Episode #32 - Q&A #5

In this episode we talk about conflict within teams, when to implement new skills, how to lead when things aren't going your way and how to help others find motivation. Mathias shares his belief in Power Poses and how to exude confidence even when things aren't going well. We answer some questions about the hardest transitions from club to university, and university to pro, as well as how to best prepare yourself for a tryout. 

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Transcript

0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Pit to Pro podcast. Today's episode is a Q& A episode where the three of us answer all of your burning questions. Expect to learn why conflict within a team can be a good thing, when to implement new skills into games, how to lead when things aren't going your way, how your body language can impact your mind and your performance, how to go about finding a pro contract as well as dealing with the pressure of being evaluated.

Mathias 0:23

Before we get started, I'd like to introduce our sponsor for today's episode.

Jesse 0:27

Most sports have designated coaches for the most important movements. Basketball players have shooting coaches, baseball players have batting coaches, and golfers have swing coaches.

Mathias 0:35

Now for the first time we have a specific coach for one of the most important movements in volleyball.

Jesse 0:40

If you use code ARMSWING50 at checkout, you'll instantly get 50 percent off your first month of the Arm Swing Academy.

Mathias 0:47

once you're inside the app, you can upload a video of your arm swing, then you'll get personalized feedback direct from Nick Delbianco. He'll give you some tips on how your arm swing is looking, Then you get some on court exercises to lock in the new patterns and even a specific weight room program to help you spike harder and play pain free.

Jesse 1:04

If you're not sold yet and you just want to test it out, all you gotta do is follow the link in the description of this episode or our Instagram bio and sign up for the 7 day free trial. Then use code ARMSWING50 at checkout and get 50 percent off the first month after the trial.

1:21

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.

Mathias 1:38

Yo, yo, everybody. Welcome back to the Beta Bro podcast. Today is our fifth question episode where we answer all of your burning questions. Jesse, what do you got for us? I got a question for you,

Jesse 1:52

T, and I'm going to add my own question to Oog. Um, but this question is, says, what is it like being assistant coach to guys that you played with? How do you help them in the losses and celebrate the wins? And then I'm going to add to that question for Oug and say, Oug, watching your current team beat the Huskies this weekend, or sorry, beat the Spartans this weekend in the Cannes West quarterfinals, what was that like for you? What were the emotions kind of running through your head? Cause I know you have some lifelong best friends on that team, including your brother on the other side. What was that like for you?

Oog 2:29

Yeah, I'll let TS go first and then.

Mathias 2:33

Yeah, for me, it is kind of a interesting dynamic having played with. A lot of the guys on the team that I'm now coaching, um, it's been pretty smooth. I, being an assistant is nice because I don't ever have to be, do like the bad cop stuff. Like I'm never going to like yell at them or make them run or, uh, any of that stuff. Um, so I kind of just get to be like a supporter most of the time. And I think also given, you know, that I did go play team and pro and stuff, I have. that they haven't had yet. So I think there's a level of respect there. So they do listen and I appreciate that. And it really, we really work together on a lot of stuff. Like I don't just tell them what to do, but we work through problems and find solutions, um, together. And then I, the wins and the losses thing, I think, uh, I don't think I'm necessarily like helping them work through a loss. I think that's like a pretty individual process. And, uh, I can, all I can really ever do for these guys on like the mental and emotional side of things is just say what I do, what I've experienced, how I've dealt with losses in the past, how I approach big games. Because again, I don't think you can tell someone how to, how to do that.

Jesse 4:01

I think an injury or an assistant coach is an interesting role because you also have to have The head coach is back. Like if they are doing that bad cop thing and making the team run, you have to, whether you agree with it or not, you have to be on. The coach's side, you know, you can't be like, go have small chats with the team after like, oh, that was BS or, oh, I didn't want to do that. You're like, no, you guys deserved it, but you still have that support. You kind of have the supporting role of both sides.

Mathias 4:30

Yeah, yeah. It is kind of cool. I get to see kind of the inner workings of both sides of it because I'll hang out with the guys I'm living with Corey. And so I know everything that's going on inside the team, what they're thinking, and then same thing on the, on the coaching staff side. So there's, I get to kind of. take information that I hear from both sides and pick and choose wisely what I kind of share with the other side. Um, but it's been, yeah, support or, uh, it's been An interesting role in that way as well. And I think I've probably been able to help guys maybe understand things better when they're like, why is, why is Adam doing that? I don't tell them exactly why he's doing it, but I can explain it in a way that makes sense to them. Adam asked me, how are the guys thinking or feeling about this? And then I can, I got to figure out my pulse of the team as well.

Jesse 5:25

Yeah, that's quite a very similar situation where I was living with Adam when he came back to coach. Right. And, but like, like you said, it creates such a unification of the team because. You have this middle man that can kind of feed energy and communication both directions and really, like, you are the unifier between the two. It's cool.

Mathias 5:44

Yeah, I guess so.

Jesse 5:47

Alright, Oog. What was it like?

Oog 5:50

Honestly, it was weird. Um, every time I see, like, the Spartan guys, it is, it is weird. Um, because, obviously, I've played with them for three years, like, uh, and some, yeah, like you said, they're my best friends, but I think when it came down to this weekend, It was more, it wasn't about us beating them, or it was just about, like, business is business. Like, obviously, I know they're still gonna be my friends, um, even if we won or even if we lost. Uh, and, it's just, yeah, it's weird to see your friends that sad and you that happy, but at the same time, like, I was happy for my team. And my friends, my new friends that we had done like, that's a, that's a big win for us. Like that's going to the Can West semifinals playing number one Manitou or Winnipeg is like, we're really excited about that. And I think I didn't try and play it off like I was sad for them, because obviously I'm very happy that we won, but I was pretty sad for Dev, and that was his last game as a Spartan. Um,

Jesse 7:11

yeah,

Oog 7:11

I know I'm a dog now, so it's, I'm happy for the dogs, you know? Oh.

Jesse 7:18

Yeah, I get it. Like, it's the same thing kind of Teiss and I talked about a while back when we were competing in the summer. Like, you wanted to do the best, you want to reach your goals, and you also care a lot about the person on the other side of the net. And that's high level sports when you grow up with all these amazing people around you. So, I think that was, that was well put, Oog.

Oog 7:38

Well, I'm like, I feel like we experience that every time we play an opponent where we know people on the other side of the net. Like, there's not a team in, in eSports where we don't know someone. And care about them as a person, you're still going to go out there and play your hardest. I mean, yeah, yeah, for sure. I was,

Jesse 7:54

I was just wondering because those were your brothers and your literal brother and your bigger brothers, if there, if there was any other kind of heartstrings that were being tugged. Yeah,

Oog 8:07

it was nice to see TS after the game. I'll say that

Jesse 8:14

next question. Yeah. Here's another question. Um, are there times when teammates get frustrated with each other? And how do you resolve that? I think that happens all the time. I can speak of my current situation. There's a lot of, not necessarily the people don't frustrate me, frustrate me, but their actions, uh, frustrate me. And I've been having a hard time trying to find the line between imposing what I think is right and trying to understand why they do certain things. And for me, there's a language barrier. There's a, quite a big age gap between a lot of us. But like you said to us at the beginning, I just try and share my experiences. You're like, Hey, when I wasn't playing in this year, this is how I tried to get out of that slump. And I wasn't blaming the president and posting stuff on Instagram and like trying to help them understand where I'm coming from, but I think there's a lot of frustration on teams because everyone's different, everyone has different opinions. Um, but I think the best way to, to solve that, like we've said, I think in the Bree episode and the Marr episode is you have to have those tough conversations. You have to practice that, that, uh, what did Marr call it? Something honesty? Radical candor. Yeah. But wasn't there something else?

9:46

Brutal honesty

Mathias 9:46

or

9:47

something?

Jesse 9:47

I don't know. Yeah. You have to practice that, that brutal honesty sometimes and, and also share a bit about yourself and say, Hey, that frustrates me because, and not just shut down and give him the blind eye.

Mathias 10:02

Yeah, I think the, the conflict is not inherently bad, or it's not inherently a problem. And I think what's even worse is when there's just a lack of care. Teammates can do whatever they want, and there is no pushback from From other guys on the team. So I think usually the, usually the biggest growth comes from those sort of like micro conflicts when they're resolved. So you really have to be active in resolving them, but usually that's a massive step forward rather than just letting people do whatever they want to do.

Jesse 10:41

And actually, I think, again, thinking back to this year, you have to resolve them as quickly as possible because if you try and resolve them when you have a month and a half left of the season, you have all these compounding conflicts that resolving one is not going to resolve. It's not a domino effect. You have to start early and get ahead of it.

Mathias 11:03

There's a Jordan Peterson quote on marriage, and he's, he says, uh. You have to fight with your partner because once you have 10, 000 fights, you don't have to fight anymore or something. That was not super accurate, but I think it's like, the point is you have to, you have to have those confrontations, um, to get to the point where you don't have to have them anymore. Or else, like you're saying, just, they just build up, build up, build up into like something that's too big to resolve. But if you just have these kind of micro discussions, conversations constantly, then eventually you'll get to the point where there's an understanding and you don't have to do that as much anymore.

Jesse 11:46

Yeah, and it can be something as little as, like, you notice a guy shows up late three times the first week. That doesn't seem like a huge deal. It's kind of annoying. But that's going to compound and affect the team come March. And there's going to be a lot of problems that come from that. So, nip it in the, in the bud? What's nip it in the bud? So you gotta nip it in the bud quick.

Mathias 12:13

One thing that I was thinking about during the Marr episode was, uh, he brought, he said, he only said it once, but he said accountability. And we've talked about this before, how it's, it's such a, like, Cliche, hold each other accountable, all this, like, what does that even mean? But I think that when he said it, it made sense to me because he was talking about, um, a standard that had already been set. So if you just, If you just rip on someone for being late, but there was never a standard established about what time to show up to practice, then I don't know if that's effective. But if, if like you're saying, Jess, you notice, you notice it, you notice the behavior, then you talk about what the standard is. Then you have like a benchmark that you can say, Hey, we talked about this. We, we agree that this was the standard and you're not meeting it. I think that is probably the way that accountability could actually work is when there is a clear standard. That everyone has previously agreed to.

Jesse 13:14

I think, and having a clear consequence, cause if it's different every time. That's also a huge problem. We had that issue as well, where one time it was, you pay 5. The next time you pay 30 euros, next time you do touch 10, it's like, what is going on here? Like they can just show up late and it's a, you get a little gift. It's like a mystery punishment. But like, if you actually know what's going to happen, cause you've broken the rule that's been pre established, like you said, T, you're right. I think that does create accountability. And then, and then you have the right to be frustrated because. They're breaking the team code, essentially.

Oog 13:52

Yeah, and I, like, I feel like those, like, micro, like, it doesn't even have to be something big, I feel like they get solved through other avenues You know, like I don't know this guy's not this guy's not setting me because I did I said something to him or like I don't know and you're just like dude What like can we figure this out and you have class together and you live together and you live together It's like okay, like we got to figure something out because we can't be doing this for longer than a week. Like it sucks Those kind of things just kind of solve themselves. But yeah, like those big, big issues, like you said, definitely need to have clear punishment.

Jesse 14:31

Yeah. Okay. This is a really good question. Um, I'm going to paraphrase. Um, but it says, have you ever tried out for a team? If so, how do you handle the anxiety of being the only one who is being watched and how do you manage the inside and outside pressure for performing good? Because when you're in a triad, you kind of feel like you're being analyzed and judged, unlike when you're already on the team playing, you're playing club tournaments, you're playing games and the flow state kind of takes over.

Mathias 15:11

That's a really good question.

Oog 15:17

I feel like as a broad statement, like you're never not going to be analyzed and judged for your actions just in life. Like. There's always going to be people watching you and watching the work that you're putting forward or the performance that you're putting forward. So I think that is a great question for volleyball, but also just for life in general, like how, how do you manage that, that anxiety? Like that's, yeah.

Jesse 15:48

Yeah, I would, my advice would be to get ahead of it. If you know you're going to have a tryout in a month, do everything you possibly can to feel ready. So that when you get there, you can say I've done everything in the past month to prepare myself for this moment and you'll be free to play and free to fail and you'll have the liberty to make mistakes. And whether you make the team or not, you can be like, that was a successful tryout because I did everything I could do to be in this position, as opposed to just showing up to the trial and hoping. You perform well. I think Mar said this again. We're going to reference Mar a lot because that episode was awesome. But he, he did everything for six months before the Olympic qualifier. He was weighing his food. He was getting extra reps. Every time he had a chance to, every time he had a chance to touch a ball, he was touching the ball. He would stay after, ask questions, watch more videos, send video to teammates. Now that's a little extreme for a tryout, but he did everything in his control that he possibly could. To be ready for that moment. And when that moment came, he performed because he worked hard and that's all he thought about basically.

Mathias 17:09

It's like that John Wooden quote that like success is the peace of mind, knowing that you did everything you could. I don't remember the rest, but basically the same idea. Um, I would say also I'm being in those environments, especially in club. I always felt pretty good about my spot on the team, but the first junior team tryout I went to, I remember that was high stress because it's like, uh, all the best players in the entire country coaches that. Maybe I've never seen you before. And like, you really do have to perform. It's pretty cutthroat environment and they're, they're taking stats on you. They got video on every court. They're not going to miss anything. Um, and I think moving on from mistakes is incredibly important in. In all performance states, but especially in tryouts, because there's just no time to feel sorry for yourself or to think about what has happened, um, all, all there ever is, is the next ball and just, just executing on the next ball. You're not going to be able to change that pass that you shanked, or even the second one in a row that you shanked that like that's done, you have to move on to the next. And that's, I think that's the only way, um, to stay present enough. To get your performance up to the level that, you know, you can, you can get to.

18:28

Yeah.

Jesse 18:29

And I think coaches, at least good coaches will also watch how you respond to those mistakes. They're not just looking at the numbers. They're looking at how you interact with the people around you, how you lead, how you respond to failure. So I think to you, that's a really good point. And I will say, this is a great question. I, I still feel that anxiety. For example, if, if we have a training block. I, whatever, let's, you, I've had this in the past where I play really well, then we have 25 minutes of serve pass, but it's statted. And you can see the status, stat guy on his, his computer up there taking stats. And it's always worse than playing. I always have that in the back of my mind. So it's definitely not, um, abnormal to feel that way. I think that's a natural human response, but I think if you can get ahead of it and prepare, and like Tia said, if there's ever a time To have a short memory, it's, it's in a tryout, I think. I

Oog 19:32

feel, I feel, go ahead, Ogu. No, I was just saying, I think something that sums both of your things up is just having like a, a level of confidence behind going into the tryout. Like, like you said, like confidence knowing that you did everything that you could and confidence in knowing, in your abilities and thinking, okay, like I messed that one up, whatever, like on to the next. I think like having a, an accurate level of confidence. I remember mom, mom always told me like, you need to have a, I can't remember the words you used, but like a very accurate depiction of where you are in order to understand the decisions that people made in those situations. I think if you have an accurate level of confidence and you know what you're capable of and you know that you've done everything then should help with the anxiety.

Mathias 20:25

Last thing on that point, I think that's kind of to Jesse's point that's a feeling that you have to get used to as well. There'll be a lot more tryouts in your career and that feeling is similar to, um, playing under pressure as well because each action that you take moves your team closer or further away from winning. And so getting used to those mental processes of blocking out the noise, staying focused on each action, moving on from failure quickly, all that stuff. That's, that's a, a very, very big piece of continuing to improve and grow. Frankly, being a winner as well.

Jesse 21:07

Yeah, really, really well put. There's a cool question from a coach here. He coaches a U17 boys team. And he says, Can you tell me what inspired you to want to be better? I know most of you played for your dad, so I'm sure his constant scrutiny was part of it, but what contributed to your self motivation? I don't think Dad was very, yeah, dude, I, CRUT, scrutinous.

Mathias 21:32

I read that question and I, I thought it maybe was a joke, but, but maybe not.'cause there are some dads that are pretty, pretty tough on their kids, but not, I also read,

Jesse 21:40

I read it and I, at first I read it, I thought it said, who inspired you? Mm-hmm But I think he's trying to say, like, how can he inspire his, like, what inspired us? So how can he or she, sorry, uh, inspire their team? I don't think scrutinizing is the answer. That's my initial response. I think there is a time for scrutiny if, like you said, T, there is a clear standard. and it's something that you come, consistently come back to, then you can remind them, and you can guide them, be like, hey, that's not what we do in this situation. What inspired me to be better was,

Oog 22:34

I don't know, do you guys have a good answer for that? I think just being exposed to, like, higher level, like, I don't know, when we were in, whatever, 14U and, and Kent would tell us to go watch whoever on YouTube and then, You see the higher level and you're like, okay, great. And then you go to a Calgary Dinos game on the weekend and you see people that are now retired from the national team playing in university or you know, like, like just constantly being exposed to that really helped me being like, okay, yeah, I really want this, I really want this. I can't remember.

Jesse 23:14

That's a really good idea. Let's change the question a little bit. Which coaches inspired you and how,

Oog 23:23

okay. Obviously we're gonna say Ben Joe, right? Because I think Ben did a really good job at balancing the, the human side of the interaction and the technical. And that's what inspired me to do well for him is because I knew that he had My best interest at heart, you know, um, like there was one of our team, um, like standards this year is like pack mentality and human first. So like we're a team first and we care about each other before anything else. And I think Ben was an incredible example of that.

Jesse 24:11

For sure. Ben's up there, I think on most people's lists that have played for him. I'm thinking back to my club days. I had a coach in Ian Halliday. And one of the ways he inspired me and our team is he treated us like adults or like young men. He was 16, he was 17. He treated us like young men. He was straightforward. And he opened our eyes to the possibilities, but also to the intricacies of volleyball. He shared the data and he shared his thinking. And he really opened my eyes to more than just the bumps that Spike hit. Serve like there was a lot more to it, like the leading, like the organization, the communication, the stats and how to use them properly. So that really inspired me to be better. Cause I realized that there was a lot more that I could contribute to the team than just physical attributes. And back then I was pretty much, I was just tall, right? So there's a lot of things that I could learn. And he inspired me, I think, that way, to get to the next level.

Mathias 25:26

That's interesting. What was the original question? What, what motivates us? Or

Jesse 25:33

What contributed to your self motivation?

Mathias 25:39

I think, um, for me it was similar to, uh, to Oog, with watching the higher levels of volleyball. And it was, it was, Jesse was a big part of that too, because he was two years ahead of me. So everything that he was getting to do, when he made team Alberta for the first time, when he made the junior national team for the first time, when he went to university for the first time, all those things were, I wasn't ready yet, but they were within reach, which was an awesome motivator for me because I had these kind of. One to two year out goals that I could really go after kind of one step at a time and I got to see what it was like watching Jesse, so I think that was really helpful for me. And if you don't have someone like that, then I think you can just do that for yourself. Go watch a team Alberta or, uh, interprovincial tournament. If there's everyone in your area, go watch how evolve on YouTube, follow the Italian league. And I think for me, it was just like, I wanted to be there so bad. I wanted to be. Yeah. One of those guys on the floor in front of all the people under the bright lights representing my country and, um, I remember watching this one YouTube video of the 2016 Olympics when we beat the States, I think it was, in pool play. And it's like a four minute highlight video from that game and I was maybe 12, 13 years old, just watching that over and over and over and over and over again, just so ready to have that be me. So I do think motivation like that is very individual and internal. I think as from a coaching perspective, I think I would really try to understand the goals of each player on the team and it can be different and that's fine. You can't, you can't push someone to become great if they don't want to become great. I just don't think that works. And that's fine also. And maybe they're great at something else. Maybe they're great teammates or just fun guys to have around. And that's their role in the team. And that's awesome. Um, but I think it's really important to understand where, what, what, what people actually want. Because then again, you have that standard and you're like, Hey, you say you want to be an Olympian one day, but. You're coming to practice and you're, you're barely even diving for balls right now. That's not going to get you there.

Jesse 28:12

Yeah, I think that's why I love Ian's approach so much, because he gave us so many different doors to open and learn and figure out what we wanted to pursue. And then he helped us pursue those goals. I think TSC set a bang on. This is a cool question.

Mathias 28:31

We, uh, we got a question here about what is the hardest part about the transition between high school and club? Youth volleyball into university. And for myself, I think the hardest part is just the volume of work is probably 10, 20 times that of what you put in on an average club week, um, club you practice maybe three times a week and then tournament on the weekend every. Two weeks or something like that. Um, but university, you're lifting four times a week, watching video two to four times a week, doing reps two times a week, practicing every single night, playing two games on the weekend and doing serving pass before each of those games. And then you're taking four classes where you have homework and, uh, anything else you might want to be doing with the sliver of free time that you have left. So I think that is the hardest part, but I think the cool part is that you, you adapt. And it's really cool, the kind of, the kind of person that you can become in those moments where you're, where you're not ready for something, but it's coming anyways. Um, I think that's when the best growth happens. So I remember coming into my first year, um, I, I had an opportunity to play on the June team before that. So I had trained at that capacity, but then you add school on top of that. It can be really overwhelming, but, um, yeah, you just learn a lot about yourself and time management and discipline and hard work and getting things done when you have the time. And so I think that's a complete blessing, actually, that, uh, that level of commitment to anything.

Jesse 30:17

That is cool. I think another, for me, the coolest part and yet another blessing is just that you have minimum 12 other people that are in the exact same boat and that are like as like minded as you. Where in club you might have. Two or three that are going to university. Maybe, maybe it's more if you're on a really high level club team. But usually there's not people that take it as seriously as you and then you get there and you're in this What's the word? Utopia. There you go. And you get there and you're in this like utopia of, of hard work and volleyball and friendship and And the best part is you have five years of people ahead of you to learn from who have all been exactly where you stood that first day of university, where it is kind of scary that first day, but it's so exciting. I remember being way more excited than nervous or scared.

Oog 31:19

Yeah, dude. First year of university is awesome. Probably my favorite year. Like it's a grind, but it's like the best kind of grind.

Jesse 31:32

And you'll be so shocked at how much you improve in that first two months. Like naturally you will reach the level of the team. It's, it's actually crazy if you think about it.

Mathias 31:46

Yeah, that's true. I think that kind of a lesson for other, can be a lesson for other areas of life too, is like, if there's a person you want to become, just put yourself in an environment that forces you to become that person. It's just almost instantaneous and inevitable growth when something like that happens, when something you're not ready for becomes inevitable. But I agree, Jess. I loved, it's sweet when you get to go through everything with the same group. You, your whole team's doing. Everything together, you're trained together, you're going to class together, you're eating together, you're traveling together, so you're just really not alone. And that's another way that we can handle May way more than we can even imagine is when you're doing it with someone else.

Jesse 32:40

Yeah, 100%. There's another question here. Kind of a similar question jumping from university to pro, um, but this one's more about how to do it. Um, there, there is an element to the question about what's the hardest part about transitioning, but I think it's the same thing. You'll be shocked at how much you improve just being around better players. I remember that my first year I was doing things that I was like, well, that was lucky, but then I did it again four more times that day. I'm like, okay, I can do this. I can do this. I can play at this speed and this, this height, like I can do it. And it's just being submersed in that environment. But the, the main part of this question is how to, how to do it. How do you go about getting yourself overseas?

Mathias 33:33

Yeah. Well, typically you're going to have to find an agent, which, um, actually where I would start would be reaching out to some players that are. In the leagues that maybe you want to try to go to, or even anyone, you know, that is playing pro and then from there, they could probably connect you with some potential agents, some people to talk to, or other players to talk to. Um, especially being Canadian, it's all about connections because. People in Europe are going to have no idea who the majority of us are. So an agent is really important. And then, um, again, if you think you want to sign with someone, ask around, say people who have worked with them before, ask them about their experience. Um, same thing with a contract. Once you have a contract in front of you, be really kind of scrutinize it based on. All the criteria of what's important to you, the league, the money, the living situation, who's on the team, you can ask people who have played for that club before. Um, I think, yeah, just being really, you need, you need connections and then need to be, uh, what would you call it? You need to sift through the information, make sure it's actually what you want. You need to be a sieve.

Jesse 34:51

You need to be a sieve. It's really easy to just get really excited. About opportunities. Cause it might look really, really good in a text message, but, but like you said, use your network. I think that's the most powerful piece of advice. Like the network, especially once you get over here, it's crazy. How many people you come across? Like I got a message the other day from a. A Danish guy who played against me in Germany last year, who plays in France this year, who might come to my current team. And he's like, Hey, what do you think about set? What's the club? Like, what's the city? Like, how's it run? What's the organization? What are the bus travels like? And that's exactly what you got to do. Ask the questions, ask the things that are important to you and use people. And there's no harm in sending a message. The worst thing they can do is not respond.

Mathias 35:42

Yeah, you can. I feel like volleyball is a very responsive community and all the guests that we've had on so far, like these multi time Olympians for the Canadian national team have said that they love getting those messages and being able to help out. The next generation, especially when it's something like that, where like, really, they are your only resource. I'm sure any of those players would, would love to help out.

Jesse 36:06

Yeah. And us too. We, we would also love to help in any way we can. And if you want to get into the nitty gritty of. The details you can send us a message or something and we can answer not just broad scope, scope things for the podcast, but we can, we can have a conversation or we can connect you with people that might have the answer for you. So we're, we're definitely here to help, but these are great questions. All right, this is a cool one. when you're learning a new skill, how and when do you know when you're ready to start using that in a game?

Mathias 36:46

Tough question.

Jesse 36:49

That is a tough question. I didn't think it would be that tough, but it is tough.

Oog 36:56

I feel like it's, it's like anything. It's like implementation over time. So it'd be like, I don't know, let's say you're learning how to spin serve. Right. Because that's a big jump. So

Jesse 37:11

the, the example is hybrid serve.

Oog 37:14

Okay, perfect. Let's say you, you have your, your Spenser and you're, you're wanting to attempt the, the hybrid. You would implement it in a reps based area of the practice. One that has little, I would say competition consequence, And then when you become comfortable, then you would add it into the competition portion. And then if it works in competition, I don't think you need permission. You just need to have the confidence in your skill to say, okay, this serve, I'm going up and I'm, I'm going to hybrid.

Mathias 38:00

I think, I think it's really, really important to implement it into a game probably earlier than you think you should. Uh, because that is the, the only thing that actually matters is being able to perform the skills in game. So I think that's worth the investment. I would call it an investment. Like maybe you take some risk. In a couple of games throughout the year to learn how to hybrid in game. And maybe it costs you a little bit. I think by the time you get to those important games at the end of the season, it's going to serve you well that you started trying it in game when there's a little bit of pressure, when there are some consequences, because that's just the reality. of the game.

Jesse 38:48

And Jesse, I remember The

Mathias 38:49

ROI is huge.

Jesse 38:51

Yeah.

Mathias 38:52

Amen, brother. Um, I remember Jesse, you were playing, you could probably tell the story better than I can, but I remember you were playing in the Junior Olympics with your club team down in the tech, or uh, the U. S. somewhere. Houston. Houston And, uh, I forget who your coach was. Maybe it was Ian.

Jesse 39:16

Kerry McDonald.

Mathias 39:17

Kerry McDonald. Yeah. Yeah. Kerry McDonald. And I remember you saying that a lot of your team was just learning to spin serve at that time, or maybe you were transitioning from floating to spinning. And. He said, you can be a spin server on this team, but if it's 24-23 for the other team and you're on the line, you have to hit your spin serve. You can't go back to your float. Do you remember that?

Jesse 39:45

That's an incredible story. I don't remember that at all. But that, wow, that's so incredibly wise.

Mathias 39:55

Yeah, and I think that is, um, a really important piece is just full commitment to the change and really not shying away, even when there's consequences on the line again, because maybe that moment is not, um, maybe later on in your career that will pay off in bigger ways than you going back to your float, let's say in the, in that moment, you'll learn. You'll learn a lot more from hitting that spin serve in that moment than let's say shying away from the moment and going back to something you're comfortable with.

Jesse 40:30

Yeah. I, I think that's a really good way to put it. And I think what, if we use this example, this example, if you choose to spin serve or you choose to float serve, That's going to compound for the rest of your career. You're going to gain a lot of confidence if you choose to spin serve regardless of the result, or if you choose to float serve and take the easy option out, that's also going to compound and that's going to start to stack up and you're not going to like probably get as much return on your investment

Mathias 40:57

like you said. Yeah, that's it. That's a really good point. And I've been thinking about this too. Let's say even if you're not trying, even if you're not Um, trying to implement a new skill, but you're a spin server and your, your best serve is like maybe a hundred kilometers an hour, like a little bit of cut to one. And you do that every day. You practice that every day, And then you're on the line at the end of the game. you're under pressure and you're like, okay, I'm just going to chip this one in because, um, I'm under pressure. That serve, despite it being an easier serve to hit, let's say. Like, 50 kilometers an hour chipping in is easier to hit than 100 kilometers an hour. Why would you do something that you've never practiced before in the highest pressure moment? And I think that even though let's say you're taking risk by hitting a fast serve, that's what you practice every single day. So that's like the trust your training, you know, you know how to hit that, that serve and you have to trust in those moments. And I think on a, in a broader perspective, you can, it's easier to live with yourself. After that moment, if you just commit to what you, what you know, you can do rather than shine away from the moment.

42:19

A hundred percent. Yep. That's really cool.

Jesse 42:23

Here's a good question. How do you guys deal with a bad game or bad practice, especially when you are a captain and have an important role on the team?

Oog 42:34

I actually have a story about this. Um, so it would have been three weeks ago. and I had the worst practice of my Husky career. And I just lost my mind. Like I haven't, since moving out here, I haven't had a practice where I've been necessarily angry, whereas that was a very common occurrence. Leaving the gym, just pissed off. Um, and I think it's kind of just a maturity thing. Like I'm, I'm more comfortable and with myself and my abilities. And now that I've kind of stepped into this, this, I want to say leadership role, but it's more, it's less than that because I'm like, I can't play, but I still have a bit of whatever influence and the guys listen when I talk. So that's nice. But anyways. We were having a terrible practice. Sean made these very, very difficult drills that were meant to push you mentally, and I just lost my mind, and I talked to Derek after, and I was like, Derek, like, I don't know what the heck happened there, man, like, I, I lost my mind, I was, I shut down, like, I didn't talk to anyone. And then Sean texted me the next day. He's like, Hey, come to the office. I was like, Oh no, what did I do? Um, and we sat there and chatted and he was like, you need to understand that this year. It's your time to fail and learn how to be a leader for these guys. But you're not gonna do that if you don't embrace the, the, the hard times like I was. He's like, you're right. Those drills were meant for you to fail but you in those situations. You needed to learn how to help other guys through it rather than just help yourself. And he said, there's no, like, no one is born a perfect leader. There's no such thing as a perfect leader. Like everyone, everyone fails at leading. And that's honestly what makes some of the best leaders is the guys that have failed the most because they know, they know what it's like. And he, he said, like, there's, because you're in, like, in the player's eyes, you are a leader. It's okay to fail. And it was nice to hear that. Like, it's, it's okay to not have good practices and it's okay to not like perform well, but you need to. address it better than you did. So I think it comes down to addressing or going team first when you aren't playing well, or when you aren't practicing well. I think that was his main, his main takeaway, but, yeah.

Mathias 45:16

That's cool. Jesse, you talked about that in, in one of our, uh, in, in the episode we did on you, because we talked about how you'd been captain on a lot of teams, and what was your point about When things aren't going well for you?

Jesse 45:35

I don't remember exactly what I said, but reading this question, the first thing that came to my mind is just like, who, who or what can I celebrate? If I'm having a bad day, that means someone else is having a good day. And it's my job as a leader to, to pump them up. And usually I'll get energy from that and turn my day around.

Mathias 45:59

I love that finding something to celebrate, even if it's not yourself, actually, especially when it's not yourself. I think that's a true, a true leader, true captain, true teammate. And I think when you were talking there, Jess, I was just thinking about, uh, like people's egos. I think that's usually what gets in the way of a lot of those things. Um, not, not being able to put the team first and it's so hard. Like there's very few guys I know that can do that. Jesse, you're one of them. I'll, I'll, I'll share a story. Yeah.

Jesse 46:43

So. Yeah, my fifth or sixth year, my last year at university, when we lost to UBC 3 0, um, at UBC, I hit negative 649 and I was so mad and so frustrated because I don't really care about stats, but I was having a good, like statistical year and I was like top three of efficiency, top three in kills, aces, whatever. Whatever. And I just like plummeted on these stat sheets. And I was like, K does that really matter? No, we lost the team's discouraged. Like what matters in this moment? And I remember like being like swallowing my pride and being like, K we lost. But the important thing is that. In my mind, we need to win nationals. That was the goal that year. That was the standard. So after the, after the game, we got slapped, Adam does his little thing. And then I said, I told the team, like, stay here. And I don't remember what I said, but I said something about rallying together, sticking together, sitting in this feeling of. Of embarrassment or of despair, whatever, whatever the guys were feeling, because you could see it on their face and using that to glue the team together and being like, we all sucked, we're all in this together, let's use this and move forward. And we had a great game the next day, but after that game, I was still so mad, I threw my burrito against the wall. Outside. But I think that's just where it's like you have to understand when to show those emotions and how it's going to react. Especially when you're an older guy or the leader or the captain or whatever. Even if you're not. Even if you're not, the way you react to things is going to say a lot about you to those around you.

Mathias 48:48

Along those lines, one thing that's helped me even find a um, better performance state is really clarifying what the goal is. And in my mind, that's always to win the game. And that gave me enough separation, I think, from my ego to kind of let go of the ups and downs of my play within the match. Because, as long as the game is still on, and we haven't lost the last point of the game, then I haven't failed yet. And I think that allowed me to be in a mindset where, like, just moving on way quicker. Cause my goal is not to pass well, my goal is not to serve well, I missed a couple passes in a row, oh well. My goal wasn't to pass well today, my goal is to win the game, and we can still win the game. And so, if things aren't going well for you as a leader and you get subbed out, how can you help this team win the game? Or even if you're still on the court and you cannot find your serve, how can I help this team win the game? Like, just asking that question and finding an answer, no matter what your situation is. That one's helped me a lot and I've removed my, my ego, my performance, thinking about my ego, my performance while still in the moment. That's

Jesse 50:12

cool. I want to tie it in again to something Maar said. He said, if I'm on the bench and I don't go in, we win. If I'm on the bench and we do go in and I do go in, we win. And it's the same. I think if you get subbed out, right, if I'm on the floor, we win. If I get subbed out, we win. I think having that mentality is amazing. Having that trust. in the team is incredible on both sides, whether you get subbed in or subbed out. I think, like, I loved when he said that. I thought that was so cool.

Mathias 50:44

Yeah, that is cool. Hard to, hard to, easier said than done, for sure. But, most things are that we've been talking about, yeah, for sure. That's

Oog 50:53

true, that's true. There you go. You guys wanna do one more?

Jesse 50:59

Yeah, let's see. All right. This is a good one. Here's one from another coach. I love how many coaches are listening to the podcast. That's really cool. That's super cool. Shout out to all the coaches. Shaping the young volleyballers. Alright, I'm a coach and my team is all fundamentally skilled, but once it comes to games, they seem like they have no passion or urge to win. They say they do, but once they're on the court, it's just in one ear and out the other. Is this on me as a coach, or them as players? And is this something, and is something like this even teachable?

Mathias 51:36

That seems like a TS question. That's the golden, that's the golden question right there. The absolute golden question because again, as I said before the only thing that matters is being able to win games Usually that happens Usually you have to be able to perform in the game to win the game as well. Um, I don't know how to approach this from a coaching perspective, but I had a really long, long journey to figure out how to, how to be a, a gamer and a winner. And I, I think I can picture exactly what's happening on that team when the pressure hits and everyone goes silent and their eyes kind of glaze over and. People aren't really looking at each other and you're still playing the game, but maybe the celebrations aren't as big when we win points and just feels like the world's crashing down a little bit. And I remember having that feeling like over and over and over and over and over again. And I can't speak for everyone, but for me, it was because I really wanted to play well, and I really wanted to look good. And when the game started well for me, and I was doing those things, I was on fire, and I could like take over a match. But as soon as there was like a little chink in my armor, maybe made a couple errors, other teams pushing back, um, I would just collapse. Because I was Thinking about something that was not the next point and I think that's probably the overarching idea is like the players on This team are probably thinking about something in the game That is not the next point and usually that's some type of fear We went through this this year with our Trinity team for me. It was the fear of looking bad for some guys It's the fear of letting their parents down or letting their team down Um, some guys like random fears, like fear of injury and stuff. I feel like usually, usually those are things that kind of, um, pull us out of the moment and being able to compete. So, um, Dude, that's

Jesse 53:55

sorry to interrupt you. That's a cool idea that maybe, maybe this coach could do this. I remember we didn't do, we didn't do it with the coach, but one of my years at Trinity, we all sat down and asked each other, Why are you here? What are you hoping to get out of this? And I think we've talked about this on the podcast. Some guys said they wanted to play on a national team. Some guys just said they're here because it's the most intense PE class ever. And understanding that helps you communicate and motivate that person way better. So if, if you, as a coach, go to each player or do it as a group so that the players themselves understand what their teammates are thinking and say. Why are you here? What are your goals? If their goal is to just get out of the house and get physical activity, the way you motivate them is going to be very different than your setter who wants to go to the national team. You know, like I think that could help so that when you are trying to motivate them and, and find that passion while they're in the game, you can use specific things to specific players, as opposed to blanket statements, like, I don't know. Get together, huddle, give high fives. You can do something much more specific.

Oog 55:22

Yeah, that's, we did that this year too. And it, as a player, it makes you feel more comfortable with the guys around you. And it makes you want to play for something bigger than yourself. I think that's, that's another thing that helps. Like, uh,

Jesse 55:37

I,

Oog 55:37

yeah, I think

Jesse 55:38

it also helps you feel seen and feel heard.

Oog 55:47

Yeah.

Mathias 55:50

Yeah, a couple, a couple things that I learned myself that helped me. Um, well, when I felt myself going to those moments or that mindset kind of shutting down was one was like a gratitude and a perspective. So like, I feel like zooming out is always, always, always a good idea. Cause when we get like this tunnel vision in the game and we're like, Oh, this is the biggest thing in the world, then it's not going well. That's a hard thing to come back to. But when you zoom out a little bit, you look around, you see the crowd, you see your parents up there cheering, maybe notice some things on the wall, like, like literally just expand your field of vision. I think sometimes that's enough to take some pressure off. The other thing is like another tangible thing is body language. So you can search it up, search up, uh, I think they're called power poses. And there's a couple. There's one, like, hands on your head, leaning back in a chair. Another one, like, hands on your hips, like Superman. And then the other one is just, like, arms, like, straight out wide, like star pose. And it, uh, it's like physiologically proven to boost your confidence. When you, when you, when you stand in one of those poses for, I think it's like 30 seconds or a minute. And so, if, if you go back and you watch. Um, my last year of university, the last, like, playoffs and nationals, I started celebrating.

Jesse 57:24

Mmm.

Mathias 57:24

I started celebrating with my arms out as wide as I could possibly get them. And before games, after we left the locker room, as I'm walking to the court, I would just stick my arms out like as wide as they go and just walk all the way to the gym in like as big a pose as I could possibly. Get into, and it looks so dumb. I never realized why you're doing

Jesse 57:45

that. That is so cool,

Mathias 57:47

yeah.

Jesse 57:47

It also looks sick in photos, but that, I didn't, I should have, I should have known there was a reason behind everything you do.

Mathias 57:55

And it works, which is really cool because it, when you're dealing with this like mental Stuff. It's so fragile because you can't lie to yourself. You can't tell yourself you're playing well When you're not you can't tell yourself you're confident when you're not but when there's like actionable things you do such as looking around the room a little bit more looking into your teammates eyes or Expanding your posture taking up more space. That's like actionable items That can sometimes give you enough of an edge to kind of flip the script there I I think even even like I'm going to stand up. Hopefully the YouTube people can see this. Just like, if you're, if you're standing in serve receive like this, right? Versus standing there like this. It just, it just is a completely different. Um, visual for the server, you can exude confidence in your posture with having zero in your mind. And so you can't lie to yourself with your thoughts, but you can 100 percent lie to yourself with your body language. So I would start there.

Jesse 59:15

That's amazing. We just start there and we should end there. That was a great way to end the episode. That was cool too. That's really cool. I forgot about that. C'est fantastique ça. That's really awesome. Well, we should wrap this up. Thanks again, everyone. Really great questions. We'll do another Q& A episode in a couple months, probably once we rack up some more questions. Um, but like I said earlier, if you do any burning, like very specific questions, feel free to reach out to us individually, uh, through our Instagram, probably the best way to do it. And if we don't have the answer, we'll connect you to someone, someone who does. Um, should I talk about the website a little bit? Sure We got a website. And there's some quotes on there. There's a book list, um, from all of our guests. That was Steve Maar's idea. It's a great idea. So there's about 14 books on there. Um, Thias has a book list as well. I started a blog. Uh, it's called The Rise of the Rose. Kind of just my way of tracking the ups and downs and hoping again, that it helps someone just like this podcast. Um, we got other, we got links to the arm swing Academy in there. We got, uh, what else? We got merch kind of not right now we're sold out, but we got a merch website, uh, and, or a merch, uh, tab. Uh, and then also just a little, uh, button there. If you guys want to contribute to the show, um, help us buy some new equipment, get some bigger guests on here. Um, but yeah, we, we love the idea of giving back and helping and, and doing it all for free. So that's our, our purpose and our mission. And, uh,

Oog 1:01:06

go check out the website.

Mathias 1:01:10

Alrighty. I think that wraps up episode number 32 of the Pitcher Pro podcast. Thanks everyone for listening and signing off.

1:01:22

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.