Sam Schachter, Dan Dearing, and the New Culture of Canada’s Top Team

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features our annual Spring-is-here episode with our neighbors up North: Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing. Per usual, they dropped by Hermosa Beach for a month for a pre-season training camp, gearing up for a final push at the 2024 Paris Olympics. On this episode, we chatted about:
– What lessons Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing learned from a very full 2023 season
– The new standards of their coach, Srdjan Veckov, and why he was actually mad when Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing beat Miles Partain and Andy Benesh last December
– The new culture of their team, and why Dan Dearing is now gladly puking after conditioning (well…kind of gladly)
– The thin margins between victory and defeat at the Challenge and Elite16 level

And much more.

NOTE: Dan’s mic got unplugged and his audio is absolutely terrible. Our streak of mostly decent audio is back to zero. Apologies for the gaffe and we appreciate your patience, as always.

SHOOTS!

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At the end of whatever year that was nope I forget 22 Julie spent like two months there uh when she was playing with Kam Saxton which is Ben Saxton’s sister okay so she had blast and she loved it she like played two she won two gold medals in those Futures that’s yeah

That’s pretty cool pretty sick and what was cool about when they first did like the one stars in the Futures is that they didn’t uh change the medals at all so my bronze medal from the Cook Islands you wouldn’t know that it was one it’s right there so I’m telling everywhere

It’s in there somewhere it kind of pisses me off my bronze medal my bronze medal from the world tour finals is the same medal as his freaking it’s the same thing Budd I don’t care what you say it’s the same thing listen what was what was your pay

Cur is tougher 12 teams came to that tournament all right we hey if we’re talking metal count it’s all it’s all the same metal baby someone’s got to chase fil down get like 80 one star medals well that was Stafford’s thing he played in so many noras and Stafford and

Trevor right and um Trevor was hot on the ner tour at one point and the bug yeah but you I mean you’re nor kind of a Nora King too you played quite a bit not as much as Mike plantinga that guy holds the record the Canadian record Double by

Far I had a lot i’ I’ve played just cuz I’ve played for so long I mean everyone starts there and that’s how you sort of feed on to the World Tour but yeah and you guys finished last year at in Ora we finished yeah and finished yeah yeah you

Guys well you won you won it in 22 right we won it in 22 correct yes silver in 23 and that one’s uh that one’s hard cuz it’s like that’s a super topheavy one yeah where you get you get everyone’s best corre right the points are so high like a challenger yeah which

Is awesome so that that set you guys up pretty well for the beginning of this year yeah you guys are six at the moment in the dhaw qualifier I think we are six like that’s a good place to be it is the start the year yeah yeah it is yeah well

How did um how did last year cuz your first year was like um it was a full year but you guys played I think six World Tour events and then last year you guys got after it so how was like the the full full year last year especially

For you Dan cuz it was like I feel like 22 was like a soft re-entry back in and then it was like all right and now Kabal so how how it was last year like full going for it Olympic qualifying like it was all the pressure was back yeah no it

Was it was great to get into it right off the bat we’re going to play in everything we’re going to prepare to play in everything um and then we learned a lot from last year of kind of how to schedule our our year this year I

Think we played a little too much okay um now because there’s less tournaments in this last year of 2024 um now it seems like no problem yeah no problem it’s so hard especially Olympic qualifying year where you’re like we got to play Everything cuz then you’ll say well if we’re going

To take a tournament off well shoot like that team is going to play and they’re going to jump us we’re going to take this turn shoot now that team’s going to jump us but then if you try to play everything you end up compromising your

Ability to play at your best it’s all I feel like scheduling is a hard thing yeah I mean there is no schedule like we just go right and last year I think that’s what we sort of we sort of misscheduled oursel we went really heavy in the front half and because we didn’t

Perform at the tail end of the front half we didn’t get into a lot of those mid the middle section and then we had to do a heavy end so I think this year we might I mean because it’s like sort of the last shot you kind of got to play

Everything again so we’re a little used to that Cadence but I don’t know it’s it’s really hard it’s like the tour seems like it’s changing constantly and in our first year together we only got six events because we had entrypoint issue so we weren’t getting into Elite

16 qualities where now we have we have you know we are but it’s you know risky and with only four events counting towards your entry points it sort of gets finicky yeah what do you think I I I just want to take a poll of like all

The players and just see what the best point system is I think the way they do the world ranking system is the best you just take your best eight from the last 365 MH it always confuses me why we have so many different freaking systems like

We got the world ranking is your best eight of your last 365 your entry is your best three out of your last four the world tour final is your best eight from the year and then your Olympic rankings is best 12 in the last year and a half and it’s like

You need five different calculators correct I’m with you just keep it simple yeah just world the world ranking I feel like he’s best eight maybe 10 from the last year last 365 mhm if you held your points that long and stayed off tour that long for a year

Like you know you know you’re going to drop finishes that’s fine I like eight Eight’s a little better cuz 10’s a lot of events like you go eight international events that’s a kind of a full season like we did like 20 last year but like it’s like a nice like that

Would be a nice season to to go to eight international events and then a few avps and what I like about the world the world ranking system is that you’re never it doesn’t account like you’re not pushing finishes out it doesn’t de incentivize you from playing anything

Cuz now like you said we we have entry point issues but some teams have to sort of strategize like how long are we going to hold on to a world Champs finish and you got to like pick and choose events where if you have a system where you’re

Not going to push anything out then all the teams are just going to play whatever they want and you’re not going to be like all right we need to if we if we skip Doha then we’ll have points for it TOA if we don’t ever do well in itap

Then we’re screwed for guadara or whatever it’s a weird little thing it’s one of the most things it’s one of the things I hate most about professional like World Tour is like Point counting I’ve never been a Points Guy never will be a Points Guy and it’s a necessary

Evil when you’re trying to figure out how to attend the best tournaments right like yeah you got to account for that stuff because you’ve seen you see teams sort of screw themselves when they attend event and they don’t really you know account for what they’re about to

Drop so yeah it’s tough I loved watching uh last year when you guys were on we just had a like a five minute Love Fest for uh Robin Sidle and watching man watching Sidle and prisy this point was just like and they’re doing well and they have zero and they’re doing well

Like they went from like the top to the bottom like four different times like this is crazy seriously they were like they won a gold medal in a challenge event and were also in the qualifiers for futures in the same year crazy I mean I remember that what that’s the

Thing it’s like I played back in the open era where it was like your your entry points were calculated on your eight of your last 10 or something crazy like that it was like a huge number of tournaments and the problem with that system is there’s no movement so if you

Are a main draw team you’ll you it’s so hard to drop out of main draw really only two or three teams are at risk of dropping and entering so it’s really hard to make it unless you hit a crazy home run coming out of the qualifier and

You do that like three or four times because if you lose in the qualifier it just annihilates any chance of you getting into to the main draw that year so I think that’s what they tried to do is promote movement but now it’s like almost to right like it’s like three of

Your last four damn I mean I think you should be incentivized to get to the main draw and then it’s not like but one tournament and you’re going to slip all the way back it’s like I feel like you should get there and then like you’re trying to hold your position but it

Doesn’t take like the smallest little slip up to fall all the way back like you should get there and your prizes to be now you’re on the main main draw tour and you compete there for a bit and then if you don’t perform then you’re going

To fall back but it shouldn’t just be like this crazy like every event everyone’s jumping in and out and yeah they definitely overcompensated put it that way mhm yeah I’m curious if anything changes after Parish cuz once you’re like locked in the Olympic qualifying system you can’t change right

CU what it’ll look like post Paris um but what did you guys uh what did you guys like about last last year it’s as far as the the team goes because I think you guys had uh some really great performances and then you had a couple where it was clear that like you

Were still working on some stuff and then you ended the year awesome what were some of the highlights from 23 earning more strikes yeah for myself earning confidence going out there facing really good team putting out a really good performance and then at the very end of the year you know having

Some results come our way um um learning more about each other being with each other now for two and a half years we’re really starting to understand to get each other out of slump during during practice during game play um yeah andan earning Stripes like putting in the work every day is hard

Everything is rough and then when you go out there you’re like I’ve done the work I’ve done the work yeah it’s and it’s a battle it’s not a battle within your own head it’s just a battle between it’s just you and your opponent that’s it it’s kind of freeing in that sense right

When you can step out and I think TJ DeFalco talked about that where he’s like I don’t think about passing anymore because I know I’ve passed 10,000 balls he goes and I’ll still keep practicing passing because then next time I’m in a pressure situation I’ll be like I’ve

Been here before I passed another 10,000 balls and you can just step out there and be real free mhm what were some of the stripes that you like do you have any specific all the work putting it like putting work in the gym feeling really really strong going out with the court

Not letting not letting conditioning be a factor anymore um that’s been huge um learning through our mental performance coach of like really understanding that if you play at a 90 to 100% level you can drop someone else’s 100% down to 80% MH and you know beating a few teams um

You know I going to say it beating Andy and Miles really gave me some confidence I’m like those guys beat Norway twice I’m like so we just beat a team that beat the number one team in the world and it’s like boom earn to strike and

Then all of a sudden the standard get it it rises next practice it’s like no you can’t let anything slip now because one little point one little pass one miss serve is the difference between beating those teams and losing to those teams so yeah and a cool a cool time to get that

Win to end it I feel like that had have been a nice morale booster going into the off SE like hell yeah we just beat the team that’s currently ranked number three in the world that won three Elite 16 medals that beat Norway twice in the same tournament something that I don’t

Think anyone had ever done before like that’s a good win that’s wild yeah I think playing those top teams too if you you know when you when you first experience that it humanizes them a little bit cuz I think you build them up to be something a little greater than

They are like these are all great teams of course but you’re you forget that you belong yeah sometimes and I think some you know everyone needs that at some point in their career where they realize hey I can I can mess with these guys I I

Can I can battle and I think once you sort of consolidate that with a win uh or at least a close match or whatever and you that happens in training it happens in competition it happens in your mind um it brings you to that level of like when you’re training you’re

Imagining what it’s going to be like when you’re training again you know when you’re playing at the Olympics when you’re playing in the medal rounds when you’re playing in playoffs and all that stuff and then you know you’re closer to showing up and I think that’s like the

Mental barrier that we have to break through to really feel like hey I can make the Olympics like there’s a real chance here it’s not just a pipe dream which you know everyone you everyone says I want to make the Olympics right anyone can say that but to actually go

Out there and prove to yourself and prove to everyone else that hey feel it right you’re like I feel like I belong with these teams at the Olympics exactly that’s like we’re we’re talking we look at certain stats and like how far off are we from the very

Top of the world and we feel like we had a a very down Year we’re like 2% off 3% you know it’s like the such a fine line out there we flip that and then the next year teams that felt so far Out Of Reach are behind us or something you

Know now that we’re veterans we’ve been on tour long enough like it doesn’t mean our minds don’t slip to like that depression of like damn we suck now and I’m down here at this level where my ranking is but it’s I think think as veterans we we’re able to at least

Recognize like okay that’s a number it’s a ranking some of this stuff’s not in my control like you know the whole identity your identity is kind of linked to your performance all the time like going on that crazy roller coaster is just like really tough MH um

And you know I hope that more people can be like mindful of like that their ranking isn’t their actual level of play or like they they’ve actually fallen off because of their rankings changed or whatever you know they could be in making changes or whatever it is yeah I truly believe that

Really like that final five or 10% of your development is the absolute hardest to crack right like they say that about school right it’s you can get to 90% but that 90 to 95 95 to 100 you have to study like exponentially more to lock in those final percent points right

It’s the same with volleball to me where it’s everyone is so close to each other and it’s really that crazy amount of work like working the world tour is the 1% right like we’re already in the 1% now we’re trying to play Within that 1% like right I mean yeah training up that

One specific play to turn that one or two points cuz all these matches I mean you look at the matches that are decided by by one or two points it’s a it’s a huge amount of matches only decied by that tin th Marin when you’re doing conditioning you’re like

You’re doing all that conditioning for that one point when you’re you know doing all these these random specific situations it’s for that one point that you need because everyone can do everything else pretty equally no for sure and like goes back to your point of like earning your stripes like I I was

Listening to a reel by um Kevin Garnett was was talking about he’s like all the work I ever put in it always paid off no matter what not when I wanted it to necessarily and not when I thought it would pay off but at some point like now

Being a veteran Hall of Fame retired from the sport for whatever 10 years it all paid off at one point or another but you don’t get to choose when it pays off so like earning your stripes you’re like I did the work it’s all here like why isn’t weing the results

Coming you don’t get to choose that right and and so like letting your your emotions ride on this roller coaster of your rankings is like a bit foolish but it’s definitely like a human nature MH man if I got to choose that i’ would have three gold medals right now right

Right and cardio uh work come in now cardio remember that cardio day I get that boost right now could you imagine if like nice High Line every time you pass the 200 balls you like got a little Mario Kart power up use it anytime you want it’s like a little red

Shell while the guy’s going have to hit you just bam right in the face with a red shell it’s like all right I’ll take my passing booster yes and op booster on and mat is over damn this game’s easy man we’re talking about like the small percentages in the stat that um I’ve

Come back to a lot Tri heard me say a lot so Anders and Christian are earned they won 53% of the points available last year wow and they earned 49% and Paris and schweiner won 52% so that’s all try and came was like I know you

Guys feel like really bad about how last year went but you were literally 4% away from being the greatest team in the world history like that’s how small the margins are that’s crazy it’s a difference between a handful of 2119 sets that you flip into 1921 yeah exactly how many matches are

2119 2118 like yeah one point if if I gave you 10 points to spread out throughout last season I bet you I can move your world ranking up 10 spots mhm that’s exactly isn’t that wild is wild we’re looking at our close close match finishes and looking at the percentage

Of how often we’re losing by two points or by Third set and if we change three out of those 10 outcomes boom our rank five for six mhm and you’re in a totally different ball game now two points yeah and here and that I think brings a really interesting mental choice for you

Guys is do you are you encouraged or discouraged by that because a lot of people could look at that and be really encouraged like we’re this close and I know I’ve seen coaches do it my sister-in-law her team lost I think nine straight fifth sets or something M and

They were super discouraged because they were like we’re choke cart like we can’t close out a fifth set and on the other hand you could look at it like are you overperforming by getting there and so it’s sort of like this mental gymnastics you have to do by like are we encouraged

By how close we’re getting or are we discouraged and I think anytime you lean towards encouraged you’re going to have a better result but you know it’s so funny Dan and I were talking about all this P because that’s a perspective right it’s it’s it just depends on how

You look at it reframing kind of thing right exactly and it’s like we’re talking about H uh bees and flies okay where uh you know bees always look for you know are always going to find honey and flies are always going to find [ __ ] [ __ ] not honey not honey

Exactly so it’s it just depends on how you how you wish to look at that man like ah we’re so you know objectively that is tough to work through right it’s like oh we keep losing fifth sets it’s really hard to reframe that in a positive way but if you are looking to

Reframe that in a positive way you absolutely can right or you can be like hey we’ve won nine nine fifth sets in a row we’re due for a loss you can look at it that way too right if you choose to I don’t know who would but I think it all

Depends on and that’s why it’s you know these thin margins it’s so mental it’s such a it’s such a perspective thing and it’s such a personal belief thing and uh that’s why there’s training around it right we we all have mental performance coaches at at the international level

And there’s a reason for that because that is uh one of the biggest differentiating factors between the teams who win every time and the teams who don’t yeah how do you guys train the mental side I’m so interested in how everyone worked because that’s so individualized whereas like strength

Training is relatively like programmed like if you lift more weights you’re going to get stronger right but mental it’s impossible to really like put a measurement on I’m curious how you guys worked that we have like a team standard where the more present we can be the

Better we perform so that like we learn about each other our personalities on the court off the court to make sure that like are we present are we here right now can we keep each other to that standard you know the difference between a good mistake and a bad mistake like

Even at the Youth Level for example you know serve out of bounds over the net out by a meter good mistake you serve into the net that’s where you’re like okay I wasn’t present I miss that serve for a reason it’s my my fault you take ownership for that you take

Accountability and then you realize this is a partnership you take take responsibility for it and you make sure that you hold each other accountable to that high standard so keeping that high standard at that 90 95 98% Mark if we catch each other go below that then it’s

Our responsibility mentally to be like hey let’s go no Dan hey are you with me are you with me yeah I’m here boom touch next point and it’s like if you don’t do that little checkin you’re mentally checked out yeah so it’s like there’s a self mental accountability and then

There’s that team partnership Brotherhood of keeping each other in that standard and it’s a constant grind yeah every day on the court off the court being with each other on the road like do your [ __ ] do your stuff if you don’t do it it’s gonna not you’re GNA shank

That one ball at 14 all if you don’t do this thing right now so it’s you you love it you hate it right and it uh it’s hard because you know on bigger teams I think it’s easier to hold one another accountable because it’s not the same guy holding it’s not

The same offensive lineman holding the other offensive linemen accountable every time but in a beach volleyball team it’s one guy holding one guy accountable and it’s a hard balance because you don’t want to annoy the crap out of your partner but at the same time like you almost have to just be doing

That constant checkin like hey where’d you go where’d you go come on back you don’t want to annoy him but he’s annoying the crap out of you I mean it’s so interesting you say that because again coming back to this perspective thing it’s it’s a double-edged sword with that right like

There is the negative of you’re getting that same information from the same sords it’s like it’s like a parent trying to discipline their kid and you just lose your voice to that kid but you bring in a stranger and suddenly your kid perks up and they’re very well

Behaved like right it’s CU a new voice it’s something fresh It’s A New Perspective they’re saying it in a different way and they’re not you like fundamentally right and then there’s the other side of that sword which is the positive where you have a very intimate understanding

Of who your partner is whereas on a bigger team you might lose some of that intimacy so you might not have a level of connection if you’ve been able to cultivate that which you have which takes work but you know the ability to really understand oh they reacted a

Certain way I know exactly where they’re at mentally and I know how to support them or I know oh I should leave them alone because if you’re on a big team and you’re a coach for instance like I was coaching a college team this past year and the biggest challenge because

I’ve been only with one person so I only really had to deal with a person in one specific way whereas when you have a team of 14 people you yell at the group one guy responds one guy shuts down one guy ignores you you know it’s like it’s impossible to connect with everyone

And uh with one person it’s sort of simplified so it you but but again like you have to learn that and that’s you asked at the beginning you know what’s what’s different what’s good about this year is well Dan sort of touched on it like we really understand each other a

Lot better and I think that shows up in clutch moments that it shows up in in times of like extreme stress where sometimes I would just leave them alone cuz that’s what someone else would wanted so that’s how I’ll treat him when now I realize oh maybe that’s not

Actually the right thing to do with Dan cuz he needs to feel like supported or he needs to you know he needs me to get in his face and and fire him up in this situation so I think it all sort of depends so so situational and I think

That’s why every team does it differently because there is no one way to do it yeah do you think coaching helped you in in terms of just finding ways to like talk to Dan in a different way because you got to work with on a college team I don’t know how many

Different is it girls or women or women yeah what 14 16 men yeah yeah around that yeah like 12 to 14 and you got to find 12 to 14 because everyone wants to be communicated in a different way and then you got to figure out well on this

Day it’s actually a little bit different for this guy on this day and this situation and so I feel like it’s probably been a great tool cuz they always say like the greatest way to learn is to teach MH I feel like you’re probably on a learning curve

Too yeah Absolutely I’ll tell you what it did number one is it gave me extreme respect for all of my coaches oh for sure cuz man it is not easy it is not easy everyone is so different and not to mention like the coaching landscape right now is very challenging to work in

With uh how we were treated as athletes you cannot treat athletes that way anymore so uh the way I was like treated is instinctually how I would want to treat other people because that is I I felt like oh I you know got to this level where I’m you know an Olympian and

I’m International so if it works for me it’s got to work for you not not the case me tell that didn’t work at all but yeah you know what I even learn from my athletes the way certain athletes will approach their teammates some will come in super hard and I’ll

See how they you know how athletes respond to them and I’ll be like oh you know what like you you know just because someone hasn’t a achieved a certain level of uh like skill efficiency it doesn’t mean that they don’t have value to provide in those like intangibles

Right and you’re learning like you know oh I learn you know you know when someone adopts a dog and they well the dog saved me you know I’m here to coach these kids but they’re teaching me every day but it’s true man it’s true I don’t know what to tell

You that’s so funny where what college are you coaching again uh George Brown but um yeah like this this past year I wasn’t as intimately involved just because it’s the Olympic year so um I had one of my assistant coaches from last year uh be the interm head coach

And they were fantastic and he was fantastic and I learned from him too so big shout out to all the George Brown guys and coaches coaching staff they were awesome this year yeah and you’re what’s veto’s actual name Ser John okay the last name Sr DJ

A okay cuz he put his contact into my phone and I was like I don’t even know what to search for that’s a good point the coach like here I’ll give you my number I’ll just I’ll just save my contact in there and then he gave it to me but then

It like he reverted back to wherever the screen was and I was like I don’t even know where to start trying to find something yeah no well how’s how’s that been cuz he when did you guys start working with him halfway last year okay I didn’t realize you I thought that was

A later move why was he just before the Montreal Elite 16 okay you guys played that’s got to be the most like deceivingly quote unquote bad finish because you guys played awesome I thought because I think I commentated all of your matches and they were all so

Close you went over overtime with and Ellers I think both sets went to three with Qatar and then you had another close one with another like brail very good team Pedro and G yeah and that’s like I was like damn they’re playing so well those Elite 16s are so nasty yeah

They are uh yeah I I I thought we played okay on those don’t ask vetco though know where to find him in my phone anyway to ask him about it no it was so funny man that guy is like the most intense coach ever like one of the

Most intense coaches I’ve ever had like we would like after Nora well we can come back to the noral one but after the Nora we beat miles and Andy and he comes straight to the bench with a list of things that we did wrong like damn man we’re kind of riding

The high right here bro this guy’s tough but we respect it we respect it he’s uh no he’s he’s he’s really really good and he’s changed a lot of our team culture and attitude ethic and he’s brought a ton to the team we are huge huge vesco fans awesome yeah

What’s his background Serbian Serbian Serbian okay he’s worked with the Polish Federation he’s worked with the German Federation mainly on the women’s side okay but no Sam said it really well he’s changing our team culture he’s upping our level of commitment outside off the court so everything’s dialed in on eyes

On Paris like if everything we’re doing at home on the road if it affects our fatigue level if it affects our ability to be present at practice we can’t do it unless we like all agree upon it together yeah the biggest thing that I thought

He’s brought to the team is a level of accountability that is like unmatched and that goes from like performance to mood and attitude to health where he has this hilarious quote where he’s like I care but I don’t care and that what that means to him is like I care about you

People but I I if you’re injured like I care that you’re injured but I don’t care because the sand doesn’t care the match doesn’t care your opponents don’t care nobody else cares scoreboard got no feeling correct so you have to figure it out man and um if we come to practice

Injured like he’ll listen to the medical staff but he won’t really listen to us and I kind of love it because he’s like yeah he’s just he’s like it’s your job you’re the athlete it’s your job to be healthy so you got to take care of yourself

And if you’re not taking care of yourself well we’re never going to go anywhere it’s not his job so why put put it in his mind you know it’s an uncontrollable for him it’s the something that you have to control so it’s like okay you’re hurt great it’s

Like I mean imagine a football coach caring when a player gets hurt doesn’t mean he’s a dick and he he hates his player but it’s like all right he’s out whatever like next he’s going to the hospital next but Dan how valuable has it been for you

To have because you guys have had a couple different um coaches and I feel like having a couple different like sort of options to choose from at first is good and then you get your system down and that it seems like you guys respond really L to

Vesco um I feel like just having just a couple different perspectives and now you get to really dial it in just because you took I forget how long it was seven years off how was four years four years okay um but how how’s your learning curve been cuz I feel like he’s

Like hi hi hi all right we’ll take a little sabatical and now we’re going back again if we had if Sam and I were a partnership for the last six or seven years and we had vetco part of our team we could have done a lot of damage

So it’s like looking back and I’m like wow if I were to have a discipline to stay healthy and have vetco yeah like like we would feel Unstoppable on the court we’re trying to squeeze that all in every single minute until Paris to get it all squeezed in

For what matters most but having him and looking back at all the other coaches I would choose vco over anybody that’s awesome um you know even though I took those four years off been part of the game since 2008 and been through one two three four Canadian national team

Coaches and vsco’s fairly new he’s only been in volleyball Canada for two years but he’s made a huge impact in in our overall team culture and and as as and the teams that he works with so um yeah let’s go let go let’s go we’ve mentioned Paris a couple times

I feel like the Olympic race is so unique because you need to have that far out goal right where when you start it it’s a year and a half in the future how do you dial it back into the little micro goals that you’re trying to hit every week

That’s so interesting you say that um well I think at the beginning of of the year we we just as a team he he made us sort of write out a sheet of a bunch of things that we had to want like we were looking to improve in ourselves

That we’re looking to improve in our partner that we want to address as a team uh mentally uh tactically and all these things and I think we trust the coach to really step by step knock those down one at a time right like we we were training in Toronto and

Didn’t really train with another team for about a month and change so we were only really able to address our stuff not a ton of tactical stuff but um he yeah he’s like he’s super methodical in what he does and every single day we walk in there and within 10 minutes you

Understand what the sequence of drills will likely be and the logic of it and it’s really like I mean we’re talking this like we just finished up our first week of training it’s showing up all over the place uh which is really impressive to be able to as you know as

A as a coach it’s one of the hardest things to do is to take the things in training and make sure they’re applied effectively in game situation because what so often happens is you are training and you’re training you know outside the body line passing and then

The second pressure comes you go back right back to your old habits and you body the ball up and suddenly the ball’s in your chest and you’re screwed um but somehow he’s created this thing where we’re not doing all that stuff like damn dude you got to teach me

All this George my George Brown guys are still doing all the other stuff tell him not to do how do you do it um and I think that’s like with that good block of training uh even without another team you’re able to really focus and rep that out and understand conceptually why

You’re trying to make those changes and get by in and that’s like one of the hardest things to do with athletes especially when they’re learning new skills they tend to like be kind of crap at it right right away and then trust that okay like this is eventually going

To make me better than I was before and you sort of have that little step right so it’s like a little bit of down and then a little bit higher than you were and then new skill down and then a little bit higher and then suddenly by

The end of the by the end of the training block you’re like way better than you were before so I don’t know and it’s hard cuz like as an athlete like every time I would tweak something with golf or change my release in basketball like you said you it’s a risk because

You don’t know if you’re going to get back up and the coach obviously fully believes it because he wasn’t telling you to be doing it otherwise but it’s it like you feel so vulnerable You’re like I’m hitting like three out of 10 free throws or now like I’m I’m passing like

20% worse than I was and how hard is it for a coach to coach that right a athlete that’s has to feel thems get worse yeah and then trust your ass to get them back up cuz they’re doing your stuff right to go down to take that dip

It’s like especially cuz like in a sport like volleyball really any sport really is that there there’s immediate feedback in sports every time you pass a ball bad that’s immediate feedback and so when you try to change something and they’re just like man this is the like [ __ ]

Feedback that I don’t need and you’re like I promise it’ll get better don’t know when but it didn’t yeah and then you like you have the the fight with your coach man like I think the technique’s fine he’s like I’ll send you Clips bro you got like 20 Clips the next day

He like and with with he he was like don’t respond until I’m done setting all of my clips and at the end and capx he’s like done but like it’s like [ __ ] pass to the outside you’re not chasing the ball you’re not pressing on your block I

Was like oh my God this guy’s Relentless I think that speaks to the level of trust you got have developed with vesco and I think um and with each other that you can know like CU that is hard where you have to buy into kind of a new

System and especially for like a veteran like you you’ve been on tour for more than a decade and if he’s trying to change something like I think you have one of the nastiest right side High lines in the world and if he’s like actually I think you could do it this

Way you’d be like yeah that’s hard you’re changing my bread and butter yeah exactly like yeah it’ll be bread and butter with a little honey on top now bro we had solo yesterday who’s just giving me [ __ ] about my Highline all practice but that’s my baby he like talk

About my baby stop touching it stop touching it control it like oh god really funny he he these mannerisms it’s funny he’s like listen if you do it your way and you score I won’t say anything but you drop that elbow and you get picked up on no

Unacceptable so he does a good job with his language of like listen I understand that you’ll make your own choices you’ll make your own shots but I’m here for the awareness of like this is what you can do better but I understand that if you

Want to make that shot you better do it like this so that’s cool and it takes humility on your guys part too to be willing to change because that is a hard thing especially since like I said you’ve been around for a long time like you know how to pass volleyball like you

Haven’t gotten here because you don’t know how to pass or hit a high line or swing sharp angle like you know how to do these things but there small percentages again right if that half% better at each shot that adds up to about a 4% gain on offense and it’s

Pretty dang good exactly we just talked about all those mergin and it’s like I think part of the reason why I respond so well to him and I think Dan does too is it’s very rare to actually have a coach that outworks you right and man that guy works hard and he’s always

Watching film and he’s always thinking about practice he’s got his notebook everywhere and he’s always writing stuff down and I’m like I respect that man if I you know if you’re chilling on your computer doing something else I’m like yeah that’s that’s fine like no like I’m

I’m not like judging anyone but I’ve had like two coaches in my in my entire career who I’ve been like they worked way harder than I did at that time that I was with them and and he’s one of those guys so it’s like when I when he

Speaks I listen cuz I know he’s not just off on a WI and this is like a you know abstract theory that he’s like he’s this is a wellth thought out fully developed idea right and he’s coming to me with like video clips of evidence like he’s not theoretical B he’s very

Evidence-based so um yeah I mean how could you not right like that’s great I think one of the and I talked with tri about this a lot one of the toughest things for athletes is that you’re there’s no guarantee that all of these changes are

Going to help you are going to make you win like I tell TR like we’re just trying to increase our probability from 51% to 52 and A2 and it’s so hard we like you’re putting in all this work just to increase the probability and maybe we won’t have the tangible

Evidence that we want by Paris yeah it’s a shrunken timeline yeah that’s the other thing is like I’ve learned over time to not get too excited with like a good preseason or a good practice or like you know like oh my God I’m acing everyone off the

Court this week in practice I’m going to destroy everyone this week in this tournament how does that tournament go never miss every serve right you missed the first serve and you’re like I’m terrible yeah yeah damn it that streaks over right when I wanted it it’s worthless so like getting too caught up

On like great off season or a bad off you know bad practice a bad this or anything really it’s just like it’s just so important to stay stay present with it all and not I feel like sometimes when I play too good at practice and we’re smashing teams now I bring that

Expectation into the game you know versus if I lost I was like oh my God like we could easily lose here I better like be extremely focused and it kind of dials me in I think it’s different for everyone it depends how your brain works right but I definitely think that that’s

A that can be a thing for me is like why doesn’t good practice or good warmup translate into a good game yeah it’s like a combin your performance is a combination of like your whole career worth of work and then like what parts of it come

Out on this particular day you know it’s not my my performance in this tournament is going to be what my practice was that week you know it’s not like just that piece it’s like there’s so much that we’ve already put into that that book

And I just think we all get caught up in like the micro of it right like this week sucks I mean I’m I’m day to day right now I’m like I’m like this is the worst thing ever you wake up especially when you’re on the tour right you wake

Up at 3:00 a.m. and you can’t sleep for 4 hours just laying there and feel terrible and you lost the previous day or something you’re riding a big low and then you win that first match and you feel good you’re like come back baby bro we are seriously think we’re going to

Not only make the Olympics but we’re probably going to win it and then and then you lose the next match and you’re right back down there and like it’s like all right there’s that mindfulness right that training of like that’s exactly why we practice this mindfulness to be aware hey we’re too

High hey we’re too low let’s just stay right here stay right in the middle um but yeah dude I I saw the funniest real today it’s so funny I’ll always uh put up whatever I need to put up on Instagram and then just delete it but then I’ll

Check I’ll check my messages and so Delaney she sent me like she’ll sent me like eight reels so I just go through the re she sent me and she’s like men are hilarious because like women when they’re having a bad day they’ll need a tub of ice cream they’ll need a six-

Hour nap they’ll need a good chat a romcom and then we can be back to normal men watch one motivational Sports quote and they’re like back to normal for when you’re suffering work harder you’re like yep I’m back baby let’s go going to the gym Paris

Gold have you seen the movie Unbroken no yeah yeah yeah go for War II and it’s about one particular Olympian Louis zerini correct and he’s from T California Trojan by the way you go and it’s the experience that he goes through no could go through and how they capture

It and the truth of his story and it’s been a long week and we had to work out today and I’m like leaning on Sam I’m like I I don’t want to do this I know I will but in the moment I don’t want to do it and

Then even watching that movie I’m like Louie went through everything I am nothing compared to this this is nothing let’s go like just thinking of that quote thinking of that exper experience you just I can do this while I’m tired I can do this well this this is nothing

This is not a challenge but then you’re fatigued and you’re tired and the daytoday grind it’s yeah but yeah it’s amazing what a quote can do or a reflection of someone who’s been a legend or a war heio you can be like it can be so motivational to you yeah and

As an athlete change yeah like sports is just such an amplifier of it right like we put a clock on us and a scoreboard and like make everything so extreme that like athletes just have to learn to create some real different relationships with pain and like fear or like

Nervousness and anxiety and we always justifying it right like I’m depressed right now like I probably should see a doctor like but Yep this is what this is what I’m supposed to be right now good good perfect I can’t feel my leg might I might pass out right now good

Good there’s normal people carry the boat sometimes I lay in bed I’m like I just wish a normal person could feel this and I just want to see their reaction to be like what that’s what your body feels like like and you don’t like go to doctors or anything no it’s

Pretty much just it it’s wild if you like respect high-end Olympic world class athletes and and you think of just oh I wonder if you could just put this person in there you’re like I wonder how long you would last and then you can compare yourself

To someone like Lou you’re like wow I’m such a little I’m I’m soft compared to what he had to go through wasn’t he he was like floating in the middle of the ocean 45 days I would die after two but that’s that’s like maybe even

The worst part cuz then like when he got caught it was by like these Japanese little bit the Americans are going to save him and then and then they’re like shooting at him so he’s like save me and they’re like like trying to blast them out the water right

Dives into shark infested water I don’t know if I actually watched it that’s what happened right yeah crazy and he’s like all right save me he’s like no we’re going to kill you he’s like all right what whatever either way you should definitely watch it now unoken

Going through a hard week of training and I’m on my last set of conditioning you just grab perspective and it makes you so much stronger M yeah on my team I was the only one who did conditioning today no I went I went I went to USA and did it there you go

That’s right suck sorry Kyle friend saw me for this thing Kyle I’m calling Kyle now it wasn’t on it wasn’t on an assault bike which is easier than sand I went I went for it for sure but you’re right sand is easier but I had to go

You like in the sauna no it wasn’t in the sauna all right that’s not an assault in the sauna that’s why okay all right coach time to reprimand him I left practice and texted him damn it we didn’t do cardio right did he did

I would give him credit for that I get I get credit for just sending a text about cardio hey I really wanted to do it sorry we couldn’t yes thank God I went through this phase where every time I did cardio I was picturing like my last cardio

Trauma so I years ago like I was playing Nikolai and Lup in Brazil and it was our third match of the day and they were serving me short every ball and I just remembered that feeling right so every day for like I conditioning for like five years I was like

Nick never going to feel that again just traumatized myself and every five years I would get a new a new like one of those experiences where I was like Yep this is a new trauma yeah I uh I heard on some podcast the other day they sort of defined trauma

Reframed it like trauma is a an event that was bad at the time that changed how you act in the future and so in a lot of ways trauma can be awful right but in some ways when you reframe it to cardio trauma and 5 years later

You’re still on the bike you’re like [ __ ] you Nicolai short serve me one more time exactly like cardio is one of the like things that I think back on that’s like shaped me the most in terms of training like it’s just so hard there’s nothing good about it at all you

Do see gains though right like over time like that’s where you start to like be like oh my God I’m not as tired as that first day that first day was like torture but when I think back some of the moments that like shape me the most

In the way that I’m able to trained now are like from when I was playing soccer and I was like 13 I had like a crazy coach he’s the kind of guy who was like run till you throw up you can throw up once you or you can stop

Once you throw up kind of thing and no water that that kind of old school coach m still to this day the hardest training I’ve ever done if I look back on it probably wasn’t as hard but like I was a kid I was probably eating cake at school

That day you know but like he pushed us so hard and I was so uncomfortable and so I remember being so scared all day long thinking about we have cardio to we have a Regional training for soccer today like it was like an all day thing but like getting through that and like

Experiencing that and then having you know basketball coaches punishing you and doing push the shirt like it used to be punishment right for us that stuff I feel like shaped me the most in terms of like what I’m able to handle now and it’s kind of like we we

Do it to ourselves now right nobody tells we don’t get punished cuz like we’re the boss yet we’re still doing it yeah and I feel like that because it was so painful and miserable but then we saw results after that’s what’s shaped us and made us able

To do what we do today speaking of coaching that no one can ever do again I was just about to say those coaches would all be fired yeah exactly and this guy was puking and training uh when we were at home like after conditioning cuz he was out of

Shape or no cuz he was like he ate too much before for the conditioning cuz we weren’t like we weren’t sure if we were doing conditioning or not so we had a bigger lunch puked all over the sand that’s the thing too like you come back

But then after I was like you know what I pushed myself beyond my limit and I did it and it sucked in the moment but then I went home drove I’m like I deserve a little bit of treat tonight but then before training next time you’re like definitely not eating

That yeah exactly but it what’s pretty cool though with a partnership is we call Sam and I like we’re in the trenches together yeah it’s like yeah conditioning sucks but we’re doing it with somebody and it’s like we’re sucking the feeling together and it’s like and it’s all your mind it’s all

Your mind like one day you go 98% one day you go 92% the next day you’re conditioning you’re at like 87% like that’s unacceptable push yourself even more more more more more and it’s funny sometimes I look at other people doing conditioning I’m like is that you’re

85% yeah I’m like okay no no just focus on what I have to do doesn’t matter about that but it’s it’s a it’s a battle It’s a Grind because it’s so hard cuz you don’t want to do it and you don’t like the feeling but you know how much

It’s going to pay off six months down the road when you think of Nikolai l n i mean you’re giving me trauma every day this guy is like the fastest person in the AL right and he’s also in phenomenal shape so like we do conditioning beside each

Other and he’s like lapping me and I’m like I’m glad we don’t do cardio with you guys try try practicing and training every day and then your coach smashes both of you every day and he weighs freaking 10 15 pounds more yeah I don’t know what the hell is going on over

Here Jesus trav’s a Phenom dude and he’s a freaking journalist phenomenal journalist say what he’s not even a player anymore Jes tired well you get to Humble me today I had to I had to fill in for a blocker today and I haven’t played I haven’t played in a long time he wasn’t

Getting up too high not great hand on ball pretty good everything else pretty bad D I want to get back to something that you said about you when before you live today you’re like I don’t want to do this but I know I’m going to do this and I

Think that that speaks to the culture that you guys have formed correct where that’s just I mean that’s the definition of discipline right you just there is no choice you’ve taken the decision out of the matter where we’re a team that doesn’t skip workouts and I think that

That speaks to where you guys are at as a team and I’m wondering have you guys always been that way or is that something that you’ve worked into we’ve worked into it especially me like grow like really soaking in everything from Sam and from our first coach and now

With PCO soaking it all in uh even I’m not going to lie even yesterday during conditioning like our coach is with us and he’s like okay like we understand we’ve had a pretty heavy work so you know we’re going to take a little bit off your conditioning and then when I

Was finish I was like I could do more I could do more and then we got information from our our trainer today it’s like it depends on how you’re feeling it’s been a pretty heavy week you know if you have five sets you can

You can do four sets no I did all five sets it’s just it’s a it’s a it’s a world class thing I think actually it’s like I’m not I’m not an Olympian but I’m surrounded by Olympians I’m facing world class athletes and I you need to have an Olympic world class attitude towards

These things that are so important because when you go on the court and you’re like oh I didn’t do conditioning at the level that I should have or I skipped this little that stuff pays off in your mind when it matters most so we’ we’ve grown a lot and we’re holding each

Other accountable to continue growing um and like like try said it’s a it’s day by day it’s day by day and if you have that Olympic mindset day by day then hopefully you earn it but you’ll you’ll leave the sand being like I gave it my

All on it yeah there’s a piece of Mind in that it’s uh man there’s no more haunting feeling that stepping on a court and being like I know I sure changed myself at practice this week right verus when step on the court there’s a piece of Mind where even if

You play bad you’re like there’s nothing more I could have done to prepare and that just didn’t show up to versus when if you lose a match and you’re like I probably could have passed a lot more I could have done those extra Sprints or could XYZ there is I think that that’s

The biggest thing with athletes is getting that peace of mind where like I did the work I just didn’t get the result and that is no fault of the process yeah we call those off ramps where it’s like if you reduce the number number of potential off ramps that are

Available to you the more likely you are to sort of be like mentally committed and feel like you’re deserving of winning you stay in the carpool lane yeah way far left exactly offramp crap yeah I remember when I was like 20 that was really Consolidated in me CU every day I had

This German coach Leonard crap who would just run me through these gnarly practices three-hour practices and we’d have workouts on top of it whatever whatever and I had no idea what I was doing I was 20 I was like just joining the national team and

He was his whole thing at the end of like every week he’s like we’re working harder than everyone else in the world and whether we were or not it didn’t it was irrelevant cuz he was creating that belief system and I was playing Junior World Championships uh u21

And it’s you know we’re playing Alvaro and uh vtor Philip in the final and I’m exhausted we’re in turkey and it’s 40° and I’m getting served every ball and I’m blocking celsus that’s cold was like it’s over 100 degrees I don’t know man and uh and I’m getting short served

Every ball and I have all tournament I’m so tired and I just hear this German you know this guy with the German accent you deserve this you’re working harder than everybody and I’m like he’s right and then we won and we beat those guys and it was like it was just one of

Those aha moments that solidified that exact mind you know that that thought process of like um work non-negotiables you said it right create these non-negotiables if it’s not an option you don’t even think about it anymore right it’s like brushing your teeth you don’t think about it that just becomes

Like these habits that you create kid right and if you and if you create those habits in a positive way you’re going to get positive results if you create you also unassumingly create those negative habits where you do sort of bag it on the last conditioning because you don’t

Like feeling uncomfortable or you know you’re okay not finishing with a dime pass in your last traill so I think it’s yeah it’s all about creating those for yourself and that’s a life thing not just a volleyball thing as well for sure you know it’s kind of It kind of trips

Me out these days is in terms of where I’m at of my career maybe my age whatever uh is not the flip side of it but the other side of it is recovery right and overdoing it and like we all kind of have this perfectionism like we

Just want to do the right thing right if if the best thing to do is to run the laps I want to do that if the best thing to do is to sit on my couch with my feet up I want to do that at the right time

But we never know mhm when is the right time what is the right balance and I feel like now that I’m getting to that mid-30s age I’m like it’s like I’m getting pulled in multiple directions of like work harder recover better like wait those are those are

Contrasting what do I do I don’t know what to do and then like you know fall trying to back off of some of the work in some ways but then not lose that confidence and like be in that match where like like but I didn’t do the

Things the exact same way that I did 5 years ago when I was just gnarly mhm it’s like kind of a Trippy thing to go through right what and what I’m I guess learning is that you have to go all in and work hard at whatever needs to be

Done not necessarily like whatever’s on the paper kind of thing you know yeah yeah brute force and sometimes the hardest thing to do is to not do it and still keep that mental Edge right I don’t know I’m kind of learning I’m learning this like right

Now I’m trying to figure it out it’s like you’re calibrating right like you’re calibrating you’re honing it in it’s like every time you pull out your driver it’s not always doesn’t make sense for you to just Mash your driver right there’s water on the left there’s

Woods on the right all right let’s put this thing down the middle we don’t have to crush it versus the open fa where you’re like all right let’s take it let’s swing over our feet you know our boots on this one yeah honing it yeah

For sure I agree and I I think that because there’s just always trade-offs with everything you do so every minute that you’re spending in system practicing that’s not a minute we’re spent getting out of system reps right every minute you’re spent working on defense you’re not working on offense

And it’s so hard to find that’s what I’m finding now I’m like all right we got like six different problems to solve we have two hours we can probably get three of those we can get a really good deep look at which means we’re completely ignoring the others or do you do six

Really light looks at those problems and like I don’t know there’s tradeoff yeah yeah man coaching stuff how are you liking it I’m uh what I have found is it’s such a different kind it’s a different kind of stress than playing cuz playing you show up to the court and

Some days you won’t want to be there CU your body feels like crap or like you take a couple days off and you’re like I’m going to be terrible at practice I’m going be the worst player there versus as a coach like I never have to worry

About that for me but I’m like cuz you’re chugging a nice ice cold uh why coffee before this guy’s been buzzing out there been crushing it Austin’s had a some you you slept at our place at the right time oh yeah now’s not a good time to SP Mor or

Household yeah but now when I show up as a coach distress is have I planned practice in a manner that’s going to solve our problems in the most efficient way possible and then you have to sort of tweak as you go and meet them where they are CU like I’m working with Evan

Cory to and with that’s a lot more freeing cuz we have the time we have all the time in the world to experiment and mess around with stuff but they have I mean and you guys too like we got three months right and if things go poorly

It’s less than that we got two weeks right it’s till we leave right yeah and so it’s not uh it doesn’t have that freeing sense with EV where we can just experiment and experiment if things aren’t working oh it’s fine where if things are working now it’s like all

Right we got two weeks to actually find something that does work so that’s been a really I like that stress though it’s been a really fun puzzle to a constantly moving puzzle it’s like the stairs and Harry Potter how they’re always moving had to get to class one day but oh [ __ ]

The staircase is over here now now we got to figure out a different way to get there so it’s been fun I’ve enjoyed it it’s like a puzzle so what what what do they need work on mentally perfect he’s not me on us anymore it’s been uh it’s been great though I’ve

I’ve enjoyed it and what I really enjoy my body feels awesome just rub it in bro my knee is throbbing as you say that well before you guys have to go I’m I’m curious I just want to get a state of the can of the uh Canadian beach volleyball Union cow’s volleyball Canada

Going Vancouver open still one of the best events in the world I think when that happening just give us a rundown love Vancouver open sancast tour maybe oh yeah you know when it is this year ju July 12th could be wrong I’m hoping we’re busy hoping resting yes everyone

In this room is yes it’ be nice if we can all skip that’ be great yeah seriously so the vent opens then but how’s the everything else because you have a little national tour right yeah at the end of August we have like a all the national teams will will play Within

The Toronto Beach Community um no like technically right now is volleyball Canada like you know we have our little offseason we work on the fine or tune skills of being indoors but then coming out here it’s different it’s different and we’re trying to use those fine tools

Skills out here in the wind and and and you know get to train with world class American athletes and and you know you’re only as good as your competition and you constantly try to do that but no volleyball Canada is right here in the United

States yeah yeah but we do have we do have like a small domestic tour I mean it’s you can’t really call that because it’s it they’re all sort of separate organizations doing it like we have a couple events in Quebec uh like those Grand Prix opens which is not huge prize

Money but like it brings out sort of some of the best in Canada when they’re not traveling on world world tour it’s very similar to the AP and then you have like The Perennial like uh van openen you’ll have uh Nationals which are sort of the bigger ones uh and then yeah like

In Toronto which is sort of what we’re familiar with they have pretty much like weekly OVA so a very strong grass boots program like hundreds and hundreds of Courts and and athletes playing uh you know every weekend so the training environment for for our youth is very

Strong and it’s going to continue to feed uh our provincial team and our national team and then out west we also have a strong Beach Community uh sort of where around that Vancouver uh open area called kits and they have you know sort of their tour out there so it’s a bunch

Of like small sort of feeder tours into some of those larger events like the grand PRI the van open the Nationals and provincials um but as far as uh our canadi like the Canadian landscape like we still rely heavily on you guys and we’ll attend a lot of AP you know tours

Uh those those tournaments that allow foreigners to come in and play so um with and the NCAA program is developing a lot of our younger athletes yeah yeah I mean Molly McBain one she came in that was crazy how quickly she was just like oh I haven’t really played a World Tour event

In ever and now P are like very much in contention for sure they I don’t even I think they have 12 events and they’re already in like holding an Olympic spot yeah um yeah no they’re they’re fantastic and then we have like Leah moncos who I think went to

UCLA uh she’s playing with Max uh bang okay which is another French girl Beast dude she won B open with Heather like a couple years back she beat glany in the finals yep yeah her and Kelly that was a fun final yeah that was great um yeah

And then a couple girls coming back from injury and we actually stole one of your American Girls Amy oie I saw that I when Amy put that up I was like I Hawaii oh yeah I had no idea she was Canadian like good for you Amy’s awesome

She is bouncy she is she’s super athletic we were saying like similar athleticism to Sophie where she just moves really well uh similar body types in terms of like explosiveness and and just like how they they move and and uh sort of like carry themselves like down

To the posture you know and uh no she’s she’s great she’ll be a strong Prospect so it’s good and then we have a new national team coach for our man for our women’s side um which is uh sort of like one of like our older players a guy who

I grew up with Mark Gatt so it’s good I mean it’s it’s looking brighter yeah how was the Halifax event obviously you guys won go so that was nice but I heard it was cool it was sick that was the Futures yeah got it did

They give you the same kind of metal oh yeah better it was better um you know speaking of training here in the US we have some good news for you guys we found your ball today no way it was in the dit cuz VC is going to

Know that we lost it now and then they’re going be aren’t taking care of your stuff well it was only sitting in the dish for 3 days and no one took it are you serious yeah I was walking over this morning like oh ball oh it’s their ball perfect 19

Street black hole yep so funny we’re convinced Evan Cory had taken that ball Evan went and threw it in the hole before practice says team on he’s like no we’re like liar yeah he he blinked when he said that you know like I’m I’m why wouldn’t he make eye contact with

And then you guys uh you got your herbaland hats on that’s right baby now would be a good time to shout out your sponsors they’re the best and what’s uh you got your names on it too that’s right I keep thinking that the side is

Like a pancake but it’s a gummy it looks like oh gummy bear gummy bear got it I love commentating your guys matches whenever you do something good I’m like he ate his herbaland gummies yes we need more of that we need more of that herand EXA exactly seriously

Though what sponsors do for us is we’re able to commit to being professional athletes yeah like the level commit like when you said about recovery yeah you do the work you have a great session in the sand it’s hard you do conditioning and then you go lift and it’s like 6:00

P.m. and your muscles are sore your knees are achy your shoulders all tight more work has to be done you recover and you use that time where your feet are up and you know taking care of your children or whatever you’re doing there’s still work to be done CU it’s a

24 24-hour job so we have our sponsors to support us we don’t have to make choices like go to coach and go make things that aren’t going towards Paris so having their funding is huge for us to feel and be an Olympic standard athlete for sure and they help us so

Much with the financial aspect of things being there on our side we don’t win all the time but they’re there with us and and it it’s huge so thank you to herbaland thank you to our Tron Community thank you to sandex like we couldn’t do it without them and they

Know that they’re with us no matter we win or we fail it’s pretty it feels like we have an army behind us that’s a good feeling and that is a great feeling to have so and that no matter what they do for us like to me that’s where it really

Hits the heart yeah especially when the company’s product is something that you use right and it’s like something that’s actually contributing to the team so they’re like contributing to keeping your bodies actually playing better like they’re not only financially helping you but helping you in every way they’re actually a part

Of the team and like it it’s nice to have that kind of support and and we’ve a lot of us would take sponsorships from any company even if you didn’t use the product but like see same with us with the podcast like once we actually got a

A Team behind us of products that we actually can use and actually like um you know promoting and like making a part of our team it just kind of has this team Vibe of like more people having your back and it’s pretty cool to to have a sponsor like that it is cuz

I’ve had different levels of them in different ones and to have one that you like I actually use and love this product is is rare correct today we have workout I’m dabbing into my pre-workout gummies and then I took them 10 minutes later I’m like Sam let’s

Go riding High actually I want to try that pre-workout gummies work out gummies and how exciting is it that you’re like reason I should eat gummies I should eat these gummy bears right now it’s part of my work I was telling this to Dan the other day I was like you know

When I go to bed at night I’m like we all get a little snacky recovery gummies have like these terrible for you gummies that are just like full of sugar and or I have my multivitamins yeah my electrolyte gummies yeah exactly you know I went to

The grocery store last night and I got us some snacks and he’s like Dan come here big hug and we open up these like gummies like a little like cheat snack and I’m like these are terrible these are really bad and I went and had my joint care gummies and my multivitamin

Gummies I’m like these were way better like it’s funny that yeah it like to have a sponsor that actually can be a part of your highs and your lows in the smallest of ways pretty impactful right yeah it’s like I feel like with herbaland we hit the trifecta I mean all

Of our all of our sponsors but herbaland uh specifically because they’re they’re actually just like a really good company and they’re a pretty big company and it’s rare to find such a big company that really cares about PE like the people that they’re sponsoring so much

So that they actually gave us a budget to sponsor athletes so we would basically put out like an application and people could apply and sort of like be like Oh I’m you know 16 years old I’m trying to you know my I’m aspiring to be an international whatever indoor player

Beach player whatever and then we would you know give them some money to cover some of their uh club fees for people who struggle with that and you’re like holy holy crap this this company isn’t just about you know trying to get on on board with us for clout or uh you know

Just Hop On Hop on board like they’re they’re really interested in growing Grassroots growing the community and and they’re very eco-friendly like they make compostable rappers and and stuff it’s like man it’s like the like the complete package and that’s why we love them so

Much I mean it’s not it is the support it is the product but it’s also they’re like good people it’s like the trifecta I want to try some pre-workout gummies get on top great I could get out of control with pre-workout gummies yeah that’s not something you want that’s not you

Should promo code next just popping off like all right you’re going to enter a downball from here listen bro I have five gummies and I don’t want to hear your [ __ ] right now five gummies washed him down with a Y okay shake up no I’ll shake up watch how fast I get

Shag where can uh where can everyone follow you guys at Sam Shor on Instagram big Instagram guy yeah at Dan Dearing like we’re we do funny funny skits let people know what’s going on but uh that’s kind of our main network but yeah perfect I think that’s our alarm

Yeah boys great to have you on good to have you guys back in California and uh good luck the season I would love to see you guys in Paris thanks brother you too yeah you too let’s Happ see you there hopefully that’d be great go there yes sir shoot shoots thank you so

Much