball. A Gold Medalist, World Champion, World Cup winner, 4x NCAA Champ. Marv takes us through the ride of lifetime with great stories, a new vantage point, and a great message. If you want to get right to where he starts presenting start in the story skip to minute 28:00. We hope you enjoy there is so much in this podcast: stories about John Wooden, Harlan Cohen, Karch Kiraly, Stork, and many more. 

Todays guest is All Time Great Nittany Lion Salima Rockwell. Salima starts us off with her upbringings in Pittsburg and wanting to follow her brothers footsteps into becoming a volleyball athlete. Her journey with Russ Rose and the process to becoming at 3 time All American and National Team Member. A majority of the podcast we discuss her philosophies on the setter position and how different the elite setters she's coached have been over time. We touch on how the offensives have differed at certain schools based on personnel and ideology, setter personalities, the decision making process and much more! Enjoy!

Our guest today needs no introduction she is the Head Coach of the Florida Gators Mary Wise. She’s one of the winningest coaches of all time in female sports, she’s a tremendous advocate for the growth of the game and what an amazing person. We discuss everything from her start in the game, to her unique path from head coach at Iowa State to graduate assistant at Kentucky, into becoming the tenured head coach at Florida. Its full of great stories about how the game has evolved and what it has in store for future generations. Enjoy!

Todays episode stars current Head Coach at the University of Nevada-Reno, Lee Nelson. Lee takes us through his time as a player at UCSB and the heartbreaking 5 set loss in the National Championship they suffered. The eclectic group of leadership that team had and how he seen those same personalities on other powerhouse teams he has been on staff for. We go into depth about being a part of what Karch Kiraly calls, “the greatest run in sports history”. We discuss how the 2011 UCSB came to fruition and turned the tables to make it into the national championship game after being the #7 seed in the MPSF playoffs. How his time at Miami has shape his ideologies as a coach and now his most recent years as Head Coach at UNR. Check it out!

Todays episode stars current USA national team setter Lauren Carlini. Lauren takes us through her rise to Wisconsin Volleyball fame detailing her many experiences starting at the ripe age of 6 years old at Sports Performance. The militant fashion in which she learned how to play volleyball. Getting cut from her 14’s team and learning that just because she was good didn’t mean should could act like a diva. Her early decision to be apart of the Badger volleyball family. The connection she had with Coach Kelly Sheffield and the band of athletes at Wisconsin. The  program’s immediate transformation into a National Championship contender. Playing on some of the best teams in the world with some of the best players in the world especially opposites and much more. Of course about setting, culture, her standards, how she gets through difficult moments, and exploring new ways of thinking and learning. Enjoy!

Todays episode stars University of Miami associate head coach Kasey Crider. Kasey is a 2x All American and 2x All MPSF Selection. He also played 1 year in Denmark where he won the Nordic Cup and Danish Pokal Cup, while also winning Danish Superliga Player of the Year. On this episode we discuss Kasey’s playing career starting as a terrible basketball player and quickly developing into a top recruit for Men’s Volleyball. His time at Pepperdine under Marv, playing with Paul Carroll, how his mentality about the game has always revolved around a coaches eye. His time with our team in 2013 as a volunteer assistant at Pepperdine, surviving in Palo Alto on a volunteer assistants salary…… his move to Miami and most importantly the beginnings of his studies into Ecological Dynamic. Kasey is now the resident expert on ecological dynamics for our podcast as he will begin his doctorate in the subject if COVID allows for it. Enjoy!

Todays episode stars current LMU Head Sand Volleyball coach John Mayer. John is also the host of the most listened to volleyball podcast “Coach Your Brains Out”.  This podcast can be broken up into two segments. In the first we discuss John’s humble upbringings coming from a house of two teachers, his time in the gnarly environment at Pierce college, how it prepared him for the culture at Pepperdine, kicking a hole through his ceiling from nightmares in the Long Beach Pyramid, losing in the Final 4, winning the Natty in 2005,  and his professional AVP/FIVB career. In the second segment that starts about 58 minutes in, we discuss the ecological dynamic philosophy in coaching. John tells us how he is implementing this in his practices and how it is becoming a part of his teams culture at LMU. A very very brief synopsis of the ideology would be creating an environment with a problem and the athletes need to figure out the solution. The talk is great a very relevant not only to sport, but our lives outside of it as well. Check it out!

This weeks episode stars Team USA Paralympic Captain James Stuck. It’s a tremendous honor to have our first veteran on the podcast. On this episode James describes “getting blowing up” in Iraq and losing his leg, finding his passion for volleyball, moving to Oklahoma 5 months after starting volleyball to seek out his newfound dream in becoming a national team player, the difference between standing and sitting, the rivalry between Team USA and the Brazilians, the ways in which he finds peace of mind in success, his growth and maturation process as an athlete and leader, and finally his ability to move forward and just keep giving. Enjoy!

This weeks episode stars 3x National Champion, 3x All American, and All Time Great Cardinal Jenna Gray. It is a lengthy episode but it can be split up into two segments. In the first we talk about Jenna's start as a volleyball athlete in Kansas, her desire to do everything her sister did, being a gym rat, almost going KU, the evolution of their teams at Stanford, her relationship with both Kevin Hambly and John Dunning plus much more. The second half which start about an hour in we discuss her evolution as a setter and how her game has needed to progress quickly as she enters the professional circuit with her team DSC in Germany. We talk about the decision making process, location, tendencies, habits, behavior, attitude, and much more!

Today’s episode stars the great Australian volleyball player in the history of Australian Volleyball Paul Carroll. PC is currently serving as the associate head coach for the Pepperdine Men’s Program his Alma Mater. This podcast covers his illustrious career as a Wave and as a Professional Athlete. Paul was a 3x All American, AVCA POY, and a walking bucket. Paul discusses his unique upbringing as a Australian volleyball player, his start as a setter, assimilating to American culture once arriving to Malibu, his bitterness about not winning a National Championship, the legacy he has left behind during his time at Berlin, and his time now as a coach. Listen up!

On this episode we talk to current Men's and Women's Head Coach of Fort Valley State University and the Host of Motiv8 MVB Podcast! FVSU is apart of the HBCU Conference. Larry walks us through being a black man in a predominately white sport/world. We bounce off all the walls in this conversation going from sports, politics, police brutality, and everything else in between. It's definitely an uncomfortable conversation, but totally necessary. We want to hear from everyone and hear their perspective. That's the most important part of this podcast: learn, educate, and start getting comfortable being uncomfortable hearing some tough truths. Give it a listen!

Today’s episode stars All-Time Great Husky Krista Vansant. Krista is AVCA POY, EPSNW POY, 3x All American, Ex USA National Team Member and the current Assistant Coach at Indiana University. Krista talks about her upbringing as tenacious gym rat, running an offense at the tender age of 8 years old, always playing up in club and how it prepared her for the rest of her career. The pride, joy, excitement, and sense of failure she felt at the University of Washington. Her defeating year abroad in Switzerland. What her short stint at USAV taught her and her development as a coach. Listen to it right here!

Today Jackson and I are the guests! Our Hosts Matt Tarantino and Rich Barraza take the mic and the lead the discussion. Learn about my upbringing in a volleyball family and Jackson rude awaking that it was actually cool to play volleyball in the valley. We talk about everything from different coaching styles, parents in club volleyball now trying to form super teams, our takes on personalities we want from our athletes or teammates, and of course things we’ve learned from Marv himself. Take a listen!

Todays episode stars All Time Great Cardinal Cassidy Lichtman. Cassidy discusses her current endeavors with the Non-Profit PathSports.org. The Non-Profit is dedicated to creating better people through sports. The idea is to provide young athletes with guidance in to how to be better teammates, build character, respect, etc. Cassidy also discusses her struggle with chronic leg pain since the age of 9 years old, her upbringing as a gym rat in San Diego, her time as a multi-position athlete in a time of specialization both at Stanford and the USA gym. Her brief time as a coach in which she won a National Champion with Stanford and her reasoning for coming out of retirement to play for the new Athletes Unlimited Sports League.

Todays episode stars Ole Miss Head Coach Kayla Banwarth. On this podcast we will hear Kayla discuss her limited volleyball exposure living in Iowa, the culture of Nebraska volleyball, her first time being apart of the USA team, the sacrifices she made to be an olympian, winning a world championship, the devastation of losing a semi final match of the olympics, how culture over talent created the fortitude to bounce back and become bronze medalists, how she is applying her playing knowledge/experience to her program now, and of course Big Daddy Hacks!

Todays episode stars University of Washington assistant coach Jason Mansfield. Jason discuss his various coaching destinations, from his tenure at Stanford to Illinois and now U of W. The difference in culture, process and style each one has presented. The challenges he has willingly faced both as a father and coach. What teaching the game of volleyball means to him and what his style of teaching highlights.