Episode #18 - Reception with Kevin Tillie

In this episode we are joined by Kevin Tillie. Kevin is a world class receiver and a back to back Olympic Gold Medalist. He shares how his volleyball journey brought him to Canada, how many people tried to change his technique along the way, and his current role in the French National Team gym. We discuss what sets the French team apart from the rest of the world, the difficulty of receiving a hybrid serve, and how important having fun and being creative is to his success.

The Athlete Wellness Academy
Get 50% off using PROMO code: ARMSWING50 🏐💪🏻 Begin your journey to pain free spiking now!!!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

0:00

Hello everyone. And welcome back to the pit to pro podcast. In this episode, we're joined by Kevin Tilley. Kevin is an awesome dude, a world class receiver and a back to back Olympic champion Expect to learn how Kevin ended up playing two years of University Volleyball in Canada, if good technique even matters, the secret game they play on the beach in France to improve their ball control, and the importance of having fun in high performance volleyball. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce our newest partner on the Pit to Pro podcast. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to hit harder and score more points. That's why we've decided to partner up with the athlete wellness Academy to deliver you guys the best in arm swing training With their new Arm Swing Academy, you'll receive personalized video analysis and feedback, along with individualized workouts and on court drills. for joining us. Continuous technical support and a dedication to this process will have you hitting harder and playing pain free. AWA has worked extensively with the three of us at the Pit to Pro podcast, as well as the top university programs across the country. If that sounds like something you want to be a part of, sign up for the Arm Swing Academy using the link in our show notes or Instagram bio, and get 10 off every month of your subscription. The Arm Swing Academy offers a 7 day free trial, which you can cancel at any time, and if you're not seeing progress after one month of joining the Academy, you will be refunded. It's completely risk free, so click the link in our show notes or Instagram bio and start your 7 day free trial today. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Kevin Tillie Hello and welcome to the Pit the Pro podcast. Jesse, Matthias, and Aaron Elson. This podcast is meant to guide young athletes on their journey to high performance. Join us as we share our first hand experiences in an effort to help you reach your own valuable goals.

Jesse 1:42

And we're live. This is a very, very special episode. Uh, we're joined by Kevin Tilley. Kevin, thanks a lot for coming on. What's up? This is, uh, well, first off, we gotta say congratulations. Back to back gold medals at the Olympics. Some people spend their entire lives just trying to go to the Olympics. And you're one of the very few people on this planet that has two gold medals. That's a huge accomplishment. So congratulations. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah. It's crazy. It is crazy. It is crazy.

Kevin 2:15

It's, it started just by, we just want to go to the Olympics. So it's, it's, it's, as you said, some people just want to go and that's how it started.

Jesse 2:26

Very cool. It's crazy

Kevin 2:27

to be here.

Jesse 2:28

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and this is a special episode for me too, because you don't know this, but you were the very first pro volleyball player that I was ever introduced to. I was at the FTC in Canada, which is like the Centre de Formation, basically, with Vincent Pichette. Yeah, I was 16 and he said you got to watch this guy. So eight years ago, nine years ago, you were the first player that I ever watched. And now we have you on the podcast. So this is a very, very special opportunity. Yeah, that's good. So let's start this thing off. I want to know how you went from the TRU Wolfpack to a two time Olympic gold medalist. That's a long story.

Kevin 3:10

No, I mean, first of all, I, I, I got to TRU, uh, it was not my first choice cause I wanted to go to the U S um, because my older brother played basketball at Utah in Salt Lake city. And so, um, I, my initial thought was to go to the NCAA. To be close to him. Uh, they have BI wanted to go to BYU to be like it was a 20 minute drive from, from his university. But, um, you know, the, the grades transfer is super complicated from Europe to North America, and they don't really understand the, the difference between high school and France and high school and the North America. So, you know, I passed, I passed the science. Degree in high school, which is the highest degree. You're just different, different kind of degrees in France. And I just had a, like, it's called a, like a C a past, but for us, it's just amazing to be able to pass this science one. And when you'd send the grades to, they say, well, you have C you're terrible. If you, if you want to come, you're going to sit out a year or like stuff like this. And there was also problems with, um, Amateur, um, the amateur problem. Cause we, with the CNVB, the national team center, we were playing in a pro league, but we're not pro. And it was some difficulties there and Canada accepted way easier, the grades, the transfer, the, they all accept it. So I ended up, uh, looking in Canada and I think Glen Oak told me that is. Good university in Kamloops, Thompson rivers. My dad was talking to some coaches and got there. Like also Jason Aldane helped us to get there and got there. I just wanted to leave France and wanted to be in college. So. I just, I just do it. I go there. I don't even know where it was. I don't

Jesse 5:21

know who

Kevin 5:22

was there. Yeah. No idea. I know, uh, I was, I don't,

Jesse 5:26

I don't even, I don't even think people in Canada know where Kamloops is. No

Kevin 5:30

Well, it's, Americans know Kalos more than Canadians, I think, because I talk a lot to, uh, my old, my little brother went to Gonzaga. It's not so far, uh, spoken. For you guys, for Canadians, it's not far. For us, French people, it's very far. But yeah, when I say Canada, some people know where it is. That's funny.

Mathias 5:55

Cool. Yeah, you go. Well, I'm just curious why you decided to go to university or college. A lot of French players don't.

Kevin 6:07

No, no. Even Europeans, not many go. Especially when I went. It was, the only guy I knew that went was Australian guy

Mathias 6:17

that

Kevin 6:18

was like, when I was watching videos, it's like the guy that was the international players in college, I wanted to be the Paul Carroll, the new Paul Carroll, like to go, like, it looks so cool when I watch videos. Right. And I got to watch this because, as I said, my, my brother played basketball in the US and in basketball. It's something a lot of players do go to college in America. And when I went to visit him on holidays, it was the best life you can ever imagine as a like student athlete. Like, cause our parents always wanted us to, to study, uh, and do sports in case, you know, sport doesn't work or you get an injury or something. So, and our entire life growing up, he told us like, That the best thing is to go to the, to North America for studying and play sports. Uh, I think it's because when he was in national team, my dad did a tournament in UCLA. And he thought it was the most amazing place to play volleyball. So he told, he told us to, if you, whatever sport you go, you got to go to the U S and, and study. And if you get, if you managed to get a scholarship, it's even better. So that's the story.

Jesse 7:42

I think it's really cool. And one of the reasons we were so drawn to having you on the show is we've only been recording for like 10 minutes, but you've already brought up your brothers, you've already brought up your parents, you've It's evident as an outsider that you're a very close family. Um, can you speak a little bit, a little bit about your development as brothers and how, how you managed to stay so close even to, to this day?

Kevin 8:06

Uh, it's true. It's, it's crazy that we're still so close. Cause we never see each other, never, never, never, but like maybe one week every year, maybe we see each other and all together. Really together, all five, maybe a few days every two, three years, maybe. Um, and, uh, I don't know, we grew up both parents playing volleyball. So every weekend and volleyball gyms at games, uh, once in a while, go to practices for, to play, hang out. And we grew up just thinking that it's normal. To play sport as a job. It's a normal thing. Both parents do it. So it's like, what is your dad? Do you like, it's cool. It's always like, what is your parents jobs? And I always write volleyball and people are like, now that's what they do. And for us, it was normal things. Uh, and I grew up thinking I'd play sport. That's, that would be my job. So, uh, uh, With my brothers, we, we played, we played different sports. Like I played tennis, I played, tried judo, then basketball for a long time. And, uh, and then quite late I turned to volleyball. just because I have more friends. I started at school a little bit with a group of friends from from my hometown and we all got joined a club and we played and it was way more fun and I felt like I was more skilled. It was more simple to play volleyball than basketball, I guess, for me and, um, my little brother was way younger than Kim and I, uh, I got a year's difference with him. He also grew up just watching the parents and the brothers play. Played pro and play university. And so for him also, it was like, yeah, I'm going to be a professional sportsman. I don't know whatever sport. And he, he was playing volleyball and basketball for a really long time. And he was the, he was the best out of the whole family at both sports, like crazy skilled, you know, And like, he, he was French, uh, champion in his category. Like, uh, I dunno, I dunno how old he was, but it was like probably 12, 12 years old. Like he was the best player in France for his age. He was playing against even older guys. Um, like he's the age of like Benjamin Diaz de Libero. Like Diaz, I grew up, I grew up watching Diaz play with Kylian. My little brother together in the same club, since there's five, six years old.

Jesse 10:57

That's cool.

Kevin 10:58

And, um, and then you also at the European championship basketball, they win, they win the European championship, like you six, you 16 and he's MVP also. So it's like both like amazing. And I don't know, just growing up like this and we, we, we follow each other. We talk to each other a lot because we watch all each other's games. That's why we stay connected so much.

Jesse 11:27

Yeah.

Kevin 11:28

Because. Every time someone's playing, we set up the link. I'm playing this time. I play this time, watch on this link. And my mom watches every game. So she never sleeps cause she's jet lagged. Cause she's in Japan. And, and we just either watch it live or replay and we watch everyone's games and comments. And it's, it's fun. It's like entertainment all week. We have someone playing one or two, three games. So it's fun.

Jesse 11:57

That's super cool. That's super cool.

Mathias 11:59

Did you ever Do you consider doing anything else besides playing sports for a living? I guess. Yeah.

Kevin 12:05

No. I have never had a job like, you know, when you're young, you kind of do summer job. I never did that in my life. I was playing tournament, beach tournaments to try to get money. Do you have any skills?

Jesse 12:20

I want to know if you have any skills other than volleyball, what are you good at? No skills.

Kevin 12:27

No other skills, watching TV is my other skill.

Mathias 12:32

So when you decided to go to university college, it was just like the experience of being and playing there, not necessarily for a degree or would, did that play a factor also?

Kevin 12:44

No, I mean, yeah, it was one of the factors because my parents pushed us to study and in France, you cannot do professional study. It's like really difficult. And, and the experience was. The thing I wanted to do most. And I was a bit scared that I was going to be left like, like forgotten a little bit when I went to the Canada or the U S because you know, when you leave, then you don't come back, it happens to some players now too, but I mean, I, I thought to myself, like, if, if it works out, I go play sports. If it doesn't, I got a degree. So it's win win. And, um, and I saw also so many. Americans and Canadians playing overseas. So I was like, well, if they can't do it, I can probably do it too. Like if, if it works well, you know, so I was thinking like that, I was quite confident growing up in general.

Mathias 13:48

That's interesting. where do you think that comes from?

Kevin 13:52

Probably having parents that are good at sports. I don't know, just, and so the fact that you always play sport, whatever sport you pick up, you're pretty good at, like you're decent, not the worst. So it's like when you play outside of school, you is one of the best at doing something. So it's, you're confident in what growing up just gets better and better. And I always having a big brother, like helping me was quite helpful. Um, the only thing that could have been difficult was to have my dad, Like going behind my dad's footstep footsteps, that could have been difficult, but the fact that going to Canada and us helped me a lot because how many people knew my dad back then, like as much, so like at least kids and they don't know. So they'd never say stuff, you know? So

Jesse 14:43

it was all right. Do you ever experience self doubt at the level you're at now? Not

Kevin 14:51

really. Like it's. My, my wife tells me I've got problems and I, and that, in that sense I'm not really emotional and I don't have much, I'm not scared I'm outgoing. And so I think it helps a lot. As I said, my confidence and when I do play bad, I'm like, Oh, it's just a bad day. I never really, I never really experienced my only self doubts was when I did all my surgeries I got in 2017 surgeries on both my knees and my shoulder. And I was thinking, I'm never coming back to play, but, but I, um, I had, uh, an amazing trainer who doing all my rehab was super good with mental side or so of the, of the injuries. And within three months I was back and ready. I was like, Oh, I'm going to be able to play again.

Jesse 15:49

That's cool.

Kevin 15:49

And, and I don't know, it's just, yeah, I feel like I, yeah, it's about not being scared in general. I'm going left and right traveling. Leaving at a young age overseas, it builds up a lot of comments and it's difficult to dab yourself out there. I think

Jesse 16:10

you said that. You're very outgoing and, and as a, an outsider, like it's evident that you like to have a lot of fun on your Instagram or when you're on the court or when I'm watching, like, you'd like to have a lot of fun. You like to interact with the people around you. How important is having fun to you? And because for me, it's very important, but I've had coaches where it's like no smiling, no laughing, no joking, which I understand that there's a fine line, but. That's when I put on my vest. And so I'm wondering, A, what's the environment like in the French national team gym and B, how important is that to you?

Kevin 16:45

Uh, yeah, it's, for me, it's the most important. If you don't have fun, it's, you're not going to succeed. Like I feel like it's, you're taking it as a job instead of making it fun and, and be happy to be there. But if the coach is like this, always angry. I'll manage to make him smile at some point. That'll be my goal. That's for sure. I

Jesse 17:09

like that. I like that. I had,

Kevin 17:10

I had guys, I had some, some coaches, but I mean, DeGeorgie was always like, you know, super strict and stuff, but outside he was always joking and smiling. So, you know, at the end he's, he likes to smile. Um, Then of course, of course, there's times you got to be serious and it's knowing when to joke, when to be serious, I guess it's the most, if you always joke, it's too much. Um, and I mean, in the national team, it's just fun all the time, even on the court. It's soup, but it's, we take it, uh, like it's the practices in the national team are crazy high level and it's always talking shit to each other, but fun wise. Until it starts, at some point it gets, someone gets a bit angry, then it goes bad, but like at the end we always have it fun no matter what, then we talk about it again. It brings the competition even higher when people start to get angry, then it's like, Step up, but it starts from the joking, you know, like you talk a little bit, you joke, and then someone gets a bit angry. Then he wants to play better than the other, who plays better. And then the competition is super high level.

Jesse 18:26

Cool. I think that's really cool that the, that there's a direct correlation between having fun and high performance, because I think people think it's like, you got to have tunnel vision, you got to do this, this, this, you got to be so focused and I don't think that's the case.

Kevin 18:41

Uh, it probably depends. For some players, probably some people just cannot do it. Like people are not so outgoing or joking. They cannot do it all the time. I don't know. But if you're going, having fun and it works, then it's good. It's for me, it's always. Good to have fun, even at practice in general.

Mathias 19:05

What, what are some other ways where the French national team training environment, uh, or team dynamics are different than any of the other teams you've been on? Um, because being a back to back Olympic champion doesn't happen by accident. So I'm wondering what's going on in that gym that separates you guys.

Kevin 19:24

Well, it's, I, I feel like it's, it's the, the group of guys, like that you have, like all of, all of us. And the national team get along and our friends basically, like, it's like, it's not like in club where you met the guy like one week ago or like one month ago, and it doesn't speak to you for a while. And you don't know what he thinks. We all know what people think. We all know when this guy's going to get angry or not, or, you know, this one, uh, it's calmed down a little bit. This guy's going to, you know, it's, we all know each other so well and get along that. It flows like so nicely for, because we have to stay basically every summer, four to five months together in hotel rooms, traveling, see each other morning, all day, morning and night together. It's, if you don't get along, if you get a guy that is a bit annoying, you would say it doesn't work. National team is different thing. And club you, yeah, you see each other for two hours of practice every day, but then you go home and you get, you have your own life. And the national team, you're not home. You're like in a hotel room with one guy every day. And you see the rest of the guys like breakfast, lunch, practice, gym, fitness, and a dinner. And then we hang out most of the time also to do fun stuff. So it's like all the time and yeah, we, we enjoy our company and it makes it fun. I try to bring this kind of, um, you know, joy around the team. When I go to a club, but still not the same because you still go home and do your own stuff, though.

Mathias 21:12

who are the main leaders on the French national team? Because from, from the outside, it looks like any one of you could be. Yeah. The guy. Yeah.

Jesse 21:21

I want to add to that question ask who's the best at getting under your skin because you said you all know who Who's gonna say what and stuff? I mean

Kevin 21:29

ervin must be the guy who gets under his skin right like the most probably genia also like just talk a bit of shit and He's a libero, but he's digs everything so it's like easy for him to talk Yeah Uh, no, it's yeah, i'd say ervin probably also trevor likes to talk a lot and each, each of us have something that can lead to success. Um, on the court, I think the most important guy is Irvin, you know, when he's up, it brings the whole team up. When he's down, it's difficult. Like, he's going to also bring the team down for sure, but like he knows that and he always tries to, to cheer the team up now, especially compared to in the past, he had more up and down. Now he always tries to, even if he's playing not as good, he brings the team up. And it's, it's huge to have this guy on the team when you bring the team up. Um, when they're on the court, of course, Toti or, or Brizard, Tognuti or Brizard are good leaders. And you all have your own, you know, leading capacity also like, um, you know, Genia is for the defense and for the, for the reception, but off the court, it's got everybody, everybody's at their own. I usually lead in organizing restaurants. Or going for coffee or like going to a place for team stuff. Cause I look up online on Google and used to be TripAdvisor. When we're overseas, no one knows where to go. I'll tell you, all right, we've got to go there. We're all going together. We eat this. So I'm, I'm the guy who, who directs when we need to organize a dinner or a coffee or something like

Jesse 23:32

that.

Kevin 23:33

That's my job. Not lately. That was only my job, basically on the court, on the court. I just try to bring the energy and just push a little bit. Like when, when I come in.

Jesse 23:46

Very cool. Very cool. Well, we're starting to move into volleyball. So let's kind of move into reception. I want to I have a question about how you've changed as a player. What's something that you used to believe that you no longer believe is true about volleyball or about? Yeah, let's say about volleyball, but it can be about reception.

Kevin 24:11

I mean, yeah, it's difficult because there's a things you believe in is Like in reception, for example, it's, uh, you know, the coaches teach you a lot of things and, uh, sometimes it doesn't work. And I think I have a terrible, like, if you look at my technique of reception, um, no, one's going to teach you that, but it works. So every time I go to a club and the coach. Watches my reception is like, what are you doing? And I'm like, does the ball get there perfectly? Yeah. Okay. So what else do you want? Uh, I believe in, I believe in whatever you can do to make it, if it works, if something works, even if you do it bad, if it works, just keep doing it. Um, you gotta look at, we've got players in our team that do incredible things and it works, but no one's going to teach you that like Jenia and defense. Like. No one does what, no one, no one hangs out in the two meters, hands up like this, waiting for the ball, but he does it and it works, but no one's going to teach you that. So what, what I, what I think is, yeah, you got to like teach kids how to do it, but sometimes it's good to let their instinct go at some point or their creativity. And if it works, keep going. And if it doesn't work, like stop trying to change sometimes, sometimes they try to change so much stuff. And if someone told me to change how my reception was going, like, and they tried and I used to hear my John Sprott tried to change my reception. He told me we'll try for a few months. And if it doesn't work out, I'll let you do whatever you, whatever you want. And it didn't work at all. Do whatever you want. It works. So, and it's nice that he understood that and let me do what I wanted, you know, so, I mean, um, yeah, that's one of the things it's high level sport is no rules about, there's no Mary, not many rules at that level. It's instinct, creativity and efficiency, like whatever works, works.

Jesse 26:35

Yeah, that's cool. I like, I like what you said about, about, uh, celebrating the creativity, especially in youth athletes. Like if something works, celebrate it. Don't try and change what you think is right. I think that was really well said. And I think that's really, really cool. Yeah,

Kevin 26:52

I saw a lot where, for example, Irvin started doing crazy stuff. And yeah, sometimes it didn't work, but sometimes it worked and the coaches let him do it. And the whole world started picking it up. Like, you know, the fake set, the fake spike set, um, a lot of times it didn't work, but then sometimes it worked. And like, when you work on it, then it worked better than everybody's doing it. Now, like there's a lot of things, like some coaches would have had no, no chance. You do it like this, you do like this. And. And I think also Irvin was already a great player at that time. So a lot of people let him do it. But, um, if other players was doing it, not famous, some coaches would have been so strict with them and not let the creativity work, but sometimes you gotta practice some, some crazy stuff and see if it works or not.

Jesse 27:56

Really cool.

Mathias 27:56

How do you view practice or training versus playing? Because we've, we've talked about this on, on the podcast a bit about, um, having the freedom to fail basically in practice. And I mean, the point of practice in my view is to get better. And in order to do that, you're going to have to kind of push the limits of what, what is within your, your skill level. Is that something that you agree with or how, how do you view it?

Kevin 28:29

Yeah. I mean, um, I'm getting older now, so I take practice a bit less seriously. I don't want to get too tired, especially when we have lots of matches and stuff. Like in pre, in preseason. Yeah. We got to push a little bit, but, uh, during the season, uh, I tend to, uh, yeah, I I'll go for an hour. Then I'll, I'll try to calm down a little. Um, I'm almost 34, so I gotta, uh, I don't have the same energy as back then. Um, but in terms of failure and. And that practice, how far you go, like there's, it depends what kind of coach you have. And a lot of coaches hate when you make mistakes and they'll tell you zero mistakes. And some people let you do the mistakes. I think there's a balance to find. Cause when you can try to recreate, um, the pressure and this you have during a game into a practice, that's where you practice the best. I think like, uh, you know, when you count points and you put like, you play six on six with points and you have a. You know, a fight between the two teams that play. I think it's the best practices. Um, Because I can be at practice and do 20 mistakes and not care at all. But when you get to the game and you do one mistake, one mistake already gets in your head right away. Like, you're like, I made one mistake just in serve. For example, you can practice serve and make some mistakes. I practice, no one cares. You get to the game, you missed the first serve. You're like, I can't do this again. And you got to practice this to, to get that pressure of. Trying without making too many mistakes. It's a balance to find. I think some, some coaches are good at it. Some coaches struggle a little bit, but

Mathias 30:22

right. No, that's a good point. And like, maybe difference between drills, like some drills are for experimentation, making mistakes. And then that's true. Yeah, look, because learning in practice also includes learning how to play, hopefully under some pressure.

Kevin 30:39

Yeah, we bought in the national team, for example, are six on sixes. Like both teams are super good. Even if you put the first team against the second team and, you know, just between the setters, one setter is going to win a set, the other one's like, I got to win the other set. Like it's, there's so much competition between players. And at the same time, the competition we have in national team is, it's not a backup, but it's super good. Like it brings everybody up. And that's where you get the best practices, like high level pressure, like want to win. And it's fun. It's fun too.

Mathias 31:19

Yeah, that's cool, especially because even the first line gets to play against one of the best teams in the world on the second side as well, which I think is pretty rare.

Kevin 31:28

Yeah, we have, yeah, we have all good players on the team. So even if you, even if you play the second against the second team or the first team play the second team, they're still playing good teams and we're going to put pressure on them compared to the club in general. The first team will destroy the second team. That's why I like when you mix. When you mix players and not always have one starting team against second team. I like when people mix and you try to beat the other player. And also from the starting six, for me, it's more fun.

Jesse 32:02

You said, uh, that no one would try and teach the way that you receive. What sets your type of reception apart from let's say the traditional reception? Good question. I don't know.

Kevin 32:19

I think it's where. What I do with my arms and I don't know, it's, it's strange. I, for example, that I have my assistant in national team, he goes crazy because I always like put my platform apart after a reception and he goes, no one does this, everyone, someone does that. It doesn't work. And I'm like, yeah, but look, when I do it, it works.

Jesse 32:49

Like,

Kevin 32:49

so what do you want me to do? This is what I do. I don't know.

32:52

Um, I just have the instinct of whatever I do to try to put it perfect. Like I will receive like this on float serves and touch it with one arm goes perfect. Like, I don't know why it's just happens and it goes perfect most of the time. So I, I, I don't, I don't know why I feel like it's, my goal is to put the platform behind the ball the best I can to get it there. And if it's jumping, I jump a lot in reception, spread my arms. Sometimes if, if I, if I feel like I'm going to miss the ball too high, I, I I kind of let go and it helps to get the ball there. I don't know why I do it, but it's just instinct instinct and, and always kind of attack the ball. I feel like that's, that's one of the things they teach you, attack the ball. But like jumping for me is I jump all the time. I think like on the float surf, even on some jump surf, sometimes it's not something they teach you.

Kevin 34:04

They teach you to not jump, stay behind the ball. It kind of changed, but it used to be when I grew up was always get the state, go behind the ball to get the platform in front of you. But I know I never do that. I always have it on the side, you know, and from a young age, my dad kind of taught me that for some reason he was telling us that it's, That's how you got to do it. And I was like, okay, it works.

Jesse 34:35

Cool. And what about, what about your, your mindset? Like you said, it's instinct. Your body puts the ball where you need to put the ball. But what about when you have a server going back there, let's say the really big server, what's going through your mind? What are you thinking about? What, yeah, big servers of queues or, yeah,

Kevin 34:53

I mean, I, we usually anyways, do game plans on surf. So I know. Usually where he's going to serve the hardest. And if he does a change where it's going to go. And I just, before I'm getting ready for every kind of situation, like if he heart, if it's hard here, if it's hard here, I'm ready to go to the ball. I'm going to attack the ball. And, um, and always, I always try to be on my toes in general. Like if I, if I know I'm on a, I've been struggling for a few days already, it's because I'm on my heels always. And that's one of the thing I always remind myself like, Oh I gotta, I gotta lean forward. And even if I'm going backwards, I'm kind of like on my toes and leaning forward. Sometimes on the hard serve, you have to go back like this and keep it. But in general, you always start aggressive basically. And I always, I'm always confident. I'm like, I'm going to, I'm always like, I'm going to get that ball perfect. Like this is my mindset. Like I know some people are like, Oh no, don't serve to me. Don't serve to me. I'm like. If you served at me, it's going perfect. And what, and when, when does a team start serving to me, in my mind. I'm like, Oh yeah. You want to serve to me? All right, come on. And that's my goal. It's like, how many times are you going to serve to me until they change? That's like, if a team starts serving me, I'm like, Oh, Like, my mindset is like, I'm putting every ball perfect. It becomes a challenge and it's fun.

Mathias 36:30

That's cool. How long can you sustain that if things start to go poorly?

Kevin 36:34

Oh, I can go, even if I mess up, I'm like, that's just lucky. I'll get the next one the next one. Next one Even if I have a bad game in reception, I just like, that was my fault. Like next time you want to serve to me again, go ahead. I'll get you. Like I, I'm really confident in my reception that I'm, I'm okay. Like at practice also, I enjoy it. I think it's because I'm, I'm good at it. So I enjoy it. I enjoy practicing it. I enjoy doing it. I can do it for hours. And if someone wants to serve to me in the game. I'm like, perfect. I'm doing something.

Jesse 37:13

I know we're talking about reception, but do you have that mindset as a player, like in other skills or is that reception specific?

Kevin 37:21

Um, no reception for sure. It's my, the most confidence I have is in my reception. Um, I have ups and downs in, in attack, I guess, but a lot of teams I go to get surprised. My spike. Oh, are you actually pretty good at spiking? I'm like, yeah, I can spike But that's just, just because in the national team, it's not my job. Like, you know, I, my role is mostly, yeah, you got Irvin, you got, now you've got John. In the past you had you had like all these attackers. The last guy was me, you know, and teams took me like this. And then sometimes like, Oh he can actually spike too sometimes. So I get all this, the, in general, I'm here for reception, et cetera. And then I got a lot of teams sometimes pleasantly surprised and I'm like, Oh, he can spike too. And he's efficient. And, and even if he's not efficient, I do smart stuff to replay the ball and stuff like that. I try to, I try to play smart and when I feel physically pretty good, I try to go. So. If, if you need me in spike that day, I'll, I'll, I'll try. My, my best to, to bring the, the attacking mode too. Also, it's the same with serve, like I'm never, I don't have the strongest serve. So the, the other guys usually usually have the green card, like, and depends on how the game goes. If we make mistakes or the other team struggles and reception, I'll do flow, tour jump. Like, I like to, to balance my, my serve in general.

Jesse 39:07

So you're like the ultimate team player basically is what you telling us. I try.

Kevin 39:10

I, I'm, I'm trying to do. What's best for the team most of the time. Like I I'll never go like, Oh, I want aces. I want points. I really don't care.

Jesse 39:20

Cool. You just want to have fun and play with your friends. Exactly. Yeah. Cool. Really cool.

Kevin 39:25

But I grew up with basically the national team that it's easy to play with them. So it's like, Oh, I'll just have fun and enjoy the ride. I'll

Jesse 39:36

help you. Cool. Do you think reception is a mental skill or a physical skill?

Kevin 39:47

It's more mental, uh, but it has to be physical too because it's a skill that you gotta, you gotta practice and do a lot of reps and figure it out. But mentally, if you're confident, then you, you're not scared and then it's where it gets easier. The worst is getting scared of receding. And there's a lot of players are like that. You can tell the court, you know, that that guy does not want to receive the ball, you're going to serve to him. And you see that guy miss one twice and it's eating his head and he's going to get out of the game. And even his spiking is going to go down. So it's like, sometimes they're going to start missing the easiest reception and then they go down.

Jesse 40:37

So what would you say to younger athletes? That don't have the confidence in the reception

Kevin 40:45

practice as much as you can until you're confident enough to miss and try again after like it's, it's a lot about reps and figure out what you can do best to put it perfect like it's, I feel like every person has a different way to receive. And if you find your way to put it there and get confident to. Put it most of the time. Perfect. And, uh, but it's all about practice and a lot of repetition. I love to do just easy repetitions, like the easy ones to just touch the ball and get the feeling of putting it perfect. And then when it comes harder and harder, then it's. The same kind of feeling, but just a bit faster or a bit more, you know, and then you get there.

Mathias 41:34

And I'm so interested that how like results based you think when, especially receiving and as a coach now, it's, it's really making me think about, uh, what do you even do?

Kevin 41:49

Like, like, Because you're like trying to teach them. And so even if they miss, it's like the reset, the, the, the way they did it was right. Yeah.

Mathias 42:00

Yeah, exactly. And I think that's like I've always as a player tried to do it, right? That's kind of my thing. I do my I do my job. I try to do it, right? I think that's helped me in some ways, but I'm really curious What your kind of mindset would do for me and also for the players that I'm coaching right now

Kevin 42:24

It's also difficult when it's So you do have to teach them certain skill. Like, you're not going to go, all right, that guy, like, all right, put the ball perfect. He's going to, he doesn't know how to do it. So you got to teach him some skills and, you know, tall guy is going to receive different than a smaller guy and some quicker guy, or like, I don't know, some people have, you know, the platform, some people don't like, I don't know, I, I have the platform. I have it perfect, you know, so I can, I can just go like this and still have the platform. it's different when it's, it's kids, I think.

Mathias 43:03

Yeah. What would be like the first, maybe two or three things that you would teach younger kids? Younger kids?

Kevin 43:13

I'll just, it's about feeling confident in. I think in, um, controlling the ball with your platform, like hitting against the wall, you know, the headache, even me, I'd still do it against the wall. I just enjoy doing it against the wall to have the feeling again, when I stopped for two weeks or a few weeks, like pass against the wall and spike against the wall, it's just the easiest drill to get back into the, the feel confident with your skill, you know, like I can put the ball there, boom, I can motivate all their boom, like it's having control ball control. And then apply it on a reception or a defense or whatever. And then you teach them to always like try to attack the ball or whatever, like what you do against the wall and do it there. That's. Difficult, but that must be so many ways. I'm not a coach yet. So,

Jesse 44:14

Is there, is there anything that you see, doesn't have to be reception specific, but is there anything you see coaches teaching younger athletes a lot right now that you strongly disagree with?

Kevin 44:28

I don't know. I haven't seen young athletes in a while to be honest. Yeah. Cause even the young guys in our team, in pro teams, they don't, they don't really teach much to be honest. Like, yeah. When you're, when you're a young guy on a pro team, you just have to get along and practice. There's not much teaching anymore, like in professional, I feel like. Yeah. Yeah.

Jesse 44:50

Well, Kayla, let's change, I'll change the question. When's the last time that you learned something? Me? Yeah.

Kevin 45:03

I mean, I, I guess every time I have a new coach, I, I learn new things. Mm-Hmm, So, you know, the, the way you start, you prepare a game or do. Practices like more than skills, skill stuff. Uh, it's more about strategies and preparing that I learned more still. Um, you know, when I had my dad from so many years in national team, then you got Johnny show up and do a few different things and that's how you learn. Um, I've learned with some coaches what not to do a

Jesse 45:40

lot of things.

Kevin 45:42

I've got some few coaches in clubs last few years who was like, uh, some things are better not doing like exercise wise, or, you know, your team is going to get worse by doing this. It's good to see also these things. So you know what not to do.

Jesse 46:00

Well, how do you, how do you. Being such a team guy, how do you encourage the team and keep the team together when you can tell that 90 percent of the guys are thinking like, what are we doing? Like, why are we doing this?

Kevin 46:14

I just say it to the coach. I said it the other day to my coach, just exercise. We shouldn't do it. This is a waste of time. We're not getting better and it's getting everybody annoyed. And I, we, we have a coach is young right now. And And in Warsaw for a coach and so it's quite cool that he listens and sometimes maybe I'm a bit too direct or what I say, but then I take him after and I tell him a little bit and then he's like, okay, then he does it or not. It's up to him, but at least I tell him that this exercise, it's not helping me at least. And then I can tell if you guys are not helping at all, are

Mathias 46:54

you that direct with your teammates as well?

Kevin 46:58

Uh, not always, but I think it depends who it is, which teammate it is. You know, some guys you can tell their ex sometimes you got to like be a bit more chill on them is whatever the guy is going to, it's going to help the guy. Like if, if I yell at a guy, it's not going to help him. I'm not going to do that. I don't go, I try again. And like, I don't know how, um, it depends on who you're talking to. I think I was trying to adjust. It's the same with coach. Some coaches don't want to. Don't want to listen to, to players. So it's like, what can I do? And just let him deal with this stuff and show him that it's not working or show him and let him know, like on the court, if I don't tell him, I'll just show him the court. And you just let him see it. That's bad. And some people hate it. Some coaches hate it, but it's. They don't also don't want to listen. So I think the best coaches can, it's the ones that can listen and not always, but yeah, like be quite direct, but also listen to some guys. And be like, okay, it's true. Good point. And then change something.

Mathias 48:12

back to more reception stuff. What we did a serving episode, uh, that just came out yesterday. Yeah. And, uh, in your opinion, what's the hardest maybe singular serve to, to pass and also what are the hardest servers to, to face,

Kevin 48:34

um, right now? I think for, for the hardest serves are the hybrids, like a good hybrid, like I can. Uh, then you don't know if it's going to be a float or a jump. Um, guys like even, um, yeah, Bieniec, the Polish guy, he throws it and you don't know if you're going to do a float or a jump, but his jump is like 110, 115 or 120 kilometers per hour. And his float can be a short one or, uh, you know, uh, just even if it's not too hard, it's just. You're ready for such a hard jump that even just a shitty flow will like Oh, make you hesitate. You know, I think the, the best hybrids are so hard. So hard.

Jesse 49:25

His, his is a float toss, right? It's a float toss. He tosses like, yeah, and

Kevin 49:31

then he, he approaches it like a spike though,

Jesse 49:34

like,

Kevin 49:34

yeah,

Jesse 49:34

it's crazy. You think it's especially hard because of the float like if it was a spin toss like a regular hybrid would it be as hard?

Kevin 49:43

I think it's just the, the fact that it's either really hard, either really hard serve or a float. Like if the guy serve tossed it like this, and the, the same, it was the same. It's just his, he's got. lines, he's got, he's got the cross, he's got the middle, he's got the float, but it's, it's like the hardest is to be ready for anything in reception. But nowadays the hybrids for me are the hardest. Of course, you have the guys who serve super hard, but I still think it's easier just because you know what to expect. Or Erwin, Erwin can do an insane short, but also his jump is so hard, it kind of floats like it's heavy. Even that, like, if he does a few shorts, you're like, now I gotta be ready for the short, and you're not ready for the hard anymore. So it's the change, the variation of the serves are the hardest, I think now. If a serve is always the same, it's easier.

Mathias 50:47

Well, That's a good answer for us. Cause that's exactly what we were talking about the other day. Okay, good. We might be honest. I didn't watch, so. Yeah,

Kevin 50:54

yeah, yeah. But yeah, the, the hybrids, like the, but even the, like the short ones, not only like float or jump, but the, the guy who has a really hard spin and a good short, it's so hard.

Jesse 51:09

At what point do you have like a bailout pass where you're just trying to get it up in the middle of the court? Like, let's say you're expecting Irvin's roll and he bombs one at you. At what point do you switch from trying to make it perfect to try not to get aced?

Kevin 51:29

That's a good point. I think I always try to be perfect. Like, even if I try to like, keep it up, I try to put it as perfect as I can. Like, Or if the guy, I think if the guy aced me a few times, then I'm like, all right, stop trying to put it perfect. Or if I made it over the net a few times, I'm like, okay, try to keep that one. But as long as I'm receiving fine, I'm still trying to put it fine. But if I mess up a few times, then I try to like, keep it. I don't think it's about the serve. It's about. If I've been messing up a bit too much or right

Mathias 52:10

as a team, how do you guys organize your reception in terms of responsibilities and scenes and that kind of stuff?

Kevin 52:17

Um, and national team.

Mathias 52:20

Uh, yeah, sure.

Kevin 52:21

Yeah. Um, I mean, it's give Jenya the most space and then figure out your court, but it's, uh, it's usually we take on the left. It's like we try to make it some kind of arc, you know, you get, if you're in five, you're a bit closer. The guy in six is not on the same line, so you can, you know, get behind and the guy getting bit in front. Um, so as they say, we take left on the guy right handed and jumps from one. And if it's from five, it's take right. It's still true. We do that, but you still have to be able to, like, if I'm in five and the guy starts from one, I still gonna take a little bit on my right anyways, like, I'm not going to like, if it's on my right, I'll leave it. We try to take as much court as possible, but I mean, we have a lot of guys in the team who can take a lot of space, so it's as far as you can go, and then, you know, the guy next to it, next to you is going to get it, and with Genya, you can leave him so much space, you know he's going to be there, like it's, Genya is crazy, like, you can take half the court. On a jump serve, you're like, that should have been me. You let it go and he's still there. So it's like, all right,

Jesse 53:45

what sets him apart? Like what makes him so good besides the obvious?

Kevin 53:52

it's how much space he takes on the court. I think it's one of the things and how quick he is and in defense. It's how well he anticipates what's happening. he was an outside hitter in the past a little bit. Like, you know, he spikes, he loves spiking. Like he spikes also when he plays tournaments and stuff. So you must understand when a guy can spike or not the ball. Like, you know, like, like, um, clear example. I don't know if he knows that, but he, he will do it. But like, if the set, If a set is at the antenna high to the antenna, not many chances. The guy's going to Spike Sharp. Usually it's like more over the block or Long, long cross, you know? So he's always at the right place. You and he's often on the tip. He's so quick to get any tips.

Jesse 54:48

Mm-Hmm.

Kevin 54:49

like I've seen in like, you know, guys tip on the line and he's in five. Like from the outset, like in position four tips on the line and he's getting that one. It's happened. Like, like I've seen him do that. Like it's in your life. How does he know he's going to do that? Like he's just watching the sets, knows, anticipates that he cannot spike there. So he's going to go there quick enough. So

Mathias 55:13

we talked about anticipation.

Kevin 55:15

Yeah.

Mathias 55:16

Yeah. We talked about that last time too, that the difference between the different levels of volleyball is usually The reading aspects. Reading. Reading and the anticipation. And it's the same thing on reception. I think that's why the variation in the serves is difficult because it messes with your ability to going. Yeah, yeah. Like especially at your level, you're so in control of your platform. The only problems that can kind of happen are if you don't see where the, the line of law is going properly. So the, the influence of a good libero is. Amazing. And I didn't really realize that until, until I played in France and all of them are just impacting the game. Like, yeah, they're

Kevin 55:58

good.

Mathias 55:59

Yeah.

Kevin 55:59

We, there's a lot of good liberals in France. That's for sure. Why do you think that is? We must, I don't know, we must do something, right? It's, it's becoming our, our style of play, you know, like being good at reception. I feel like now kids, kids watching us want to be good at doing that. And there's one thing, uh, I don't know if it's what it is, but I'm set in my mind that one of the, one of the things that set us apart to the world is that in France, we play three on three on the beach, indoor rules. And and you play that every summer as a kid, growing up every summer, you play three on three indoor rules. You become so good at being skilled indoor player. Like it's crazy. You receive like this, you receive like this, you will tip left, right. Push, uh, like deep. It's so many tips and defense. Like it's. The game is so fun and we play that all the time growing up. I feel like it translates really well to indoor compared to other, other, other countries played two on two beach volleyball rules that does not translate it indoor at all. And even when they play four on four, they still play some kind of beach, beach rules. Like, I know in the U S it's also the setting and, uh, you cannot tip and stuff like this. And we allow it and it's, it makes it. Like Trevor grew up playing three on three and all he does indoors tip and it still works. I'm sure he learned from playing on the beach. We, we

Jesse 57:51

did a three on three tournament, like our first week here for preseason. I've never seen a group of guys so excited to do something for going to the beach, three on three. Like, what are we doing? An open hand tips and all this stuff. But it was a lot of fun and I sucked at it. I sucked at it. You

Kevin 58:09

will lose like professionals don't know how to play. Like I've never played three on three on the beach. Even if you're professional, like first division in France, you will lose to guys on the beach that are playing, uh, like 5th, 6th division, indoor. They go on the beach and they'll kill you because they're so good at tipping and etc. It's impossible to win.

Jesse 58:37

Yeah, it was crazy. I, well, and I think that's the reading thing. I had no idea what to anticipate because I'd never done it before.

Kevin 58:43

But it's, but it, I feel like it translates really well to indoor, this kind of game. And we're the only tongue country who does it. I've never seen it anywhere else. we all played this game and we just became like crafty and skilled and like this, that's what I think. I don't know. It's my idea of why we, why do we play like this? My reason is that we do that.

Jesse 59:10

I think, I think it's cool though, that, that you think youth athletes are starting to appreciate good reception and good ball control, you know, like, it's not all about the big spikes and the aces, like it's, there's way more to the sport than that. I think that's really cool.

Kevin 59:26

I don't know. Have you, have you guys seen, uh, Elia, uh, Eno, uh, in the, uh, at UC Irvine is highlights. I mean, yeah, he's, he jumps high. He's like a lefty can serve aces. He's super like physical too, but the amount of tips he does is insane. He will tip deep, short lefty, right handed cross line. It's crazy. And I know like his dad was one of the guys like a libero who barely knows a volleyball legend, libero France. And he had his kids growing up all the time on the beach. Cause he was doing all the, in like the three on three tournaments. And these kids grew up like this and now they're the like best outsides growing, like coming in the future generation. So it's, it's all about, I don't know, growing up on the beach and tipping and receiving. Cause you also receive like, it's not a, it's not a, the, the beach, the two on two ball, it's a different kind of ball behavior, kind of like more closer to indoor. And so your reception will be similar and you'll learn a little bit to do that. So it's cool. I think.

Mathias 1:00:38

That's cool. I can, I can see the French style of volleyball coming through with everything you're saying, um, with like how much fun you're saying you have in practice and challenging each other and the creativity and just put the ball where it's supposed to go with the ball control, all that. I think that's so interesting. Um, do you think that In order to get to the level that you're at and play with that style and gain that ball control. It's about just trying and messing around with the ball and getting in touch. And being creative, I think.

Kevin 1:01:11

I like the creative part. Creative. And, um, I remember one of the, uh, cause being, being a French player coming to North America, um, they always wondered what we did different and stuff. And, uh, it was one specific game. That we were doing and I was killing everybody and no one was doing it like me. I was like, why not? Like, it's not how they learn to play volleyball. We were playing easily, like to warm up games, two on two, but indoor rules, same, like it was two on two, but indoor rules. And you know, if you win, you go to the, to you, you move up a court, stuff like this, like easy games. Like I, it was especially a UC Irvine, but we, I think we did also in Canada. And I was the only one, I was chipping every ball. I would tip every ball, left, right, left, like, and if the block was there, I would, you know, swipe it out and tip it in. And it came at some point towards the end of the year, where like, players are like, we gotta do the same, and they're learning to do the same. Everybody was starting to do that and learn to tip and try to, and it became way harder to win. And this is how you learn, like seeing other guys do it and you want to recreate it. It's, it's fun to watch and try to do the same and practice it. Uh, even if it's something really difficult, you still can practice as a kid and try to learn. And, you know, I think it's, it's, uh, the game keeps growing. And so when you watch it, you try to do the same. If it doesn't work,

Jesse 1:02:45

yeah,

Kevin 1:02:46

keep trying. And. I'd practice. You can have fun trying and yeah, I mean, that's how you do it. That's cool.

Jesse 1:02:55

It's really cool. Oog you got any questions for our esteemed guest You sleeping over here? It wasn't Wasn't even plugged in

Kevin 1:03:12

It doesn't work. Oog we can't hear you Maybe he's been speaking the whole time. I'm lost. I, uh,

Oog 1:03:21

I'd just been listening the whole time. Um, I just really like when you talked about your, your reception style, I just really appreciated how much emphasis you had on just making your platform as best as it can be. And just being like, okay, yeah, this is my platform. I don't really care what anything else is because I feel like all the time. Like everyone's stressing about like, Oh, your feet, your, your shoulders, whatever. But really the most important thing is putting the ball off of putting the ball off the thing that's going to make the ball go to where you want to go. Like that's, yeah, that's really cool.

Kevin 1:03:58

Every time I go to a club and we do reception drills and we practice on reception, you know, obviously people are watching and they're, they laugh like, Like you did that and it goes perfect. They're just laughing at some point it becomes normal. And, and the other guys are slowly trying to do the same. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but like when they, when it works, they're like, Oh, it works. Like, yeah, it does work. Sometimes it's, I don't know, it, it must be bad to teach this to kids, but at some point you're going to have to, because a whole team does it, or you watch Irvin sometimes or a team like this without moving his feet at all. It just. It's about having control of your platform and knowing where the ball goes, you know.

Jesse 1:04:45

Oh, Kevin, thank you very much. That was really insightful. Really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to, to join us

Kevin 1:04:52

Well, I hope I didn't kill too many, uh, Coaches trying to teach kids how to do it. It's I'm just resaying it for kids. Of course you got to teach somehow, like at some point you're going to teach them something. And then it's after, when you like grow up and start to be skilled at what you do and you'd be comfortable with your platform that you can. Do crazy stuff. But of course there's always a base to start and learn and, and, and practice. That's for sure. But at a higher level, things go so fast that you don't have time, you know, to move your feet behind the ball and put it perfect. It's too, it's too fast, too fast. So it's like quick reaction platform there. she watched Jenya. It's nothing is too fast. You can't teach any of the things he does. And it's, it's, and we still laugh about it. And that's what he does. How crazy does things every day? Because you will, we, I know him since I'm 15 years old and I still. Every time he does something creative practice, I'm like, what are you doing? And he goes, well, it works. So true.

Jesse 1:06:08

Good point. Oh, that's awesome.

Mathias 1:06:10

Alrighty. Well, I think that wraps up episode number 18 of the pit to pro podcast. Thanks Kevin, for coming on. Thanks everyone for listening, signing off.

1:06:25

Thanks everyone for listening to the Pit to Pro podcast. Give us a follow on Instagram and submit your questions to the link in our bio. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you think will like it and subscribe to our show on Spotify and Apple podcasts.