The Bid Whisperer Strikes Again!

On location from the Windy City Qualifier in Chicago, join several coaches to hear how the first two days of the tournament are going. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:03

Welcome to a Volker Today, an all-accent speed of the podcast. My name is Davis Voterville, and I am your favorite director at Florida Elite Volleyball Academy, but more importantly, I am the host of this year's podcast. Today we have a very special episode as we are on location in Chicago at the Winnie City Qualifiers. We just continue to bring you guys groundbreaking content week after week. As always, I am joined by my co-host, the woman who finally decided to go back to work and coach her team at a tournament. She is the head coach of our top 16 teams, as well as the two-time conference coach of the year at Sun Lake High School. Please welcome Alice Zapata.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Hello, how are we doing, coach? I'm excited to be here. I'm working, you know.

SPEAKER_06 0:47

Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

It's almost a vacation.

SPEAKER_06 0:50

I know. Yeah, it's been different when coming back to work for once, you know. Telling you. Joining us again is your newly appointed second favorite director at FIVA because Brittany bailed on us today. He is the head coach of our 13 elite team and the man who is single-handedly working hard to bring back cargo shorts into style. Please welcome back to the podcast The Man, the Myth, the Legend, Fernando Savedra.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

How are you?

SPEAKER_06 1:23

Fernando's my guy. Alright, so remember. Not anymore. Yeah. Remember once again to subscribe to our podcast. We can be found wherever you get your podcast. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbeam, Amazon Music, YouTube, and a bunch of other ones I've never heard of. Don't forget to leave us a five-star review because anything less than a five-star review means that you are a terrible person. As I mentioned, we are on location in Chicago recording this from the lovely and convenient Hyatt Regis McCormick Place Hotel. We are supposed to be joined by a room full of our coaches, but apparently none of them can read because they're out televanting around town. So we are stuck with Fernando. We are stuck with Fernando today.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

I was invited, but I'm doing this, so Davis can leave my friends alone. Look, I even drew a picture. That's Fernando with the happy winning face because we're gonna show the news here soon. And then there's me because you know we'll show that news soon. And then my word says Davis Matt at these people, and that is Michaela, that's Maddie, that's Brittany, that's Kate. Britney's a little small though. I didn't mean I really did not mean to do that. That just happened. So my apologies, Britt, when you see this because you're my girl. And I said, but they are happy, and that's all that matters because we want our coaches to be happy.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

I want them to be happy, but they just want to stop being grumpy, but they're lovely drawing right there.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

They have been so this photo's for you. Thank you. You're welcome. I will save it, church cherish it. It's like the next Mona Lisa.

SPEAKER_06 3:04

Yep, it sure is. Well, they I'm hoping they're happy because they won't be on this podcast because I'm I'm suspending them from the podcast possibility for a while. We'll see. Um, anyway, I have been getting tons of compliments on my jokes. That's kind of the first thing people say is how much they love our jokes. The only ones that don't are my co-hosts. So um, but anyway, do you guys remember? Do you guys remember the joke I told you guys a while back about the the chiropractor? You remember?

SPEAKER_02 3:33

No, because you're not cracking.

SPEAKER_06 3:35

It was about a week back.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

You're ridiculous. Get it a week back. That my favorite one is still the European one. That was the best one. But that's good. That was a week back. I still can't believe I got last week's.

SPEAKER_06 3:47

I know you ruined it. That was that was a good one. Anyway, um before we get into Chicago, I do have a quick story. Um for so BJs, as you know, love the bazookie. So they sent me an email. I'm pretty sure I was the only one to get this email. They had a special one-day bazookie. It was called a sweet heat pepperoni pazookie. It's basically a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom with vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of hot honey, and then a bunch of pepperoni. I'm gonna tell you right now, it's not as terrible as it sounds.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

It just doesn't sound right.

SPEAKER_06 4:24

It doesn't sound right.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

It doesn't sound right, but I'm a pepperoni girl.

SPEAKER_06 4:28

So so here's the problem.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Here's I I always I always say if you just put all the things you like together, it shouldn't taste bad.

SPEAKER_06 4:36

Right. Exactly. And it and the and the only thing that that actually threw it off for me was not the pepper on the ice cream actually was pretty good together. I didn't like the hot honey. It was it was like really spicy. It was like putting hot sauce on ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

I'm not a honey girl, so yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:51

Well, I didn't even taste it.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Do you like honey, Fernando?

SPEAKER_06 4:53

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Fernando likes everything. I don't know why I asked.

SPEAKER_06 4:57

Yeah, right. But no, it just it just it wasn't there. But I also got a strawberry one as a backup, and then I ate both. So anyway, that was kind of a big deal for me. Um, I made a special trip out there on Wednesday before we left, so had to get it out there. Once again, BJ's, come on, call me out. Let's do this. We can we can do this. Um, so so right now it is Saturday around what are we, 4 p.m. Um, a.m. wave of day two is just finished up. Um, you know, what a tournament so far, right? I mean, um, everything kind of started out on Thursday with a massive amount of delays. Cancellations, cancellations, everything. Yeah, I mean, both of your teams. So, of course, um Elisa's 16th team is here, Fernando's 13th team is here. Um Fernando had AM wave on Thursday. And what happened to some of your players?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Well, uh our AM wave on Friday was actually started a little awkward because we only had eight players out. Actually, one of them was uh Aubrey that was actually uh blew in around 2 a.m. in the morning. And then the twins uh were actually driving in as we started the first set. And that was crazy as it is because I was missing one of my setters, the last one on my outside. On top of that, and I was actually uh on her way in the middle of a flight, just about landing as the first uh set was starting. So we actually had to make a few adjustments. We were playing a number two seed on the overall on the tournament and we made it work. In what division? What division, yeah. You know, we were playing open, no big deal. No big deal, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:40

He's a number two seed, like we're just in a lower division. He's number two seed in the whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 6:46

Yeah, and I think it was, and I believe it was the number say something the number six team in the nation that they played. Wow. And with without their well, obviously Elon is has been hurt. Did he beat them? Um nope, in their in their in our hearts. But I mean, literally, so the so the twins, they they're of course their flight guy, and so they jumped in a car and the dad drove 18 hours straight. Oh, so they drove right away.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I I literally said that to my group chat, and I you know, I know my parents would have done it. Like Jazzy's mom told me she was like counting down the hours, like, okay, we can still arrive by game time. But I was like, I don't think anyone's gonna do that. Can you imagine? I'm so happy to hear that somebody else.

SPEAKER_06 7:28

Can you imagine? I mean, again, drove through the night. The dad drove the entire way open a rental so he could fly back. I don't even think they would have the time. Because I mean, they like when they made the decision, I mean, they were I think their original ECA was like 11 a.m. So he may have gone a little faster than the speed.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

I know I know I know there was no stop there because he was actually like making run through. He was updating me once in a while. And I was not even expecting him to come in around at the time they came in around 8 30 as my first set was getting done. The girls was just running up so they medium made a time.

SPEAKER_06 8:02

They warmed up for maybe ten minutes, and they actually got in one of them got in on the on the first set. The very end of the first set. That's awesome. But then they didn't have Anna, who's uh you know, setter, and at this point, because she's taking Elon's place in the middle, they didn't have her at all because her flight came in at about five nine or something like that. Night. And so I mean they were really short.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Should she miss day one?

SPEAKER_06 8:25

No, she played the match the second and third match.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Oh wow, and we came in, we came in third seed. So we actually had that first game. Then we had a rest wrap and then played play. So by the time that we were about to play those last two matches, I'm like, man, I have some kids that are sleeping two and three hours. And I did not know what to expect. But they show such great. And they went up and won those two games against a two-seater and a four-seed in our ball. And we we went one two and one. Just to give us a chance, but yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:02

When you when you watch their games, did you get to watch any of them? I have not been able to see them. So when you watch them play, I mean, we are significantly shorter than every other team. I mean, who's your tallest player right now? Um Anna?

unknown 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:17

Between Anna and Anna. And who's and what is she?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Five seven, five eight?

SPEAKER_06 9:21

Yeah. I mean, that's it. And then you go, there's all these these teams, they have six footers and five nine, five ten.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

Well, yeah, you're playing an open. These girls that were playing in open, a lot of them you see, they're gonna be you got colleges already looking at them knowing they're gonna be division one out there.

SPEAKER_06 9:36

They don't have our ball, they don't have our ball control, our hustle, and so they they played, they played lights out.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

You know, I have to give Fernando props. I was actually just talking to someone about this the other day. I said, Fernando's team, they always have fantastic ball control.

SPEAKER_06 9:53

Always.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Like you can definitely tell you hammer down on on defense with you know with your girls. I mean, even the 18s, like they look really well defensively, but it's it's fun to watch. I I like it.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

And what I can say is that yeah, and and and kudos to them because they actually have a ready to come in with a good amount of ball control. And you know, we're just you know, every other practice, we're just swinging at them as far as they can, you know, as fast as we can swing, as far as we can swing, and they're just and they just have such a good pace that it's easy for them to just strategize, great ideas, olive IQ. Yeah, they just come in and know exactly now that we haven't played together for this long, they know where to position themselves where it's giving them a little better uh touch on the ball. And it's just it works really well when you know they're all just moving the way they're supposed to.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Yeah, is it just you and Jay just on a box wailing at them?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Oh no, Jay too. I mean, his shoulder's probably like about to fall off, just like mine. But they're doing great, they're doing great.

SPEAKER_06 10:54

Yeah, we've we've never had a 13th team like this, I don't think.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

I mean, they're just they're just you know, Britney last year, like I love that he says that they came in with pretty good ball control because Britney did a great job. Brittany's another one that really focuses on that ball control and his help, but it's nice that like it's carrying on. The girls, girls need that because as they get older, that's gonna be probably the most important part of their play later on.

SPEAKER_06 11:16

I mean, they had such a I mean, their progression was Jenna. Yeah, to Britney to Fernando.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

I mean, that's a pretty yeah, yeah. Jenna, Jenna put the foot. Jenna whoops them. Jenna whoops them into shape.

SPEAKER_06 11:27

They always know, yeah, they know where they're supposed to be.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Oh, I do remember watching them with Jenna. Absolutely. Yeah, that's fun. They were they were awesome. Look at these handoffs. It's just good. Right. It's just great.

SPEAKER_06 11:36

Great pass. Wonder who's getting them next year. We shall see. Stay stay tuned. Um, okay, so then so now so now we got into day two with Fernando's team, which obviously, if you you know, if you go, you come in second place on day one, you know that means day two. It's gonna be harder. The odds are gonna be against you. You know, come came in as a four-seed. Absolutely. As a four-seed against the overall number one seed, which means they had to be ranked higher than five, I would assume, higher than six. Right. But um, go ahead and tell us what happened to that.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Well, we we get to play as a four-seed, but we got that first eight or eight a.m. off. Then we have this you know back to back against the two seeds and the first seed. Um so we don't know what to expect. We have not seen this team. Uh you know, they were uh uh reckoned before us we start playing. I think this uh this energy that we had at the beginning worked out really well. We pulled it off in the first match, so we're excited that we actually took it a three. This is a two-seed or the two-seed in my pool. We pulled it out, and the kids were just all out energy, they were you know they played fantastic. Then we go into play C V C, which is the one seed in our pool, and they were towering over us. We actually surprised them in the first set, we took that first set, and uh of course that was actually uh you know something that they felt the energy, but uh as the game went on as we played back to back, we kind of wore out a little bit, and we kind of let that match go on the third set, and after losing the second set, but they played kind of they just I I mean I cannot be prouder on on the way that they just performed. They were a bit disappointed after that one and one, but then we had a nice break, and then we had to play again. So we kind of we played it again.

SPEAKER_06 13:32

And now um heading in so they long story short, they made it into gold. 13 open has three bids available. Is that correct? Correct. And there are how many teams in gold?

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Four.

SPEAKER_06 13:49

Okay, so that means one team is not gonna get a bid. But wait a second, wait a minute. Didn't one of those teams did they already have a bid? An open bid?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

You're absolutely correct, Davis.

SPEAKER_06 14:01

So wait, let me see if my let me let me let me see if I can get let me see if I can get my math right. If I can get my math right. Oh so does that mean that FIFA 13 Fernando has a bid after day two at Wendy City National Qualifier? Absolutely. You're too that deserves a double. Maybe triple. Congratulations, Fernando! So I am teeny. So, right now, what I'm doing is I'm putting on the glasses because I'm going to look at the FIVA history books and find out what number open bid that is for FIVA. How many other FIVA teams have gotten open bids? Let me look, let me look through here. Let me put the glasses on, let's put the glasses on.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Let me thorough, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 14:45

This is the first team that has ever gotten an open bid at FIVA.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

We knew to bring the podcast. We knew this was gonna happen. I knew it. We knew it.

SPEAKER_06 14:56

I was never worried.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

So you know, I give it. I called in on Thursdays and he's gonna get an open bed.

SPEAKER_06 15:02

And this is also this is also their first tournament. First tournament that they ever participated in open. So I guess we should have been putting them open from the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Hey, well, you know what this means, right? In baseball terms, they're batting a thousand.

SPEAKER_06 15:18

They're they are batting a thousand.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

So first try. Absolutely amazing. I can see the progression that we've we've had all throughout the season. You should just retire amazing. So what retire on this?

SPEAKER_02 15:28

That's what I'm saying. This is what I think you qualified before anyone else, two teams, right? And then gets an open bit. He's like, you know what? I'm gonna top everyone. I'm getting an open bid.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, I don't think that USA Bid was enough.

SPEAKER_06 15:41

It was so now what I would love to do if we can is let's take a picture of Fernando now, and then a picture of him in after USAV nationals, and let's see how many more gray hairs he has and how many less hairs he has. Because I guarantee you it will be I bet they win it all. Win the whole thing. Oh my god. I'm saying some blood pressure winning. And and that's I mean, again, I can't I keep talking about not having Elon, but you know, for those who don't know, I mean, Elon is our is our six-foot middle, and she's an absolute stud. And I mean, she is our big blocker. She is our you know, she's a huge hitter.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Wait, did I miss something? She's not here at all.

SPEAKER_06 16:16

She's not here at all. So they got so they gotta bid with they gotta bid without Elon, who again, biggest blocker, big huge hitter. I mean, the most I would say she is the dom a very dominant player. She's a game changer because she affects their hitters and she affects, you know, she affects the game so much. And on so they've had Anna, who's a setter on the right side, has had to play middle. So she's flanked, so she's having to play out of position. And throughout all that, they just come out, get an open bet on, get an open bet on day two, no big deal. No big deal.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

They I mean the way they have transitioned into this, uh, and sometimes Alicia plays middle, but it it's just that the fact that they have a child IQ where they can actually adjust and play a different position and do so well, it just speaks volumes on how much these teams volleyball, how high their IQ is. Yeah, I don't know. They're they're they're amazing. Amazing group of kids.

SPEAKER_10 17:10

That's awesome. I love that.

SPEAKER_06 17:11

Well, I can't wait. I can't wait. So now they're now they're going back to Minnesota to play open. Um, they're now officially kicked out of ASICs. Um, we have to find something for them because otherwise we're gonna they're they they can't do AAUs because AAUs the same time as USAV nationals. Okay, and now they're out of ASICs. So theoretically, they have no more tournaments until late June. Oh so we gotta find something. We gotta find a home for that.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

We gotta we'll we'll start searching.

SPEAKER_06 17:37

I was thinking like, because we can't play ASICs in a bid. I was like, maybe we'll put them in like the 16 or 17 non-bid. I think you can do that at ASICs. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, we gotta find something. Imagine they can win crazy age group.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

The crazy thing.

SPEAKER_06 17:51

I mean, we gotta we'll get so that's gonna be that's gonna be next up on our list of things. It'd be wild. I will I would pay so much money to see that. I bet you they go in and they win 16th or 17th, not non non-bid division, yeah. Maybe a little two-day and they'll have Elon back up there.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Can they do that in a two-day role for that? Like for their own age group, or at least like fourteens?

SPEAKER_06 18:12

Not in a bid division, so they'd have to be in a non-bid division. Correct. That's the that's just ASICs changed that rule, I think, last year. Okay. So all right, cool. I'm kind of disappointed in that because I'd love to see I want to see him play again. But yeah, man, we're an open bid. We're gonna put him in we're gonna put him in something, the most you know, most competitive tournament we can find for him, you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

On our next podcast, we'll be able to share that. Fernando won the whole tournament here in Chicago. So that's your next step, Fernando.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Job ain't done yet. Yep. There you go. All right, Davis. I'm getting sick and tired of talking about Fernando. Can we start talking about me? Listen, he is okay with that. I'm okay with it.

SPEAKER_06 18:47

He is the newly appointed second favorite director, so we had to give him his we had to give him his hairtime.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

You know, like I can't even I can't talk crap. Like, I just can't talk crap in him. You gotta step it up. You gotta step it up. Uh I mean we've been doing good. We've been doing good this season, you know.

SPEAKER_06 19:01

And what's funny is now like Cadia is kicking herself because she's like, I should have I should have played dope. So Cadia's 14s team, they were in they were in liberty, they won a Liberty bid. They tried to move up to USA, but USA was full. They they were on the way, they were number one on the waiting list, but nobody dropped. So they're in Liberty, they're they're kicking butt this week. Um, but they're still in Liberty. So it's kind of it's gonna be a you know, if they get a bid, it'll be a double bid.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

This still sounds like we're talking about someone else than me, and I want to talk about me.

SPEAKER_06 19:28

Alice, since you are the head coach of our top six teams.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Listen, I'm here right now, I'm the one sitting in this seat, right? I could be out exploring Chicago. It's no, it's pretty cold, but better be talking about me.

SPEAKER_06 19:40

All right, let's talk about me. So let's talk about first. Tell me about your um your travel delays. You had some you had some delays on your team too. Yes, lucky you had PM Wave.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Correct. Lucky I had PM Wave because I had one player show up probably 12 minutes before we started warm-up.

SPEAKER_09 19:56

Like was that Maddie?

SPEAKER_02 19:58

That was Maddie, and then Chase showed up maybe 45 minutes before game start. So um it's definitely it was definitely uh I was stressed. I was sitting in uh a restaurant when I got the text. I thought it was a late April Fool's joke. I said, ha ha, late April Fool's joke. And they all hit me with the no, and I was like, oh man. So then, you know, trying to lighten the mood, I was like, rent an RV, drive up here. And you know, I really thought Lenton, right? Maddie's dad. Maddie's dad would have been like, yeah, let's get one. You know, because he drives all those like big, you know, the fire trucks, fire trucks and ambulance. So I'm like, that man's gonna be like, yeah, I could drive an RV without a problem, pack them all in and let's go, let's make it a Chicago, right? Really thought that was gonna happen. It didn't, but they made it. Maddie, Maddie was the one that flew out actually Saturday for Friday morning from Tampa, had a connecting flight. That is wild. Like you're relying not on one, but two flights to get out. Right.

SPEAKER_06 21:00

And I'm not I'm not one to make excuses. I don't like to make excuses, but I think if you want to be here, you're gonna get here. Right. And they know no, I'm saying what I'm what I'm saying is so you know, day one, um, you guys play really well the first two matches. Yeah. And I I think you know, you had the one seed, so you had that ref the, you know, it's you know, after you play your second match, you played your second match, and then it's like ref off. I think that killed you guys. Yeah, you I mean, Maddie was I gotta I put a picture up on on our Instagram of Maddie, like I mean, she was knocked out on the floor.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Pearson too. I like even went to Pearson, I was like, Hey, I just want to make sure you're okay. She's like, I'm just tired. I go, that's okay. I'll take tired. I and I even told the girls before we even started the day, and there's just so many hectic, like just like Fernando had people flying in at 2 a.m. Danny f left at 6 a.m. from Tampa. He got to the airport at like seven something in Tampa p.m. Okay. He's Slept in the Tampa Airport because by the time they they bordered them at 12 something, kicked them off the plane, said it was canceled. So then he had to fly to Milwaukee at 6 a.m. So he just slept. And I have a picture of that. Danny and Gabby sleeping on the floor in Tampa Airport, waiting for their six o'clock flight to get to Milwaukee, and then they had to drive two hours.

SPEAKER_06 22:24

Yeah, somebody I can't remember who it was. Somebody asked Danny, like, oh, where'd you come from? He's like, I don't know, man. I just drove. They were like, what state were you? And he goes, I don't know, man. I just drove. And he had no, they were he was so me. Yeah. So to be, I really felt like day one, it was really for you guys just survive in advance. Just get those, just get those.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

You know, that's where I'm getting at, right? Right before the game, I said, Listen, your parents did everything they can to get you here. That just shows they believe that you could go out there and get a bid this weekend. For sure. I know you could go out there and get a bid. We have to push. This is a time we have to push. We gotta get into you know contentions of gold. We gotta do that. We gotta do everything we can. And let me tell you something. That first game, you would have never thought that we were late.

SPEAKER_09 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Like we had girls late, that girls had barely any sleep. These girls went out there firing. It was so fun to watch. And I was like, let's play without sleep all the time. Like and then we, yeah, we won our second game. And when that break came, I could just see it, them warming up. It was just exhaustion, right? But at that point, my players, and I can't say, even that last game, they still gave their all. You can't do anything about being tired. Yeah. You know, and we end up, it was it kind of sucked because again, it was either we're gonna be first in our bracket the next day, yeah, or fourth. And we were ranked fourth today in our bracket, and kind of was also in our favor. Guys, have you ever been an hour early of playing time? Our last game was set for 7:30, and we started at 6:30. You walked, you were amazing.

SPEAKER_06 24:03

You were they were, it was like I mean it was like 7:32, and we were leaving. Not yeah, not the game over at 7 32, like we were walking out. We were out of the gym. I've never heard of that, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

It was like I I said, hey, it's the volleyball gods letting us, you know, come in, leave early tonight, and then we had the bye the first game, so we didn't have to be there at eight.

SPEAKER_06 24:24

That's so you know, that's the great thing about the fourth seed, is you have that extra hour of sleep. I think if you're AM wave, there's a lot to be said that the fourth may be the best seed to have because you don't you can get it. I like the third because I know everybody likes the third, everybody likes the third because of that.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

So at least I have not seen a single moment of today's and I miss my daughter's.

SPEAKER_06 24:41

And by the way, yeah, Fernando's daughter is on Elise's team.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

If you didn't, yeah, no, so um our first game was a little rough, so we didn't play up till I was there potential. We needed a little time to to warm up. Um, after we lost that, we were we were up by 11 points in the second set. We were up 16. Oh, it was a little more. I think it was 16-4. Wow. Yeah, so we were up by 12 points, and we lost.

SPEAKER_06 25:09

Was it was it coaching?

SPEAKER_02 25:11

It you know, it's always the coach's fault. It's always the coach's fault, you know. I I was the one who hit in the net. I was the one who served out, right? I was the one who shrinked the pass, you know. Service C was terrible. I just look like crap. I look like crap, you know. It was all my fault. It's always the coaches, you know. Always the coaches. Always. But at that, at that moment, you're just thinking, you gotta make sure your girls believe that they can win the next two games. I knew they can. It's whether they can believe that they can. And the biggest, I always say the biggest thing in volleyball is mental game. I don't care how big the people are on the other side. If you're mentally there, you're gonna go play the game. You're gonna go play it as best as you can, and you're gonna succeed. I don't care what anyone says, it's all up in the head.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

That's a great approach.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

It's all up in the head. You have that mentality of just you gotta let it go and keep going, you're gonna be successful. Right? So the second game, I after the first game, I said, listen, we're playing back to back. We don't we don't have time to dwell on this. Get some water. We gotta go. We gotta push. You know you need you need to win the next game. Meanwhile, we just lost the second seed. We have to go play the first seed. Yeah, right then and there can mentally get people in the head like we just lost the second seed. How are we gonna beat the first seed? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_06 26:20

Well, I was coming from I I was you know helping Coach Fernando uh his team because he needed a little help. So I helped them win after I helped them win their first match, I went over to I went over to I went over to yours and um you know it was to help her win that game. To help her win that game. Well, that's what I'm getting at. So when I got there, everybody was so down. They had just lost, and everybody was so down, and then I got there and I just felt like I cheered everyone up.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Um when when your team is losing, it's the coach's wall. And then when your team is winning, it's not the coach's it wasn't the coach's job. Correct. You know, coach didn't do anything. Correct. Right? This is Davis right now.

SPEAKER_06 26:58

That's Davis reasoning right there. Davis reasoning one of them.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

No, you know, second game. They busted them up. Yeah, I I made some lineup changes. Um, I would say they turned out pretty successful.

SPEAKER_06 27:08

I would say so.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

And the girls went out firing, and they beat the crap out of this.

SPEAKER_06 27:16

I mean, it was like at one point it was like it was it was sad once it was like 19 to 3. No, one something it was insane. It was it was I remember 16 to 3 or 17 to 2. No, it was definitely 17 to 3 because I remember saying, Yeah, oh, it's a football score. Usually the buckets.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

I want to say it was like what the score was 25-6, or I don't remember.

SPEAKER_06 27:34

No, no, they ended up with 12. But but it was because but it was because you know you guys just it was it was a beat.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

It was a beatdown, and this team just beat our local rivals, one of our local rivals, which was Tampa United. In two, in two. So we played Tampa United already before today three times. So when you see that tight of a score, you're thinking, oh, yeah, this is gonna be not so easy. And they just beat them in two. So I was like, we made that team look like they didn't deserve to be here. It was I was great. Well, when I got there, it was great, it was fun.

SPEAKER_06 28:10

When I was I wasn't the first one, I got to the second one. I'm like, at some point, you know, you're up eight zero, and I'm like, okay, at some point, you know, they're gonna get three points in a row, then it's gonna be, you know, it's gonna be eight, three, and then it's gonna be it's gonna be nine, three, then it's gonna be nine-seven, and it's just gonna kind of chip away, chip away, chip away. Right. No, that was not how it worked, and then you then you go into the second set, and I'm like, okay, because they got a little momentum at the end of the first set. You're like, okay, more than likely they're gonna, they're gonna come out guns of blazing in the second set. And they did to a point. I want to say it was like they were up like four to three, and then we just went on a roll. And it was just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

And I gotta say, the the our last two games, our serving was exactly what it needed to be. Yeah, that we haven't had the last two days. Yeah, right. And and in the last few tournaments, to be honest. Yeah, and our serve receive looked better. Then we had our little break after the game two. We went to play.

SPEAKER_06 29:02

And and before we get there, before we get there, so it I'm I'm excited. If you look at the if you look at the pool, I've never seen this before. Everybody was one and one, and everybody was two and two in sets. So no everybody had beaten, everybody had beaten everybody in the same way, but nobody had gone to three. Never see I don't think I've ever seen that before. So it was it was legitimately a because it was it was you know, us against, of course, Tampa United, who we seem to play at every single turnover.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

So we already knew once we beat the one seed that we kind of screwed up the bracket, right? Yeah, so we were like, if we're gonna get a win, it needs to be this one and it needs to be now. This has kind of happened to us in sunshine. We won one game on Saturday, so I mean it's gold because we beat the right team. So we beat the team that beat another team, right? Right? That's the one seed, and you know, or might be taking it, you know.

SPEAKER_06 29:53

Right, but then going into that game, you knew that if you it was better or go home.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

You know, people played after us, and then we realized when we got into our third match, all right, we win, we secure gold, that's it, no matter what, because of how everything else was shaken out.

SPEAKER_06 30:07

And we've played, like you said, Tampa United three times. And yeah, and and and first of all, nothing but respect for them. They are a great team, they are very competitors, very similar level to us.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

Um they swing hard, they hit hard. Yeah, they've got they're not a they're not a team afraid to go hit the ball. No. If they're gonna go down, they know they're gonna go down swinging. And I love that. So I don't like I'm gonna go down tipping or free balling. No, they didn't they didn't hand us the game, they made us earn every win we've had against them.

SPEAKER_06 30:36

I mean, and like the first two times we played them, we beat them in two, but I mean it was 25-23, 26-24, 25-22. I mean, every and then they they've got a silver burger. And in three, yeah. In in in three, and it was like, you know, 15-30. So we are I mean, it's neck and neck. Like I guarantee if you look at the total point differential before before today, it was very, very close. We probably had them by 10 points max.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

You know, it was for some reason on Thursday. I knew we were gonna see them. And I just thought they they're not, they're not gonna win against us. They're just not. They're just not.

SPEAKER_09 31:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

I I know my girls. I know, I know that mentality they have. When it comes down to having to fight and they know they need to in order to move on, they're gonna show up.

SPEAKER_09 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

And they did that. They showed up, they showed up. Let me tell you something. First of all, thank you, Tampa United, for calling early timeouts, because the minute a team does that, to me, I think that's a gift. It's you have the momentum stuck. They used both their timeouts in the first set by and this is good on our end. Like we were doing our job by the time we got to 14 or 15 points and we were ahead. So I'm like, guys, there's if the only way this game is stopping is if we stop it. This is our like we we're controlling this now, you know, and then they slowly, you know, started coming up. This is swinging great, we're missing some blocks. Our defense was just not there in certain situations, and the great thing is I never saw any panic in my player's face. That's the difference between other games we've lost in first sets like this. We end up winning 26-24. I had to use twenty two amount, but we ended on a block from Emma that oh my gosh, it just said game over. That was it. It just she hit it so hard. And I we said, guys, you just need to place the block there. They're gonna swing. We know where they're swinging to. Put the block there, and we told them where, and they did their job, and they Emma pressed so hard the ball just went straight down. There was no like, and I kid you not, you would have thought that was a championship game right there, because the parents like Emma somehow was like getting pushed into the parents that were sitting, like our girl, our parents. The parents were pushing her like in celebration. It was really cute. Like our whole bench ended up on the court. It was cute, it was really cute. Yeah, um, it was great, and I think we needed that because you know, they end up getting some momentum in that second set where I was like, Oh my goodness, this at the end of the first set, like this can carry on to the second. This is not gonna be good, you know. Like they're on a hot, but Emma stopped that. She was like, mm-mm, like we're gonna end on the Emma was on a mission crazy. Emma was not losing, and then that third set, it was there was nothing stopping us. We were loud, they were obnoxious, like you know, their their coach got yellow carded for yelling at the down ref. Like, we played a clean game at the end of the day. We just played a clean game mentally, physically, everything. And they knew they needed to get into gold. So I said that like the team I saw today, I said, this is a USA level team. If we can play like this, we can go very far. And now we're playing for gold tomorrow. You know, I'm not gonna talk anymore because I I don't even I don't even want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_06 33:53

Yeah, but no, I I was I I love when your team, when your team brings the energy, they are an unbelievably fun team to watch.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Fun team to watch for sure.

SPEAKER_06 34:02

And that but they you know they don't know they don't bring it, they didn't have it on day one.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

You know, I did have this mom. I don't I don't know if it was a Tampa United mom or just someone else watching our game. She comes up to me, this is probably 30 minutes after our game ended against them, and she goes, I just want to say not only do I love your team's energy, but you on the sideline I think was just helping fuel the process. Like they were just nothing was stopping at them. She goes, I knew we were chest bumping them on the timeouts. I loved it, I loved it. She had like a really deep Spanish accent, it was cute. I loved it. I was like, Oh, thanks. And I look at sometimes you love feedback, and Emma was like, Yeah, someone told me earlier that my sets are really good, so it made me happy. I mean, someone went to Danny, oh the up ref the ref he like enjoyed, he said he enjoyed me and Danny coaching. He's like, Man, you two are just da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But you guys Danny's like, Man, I love your guys' energy, it was just great. So I'm happy to hear that. I'm happy that's how we ended, and that's how we're going into day three. You know, that's all I can ask for. So the girls, I mean, every tournament we've been in gold, every qualifier we've been in gold for USA, the only tournament we have not been in gold is Gasparella.

SPEAKER_06 35:19

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Um I said from the beginning of the season, I don't want to play Gasparella. I already knew that yeah, I already I like speak the future.

SPEAKER_06 35:26

Yeah. Well, so yeah, so tomorrow, tomorrow is bring out the cards. Tomorrow, tomorrow is obviously a huge day. Um, we have of our 11 teams here, we have five that have made it to gold, I believe. Five or six.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Yeah, we have Britney's going to gold, me and Fernando, Katia, Michaela, and Michaela.

SPEAKER_06 35:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:49

We got five.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

I mean, that's incredible. It is. I mean, like, and Michaela just keeps on winning. I mean, Michaela just just with what she does. I mean, she just keeps on winning, keeps on winning, keeps on winning.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

David's just trying to get brownie points for Michaela stuff.

SPEAKER_06 36:02

Yeah, well, I'm pretty much terrified of her, so I'm gonna continue to do that. Um, and then you know, Britt Britney's 15s.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Yeah, um oh, I love I I got to watch him play a little today. Yeah, and the parents were like, oh, I did say I was gonna talk about this on the podcast. They're right side, Gabby. Yeah, the setter that's also setter.

SPEAKER_09 36:20

Monster.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

She hit a ball so dang hard. You know, and usually when I go see other teams, I'm like chill with the parents, like I just hang out. That team's parents are a vibe, and I'm enjoying it. And they were like doing this like a I don't know what they were doing, but I loved it.

SPEAKER_06 36:40

They have their ice ice baby chant too.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

Let me tell you something. Yady went up and murdered a ball in the third set. I was like, oh my goodness, I'm talking about this on the podcast. It was disgusting. Yeah, like the LaBarrel was just like uh like she had it lying too. She was like, uh, like the ball went past her and LaBarrel still, uh, like where is the ball? That thing went down so fast, so hard. It was incredible. Uh um uh Carly was serving in the third set, like seven, eight points. Yeah, get them ahead, right? Yeah, I mean, and and and that was like a reflection on their their defense. They were like getting blocked at the net, her middle was going up, right? Everything. It was just it was it was awesome to watch. I was like, yeah, and it was like their second game. So I'm like, okay, they're going into goal tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Let's go. Another fun team to watch. Yeah. It's interesting because uh and and just going back to my 13s, we were today just you know, at times we were just grinding it, and it was like great level that we were playing. We had just won the first set, we lost the second set, and I happened to tell my kids, hey, we're up for the third set. Let's just go ahead and go for broke. And you should have seen the confusion on my kids' faces. I'm like, oh my god, you guys know that? And and that saying, and they were just like, never heard it. What does that even mean? And I'm like, oh my god, guys, let me just explain that some other time. I just I just want to make sure you just go all out and just keep it on the court. I think I got it more confused than that is one.

SPEAKER_06 38:20

Can we tell the the lazy story? The lazy story about utilize. Oh, Laney. Laney, Laney, I'm sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Laney, so I I think it was like 13's year, right? 13 years. It was 14s.

SPEAKER_06 38:31

Oh, because Collie was there. So it was 14s.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Yeah, so I uh was coaching this 14 team years ago, right? I'm not gonna say how many. I call it timeout. We're sending the same person, we're sending the same person. So I go to my setter Laney, and I'm like, hey, I need you to utilize all your hitters. And she's like, You got it, coach. I got you, coach. She was a very like, you remember Laney? We had her for a few years. Oh yeah, yeah. Laney and Delaney for you know, and I was she was like, All right, I got it. Okay, I could do it, I'll do it. I'm like, all right, timeout's done, goes back on the court, we pass the ball. She sets Jelissa. Jelissa the ball out. We pass the ball, she sets Jelissa again, it goes out again. It just happened a few times. I think it was the third time I was like, time out again. Like literally three points later, call a timeout. I go, Hey Laney, she's gonna go. Do you know what utilize means? No, coach, I don't. That's my favorite. That's one of my favorite stories.

SPEAKER_06 39:32

And if you know I can I wasn't obviously in the huddle, but if you know Laney, like I can totally picture. I love Lainey. She's like, she's the best, but oh my gosh, I could totally like I can't I kid you not.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

I was just laughing. I just I I think I was like tears coming down my face, and Jelissa going, oh Laney, I don't, I didn't, I was wondering why she was setting me. I was the one making the errors. Like she's like, no, coach, I don't know what it is. Yeah, oh my god, it's cute. There's a moment that you don't forget, you know. It's just fun. That's one of my favorite.

SPEAKER_06 40:04

I wasn't even there for, but that's still one of my favorites, one of my favorite stories ever. So yeah, so tomorrow, big day for everybody. Um, Britney's got Britney's gotta win four. Fernando, he's gotta show up. That's right, show up looking good for pictures. He's gotta brush his hair for the picture. Fernando's gonna brush his hair for pictures.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Um, Fernando gets me upset one day. I'm just gonna shave off the little bit of hair you do have left.

SPEAKER_06 40:29

I'm gonna get him a toupee. That's what we're gonna get. We're gonna get him, we're gonna get him a toupee.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

This is the second time because the first the first uh bit we got was also the second day. Yeah, yeah. This open bit also the second day. He doesn't understand it.

SPEAKER_06 40:40

He doesn't even have to coach on, he doesn't even have to coach anything on the bottom.

SPEAKER_10 40:42

Dude, give me give me the little because I want a little seeing two days.

SPEAKER_06 40:45

I can't help myself. So yeah, he doesn't have to have the day three stress. Um Elise gotta win two, maybe three, depending on how it works out in the in the bracket. Yeah, um, Cody, I think, has to win. Same thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

Yeah, I I want to say we're around, I think it was two when I checked earlier today.

SPEAKER_06 41:02

For you, yeah. So yeah, you're two if one of the teams that has a USA bid, who's currently undefeated, as long as they advance to the to the semifinal. So if they do that, then you're in. If they're not, then you're gonna have to play.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Hey, you know, my mindset is not the minimum, mine's the max. Whenever you want to win the whole tournament, yeah. We don't come here just to get what we need, right? We come here to win.

SPEAKER_06 41:22

So yeah. So it's gonna be it's gonna be a great, stressful, stressful day tomorrow tomorrow. And then we have a uh kind of an early flight, you know, coming back. So hopefully we don't have to reschedule. But if it if it means us getting a bid, I will stay in Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

I will, I will, I will walk home if that means I get a bid.

unknown 41:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:40

I'm missing my flight. All right, I'm gonna go bottom. Oh my gosh. We're our our podcast has concluded today. We don't need these people. All right, so we have should we let him in? Should we let him in? All right. I mean, you can already hear them, so we have just been joined by Kate, Maddie, Brittany, and Michaela. So the first person who's gonna be has the microphone is the famous Catherine. Kate, famously known as TMK, which she's been she's been given that nickname. So, Kate, how are you doing today?

unknown 42:12

I'm bad.

SPEAKER_06 42:17

Sorry, Kate. Sorry, sorry about that. My bad. I don't know, I don't know what's wrong with that microphone. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Just so you guys know, like Davis that you guys see for like the parents, like coaches, like that's not the David that that we see every day. Davis is actually the meanest person you'll ever be.

SPEAKER_06 42:32

I am not mean at all.

SPEAKER_03 42:33

Like he bullies me every time I see him.

SPEAKER_06 42:36

Listen, listen, it's not at all true. I just fight back because I am ganged up on by everybody here.

SPEAKER_03 42:43

So such a lie.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

I am a victim. I'm a victim here. I am. Right, Michaela? No. Michaela is never satisfied. That is that is Michaela, never satisfied. So we also have Michaela, who is headed to gold. Yes, I am. What's your record?

SPEAKER_07 43:01

Um, five and one.

SPEAKER_06 43:02

I'm a little disappointed.

SPEAKER_07 43:04

I know, it's very unlike us.

SPEAKER_06 43:05

So so I yeah, yesterday when I saw Kate, um saw Michaela and Kate, I was like, How'd you get? Oh, I'm sorry, it's Michaela and Britney. I was like, Oh, how you doing? And they both shook their head, no. I was like, You guys lost? They're like, Yeah. I had to look it up to see that they were both lying. That's why you lost today because you did that to me.

SPEAKER_08 43:21

The best part of it though was that we didn't even talk about that. We just we just were on the same wavelength. I saw Michaela did it behind me, and then I saw your face, and I was like, Oh, I'm gonna go with this.

SPEAKER_06 43:31

Yeah, I was like, I was devastated. Because I'm a firm believer that you really need to do well on day one. Like day one, you should be dominant. If you're not, it's gonna it's usually gonna be rough, rough tournament, you know, unless you're like Elisa's team and half your team's asleep. But you know, generally speaking, you have to do that. So Coach Maddie is also here. Coach Maddie is not have a team here, but since Britney has two teams, she is Britney's assistant. Correct?

SPEAKER_04 43:56

Yeah, and I've now been mistaken for Davis' daughter. And Tina's daughter.

SPEAKER_06 44:01

So where were you today when when you should have been here? Because you said you said you're with your parents.

SPEAKER_04 44:07

My actual parents were here because I'm from Illinois. So they actually drove up. But uh yeah, no uh no parents work for Kiva.

SPEAKER_06 44:17

I know, unfortunately. But yeah, um, so yeah, they all joined us a little late, but you know, I'm not salty. I was actually very salty. I know. He was very salty. He literally blew our phones. I was very unhappy because I had all this. I was like, I had in my mind I had what we were gonna do, and then he threw me for a loop.

SPEAKER_08 44:36

Sometimes things just gotta take a turn. It's okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

You have to be able to go out the flow. See, now you don't have to follow the script. This is even more fun, it's more authentic. It's like we can explain it.

SPEAKER_06 44:46

Yeah. So how'd you guys teams do today? Um, Kate?

SPEAKER_03 44:50

Um, well, today we went one and two. And you know what? I'm not even mad about it because we did better than our last qualifier. That's all that matters. That first team. As long as we're improving, that's all I care about.

SPEAKER_06 45:01

That first team you guys played in. I don't like to call people sandbaggers, but they were sang. They were sandbagging.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 45:06

They were sandbagged. Their middle was a monster.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

And their pens.

SPEAKER_06 45:10

Yeah, and their pants.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

No, they were just an all-around great team, which I'm I'm glad about it. And I even told my kids I was like, you know, this is a great lesson learned moment. This is what we need to work on, and we're gonna go on to our next qualifire, and we're gonna do even better. You know, we gotta make these uh these losses as a lesson. And that's that's the takeaway I got from this tournament.

SPEAKER_06 45:29

Yeah, we when I walked up and I saw their girls' faces, I was like, oh, this may not be going well. But they they did well the second better better the second match, and then they did really well the third match, so they did a good job. They're they're a fun team. And we love Kate, even though I don't tell her that all the time. Maddie, did you have fun today coaching? Did you coach third teams?

SPEAKER_04 45:46

I ended up coaching both teams today. They are both a blast. They're both fighters, like both teams will just fight tooth and nail to get to the end, no matter what position they're put in, and a lot of three setters, but that shows some grit tenacity.

SPEAKER_08 46:03

So let me just tell you, they always have to go three sets. Always. I gotta get on some blood pressure medication or some anxiety meds because these two teams are killing me this year. Like last year I had one that would kill me and one that I was like very confident in all the time. I mean, they didn't stress me.

SPEAKER_06 46:25

You had the 12s last year. I had the 12s last year. They didn't believe in going three.

SPEAKER_08 46:28

Yeah, no, they they would get it done. This year, both of my teams just really want to go three sets. Yeah. So my 13s are in silver and my 15s are still going for gold.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

So do they usually win the first set or the second set? Because I feel like it makes a difference.

SPEAKER_08 46:44

Um the 13s usually win the first set, forget how to play volleyball in the second set, and then at Sunshine, we like came out strong. We were winning pretty much all of our third sets, but it's honestly just a coin clip of who's gonna kind of show up and and show out. So and the 15s same thing. When we were in Minnesota last weekend or two weekends ago, it was just they they were opposite. They would not show up the first set, come back and bang out the second set, and then third set, usually win, but again, a toss-up. So they could just kind of come out stronger.

SPEAKER_06 47:20

Well yeah, we're really I mean, really happy. You know, fifty fifteen's made it to gold. Um, thirteens didn't quite make it, um, but they were they were neck and neck, you know, they just didn't quite pull it out in the end. But super proud of them. Um bit tomorrow.

SPEAKER_07 47:35

Thanks for asking how my team did. I appreciate it. I thought we talked about your team. I already told you you guys went two and one.

SPEAKER_06 47:40

Tell me about your team, Michaela.

SPEAKER_07 47:41

Everyone else got this.

SPEAKER_06 47:44

Tell me the story about your team.

SPEAKER_07 47:46

Well, my team went two and one.

SPEAKER_06 47:47

Um for the loss. Was it your fault? I'll take blame.

SPEAKER_07 47:52

I'll take blame for sure. Um no, they balled out. They're they're doing so much better with just playing till the very end. I have I have 12 people on my team and it's all hands on deck. So and and start receive, and my defense is just playing like top this weekend.

SPEAKER_06 48:08

So you lose your voice a little bit.

SPEAKER_07 48:10

Yeah, I'm I'm getting pumped and getting getting excited every single time.

SPEAKER_06 48:13

I know. I'm my my throat is all is sore from all the cheering and yelling, so it's it's it's very tough to be my to do what I do out here and still tough it out and be on time for the podcast. If you guys can see the look Kate's giving.

SPEAKER_08 48:25

Such a hard life he lives going and getting food and cheering.

SPEAKER_06 48:29

Yeah, we had some fun, we had some good, some good food just so far. You know, we didn't talk about it.

SPEAKER_08 48:34

Except for those chicken tenders you brought me, those sucked. They weren't good, no, they're disgusting.

SPEAKER_06 48:38

Really? Yeah, the fries were okay, but the chicken tinners sucked. Yeah, so on Thursday we we all came in, um went to go eat lunch in Chinatown, which was great, and then went to well, I mean and the Savedras and Jordan, we all went to get some cinnamon rolls, which you guys totally missed out on. Um, those were amazing. Um and then went to go get pizza. We all went to go get we all went on on the dinner cruise, which was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 49:03

Oh my god, that was really fun. That was fun.

SPEAKER_06 49:05

That was like a what a sunset cruise, not a dinner cruise.

SPEAKER_07 49:09

What I learned is Chicago loves vertical lines in the buildings.

SPEAKER_06 49:13

I learned a lot about architecture. That was really pretty.

SPEAKER_08 49:15

And that the buildings can sway in the wind. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:18

That was kind of talking about it. Yeah, I don't like that. Yeah, that there was that one building that's like comes to a point at the bottom. I did not like I would I did not want to go in that building. That feels very unsafe. That is not that is very unsafe. But weather's been, you know, aside from you know, after yeah, terrible. Yesterday was nice.

SPEAKER_08 49:36

Super windy watching, yeah. Super duper windy. Tornado watching my kids didn't even make it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:42

We we talked about that earlier. We talked about the teams who you know didn't get there. Oh, yeah. So Brittany on day one. What happened on your on day one?

SPEAKER_08 49:50

On day one, I had two kids show up basically right at warm-ups for my second match, but then one was getting her ankle taped, so she missed warm-ups in general. She had a sprained ankle anyway, so it kind of worked out. I got to rest her the whole day. But yeah, that you know, the just travel plans didn't work out the way it was supposed to be. It was kind of crazy, and so I was missing two of my key players for the first the whole first match of the first day, but we still pulled it out. We had people playing different positions.

SPEAKER_06 50:16

Well, I was talking about what happened to the team that you played first on day one for your 15s.

SPEAKER_08 50:21

Oh, I forgot about that. Um they had five players, one of which had um, she was injured, so she could only play basically one arm because she had like some type of splint thing on the other arm on her wrist. So they had a forfeit. So I had the easiest dub of my life. I wasn't mad about it. 25 25-0, 25-0, baby.

SPEAKER_06 50:45

Yeah, and they had a so yeah, but then did they ever play the last match?

SPEAKER_08 50:48

Yeah, so the worst part about it was we still had to wait around. Um, we started like the nine o'clock match a little bit early, but then they were the three seeds, so they played 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. and they were waiting on their sixth five and a half player to come. Uh, so she was in the air. They were dragging out, dragging out. They had to forfeit the 11 o'clock match. We had to wait a whole hour for the 12 o'clock match, and then she finally showed up, but it was at this point 12:15. So the coach is calling her, they're looking for her. She's sprinting into the court. They had to forfeit the first set. Again, they're playing with now five and a half players, and the score was they ended up losing, but it was 29 to 31. So they did well. They did well. I mean, honestly.

SPEAKER_06 51:37

Yeah, I mean, it was it was nice to get for you to get that extra, you know, that extra game off. Oh, absolutely. But you gotta feel bad for the other teams. I thought we felt that came it wasn't like they were late, they came from Denver.

SPEAKER_08 51:48

Yeah, it just was like the luck of the draw with the travel. So we felt super bad.

SPEAKER_06 51:52

But it definitely it definitely benefited us.

SPEAKER_08 51:54

It didn't. I'm not I'm still not mad about it.

SPEAKER_06 51:56

Yeah, so it was good.

SPEAKER_04 51:58

Can I also shout out Brittany for being recognized on the podcast all the way from Ohio? So who was it? Yeah, so it was a team that we played the first day, her third teens, and the coach came up. She has a niece in Florida and said that you know, loves FIVA, found out we had a podcast, heard the podcast, asked if I was Britney basically, and ended up meeting Britney finally. So Britney's famous.

SPEAKER_06 52:24

It's the number one. I don't know if you guys know it is the number one volleyball podcast in the state of Florida.

SPEAKER_04 52:28

I believe it. And now sound off in the comments. See where what's our farthest listener, you think? Like we got anybody in California? I'm sure. I'm sure. I think we're worldwide by now. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 52:37

I'm pretty sure we have like Hong Kong.

SPEAKER_08 52:38

Yeah, I gotta say, I think we're the number one podcast in in the United States, probably.

SPEAKER_07 52:43

I think it's like I got a friend in the Netherlands listening. Yeah, see?

SPEAKER_06 52:47

We're worldwide. I know. So one of my um one of the global I have a uh I have a friend of mine who does a um he does a podcast with Skip Bayless. So if you um he played for the Bucks, and so he's become a friend of mine because I did his, you know, was his family photographer for so long and whatnot. But anyway, he he he texted me. He's like, hey, we got voted for uh whatever it is. I'm not a Grammy, but whatever it is for podcasts, he got a vote for me. And I was like, um, I don't know if you know this, but I also have a podcast. So I will vote for you this year because we weren't nominated because we're so new. But I was like, next year, it's on, baby. We're gonna take them down. We're taking down Skip Bayless. Do either of you know who Skip Bayless is? Okay.

SPEAKER_08 53:26

Nope.

SPEAKER_06 53:26

Oh my gosh. Yes, he's very famous, very famous debater. But anyway, so yeah, we're we're we're the big time now.

SPEAKER_08 53:34

That gave me a confident boost, so shout out.

SPEAKER_06 53:37

Yeah, so all right. Well, thank you guys for joining us. Better late, better late than never. Um, good luck to everybody tomorrow. I expect multiple bids. Yeah, I'm looking right at you. I'm looking, I'm looking right at you, Michaela.

SPEAKER_07 53:51

I expect the camera to be out, pictures of my team.

SPEAKER_06 53:54

Mic me up. Yeah, Michaela gets on. So Michaela has to be on the podcast. Michaela's the on the podcast. She's the first one on the podcast. First guest. Oh, I'm nuts before Britney. Well, Connie Fernando, because we had to. We've got I'll be back. Yeah, I got booted out of that one. Yeah, put you on, and it's not even I don't even, she wasn't even home yet. And she texted me, I need to be mic'd up.

SPEAKER_07 54:16

I'm like, God, like, give me a promised me last year.

SPEAKER_06 54:19

I don't remember that. I also prom I also promised you croissants too that I haven't delivered on.

SPEAKER_07 54:23

And you need to, you got one more day. She already got one.

SPEAKER_06 54:25

Just oh you didn't, actually.

SPEAKER_08 54:27

She's had two from her parents.

SPEAKER_06 54:33

Who also bought me a plate. You don't need you don't need a grand.

SPEAKER_04 54:36

Sorry to bring it up again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:38

Oh, oh, also, Brittany, I don't know if you know, but you uh were demoted to third favorite director now. We moved we moved Fernando up to two because you weren't here. So it's me, Fernando. Me, Fernando.

SPEAKER_08 54:51

Who decided?

SPEAKER_06 54:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_08 54:52

Elise was in our corner, so her vote goes to me automatically as best friend duty.

SPEAKER_06 54:57

So we're not gonna do this now, but we are gonna eventually have a discussion on who is the how people would rank the directors. Like we have to have like a parent vote, like one, two, three, three.

SPEAKER_08 55:07

It has to be anonymous though.

SPEAKER_07 55:09

I think it's important that we don't ask questions we don't want the answers to.

SPEAKER_06 55:13

Oh, I'm ready for the answer. So there's a parent vote, there's gotta be a kid vote, and then there's gotta be a coach's vote. I don't think I'm gonna win the coaches' vote. I'm gonna go ahead and say that right now. I don't think I've got to go.

SPEAKER_08 55:25

Y'all better vote for me, I'm just saying right now.

SPEAKER_06 55:27

But that'll be that'll be a that'll be a next topic of conversation. Maybe we'll do that in the next episode. But thank you guys all for joining us. And we kind of went off the script here when they the coaches came in, but I appreciate you guys coming in early. I do have a special announcement though. Thanks, Dale.

SPEAKER_07 55:44

Um, I am auditioning for American Idol, so I would appreciate all the votes when that comes out.

SPEAKER_06 55:50

So if we could make sure we're okay, vote vote for Michaela on American Idol. All right. Thank you guys, and we will talk to you guys soon.