The Pit to Pro Podcast
This Podcast hosted by Jesse, Mathias, and Aaron Elser, is meant to guide young athletes on their journey to high performance. Join us as we share our first hand experiences in and effort to help you reach your own volleyball goals.
The Pit to Pro Podcast
Episode #40 - Life Long Learning with Cody Kessel
In this episode we learn where confidence comes from and how to maximize your potential. Why you have to be careful what you're basing your self-worth on, why mastery and self-expression go hand in hand, and when is it a good time to be intentionally delusional? We discuss the ups and downs of Cody’s career and what kept him chasing his national team dreams, despite not getting a start for the program until he was 30 years old.
Check out our website: https://pit2pro.com/
Click here to begin your journey to more aces and pain free spiking. Get 50% off using PROMO code: ARMSWING50 https://www.athletewellnessacademy.com/armswingacademy
Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/ThePit2ProPodcast
The Athlete Wellness AcademyGet 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.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Pit to Pro Podcast. In today's episode, we're joined by Cody Kessel Cody's, a member of the USA National team, has played 11 seasons of professional volleyball in Europe and is dedicated to sharing his journey with athletes, following in his footsteps, through his blog, his social media posting, and his book. Expect to learn where confidence comes from. While you have to be careful what you're basing your self worth on, why mastery and self-expression go hand in hand, when is a good time to be intentionally delusional? And what kept Cody chasing his national team dreams, despite not getting a start for the program until he was 30 years old.
Mathias:Before we get started, I'd like to introduce our sponsor for today's episode.
Jesse:If you use code ARMSWING50 at checkout, you'll instantly get 50 percent off your first month of the Arm Swing Academy.
Mathias: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: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.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Cody Kessel. 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:Alrighty. Welcome back everyone to the Pit to Pro podcast. Today's episode number 40. I've got a very special guest with us today. We've got Cody Kessel on the pod. Welcome to the show, Cody.
Cody:Hey everyone. Thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate it.
Jesse:Yeah, this is gonna be so fun. And my first question is, why are you so open to sharing your stories and struggles? Because I think you might be the fastest reply to the guests We've asked to come on the show. You're like, absolutely. What can I do? What can I answer? I'm an open book, and I think that's so cool. And that's exactly what we're trying to deliver to, to our target audience. But where does that come from? Why are you so transparent and, and eager to help the next generation?
Cody:Uh, it's a great question. I, I just really like sharing my journey. Um, it's. I get so much out of it because if you're even able to connect with one or two athletes around the world, then it just makes it all worth it. It's been so cool to worldwide have these connections with people who are say, Hey, I'm going through that too, or I'm struggling with that too. Um, a lot of the sharing of the journey is you share the reality and a lot of times the struggle is the reality and that just connects with people, uh, on and off the court. So I don't even see myself as extra transparent. I just see myself as doing my best to share it as I go. Um, yeah.
Jesse:That's cool. Well, what, what are some of the best pieces of advice that you got in your youth volleyball career? Or actually any, any point in your career that you're like super big on? Oh, I have to share that.
Cody:There's so many. I think, uh, a huge one that came, comes up a lot is this locus of control is'cause it's two-sided. It's when you get clarity on things that are completely in your control, then you can focus way more on that and give a lot more energy to that. And on the other side, if you realize that certain things, like ultimately the score of a match, for example, if you just take a moment, even when you're younger and you think about it, oh, that's actually not in my control. Then you get this double sided effect of your energy and your attention being maximized for, for the better. So there was one moment, for example where, um. Hey, there was a coach who, who was talking to me, said, Hey, do you realize that, um, you can't ultimately control the outcome of a game? And we kind of walked through it. I said, yeah, even if I play really good, that the other team could play well and all these things. Yeah, ultimately you can't control that. And he kind of walked me through. And he also said, do you see how you're letting the outcome of a game also affect how you feel about yourself as a person? And I was like, yeah, I realize that. And then he kind of walked me through and he goes, well, do you realize you're, how you feel yourself about yourself as a person? You're putting that into something that's outta your control. And I kind of went, oh yeah, that doesn't really make any sense, does it?
Oog:Hmm.
Cody:So how can I get back to those things of, uh, and Andrea Becker was great. It reminded me of this later in my career when I got to the national team of decision reminders of best energy, best effort, best attitude, best teammate. Um, and hustle. You know, when you're younger learning sports, there's some good, great coaches that are just like, it's just about the, the purity of effort that you put forth. And that in and of itself is something to be sought after and to go after. And yeah,
Jesse:that, that's really cool. That reminds me at Trinity we had a, a thing called John skills. So John is the most pop popular name in the world, and they were skills that any random John could do in a matter of 30 seconds, like communication effort where you're standing on defense, like we can take a random person out the crowd and say, stand here, and they will stand here. And those John skills are so imperative to a team's success because, and that's also the thing that we probably trained the least. So it's cool. It's cool. That control bit. I like that a lot. Yeah.
Oog:I was looking at, I was looking at your Instagram while I was doing my, my rapid fire questions and I, your first post you have. Pinned it goes through your whole story, and at the end it's like, but they can't measure heart. And I think that kind of sums that all up. It's like, it's really cool that there's, there's so many aspects to the game, but at the end, at the core of it, it's like, how much can you give and how much, like the more you give, the more you get out of it. I think that's, that's, yeah, it's cool.
Cody:Totally and it's, it's awesome for me to get on this PO with you guys, as you say, the John Scales, I mean I never played with any of you directly, but I played with a lot of Trinity guys through Lunberg and the, those guys pop into my head for sure. Slater, his number one John Skill was chasing after every ball. And Trinity, he was the guy that the classic from, we have Marv, dumpy and Pepperdine. It's like, if you don't know, if you don't go, you don't know this kind of like, if you don't pursue that ball, you get a coach on one. But Slater was the guy in my entire professional career. It didn't matter what training drill it was, he was laying out full send. To go after a ball. And there was five or six times every season where he would make a huge momentum changing play because he had that habit built in. So yeah, that's, uh, those are, those John skills are, are following Trinity guys through their whole careers. For sure. So can
Jesse:you, uh, can you gimme a John skill of Adam? Because I'm actually in Adam's apartment right now in Langham. His coach
Cody:John Adam, I think re brought in the, uh, love you proud of you to the locker room. Oh,
Mathias:cool.
Cody:And that was just, it sounds so simple and so silly, but you're in the grind of a season and people that, you know, TK and him made it a joke almost as they're leaving the locker room, Hey, love you, proud of you, you know, see you Monday type of thing. Like this. Little, little things like that can make a huge difference when you just had a terrible practice and you hear like something like that, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah, his, that's, uh, that's the first thing that comes to mind with Shine.
Jesse:I, I can picture his voice saying that perfectly.
Mathias:Yeah. Um, we talk a lot about, on this podcast, teammates, obviously I'm kind of diving into this, and when you have a teammate who executes on their John skills regularly, like that's the dream, right? And it's inspiring. What have you learned, um, when there's differences between you and, and your teammate's, attitudes and that sort of thing?
Cody:Ooh. Also a good question. Uh, it's this kind of, to simplify it, it's this kind of Avengers type idea, right? You're totally different, but we're all gonna bring, hopefully, our peak strengths, and that's gonna form this amazing mega unit. Um, the, you know, the superheroes that all come together with their strengths. So yours might be totally different culturally and whatever it is, ethically history, uh, personality wise, even on the same, I'm not even just talking nationalities, I'm just talking human beings. We're all beautiful, unique creations. And so the more that you can lean into those strengths, um, even if that doesn't match with other teammates, like that's the purest form of, one of the purest forms of mastery is just un like un unobstructed self expression. If you can get to that point, like if you can imbue that into your game in any way, then you end up becoming hopefully the best version of yourself in that moment too. So, um, yeah, that's my thoughts on that. But how about you guys?
Mathias:Can you say that again? What did you say about human, about mastery and expression? No,
Cody:there's, so Josh, there's a Josh Waitzkin book quote or it comes from him, this idea that he was a chess champion, kinda like a young Bobby Fisher master level guy. And then he went on to become the world championship in some kind of juujitsu, but I can't exactly remember what some martial arts, and now he is like on the way to do it for foiling. And his whole thing is he's just has mastered learning. And one of the things he said was something along the lines of, um, the closer you can get to full self-expression. Is the purest form of your game, for example. Or like there were chess, pe, chess players who they play in a certain play style and we see that on the court. Everyone is trying to get to their maximum peep. I mean, it's easy when we think about, for me, I'm a huge tennis fan, so Federer, Nadal, Djokovich, now Alcaraz and Sinner they're all masters of tennis, but they all do it in a completely different way. So I think it's important that we remind, remind ourselves of that too in volleyball. It's like your world class is gonna look a little bit different than those other guys on your team, and that's totally okay. So embrace that, find it for yourself, and just keep working towards that. That they, oh, they say comparison is a thief of joy, but the more that you can go, it's okay to, like, it's very normal to compare. I'm not saying, oh, don't beat yourself up for comparing. Be like, notice. What do you notice? Be curious about that comparison of like, what is it there that I like and maybe how can I be a little bit more like that? Like what, what are my strengths? What do I need to keep bringing like that?'cause that's awesome. I like that a lot. Mm-hmm. So we don't need to have this judgment about, oh, compare, compare. Like, that's a very naturally human thing to do. You know, people still argue about Jordan and LeBron and whatever. It's like they're all masters in their own awesome, perfect human way. So
Oog:I love that. I, I think that's like, that's a fine line that I, I towed with a lot of my career. it's like you see all these amazing athletes and it's like, oh, like I don't jump that high, or I'm, I'm not jumping as high as him, or I'm not hitting the ball as hard as him. But I think those are just your innate human kind of pieces to it. But like the, the actual, the intangibles that you can learn from people like that. Comparing yourself being like, he's a really good teammate. I wanna be like him. Or, you know, this guy communicates the best I've ever seen. Like, how can I, how can I start to communicate like him? Or how can I associate with people? You know, like that sort of thing.
Mathias:Well, that was a, that was an interesting piece of our, our episode with, uh, with Ben Joe. Um, because I was, I was speaking and I was like, oh, I'm sure over time you see similarities between athletes and like, then you know how to coach an athlete like that and you can use, um, that other person as a, as a comparison. And he'd be like, oh, like maybe if you keep doing this, you'll end up, you'll have Cody's arm swing or whatever. And he is like, no, no, never do that. Like never tell an athlete that you want them to be like someone else. And he said the same thing as you. Like, yeah. Obviously there's models, there's pieces you can take, but it's like you should never want to be someone else or have someone else's something. It's like you can admire it and you can turn it into your own, your own version. It needs to be internalized. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, in terms of. This can be, this can be character traits, John skills, or actual volleyball skills. You, you've been improving your whole career. You're a lifelong learner. Do you think it's more important to work on your weaknesses or to leverage your strengths?
Cody:For sure. Leverage your strengths. Uh, this is at least as you, like, the closer you go to competing. I would also say, um, I just remember. Uh, in the like training versus competition, I would even say there's a difference there. Mm-hmm. And you kind of try and dial it a little bit. So I just remember Samuel Tuya, when I got to B volleys, I was still, would still sometimes get so obsessed with my reception, which was not a strength of mine and it would take away from other parts of the game. So there's the classic John Wooden, don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. I think my career is also, I was never an elite level nasty. Like 1 20, 1 15 server just did not develop in my path. Right? And if I had spent so much time, if the more, whenever I would get obsessed about that, that would detract from the rest of my game. So, but I am an a world class level attacker, blocker general athlete on the court, like reader like, so I think. Uh, the closer you go to competing, when so much of my last 10 years has been mostly competition mode as a pro, um, I think it's about the strengths. And again,'cause that's ultimately what you wanna bring onto the court for that, that group. And then of course, work on your weaknesses and training without this extra, without extra judgment would be the ideal mix of that.'cause you need both, as you say, to like get that long-term learning and growth. So
Jesse:I'm curious about your, um, thoughts on the relationship between confidence and cockiness.'cause saying I'm a world class attacker. I'm a world class reader, that's not being cocky. That's, you know, your strength and you know your, your abilities. So especially for younger athletes who are still developing, maybe they are quite ahead at attacking. How do. Prevent that from turning into cockiness.
Cody:Love that question. So I also get into this, um, uh, I gotta plug my book here'cause this is a chapter of my book on confidence. Uh, I, in 2023, I looked at my whole career up to that point and I wrote down, captured the 11 best lessons I've learned in my career, um, and put'em all on a book. Told my story briefly, but hopefully the, if anyone buys it just skips over. You can skip my story and just get to the lessons. It's ego versus confidence. Confidence is backed up by work and reality. So if I was working with a young athlete like I'm a world class attacker, that took me a lot of time to build up. I mean, we gotta go back to the Princeton days where I'm seeing a little bit like it has to be backed up by reality and you have to actually know it for real. And that can come, I would say even you can get it off of one rep. Like that's where you could literally start is like, I hit a great ball down the line, like one time out of 10. But if you notice that you can say, you know that you did it and you can see that you did it, maybe it's on film. Awesome. I had to show that to myself and prove that to myself. So it wasn't until I showed up against Senate Kaza and hit 700 or whatever that I was like, oh, I can actually say this to myself with proof that was behind me. But I still think you can build that up as a young athlete and go, look, I had one awesome practice where I was hitting this shot. Or like, like I said, even from one rep, one service rep, you can build that up slowly and then you get three and then five and then seven outta 10, whatever it is, any skill and you can track if you track it, stats is the best way we track that. So that's easiest to go back and show myself proof of I literally did that. Um, and then you kind of build that up over time. But at the end of the day. The confidence is backed up by real work, real life results. Um, but I think you can start small with those real life results and then build them up into these, these thoughts, these affirmations, these mantra, whatever you wanna call them.'cause you showed up and did it for real.
Jesse:I think it's so cool how you keep words using the word reality. Like I think that's something I deal with a lot is like, is this reality or is am I making this up in my head and have I been making up in my head for so long that now I truly believe it might be my reality? And I think that's, it's a cool distinction between the two, especially when you're going through all these ups and downs and you're far away from family and you're having bad practices and there's so much stuff going on. When you really look at the facts, you're like, well, ha, I can do that. I have done that. I've seen myself do that. One of my
Mathias:favorite quotes is, uh, confidence doesn't come from shouting affirmations in the mirror. It comes from having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. And that's exactly what, what you were just saying there. Um,
Cody:nailed it. And so build that stack for yourself, like you do have to prune it yourself. Like we don't go and build that, that stack of tough moments and remember that over and over we have to have what you're saying that undeniable proof. Sorry, go
Mathias:ahead. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's just, um, I don't think lying to yourself is ever a good idea. Like you, when you say something like, oh yeah, I'm a I'm a great attacker. In the back of your mind, you, you know, you don't have that proof. Like it'll, it'll just sit there even no matter how loud you shout it in the mirror like that, you'll always know unless you have that, that proof. But I like what you said about, um, it doesn't have to be big and you can start small. Yeah.
Cody:Jour journaling is awesome here too, because. If you, we can just use my serving for an example. Like, because I was never this world class level server. Uh, it can be as simple as I served one awesome serve and practice today that you can literally write down three or four times for yourself. And there's um, a sports psychologist, Jim Lore, who talks about how journaling is the, one of the best ways you can get to thought patterns. So this is where you're talking about building that stack of proof for yourself that can be off of one rep, and then the next day I. Serve two ACEs, even if you didn't or I served seven outta 10 in this drill that we were tracking or doesn't, I felt like I had a great serving today. Today you write that five times in your journal and then the next day you go, okay, maybe if it wasn't great, but you have to build that and be a little bit delusional about selecting that proof for yourself of what you revisit. So that's where the highlights like totally fine. You know, I think not to be dilu like totally okay to be a little bit delusional about your highlights. Like you play a game, everyone hits around 50, 60%. That means half the time they weren't successful, half the teams lose in volleyball. I mean, it's not about that stuff. It's like can I go back and select those awesome moments and build this undeniable proof for myself? And that's where there's a little bit of delusion that can come in, but like not so much'cause you actually did that. So I don't know what you guys think about that, but
Mathias:Yeah. I, I agree. I think, uh, yeah, there's a, there's a, there's a nuance between what, what you were saying and, and lying to yourself. Like I wouldn't say, I wouldn't write down, I had an awesome attacking day if I didn't, but I can still write that I had an awesome attacking day, even if I had a bad passing day or a bad other skill day. Um, and yeah, like really locking in on the positive. Even if you had a bad, bad attacking day, you had that one attack that was like sick and it was the shot that you've been working on for a couple months or whatever. I like that a lot.
Cody:And for Jesse or Maddie or Aaron, like how many times have you gone out and played volleyball and all six of your skills are 10 outta 10? It's happened to me maybe once or twice in my entire career. Just like if we play such a random, funny, ridiculous game in reality that Yeah. It's like,
Jesse:yeah. It's, it's so true. I, I think that's, I really like the de the delusional reality balance. I think that's so cool, but incredibly hard to achieve. Mm-hmm. Um, but I'm curious about, um, before, sorry. Yeah, sorry,
Cody:before we get away from this, because Stefan was awesome with me. On the other side of this, if you can go and find your automatic negative thoughts, they, they call'em ants. So if you have these, like for me it was, I can't serve, I don't serve 115, whatever. I had to script out to myself. I am a dangerous and effective server. And replace that automatic negative thought of, oh, I'm not the, a great server with something another, uh, the next time that came up, my brain had some really better positive. And with journaling, you can sit down and you can do that. Say, Hey, look, if there's these really couple negative things that just kind of keep coming up in my game that I don't feel awesome about, how can I actually just think about them differently? And all of a sudden, that's where I do think if you get rid of those, that's also gonna be a huge, Maddie. You asked about strengths versus weaknesses. That would be a huge awesome way to like, affect your confidence with journaling. Um, and Jim Lorde is an awesome podcast on this, working with Dan Janssen, the guy who run the, ran the, you know, the, uh, the gold medalist amazing story where he changed disciplines in the speed skating, but yeah, other athletes too.
Jesse:I, I'm curious about the. If delusion in the, in the good sense of the word plays a role in, um, improvement in the weight room. I know that you invest in your body a lot. You're always finding new ways to get stronger, to move more efficiently, but that to me is a very cut and dry if you're improving or not. Is there a role for delusion in that where you can kind of like tell yourself you're stronger than you are?
Cody:Good question. I don't know if it applies the, um, I didn't, I've not, I haven't thought about that a lot. Maddie, Aaron, you guys have anything on that? I, I think it's, you get such a good, nice kick out of that tracking or feeling stronger over weeks. That, that for me is the boost. Um.
Oog:I, I don't know. I feel like there's some days where you go in the weight room and you just think that you're like, you feel good, you feel strong, like, like everything's moving, right? Like body feels good, but then you just, you don't lift as much weight. And there's some days where you roll in at 6 45 in the morning and the terrible sleep or whatever, and then you just lift crazy weight. Like, I think there's a, there's definitely a line where you can tell yourself, it's like, man, I'm a beast. But I think your body definitely has limits depending on the environment. Like, I don't know. What do you think, Dee? What, what's your question, Jess? You're asking if it's, can you out mind yourself in the weight room?
Jesse:Yeah. Like I'm saying like, like we've been talking about how you can convince yourself basically if you have one good performance in mind. Can you do the same with lifting?
Mathias:I, I think the proof is really important. Like that's the bedrock of it all. I don't think like,
Cody:maybe a better analogy is like, that would be your one rep max.
Mathias:Yeah,
Cody:I hit that. I know that I can do this. I have to come back and like I know I can't go in and hit a one rep max every day. It's maybe not the best strength plan. I need to put in all these work and all these performances and all this whatever to build that back up. Maybe.
Jesse:Yeah. May, this might be a stupid question. It's, I was, I was just curious'cause it was like, it was a cool way to look at the proof and Yeah. I don't, don't
Mathias:know. Okay. Well here's something that I do do find interesting. I, I'm not really lifting like an athlete anymore, which has been kind of fun, right?'cause you just go rep bench and arms and all that stuff and weightlifting is like one of the only, um, activities. or Processes where you get a little glimpse into the future as you're doing it because you get a pump on, right? So imagine like you go, you go to Spanish class, and then for like that full hour you can speak Spanish like perfectly fluently. And then when you leave, like you go back to your, your old self, that's kind of what happens in the weight room is like, you get bigger and stronger for second and then, and then it kind of fades. So I think that's like a motivating factor, irrelevant for what we were just talking about, but
Oog:I've honestly never
Mathias:thought
Oog:of it
Mathias:that way, but that's cool. Yeah. Anyways, let's talk about, um, anyways, but let's, let's stay on the physical, um, train here because how long have, how many pro seasons have you played now, Cody? I'll be going into my 11th season as a pro. 11th season. Yeah. That is tough to do. And. Especially playing national team in the summers, like year round for, I don't know how many of those years you did that, but that is a lot. Um, what are some of the habits, um, physical or non, that have allowed you to stay in the game that long, um, and perform at such a high level?
Cody:Uh, I can honestly credit Stefan Hubner for giving me an awesome strength basis. Just very bread and butter. Here's really nice pushing strength for volleyball. Like, here's really nice pulling strength. Here's really nice lower body push, lower body pole, you know, single leg work. Uh, he leaned back in that day, he was leaning on all the work, all the work of Mike Boyle. Then I can also credit the USA, Tim Palolo had a strength emphasis. So those, those summers that I did get in the gym, I was getting like a nice very strength focused work. And that set me up, I think through a lot of, uh, a lot of the pounding that goes on. So, um, what your question was more like Yeah. Some habits. I, for sure, uh, again, it's, there's no secrets. It's, um, it's putting in the work day in, day out and little things that help me, where even from Stefan, I was really affected by him, but I continue to have a, my protein shake or whatever during my lift. I've never had stomach problems, uh, with that. And that actually like, helps the absorption rate, I think around like anywhere from five to 15%. Basically like you start breaking down muscle right away when you start your first set. And sometimes you don't finish your, you know, till 90 minutes or two hours in. So even these little five or 10% bumps and anything can really help. Um, I think a lot of people get too caught up in the double leg, just like a normal back squat or a front squat where a split squat is gonna kick your butt way better. And you're also gonna tell your difference between your right and your left. Like getting strong and Bulgarian split squats with Stefan, I think added years to my career. Things like this, um, for, for jumpers and. Um, and then you get to hydration, sleep, rest, I mean, I learned, so I was lucky also, um, during my days at Princeton, shout out to Kristen Holmes Win who later, she was a Princeton field hockey coach and her office just happened to be by the Princeton volleyball office and she taught there for, won some national titles in field hockey. She then went on to go be the vice president of Whoop. So she gave me a presentation all the way back in the day on, um, rest and work cycles and how much you, you should and can honor that, that rest cycle when you have a strong work cycle. So, okay, go in and crush it in the gym. You gave your body that stimulus, but the growth is gonna happen when you sleep. And the season that I became an All American, I was a student athlete at Princeton, but with her presentation where she showed me how proof it was where like if you get to bed by 10. You can get to bed at 10, you're gonna have so much more muscle growth and sleep and performance benefits. That's just proven fact now. Like the number one performance enhancing thing that athletes can do is sleep really well. Okay. Let's get in that a little bit. What might that look like? Does that, you know, a dark room, a a little bit cooler room reading before bed. When do we shut off the blue light? Talk about five, 10, 15% bumps. It is the number one thing you can do. Um, this work rest cycle thing I would even take. So you can think about it in the day of the week. You know, luckily our trainers are handling kind of usually our monthly phases and cycles for the work and the rest. But I even think when you get into a game, this work rest, honoring this cycle thing where like the whistle goes, and Reid Priddy used to talk to me about this or to, to players about this, like this hyper focus of like that serve, you know, that toss leaves a server's hand and I'm there, but then I'm like, boom, I'm even more there. In on the ball, on whatever I'm reading and we're talking for like seven seconds that the rally goes on, you know, 10 seconds and then I can almost let it go. The whistle goes, we know the ball's down, I let it go. I'm here. You know, so you ride these little mini waves of hyperfocused and rest, hyper-focused and rest. It's just like a very natural human thing to do with our training, with our work, with the whatever. Um, and then yeah, nutrition, hydration, that all comes into it too. Mm-hmm. But I kind of rambled there, but those are some of the ways, some little edges that I think really added up over time, um, for my game and my body and just, yeah. So that's cool.
Mathias:I love that. Uh, hyper focus and rest cycles.'cause I, I kind of discovered that my last year at university, the way I thought about it was like a, like a wide shot lens and like a closeup, like in the movies or whatever. It's like in between the rallies. Like I would relax, I would actually like. Try to look around a little bit more, like not on the court, like look up at the fans or like kind of, I don't know, just explore the gym, kind of have that release. And then yeah, soon as it was time to go zoom back in to where I needed to focus. And, uh, yeah, probably made the focusing easier because it's not, doesn't have to be sustained. Um, and then also just maybe like, enjoy volleyball more because I was like chilling half the time, you know? That's funny.
Jesse:Um, Cody, do you use an anchor? Are you familiar with anchors?
Cody:I'm familiar with anchors in the sense that they can give you this kinda reset point to, um, if some guys have physical ones or visual ones, even visually calming your nervous system. I mean stuff, this stuff with TJ has been great. Um, that's how I'm familiar with, with anchors. Um, yeah, that's t have,
Jesse:have we talked about anchors on the pod before?
Mathias:Uh, yeah, we did. Once I think you and. Talked about your anchors? Yeah. Uh, maybe a really long
Oog:time ago. I think it was like episode three. Yeah. Like it was Well,
Jesse:yeah. Yeah. Basically, like Cody said, an anchor is, is something you do or say that resets, and you do it after every point, good or bad, and it brings you back into the present. Um, and so for me, mine was give a compliment or ask a question that was my reset. I would ask a question or I would give a compliment, even if it was to myself. But I would do that after every point. And then that was my, my grounding moment. So I'm curious, Cody, if you do have one, what, what is yours?
Cody:Wow, that's awesome to see. And I mean, uh, I just, I love that'cause it's a combination of a John skill and an anchor all in one and you're able to bring that, uh, richness to your team and, and to the people around you. It's pretty awesome. Uh, I don't, wouldn't have one in between points like you as named. I do lean on my breath a lot and I have little routines for my service or my reception, but I'm not doing that all the time for blocking for me. And Anchor is a really long, calm, deep breath at the net, but usually with my hands above my head, something like that. Um, what Maddie was saying too, I went into Quickly Cart also talks about like the difference between watching and seeing and great thing to talk about younger players with of, or the elite players of like, what are you, what are you watching and what are you seeing? Like what are you really kind of taking in, in a field? The, you know, classic ball setter, ball hitter, it might be like ball setter. Ball hitter, but like what part of the hitter as a defender and what players are doing are watching versus really seeing small things and when starting to get away from the anchor thing. Jesse, I want to keep going. No, no,
Jesse:no. I, I love, I love the, the watching and seeing thing, and we always talked about, um, baseball players. The, the hitters will look at the entire pitcher and then as the windup starts, you kind of focus in on the shoulder and then the elbow and then the ball, and then you follow the ball. But you have to start wide. Otherwise you're gonna miss so many cues.
Mathias:Yeah. Okay. Dude, I just thought of a, kind of a funny way to think about this too. I used to worry a lot about what people were thinking about me in the crowd. Right. Like if I was playing good or bad. But a lot of times they're watching but not seeing anything. Zero. And I've said this a couple times. Yeah. Like I, I've, I've said this story a couple times, but I had a buddy that came to visit one time to watch a Trinity game, and we gave him a jersey and it just happened to be number five, which was Brodie's number. Yeah. And Brody, Brodie like, whatever, great player. So after the game, everyone's coming up to my buddy Sam and asking him for signatures and photos because they thought he was Brodie So they just, they just watched the whole game for like two and a half hours where they, they had, they still couldn't identify who that player was. So, yeah. That's like, can pull some of the stress off too. It's like, yeah, they may be watching but they're not seeing.
Cody:Definitely not, definitely not. And there's a select few that see even these technical things, Stefan's one of'em, some other coaches or some of one of'em. But, uh, Jesse, with the anchor thing, I also love what you said about how it brings you back in the present moment. Right. So the C one, see one thing, say one thing, hear one thing, touch one thing. For me, the anchor was always the huddle too. Now that I'm thinking about it, that was always super important to me. A concept passed on to me by Sam Shaky at Princeton, who was like all into the team. The sports psychology thing, he helped me a lot. And also the whole group with that of, um, there's not a lot of sports that have that, right? That reset and it's something sacred in volleyball and uh, it's, uh, a key part of the game too. So, yeah.
Jesse:I think that, and that's where I do it, is well either there or serve, receive. And even if I know the answer to the question, just asking the question, even if it reaffirms something, is I think so powerful. Or giving a compliment, lifting those up around you, it can change. Those are huge. Momentum swings too huge. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. I like, I like that you said that,
Oog:man, that, that reminds me of what dad used to say. He always used to say, don't wish your life away, because like being not in the moment is the absolute killer of living the life you wanna live. I find like, especially for me, like when I'm at university, it's like, oh, I wish I was at home. Like, I wish I was doing the things that I want to do. And when I'm at home I'm like, oh man, like I miss, I miss the grind with the boys and I miss this and like, but just being content. Where you are. And really just like, like Tia said, taking that wide, wide lens view and being like, man, this is really cool. Like I am 100% in the moment fighting a battle with my boys. Like I think that's like, don't wish your life away, but also don't wish, don't wish the set away. Don't wish the match away. Like, don't wish the day away.
Cody:Yeah, I love that. Yeah, that's um, that's why I get hooked on, on it too, right? Because we are so, we put all that work in to be so in it in the moment and there's no mind wandering. Of course there is, but we just, I love that Erin, don't wish your life away. Just be where your feet are moment by moment. Yeah.
Jesse:I, um, completely unrelated kind of goes back to the improvement side of things that we were talking about at the beginning. Yeah. Um, but I was, I was writing a blog post the other day and'cause I received some of the most. To me, some of the most powerful feedback from a coach this summer, it was from Dave Preston, uh, ex McMaster head coach coached a Australian, Australian national team. But he, his like, key thing was, I love where that is going instead of nice work or, you got it. It's, I love where that is going and that implies that there is an upward trajectory and I thought that was so cool. I was like, you're right. I don't have it yet. I wasn't bad at it before, but it's going in a really cool place. And I just, I, I came back to that a lot and I started saying that to myself too. I was like, this is going somewhere. I like where this is going. I like the trend and it gives you opportunity to change the direction if you don't like where it's going. So I think, I think that was really cool. Anyways, Mike, the question that goes along with this is, is is there any pieces of feedback that have stuck out in your mind? Um, that you just co may I already asked that question. No, I don't think I just had big time deja vu and I don't know if that was so weird. I like could see myself saying that same question, but maybe I was just thinking it.
Cody:No, I think it was something about other lessons or something. But in terms of feedback, um, I can think of like kind of different seasons in my career where certain things were really more impactful than others. As I went through, um, in Lunberg, I really learned to embrace this. I loved volleyball and I wanted to be great so badly and so wanted so bad that I was kind of often operating at like 110, 120, and when I could kind of get myself down to operating like 80%. Especially in a performance context. Um, that's when I was playing my best volleyball. Um, that's it, that's the one that kind of comes a lot is I get so excited. I'm really athletic and fi and a lot of skills. 80% of the time I also have a problem. It's because I'm too early or too quick on the ball or I'm too ahead of the whatever's going on. So that was a huge one in Luna. I can think of other ones in Berlin and my university days, uh, that's just one that sticks out now. Uh, yeah.
Mathias:That's cool. I, I think, uh, when it comes to those, those sorts of things, there's been a lot of times in my career where I'd be like, that's it. Figured it out, you know? And then I feel like that's gonna be my thing and I'm gonna hold on that to that for like, the rest of my career. But then, you know, another problem comes up and you find a new thing you say to yourself or a process way to process it and then whatever, figure that out. And it's just like never ending. So. Totally. You never Yeah, it's cool. It, yeah, it's cool that you can think back to different, uh, like seasons of your career and like, oh, that was what I was working through and thinking about at that time, based off like the feedback you're getting and kind of the mental processes you were going through. Yeah. And
Cody:uh, I can just flash on when I flash on the different chapters of when it was the university days, it was, I, I was really like almost too nice and Coach Schwake was able to bring out this like, inner beast in me. And so that happened a lot of different ways, but this, this, like, no, I, I am an unstoppable force. Uh, and just these like, and how to, how to like put that into my game and not be, oh, I need to be nice to everyone. And he brought that outta me in the university days. In the Berlin days, I can really even go season by season that there were big pieces of feedback. Um, but even off the court too, like one of the, my first or second year in Berlin, um, even the presence of Ben Patch on and off the court, like that lesson I took from him was he was so fully himself that he gave everyone else the permission around him to be more fully themselves. And that was like on and off the court and you saw that come out and you know, I can even go guy by, I pride myself on also going back through a season where there's one thing from every guy that I remember of like, that would be one thing I learned from him, from whatever he did that I kind of want to take with me. Um, and, uh, yeah, and again, these superpowers kind of recognizing these superpowers and being okay with all, just sharing that with your teammates of, uh, at when, when the time is appropriate or, I don't know, but like that, I, that's been some of the most powerful team building stuff is we, when you go around and are like, and you might hear three or four different things, A lot of times you have a theme come out and then talk about building confidence or lasting belief in yourself. If you have five or six teammates that say like, Hey, I really appreciate that you bring positivity and energy every day, that is super powerful for a young kid to hear and how powerful it is that, you know, Jesse is doing that every point or something, or giving a compliment of some kind, right? Like, love you, proud of you. We all need to hear it more often for our own brains and our own selves, for all these, you know, just grown up kids just looking for a lot of times looking for approval and acceptance and wanting to be part of the group. So.
Mathias:Yeah, 100%. That's so cool. I love what you said about, about Ben Patch being so genuinely himself that it gave other people the permission to do that as well. And I think that's when I think to all the people that I really like and admire, that's the common thread because I like all kinds of people, but the common thread is that they're themselves and the people that are, are not themselves, are trying to be someone else. Probably going through internal conflict, but also it's pretty easy to see, um, when that's the case. Um, and then creating the opportunities to, um, share what you've have learned from your teammates, I think is cool. Mm-hmm. Those, those talks are like, a lot gets done, I think, but it's like you're saying, it's kind of weird to just bring it up randomly, but I think if you're in a leadership position on a team. Being aware of those things, pointing them out when you see them, maybe even creating like more of a formal opportunity to share those things is really cool as well. And really brings a team closer together to, and fills guys with confidence. Yeah. Um, og Yeah, I Should we do your rapid fire question everybody?
Oog:Yeah. Can I just go back like a minute and a half? Of course. Yeah. Like Cody, you were talking about how like when you were younger you worked at like 120, 130% and it just wasn't, wasn't working. And like you found like, okay, working at 80%, like my mind's clear and I can move. And I think especially for me, but I think a lot of young athletes have this, it's like you think that you need to be like go, go, go, go, go, go. And I just wanna know like how did you kind of come to that and how did you, like I'm working through a couple things right now where I think of. Let's say my approach or like, like an a standard transmission where if you're going too fast, you punch the clutch and nothing's moving. Where it's like Kate, like I got here way too fast, punch the clutch, take a sec and then go like, I just wanna know like is there anything like that that you used or like mental cues or,
Cody:yeah, I think the another reason the Bundaberg one was so powerful,'cause it was because I had a coach when I was like fifteens, we would get some boys together and play well. Even like at fourteens we would play the girls eighteens and then we just started playing against men at 14 and 15 in Colorado, like open gyms. And there was this thing called the big house. You would go play four against four, six against six, like co-ed, reverse, you know, kind of these adult level wreck. Uh, church leagues, whatever, wherever you could find volleyball. But there was a coach there that I had there, and he was like, Hey, do you see this? And this was the best player in the gym. I was 14. And he's like, you see what's special about him? And I was like,
Oog:no, I don't get it. Because
Cody:he's just operating at like 80%. He's not, you see how smooth he, he moves. Um, slow is smooth and smooth is fast, is another little one liner that I remember from that. Um, the, that wasn't tied to him. But this like Taylor Sander, Taylor Crab, these guys are so good at that. These, some of these Cuban players that you see, they're like, or this, it's this slowness, but then there's in that slowness or you can watch a cat. Some cats are like very slow. But from that is just an amazing burst of energy and speed. So those are little, these all these little things that kind of. I use when I can to remind myself of that is that's all gonna be in there. Um, yeah.
Mathias:I think that's one of the, yeah. The defining features of high level volleyball is that like serenity and the calmness of the, the way the game is played, and I think back to like soccer, it's really easy to see that, right? Because like u14 soccer or maybe younger, maybe you like u8 soccer, everyone's running after the ball. It's like a flock of geese running after just the one circle. But then like you watch champions League soccer and everyone's spread out and the game is like way slower at the highest level than it is at the lowest level because of that calmness, that serenity, I think that happens in volleyball as well. Like it's just a little bit chaotic and jumpy. But then as you get to a higher level. It becomes calmer. The ball moves faster. Yeah. But it looks like the people are more lazy, moving slower almost.
Oog:Yeah. Okay, let's give this a go. Um, honestly, let's start with the first one I have.
Mathias:So I'm gonna try and see, do you wanna explain what
Oog:you're
Mathias:doing,
Oog:og? Oh yeah. Rapid fire questions with og, um, rapid Fire. Let's go. Og. It's like basically you just, just answer'em, I don't know, couple sentences. It's not, they're not very deep. They're just kind of here to, I don't know, get a laugh or who knows? Yeah, let's go off the cuff. Um, kay. Of the sports you played growing up,'cause what's the, like, what's the one you think you could have been equally as good at or would've liked to be like going after if you didn't play volleyball?
Cody:Would've loved to have a high level tennis career. That's just, I think, one, I just love to love watching that sport and the mental, the mental lessons that I've learned from great tennis players. And the rhythm is also a bit similar to volleyball. I love that. Also their point scoring system. I wish we could capture that somehow and get that into volleyball where people are, you can watch a game and at any point in time there's tension. That's something really special in tennis. Um, beautiful sport. I love it. Yeah.
Oog:Cool. Um, if you could book a trip right now, money's not a issue. Um, where would you go in the world and why?
Cody:Oh, I love that question. Gosh, I still don't want need to make it to Australia and New Zealand. It's just such a wild part of the world. And if I had money was not an option to go travel all around Australia and of course Southeast Asia, but now I'm covering a lot of different parts of the world. It's the place I've never been that area that I want. Wanna check out? Yeah.
Oog:Cool. Um, if you had a spirit animal, what would it be and why?
Cody:It's an owl. It's also been a shown up a lot in my life. Uh, there's, uh, but it's a symbol of self-awareness, wisdom, intuition, uh, from also my days in Colorado, uh, bears, owls and squirrels. But for sure the owl is my main spirit animal.
Oog:Cool. Um, okay, last one. If you could meet and hang out with any musician for a day, what would it be? Or who would it be and why?
Cody:Taylor Swift. She's a genius. A genius. And just an like, also talk about mastery. Someone who has mastered what she does, uh, would just love to hang out with her and learn how, yeah. Learn some more about how what, she's a, just a master at what she does. So.
Mathias:Cool. I like that. And Travis Kelsey. And Travis. Kelsey. Yeah. Travis, hopefully. Cool. Yeah. I wanna add one oak. Okay. Yeah. Go to the rapid fire questions. If you could change a rule in volleyball, what would you change? Uh,
Cody:I think you should, for a sub, you shouldn't have to stop the, the game, you just run out there. NBA does it, they figure it out. Like give the scoring people something a little bit extra to do at a pro level. Like it's not that big of a deal. Like just do, like, you track the middle, you track the Libra, and then you do a sub. And if anyone messes up and you find out later and you have to go rewind anyway, so don't make that an extra stoppage in play. Just go.
Oog:I love that. Yeah. On, on the fly. So like mid rally or like,
Cody:oh no, not mid rally. Rally stops. You make, you know, you run like everyone's the rest, you running in. It's the Scorekeepers job. What else are they? I mean, yeah, okay. Like figure out who you go in for. I know you can't miss A, but how often would you miss like Yeah, I think people would pretty much know. We don't, I don't think they mess that up. That up and we make a big deal out of it. It stops. Yeah. Get outta there. I get it. That's
Mathias:cool. I also agree with you with the scoring in volleyball, I think volleyball would be significantly more entertaining if it was even like, uh, best of seven to 15. Mm-hmm. Because
Cody:they tried it. They tried it. The one FFB World championships, I think. I don't know how it went or if it was good, but Yeah.
Mathias:Or even tennis scoring. That would be so intense, man.
Cody:Yeah. The one I also thought about would be like you just do a round of serving, so like you do six serves, but however, or you do six rotations of serving and so you also know if you're the last server, how many points you have to make up.
Mathias:For the set, each set is a rotation, like
Cody:each set is just round. Mm. And it's like, that's the nine or something. Maybe that's too many.
Mathias:That's cool. I think we do that as a drill at Trinity, right? Or something similar, but yeah, dude, that would be, that would be cool. You roll back and you're like down a couple points. You need a point score like three times to win the game. Yeah. And then if it's, uh, if it's tied at the end, then you can, uh, yeah. Every point still pick a server,
Cody:but you add that extra tension. Right. And then it's like you Yeah. And it's a shoot off, a serve off or whatever, one-on-one, one-on-one, one-on-one. Something like that. I don't know.
Mathias:Yeah. Because it does, especially after like a really exciting set. The, when the falling set starts, the energy is just like, it just resets completely and it needs this like massive, like 30 minute buildup almost before it becomes exciting again. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Um, sweet. Okay. There was a couple, uh, when TJ posted about you being on his show or something. I don't know how long ago that was, but I just saw it a couple days ago. And there's a couple quotes that, uh, that I saw that I thought were pretty cool I thought we could discuss. And the first one is, uh, the body knows what's wrong before the mind can make sense of it. What does that mean?
Cody:Yeah. Um, I think like you, I really struggled with a concussion, um, that kept me out. I thought it was gonna be a few days and was at least six weeks that I was really struggling. So, but when the thing happened, I. I knew internally that someone was really quite wrong, and it took me maybe too like this just to, again, the reminder of honoring this innate learner and intelligence that's inside of us. You guys know inner game of tennis, like so much of elite level volleyball is played totally beyond thought. I love that we're doing all these stories, all this thinking, all this we do. So we love the game so much. We think about it all the time in the moment. It's in the moment. You have all your, you know, it's like six people with their nervous system responses versus six other people with their pattern responses versus each other, right? In that moment, like moment by moment, small little reads everything and. A spike a block. It's beyond thought. It's beyond conscious thought. And that's why I think we also get hooked into it and we love it. Hitting a baseball, you're not consciously. It's like, I've built up this skill and this art like a warrior, like a swordsman so much that I can leave my mind out of it and I can operate at the peak level of my ability. And th that's this, this self two, that the, the, this 1970 inner Game of Tennis Classic talks about of, it's not this frontal lobe thinking judger, it's this something deeper in us that knows what it's doing, knows ball, knows, knows movement. Um, yeah. So combination of those things like when it was injured and when it, something was really wrong. I knew be before thought and before rationality, before any of that hit. That's something that I had an injury. But, um, also that kind of reminds me of that, that path of, uh. What goes on on the court? Is this all these?
Oog:Yeah.
Mathias:Really cool. That's why it's so important to be insanely intentional and thoughtful about your training so that you can be completely free flowing and blackout when you're playing. Totally. And that's the best when something becomes Yeah, subconscious. I, I look, I see that a lot playing the guitar. Like when I learn a new song, even like, no matter how easy the song, like I just suck at it at first. And there's always the thought that crosses my mind where it's like, maybe this is the one song that I won't be able to learn. And then eventually like, yeah, it just becomes subconscious and then a week later I'm playing it without even looking or thinking. And I think that's just like the coolest, like you're saying. It is interesting how, how much of that goes on in competition, like you said, six guys. Six guys in their subconscious versus six other dudes in their subconscious, which they built up over the last four months of training.
Cody:Totally. And of course, of course we do game plans. Of course we have this intention. This carts also shared a really cool thing with me about this Think box. Play box. I dunno if you guys are golfers also before serve, for example, serving, I think serving, golfing, batting, and baseball, all kind of similar in the sense that like you have this moment where you're like, okay, I kind of thinking about the general strategy, what I want to do and looking at the rotation, whatever. But then you step into that moment and you cross that line and now you're playing. Right now you're like that hyper focus or whatever, whatever you wanna call it. Um, and even if you can divide that sometimes for some players that can be really helpful, uh, either to like be more in one or a little bit more in the other. But these innate, like a lot of these athletes are athletes, man, they don't, there's not a lot of extra mental chatter going on at all. Zero. Um, they're just so in touch with that, that other side of it too, which is, which is awesome. But then maybe they need, who knows? I don't know. Maybe they don't, they're totally cool with staying in that point, but maybe they need more guidance from trainer, the people around them to push them for the long term. Yeah. Hmm.
Mathias:Really cool. Okay. The second quote is, uh, resilience means staying with the unknown.
Cody:Yeah, being comfortable, being uncomfortable. I think that's another read pretty, or national us mentioned national team. It's, it's never perfect. It's never gonna be perfect. How well can you sit with that uncomfortability and that, um, and not knowing and do difficult things for the sake of them being really difficult. Uh, it's, um, it's this pro volleyball journey has been awesome and has had these huge moments and highlights, but it's also absolutely miserable and a grind and just so, so tough at times. Um, and yeah, but this was staying like, I've gotten better at staying. With the unknown through volleyball. Like that has been my main choice of path that everybody can come through any art form, weightlifting, whatever, like if you can ice bath. This idea of like, I'm comfortable in uncomfortable situations and I got this. And that's just an awesome life skill to have for whatever.
Mathias:That's so interesting. I was just thinking like, um, all fear lives in the unknown, all of it. Because if I'm, if I'm fearful of a game, I've never been fearful of a game that has happened. That doesn't make sense. Yeah. When something happens, it's, it's whatever. Maybe there can be other, other emotions, but definitely not fear. Yeah. So it's all in the unknown. That's so interesting,
Oog:man. Fear, I kind of wanna just touch on this a little bit, but like fear is one of the weirdest things in my mind and I've been doing a lot of research'cause. I'm a very, I would say I'm a very fearful person. Like I'm, there's a lot of things that I do in a day that are kind of unknown. It's like, hey, like it's all, but it's all built up in your mind. And I don't think you're born with fear, like kids aren't fearful, but it's the, the environment that they're in that, that makes them fearful of, of whatever it is. And I think for volleyball, it's like if you teach kids at a young age that competing isn't something to be feared. Like getting beat is not the end of the world. Like, or like, I dunno for me, like I've been, I didn't grow up riding horses, but I've been trying to learn because my girlfriend rides horses and it's true what they say. Horses can feel your fear. Like they, they know when you're scared when I hop up there versus when she hops up there, it's way different because. For me, I'm uncomfortable and it, it hurts. And I'm like, I'm like, I don't know what this thing's gonna do. But I think like being super okay with the fact that, you know, or you trust your teammates or you trust your horse and everything at the end of the day will work out. I, I, it was a really long-winded to say that fear is a very strong inhibitor of mastery.
Mathias:Yeah. And you're right. Ug, I just Googled it. Babies are only innately scared of two things. Loud noises and heights.
Oog:Hmm. Yeah. Or falling. I, I saw this, I saw this video of these kids like two, three years old, and people would like pull a box off of this like white screen and there'd just be like a snake. Or something and the kid would just grab the snake and just be like, Hmm. Or like, but then you do that to someone who's Jesse, who's petrified of snakes, and he freaks out because he almost grabbed a, a couple and, and they spooked him. You know, like you, you're taught to fear things when really you should. I don't, I've never figured out how to undo fear. I think undoing fear is by doing, but yeah.
Mathias:Moral of the story. It's all in your head. Yeah. Get outta your dang head.
Oog:100% in your head.
Cody:That's where it all happens anyway, right? Yeah. But no, I, I know it's what's on the other side of fear, nothing. I don't know. There's another one that's, but you're totally right. There's elements of conditioning team, whatever the story that we tell ourselves for sure. There's like the, the one that I flash on a lot that was powerful lesson or reminder for me is Alex Honnold, this guy that free soloed El Capitan. And of course he built this up over years and years and years and years to be able to not be fearful. Of course, if you build up horse riding, anything, any skill, you know, his, but his also his brain, like his amygdala, like the part of the brain that produces fear, doesn't fire in the same way, like has this level of no response. Um, and. That can come from a lot of different ways of training. And Samurai do it, warriors do it for all kinds of different things like, um, but yeah, it's these, when we get to 25, 23, 23, 23, we've built up this story that's pretty hard to ignore. But again, it's just another moment. And like the fear of what, of losing a game, you know? No, but it's, it's this, uh, it's on, it's all in our head, so,
Oog:yeah.
Cody:Yeah.
Mathias:Cool. Okay. Uh, I got one more, one more question then we'll do a, a closing question after that. Um, I saw today that you didn't get your first national team start until you were 30 years old, which is, which is pretty wild. And this year I coached a club volleyball team and there was a, there was an athlete that was going to their first national team event. And uh, we were chatting and he was just so scared of getting cut because he said it was his dream to play for the national team. Like ever since he was a little kid, he, it was his dream to play for the national team. And if he didn't make this team like that would be taken away. And that was understandably, that's how he was thinking about it.'cause that was the biggest thing for him in the moment. But having not had that opportunity till you were 30 years old, what would you say to someone who has those dreams and they're not working out? Um, you're getting close maybe. Yeah. All these setbacks. What, what was that journey like for you? What would you say to those kids? You
Cody:gotta love it. You gotta love it. I mean, I, there's a little bit of survivorship bias I want to start with of like, I easily could have gone on this 10 year pro volleyball journey and never started for the national team. So, but I loved the process of getting better, of, uh, the fact that as a, a childhood dream of being a pro athlete, are you serious? You know, finding these moments of delight over and over and over again through difficult seasons of like, oh, I, I actually get to go work out in the morning with basically a professional trainer who's trying to help me become my best and then I get to go train at the sport that I love the most. Um, I was able to do that after university for a few years, fell in love with, it was around some amazing people that supported my development and my growth. Was able to keep putting myself in awesome situations. Of course, I worked my butt off, of course, I made a huge amount of sacrifices. I loved it enough and those down moments where I did get cut, which I got cut six or seven or eight times from different national team rosters and teams, or told that I was never gonna be, you know, whatever. Like cut. See you later. If you, you know, it's not this straight line of, it's like goes like this and around and here and down and up and if you hit those moments and you don't keep going and you don't love it enough, then you know that it doesn't continue. But I was just happened to be one of those ones with some perspective, knowing that I could peak late, knowing that could be a late bloomer where I hit all these downs and I said, Hey, some crazy injury in my first year. I still love this. I still want to keep going. I still want to keep making the sacrifices necessary. And that's not always easy. I mean, that doesn't work out for 95% of people. For me it did. And so just to share that we are a late blooming sport. We are something where you peak in your late twenties. If you're able to, you know, and I was again, lucky enough to set up my life to do that, um, for sure do it and chase it. It's an amazing global sport. You don't have to be the 1% of the 1%. You know, our sport needs coaches, referees, fans, people who are crazy about the game, people who love the game at all levels. And, um, yeah. So I to share this really cool story of I made it, but there's a lot that don't, and I love the process of getting better. And over eight to eight more years that unlocked this level of mastery that I was able to be good enough to earn that spot.
Mathias:Hmm. So, cool, cool. So the, the, the, the goal was, the goal was there, but it wasn't your reason for. Continuing.
Cody:It was there. I mean, it was there just in the sense that like, I, that was the dream. I didn't go around Europe chasing contracts based purely on money or I didn't, I, I went to go overseas to play volleyball to play for the national team. Mm-hmm. That was the childhood dream. That was it. Uh, the bypro like being a pro athlete was also a childhood dream playing for br Volleys.'cause I used to watch the Oggi play and Paul Carroll and like, I was like, that was also a childhood. Like these things are, are part of it, the lifestyle of giving traveled Europe. And there's so many things to fall in love with that you do have to remind yourself of, because as anyone who's gone over for one year or knows it's anything but sunshine and rainbows, I'm talking about all the, the nice, fun, happy stuff choosing these moments of joy because you have to have these little stars and lights of joy and fun and awesomeness because it's a lot of dark, it's a lot of darkness and it's a lot of work. And, um. Yeah. And I get to sit here and say, Hey, it worked out for me. But it, like I said, uh, so yeah, just getting back to that love of the process, like, yeah, getting, like I, that's what got me through, that's what got me through. Among other things, like also maximizing my time in the gym, understanding motor learning, all these things that I also seek to pass on to others in my book and my blogs and all the free resources I put out there. Um, again, finding, we talked about earlier in the podcast, but you are, you, your path is not gonna look exactly like mine. Your skillset's not exactly like mine. You're not me. So how do we unlock that for that player and that moment and that time? Keep giving them awesome environments where they can work to their maximum and unlock these things too, and, and to become the best players that they can be.
Mathias:Unreal. Mm-hmm. Okay. Last question. What would be your advice to your younger self?
Cody:What, how young am I? No, uh, I, I would advice, I would, I would just say keep being you, keep doing you something like that. Um, uh, this invisible scorecard of making sure that you keep, continue to treat the people around you lovingly, kindly. That's this hidden scorecard of all sports and these interactions that we have and this winning and losing and temporary, but friendships last forever. This is real stuff. So I, I would just remind them of that and like to not let any of that volleyball stuff get in the way of how you treat people either. So, love that
Mathias:answer. Yeah, that's cool. Okay. Um, thank you so much for coming on Cody. That was awesome. Awesome. Love learning from you. Super cool chatting. Where can people find your book?
Cody:They can find it all in my link in bio. I gotta get a website going. But if you go to my Instagram profile, search me online. Um, it's all there. Um, Facebook, TikTok, uh, threads, Instagram social media, will get you to all the links there. Uh, link page for book free newsletter, bunch of blogs over the years that I tried to write and keep capturing these lessons. Um, and yeah, just keep, that's cool. That's
Mathias:cool. Love that. Sweet people check Cody's stuff out. Um, super cool guy to learn from and, uh, the content keeps rolling. I think that wraps up episode number 40 of the PIT Podcast. Thank you everyone for listening and signing off.
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.