What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Coach Chijo podcast. Real conversations about volleyball, coaching, growth, and the journey behind it all. So let's get into it. Just go. We're at Volleyball Festival, and I gotta say, this is the first thing I'd like to say before we even welcome you to the podcast. Volleyball Festival as a coach has been the most fun, favorite, amazing tournament to bring teams. No other tournament compares.
SPEAKER_03That's what we like to hear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So welcome to the Coach Chijo podcast. And speaking of festival, we have Brian Kelly.
SPEAKER_03Glad to be here, CJ.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're he's running the show now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, our family's been doing this for 42 years now. My in-laws, Dave and Bernice Epperson, started this back in 1984. And my wife Anna and I were kind of running things now. Dave is still with us. He's going to be 95 years this year. Still doing great, still doing well back in back in Houston. And then our kids, Cassie and Connor, they're working with us, and their spouses are here. And our granddaughter, baby Berkeley, is here with us this year for the first time.
SPEAKER_01And then we have Isabella. Isabella Superhelper.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So she's here because uh she has some questions too from a player perspective. Okay. Right? We like those. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Should I get us started with the first time?
SPEAKER_01Let's get it started and figure out why I love this tournament so much.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so here's a fun fact about me. I've actually never done this tournament as a player. I was hoping to do it this year possibly, but season got cut a little a little bit short with trips and stuff. But I've heard so many amazing things about this tournament. Like every player talks, like, oh yeah, going to festival. Like it's such a huge deal. Like this is such a big thing that you're doing. Is there one like message that you want to relate to players? Like something that you want to leave them with, like feeling?
SPEAKER_03Well, the reason we do this, and the reason we've done this for so long, it's really about family. You know, it's not just our family, but it's this is our festival family. So that that is what why we do this. And so, I mean, we take, you know, two weeks out of our summer. The kids spend a lot of time training for this. We want them to have fun. I mean, this is you know, you could be sitting at the beach or doing all kinds of things during the summer. So it's a big commitment to like spend, you know, you know, four or five days out here for people, and we want this to be fun. It's a family reunion, it's the festival family. And once you're here, you're always part of the festival family.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's awesome. Love that.
SPEAKER_03Now you want to play in the tournament.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm hoping to play next year here.
SPEAKER_03Well, whether you whether you play or whether you do what you're doing, I mean it doesn't matter. You still get the spirit, and that's what we want. We want everybody to have a good time, and we like people that have been coming for such a long time back in the Davis days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So, Isabella, who works with us on our staff and and helps run the booth. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, Isabella, you're enjoying this, I think, just as much as players are enjoying this.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, I see everyone coming, and one of my favorite things about working with you is talking with the players and talking with the parents and talking with the coaches, and everyone just always has a smile on their face. Everyone's having a good time here. The vibe around here is so awesome. Everyone is just having fun.
SPEAKER_03That's what we like. That's and that's why people come back, and that's again why we keep coming back. That's why we like to do it.
SPEAKER_01There is a team kind of work uh well, not working out, kind of just hanging out and doing some practice on a court, on an empty court. They're probably off. And Isabella just jumps in and starts playing with them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's awesome, so cool.
SPEAKER_03Or you stick around and get some of the staff late at night and get a pickup game going.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03So on our staff this year, we have a few collegiate players that are with our staff this year, so um we might get a little competition in for them.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow, have you ever jumped in on one of those games?
SPEAKER_03Uh maybe 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so Isabella lives here in Phoenix. Yes, I know that.
SPEAKER_03We appreciate it. She came to us through uh Teresa. Yeah, through our AZ Special Olympics contact.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So amazing.
SPEAKER_03And actually, another part of the family.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I love to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Okay, so doing all this, this has got to be a lot of work. Maybe it might not feel like work, but it's a lot of stuff going on. It's a lot of moving parts. What gets you up in the morning?
SPEAKER_03The fact that the result when we come here and seeing all those smiling faces and seeing everyone come in, that's what gets us up and gets us ready for putting this on. So we try to do all the little touches that people just maybe take for granted, but hopefully not. You know, like the name tags with everyone's names on it. You know, that's a lot of work. I mean, that's that's a couple couple days and nights of like going through spreadsheets and making sure the rosters are in there and the kids' names are spelled correctly because sometimes coaches don't put the names, you know, the right way or whatever. We're talking about the pass, the bag tags for the kids. I mean, that's a little thing, but to us, we know how important it is. So we that gets us up, and we'll spend those late nights making sure the printer gets the spreadsheet and it looks good and hopefully gets printed out correctly.
SPEAKER_01I know we're talking of other tournaments. You go to bag you go to tournaments, you get a bag tag. Here you get one with your name. Don't you put the number two?
SPEAKER_03Name, club, yes, yeah. So we we try to make it. I mean, it's a souvenir. So I love when I'm at one of our tournaments or somebody else's, and I see the festival logo on there on their bag. I mean, that's makes us proud.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I got my name on my badge. That's amazing. I mean, you don't you you don't get that anywhere else.
SPEAKER_03Some places, but thank you. Yes.
SPEAKER_01It's a personal touch.
SPEAKER_03We try we try to make everything as special as we can. So you could be the the best team in the country, or you could be just starting out, we're gonna we're gonna treat you the same. We want you to feel special when you're coming in, we want you to feel special while you're here, we want you to feel special when you go home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So we just want those lifetime memories to be you know with you when you leave.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome, yeah. And as a player, like being to some, I've been to some tournaments, but none like this ever before. But yeah, those little touches definitely they leave an impact on the player. I'm sure you can see it as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and we've got people, you know, within the AAU world that are running events now, and we work with them when they come to our leadership conference, and we help them kind of figure out some things they can implement into theirs to hopefully, you know, when you go to an AU tournament, you know, you kind of know that there's going to be some special touches. It's not gonna be hopefully just another tournament, it's gonna be something, something really nice. You know, we have Stars and Stripes out here in Mesa at uh AAG. We do our February event at the stadium, Festival Fiesta. We start a new event um in December right here at the convention center called the Holiday Heat. So kind of kick off the club season. Oh wow. Um, so we're trying to just make more opportunities for the kids to have a good time.
SPEAKER_00Nice, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01So now there are other little things, maybe not little. They're big to me, but they make a difference and differentiate your tournament from others. Like you have traditions. So first you have a theme for every year. We do. Right? So, what's the theme for this year?
SPEAKER_03This year it's called Defy the Net. So it's based a little bit on the the Wicked movie that some people may or may not know about. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, so a little small, a little small film. So we kind of played on that, and so our team, mostly led by my daughter Cassidy, uh, she comes up and kind of helps make those special days where you know it's like green versus black and you know other other special events that she likes to try to put on so people can really get into it and they dress up, and I love like to you know, tomorrow night there's the big welcome party, the player party. Uh we'll have a DJ and a stage and we'll throw out some balls and everyone will dance and the light show and uh the costumes that everybody comes in, like that makes it a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00So I've seen the pictures and everyone tries to everyone tries to outdo themselves, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, costumes, yeah, player party. Yes, that's that's an amazing tradition. There's another tradition that uh I still see going on, and that's a little gift exchange. Yes. When the players, you know, the referee calls a signal for both teams to come in and they go in the middle, they're exchanging gifts.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and I think a lot of tournaments have done that over the years. It may have, like after COVID, subsided a little bit, but we wanted to bring that back because it was it's a very special time because I mean one of the most, yes, they they give gifts from different parts of the country to the team that they're playing, but to us, the best gift is the gift of competition. And the fact that you have a team that you can play, play against and and you know, compete against, that's a gift. Because without that, you don't get to learn you know as much about yourself in certain situations, you don't get to grow, you don't get challenged, you know. Um, you know, that opportunity and that that's a gift that team is giving to you. And that's how I think you should always look at it.
SPEAKER_01That's a great perspective. I I I saw a match, I won't say which match it was, but it was a very lopsided score. But the one that was losing by a lot seemed to be having more fun than the one that was winning, including the parents.
SPEAKER_03Well, if you're losing by a lot, what else can you have besides have fun?
SPEAKER_01But you know, I mean you go to some other tournaments and you see a lot of kids getting down and stuff, but I tend to see more just overall, regardless of the scoreboard. Good, it's the fun of the competition, fun of the game.
SPEAKER_03And that's, you know, we hope, and and we know that the teams and the coaches and the parents, we hope that they're encouraging their kids to look at the other aspects of you know playing in a volleyball tournament. It's not always about winning. Winning, yes, competition is important, uh, but how you handle that, whether you're whether you're the winner or the loser, and how you treat your opponent, I mean, that's that's important. That's why we do this. So hopefully we can all be good examples and pass it on to the next generations. That's all we can ask for.
SPEAKER_01Okay. When you're running, when you're walking around all the courts, okay, what kind of thoughts run through your mind as you go around and watch the staff working, the referees working, the kids shouting, smiling, parents cheering?
SPEAKER_03I mean, you can't help help but um actually be, I mean, we're very proud. I mean, that's the first thing. And the fact that we have such a great staff, and and again, our staff's multi-generational. We have staff members that have, you know, there's three generations of their family that have worked at the festival. Um, and you know, we've lost, I mean, when you're around 42 years and we've lost people over the years, um, and but their memories live on in the things that we do, the traditions. Yeah. Um, you know, so it's okay, you're good.
SPEAKER_01This means a lot to you. This is why this term is special.
SPEAKER_03So my mother-in-law, who's no longer with us. I mean, she's all she's always here with us. She's always her spirit. Um I mean we love her.
SPEAKER_01Her spirit lives on. Yeah. She's here. She's here to turn, she is. She's on every single court. Yeah. Coaching for everything. For sure. Yeah, it's multi-generational. I mean, I I've not coached for 40 whatever years, I've coached for 30 whatever years, but I did bring kids of parents back.
SPEAKER_03So so, yes, I mean, we love seeing everyone have a good time. Um it's just, I mean, it it it touches you. I mean, when we have parents come back or coaches come back and talk about the times that they were here at Davis Areno, staying in an Arco arena with the big march in doing the Mac Arena.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_03It you know, it just makes us proud that they're able to come back and they talk about what a great time they had and how much it meant to them and the fact that they can bring their kids back. It's it's special.
SPEAKER_01It is special. It was special, it is special. I think it's gonna continue to be special. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Sorry. No, this is this means a lot to you. And I do I do have one thing missing right now in me. This is the first year I've come to volleyball festival without my own team. And I I am I am here. I get to see, I get to experience. You know, I'm taking a lot of photos with my followers. But as I walk around, I'm missing that team. There's a difference. I didn't think I'd feel this way, but I I missed where's my team? And I have had kids ask me, so how did your team do today? Because they don't know if I coach a team or not.
SPEAKER_03Did you coach this year?
SPEAKER_01No, I'm not coaching at all. I know. So I don't have a team. And then when the kid asks me, How did your team do? I was like, oh like, yeah, I don't have a team.
SPEAKER_03Well now, now everybody's your team. So there you go.
SPEAKER_00So many memories are clearly built throughout this festival. And do you have a favorite one that you can pinpoint or name? I'm sure there's so many, but is there one that just really sticks out to you? Oh gosh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, it's I mean, we we you know, you walk down through memory lane and you share stories. I mean, you know, there's behind the scenes stories, there's stories about, you know, the the welcome party and the march-ins, and you know, there's just I mean that's there's no way you could single out anyone memory because we create here so many memories together. And it's it's I mean you you mention one and then somebody mentions another. I mean it just it just it just continues. I mean, we've been here for for a couple days now in this tournament, and there's already memories, and we get together as a staff at the end of the day and get together and you know get a little bite to eat back at the room and we just share stories. You know, some good, some funny, some some not so good. So don't be the one that's not so good.
SPEAKER_01Well, there's all kinds of memories, memories and memories. Yes, absolutely. That's life. Life is not perfect.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, sometimes there's a prank or two that might be played.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'm sure no one plays a prank on you.
SPEAKER_01No, not at all. Not at all. Not especially not from Isabella. Hmm.
SPEAKER_00Maybe we have to start prank wars here.
SPEAKER_03Careful. Careful.
SPEAKER_00Is that something that's happened here before? Has there been a lot?
SPEAKER_03I don't know about prank wars. I don't know what that is. I didn't know what clipping really was until like a year ago, so you know.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, you should seen it.
SPEAKER_03He gets I I saw his video with all the clips.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it gets crazy sometimes.
SPEAKER_03It's a good thing he's strong to carry all those clips.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's clips. Okay, so I do want to mention one more thing, because early in the earlier in the year, there's another tournament that I've been to, right?
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01So what tournament is that?
SPEAKER_03Uh that's the Festival Fiesta in February. Always President's A weekend. Uh so we started that one a few years after we came to Phoenix, and we used the State Farm Stadium out in Glendale. We used AAG Arizona Athletic Grounds out in Mesa and a couple other facilities here in Arizona. We had 92 courts this last year. Um, again, teams from all over the country come to that one. A lot of Canadian teams come down. It's a special event, it's a lot of fun, it's a little more work because you have to you know move around town a little bit to your courts. Um, but everyone seems to have a good time, and uh it's a nice compliment to what we've done here in the summertime.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So I was there and along with Isabella helped.
SPEAKER_00That was my first time working with him, actually, and I could tell the vibe instantly. It was so amazing at every one of these kinds of tournaments.
SPEAKER_03Good. That's what we like to hear.
SPEAKER_00I love it. I love it here. It's so much fun. Everything is just so it just seems so chill and it doesn't feel like work, which is what I love about it.
SPEAKER_03Good. Well, it definitely shouldn't be work for the kids. Oh, yeah. So you might have to work a little bit harder.
SPEAKER_00A little bit, but it doesn't feel like it at all.
SPEAKER_01I try to make her work pretty hard. But she's good at what she does. You're very demanding. I know. High maintenance, I heard. I know because you know.
SPEAKER_00See me, I'm running back non-stop. You know why?
SPEAKER_01It's because I want every player that comes to say hi to me to have that moment. That's a good reason. Every moment is that player's moment.
SPEAKER_03That's and that's what that's why we like you. That's why you're here. Well, you're here for lots of reasons, but that's why we love having you here. And and the fact that you're you're here for the kids and the way you interact with the kids, and you did this when you were a coach, you know, all always. I mean, I remember when you're with Portland and coaching your teams, and yeah, um, you know, and it was great running into you um last year. And I asked, I'm like, what is going on? Why are these kids chasing you? Why are they taking your pictures? What what what's going on? Well, there's this little video we made.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, last year I remember I was, you know, we finished playing, and then my team was waiting for me for kind of like a daily recap, little meeting before we go back to the hotel. I was half an hour late. And they knew why. They knew why, because for me to get to the from the court all the way up to the lobby, I had to take like 50 photos.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And then you took every one of them, which is impressive.
SPEAKER_01I have I that's that's that's you.
SPEAKER_03That's that's what you that's what you do.
SPEAKER_01That's what I have that's what needs to be done. Yeah. I can't turn down a single kid.
SPEAKER_03No, no, you're very special, you know. So I we appreciate that you're here, you know, and we appreciate that you're putting on these clinics for the kids and you know helping them, you know, feel special and kids from different parts of the country that may not have had a chance to have a clinic from you in their area. But if you want them to come out to your area, just ask.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can fill out. I I travel across the country. I just taught I just spoke with Dig This. There you go. From Vegas. Yeah, from Vegas. Coach Ray. Bretta Ray just came up and he said, How can we get you out here? So we just had a chat. Um, but here, yes, we're running four free clinics. We've we just did one yesterday. I had no idea how it was gonna go. I think we had about 70 players.
SPEAKER_03Looked about like that, yeah.
SPEAKER_01On one court, and uh so yeah, brought to you by thanks for letting us use the court.
SPEAKER_03We're happy to have you.
SPEAKER_01That was that was amazing. I've never trained 70 players on one court before.
SPEAKER_03Well, and I'm sorry, it wasn't so easy to find open courts, so we had to kind of piece them in because we have so many teams here this year that we've got 95 courts going, but we were able to find find a few slots. Yeah, that's a few slots for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I'm doing two for session one and two for session two.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and then we have the you know, we use one of our courts on uh Friday and Saturday for our men's pro league, the VLA guys, the Phoenix Ascension, uh bringing in uh both pro uh men and women to play. So they'll be playing all day, Friday and Saturday on I think court 23, right by the. Yes, yeah, it's gonna be busy.
SPEAKER_01We get front row seats.
SPEAKER_03You do just watch out because they hit the ball pretty hard. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I was looking because I did hear that the pros are gonna be playing at the court that's next to us. And I was like, well, if we set up the table here and the outside's hitting there, probably gonna get hit in the head a couple times. We just gotta watch out though.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You can put Richard out in front. Oh yeah. Richard, Richard from it.
SPEAKER_00He can block.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Richard from Baden.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Richard from Baden. Yeah, we'll just put him out there and have him block so we're safe. Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah, hopefully. Okay, well, I hope to see you uh at the next. Oh, it's today. In 55 minutes, we're gonna have our second free clinic.
SPEAKER_03I'll swing by. I've still finishing my Chibolte bowl, so to come over here, but I'm gonna finish the second half of that and I'll come down.
SPEAKER_01Okay, come down, because I'd like to introduce you to all the the kids and it's not about me, it's about you.
SPEAKER_03But thank you.
SPEAKER_01But it's well, you said family, right? It is family. We don't leave anybody out out of the family. So your family, um you're born with, some you choose. Come out onto the court, get to know the players that are there. Sounds good. Yeah. Because without the festival family, they're not here. Perfect. Right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. That's what it's about.
SPEAKER_01That's what it's about. It's about the kids.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's about the mana, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So appreciate your time. Thank you. Now, now you can go finish the rest of lunch.
SPEAKER_00The Chipotle bowl sounds good.
SPEAKER_03It is. Sounds healthy. Is he not feeding you?
SPEAKER_00No, he is. We we just had a burger from downstairs. It's pretty good.
SPEAKER_03Is it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was craving a burger.
SPEAKER_03How's the food here?
SPEAKER_00It's pretty good. Is it? Yeah. The French fries? Oh my gosh. You know what, you know, some of the best French fries.
SPEAKER_03Do you know what my favorite is? Karen's ice cream. Karen's cream ring.
SPEAKER_01She's the wanting that ice cream.
SPEAKER_03That is the free. I've been eyeballing it. That is the best.
SPEAKER_00Is it really? Yeah, I heard they've been here for oh.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, yeah. She's here for all the events. And Karen and her family, another family business, and they do such a great job, and they're all their ice creams, you know, made special. I mean, they have their own factory that they make their own ice cream. And we're from Texas, and Bluebell ice cream is like the big Texas ice cream maker, and we thought that was good until we tried Karen's. Karen's, Karen's is sorry, Bluebell. Karen's is better.
SPEAKER_01So I've seen Karen's ice cream all the years have come since the festival has come here to Phoenix. I've never tried it. Karen! I've always you know why? Because with my teams, I have a C rule. Okay. Before, during, and after right after competition or practices, you don't eat things that begin with C. Like cookies, cola, chips, crap.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I have a C rule too.
SPEAKER_01And ice cream. You have a C rule?
SPEAKER_03I do.
SPEAKER_01What's your C rule?
SPEAKER_03See it? Eat it.
SPEAKER_01I find that one.
SPEAKER_00I like his rule better than your rule. What? See it, you eat it. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01See it, you eat it.
SPEAKER_03I love that actually, because I love food. Well, especially when it comes to Karen's.
SPEAKER_01I love food. And then now I don't have to feel guilty because if I see it, I eat it. There you go. Oh, this is a loose rule. This was worth the entire time spending, what, 20 minutes or so with you today?
SPEAKER_03Well, I appreciate you having me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I I I'm gonna I'm gonna go get her some Karen's ice cream.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, I'm excited now. What's your favorite flavor, strawberry. Strawberry.
SPEAKER_03I've tried the others. I come back to strawberry.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Might have to try that.
SPEAKER_01All right, Karen's ice cream. Here we come.
SPEAKER_03There you go. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Isabella. Great spending time with you.
SPEAKER_00Nice spending time with you.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_00Of course. Thank you for having me. All right.
SPEAKER_01Appreciate you being here today. Keep learning, keep growing. And remember, let's play volleyball because it's fun. And we'll see you in the next episode. Just go.