I Was Driven to Work Hard Because I Didn't Want to Fail - Kirsten Bernthal Booth (LOVB Nebraska)

Join us as we chat with Kirsten Bernthal Booth, our Keynote Speaker for the 2026 MNVBCA Coaches Clinic.  Hear a preview of her sessions and also listen as she talks about her decision to step away from Creighton Volleyball and take on a new adventure with LOVB Nebraska.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I I think when I went in, um I don't know if I knew the answers to those questions. I think I uh I was driven to work hard because I didn't want to fail.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Welcome back, Minnesota Volleyball Coaches, and I am gonna get right to it today. Normally I give you a like a little intro, but we're gonna cut that all out because we want to get to uh our guest uh today. Um we are fortunate uh this year in general uh for our coaches clinic this year to have uh another lights out uh keynote speaker. Okay, and that keynote speaker has agreed to join us today uh to discuss volleyball and kind of her path and give us a little preview about what we can expect at this year's coaches clinic. Uh so today, welcome to the pod, Kirsten Bernthal Booth, the former Creighton coach, now working with L O V Nebraska. How are you doing, Kirsten?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

I'm great. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

I just did I nailed it, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

You did. I uh they don't have this on the recording, but I was explaining to Darren how hard my name is to pronounce, and most people mangle it, but you did not do that. So kudos to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yes, I'm just gonna hope that I I I keep that trend uh going in the right direction here. Excited to have you uh come to Minnesota this year for our coaches clinic. Uh we have been blessed with just a a number of uh great keynote speakers over the last uh few years, and the trend is continuing. Um I know last year we originally had you on, I believe had you uh slated in to speak, uh, but unfortunately you weren't able to make it uh because fortunately for you, uh one of your former players uh was playing in the Olympics, correct?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

That is correct. Yeah, it was and and I was able to make the connection to Craig Skinner from Kentucky, so I feel like you upgraded with me uh not coming. So that worked out pretty well for the Minnesota Coaches Clinic. But yeah, Taryn Clough played for me uh as an indoor player. And I mean, it's actually, I'll try to make it quick, but great story in the sense of there wasn't pro volleyball in our country at the time. She didn't want to go abroad, so she went and played beach at LSU. COVID hit, so she gets another year, and she ends up pairing her last year, her one real year at LSU with uh arguably the best beach player in NCAA history at the time, Kristen Nuss. And then some serendipity happened that they could stay partners in the professional ranks, which was really difficult to do. And they went to uh Paris as the number two ranked team in the world. They unfortunately got upset in the round of 16, um, but are currently the number one ranked team in the world right now, and uh they are aiming for the LA Olympics, so pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

That that is an awesome experience. Like I can't, I mean, there's there's different levels of this, right? So, like as a high school coach, you know, we're pretty excited, we're pretty proud when one of our players goes and plays at the collegiate level, right? You know, and D1 is kind of like the the mark. But you know, as a collegiate coach, you know, like the like say there's a different level to it when your former player gets to go play either on a national team or for the Olympics or in the now the professional leagues. Um so that's that's got to be a pretty fulfilling and pretty exciting uh feeling uh for you.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

It it is. And, you know, I mean, specific to Taryn, she's just an incredible human, so it's so fun to watch her and then you know, I have several players that are playing in the professional leagues here. I've had some that go abroad to continue to play. Um, and it is pretty awesome to see them be able to just go to the next level and get to continue doing something that they love because so few people get to play their sport and make a good living. Now they can do it in college now with NIL though. So a little earlier than they used to be able to.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah, and I can't even wrap my head around that. You know, you hear some of these headlines with some of these players, what they're signing for, you know, these NIL deals uh for college, and like I just yeah, I'm still I'm still adjusting. You know, I'm not that old, but I'm kind of old school, you know. So this this new landscape is is fresh. But all right. So uh we're I kind of have a little outline here as far as kind of topics that I'm I'm interested in hearing your perspective and your story. Um but for those, like I say, I this is probably not the case, uh, but for those listening uh that don't really know uh your story as far as kind of your volleyball path, um, wondering if you could just share with us kind of that, what that looks like. I know, I know you had a lot of success as a high school player. I believe you're a state tennis champ, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:39

I was a state tennis champ, yeah. Ironically.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah. But then you go, you know, uh get into volleyball, you get into volleyball coaching eventually, like say uh many of us uh became familiar with you uh uh with Creighton, right? So uh yeah, tell us a little bit about that story and how that came to be, and yeah, we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah, I think it was my journey's a a bit of luck and uh you know things kind of coming together. But grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, uh, and went to Truman State University, which is a D2 school in Kirksville, Missouri. Um, like you alluded to, I was probably a better division, I was a mid-level Division I tennis player, D2 volleyball player, but loved the team aspect of volleyball. Literally didn't make the decision which sport I was gonna play till my senior year in high school. And land at Truman State basically because I got a scholarship and um play there. Uh kind of an up and down situation. I came in with five players. I was the only senior of my senior day. So a lot of transition uh during my time at Truman. But uh when I got done, I still loved the game. Um, didn't know what I wanted to do, thought maybe I wanted to be in college academics, maybe like a dean or something like that. So I decided to get my master's in higher education administration with an emphasis in athletic administration. Was in love at the time, did end up marrying the guy, so it worked out okay. So we kind of went together. He was going to law school, and so I got my master's at the University of Iowa. But this is where it kind of gets crazy. So my first year at Iowa, I was the volunteer. The team was 11th in the Big Ten, and there were 11 teams in the Big Ten. So not a lot of wins. Um, the coaching staff has let go at the end of the season, and as they're going through the search, they're the it's they've had some people decline the job, so they're having some trouble. So in January, they call me. I'm 22. There's players on the team older than me, and they're like, hey, could you be the interim head coach this spring as we continue the search? So I'm 22 and I am clueless, and I am the interim head coach at Iowa. But guess what? That looks pretty good on a resume. So I uh I have that spring, and the players were great to me. It's funny, I'll run into them now. A lot of them, I mean, they're my age pretty much. And the first thing I'll say is I have grown up since then, and they're like, hey, no, it's all good. But I mean, that was an interesting experience. I did two years of high school assistant coaching, did club coaching as I finished up my master's. So I finished that and then um had the opportunity to head coach at Kirkwood Community College, which is a junior college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I didn't know anything about junior colleges at the time. Um, and I loved it there. I did not build the program. It was already a really well respected Division II junior college program. Um, but we got second in the country one year. I think we got fourth in the country one year. So that looked good, right? People like winners. And then when Creighton opened, um they asked Terry Pettit, who if some of your people will know who Terry Pettit is, but Terry Pettit was the, you know, the the first real coach at the university not the first, but the coach of Neb that built Nebraska volleyball before John Cook then uh took took over, and then Danny Buscom Kelly now. But um Terry uh I'd done some camps. If I mean I can dig into why Terry helped me out, that's a pretty cool story, too, if we want to go into it. But Terry passed my name along. And I think the candidate that they wanted at Creighton, um, it didn't work out, so they got stuck with me. And I was a 27-year-old kid, and uh the program was 3 and 23, so eyes weren't really on it. They'd been playing in a high school gym, if you can believe it. And um, I always say the best thing I do is I hire well, and I hired some phenomenal people, and we kind of co-coached for many years. Uh, my AD hired me a mentor right away, as and it was Terry Pettit. And so he helped me, and I um, you know, we kind of took strides every year, and uh I loved my time at Creighton and and then two years ago uh resigned there, and I have taken over as president of business operations for Love Nebraska professional volleyball, and I'm all on the business side. So we tell our athletes to be uncomfortable. I'm in a lot of uncomfortable right now. I am learning a ton, but it's been great.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, so you kind of passed over, but you said we could come back to it because it it uh piqued my interest. Okay. Um so you said you were at Kirkland Community College, and then uh Terry Pettit passes your name on. You know, and you said there's kind of a cool story about how that came to be. If go into more detail about that, I want to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

So so when I was a senior in high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, um, Terry's daughter, oldest daughter, is named Kathy Pettit, Catherine Pettit at the time. She's married now, but Catherine was a freshman and we were both setters. And Terry, I'll I found out later when he will say, he's like, I always thought you took Catherine under your wing and were good to her. And I will always say, I just liked her. She was just a nice person. So um, but I think that relationship kind of put me on Coach Pettit's radar of, hey, she's a decent human being. And that allowed me to work camps at the University of Nebraska, which then allowed me to use his name for a reference. And then I'd had success at Kirkwood, and then he gave the name to Bruce Rasmussen. And then I I mean, especially when I talk to kids, I'll often reference like life comes, even you know this, Darren. It's amazing how connected life is, right? So, so that you know, interaction that I had for a season my senior year in high school changed the trajectory of my life. And so I'm always, you know, I always tell my children, be kind, you know. Um, and it wasn't intentional. I never knew it would uh reap those kind of benefits. I just liked Kathy, but uh changed changed my life.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Yeah, yeah, and that's that's the thing that I was picking up on there is like be a good person, you know, just because it's the right thing to do, uh, but also because you never know when uh the right moment is gonna come up and how that seemingly insignificant moment, like it doesn't necessarily you know grant you anything in that immediate uh future, but down the road, you know, something may come of it, right? 100%. So yeah, that's yeah, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

That crazy story?

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah. And then he he got hired as your mentor.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Well, he he just gotten out coaching about that time. And so Bruce Rasmussen said, Hey, if I hire her, will you will you mentor her? And so, I mean, we would just talk. He mentored, he was a paid mentor. I'm not saying that Creighton was paying him big money, but he was a paid mentor my entire time at Creighton. So you can imagine how our relationship evolved. When I was 27 and just started, Terry Pettett could have told me to coach with my eyes closed and I would have done it. I mean, anything he said, I did, right? But then you kind of grow up. And so then our relationship really evolved to really some good discussions, sometimes some disagreements. And um, I mean, he's been a good friend and someone that I really respect. Uh, he's very much out of the box. And so I I loved he thinks differently than I do, and I think that's why he's a creative genius, and uh it really helped me a lot. Still does. I still, you know, talk to Terry regularly.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah, before you agreed to let him mentor you, did you interview him and say, hey, so what makes you qualified?

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Right. Yeah, something like that. Have you done anything?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, I uh I just think um like I've never met I've never met Terry. Uh, but what I've learned from him, you know, over the years, like Nebraska volleyball, there's been some kind of uh showcases about them and that on like ESPN, they kind of had a a story about it and and they go back and talk about the origins. Because I always think that's kind of neat. Like um, and we'll get into the uh uh your success at Creighton as well. Like it you don't stumble into success, you know. Maybe you st stumble into like a successful game or a successful season, uh, but sustained success is not something that happens by accident. It's something that is a result of probably a lot of uh intentional decisions that are made consistently over time, you know, and that's how you can uh reach that level of success, and then that's how you sustain it. Uh so that's you know, that's where my my knowledge of uh of Terry uh comes comes in. All right. But let's let's uh let's go back to your Creighton days. So you like say you start off uh Creighton pretty young coach. I think you said you're 27, right? Um still admittedly it sounds like you're still figuring things out, right? And this is and this is gonna be one of your, and I don't want you to give all of the uh the secrets away here because this is gonna be one of your um one of your sessions at the clinic uh on the 29th. It's your first session uh talking about like from chaos to chemistry and the idea of like building team culture. Um so what was that like when you take over the Crank program? And you know, do you go in there with like this is what we're gonna do? Or do you go in and you hear some people say, hey, the first year I'm just gonna kind of I'm gonna assess things, I'm gonna kind of sit back and gather information, then I'm gonna look to tweak things. Kind of what was your approach taking over uh the Crank program?

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah, it's an interesting question because I think um, you know, if I if I was to take over a program now, I I would have a plan. I I think when I went in, um, I don't know if I knew the answers to those questions. I think I uh I was driven to work hard because I didn't want to fail. I think a lot of people are scratching their heads at the hire. Um so I I I think instinctually I knew some things, even though I didn't necessarily have a plan in my head. I I I knew I needed to hire well and I need knew I needed to hire based on some of my own deficiencies. So I think, you know, I took some risk on some hire. I hired a gentleman who wanted the job, who was way more qualified than me. They really needed to hire a woman. If they'd hired off the resume, transparently he would have gotten the job. He was about 10 years older than me. And um, but I knew I needed someone with his capability. So it was a gutsy hire in the sense of if it doesn't go well, the team could really gravitate to him. So I mean, I remember when I interviewed him, we spent a lot of time discussing. I mean, to me, it wasn't about his knowledge, it was the elephant of the room. Like, how are you gonna handle reporting to someone who's so much younger and has so much less experience than you? And he was like, Listen, I'll fight with you in the in the office, I'll challenge you. But when we walk into the gym, I will always have your back. And he did. And um, and then I hired someone, uh the a Nebraska player who's still at Creighton to this day as a GA, and now she's the associate head coach. She was with me the entire time, Angie Oxley Barrens. So I surrounded myself with good people, and then I think um I'm trying to do this now in my new job. I think one of the things I do well is I let people be great. So I don't get in their way to be great. So I always utilized my staff a lot. So, and then when you talk about the crisis, when when I present it in Minnesota, the there was a particular year of crisis that I will talk about. But, you know, I like any job, I made mistakes. And I think the big thing is, and I'm doing that right now with this new job, the big thing with mistakes is what are we learning from them? Are we taking accountability from that? I mean, I can go through times where I didn't handle a situation with a player well. Um, and are we willing to look at ourselves and say, okay, this wasn't my best moment. I didn't communicate well, I didn't give them all the information. I would have, you know, pick your poison. We've all made mistakes. And I think sometimes if we're not able to self-reflect, we're not able to get better for the next time. So so I think there were a lot of small blips along the road, just as there was all the way through that you learned from. And then there was a couple big moments. Um, but you know, I I hope I think I was better, my I think I was coaching my best at the end of my career. And I, you know, I think as as we should in everything, I was getting better. I hope that was the case.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, and I think that's honestly, I think that's why it probably shocked a lot of people when the announcement was made that you were walking away from Creighton into this new uh role. Um, because you had you had worked on building this very competitive program on a national level. You know, like you say, you come in taking it over a three and twenty-three program, um, you end up getting in multiple tournaments, you end up in uh uh elite eights, you know, a national ranking of six, I think, at one point. Um, you know, so things are going well. You're a three-time national coach of the year, right? And I think a lot of people are like, all right, she's she's just hitting, she's just getting started, right? This is gonna be fun. And then all of a sudden, like heading away from Creighton and going to this uh new L O V B uh role. So I like say I think that's um you know, it it was awesome what you built and it was fun to fun to follow. You know, as a volleyball fan that doesn't necessarily I mean, I'm a gopher fan. I'm a gopher fan.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Hey, I'm a Keegan fan, I like the Gophers.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yep. Yep, but like so but if it's if the gophers aren't playing, like who am I cheering for? Like who am I who am I watching? Um and I and I kind of like the um, you know, maybe uh as an outstater, I didn't catch the rivalry as well, but like the Creighton, Nebraska like games were were big games now. Like we're probably early on in your career, I'm gonna guess Nebraska playing Creighton wasn't um wasn't a headliner, right? But by right, like I don't I don't want to make it sound bad, but no, no, you're absolutely right. Like you say, you took over a program that was playing in high school gyms, you know. Um, and now you're playing like for like at a nationally competitive level, right? So that I mean, kudos to you. That I'm I'm excited to uh um go to your sessions and hear about these stories. Um because you mentioned we all make mistakes. I'm waiting for my first one, so I want to have all the advice uh so when it does happen, I know how to handle it. Terrific, perfect. I'll try to help you out of it. Yeah, yeah, obviously a joke. I've I've made many, many mistakes. Um but yeah, that's that's uh uh that that's gonna be fun. That's gonna be fun to listen to. Um and you got a couple other sessions, we'll we'll kind of uh stay in that uh lane uh for right now. Um you got a couple on court sessions, I believe you're gonna be talking about blocking, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Yep, which which I'm I'm interested in because uh self-admittedly, like if we're gonna teach all the skills, uh if we're going through all the practice uh planning and whatnot, blocking. Over the years, blocking has been like low on my priority list. Because I'm one, we're not huge anyways, so like I don't feel we put up a dominating block, but then we can't stop an attack, you know, successfully uh unless we dig it. And I'm like, oh man, what's going on here? So uh I, you know, you mentioned mistakes, maybe not acknowledging that we just need to focus more on blocking is one of those things. So that's that's what I'm that's one of the things I'm looking forward to uh uh hearing from. And just so everybody knows and it doesn't, sorry, so people aren't shocked when they hear another voice. Um Greg Ulin, who who braves the uh the metro traffic, uh was able to get home. Uh and now he's back, he's on, he's on the pod with us. So welcome, Greg.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Hi, Greg.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Hello. Hi. All right, sorry, sorry, Kirsten. Go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah, no problem. Well, what I was gonna say on the blocking is I I'm hoping it will be applicable stuff if you have a 5'6 blocker and a 5'10 blocker and they're all across the net, like thinking conceptually. So we'll do some fundamental stuff, but a lot of it will be like kind of some training things that we've done that can communicate things to players. And it's not gonna be the way that I trained my six foot three line, right? Because that's not applicable to most coaches. So I I I I hope that people will take some nuggets away from that session that will be applicable if you have that five-five setter, but maybe you've got a a five-nine middle. Like how does that work together? So hopefully people walk away with some things to use.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah. What about my five-one setter?

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yeah, we might need her in the back row, but we'll talk offline about that, Darren.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Good. Um yeah, so I'm excited for that one. Uh, you also have another on court one talking about out of system uh volleyball. Um, I uh Greg, are you gonna get anything out of this? We spend most of our time in system, so I don't know. I don't I don't Greg?

SPEAKER_02 21:48

No? I I'm so looking forward to that. I think, you know, as coaches, we don't spend enough time on out of system, and I think that's been such a big push, you know. I think we're just scraping by and trying to make things work, but I think out of system and and personally I see the benefits of of doing that. So I'm so looking forward to sessions that kind of lock in on out of system. And I love that was one of the things you wanted to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

We're out of system so much that we just act like it's in system because it's what we do. No, I'm kidding. Well, and that's good.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

I mean, in all honesty, you joke about that, Darren, but that's that's got to be the mentality. The higher level you play, the more out of system you play. And so can you still terminate at that level? Do you are you spending time to put up the second ball the way that you should? Are you just hoping your players are gonna figure it out? So being a little bit more intentional with the percentages of knowing that most of the game is played out of system. So how is that affecting our training? So we'll talk about that a little bit and hopefully give some drills to to hopefully help players and you know, and maybe keep our our own sanity as coaches.

unknown 22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Setter takes the first ball, who's taking your second?

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Well, when the rules changed at the NCAA level, what two years ago, we switched to middle. Um, and it was interesting. So we have all these stats, which I know at the high school level you don't have it, but everything's coded. So we were hitting three, I think it was three seasons ago. Creighton hit about 200 off their Libero on the second contact. We hit, I think, 260 off our middle blocker. And so uh it was a great move. We but again, we did our middles trained it for five to ten minutes before every single practice. So it wasn't just a fluke. And then what we also trained was them uh hitting the second ball. And if you watched our match against Texas in the Suite 16 when we beat them my last year, um, in some big moments, our middles turned and hit and kind of I think caught them off ground. And we'd actually we'd actually hidden that through our, you know, because everyone watches so much film. We practiced it in practice and then told them not to do it at all in games. And so we saved it and we were like, all right, start pulling it out. Now's the time. And I think we got two or three kills on it in that match, which you know, a team like Texas, those are big points.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Absolutely. And I love that you let your middle set, because in my gym, by the time my kids are like at the varsity level, every middle like acts like they can be a setter or a little barrel.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Isn't that they want it? Yeah, absolutely. It's like every setter wants to be a middle, though. So I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yep. Yeah. Awesome. And then your final session is gonna be another um um auditorium session. And that one is gonna be uh it's just it's titled Leading Better Before, During, and After the Match. Right? What's a little preview about that one?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, it's gonna be kind of uh some game prep, some things that you can do that again, um I'm I'm trying to really gear toward the the high school coach because I know you know it's just different the prep opportunities we have, both both from a scouting perspective, nutrition, sleep, mental, all of that stuff, and then in-game, how we're affecting the game, in-game, how our assistants are helping us on the in-game, and then how to manage situations after a bad loss, a good loss, a good win. You know, sometimes uh we make our mistakes after matches uh just as much as we do in matches or before matches.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Yep. And that um I'm looking forward to that one too. Question for you. In-game, where do you where did you prefer to stand or sit and why?

SPEAKER_00 25:36

So this was actually a topic that Coach Pettit and I talked about about a fair amount because he is a big proponent of sitting. I think a lot of people will say reach research-wise, you should sit. I stood. Um I talked to my players about it, uh, because you know, the question is, are you stressing them out? And what I really worked on was, I mean, these are really specific things, but I gave my players a high five when they went in and when they went out. And I, you know, little things like I I made sure I had the same eye contact and physical touch. If they went in as a serving sub and they dumped a serve, I still gave them a high five, gave them eye contact. Because what I learned through the years is that if you react in a negative way, now all of a sudden I'm not gonna ever get to go again. So I I was really cognizant of my nonverbals. Um, and I'm not saying I was perfect about it, but when I sat, I would get up and down a lot. And I think that bothered the players more because I might sit if I'm angry or you know, something like that. So um, and some of this we we had a sports psychiatrist that worked with us pretty extensively. So we had these conversations with our players. Like feedback I got um at one point, and this isn't a session, was uh you take a drink when you're mad, drink of water. And I was like, Well, that's stupid, but that's good feedback. You know, like, you know, but I didn't know I did that. I'm like, are you kidding me? And then I would feel myself in matches. I'd be frustrated and I'd want to go take a drink of water. So I'd be like, all right, I can't drink water right now. So anyway, my point is I stood, but I was really, really conscious of not reacting. I had so many people say, How do you not get upset when they're missing all those serves? And I'm like, oh, my internals are doing things, but externally, we got to move on to the next place. So I I worked on that a lot over my years.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah. I use I still get feedback from my wife. Um, but the one thing she always told me is like, you gotta you gotta work on not putting your hands up and out because I'm a I'm 6'6, and so when I'm standing there, and if I like something happens and I just put my arms out, she's like, you look enormous. And that whether you are or not, that that can be intimidating. Um you gotta you gotta work on that. I'm like, I never thought of that, but yeah, um, yeah. So that that's gonna be a good session uh as well. I like I like uh I like auditorium sessions, I like encore sessions as well, but I also just like listening to people's thought process. Uh and I like that so I'm looking forward to the fact that you have two auditorium sessions, two uh on court sessions uh for our attendees to um to to learn from, you know, and that's ultimately what we're trying to get out of clinic, is we're trying to share ideas. We're trying to get we're all trying to get better, and that's one thing I always say about the volleyball community is everybody uh seemingly is willing to help people get better. Like no one's trying to like store the the secret recipe. Yeah. I agree. Um so that's that's always been something that I've really, really enjoyed about the volleyball community. Um Kirsten, we want to be uh respectful of your time. Okay, and I know you got other obligations coming up. Um, but tell us a little bit about um uh LOV uh uh you guys you say it as a word, like love. We say it as love. Love. Okay. Yeah. All right, so the the League One volleyball.

unknown 29:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Uh and you're with the Nebraska uh franchise of the L O V B. Um so what's that what's that been like? Stepping out of the the the coaching uh realm and now more as like what'd you call it like an administrative 100%.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Yeah. So I'm not involved in the sports side at all. So the way that love is set up at this time, in the next couple of years, you'll see it transition. But at this point, the league still runs the sport side. So that means they're putting the players on the team, they hire the coaches, they the league pays for all of that. The so strength and conditioning, the league runs that. I'm on the business side, so I'm in charge, my team, and I I mean I was one of one in of in July, and now I'm one of 11 right now. So we're building our staff, and um, so we are in charge of ticketing, game promotions, sponsorships, so game activations, all of that. So purely on the business side fully. So it's it's a really different role. The exciting thing is there is a love Minnesota team uh that is gonna be opening and they're gonna play uh where the University of Minnesota plays. What's the arena's name again? Name of it, the Minnesota Marina.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Mercury Pavilion.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Yes, that's what it is. Um so they're gonna play there. Uh so we're super excited. Um, those rosters are gonna be announced soon. So um our our squad will be up there. But but I will I probably won't be with them because we're not in charge of the sport at this point. And again, at some point it's all gonna come together, but that's how this model is kind of set up.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yeah, it's it's kind of fun. And if from a volleyball fan perspective, from a coaching perspective, uh the the professional leagues that are uh growing in in the US, um, it creates also these these fun, unique moments uh that other sports have had for a long time. You know, the the one I'm talking about is my wife and I, and uh another couple were flying out to Utah to go skiing and we're waiting at the gate, and there's there's a team of some sort. Okay, I didn't I didn't pay attention to it right away, but you it's clearly a team, but like the colors didn't uh you know throw any uh flags up. I didn't rec the first few people I didn't recognize right away. Um, but then my wife's like, I think that's a volleyball team. And I look and like the colors uh like are blue and it's like Wisconsin. Like, I don't know any Wisconsin volleyball teams that are blue. And then all of a sudden I'm looking across, I'm like, man, that looks like Lauren Carlini. You know, and then that looks like Andy Drews. And sure enough, it's them, you know. So now there's there's this kind of fan moment where like, oh, there's professional volleyball players and they're gonna be on the flight with us. And you know, what if we sit next to them and we end up sitting across the aisle from Lauren Carlini? Uh, but I'm like, I don't know. I did I I'm not that bold to like just initiate a conversation. You she's got a book in her hand, and I'm like, if you got a book in your hand, you probably want to read your book, and I'm gonna I'm gonna respect that. Um, but I did have to, at the baggage claim, uh stop uh Andy Drews, because I remember Andy Drews playing in the Olympics when I think it was Thompson got hurt, and she came in and just had an awesome, awesome elements. Yes, I remember that too. You know, so I remember watching those games with my daughter, and I just kind of wanted to mention that. Plus, I want to get a photo, you know, with a with a pro volleyball player, and I sent that to my to my my team and my J O team at the time, and they thought that was pretty cool. So like I say, the the growth of the sport is cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Yeah, you talk about having a daughter, and again, I have three daughters, and they didn't get to dream about playing pro sport pro sports. Now, the WMBA has been around for a little while and obviously it's growing. Soccer in the last little bit. Volleyball is the top women's girls' high school sport in the country. Um, there is no reason we cannot have a sustainable league. And I, you know, I want volleyball to win. We have two leagues right now. At some point, I as a volleyball person, I hope that we merge and we can just have a phenomenal um professional volleyball league so that so that your daughter knows from the day that she's a kindergartner that I can be like that. I can go play college if I want, and then after that, I have opportunities and I don't have to leave our country to do it. So when you talk about that decision to leave Creighton, it was really hard. Um, but that was one thing that drove me, you know, that that our little boys get to dream about all these professional teams, and there's just not as much opportunity for girls than there should be.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Yeah, that's that's an excellent point. Excellent point. I know you got to get going here. Is there anything else that you want to like share with the Minnesota volleyball coaches, or honestly, any and anybody who listens to this uh podcast, you know, I assume it's maybe Minnesota volleyball coaches, but yeah, I'm like super excited to come up and I hope people have a lot of questions and we can have great dialogue and it should be fun. All right. Well, one final question before we let you go. Uh the US is out. Who you got in the World Cup?

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Oh gosh. Um who was who was I watching last night? Norway beat Brazil. I mean, I guess you gotta go with Belgium since they beat us. So I'll go with Belgium.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Then we can claim the possibility of potentially being the second best, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Agree. Agree. Right? You gotta root for the team that beats you.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Yeah, no, it's been fun. So all right, Kirsten, thank you uh so much for joining us uh today. Um we look forward to seeing you in a couple weeks here. Greg, you got anything and anything to add?

SPEAKER_02 34:34

No, I just appreciate your willingness to come. Um, it's been a couple years in the making, and uh you had such a great opportunity. You were gonna come and then went to the Olympics to watch one of your former players. So you've come so highly recommended, and I know many people have requested you. So we're just honored to have you, and I'm so appreciative. You just make it happen. You like no nonsense, get it done. I love it, and I'm looking forward to your session. So thanks again.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Oh, thanks. I'm excited. Look forward to meeting everyone in person.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

All right. Well, thank you, Kirsten. Uh, have a great day. Enjoy the the rest of July, and we'll see you at the end of July.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Sounds great. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

All right, we'll see ya.