BaB Podcast : Episode #96 – AVP Legend Adam Roberts

🔥 💪 🏐 GET DAILY VOLLEYBALL TIPS AND ADVICE!

https://www.betteratbeach.com/youtubedrillbook

🔥My 36 Most Effective Beach Volleyball Drills
🔥My 3 Favorite 50-Minute Workouts For Volleyball Players
🔥My YouTube Playlist Clarifying The Biggest BVB Arguments & Rule Disputes
🔥My Top 20 Lessons Learned From 15 Years As Professional Volleyball Player
🔥SAVE 5% WITH OUR MEMBERS ONLY DISCOUNT CODE for Workout Programs, Online Coaching, Camps, Swag & Merch.

https://www.betteratbeach.com/youtubedrillbook

The only way to get our course and workout program collection & apply for coaching is through this link. You’ll see all of our options after you join the email list.

https://www.betteratbeach.com/youtubedrillbook

🏐 FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/betteratbeachvolleyball
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/betteratbeachvolleyball/

Summary
In this episode, Mark Burik interviews Adam Roberts, a storied player on the AVP. They discuss Adam’s refusal of social media and his current efforts in preseason training. They also explore the potential of St. Pete as a beach volleyball hub and the shift from Fort Lauderdale to St. Pete. Adam shares his experience hosting elite players at his place and his approach to training and development. They also discuss Adam’s ability to play with different partners and his coaching style, emphasizing the importance of confidence in players. In this part of the conversation, Adam Roberts and Mark Burik discuss the importance of the desire to win in beach volleyball. They emphasize that winning is the ultimate goal and that they choose partners based on their belief that they can win with them. They also talk about the confidence and mindset needed to succeed in the sport. Additionally, they discuss the significance of preparation and the dedication required to maintain peak performance. They also touch on the challenges that indoor players face when transitioning to beach volleyball. In this conversation, Adam Roberts and Mark Burik discuss the challenges and strategies involved in transitioning from indoor to beach volleyball. They emphasize the importance of perseverance and the willingness to start from scratch in a new field. They also discuss the need to play to your strengths and not be afraid of being blocked. They highlight the value of sticking to what works and not getting bored with repetitive plays. They also share tips for building a training group and pushing the envelope of skill. Overall, the conversation provides valuable insights for aspiring beach volleyball players.

Takeaways
The desire to win is crucial in beach volleyball.
Choosing the right partner is essential for success.
Confidence and mindset play a significant role in winning.
Preparation and dedication are key to maintaining peak performance.
Transitioning from indoor to beach volleyball can be challenging. Transitioning from indoor to beach volleyball requires perseverance and the willingness to start from scratch.
Playing to your strengths and not being afraid of being blocked are key to success in beach volleyball.
Sticking to what works and not getting bored with repetitive plays can lead to consistent performance.
Building a training group and competing with something on the line can enhance motivation and skill development.
Sound Bites

Chapters
00:00
Introduction and Announcements
02:48
Adam’s Refusal of Social Media
03:13
Adam’s Current Efforts
04:26
St. Pete as a Beach Volleyball Hub
06:14
The Shift from Fort Lauderdale to St. Pete
07:14
The Potential of St. Pete as a Beach Volleyball Hub
08:39
The Hidden Gem of St. Pete
10:18
Adam’s Beach Volleyball Court in South Carolina
11:18
Hosting Elite Players at Adam’s Place
13:31
Adam’s Approach to Training and Development
20:26
Adam’s Ability to Play with Different Partners
21:26
Adam’s Coaching Style and Communication
25:07
Developing Confidence in Players
29:47
The Desire to Win
36:47
Identifying Winners
43:06
The Importance of Preparation
48:23
Being True to Yourself
53:04
Avoiding Complacency
54:50
Spotting Talent and Potential
56:27
The Challenge of Transitioning from Indoor to Beach Volleyball
57:25
The Decision to Transition and the Sacrifices Involved
58:07
Starting from Scratch in a New Field
59:35
The Importance of Playing to Your Strengths
01:01:12
The Time and Patience Required to Reach the Top
01:02:50
The Challenge of Adapting to a New Style of Play
01:04:08
The Ego and Fear of Being Blocked
01:05:06
The Desire to Expand Your Repertoire
01:06:16
The Importance of Sticking to What Works
01:07:25
Overcoming the Ego and Fear of Failure
01:09:21
The Willingness to Be Boring and Do the Same Thing Over and Over
01:11:04
The Importance of Making the Defense Prove They Can Stop You
01:12:34
The Power of Doubling Up on Defense
01:14:09
Tips for Building a Training Group and Pushing the Envelope of Skill
01:19:23
The Value of Friendly Wagers and Competing with Something on the Line

Hey everybody and welcome to better at beach my name is Mark burck and today we have a really cool guest who you guys are going to be surprised with impressed by and is extremely entertaining so uh we’re going to introduce Adam in just a minute but before we get to that I just

Want to share a couple of announcements that we have for all of our better at beach stuff going on uh if you haven’t been paying attention we’ve been behind the scenes developing a coaching accreditation program a coaching certification program through better at beach it is now live on our website and

We’re doing one Mastermind per week with our coaches and we’ve upgraded our membership for our players and athletes so that if you want 247 video analysis from other Pro players and coaches and you want access to all of our tutorials just go ahead and click around this

Video there will be links as well as a free drill book that takes you there so our 36 favorite drills for beach volleyball which Adam knows all about and we will help you out so the coaching certification program is now open so if you want to learn how to coach and how

To manage your team and how to design great drills and great practices go ahead and check it out the links are all around this video and I’ll send you some emails about that if you want to join the complete player program we are there for you to do video analysis with you

And we do have a few events coming up and the one that uh ones that I want to talk about most are our Asheville North Carolina April 19th to 21st we’ve got a three-day Camp there it’s Asheville North Carolina May 31st to June 2nd we are in Long Beach New York in Long

Island New York and that is packing out we’ve got 30 campers so far and that’s due to be our biggest three-day Camp ever so come hang out in New York uh Long Beach is an awesome town it’s where I grew up playing volleyball and June

14th to 16th if you guys want to come out to San Diego June 14th to 16th we have a men’s ba and AA camp we only have three courts uh so it’s men’s ba and doua and we’ll be there click on the links around this video they will get

You the free drills and they’ll get you on our email list and they’ll get you to our website where you can see all those announcements now I want to talk to Adam Roberts guys I know you don’t you might not know but Adam Roberts is for sure

The most storied player on the AVP and he might be the best Storyteller which is a double bonus for us uh on the AP So Adam hello friend how are you I’m doing well how are you fantastic man it’s good to have you here because you have a

Social media refusal which I love and respect and so I don’t think the beach volleyball world gets enough of you even though you’re so entertaining why no social media um I would say a fair amount of it I think is a waste of time sorry world uh and I

Guess I just try to put my myself in other resources and a lot of the people that I try to keep in touch with you know I would be more direct with them a text an email you know rather than social media message um kind of getting

Lost in the in the world of it um I’m also a person who likes to dive all in in something that I do and I’ve just never really felt the need to just dive all in and get the following and go for it full-time and so I try to put my

Efforts into other things I love that what are the efforts currently right now we’re in preseason here and uh I’ve chosen to start the season with Nate Miller and we have a we’re here in B yeah yes yes yes Nate Nate’s been great to work with and we have really great

Training group um a lot of people have seen Nate Yang has built a court in his backyard and has been training with us we have a a new coach Pepe from Brazil who’s running our sessions and Spencer lock tell pin bery our whole group has just been really really fun to work with

And just really Elite level and just kind of training and getting ready for the season um nice yeah yeah our family owns a few different condos uh doing some rental and possibly selling them and working with them a little bit with that but uh yeah just enjoying St Pete

It’s one of our favorite places to be during the winter and um we love it here I think you know we we run our camps there uh in St Pete we run like five or six a year it’s sometimes more at the three-day camps but it’s such an underrated volleyball City because

You’ve got Deerfield Beach Fort Lauderdale Miami’s got a crew but they don’t have a crew of elite players you know they got some visitors down there like yenser is a great coach down there running in Miami and uh Dylan Cox shows up sometimes but I think in the the

Beach volleyball Circle we know that there’s a ton of athletes in St Pete and coaches consistently moving there do you think there’s ever a world where St Pete becomes the Hub I mean is it’s probably always going to be secondary right but now there’s coaches and players moving

There because it’s affordable at the very least and Winters are pretty sweet yeah there there are definitely quite a few marks uh a lot of people notice but I’m very trivia oriented and I just found out that St Pete Florida has the world record for most sunny days in a

Row back in the 60s for like four years straight the sun came out every single day so there is a a heavy chance you can play year round here and it’s funny whenever I graduated college Years Ago Fort Lauderdale was the Hub you know those that was the spot the Yankee

Clipper that’s where everybody trained and it was like secondary to California as always and my mom said I went to Fort Lauderdale after college I was there for the winter I was like oh I got to get out California I got to get to Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach and just day one

She’s like why do beach volleyball players who don’t make that much money live in like Manhattan Beach the most expensive beach city in the United States she said that 20 something years ago she for 30 years she said they should move somewhere affordable she’s like some there’s got to be some some

You know change and I actually I’ve always said that somebody big you know I ha to put the pressure on him but if if Phil you know it packed it up and when he moved to Orlando said listen I want this to be the spot that’s not his

Personality and so we know that but if he was like listen let’s do what we can let’s get everybody here blah blah USA volleyball would have to follow form but if they all realized it was half price and Rental and this and everything else and you could still play year round but

It would take a a Titanic shift of something like that to really make it happen like a crew of players that that heads out there yeah have to start with with a big name and in USA volleyball with need to see oh wow you know we can

Save you know $300,000 a year by doing this then I think it’s you know it would be a possibility but until then seems like they’re settled in and everything is secondary to that but leading up you so years ago it was you know with Steve Kowski the Olympia Mike depiro and that

Whole crew I mean it was Fort Lauderdale pompo Beach flowing into Miami and I don’t know down there too right Ken bu yeah yes yeah I mean just you know list of players goes on and on air courts and everything and then something happened and then this shift and I just kept

Hearing oh St Pete St Pete I was like yeah we’ll see we’ll see then once Co hit I popped down here this place is just a Hidden Gem I mean there are like 10 different places to play and just unlimited play Caleb quickle and Garett Peterson and just Marty Loren I mean

There’s just people are moving here left and right and it’s for sure secondary talent wise and players wise to Hermosa Beach but um you know affordability and cost of living and just a great place to live the city’s just a hidden gym growing up even in being from the

Carolinas all I heard was Tampa Tampa Tampa Tampa Tampa and then what’s the sister city of St Pete and you get down here place is amazing oh I like St Pete way better than Tampa we we built that Airbnb with uh beach volleyball court if you guys are listening and you want to

Vacation and be in that same neighborhood we got a Airbnb with a beach volleyball court but when we go out going out to Tampa it felt and feels too City and the older I get the more I have a distaste for big concrete cities you

Know I I grew up in Queens so I I got my feel of it I understood it and now living closer to beaches traveling in places where you’ve got a little bit more space and a lot less dirt uh more natural dirt less slush it’s just it’s

So nice compared to Tampa because it’s right next to it so you get all the the kind of big city you can drive right in without hellacious traffic and it’s this nice downtown the the St Pete Pier is unreal it’s is it a mile long with

Parking on it and plays and like its own bars and restaurants way out on the pier yeah so cool yeah they’re having concerts I mean they did four concerts in a row ludicrous like just the the things that they do you know like seven Museums Art and culture and just like we

Are downtown I mean so we walk to six things a week you know where we’re going to like trivia night and shuffle board and chess club and you play sh world’s lar or USA’s largest Shuffle ball court I bought a membership all there right um okay so let’s let’s dive a

Little bit into beach volleyball lore and history you have a place in South Carolina with its own beach volleyball court so you’re were able to at least when I met you you had a beach volleyball court by your house and there were just stories of infinite amazing

Players from the east coast and then from the rest of the world who stay your place and competed on your court how why and how were you able to get those players there to hang out at your house and what was was there a methodology behind it were you trying to just invite

Better players to be around you so that you could get better or was it also just you know like hey I’ve got the space so why don’t you guys come here yeah it it was actually a combo of both um once I started qualifying uh my first AP was

199 and then I qualified for the first time with Dana kamacho in 199 I kind of realized that um you know if I worked hard at it that you know maybe I could make a few of these main draws and um flow into some professional beach volleyball events and I was lucky enough

To do that and and Myrtle Beach has got a lot of Hopper flights on the East Coast growing up in in New York you would know that that you know being a golf City there’s there’s a lot of quick easy flights and it’s it’s dead Central

Of the whole entire East Coast so if you know if you’re a road warrior you can drive up to New York in eight hours you can be down in South Beach in eight hours quite centrally located and um my family owns this dance competition it’s called showstopper it’s the largest

Amateur dance competition in the United States they’ve been doing it for 406 years I believe and my parents are very supportive uh when I graduated college they were shifting their whole business to Myrtle Beach and because I grew up in High Point North Carolina and so I was

Going to buy a PL I was going to buy a little condo and they said Hey listen you’re gone so much with the volleyball tour we’re gone so much with dance competition how about we build this guest house on the bottom we’ll put a volleyball court it’s right on the ocean

And so I said oh I guess I’ll live for free to make them happy you know just to be a good sign no I mean they wanted you close so yeah they’ve been very supportive yeah and and it’s uh you know they they just their support you know has helped a lot

Of us and so once I realized that it was something that I could do you know like the first day you know you and your buddies go out with one ball and you go to the pier and you know you’re trying to play and growing up playing college

Basketball and being kind of competitive I just said you know we need to pass a thousand balls a day we need to set a thousand balls a day we like you know I’ve always loved the drilling and the training aspect people like we just need one ball we’re

Just GNA play with our friends for fun it’s like no no no no no no no once I was able to understand this training aspect I realized I had something very valuable and so the the first guys that I got to come were BJ Sal Dano and Jake

Elliot and Jim walls Legends and they ended up coming and staying with me for h a year and what the downstairs area this guest house yeah they lived with me for a year in 2000 I believe yeah a year yeah yeah they were they were there and

Um they were the first they were the first propop of guys and they started qualifying they were taking Ninth Place Jim walls and I’m sorry Jake Elliot and BJ Sana and Jim and I qualified a few times once they moved away the next guy was Matt heat and that was kind of beach

Now running his own club down there right correct yes yeah Matt’s very successful there he’s all time he’s not much better than Matt he’s such an awesome h human being he’s all time and it took it took a while for him to come up and uh the funny thing is is that the

Same thing happened with Matt Heath that happened with Nic Lenna and Phil doher is that you know you gotta come up you got to check this place out Myrtle Beach open so much fun and they got off the plane and they just had one backpack and they both stayed for like two years

Straight never left they’re like we’ll come check it out for the weekend Matt he stayed for 14 years um he basically part of the family and uh but Nick and Phil lived there for a couple years and when we met them they were like the ninth ranked team in

Florida we said listen you guys are pretty good you could you know you can maybe qualify for this Pro Tour and they were just graduating college Nick was all about it but Phil’s parents were very you know you go to college you get a real job and he got this real job it’s

Like man I got to give this volleyball thing a try and what was his job do you know and came up I do know he actually worked for a concrete company that poured roads he’d work for them in high school he was literally the the guy or

The kid at the time the kid on the truck who would paint the white and yellow like dipping a a paint brush that’s right there are no piur so like if you’re gonna have somebody hang off and and dip a a paintbrush that’s the right guy when he

Lived with me he was crown molding guy because he didn’t need a great yeah great yeah him and Casey Patterson just like come that seven foot wingspan that’s right yeah and then once those two guys came it gained status quickly you know they won that first AP in 2005

In Austin the way the schedule worked out a lot of times there was like a Florida event an event in Charleston and then event in New York and sometimes there was like a week off so there we you know we would have basically 32 guys

On the AP that were all on the east coast and I just started hosting them we had a couple extra houses that we were renting out and so the numbers went up quickly somebody had added up that we’ve had like 82 different AP Pros who have made a main draw yourself included that

Have come and visit and stayed with us for the week and you know it’s kind of just been fun we feel very lucky to have the space um you know you go to California and you got like this much room for someone to barely sleep on the floor because things are so expensive

But there we we it is a it is very nice house and we’re lucky to have the room and that’s what we do for the Myrtle Beach open you know I think last year we hosted like 18 people and you know we got bodies all over the place but we’re

Very lucky to have the spot and we like sharing it with other people too so it’s you know it’s it’s so it’s so beach volleyball life it couches sleeping on floors and you’re like oh man you guys are pro volleyball players it’s so cool and that’s what you say as soon as you

Sign up for a qualifier you know like yeah I’m playing on the pro tour it’s like well this is your first qualifier event so you’re about to get spanked but you’re you’re also like sleeping on Floors a lot and a lot of players are doing that they’re trying to like figure

Out how to put together beds trying to figure out how to put together travel and for a long time if not most people’s full career they’re just figuring out accommodations with generous hosts and everybody so I’m if you’re a Super Fan guys little secret the best thing you

Can do is just start offering up a home DM somebody and be like hey I got a spot for you if you need a bed for this tournament and I guarantee that thing will get filled by somebody’s about to on tour yeah definitely agree with that now there’s some story where didn’t Phil

Sleep in something like the size of a a kitty litter or something like didn’t he have like an extremely small not even room like an enclave in so we one of the guys who taught us how to play uh South Carolina legend Doug Smith is a carpenter and

Um we’ve got a lot of he’s quite a charismatic guy and and and he helped us design this guest house downstairs area that we have in Myrtle Beach but he actually built a loft bedroom so there were like six steps up um it did have a fullsize bed it wasn’t the extra long

One upper area was probably only like four feet so if you popped up too fast then you were hitting your head um but it was inside another room completely pitch dark it was everybody’s favorite spot to kind of take a nap and truth be told what we would do is we

Would play Halo Two on Two And then the loser of the day would have to sleep in in the loft bed which ended up not being that bad um and Phil didn’t lose that much but somehow it just morphed into you know this is where Phil doher slept

I think since then I think I’ve had like 20 different blockers that try to sleep in there to like the Phil dollhous or Aura um they think that the FBO effect that come out a little better we’ll see what do you think it is a about you that

A relationship with it seems like every great player or player that just turns it on has had a contact with you a partnership with you um a layer of training with you and I know that not a lot of people know this but as as far as partners go you churn

Out amazing blockers is are you hitting them at the the right time are you able to teach them is it your style of practice um or just you know you’re my partner for a couple tournaments and I constantly tell stories about how fantastic of a partner you are you know

My best partner to play with was Adam Roberts well it was Kurt toppel because he could block right and then socially was Adam Roberts because I and I tell this story all the time I go the best way that you can talk to your partner is the

Same way that Adam Roberts talked to me he would set a ball and say hey was that said an eight a nine or a 10 and if it was anything less than a 10 he would say great what would make it a 10 and I said if everybody could just have that exact

Same discussion that you had with me like right there with that series of questions they would be so much better instantly so what what is it about you that that just turns out great players and makes you able to play with everybody yeah well I appreciate that

That’s uh you know I don’t think that I’ve had this lock and key of making people you know amazing players it’s a lot of it’s been the the right timing you know I’ve caught people at the right time um Andy Benish you know really hadn’t done too much he had played he

Grew up with Cole and he had played and that weekend of Austin um truth be told sorry Andy he was like my seventh pick I was going down the it was like what about this bar walk i’ I’ve already bought my flight I was like God this guy I saw him handset

A couple good balls in San Francisco and um but you know as it turned out that we got on the court for like five minutes I was like oh my God oh my God and you know some guys you see the writings on the wall other guys you didn’t I always

Thought Phil could be good um I never thought he would be one of considered one of the greatest of all times one big thing with Phil is that growing up playing basketball yeah yeah yeah considered yeah oh yeah okay we’ll get back to there’s car Emanuel there’s Alison I mean Phil’s

Considered one of the greatest but not greatest of all time no probably not not probably not no he needs to be playing doing winning for a lot longer first I mean he he oh no Ricardo gold silver yeah yeah okay Ricardo yeah I’m in on that yeah um yes but it’s funny because

I noticed it with Phil that he had this massive potential when I played a basketball league with Phil I was like because I play basketball whole life we got out the court he’s left hand right hand he’s jump up he’s like I was like dude this guy could have been like a

Shooting guard in the NBA this is how coordinated this person is and I was like whoa he really has it at that time because I hadn’t played as much volleyball but you know a lot of the guys like you know Trevor Krab came to me he’s like I’d really you know like to

Play some International Troy field Cody Caldwell and I’m lucky enough to always kind of have a few points so you know just having a couple hundred points helps get some people into it and I think a lot of things in life come with doing them more often so you know when

You don’t know any better and you’re just like oh that that was a great set you’re that you’re great I’m like hey no listen I’ve been doing this for a long time I’m confident what I do I can make it better and I remember playing with um

I think it was Billy strickling and I’m setting them he’s like that was great that was great that was perfect that was perfect and then he hits the ball out and I was like Billy he’s like well it could have been a little more inside I

Was like well then it’s not perfect like what’s a better system for this like tell me and you know with this eight nine out 10 out of 10 that I say um I also say that anything above a seven out of 10 you should probably still side out

But you just taking away some of your options maybe the ball’s too far inside and you can’t bre turn it line you know so you know it’s if it’s not a 10 out of 10 we can still deal with it but a lot of the guys that that I’ve had I’ve made

A joke that Justin fips finds a lot of guys first okay and then I grab him from Justin fips and then Nick grabs them from me which actually if you look at all three of us having partners and that’s you know that’s just is what it

Is and Justin’s had a you know amazing long career you know we take different approaches he’s cracking the Whip and I’m not but a lot of it is maybe confidence or me telling these guys that that they can do it you know like Cody Cody came to me and playing halfway

Through the season and he’s like you know I’m just I’m just not get I need to switch to defense I’m gonna play behind David Lee he’s super honest and open front with me and I was like listen you are a good blocker you’re world class

You can do this you can do this but just wasn’t listening at the end of the season he’s like what should I do and I said listen just own up to it just be like I’m the best Blocker in the world I can do this people aren’t getting the ball past me

Next year he just snapped something clicked in his head the guy’s blocking everything um Paul lotman’s the same one Paul lman and I trained together for four months in the preseason played one ADP didn’t go that well he switches it up and he’s like am I blocker am I

Defender and just just owned up to it and and you know the guys were all class and so I think a little bit of it you know playing my style you know everybody’s doing this new two ball that I’ve been doing for 20 years I’m playing with these amazing hitters I’m like Mark

Hit it hit it hit it I’m like no you do you know I’ve gotten served every single ball my entire career I always have always will you know relish the challenge but you know I I I’m like listen I’m taking 40% in the court you got 60% in the court you know people

Start doing that continuously you start getting confidence you know you’re Andy out there and I’m like Andy take 65% of the Court he’s like okay hey I got this and you just I think I think a confidence and a lot of the guys too learn a professionalism you know a

Warm-up routine uh you know hydration packets and you know taking care of your body and doing different things I mean Andy sorry Andy he didn’t bring water for like our first four practices I’m like okay God Andy I can bring you water but let’s here’s the powder here’s the thing

I’m going to you know this is I want you to do this on adversity training he was just like trying to challenge himself as to the te exactly exactly yeah Eric was another one that we’re in New Zealand and he’s not wearing sunscreen I’m like this is melanoma capital of the world

Three degree burns had to go to the hospital but no oh yeah really true story yeah I didn’t know that I’ve got most of the Zan stories but there’s always one that pops up and you know the one where he just houses McDonald’s going into a into a

Practice to see what he could play like feeling his absolute worst on like a stomach problem he goes well if I ever get a stomach flu during a tournament I gotta know how I’m gonna be so he just housed like four Happy Meals and just went and played a tournament with it

That’s one way do you when you look at so I a couple that that led me in a couple directions because one the development of confidence when you say in instead of and most people that are like listening to us they think everybody’s always saying your middle my

Middle and when you give somebody because you want them to hit more of the Court you can annihilate those rules and and I keep trying to get this to people to get off of their um you need to share the court like if you’re a better side

Out player I want you taking more balls because it’s good for our team like we both earn the same amount of money when we win and if you’re siding out more balls I’m giving it to you and it’s interesting to think about if somebody plays that way for a whole summer where

They’re you’re telling them constantly you’re the big dog you’re the big dog and then the next year where they’re feeling super big doggy um they turn it on for for a couple years that’s got to have a big play on somebody’s confidence because not everybody got to be that big

Dog in college I I certainly was not a big dog in college and until two or three years into playing indoor Pro like I didn’t want people to set me the ball and then I had to figure out okay give me every single ball and then you get

That confidence out of it so I bet that’s a huge part of seeing somebody’s Improvement do you think that that confidence plays into it uh I think it could I definitely think it could you know if I’m looking back at it and and one thing is that people and I think

People get this about me quickly if you meet me and you play with me on the court but I all the time I’ll get uh oh you know you played with Andre bellof you’re looking to develop the next International guy or you’re playing with Andy Benish and you’re looking for the

Next young thing and I’m like I am only trying to win that is it I don’t care about anything I’m just trying to win and I think I can win with this person flat out and I think people understand that and then and he’s like oh he chose

Me because I’m like he can work me he was like oh God he just wants to win he thinks he can win the most with me and so whoever it may be Trevor on the international tour Troy field or any of these guys you know I I do think it

Builds a confidence that maybe they see later in life Trevor’s gonna have it either way I mean let’s whoa let’s call that what it is but you know there’s there’s different things you know Phil talked about it like Laura lewick it took her you know world class player came from indor but

It took her a while to to figure figure out how to win right you know feels like I’m lucky I learned how to win in Florida you know and it was hard to to do that at that time you know now he goes back he can win Florida tournaments

Without jumping but at the time it’s hard for him to do you learned how to win in New York and New Jersey you know a lot of people do that Laura had to learn how to win at the Grand Slam World Tour event so it took her a while you

Know and the same thing with like confidence that you know I think that you’re instilling in people and it’s not just it’s not it’s it’s more than just like hey I think you’re the man you know you’re proven it over a whole season of like you’re taking the middle nobody

Wants to serve you and I mean fact be Tred who do you want to serve me or Troy field I mean you know I know I’m getting every single serve everybody knows and everybody’s just like where where is Adam is SC over more no more more so I’m

Like why are we why are we 5050 here they’re not even looking to your line and um you know I have been been able to play with some these amazing attackers and so I do think it builds a confidence and it’s it’s a little more than just

Like like I said saying you’re the man you know I I I I read a quote from some of the Duke basketball point guards and you know they step on campus and they’re the freshman year and Coach K hand them the ball and he says this is your team and

They’re like whoa you know and of course you know I’m nowhere near that level but I’ve played for a long time and I’ve had good success but I’m like Hey listen you’re the man on this team you know what I mean be the best you get that

Free ball you got to be the rock just flat out you got to be the rock like there’s no other chance about it you know you have four chances to swing you better put all four of them and just make them you better be 100% make them pay for serving or accidentally

Freeballing one two you and and it’s worked out it’s worked out and I do think it flows I do think it flows you know I guess you’d have to check with the guys and see that you know the players I’ve been able to play with well

I mean so many so many things like hide in your career that you don’t realize what was happening until you look at act at it with a different lens and you’re like oh man that probably led me here or that one thing might have messed with my

Head for two three years you know and when you’re telling people that you’re giving them confidence you’re giving them Liberty to take over a court and even if they get one win doing that imagine what that does for the them for the rest of their career knowing like I

I drove a lot of confidence from when my partner very early on I was like 19 or 20 he busted his shoulder could not swing he had to swing with his non-dominant hand and he just put me on two right this is again a New York open

Semi final so sorry guys but pretty trash volleyball but the fact that I was going on two for an entire match you know while the other team chirped at me calling me a co-ed player and it’s girls volleyball whatever but we won I was like you’re getting beat by a co-ed

Player so here we go and and I leaned on that that confident display for years saying look what I can do on two you know look at if if somebody’s cramping or if somebody needs me I can take over and then if you can just learn how to

Carry that into your other matches instead of then thinking you know it’s even thinking maybe they’re picking on me thinking oh my partner’s not good enough like instead of it’s my time to take over and having that and if you have that mentality I just feel like

That goes forever and a mile in terms of playing and in terms of winning yeah yeah and and going back to like you said that you know the check still is still the same both sides or whatever I mean I’ve played with people where they’ll

Like two aces in a row and then two blocks in a row and I didn’t even touch the ball and and some a lot of my partners know back and I’ll be like listen if you don’t think I’m having fun you’ve lost your mind this is an

Absolute Blaster I will stand here the whole en ire match and do nothing and then I’ll do backhand Springs with you and I’ll hold that check up afterward I said Hey listen my friend Doug Smith shook my hand he said when you start playing volleyball first thing you got

To do is get a good partner and I wrote that down I’m always just trying to get the best partner I can is there something that you see uh in players that you think man they’ve got it like okay so when I first saw Andy he was a big man

Who Moved like an athletic 63 guy and when I see 63 guys you see a bunch of real athletes when you see a lot of the 6769 it’s not and everybody just be quiet because it’s not that tall people are lanky or uncoordinated it’s just statistically more likely that people

Are uncoordinated than they are coordinated so just because there’s millions of 63 guys and maybe hundreds of thousands of 69 guys right you’re down to see a lot more goofy people you know and the the pool of 63 guys is is deep but when you’re looking for a big

Guy and a blocker or somebody you can win with do you look at the way they move do you look at the way they handle themselves emotionally on the court do you look at their past results and just find their number and shoot them a text

Like what does your eye catch when you look at Players yeah I think it’s everything that the hundred people per organization at the NFL F combine do all together at once is the same thing that I’m doing I’m looking at height weight athleticism sprinting ability U one

Thing I I do take big in the play if I think this person is a winner or not and I think that we’ve had tons and tons of players that you know aren’t all in they’re not going for it they don’t want to win at whatever it takes and I think

That that’s a big thing that’s overlooked not only in sports but in in in our sport but the NFL combine it’s just like oh hi W Sprint This Guy’s in count him up I’m like dude this guy in college the other guy was a winner and

Um I really do look for that because that’s what I want like what’s one sign or one example where you saw it and you went yeah that guy wants it he wants to be in it long term and he’s all about it and so you know he’s he’s somebody who’s going to

Go somewhere or somebody that I definitely want to play with yeah Logan Weber caught my heart early I think you brought him out to California we were training out there and then you know the rumor was there’s this big tall blocker coming out said you know I’ve seen this

Story let’s see what happens and he was playing a tournament I believe it was in Captain Bills North Carolina he lost early when he shouldn’t have lost took a bag of balls and just went out there and started ripping jump Serv um on the side court for about 10 minutes afterwards

And um I could just tell that you wanted it I was like man I’d really love to play an event with this guy and um we did get to play a few and we had some really good wins together and I think Logan’s a winner um funny story about

Yourself so I don’t know if you remember but when you and I played together somebody wasn’t us somebody had added up the points okay and they said you’re going to be the last team in the main draw for the last two events Manhattan and Chicago okay I don’t know if you

Remember this and remember Point saying but it just sucks that we were just chasing points to get I know I know it wasn’t us it wasn’t us and we were like well and you’re like I can block a little bit let’s do it rafy he’s always like studying points I do think that’s

Who it was I do think that’s who it was and so people were like well be warned this guy’s kind of a yeller is New York blamer he’s gonna be screaming at you and I was like ah but I think this guy’s a winner let’s see how it works and you

Were one of my favorite partners that I’ve ever played with everything you did just made me feel like you wanted to win like you yelling go go go go go go go wasn’t like go go go go go go go I was like this guy wants to win and I am in

On this and I thoroughly love to play you’re one of my favorite Partners ever 100% I mean sets and passes wherever you want it you’re always always in it always engaged and then just socially you know just being able to Vibe with each other get reps you always showed

Frustration with yourself and uh but never for your partner like never like a a head hang for your partner and that was something that I you know I yelled and in the beginning of of my career most of my career I didn’t feel like I

Was ready to go until I got my first red card you know I had I got a second it’s over but I just kind of needed that fire to go early I don’t know if it just came from my upbringing or what what it was

But I needed to feel like I was in a fight and the guy next to me was ready to brawl um and a lot of times it turned on refs you know I was like kind of almost like a little Michael Jordan waiting for something to pick a fight

Yeah but I never felt ever out of control I just needed the red card the the aggression to go and uh some of my players Mook it for being like angry at them I was like no I play Angry to win yeah and I realized that quickly and people’s feelings were hurt

And I was like not mine I’m I’m in this guy wants to win and where do I sign up so that is one thing that I’m looking for in Partners though is like does this guy want to win you know and there’s multiple check marks you know the gym the training you know

Taking care of your body all these different things you know a lot of people really want to win while they’re standing on the court but there’s just so many more things Encompass of that you know we’re not in the 70s anymore we we’re Weekend Warriors you know smoking

Cigarettes in between yeah yeah and that’s another thing too is that if you want a shock to the system come to the big time World Tour stuff and and you know all these people you know you can say you can beat in their head you got

To train you got to work out you go you’re playing before the main draw and you see Sharie and Amed out there full lifting with two trainers doing sprints on the bungees before a World Tour event and everyone’s got their cameras on you during your practice and you’re like

These guys are owed to film my practice and there’s like nine cameras there just waiting to see like what you might do before they might play you yeah it’s Bonkers yeah and you know AP AP events everybody kind of stays in different hotels so it’s usually like spread out

There’s like I said a lot of people in couches and stuff but you go to fibb and World Tour and quite different from Nora by the way but you go to fibb and there’s 12 13 people like in the gym of the hotel at the same time you are

Almost like there’s no room and everybody’s banded and everybody’s here like wait your match is in four hours and like yeah I gotta get ready he like um this is this is where it’s real this is where people are doing everything to win and doing the right things yes yeah

And I think a lot of the guys like you know Trevor called that early and you know Troy field and a lot of these guys were able to see that early you you can you can you can say till you’re blue in the face but when you see the big boys

Doing it you know it’s it’s impressive it’s it’s really cool and I love that aspect of it and I’m doing the same thing too for whenever I play eastn volleyball tournaments people were like what are you doing I was like I gotta get up at 5:00 A.M and I got to warm up

For the tournament and um you know it is real and and I don’t think I would be able to play this long without you know having this routine and having you know these aches and pains you know you get $800 th000 miles on a car there’s going

To be a lot to it so for me you know I might look okay or whatever but I feel like I wake up and I’m like a three out of 10 my back and my I do this always wondered that because you always look in incredible shape you you move easy you

Move light and your warmup is it’s you know you show up and it’s your ritual you get in there bands are going quick um you’re doing your runs back and forth doing a little bit of agility it’s very very similar to hiding I think where except you’re willing to chat John

Heiden shows up and you don’t talk to him for his 20 minute warmup like and he doesn’t want to talk to you extra afterwards going home getting my massage get my body work in getting off my feet it’s like this guy’s a ninja with his

Body yeah I’ve kind of ramp mine up and it’s it’s it’s almost an an hour and a half like six days a week and like I said I wake up like a three or four out of 10 but if I do this whole Mobility warm up 20 minutes on the bike

Stretching hips and you know some lifting I feel like a nine out of 10 so I it’s kind of to the point now where I don’t really even have a choice it’s either feel awful or feel amazing so it’s just something that I’ve kind of

Developed and and and you know I do try to push on different people and you know when you’re like my partner’s 26 he’s like what do you mean warm up for two hours he’s like I am ready easy and he will go with that hybrid immediately and

Just lay into it he’s got that hybrid serve is nasty yeah I I think I think they can be dangerous yeah he’s playing really good right now yeah I want I want him to have a little more killer you know like a little more anger I say I

Don’t think everybody needs anger to play but when I see somebody being consistently too nice and then they kind of slow down instead of coming back harder it’s like yeah let’s let’s find something that pisses you off yeah not everybody needs it like I said like I

Don’t know if the that’s correct and that’s actually something you know along with you know his blocking technique and you know the last like four months this this that’s one of the things I’ve been working with is that um he gets this fire and especially against his buddies

He wants to yell at them oh you’re too small little boy but you know that’s the first set we win the first set and then he actually is a very nice person and he feels bad about it the second set he’s like um kind of sorry I said that we’ll

Lose the second set you know battle in the third and it and it definitely it’s a mind state with people that you have to figure out you know like no offense to Trevor but he doesn’t care he’ll just keep saying that you suck the whole entire time they’ll say you know your

Family sucks in the player T online it won’t stop yeah yeah he doesn’t care he has no remorse and know whatever and it works for him and he’s one of the best players in the world but so you have to find that level you know of like screaming at someone and then feeling

Bad later Nick Leno went through that you know Nick played better fired up but he didn’t like that he was you know upset and you know yelling at people and the refs and stuff but you know maybe kind of similar to you like you know he needed that fire because Nick truly is

An absolutely beautifully nice guy and amazing person and so even even when some of that stuff is brought up lethal right boing champion in college oh yeah oh yeah undefeated inter boxing champion yes yeah when you were playing so you know some of the guys that I did look up

To when I saw Nick starting to win and then when I saw you know Casey Jennings and some other guys that were 100% fire you know I and I’ve discussed this to somebody else but I’m like I think you have to number one you have to be

Able to to back that up and you have to be automatic in order to hold on to the partner that you’re super fiery with but did you ever try to imitate like a Persona that you wanted to be on the tour did you ever look at a player and

Be like that’s kind of the emotional player that I want to be or do you think that you were just naturally yourself and it never even came to you um I I emotionally I don’t think I ever tried to imitate anybody it’s uh it’s just um I’ve always put a lot of

Pressure on myself these are my goals I’m setting them and you know I have coaches still to this day that are like hey be a little easy on yourself you know like you’re trying hard out here you’re 48 years old and you know diving all into the pole and stuff and um and

So I’ve really never tried to imitate anybody I’ve just kind of always been who I am and you know I’ve appreciated those it’s funny you bring those two guys up people ask uh because they think I’m ultra competitive I think the three most competitive people I’ve ever met

Are Casey Jennings Nicholas and Paul Baxter absolute premium highest competitive guys I’ve ever met in my entire life and yeah always looked up to him three of the absolutely amazing players that accomplished so much and really worked hard towards all their goals and but yeah it was never I mean of course you

Couldn’t not like K’s demeanor on the court of course I wasn’t ever trying to imitate him I was lucky enough to train with him and I played him I think three times on the ABP and got to know him a little bit I was not never trying to

Emulate his enthusiasm or his whatever but his demeanor was just so unbelievable you know all the way in to his warmup in the corner where he would just look at you and flip up his hat and like start shaking his knees and you’re in the player tent you’re like golly

It’s already three nothing man got on dang it nervous about playing this guy and and I I remember my dad always talks about this one of the first times Matt eath and I qualified I think we were the 32 seed and he and Mike Lambert the one

And my dad was like oh wow I get to see this Legend play and you know he’s gonna kind of let his guard off a little bit and he walked on the court and he flipped up that hat and just just my dad was like oh God Adam’s in trouble oh no

This guy he isn’t letting up for one half second you’re hoping that 32 seed just shows up like the one seed is like just you know it’s early they got the 8 A.M match they’re not going to be interested like catch them before they wake up yeah yeah and and not that I

That I you know try to take that attitude or that demeanor but I I’ve kind of always personally felt like you know I don’t care who it is you know I don’t care if I was playing Nick and Phil when they were number one in the

World I I’ve always felt that I can beat anybody in the world you know something happened maybe it’s one in a million maybe it’s some crazy windy day but I also feel like I can lose to anybody in the world so I don’t care if I’m playing first round of the big shot

Championships and it’s the one verse 64 I am invested and focused and I’m trying my hardest and so I think that’s something that’s uh that’s helped my career yeah so many people go into it and I certainly fell into it you know the year the year after me and Hudson

Did pretty well getting into the main draw and like being consistent and then you show up to your first big tournament after a couple of decent wins and this happened to Evan and Logan um where now you’re expecting that you’re so far beyond the level of a qualifier team and

It’s like no you’re you’re literally one place you’re a point or two a gust of wind or two different from where they are yeah you know and just a couple of those Gus of winds but you see that separation um or the Cockiness that you

Get once your main draw and then a it’s a team that came out of the qualifier I was the 12 seed like come on guys yeah okay the one seed difference is really going to make you dominate here right but I I see teams fall into it like

Logan and Evan really fell into high expectations because they won the second tier AP they won a bunch of those like the Gold Series that’s correct whatever it was and then for me and Hudson it definitely fell into it and then you see it you see people not ready to bite hard

Against teams that are at their hungriest yeah like like that team coming out of a qualifier the team with the 32 seed they are at their absolute hungriest yeah and if you don’t show up ready for battle they’re bringing it and it doesn’t matter I don’t think it

Matters if you’re the one seed or the 12 seed like you eventually have to show up and I I felt Nick and Phil sleep a couple of times against me and then just decide to turn it on and I was oh that hurt I see yeah I thought yeah I thought

Went to three too many times in their career I’m like guys if you beat them faster a little more rest well I’m here to tell you that in 2001 in the Dallas AP open KJ Karai was not sleeping on Adam Roberts and Matt Heath as as the 32

Seed he wasn’t even close not one point yeah I was I think your CS was probably my hien I mean just consistently the 14 and 15 and he was always like the two or three and would just show up and work us and get out of there as fast as he could

Like he was not interested in making a point last a split second longer than it had to and then just get off the court and get back to the tent I was like wow yeah all this do work yeah um any stories or any signs of when you see

Somebody who you you think could make it but they don’t what’s the one sign that you see in somebody and you’re like nah so I know the sign that you want to recruit somebody who wants to win yeah what does it look like when somebody doesn’t have that or when you’re like

Man this is going to be so much talent gone to not to throw the indoor guys under the bus or whatever but I see it more with indoor guys coming out than anybody else indoor players that have had Ultra success at the Collegiate level maybe gone overseas and play

Professionally indoor made a lot of money probably way more than they are making or would or going to take this knock at the beach in my career I have never seen an indoor player have success their first year unless they are Hawaiian because the Hawaiian guys grew

Up their whole entire careers on the beach but I mean if you look back at even like Paul lotman John heyen I played John heyen twice his first year on the beach his first B ever in Florida and it was like Four Mile hour wins and

He’s running all over the place and BJ Sano and I are just chopping him up and we beat him and I don’t think we ever beat him again but it takes those guys about a year and I think the the knock is just so much for them to take I mean

I can probably remember 20 20 indoor players that were like you know they have this attitude like you know they’re hitting balls and they’re TW feet out and they’re like that’s in that’s in indoor that’s the feeling that I get and it ends up that the talent level is just

Through the roof they just don’t want to take that knock you know I would imagine today’s example would be you know world class number 20 tennis player that comes over to pickle ball and then all of a sudden they’re like number 100 in the world and they’re just like no I’m good

I’ve done my thing I’ve done and you know for for the newer viewers James sa is a good example of that you know came over world class you know amazing indoor unim you know volleyball resume through the roof didn’t have that much success playing with with you know his first

Year like you know breakthrough like he’s having right now a gold medal and um you know we knew it was there you know but if if for some reason he decides to stop after that injury then we don’t see this gold medal that he just received in austral New Zealand I

Believe um and then you know who knows what the future brings but it’s always known that the talent is completely there but does he want to take this drop in indoor professional pay an indoor professional status an indoor professional fans you know overseas and different things and yeah and when 10 or

12 guys are leaning on you looking to you like you’re like you’re the God right you know and you’re gonna save them through a match and then you have to go through a year of everyone on tour even the qualifier guys looking at you like you’re a quack it’s like are you

Willing to yeah to to let go of your ego or just fight back hard for enough time to to to then prove yourself no and you’re going to take your licks again it’s like going back to an internship or you know like redo doing yourself in your career if you retire from somewhere

Else and you want to change careers you got to be a scrub again in whatever Direction you go and just be open to that and know it’s hey a year two three maybe four and then you’ll get back up to that but you’re not an expert in this

So you don’t carry that same big dog mentality across Fields across Endeavors or anything like that that’s right that’s right I mean look at Paul lman you know he’s on the cus and he’s like and my blocker Defender I mean it took him a long time to break through and now

He’s one of the greatest players in the United States you know it really took him a while and his perseverance is is was very impressive but if any point he quits when he’s like qualifier guy and he’s split blocking and doesn’t have it figured out and you know I remember

Rafie Paul’s calling me up and he’s like dude this guy was in the Olympics he’s got to be absolutely amazing right now right and I was like not yet like it’s G to take him a little bit you know what I mean I mean he was and he was always

Amazing but not to the level that he is now and yeah it took a while do you think there’s a shortcut for indoor players to become better faster at beach like do you see them do something that you’re like you know I I for example I

Just always see indoor players and I go stop thinking this is Beach like yeah on a lot of your swings like stop thinking about the high line that you see on TV stop thinking about the cut shot like just hit over a blocker high and hard and rip do what you’re fantastic at

Right now we’ll add on the rest of the stuff later after this tournament but do you think think that there’s some Shortcut that more good solid indoor players should take when converting to beach or a pitfall yeah yeah I I I’ve always thought that and it came to

Fruition the at the highest level whenever I was lucky enough to play with Brad Lawson in 2015 Brad Lawson as I’m sure most people know was the national player of the year he was the national champion at Stanford um right around that same time 201 you

Know 12 13 and not huge he was what 6’4 65 yeah he wasn’t that big yeah and I don’t follow indor but I was told that he hit like 98% in that championship game and only had one fault and it was a back row attack that he was like this

Far over he would had the perfect game so anyway he I noticed that that when he came out to the beach and he and he was he’s I took a bigger chance on him because he grew up in Hawaii so I’m thinking he’s played a lot of beach

Which he had and he was very skilled in all in all on all aspects of the game but I thought it was so crazy cuz this guy could just like seven balls in a row just like bounce it over the the fence over the stadium into the and then but

When he got a cut shot down he was celebrating like I’m like no bad dog just wrap him on the snout with a newspaper like the opposite I’m like cut cut High Line cut cut like oh I got like a three foot bounce so yeah I do agree

With you like you know go with what you’re good at when Cody came out I remember we walked out to that 1440 tryy out and Andy Venice grabbed me and he’s like this is the best high hands hitter I’ve ever seen in my entire life he goes

This guy High hands high hands high hands he went back-to-back national championships unbeliev I we so we just ran a practice where all we did was hit High lines and I was trying to get him and Logan to just flatten them out and I was like I kept putting the surfboard

Higher and Higher and Higher and he just kept hitting down over me and I go Cody this is your answer I go just hit flat over people be Theo you know and and rip even he was starting to see like oh I should just do this yeah yeah

Sorry can be so sick if he oh yeah that’s unbelievable it’s unbelievable but when I played with him he started to get a little cute and I was like hey you won two national championships and how’d you win it high hands high hands high hands I was like let’s not reinvent the

Will let’s do what you’re good at and um I do think that’s a a big cue for some of the indoor guys and you know you have these things like I was talking about where you know they’re calling a double and they’re like well that wouldn’t be a

Double indoor you know or you hit the ball out by two feet like that wouldn’t be like that that needs to be gone second you walk out there I mean I remember I had it I mean it was the whole different aspect I’m like well I

Can beat this guy in basketball well who cares we’re not playing basketball doesn’t matter we’re not playing Indo nine times out of 10 that’s right that’s right get over here but we’re not playing they’re not playing indoor that’s over with your your career is over with thanks for

Coming out Kurt toppel let’s try to handset this ball correctly yeah yeah I why do you think players forget or don’t do what works 10 times out of 10 I so we’ve I’ve I’ve you know a little Insider info to our team um I’ve been working with Logan for a while and we

Know that he becomes utterly Unstoppable when he rips High hard seam like Gibb and high hard cross and he can put more Pace on the ball than Gib could and in his best finishes that’s what he did and every time he got dug during those best finishes where when he went for

Something like a 6-2 guy should hit like a cut shot or this little high line and then we back to it go back to it why do you think people are so unwilling to be boring and do the same thing over and over and over again when you know all of

The points that stuff scores are from beyond the threo line like he doesn’t get bored with shooting threes right why do I think a lot of times you you’re out there and you’re thinking like I need to have a few more things in my tool backet in my tool belt that I’m

That I’m dealing with and you know one cut shot can just open up all my Highline shots you know what I mean and so I think a lot of people get in that mentality of like well I just can’t do this every single time eventually

They’re going to stop me and a lot of times it seems like with hitters getting blocked straight down is like you know getting dunked on and a little bit of a pride ego you know and so most people are on stop when they’re hitting High deep SE right okay well they get blocked

Then it’s like you know for a guy like me that’s like Highline guy it’s like well you dug it no big deal you know that’s not embarrassing to me I’ve done it time you probably dig it and so I think there’s definitely an ego thing because you know the biggest thing

In our sport is you know spiking the ball at 75 miles an hour you know and then when that is Boom straight down blocked it it it does become a bit of an ego thing I think it’s a little bit of that and a little bit of well I got to

Do something else I gotta you know I got to be able to open something else up and and you know you think they do I mean if that’s a if if that’s something where that’s why they change do you think people need more than two and a half

Good swings uh like good locations or or crispy types of swings I think as the level increases I think you need a few different attacks I think more than two and a half because if that’s all you’re doing I think you’re stoppable even all the way to like a Taylor sander who you

Know maybe is the best attacker in the United States you know I think eventually you know last year or two years ago Cody and I played them and basically the way we played it is he just blocked ball okay and I just stood in the middle of the court and truth be

Told Taylor Sanders doesn’t have the best shots in the world but he doesn’t need them people are sitting there and they’re bent down and they’re like scared half to death and he can just poke it like 30 feet in the air and nobody’s gonna get it well when we

Played him in New Orleans I just stood in the middle of the court I said Cody you’re going to get he’s going to go OT he’s gonna go through your hands he’s going to bounce like probably four out of the stadium but if you can get me two

Blocks set where you’re just you keep diving and throwing your arm and spread blocking and I can get two of those digs I think we can take them to three sets and that’s what happened that’s what happened so even at like you know at that time we’re saying Cody is a little

You know block deficient um he was thinking I mean he got two blocks seven of them bounced over the New Orleans the fans were going crazy their skirt all they had to punt it back we had to stop the game hold on I don’t know where the

Ball is but that’s fine but two% like you get 2.5 blocks per set and you’re in the world tour that’s right so that’s right so uh yeah I do think when people you can’t be stopped you you can’t be a onetick pony you got to have a little

Bit more and I mean he’s a perfect example and you know now he’s he’s Incorporated some things and see he’s different because he played Beach his whole life you know he was like the junior national champion and so his indoor his beach background I know this

Because he beat Taylor Krab told me he beat him in the finals of like the under 16 World US championships and the other under 18 World Championship or US championships huh Taylor grew up playing Beach so he’s a little bit different he didn’t need the full year but the full

Year did help him and you know he’s turned into obviously one of the greatest players in the United States yeah yeah H all right so yeah I just take a look at people and I go like they keep thinking I have to be a step ahead

Of the defense I have to be a step ahead of the defense yeah instead of you need to prove to me that you can stop me yeah I like I do like that aspect I do like that yeah yeah um and then who cares if you get blocked once they stop your best

Two times in a row and it wasn’t luck like you also have to measure offensively did they just get lucky like am I going to change anything because like I hit him in the neck it went into the net and then he got an open net set

I don’t know you know I’m not I’m not really changing that and I I just think people kind of get boarded they get ansy giving too much credit to a defense saying that they’re gonna be in position dude we’re in the right position for 90%

Of the swings we still don’t stop 80% of so you gota you go to make somebody prove it I think I mean a good Testament to that is if you get a good coach or player on a box and you’re like okay I’m get in the pocket and I’m going to

Unload here’s 10 balls as hard as I can hit it I’m I’m drawing a circle where I’m hitting let me see you dig it get a good set out of it and then put it away with no defense and it’s hard it’s hard that’s another reason that I really tell

My blockers that you know if you see it you have freedom you have freedom to press if we double up sometimes if I’m standing an angle and you block it straight down I’m happy with that you know so you tell your like go for it and

Read whatever you want to see and that can override a play call I do I do but they have to earn it they can’t just like if you’re taking you know five six seven eight away and I’m like hey I could have got that you know you need

You need to earn my trust I need to earn your trust too and so I think that makes a lot of these guys um a little bit more confident blockers and a little bit higher level and you know and like I said I’m fortunate enough to play with a

Lot of good blockers but I remember Trevor playing against Trevor quite often and you know if you look at his career like his first few Defenders were Billy Allen John Mayor Rosie and his brother right I mean just like you know borderline Hall of Famers right and I

Remember he had this skinny block he’s blocking line he’s blocking line he’s blocking line and I would have like four different angle hits I could have like middle angle here here here here and I don’t care how good Rosie was he’s not getting the middle hit and the sharp hit right

And we played Avery Dro and I played him and Skyler Dale soul in the Fort Lauderdale fibb World Tour event and this was in country quota and I remember first ball we go up and Trevor just Dives in Skyler’s in the middle and he Dives in the middle and I was like oh

He’s diving in now Everything Has Changed he’s just blocking ball sorry Skyler he didn’t trust Skyler as much and he’s like I’m just blocking ball and I was like every Everything’s changed Everything’s changed yeah and that could be a mentality that happens with you know someone you know like Logan or

Someone along those lines to where they’re like wait I also remember seeing this whenever the first time like two blockers you when the world tour in the USA tour was changing and it’d be like wait he was blocking and digging angle like the this this that blocker who’s

Playing defense doesn’t know what he’s doing you’re supposed to be over here but that works so much yeah doubling up is the best I mean yeah if you just commit to a full double up an offense just doesn’t believe that you’ll do that yeah you know it’s almost

Too much of an e easy setup like if you sit line and you just sit line with your blocker and your Defender and you hang out or you both go in the cross and you’re like no way is he leaving this I think it’s dangerous to to double up too

Hard in the cross and leave that that drop shot open if it’s tight but double up in in the line yeah why not guys try doubling up at minimum once per set at maximum three times per set if you don’t get the di do you have any

Um before we go do you have any tips for people who are practicing people who are looking to encourage a group the same way you did I think we have similar stories in that I eventually messaged all of the best players in the Northeast and I was like guys we keep playing for

10 hours to be able to play good volleyball for a half hour as the sun’s going down when we can’t see and then we all get our asses kicked on the AP qualifiers like let’s commit to driving together and training for a day and a half where we can get eight hours of

Training which that eight hours of training in a day and a half is so much more valuable than any volleyball we’re getting during a tournament you know um and then you did the same you just you got all of the players together and committed to training do you have

Any advice for that for people who are trying to build a group is that the right way that you went about it um and what would you say to somebody who is trying to to push that envelope of skill and is is also trying to get players to

Be on the same page as them yeah yeah I I do have uh some tips and advice and you know we talk about you know 0 different players have come and stayed with me in South Carolina well also had probably you know a span of seven years

Where it was just me and one other guy so not only you know have I play you know been able to train with three teams on there and a bunch of balls and you know I’ve also had four balls and one guy and I can just get almost just as

Much done this morning I went out with my buddy Abram and we had four balls and it was just me and him and we just went through an amazing practice we got hundreds of touches very quickly I think there’s a lot of drills and a lot of

Things a lot of technical stuff that people can do that they don’t really do um I was just telling him this morning for about a month during my pre-season I get to the court early I do have 20 balls now but I used to do this whenever

Only had four and I just toss up and I just hand contact Highline Highline Highline cut cut cut and I do all four corners just before the practice starts and I am looking for the just absolute perfect hand contact and it really kind of tunes me in before the season starts

And I think people have this misconception that you know they always need four people always need four people a lot of times Poor People’s negative because you get out there we’re gonna work on passing and setting you’re seven minutes in and they’re like you just want to play they’re like let’s just

Play so I’m actually I love threers training sessions because you cannot play with three people you know and so you know there’s endless amount of drills and different things that you can do with just two people with three people you know and you know another thing too is

That you know I think you know a lot of people are big on no jump um a lot of people which I think is a great game a lot of people big on Vace but I think a really underrated game if you just have two people is one-on-one the court cut

Right down the middle you have to you know the perfect pass the perfect set you have to come in you start to get some Vision see if the person’s short or deep and I mean I learned so much so much I you’re 100% in control was a bad

Pass well it was your own bad pass to yourself you didn’t like the set well Who you gonna look at now so I think there’s there’s there’s unlimited things that people can do and you know now especially I was just at Florida State visiting Nick and to to if any if you

Ever get a chance to go to these just Monster practices that I mean like 24 girls and 100 Balls and like nine coaches and eight courts it’s it’s a machine that they’re running and and it’s it’s it’s really amazing to see but I think a lot of those girls afterwards

Are like they show up to Hermosa Beach and they’re like well where where’s the where’s the seven coaches and the 100 Balls and so for those girls it’s like a back track to the you know what do we do now right and so you know you just have

To be creative with it you know you have to have fun with it and and you know figure things out you know figure out drills that you can get a lot of touches in with you know minimal balls or but but if you are competing to have the

Best people to compete against I personally think that every single level of competition just completely ramps up if there’s something on it yeah yes anywhere from like a 20 $20 or just Gatorade you know if I lose a Trevor crab and I gotta walk to Hermosa

Avenue and go hand him a Gatorade and be like you beat me today I just want to just throw the Gatorade and slam it down in his face so bad I totally agree I I think always put something on it you I remember Stafford slick when he was I

Mean he did outperform me all the time but I got a couple wins against him and one of the first ones during practice was uh in Long Beach in California Long Beach where the sand is just you don’t you don’t want to touch that water or

The sand and we said Okay match at the end and we put a Long Beach sugar cookie on it where you had to jump in the oily nasty water then roll in the nasty sand and then clean your yourself in the filth yeah and uh we got that win and

That picture is hanging on my wall right behind that screen no but yeah it’s you turn it on you turn on the fire and even now like when I do want to you know I’m not interested in competing anymore but if I want to give the guys a challenge

When I’m playing against them I go all right guys let’s let’s put some money on it here like yeah 10 20 bucks each other’s t-shirt you know anything from the other person’s backpack like what do you want to do and yeah does it makes you want it a little bit a little bit

Harder and you have to learn that there’s meaning behind when you decide to compete after you’re done Drilling and repping now can you can you rightfully implement it so that it turns into a win that’s correct yeah I like a little friendly wager oh yeah I’m with

You Adam man I appreciate you taking uh the time I know you got a lot going on I know you’re busy and I know you got a a five hour warm-up routine pushes through your day so uh it was really cool to talk to you and this is the largest

Number of minutes and Views we’ve ever had so want to thank you for that it’s pretty cool and if you ever want to I don’t know if you’d be interested in it but I’d love to invite you to be uh one of our Master coaches for a session or

Two and if you ever want to break down any of your old videos just like a set of volleyball uh I think there would be so much value in it for somebody who is started out as a hitter and is now a little bit more of a shooter and

Understands so much volleyball and has had so much experience with the world’s best players like up close and personal so I know it’ be super valuable for our audience I also know you’re busy but we can talk off Cameron if you want to do a little video analysis for our members it

Would be awesome but um aside from that yeah thanks yeah thank you for having me on yeah this was uh this was very fun cool um just before before uh we hang up don’t this is the weird part of the podcast where people probably hear this

But try not to close your browser window for the next couple minutes until your side of the upload has has closed so even though we say goodbye it’s not really goodbye stay off camera for a sec sounds good cool guys thank you so much for watching if you want to check out

Some of those drills the two and three person drills that me and Adam were talking about where you can get a lot done click the link around this video or around this podcast and you will find my 36 favorite drills and you could always take one of our online courses and then

If we’re lucky enough to have Adam do a video analysis with us you’ll get that in the library as well so thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening give us a like give us a subscribe and if you enjoyed the episode

For sure share it with somebody and then uh go and hang out and watch and support Adam as he competes on the ABP tour this summer have a good one see on the sand