Matt Olson (00:00:00):
I felt when I was doing my thing and similar to Mike, is that a little fast twitchy? I'm a little like anxious. So is he like, I was that guy that was always early for sets. And so eventually my smarter partners would just start lowering my set, you know, so for me it worked because I would actually even dig. I got like reprimanded by partners. I would dig fast to the net. So if someone didn't feel comfortable like taking the ball up high, like we were in trouble anyway, but just running it fast to help me stay in system high ball, like just burns me.
Mark Burik (00:00:32):
Hey everybody. And welcome to the better at beach volleyball podcast, where we learn everything we can about playing and coaching beach volleyball. You're always welcome to visit our website betteratbeach.com, where we have a number of ways for you to get better. We have online training programs as well as one hour webinars and a membership for every skill where you can take you step by step through tutorials drills so that you can fix your passing, your setting, your arm, swing mechanics, attacking serving defense and blocking. We've also got a number of practice plans for you coaches out there who might really be interested in this conversation we're having today. Have you ever ever asked yourself, am I really doing this right? We invite you to jump into one of our skill specific courses where we help players erase bad habits and get more control of the game as well as learn high level strategy and flat out, win more matches.
Our most popular online program is our 60 day max vertical program. And it's guaranteed to add inches to your vertical leap. If you wanna add mobility, strength, speed, and power to your game. We have the answer we provide online coaching and mentorship from real professional athletes and coaches. And it's perfect for anyone who wants a coach to take their game to the next level. If you ever want to come and hang out with us on a beautiful beach resort, we have seven day training vacations where you can hang out with pros and get over 40 hours of training and playing in one week. If you ever want to come to those or bring us out for a clinic, get in touch over @betteratbeach.com. Now, today we have a very special guest, somebody who performed at an elite level and is now coaching and directing and businessing at an elite level. So former AVP player and current super coach and club director medals, what's up Matt?
Matt Olson (00:02:21):
Hey mark. Thanks for having me on appreciate it. Yeah,
Mark Burik (00:02:23):
Of course, man. What's going on
Matt Olson (00:02:25):
And make some time like you are to jump on this podcast, pretty excited about it, and I'm glad you threw the little workout piece in your intro there. I was curious as I'm getting older, the vertical jump is probably my biggest issue these days. So I was gonna call you to ask you about that, but you touched on and you guys had a workout plan too. So it looks like you guys thought about everything. Pretty
Mark Burik (00:02:43):
Cool. Yeah. We keep trying, you know, and we keep trying to grow and we, we're talking off camera about finding new people, finding great employees and, and finding people who can make you, or in your case, you know, your, your company successful. So I think I'm gonna lead off with two tough questions, which is, who did you have around you while you were playing as an AVP player that you can attribute, you know, at least some of the success to, did you think it was your partners? Did you have a trainer? Did you have a coach or was there somebody that was just like a mentor that you could look up to
Matt Olson (00:03:16):
Just off the cuff and married a long time, it'll be 18 years, this August, which is crazy. Yeah. Thank you together for 20. And that was like through college and all my AVP and C, B V a prior to that, and so extremely supportive wife that just down for whatever I wanted to try. And to be honest, before that my family structure, my dad was like super into Ali and anyone ever came to any of the pays about, then he would've seen my dad hanging out. So parents before that. So just those around me from like a family structure, like just couldn't be happier that I was doing that I used to watch AVPs as a kid with my dad and watch all the big court action and cart and C and even the women's game and everything. And I was also that kid that would sit there on the floor, like in between commercials of TV, like hand setting up and down.
We can talk later about the current hand setting rules if you want, but probably better. Maybe we don't touch on that in my opinion. I think it's a skill like anything else? I can just leave it at that, I guess. But yeah, I, so from a family standpoint, like extremely supportive family and wife, so that was that. And then I had a couple partners that were just amazing that we just hit it off and committed to a full season in the season. I got fortunate that there was like 13 to 16 events in a season and, you know, like we were in most of 'em. So like really had some to like bite your teeth into and create a, like a partnership with. So I feel that was a big part of it, couple different coaches throughout, but I, I really kind of fed off that family structure and my partner and just played a ton of volleyball back in the day, like a lot, a lot, probably too much have it. That's knee jerk, knee jerk reaction. That's my, uh, first comment.
Mark Burik (00:04:52):
Sometimes I get this playing now that I'm married, my wife never puts pressure on me. She's always like, go play, go play. And every now and then I, I get to feeling like guilty. Like I know I could make a little bit more money doing something else or providing something else and, you know, taking better at beach and actually going at it full time instead of whatever, four or five hours of practice sometimes, you know, per day. Did you ever get like a, a guilty feeling while pursuing volleyball goals? Or was it just never a question
Matt Olson (00:05:21):
For you? Definitely. You had some guilty feelings. I think more as like our life progressed together and, and every volleyball player unfortunately knows this, like trying to pay for your mortgage or whatever it most might be that, um, I spending too much time on it because I just spent, I mean, at that time, this is like over 10 years ago where it's like, you know, the flights were more like four or 500 bucks for like a weekend. And like, and I just like UNO dosed or whatever. I just like, it almost cost me money. So like that guilt is something that I think in my time and before me, and I gotta imagine current day, like that part is tough that you're committing so much time into it. So I felt just guilt and frustration through that. My family's not like independently wealthy and I don't mean that against anyone maybe there's is, but like the, you know, trying to make ends meet was real.
I often even through like my best volleyball days, I had a part-time job or even like more of a four-time job on the side. And I was just able to find work. A lot of it was coaching at that time as well, but they could work around my schedule. So I just stayed busy and I have no problem staying busy, but there was definitely some guilt and it was more so just when I was putting a lot more pressure on like the prize money and earnings to like, you know, make our just day to day happen.
Mark Burik (00:06:29):
It's a little weird, right? Because I think like in my twenties I was shoot, I have to pay rent. Like I need to be able to win this tournament shirts. It's gonna be maybe 1500 bucks, but it will cover rent. And now I see other actual avenues to make some money. So instead of, sometimes I find myself instead of working harder on the court, I go, if I put the same amount of hours into a company or into coaching or into, you know, a real estate investment man that that'll provide me for two or three more tournaments, but of course I'll play crappier in the next tournament, just because, you know, you, you took a couple hours away from training or playing. Did you ever go through that? Should I? How do you navigate practicing versus paying rent?
Matt Olson (00:07:10):
that's a good question. So I, I feel like I would streamline our practices more as I got, you know, had more commitments and I wasn't sure if you were going there, but I have two children. They're now eight and 10 and my 10 year old, I played for a couple years while she was alive and with us. And then all of a sudden you start throwing in a kid to the mix and should I be playing right now or, or training I should say, or should I be trying to find some other more, you know, potentially steady income or whatever. And so that's where it kind of circles back to the family support. And my parents like, go, well, we'll watch a kid go keep playing, keep training. So I had a lot of that and I was fortunate, but that, that's a tough one.
And it's also tough as an athlete at I think, any level. But if you feel that you're not kind of putting in enough time to be successful, that can weigh on you too and showing up and having like a subpar performance for me, I was like real quick, like, whoa, I didn't get a train as much as I normally would in that week prior. Or I ended up working too much this week and later in my career, if you wanna call it that, like I had some amazing opportunities and I was kind of done to come back and like play a qualifier with someone or whatever, and like working all day, like trying to get things done. So the next day I could play and I drive two hours up to Hermosa and then like literally came out and like threw out my back on like the second swing.
And so it was like , and for me it was like riding on the wall that it gave us enough, but not, not able to put in that time that why once was able to, you know, really wait on that. So I don't know further, like the part-time athlete. I think that's a tough, that's a tough recipe. And mentally, if you can get yourself in that gear that no, I, I had enough time to train and I'm ready for this. Then, you know, all the power to you. I personally struggled with that later into my career when just life started happening more. So it was something that was tough.
Mark Burik (00:08:54):
Do you think coaching is the right avenue? So if you got a young kid he's, he comes from middle or, or lower cast family, and all of a sudden he moves out to California. You know, like I was from New York family kept me comfortable, but when I showed up, I literally had, I think, 1800 bucks, maybe. So I could , you know, I could put the down payment for the apartment, but I couldn't actually like pay the first rent until I did something. And I see a lot of players come out to California and everybody goes in kind of a different direction with what side work they have. You know, some of them go, one of my friends is bartending and I did that in my early twenties. And I was like, that is not the answer cuz you're on your feet constantly. Mm-hmm your sleep schedule is rocked.
And then you're always exposed to that party environment. So there's a constant temptation if you don't treat it right for me after that, then I started like combining a lot of coaching and, and personal training with it. Now I'm like, man, should I have done like finance or, or learn the stop market? So I could be off of my feet for the money portion of growing my volleyball career. Do you think that coaching is the right avenue for somebody who wants to get better at the game and is progressing themselves through it or, or through the low pro ranks?
Matt Olson (00:10:06):
I think, I think it can be depending what level you get involved in. I mean, it can be financially stable and to be honest, or it can be like a total time suck and you're not getting paid real. We for your time, similar to the bartending, I mean, my parents owned a pizza restaurant for a long time. So one of my early jobs was like just being a server. And so I was on my feet the whole time and working a night job. It wasn't that party atmosphere as much, but on my feet that much was kind of brutal. I actually work with quite a few like former athletes of ours at are up in Hermosa and that Manhattan area. And like I've tried to help them kind of develop what I, I guess what I'd answer is if you're within a good club and they're paying you well for practice time.
Great. I think like, I believe what you've done really well at is the like small group. Semi-private I honestly think that's the answer. And I have shared that with multiple people that, you know, it's still an hour to an hour and a half year time, but you have whatever, two to six athletes. So you're getting compensated better for the same amount of time. Like I've talked coaches out of like the one-on-one private. Maybe you're getting the most bang for your buck for one person, but feeling if you can get a small group, I honestly think it's easier and more beneficial for the group. Like even, you know, two to four and then you're getting paid better for it's all of a sudden, you know, maybe two, like a back to back, like three hours of your day and you just had eight people come through, could be pretty fun.
You can get some reps in yourself here or there a little bit, and then you're done and you made enough to supplement whatever. I'm sure you're one of those guys. And I've actually heard you are that you can go, you know, coach for six area, eight hours straight. Like some people are able to do that dumb or not, to be honest, I I'm like a front runner like that first two hour practice. I'm amazing. And I've really had to train myself if I know I have a back to back or even like a potentially a third to like really like just kind of cruise it out. So that's all to be lived and learned, but I'm learned my new like hoodie action now. So I'm that guy, that's got a hood and a hat and just trying to stay outta sun a little bit. So that's another part of our sport that I'm a surfer and volleyball player and my body, I don't think was designed for that. So that finance and, you know, sitting inside AC and whatever else might not be a bad way to, to rock your downtime, but to each his own, I guess.
Mark Burik (00:12:15):
Yeah. I like your, the take on small groups cuz I completely agree. And there was a lot of in the beginning, the way that we were coaching, you know, first it was, we invited people out for camps and then a bunch of people asked for privates and regular classes, private one on one lesson for a coach is brutal physically. So, and I also don't think that the player gets as much out of a one on one as they do with, you know, if they bring at least at minimum one other person. So when we started running our privates, I said, oh, you want a one on one private? Sure, listen, we should get a compliment. And they're like, what's a compliment. I said, it's a player who, if you wanna work on hitting, they're gonna be your setter. That way I can watch you instead of setting you and I'll, I'll be able to give you better information, you'll be able to play like full points. So almost every one of our private lessons. Now we say like, Hey, who are you bringing? Or should we bring somebody for you? Because we have so many players in Hermosa, like, wait, I get to set for an hour. Yeah, yeah. I will work on sitting for an hour.
Matt Olson (00:13:16):
Yeah, I totally agree. And I, so I, I am much more on the youth. I, you do quite a bit more adult. Like I'm almost, I'm almost exclusively youth, myself. We have adult stuff that our club offers. But like, I think like for a youth court that like eight is my number. So like four teams. I can, I can rock a practice all day long. Like back of my hand, I feel adult, you gotta kind of keep it moving, but it faster pace. I mean, a lot of people are looking for a workout too. So I feel like if you get 'em huffing and puffing and then some volleyball structure, you know, throughout it's, it's a win-win. But yeah, I've shared that quite a bit with some coaches, like in your exact, your backyard that like, Hey, shy away from those privates and get some small group stuff going and it might take a little longer to get going, but it's gonna be, you're gonna pay better. And I think it'll be a better experience. So you might have more longevity of those clients potentially too.
Mark Burik (00:14:02):
And if one person cancels, yeah. Then it's not ruined, like you still have the other three and the other three, like, man, we gotta find somebody to fill this spot. You know, I, I think you said that was something big that we developed. We said, no, no, no. You get people to commit to eight weeks and say, look at the progress you're gonna get in eight weeks. Yeah. Then afterwards, if you want to continue with a, like a one by one situation, that's fine. But the best way to start off is with a good commitment, cuz you're gonna see the most results if you actually stick to it. And then when you get the commitment up front, you know that they're gonna be there and you know that if they're not there, they're gonna be upset at themselves. So,
Matt Olson (00:14:37):
Uh, you said something too, right there. Like a group of three, I've actually seen some of my like playing coaches as columns. We have a lot of coaches that come through here that through wave in San Diego that they're looking to keep playing. And so I've actually helped them get like groups of three and where they're actually playing. Cuz there's let's let's if the player's pretty good, like I don't know, medium level adults that are like looking to improve their game. A lot of times they love having like a pro out there with them and giving feedback between like running some drills, you know, with just three people, but then jumping in and playing as the fourth and rotating partners like I've seen, I've seen that work pretty well. And that enables the coach to get some reps themselves, if nothing else, just getting more cardio and just kind of getting your sand legs back, which is personally one of my biggest problems these days is just not able to side out over time or at all, it's getting bad buddy. Darn it. So
Mark Burik (00:15:29):
Thing is real can. Thing is real. Um, I had an injury at the beginning of this year. I broke my foot and this last week was the first time that I felt fast again. And like I kept up with the training. I did one-legged box squats and I was like in a boot doing my leg workouts. And finally, after I think like 13 weeks post injury, I was like, oh, I can push off with power again. And it's bonkers because in my twenties, I never thought that conditioning. I literally didn't think conditioning played a part in beach volleyball because I was so well conditioned the end of every rally, I was still standing up here and everybody else's off in a puff and I was like, you don't need cardio to play volleyball. But then after an injury you start realizing, and I guess cuz I'm getting older, you know, you start realizing like, oh wait a second.
If you can't survive long into the game, that conditioning plays a role, but I just never witnessed AVP players being out of shape and I'll give him a knock. But do you, do you remember Hudson? Uh, Hudson mates? Yeah. So everybody served him short for a long time. These guys use like 2 35, 2 40 at six, five. He had a lot of masks to get around and it wouldn't happen for a couple of matches, but by the third match of every team, serving him short, ran outta gas and then we had, you know, a bunch more trouble. But it's crazy that that conditioning really does come into play and that when you're in great shape, you don't even pay attention to it really.
Matt Olson (00:16:54):
I couldn't agree more. Is that the conditioning part of it? I, I think is massive and I think so many players take it for granted. Those that are, you watch the AVB guys like you guys like yourself and the whole crew and they're all in super good shape, like for the most part. Right. And it's, it's part of it. I think even like think about C BVAs these days are like, you know, someone looking to get their a or AA or whatever, triple a, like you're, if you're going deep in the tournament, you're, you're playing six, seven games. Like, and the whole idea would be, you can still jump inside out towards the end, which is very similar. You did at the beginning mm-hmm um, and everyone's got different, you know, learning curves and ways to train, but there's no question like how we've kind of first started is that I, with a, with a partner I had, we would have a full training routine.
We usually train before our practices just the way we did it. And like Kevin Wong was the one player in particular that we just really dove into that. And I remember Claire's day like walking up to matches and like feeling super fit. And it was like part of our little like fire each other up, like after like the first set or like we're in a battle is like, dude, we're in, we're in nothing better shape than these guys are. Like, do you think they're training? Like we did last week and we'd like kind of fuel off it a little bit. And it was real for me. And to be honest, like I kind of mentioned earlier is like to the detriment of later in my career that I'm like, oh, I'm not playing great. Cause I'm not working out as much or playing as much as I was.
And so like, it was a real strong mental strength for me early or like throughout my career. And then as I started to taper off, like all of a sudden it became and it's like, where I'm at now? If I like, oh, I can't play a tournament. I'm just, haven't been training enough. So I think there's some, I don't know. I wish I was a little better about that. And I would love, I kind of work with our players in our club about that. Like you're saying you got an injury, like you got back, you just gotta work yourself through it. And maybe you might have a couple rough tournaments along the run, but just kind of stay the course and you'll be back.
Mark Burik (00:18:36):
Yeah. Couple rough tournaments, indeed.
Matt Olson (00:18:39):
Sure you have, or haven't had rough tournaments, but it's, it's part of it and it's real, but an injury, especially as you get older, like they can, they can set you back pretty hard, but sticking at it and you know, going back to practice is important.
Mark Burik (00:18:51):
Hey, with wave beach, you said you have, did you say you have 25 coaches
Matt Olson (00:18:56):
Now? It's summertime a little seasonal, but yeah, there's 25 coaches working for us right now. We're running six practices a day, Monday through Thursday at two locations, all youth. So like morning camp stuff, more dedicated, like our elite group, you know, we've got Mike plak one of he's like my right hand, man. He's an amazing coach. And he leads like our elite stuff as well as like current college players that are in town. So we've got them as well. And we've got afternoon stuff and we've got adult leagues.
Mark Burik (00:19:24):
Were you guys buddies when he played?
Matt Olson (00:19:26):
Yeah, we grew up like, um, he's a couple years younger than I am, but like, like rival high schools. And then through our like playing career, we're hanging out too. He's a good guy.
Mark Burik (00:19:36):
Nice. Did you guys ever get the chance to play with each other?
Matt Olson (00:19:39):
No, we haven't couple like local fun tournaments, but nothing like when we were both like playing quite a bit, nothing I'd like to he, so when he was doing his thing, I didn't remember what year. It was like 2007, 2008. I mean times so long ago he played with rush Maruca and they'd run like super quick offense. Mike was one of the first guys I felt domestically. That was like pretty successful running like a quick and like a quick lo yeah, he played tennis at Santa Barbara. I'm pointing cuz he is actually training right outside my window right now was like, I keep looking over there. , you know, that's really fast offense. And so he and I, we both ran faster offenses at players, so we're always conscious and conscientious of that doesn't work for everybody. Cuz we find that our practices we're always like speeding it up and our elite level athletes, it works really well, but a lot of other players like, you know, everyone's different, they take time to gather. So it's been an interesting for us. Like there's an athlete that can really feed off the faster offense. It's I gotta admit it's more fun for both of us. Cause it just kind of brings in those playing days and like kind of working on different things. But, but yeah, we never played together just against each other a handful of times. And that's about it.
Mark Burik (00:20:40):
You said that the fast offense isn't for everybody, you know, I think you've been through it too, but you know that like the Florida players, they all run their really kinda low set, slow hands, low set, and lots of carving and very like wind experienced. I think what type of player should embrace the small ball? Like the short or quick offense. Do you think that every volleyball should eventually move to that? Like the whole speed and on two game is for everybody? Or do you think there's still room for the up and down game and is there a specific athlete or a specific body type that should try to embrace one or the other?
Matt Olson (00:21:20):
Sure. I don't think there's any one way to play this game. So just to answer the question, like in one statement, I think everyone's different. Couple examples. I feel like I felt when I was doing my thing and similar to Mike, is that a little fast twitchy? I'm a little like anxious. So is he like, I was that guy that was always early for sets and so eventually my smarter partners would just start lowering my set and, or like, you know, so for me it worked because I would actually even dig. I got like reprimanded by partners. I would dig fast to the net. So if someone didn't feel comfortable like taking the ball up high, like we were in trouble anyway, but just yeah, running it, running it fast to help me stay in system high ball, like just burns me. I've got like through. Why?
Mark Burik (00:22:02):
Why do you think it
Matt Olson (00:22:03):
Felt like I have a hard time timing it.
Mark Burik (00:22:05):
Okay.
Matt Olson (00:22:05):
I have a hard time timing for me. However I know in bass, I, when I've seen you play is that you, you run a higher offense. I had privilege of playing with Jake Gibb one time. It was like sky balls and it was hard. So the other part of that mark is I enjoy the faster offense. I like setting a faster offense better, whether that's my hands. Aren't great. I'm not sure. But I like if I play with someone, I like a high ball. If I'm playing with you and you're telling me like double the antenna, like your first three, you're gonna be double antenna. I guarantee by the end of the set you're like antenna are lower. it's like going to what I feel comfortable or what I feel like your tempo is, but to go back to it like Jacob and my opinion is a really good, I played with ARD as well. Same thing like ni guard was on the left and it was like high, as I could said at Matt Prosser as well, high as I could set it up and down, let them get their feet to it, let them reach high and try to beat someone high. I feel like that compliments taller players in my opinion, or maybe someone with a really good jump maybe. Um, I've got a coach right now. He's a little groomer. He like, say it again.
Mark Burik (00:23:05):
You think it's a vertical leap and, and height thing, you know, like I always,
Matt Olson (00:23:09):
I
Mark Burik (00:23:09):
Think I always look at like, uh, Nick Lu and I, I just go guys basically hitting a sky ball like him and Phil have the same set it's it's way up and down and, and he kind of does it and sure. That's, that's one athlete and I hate just looking at one athlete, but I always just thought it was preference, not height.
Matt Olson (00:23:28):
I think Todd Rogers is the same. I mean, my group of players, I played is older, but Todd Rogers like same ball with Phil. Like that thing was a sky ball. Yeah. I got windy sometimes I think would like drift off the net. And I'm like, how are you even making and still putting into this? The nastiest corner? No, I think it's preference. I, I would, would agree with you, but like it's funny cuz you mentioned Florida players like low and fast, like Phil and Nick, Florida through and through like learning and like they didn't go fast. I think too fast is an issue sometimes as well. Like people get caught up. Like if they're at a system you can't run it quick in my, in my opinion. And you might get away with it against like mediocre competition. But if we're all talking the highest level stuff, you gotta go with what works for you.
But yeah, I feel that taller player, like a Phil or like, I, I don't know who like maybe like a Logan Weber is a current guy like hi near the net. Let that guy just go be tall and go be an animal versus like low and potentially like shorten his arm swinging or something along those lines. But yeah, I'm cool with preference. I don't know if this is where you're going, but like I felt like I was a strong like partner and I was like to a fault like took too much blame, but I just like the way I like to play. It's how I still like to play. And in turn, I feel like I talk to our athletes. I love this conversation is like, dude, your job is to be the best setter in the world. And like, it doesn't matter like how you set, you should be communicating with your partner about the set they want and that should be like your goal.
And I call it in volleyball. Life is setting them the set they want. So I mean, if you and I walk out there, my first question to you is gonna be like, what side do you want? And second question is how, how can I set you? Like, that's literally probably question number two. And I think it's super important and gets overlooked these days. But I mean, your job as a partner is to set your partner. However they want to be set, whether you like it or not. So you tell me highball, I'm gonna do my best, but I'm also gonna start bringing you down as a go.
Mark Burik (00:25:11):
Yeah. the little like secret, like I yeah. Kind of know better than you yeah. That's soundbite. Right? I think that's the conversation of when players meet or they show up to the tournament for the first time, you know, like two C B a players or, or east end players in New York that they'll show up to a tournament and they'll say, you know, how do you like your set? It's kind of medium. And after one or two, they're like, that's good, but they never actually define it. Like, that's good because it was slow in your hands, but it still got high enough, you know, that's good because it was four balls above the antenna and then they never stay for the third, fourth and fifth set and say that was one ball too high for perfect. You know, that was, you know, two balls too low for perfect. And I think Adam Roberts, I loved playing with him and, and I steal one of his lines all the time. He says, Hey, was that set in eight or a nine out of 10? And I'm like, oh, this is a nine. He goes, what would make it a 10? And that's his line? And I'm like, that's golden. That's what would make it perfect? Like how does it need to change to be perfect? And that, I think that's an important thing that people need to go through.
Matt Olson (00:26:17):
I think it's important at all levels. Yeah. And he has a partner. You should wanna know what at 10 is for them to Adams. Adam's a really good setter too. So it's always, it's fun. And I felt like I was at one point. So I prided myself in trying to like get my partner a perfect set. And I'll admit like guys like Jason ring, I had the hardest time finding him. He's a high leaper and wanted a fast ball. And for whatever reason, I just couldn't find it. And I just think that you have connections. That's why you play better with some partners and maybe the way you set them or the way they set you. And that's why some partnerships work and some don't even if it looks amazing on paper. So
Mark Burik (00:26:49):
Yeah,
Matt Olson (00:26:49):
It's welcome to our sport.
Mark Burik (00:26:51):
You know, like, um, Brandon, I'm playing with now, he's got like faster indoor hands. He's been playing beach for a bit, but no one's ever shifted his hands from indoor beach. So while the location comes out, correct, the, the rhythm sometimes feels a little disjointed and that's similar to like Lev prima. He's got very fast hands and I like the I'll call them Florida hands. But like the, the deep wrists, I'm not saying deep hands, but the deep wrists where you see somebody kind of control the ball. I like those. Even though the F I B B is completely annihilating. Any ability to do that,
Matt Olson (00:27:32):
Heard,
Mark Burik (00:27:32):
But it it's interesting that even the hand rhythm, like how deep the hands or wrists bends back that can create or ruin somebody's timing. And like you were saying, if you can get somebody who prides themself, not on how they set, but on how they can match what their partner wants, that's a big deal. One of the problems is that it just becomes such an uncomfortable talk because you have to change something that somebody's been doing for 5, 10, 20 years and say, this is how I like it is. Do you, do you know if there's a good way to approach that, you know, or do you just say, this is the set I want and need, and then you just stay picky.
Matt Olson (00:28:14):
So a couple things you said, I agree with everything you're saying is the one thing I've heard partners like request to have the partner stop hand, setting them like, Hey, can you bump, set me or vice versa? Like, can you handset me? I hit better off a hand setter or hit better off a bump setter. I think that's a little stigma in their head in my opinion. But I've heard that multiple times with partners I've had, and like opponents I've been playing against. So sorry, little off topic there. Kind of, but
Mark Burik (00:28:40):
No, and I agree. I that's something, I look at players that say that I'm like the ball's the ball's up there, even though I'm talking about like the rhythm of Brandon's hands, right? The ball's up there now it's your job to feast.
Matt Olson (00:28:52):
I think it's to your point though, that like the slower handset versus the fast is that timing or like a, like a longer bump set is gonna give that player more time to track it. So just thinking out loud with you, but I found the awkward conversation of let's call it constructive feedback, I think is a good way to look at it is I think, like I mentioned early on in a partnership, like you roll up with someone like you're sorting that out. I feel that I was also, and I hate referencing myself as a player, but I guess on this podcast, it's not a terrible thing to do, but like, if I felt like I made a crap set and, or I could tell that it's not what they wanted or what we discussed, I would just own it right off the bat. Like, oh shoot.
Like to Adam's point like that, that was bad. I gotta get you in there. I gotta get you higher. I gotta get you lower, whatever they had asked for and try to like kind of own it a little bit to like ease off them. Like, oh shoot. Like I just didn't get the set I wanted. And I feel like obviously during competition, and especially if you're down or in a heated match, it's gonna be more real and it's gonna be then how is that conversation being handled? And all of us that are in coaching, like I can't, I used to do as a player. So it's like, it's a, been a learning curve for me, but like set me higher, like set me tighter. It's like, uh, okay. Like trying to have partnerships. I it's, I'm really trying to create partnerships with these young athletes I'm working with and just trying to be like, Hey, like, you know, during a timeout or whatever, if I get 'em aside, like, Hey, you gotta communicate in a little, you know, more friendly way or a little more constructive way with your partner versus kind of like barking at him what you want because they just shut down and now you've lost whatever momentum you had.
So that is, it can be an awkward conversation. I feel like if the setter is really doing their best to try to give 'em the best set possible and you know, kind of maybe owns up when they didn't or like, Hey, I'm gonna get that higher. It can help. I've, uh, been through it where I'm just like bump, setting garbage. And I keep saying, I'm gonna fix it and it's not getting fixed. And they're probably getting more frustrated at me cause I keep saying I'm gonna fix it. And I didn't. So I gotta admit I've been on that side of it, but I just think in general, just kind of being cool is something we always say and just, you know, you know, all those things you've learned, just be nice. And don't say something you wouldn't want someone saying to you and cetera, cetera, cetera. So
Mark Burik (00:31:01):
Specific, actionable words, because be nice. Be cool. I maybe the, the older I've gotten, the more I realize like people need to be handheld. Like when you say be nice to somebody, they can interpret that in completely different ways. Me being nice to somebody is sarcastically making fun of them because like, I want them to giggle, but I'd realize that 99% of people don't get my humor and then it shuts everybody down. They're like this guy's a Dick, you know? . So do you have any specific words or ways to phrase that you teach your young athletes when they're communicating with partners? Like in, I first instead of a you first or a don't tell a suggest, anything like that?
Matt Olson (00:31:40):
I don't have anything. Great. To be honest, we do say be cool if it's like elevated and just kind of try to elaborate a little on that conversation. Just like, Hey, I just try to like talk 'em through, to be honest, I just had this as recent conver uh, tournament where two athletes were just like, totally gelling things are working well, everything's going their way. And it's like, couldn't be better. The communication's super positive. And then it gets tight and it goes the actual opposite. And like that reference of like set me tighter and like the next one's like set me further off or set me higher. And it's just like, Ooh. So trying to pull 'em inside and just like having them be aware of it. And it could be like in a private situation, like you talked about earlier, like, Hey, you guys, and everything was going really well and your legs were doing great.
You guys were super positive and communicating the, you know, and the conversation's gone a little more negative. And I feel like it's not helping either one of you. So trying to talk through that, but mark, I wish I had a couple like gems on that front. I, I, I don't, we just say be cool, but that's like, honestly, like a kind of a company line on all sorts of stuff. like with kinda the culture of our program and just like the whole thing, like, you know, one for us running a beach volleyball club is, you know, the partnerships are everything, literally everything safety then partnerships is how we kind of word it. But if they're not enjoying their partners, some athletes will come up to the coach. And like in a polite way, like ask about a partner change. Sometimes they'll like walk up right in front of their partner. Like, Hey, we changing partners this next round. And it's like, oh, like it's just poor little. Oh, it happens all the time.
Mark Burik (00:33:02):
And
Matt Olson (00:33:02):
So trying to be cool and just kind of communicate that situation a little differently. Something we've worked through, but I don't have a, even after, I mean, I'm running, this will be year 13, this fall. Wow. And I don't have a ton of like gems on this front. It's something we just try to talk about being a good partner, a cool partner. And you just trying to do your best to help your partner in order to get the most out of them. That's a big one that coach Mike and I use a lot. Yeah. But nothing like no like awesome cue or quick word on it.
Mark Burik (00:33:30):
Yeah. I've talked to a few people, you know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to be better at marriage and relationship and stuff. So I'm like, all right, you gotta figure out how to talk and communicate and, and what the right way to, to say something is for you. So I, I read this a few marriage counseling books, and then I started taking those questions and I stole them and I put this into the what's on the screen below us. It's like the partner profile. It's like, Hey, let's look at these questions. Let's say, what are your turnoffs? What are your turn ons? Like, like write down a word that if your partner said it in any way or write down a phrase that if your partner said it, it would completely shut you off. Like you would, you just 99% of the time, you're mad at somebody who says something like that. And there's a bunch of questions in there that I think people really enjoy answering. So if anybody wants to check out nice and questions that we have for partners, just go to bitter at beach.com/partner profile. And you can answer the questions that help you learn about yourself. And hopefully, hopefully learn to communicate with partners a little bit better.
Matt Olson (00:34:29):
I think the pro level, I know the pro level is different. In my opinion, I actually still say think, but the partner thing is really tough for us at the beach club level and youth level is that everyone wants someone in their mind that is as good of them as good as them, if not better. And so when you got the whole clubs looking for that, it's really tough. So like one thing for anyone that's listening, I really feel that, you know, you should be giving someone a chance if you feel like it's like close to your level, or it might work out, like give it a try, especially like lower kind of lower C, B V a level or the youth levels. And you just never know what happens. Cuz sometimes that partner you've been like dreaming of that would say yes to you.
Like you get in the sand together and just like doesn't work. And in turn, like if everyone's looking for someone as good as them or better, it makes it a really tough situation. So that's like one of our biggest things with the beach club is partnering. And like some of like there's some clubs in the past that have like no bench on the beach because indoor it's all about playtime. Yeah. And beach, it's all about partners. In my opinion, it's like the hardest thing I, we lose players and we gain players because either the director like was putting them with someone that's not that good consistently, or they're not finding partners in that club. So they're hoping to come to our club and find better partners. It's rare that they're kind of looking more at themselves to why that might be, but just subtly trying to work through that. So to your point of, you know, answer these questions like that would be great. I'm actually curious to take a look and see if I can't get our club to run through that a little bit because finding some more partners or more partner options would make my job a lot easier on a lot of levels.
Mark Burik (00:35:59):
, it's fun. Some of the things that, so we ask like, okay, what's the best way to react when you want to get fired up. Cuz for me, it's, let's beat these mofos up. Like they are, the other team is trying to take something from us. I have your back fully and a hundred percent let's go get them. And when I, in Utah, I was doing the open level groups and all of the guys I'd say like eight outta 10 guys that are like, yeah, I like that attitude. I like that. That's a good way to fire me up. And there was only one of the women, the open women who appreciated that, all of the other said being mean to the other team was a complete turn off something that they wanted like no part of. And that, I guess I was 35 at the time. I was like, man, what a, a growth, just this one meeting this morning asking two different sets of players. This one question saying, huh, I have to change the way I fire somebody up or the way I talk about getting fired somebody up based on the athlete, you know, some people want the war, the battle, the enemy. And some people want the connection with their partner. More than that.
Matt Olson (00:37:04):
Our boys beach side of the club has grown, but yeah, we're like 90% female. And it's, there's a lot of that connection is huge. Like I, I rarely there's very few athletes probably about what you said, like a one to 10 sounded like that. Like it would be that like, let's go out there and like, you know, step on this team's neck. Like that is not how I rally the teams. That, to be honest ever guys, I think much more. So I was, I said earlier in the, this podcast, um, my dad like pretty much, he's a really nice person, but he is a big dude. He's like six, two, like two 20. And he is like pretty fit like early on. And you know, like, I don't wanna sound weird Matt, but like we, we want to kill that other side. And it was like, oh, okay dad.
Like, and he caught us that like pretty early on and uh, still very, I feel like I'm a very respectful player, like slapping hands and you know, for the most part, not getting in arguments with the opposing side, but yeah, I gotta admit like as funny as I'll be in the warm up and try to butter up my opponents kind of back in the day, like I, I was, I was looking for blood. There's no question about it. And a couple of the partners I had that would have that reference, like literally like, all right, it's, we're up 16, 12, or whatever. Like let's step on their neck right now is like kink. Like it totally, totally worked for me. And just try to put, keep your foot on the gas, but it's easier set than done at times, but I would've liked that conversation you gave for sure.
Mark Burik (00:38:19):
No, it'll be fun. Check it out. So if anybody else is interested, just it's, it's just a free assessment. You get the results, uh, after you ask the questions and it it'll be interesting for you to have to go through those questions for yourself and to ask your partner to go through the same and just compare your answers after, but it's better at beach.com/partner profile. It's just a bunch of questions that, that you can answer and it might help you out in your volleyball game.
Matt Olson (00:38:43):
I think understanding what you want is important too. Cuz part of that setting talk we talked about earlier is that like you have to convey to your partner what type of set you like. And so similar to what I feel your partner profile would do is it starts to like kind of jog your memory to what you're actually looking for. So maybe that'll help sort it out. Cause partners is real in the sport at all levels,
Mark Burik (00:39:03):
AVP champion, you know, talking to an, an AVP champion, which is sweet to be able to get that. Um, and you want too pro titles, right? Because you won a Huntington and Hermosa, is
Matt Olson (00:39:15):
That correct? So there's, I'll be super transparent. I've always been transparent. Yes. On BBB info, which I love BBB info, by the way, they have two titles to my name, Kevin Wong and I won the Belmar open Belmar, your New Jersey. It's close-ish to you. I think at that time. And again, I've always said this to anyone who brings it up the top three, if not four teams were traveling for F IBS Olympics at that time. So one as I've called like a watered down event, if you wanna call it that, so gnarly teams were still there and someone had to win. So I'm very fortunate to this day that we did, but just throwing that out there and I'm throwing that out there because the other one on my title was like, not, it shouldn't be on there. Uh, Matt Prosser and I won a little tournament at Huntington that was like a three team invite that Han stole this.
You remember that name was like reading for the AVP. And it was like an invite only thing. And somehow that got thrown on there is like a win, which it was pretty much an exhibition. If they wanna throw it on theirs too win, I'll take to be transparent for yourself and whoever we made Kevin and I made the finals of Manhattan. I made the final for most of a J ring, but the final of Manhattan, like to this day, I love winning in Belmar. Don't get me wrong. But when I circle back and I go down that rabbit hole a little bit, like trying to side out against given Rosie in Manhattan was amazing. So, and I still walk that pier. I was just there and like see their plaque and it's like, oh, dang it. you're gonna get, I took a third there as well, I think couple times. But that second was pretty memorable and amazing.
Mark Burik (00:40:47):
Yeah. And I mean, like I had a, a fifth in Manhattan a few years ago with Kurt Oppel and you think I walked El? Well, actually I sprinted back to Hermosa because I had a beginner's class as soon as I, my evening match. So I got on my bike because I was just like gunning it and they're like, wait, you were just playing. I was like, yeah, but that's not important right now. Like, come on, we gotta get to practice. Yeah. And I was after that, I was like, well, bummed out that we couldn't get to that next level. And we got embarrassed on stadium court by Doherty. And one of my mentors coaches at the time, you might know I, Matt Davis mm-hmm . And he said like at that tournament, that finish, it is a dream finish for most of the people in the world. So he is like, you have to be like, happy, like you just PR. So if you get a good win, you know, if you get something where you're excited about, you just, you hit a new peak. So now it's time to move on from there, but enjoy a little bit of the win first.
Matt Olson (00:41:44):
Yeah. I mean, Manhattan was always it for me. I think everyone's got their tournament or their location or the venue, whatever, for me, Manhattan, just growing up, watching the sport and then just knowing the history at that location for me is like everything pretty rad. There was, that was like a big one too. That was like a 64 team draw. And it's like when they had, yeah, it's like back, they had a couple of those when I was playing. It was pretty amazing. It's a big field and energy and just super rad top to bottom.
Mark Burik (00:42:09):
You talked about being able to some players bark at each other. Was there any one partner where you guys thought that you guys would be great together, but you just couldn't get along in terms of getting along, you know, where you always tried to decide who was the coach and who wasn't or, or that relationship dynamic, you're just like excited to play, but it just kind of didn't work out.
Matt Olson (00:42:33):
Nothing like blaring, like, oh my gosh, like this guy and I just never saw eye to eye. Actually. I mentioned his name Han STKs earlier. I love that man. And I haven't seen him in a long time, unfortunately. And we went to Australia together right after my wife and I got married like early on. We did that little three month tour and we won. Then we won a couple little ones. We won one of the events. And to be honest, we were like, not on speaking terms, like most of the tournament, like had each other the whole time I was super young, then I don't know what he'd say, but I'll, I'll take some blame for, I don't know, being a little baby. He was great. And like, uh, first match of the tournament. We were like add each other and literally just like put on our big boy pants and side it out and didn't slap hands much.
And like ended up winning the tournament. We didn't play after we got back from that trip, we stayed close and just kind of were cool about it, but he is one player in particular. I just, I had a hard time. He wanted to coach on the court. I think more than I wanted to listen at the time. And we're both pretty close in age. He's a little older than I was. And I maybe I just didn't see him in that role. And, or I didn't have many other like player coaches that I had played with at that time. So that's one person. I don't feel like I really threw 'em under the bus, but he and I didn't always see eye to eye on that front. Most of my partners, even though we didn't have great finishes, I thoroughly enjoyed playing with them. That was a big thing for me is like, you're traveling so much with someone.
You better enjoy it. And like I said Hans. And I had that one tournament where like it worked out and I heard stories like Kent and cart back in the day, like pretty much like did not like each other and still like we're winning like 24 of 27 or something. Ridiculous. I feel like that's a pretty big exception in my opinion. And I don't know, I think the life's too short to go through that with someone for an entire season, but it might happen and rather try to win some games. And who knows maybe the tournament versus let our disappointments take the better of us.
Mark Burik (00:44:16):
It's one of the questions that we have on the partner profile. But one of the questions we ask is how much do you want your partner to coach? You say, like, what are you working on this practice? And how many times would you find it acceptable if they offered advice on what you're working on, you know, and you could answer 0 3, 4, 5, and be like, okay, you know, so when me and Brandon played together and he told me what he was working on, I was like, okay, I have three opportunities to give him advice on that. And like, that's my cap. So when at one point when I wanted to like suggest it, I was like, maybe I'll just save it a little bit. You know, like, maybe I'll save one of my three. And I think that could be a little helpful thing, you know, saying like you're allowed to give your partner tips so many times, but I also, I always wonder about everybody's inner dynamic between teams of do you sit down and you have the conversation of, Hey, one of us is steering the boat and how many coach versus just one on one equal heads coming together.
Partnerships, there actually are. It's such a unique conversation because it's so different for every team.
Matt Olson (00:45:22):
I think that's a huge one, like being coached on the court or do you wanna be coach? Cause I think there's some players that like, love coaching, neither a coach or not just comes to naturally or however you wanna look at it. But I honestly think a lot of players don't want to hear that on the court when they're playing, especially more advanced players, in my opinion. So I think it is something really good to put in there cause there's definitely people that love coaching throughout. I mentioned Hans, there's been a couple other coaches I've had that are partners that I've had that wanna do that. And I, I had a, it wasn't great for me kind of took my focus off for me personally. Another one on there. Maybe you guys have it, it's a random one, but like how much do you like to warm up?
Or like, do you have like an extensive warmup routine before you play? Because I love Tys. literally love that dude. But his warmup is so darn long. I, I, it threw me off so bad. We played some like opens together back in the days of little stuff. And I doubt he's listening to this right now or maybe he is, but I love that dude. But his warmup is so long. So I don't know. That could be an idea for your questionnaire if you don't have it already. It's like, how important is our warmups to you? Cuz some people like, like super long pepper and then like I gotta run for 30 minutes before like you and I both heard like the AVP warmup or whatever.
Mark Burik (00:46:32):
I was so ridiculous because AVP like, they give you 10 minutes, you know like no AVP warmups here, but I was like, AVP, you step on the court. Now you got nine and a half minutes. You know,
Matt Olson (00:46:41):
Everyone says that term, right? I mean, you're like me. I mean our vice versa. We both played a gazillion tournaments all over the us and like it's always a, not like, oh open level player. Like you guys take so long to warm up or whatever, no AVP warmups here or whatever. It's always, it's just kind of a knock. I was a really quick warmup person again, maybe to a fault, but it was not, it didn't need to be the same thing for me either personally, cuz some people have like a total routine. I had a routine at one point for like physical warmup, like the jogging portion. But for the most part, just kind of random, I played the guy named Jimmy Nichols back in the day. Yeah. And that guy would literally, it was like the greatest experience I ever had as a young player for one it's like another side conversation, but he was the absolute worst that we'd be playing ANP tournament.
And the guy's just like talking to whomever. I have no idea. I'm like warming up, like with the other team there or like having the ref set me or something, I'm like a 20 year old kid trying to figure this out. And the guy was never there. It was so Mely and I came to love it. And it's like an ongoing conversation now with he and I mm-hmm but he would roll up like kick his like CROs off or whatever he was wearing and hit like two or three balls and like, okay. And then he'd always like ask the ref for more time. And it would like be his lead in to being a total pain to the ref cause he got tend pushing for more time. And like I worked the refs like crazy, super fun.
Mark Burik (00:47:54):
That's my modern day. Kurt topple, you know, I got a 6, 9 40 inch vertical guy and I stoked to have him, but I had to take the like kind of pit bull, hard worker grind mentality out of my head because he was there to have fun. Like he's, he's hyper intelligent, super smart. And he's got a million ideas every day. Um, so for him volleyball beach volleyball is always fun. Yeah. Like it had to be fun. Otherwise you would just lose him and I get it and it should still be fun for most people cuz we're not making enough money for it to not be fun. Really mm-hmm and just his warmup was kind of like maybe jogging in place and just chatting up the other team or chatting up whoever's on the side and in the beginning it drove me crazy. But then I realized like if I'm gonna hold onto this monster, I gotta let him do whatever the hell he wants, you know? Yeah.
Matt Olson (00:48:41):
Yeah. Jimmy was the same way. And like, I, I actually like became, I ended up loving it and maybe it changed the way I warmed up, but it was super fun and it was what he wanted and he made the game fun. Like I, I had as much fun with him playing as I did with anybody. It, it was fun. So I like that. I didn't, I don't know Kurt very well. I know him, but I don't know him very well and I've heard some similar stories. So I actually gonna wrap with him a little bit when I see him next
Mark Burik (00:49:02):
He's I like, he's one of the most fun people to just hang out with at any time, any venue he's like, you know, he's sporty, he's intelligent, he's got a lot of ideas and he's super loquacious. So if you don't wanna carry a conversation, he'll carry it with 19 other people for you. So it looks like your team is social, you know,
Matt Olson (00:49:18):
Nice. Nice.
Mark Burik (00:49:19):
I want to talk a little bit for if we haven't lost him yet, but everybody who is creating a business out of volleyball, out of coaching, out of directing. And we touched on being able to at least create small groups when you're coaching. But do you have one of the largest beach volleyball clubs in the us? I mean, to have 25 coaches
Matt Olson (00:49:39):
Is I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure we do. It's why I, I guess I just did that big gauntlet. So for my world, like the three weeks in the kind of heart of July, the middle of July, there's like back to back to back national beach championships and have a lot of conversations throughout. I could be wrong, but I mean, I'm not even patting myself in the back cause it's so much work, but I think we're the largest. I think one of 'em for sure. We gotta be in the runnings. I mean two facilities, two, you know, sites. We ended the spring with like over 300 athletes. There's a gazillion programs, boys, girls, adult leagues, et cetera. So I think we're pretty close.
Mark Burik (00:50:14):
What were the mistakes that you made in the first few years of starting directing a club that would be the first sets of advice that you give to somebody who is just about to get into it? You know, what did you say, Hey, this is what I did. Don't do this, do this instead.
Matt Olson (00:50:33):
There's nothing that really like extremely jumps out at me. Cause I think we just learned through so many like small mistakes, if you will. And like nothing like catastrophic that we almost lost a club because of this. I do think a couple things is like get ready to grind. It is a lot of work and biggest thing for beach is that I feel there's a lot of pros that have gone out there before me during my time or whatever and expected that they're just gonna get this huge turnout because of their name. I'm sorry to break it to you. But little 15 year old, Susie doesn't know who Phil doll Houser is or who Alex Kleinman is. Like they have no idea. So it's, it's about personalities and not even, I don't like using the word relationships cause I feel like we've got a really healthy like player to croach relationship in our club.
But it's about connecting with these athletes and being humble, to be honest. I mean I use the term being cool earlier. I think being, Humble's a huge part of it and you've gotta dive in and I know I've seen you mark. You do it. You've gotta dive in with your privates and you gotta dive in with your club and be personable and work on learning names, creating a safe environment and just kind of making some of those connections. And I think one big mistake and I've had people that don't understand this is you might have like 15 youth at a practice and maybe you marketed it as like seventh through 12th grade. So you just literally have 15 kids out there, seventh through 12th grade. And I'm not kidding. You're gonna have five ability levels amongst those 15 and how you coach that is really difficult because what, this is a big, this is a, this is to answer your question is that people don't understand that on with 15, you can run it on one court probably, but you might need three courts and three coaches to make it challenging for the group.
And it's really hard to understand that. So just knowing, trying to cater to the different levels, cuz we talked about partners, but I mean, my inbox is full. I had two this morning and I had a parent that met me at the beach before our nine to 11 that they want their part, their daughter changed because she's not getting pushed and they got moved to a lower court. So like the courts and keeping each court in each athlete, challenged is everything. So that's a big one. The other one is try to like on your lowest court, we've got some pretty low level like brand new. You gotta be super fun and you have to have like a bubbly coach down there that can totally kill it. And it doesn't need to be a pro is actually I suggest it wasn't and someone that coaches locally or is like a elementary school teacher or something along those lines.
If you're looking to like, Hey, I wanna coach all the top stuff. Cause that's like my jam or whatever, like get someone that can do the lower courts. Cause I can coach the lower courts all day. But as far as like for a whole, like to your point, like an eight week season, I, I pretty much pull my hair out pretty easy into it. So I give you like 10 different things right there. I'm not sure what the best gen little gem is, but just that different ability levels in a larger group is really important. And you gotta be able to break 'em up on the courts if you wanna keep them for a while, because little Susie who's like, you know, has some pretty good beach experience. If she's partnered with someone with none or they're only all even on the same court together, like it, it doesn't last. Right. So being able to, yeah, it's really, really tough in our sport and people it's a slow start and you might not be making much the beginning because you're gonna have, you're gonna be overstaffed and it's just part of it. You gotta weather the storm a little
Mark Burik (00:53:38):
Bit. Yeah. We've got three pages on exactly that, uh, on our, on our coaching manuals of what to do and multiple solutions for like different skill levels on your court. Because when we were first starting out, everybody was at a completely different level, you know? So I, I was bringing people from around the country to say, all right, stay here for a week. And we literally had beginners and pro players and I had to coach 'em at the same time. And there, there are ways to keep them on the same court and keep the multiple engagements. It won't last very long. So you could do that for like two weeks, but over time, somebody's just gonna start looking the other way and saying like, you know, I need to battle while I'm here and have that, but at least short term, there are good answers.
And if the coach has to jump in to be the team that the good players play against, you know, that's one of them or when you have that, that real beginner, that all of a sudden just comes into the group and it's random. Like, all right, well you're gonna have to partner with them half the time for their drills and say like, you know, back it up so that none of the elite players are, are messing up their rhythm. But I agree that is the hardest and probably the hardest to explain to somebody else how to figure out and do it successfully.
Matt Olson (00:54:54):
It's tough and it doesn't stop. Like it's, it's constant for us. Like bigger numbers is obviously financially amazing. And it's the, energy's so much better like lower numbers is it can be really tough. And especially if you're breaking it up and you've got like two or three or four on a court, like it's hard to run a two hour practice at the lower levels at the younger levels. I should say the other one is, and you touched on it. But my coaches annoyed me for a while. Think I'm like an idiot and overstaffed things. And maybe to a certain point I do, we're all we do well, but it's not like I'm retiring anytime soon. So it's not about the money for one, but like we have an extra coach at every session, literally like an extra. And we do, I don't mean to, we have an extra female coach at every session and like their job is to help if there's a court that's like a little overloaded or whatever, but normally they, we put them on a court to play.
Mark Burik (00:55:40):
Oh, so you have a float coach,
Matt Olson (00:55:42):
Floater like a roamer.
Mark Burik (00:55:44):
Okay. Oh. And they could go to any court that they want and, and jump in when they not, not an extra coach per court.
Matt Olson (00:55:50):
No one, how
Mark Burik (00:55:51):
Are you even still
Matt Olson (00:55:53):
One, one per session? So some, some practices we have up to six courts most are three or four, depending like our sand facility, outdoor sand facilities, three courts. And so we'll have an extra one extra Roman court coach for that group. And even in the four core, we'll just have one extra coach. And generally we have, it's either like an athlete in our program or a local high school student. And so we can pay them just whatever, you know, a, a normal working wage, but they also, they can jump in and make it even because you and I in a court or like a lot, lot of others, like if it's odd, like, okay, we'll mix through. I'll make the most of it. That's not the norm in my opinion, like youth level athletes. And even some of our lead, they have a hard time if it's odd because they're just again to use.
They're not that cool. And they won't like include little Susie over there and it ends up being odd. So we have a, a coach that we add, add in to make it even, and sometimes the coach, like to your point will be with the best player in the group and to make it like more challenging on that top court. But more often it's like they're with the lowest to bring the level of play up where it's not, you know, detriment to the rest of the group or like a rally killer or whatever else it might be. So that's another one.
Mark Burik (00:56:59):
Do you teach your coaches and your coaching staff a, a specific way to feed drills, you know, should there be, if you see a coach hitting too many balls to start a drill, do you tell a, a player to move into that hitting role? Where do you find the balance of coach involvement on the court?
Matt Olson (00:57:16):
Yeah, I think this is probably even like another like bigger conversation. I love, I love the question. So we do we, so let's, let's put it this way and I'm gonna talk more about like the more like the elite half of our club is it's very fast moving. We do a lot of we'll like alternate. So we call it like coach led or player led player led is more often than not like a serving type of situation. But I, to be honest, I don't love like a practice where the athletes are deserving and playing the whole time. Even with like coach interaction. I think it just it's funky. And it I've got a lot of coaches there and it kind of pulls them out. We do a lot of coach led kind of situations where we'll like, introduce a ball on a variety of ways and then have the athletes play it out. It looks like a queen of the court. If you're like a parent watching from 200 yards away. But generally there is some emphasis or purpose to every drill or the how we're initiating it.
Mark Burik (00:58:07):
Okay. So if you're working on hard driven digs or, or hands digs, the coach will start by hammering a ball at the forearms or at the face to say that this is what we're emphasizing.
Matt Olson (00:58:17):
Yeah. We'll talk about it beforehand as a group. And then usually like if there's one lead and we branch out on the three or four quarts we have on those sessions and like you said, yeah, if it's that drill, we're hitting, you know, their platform or to left or right. Of their platform. And we've already discussed how we want them moving their shoulders and that we can coach through it. And as you know, like, you know, then the set is starting at the net or they're starting at base and they're swearing up and all that fun stuff. But yeah, I'm not big on the athlete needs to introduce, like, if we're doing some of that drill where it should be the player hitting at their own partner, I get it. I honestly think a coach can hit it more precise to where like the specific drill we're trying to work on and also keep the thing moving because we are fortunate, at least we're where we were the last year and a half that like, we have like full sessions. So we're like eight to 10 athletes on a court and we need to be like moving. I can't stand lines, whether it's my own a D D or whatever else. But
Mark Burik (00:59:09):
Like, I think that's first thing in our coaching manuals, no lines,
Matt Olson (00:59:13):
No lines. And the conversations should be maybe really short in my opinion. I think there's a time and place for like a longer breakdown. And maybe it's like a lesson, but I think like a lot of coaching on the fly is how I've heard it referred to that. Like, you're coaching between drills. I love if like the athletes are serving that like little, I keep using the word Susie. So just keep going. Like little Susie comes off the court, she's walk with her, like back towards the service line and just like talk, talk, talk, and then like, let her go where I didn't interrupt the drill. I didn't inter interrupt her reps. And I gave her what I felt was some useful information. So that's like big for us. And I just tell my coaches like, look, I can only go off experience, but like, I'm good for like 10, 15 seconds of someone like in depth information.
And I know half, this group's the same way. Cause I, when you're talking, I'm watching the body language and like they're looking for butterflies. Yeah. So we just, we keep it moving fast. We keep all of our practices at our club are two hours or less. So the elite athletes are two hours. The there's some like younger third through six programs, like an hour and a half or an hour 45. And we just do, like, we start on time and we do a dynamic, warm up, jump into some pepper progression and we just keep it moving. And I just try to keep my coaches. I mean, I'm sure your manual says similar, but they're like constantly coaching. I can't stand it when there's like a pepper progression going on. I got two of my coaches like wrapping about the tournament of the weekend or whatever. Like this is a wonderful time to fix
Mark Burik (01:00:33):
Platforms, coach.
Matt Olson (01:00:34):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Just fix platforms and make connections. I also have a hard time standing in place. you having me sit down right now for an hour and a half an hour. Five is a lot for me. So I'm constantly moving around the courts and you know, I love, I think like learning names and like all that stuff is super important. It goes back to that, you know, I feel like I'm approachable with our athletes, whether I run this club or whatever, like I feel like even our younger athletes, like, Hey, coach Matt, like, it's just like taking down that wall or that shield or whatever. And just been very available to a point too much too available where you and I spoke a little off camera, but my entire club still has my cell phone and my direct email. So that's why I was fired up with a way you set me up on this podcast and impressed that I've delegated well on the coaching and this and that. But I am still the direct line of communication. So I know it fuels us, but make sure that when you start and you think you might have 50 someday, you might have 300 and you gotta make a decision what to do. Going backwards on that one.
Mark Burik (01:01:33):
No. Yeah. I like what you say about coaching on the fly that's to be able to feed while coaching, you know, that's a big one. Like you can run the drill while you coach, but if a coach stops the entire drill, the entire court to speak to one athlete on one very specific thing for her, the net sum is that you've lost because you've lost the time from seven athletes or nine athletes to give a, you know, 20 seconds of feedback to one. So the net means that you, you lost in that situation. That's gotta be a focus for more coaches to, there are some talkie coaches out there we've all had 'em but you just gotta figure out a way to like, get the drill to keep going.
Matt Olson (01:02:12):
I believe it wholeheartedly and their families. I mean, our sessions are reasonable, but it's not cheap and private lessons. Aren't cheap. I mean, if a coach, if it's like a one on one and they want to hear a lot of information, great. Otherwise I, I think they're there to learn volleyball. And I, I really feel like you said, you can, you can coach on the fly, you can coach during play and you can just keep going and just, it does not need to be. I mean, I, I stopped the group earlier today, the entire group. So all three courts that are like our elite session, but it was like 15 seconds. I like got their attention quickly. And then we're like back in it, like balls in the air, literally five seconds later. And I feel that type of thing, like focuses the group. If I feel like it's something I'm seeing on every court, the same mistake, then I can't go talk to each of them.
And then we'll just, we'll just pause it, um, myself and like two others of the 20 ish coaches we have, or like kind of allow them to do that. And it's just gotta be quick, but yeah, the no lines, constant feedback, this or that. I mean, I, we talked and I don't know how you do with this, but like I've coached while playing a lot. And it's hard not to like lean up against the post or like take a knee. Or like, if you had a chair, how great would it be sitting in that chair? Like, I'm a believer that you gotta be standing and being engaged. And I want coaches that wanna be there and can, can rock those two hours. So it's
Mark Burik (01:03:22):
Hard. We would get lot
Matt Olson (01:03:24):
Wave
Mark Burik (01:03:25):
Beach for a while.
Matt Olson (01:03:26):
Think we do on some stuff. I think it's also one way to do it. I mean, I've been going like, this would be year 13. I know you're in there deep too. Like there's a reason why it works and you know, that's gotta be kind hold yourself accountable and, and
Mark Burik (01:03:38):
Yeah. Uh, so did you, did you buy your land or you use it from the city? How did you go about that when you started your
Matt Olson (01:03:45):
Club? So we have a beach. That's a great question. Cause I, I don't know your world that well in her, most of it, I've heard some rumblings. We have a beach location, that's run by a local city, the city of Delmar. And so we've been permitted since day one. I did not jump around that hoop. We knew we had to, it's a really small beach, so we weren't able to anyway, but we have permits through the city of Delmar for our beach location. And there it's like an ongoing process right now. We're in like year two of like a five year arm. We obviously pay for it. I think it's reasonable. What I like to play less. Yes. But I think it's not like a total gouge and it gives us like, you know, if there's locals on the court or whatever, we have the ability like, Hey, you know, we have these courts permitted from these times and can run practice, cuz it'll be terrible to be somewhere where you get kicked out and then you gotta go, you know, circle back to all those families. The place that I'm actually taking this meeting with is our wave volleyball. And we have three outdoor sand courts in the land is leased from the state of California for this one
Mark Burik (01:04:46):
From the month, the state of California,
Matt Olson (01:04:47):
Pretty much, it's a really unique situation. It's right there, the dumb fairgrounds. So it's like this CA 22 something, to be honest, I don't know all the details. I know that we have another five plus years on this current extension and our whole facility, even like I'm in the indoor facility. It's like one of those, those tents. Yeah. And there's only a certain amount of concrete on this build because it needs to be temporary to a certain extent.
Mark Burik (01:05:14):
So it might be like military owned or, or federal owned. I worked in a sports performance place like that, where we had an airfield that a, a sports facility built it, but they couldn't build a pool because they said within 24 hours, if there's a national emergency, everything needs to be able to be vacated.
Matt Olson (01:05:30):
I don't think it's military. I know it's not military. I don't know the reasoning, but it is like because of the lease situation they want, I think to be able to balance a tenant if need be and like start back. This is like this, the one we're sitting on was a piece of dirt. So it got built from the ground up. We have an angel investor. That's amazing that loves volleyball and able to make this happen. But this one is not cheap either. I'd love to pay a lot less for this one, but at the same time, it has lights. We can play until 10 o'clock at night. And this thing is moving and grooving. Um,
Mark Burik (01:05:59):
What did you do before you could afford that? You know, like
Matt Olson (01:06:03):
Only, only at the beach location.
Mark Burik (01:06:04):
Okay.
Matt Olson (01:06:05):
So I ran the club from the beach from day one and then five years ago we have the second facility. We still run practices in both. We've actually started to near maximize this facility. Like Monday through Friday, weekends are still pretty vacant. Some tournaments here and there and some odd practices, but we're not a club. Even the indoor that like has a lot of weekend practices. Yeah. Just try to create that balance a little bit with our coaches and families. Um,
Mark Burik (01:06:29):
But are you guys ever running clinics or, or invites where adults or juniors could, uh, come into Delmar and hire you, jump on your court, you know, kind of open, open invite for, for California. So you, you keep it kinda anyone visiting California or do you keep it tight knit between your club? What opportunities would somebody take advantage of to maybe get coached by you or your staff?
Matt Olson (01:06:51):
Yeah, totally wide open. We have like open door policy for adults, youth all levels right now there's like weekly camps going on. You can jump on a weekly camp. We have people that come in all the time. Either they just register or they ask me like, Hey, we're only visiting on these dates or whatever. Like we have, we call 'em drop-ins during like the right after the post COVID shut down and the cohorts and all that. We we're unable to do that. But now we're back to what we've done, where it's open door policy, Mike project, we've mentioned multiple times in this podcast does all of our adults. And so we have like a Friday morning, he's got like a standing Friday morning group. You need to get an eval with him before he invites you into that because it's like a little higher level of play. So that's kind of cool. It
Mark Burik (01:07:30):
Charge for the evals.
Matt Olson (01:07:31):
No most evals are free for the youth it's free, uh, for adults. I think it's pretty much like you take a lesson. I honestly don't know where that's at yet. I think it's about 80 a person for an hour. And then he's, they're all, a lot of 'em are independent contractors. So I don't know exactly what they charge our sessions for like a youth range from like 30 to 33 for a two hour practice, depending if it's at like hour 45 or a two hour practice.
Mark Burik (01:07:55):
And what's the name of the website for everybody listening so they can
Matt Olson (01:07:59):
It, yeah. Wave vb.com.
Mark Burik (01:08:03):
Nice. And now you know that we have your Instagram down below, I think it's beach Olson, right at beach Olson.
Matt Olson (01:08:10):
Yeah. My Instagram's pretty much dead these days. Someone like I, I had one during playing and I, I had a, I don't know, whatever, more followers and then it got like hijacked or whatever it got and just lost that thing. And since then I've resorted back to like another one. I just, to be honest, never on it. Not too worried about it.
Mark Burik (01:08:26):
Nice. Okay. Yeah. Wave vb.com. That's where everybody can find out and, and see your facilities and see your programs. And uh, if adults are juniors, you're coming into town and they want get some reps down in Cali. No.
Matt Olson (01:08:41):
Yeah. I'll, I'll give everyone a little Snoop tour. So indoor is that way. Where is that thing? Can you see it?
Mark Burik (01:08:48):
Yep. There
Matt Olson (01:08:49):
You go. Yeah. Yeah. And then there's me again. And then coach Mike it's some athletes are right out there. Uh,
Mark Burik (01:08:55):
There you go. Awesome.
Matt Olson (01:08:55):
Is that yeah, kind of cool. Right.
Mark Burik (01:08:57):
That's beautiful.
Matt Olson (01:08:58):
So that's where I've been like side looking sometimes seeing what's going on out there. Like we talked earlier, that's, uh, miles, Partain sitting out there playing right now. So kind of cool having, having that group. That's
Mark Burik (01:09:09):
Great. Do you have any next steps that you're sharing any projects that you're getting involved in or things that you want people to pay attention to?
Matt Olson (01:09:16):
I just think for, I just keep it super volleyball specific right now is that beach world is like constantly evolving and they're doing pairs championships now from the college level and the fall, which is great. They just expanded the college championship from eight to 16 teams, which is amazing. And there's a big push right now at the junior level for this club versus club format where a program brings five pairs and they compete against other clubs pairs and like a college format. So just kind of getting a little VO geeked up about that and just, we have our fall program starting the 22nd of this month. And so just kind of, you know, we go year round and just getting back into the next part of it and trying to make local Sans better at beach volleyball and kind of enjoying the ride. So you go, yeah.
Mark Burik (01:10:03):
All right. Well, I got two last questions for you, Matt, keeping you still for an hour and a half is
Matt Olson (01:10:07):
No,
Mark Burik (01:10:07):
You're good. You're good accomplishment by me. yeah,
Matt Olson (01:10:10):
I'm enjoying it. So it works
Mark Burik (01:10:11):
Cool. The piece of advice that you received that you've held onto the most throughout the years, the one piece of advice that you've got from somebody that really applied in your career as a player, as a person the most,
Matt Olson (01:10:27):
I don't think it's like, can he put on a t-shirt anytime soon, but again, Kevin Wong was a partner I played with for two full seasons and I really enjoyed our time together. He was about 10 years older than me. So I think wiser as well. And he not all the time, but mentioned no freebies is something he often said. And I've thought about that a ton. It sounds kind of random, but when I'll break it down for you, there's no nothing free in life. No freebies was his thing. And so it was like our working out, or it was like the lack of training or like a business. Like I mentioned, like beach, volleyball's a total grind and pretty much everyone I talk to right now is just grinding and whatever walk of life they're in. I think that everyone's looking for like, not, I don't think everyone I'm not going to run on this tangent, but that everyone's looking for the easy fix and the quick fix.
And like, I literally, my brain just goes back to Kevin Wong telling me there's no freebies. And like, there's something you're passionate about. Like wonderful, like start working at it because I don't know. Some people have some amazing situations. I think a lot of people grind and they work through the, the hard times. And I think you mentioned marriage, I've been married 18 years, this August, like there's times where it's not easy. And like, again, there's no freebies. I wish either said something a little cooler, but it's something that's like stuck with me forever. And I just think all walks of life. And I just, I really like that one. So, and I'm like big like quotes. I mentioned you off air, like some quotes I was reading. Like I know all the, like the bigger wooden kind of John wooden stuff. I, I balance a ton of those, you know, a big like handshake, eye contact, all that fun stuff. So I think there's, I don't know, but Kevin Wong, no freebies. I've used that all the time and yeah, there you go.
Mark Burik (01:12:07):
I like that. And you know, I see kind of a lot of the things that I invested in was going there and doing the work first and then hoping that it would, it become something, you know, doing red shirting in college, you put in the work to go there. You know, when I first went to college, I chose a place that I said, now I'm gonna get my butt cakes for two years to hope that I can start by my junior year. That was always my mentality and the same thing with internships and now, and I know you're looking for some kind of customer service and service people to help grow your club and, and make some things easier. And I'm looking for the same type of people. And hopefully we can both find some people. So if you guys are out there and you love the admin side of things and customer service and helping in people, please reach out to me and met both or looking for you, people don't, you know, I think people forget that you want to invest for a little while to show somebody what you can do with the hope that that will become something.
Instead of coming to an employer, coming to a team and saying, what can the team give me? What can the employer give me? It's show up, get it done. And there's no doubt that they'll have to keep you around, you know, make yourself so indispensable to your team, to your coach, to your employer, that it's man, they're begging you to stick around instead of, you know, begging you to show up in the first place.
Matt Olson (01:13:27):
I'm gonna go off that right now. Cause I was just talking to my business partner and owner wave volleyball, his name's Brennan Dean, and we both pride ourself and you know, putting in the time and doing the little things, et cetera. And we were talking about something that if the volleyball world were to flip upside down, or we had to do a different career, whatever, like to your point right there. And I feel like you're in the same boat that I have zero question that I, I walk into Starbucks down the street or whatever. Like you can start me wherever you want, but like, it's gonna be a matter of time that I'm like near the top. If not like, does that, I don't know. I don't gonna sound arrogant, but I feel like I'm gonna put in the time and I'm gonna make my worth valuable to you and like, try to learn and like be cool. I like that one and be
Mark Burik (01:14:06):
Cool.
Matt Olson (01:14:07):
Yeah. So I just, for what it's worth, I think everyone, a lot of people, I, and I, I have some wonderful coaches with this right now, but everyone wants everything like right off the bat. And like, to your point, it's like, well, prove you're worth a little bit. So I think just kind, I know it's a tough time right now that everyone's working hard and cost are up and cetera. But I think if we just kinda keep grinding and keep working hard, good things will happen.
Mark Burik (01:14:27):
Yeah. There's a feeling of a little more reward in that. Like start me from the bottom. Let me show you. Yeah. Cause I want the little bonus merits of coming up to the next group, moving another position that feels better than starting at a higher position and then being afraid to lose it, you know? And then if, even if you transfer companies, it's like, all right, we've gotta now a pretty big online following. And, and you're the same way when you're talking about kids don't know who a pro player is. So you have to show up for that individual. And even though we've got a big following, every person who sees our video or comes to our website for the first time, we have to prove ourselves to that person every single day to the new person, you know, we can't ride on any reputation or anything that we've built because each new person, this is their first time meeting us. So we have to prove ourself over again. And that's something that we tell to our coaches and, and everybody working in our company is, Hey, we need to show up as if this were their first time meeting them. They have no idea who we are. Like, how do we get that person to be happy to get to the next level and to, you know, progress them in their live or their athletic endeavors.
Matt Olson (01:15:30):
Yeah. And I think that's another one's little quotes is like, you know, you have one chance to make a first impression. So it's that, and it's the same thing over and over and over. That's why I take, to be honest, like an extra second, whatever, read through the emails I'm about to send, I try to proofread things. I try to put like a little more, not just like being super blunt and like, you know, note to this or yes, to that. Like I, people gimme a hard time, like, Hey, you shouldn't write
Mark Burik (01:15:51):
Involved in the bluntness to decorate this a little
Matt Olson (01:15:56):
Bit as big as our club is, or isn't however you wanna look at it. Like these people are reaching out. Like, I feel just putting that little extra personal touch like you're talking about, I think is really important in my opinion. And I feel like earning it at both ends and unable to do that, then I'll take a step back and like kind of check myself. But I think that part of the company and the customer service and the relations is, is really important. Hey, yeah. So what is it? I'm looking at the notes, the comments on the side. I haven't really keeping track. Someone's asking me talk about setters please. What does that mean? What do you
Mark Burik (01:16:35):
Think? I see a bunch of people saying that you're the best player around.
Matt Olson (01:16:38):
That's my boy, Thomas Frazier. Thomas, if you want that job, I will hire you right now. I've actually thought about reaching out to you like two weeks ago and hiring you remotely. Thomas is amazing. He's so good. yeah. Thomas has given some love back. Thomas. I love you buddy. I says, talk about setters. I don't know what that says, but I'm gonna take 30 more seconds. You cool. If I go down this path real quick,
Mark Burik (01:16:56):
Go for it.
Matt Olson (01:16:57):
Yeah. Okay. So I talked early, I think it was in the same pod at Kens when mark and I were off or not. But the setting is everything. If it's what you're focused in. I was so into setting when I was playing. It's all I wanted to do. I wanted to ahead set before I was able to, and I am such a big advocate of squaring up. I think actually, mark, doesn't always square up. If I remember correctly, you got all sorts of cool, like flare stuff you can do. I am like all squared up all the time, trying to make the same contact in your feet to the ball. Like I just had passion about my hand setting and I spent a ton of time practicing it. I mentioned earlier that I played with Jake GI for one tournament. I spent like four days prior to that tournament, like taking his set, setting his set indoors to try to perfect it, cuz it was that really high one that I had a hard time with mm-hmm so I think, and I mentioned earlier, and I don't wanna go down this rabbit hole of like what the current level of setting is.
I think these's some crazy athletes out there. I have a really hard time watching the chowder set, get be accepted personally. I'm not trying to say we changed the rules, but if you're asking my opinion, but I feel that just take pride in your setting, work on it and get a coach like mark and his team to help you perfect. It. It's not rocket science and then give you square up, get your feet there and you know, just work on your release, then it can happen. And I have no idea if that's what that guy was asking about, but it's good
Mark Burik (01:18:13):
To try.
So do you think at lower levels, they should not call handsets, you know, should they wait until a or double a to call handsets? I've always had that theory that like, we need people to not be afraid to try it. I think it's held the country back in terms of like where we could have been with hand setting because so many levels don't even attempt it because there are to lose a point. But do you think we should have the same standard all across the board? Or should maybe a B level allow any type of hand setting, but then once you get to a or double a, then you can start calling doubles.
Matt Olson (01:18:48):
I think it should be loose at certain levels. And I'm, I think it's fine. The AVPs is loose as they are, whatever you want to call it. I, I think what I've seen to answer your question, I know I'm the youth more than you are, is, or I think is that it was super tight. Let's call it three years ago. Super tight. No one is hand setting and it got looser, like it's way looser. And honestly like almost everyone is hand setting at like a medium to higher level youth. It's amazing. Like they are fricking good. Yeah. And it's not like they're really good. It's not like nothing's being called. It's just that if they're facing, it comes out reasonably fast that it's not being called with some spin. And I think that's great. Again, going further down this conversation. What I do have a hard time with is how quick the AVP and some others are even at the youth level to calling what they're calling a lift.
I think I don't understand if absolute fast, like you get, you said your guys a super fast like indoor setter, if super fast can get away with quite a bit of spin. I do not understand personally why someone who's trained with their hands and takes it in a little to your point and then gets called on a lift. And I watched the Hermosa open, like Paul Laman. He actually is at some of the trains at our facility. Yeah. But he got called in a couple. Like they called it a lift. I honestly could not see it. I didn't understand it. Wasn't like a big hold. Like my boy, Kevin Cola back in the day. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:20:07):
Like he's got some nice
Matt Olson (01:20:09):
Control was so nice. He, you like him, you like that slow. I love play with Kevin, but that's my point. Cause I feel like you're squared up like fast or take it in a little, I feel like taking in a little should be just as fine as like fast and CDER in my opinion. Yeah. Let's let's let him man set, like why let's not pause a game if it comes out like absolute helicopter. I'm sorry. That should be called, but that's my point.
Mark Burik (01:20:31):
Yeah. Basketball never reverted to like slapping at the ball instead of actually dribbling it. So like why, why did we have to make this change? And AVP is definitely behind F I B B F I B B went nuts with calling lifts
Matt Olson (01:20:45):
Immediately the list, right? Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:20:47):
Crazy. So the AB is a little bit looser. They're not sprinting towards that. Like the world tour did, but you get your Phantom calls every now and then. And you're just like, yeah,
Matt Olson (01:20:55):
I think it's okay. I love, I love the progression of the sport. I wish we'd stopped changing all the rules, but again, no one's asking me and that's totally fine. I'll keep supporting it from where I'm at, what we're doing. So it's good.
Mark Burik (01:21:05):
Nice. All right. Hey Matt, I kept you a lot longer than we agreed on so, so
Matt Olson (01:21:09):
Thank you. No, no worries. Appreciate it. All right, right on mark. Thank you so much, dude. I appreciate it. Hopefully, uh, something comes to this and I'm super stoked for you and your business is awesome. And the fact you're still playing through this and now you're married and running a business. They should be, we could flip the tide. You could be answering all these same questions. You asked me cuz you're rocking it, buddy. Nice job.
Mark Burik (01:21:26):
I appreciate that. Matt guys go find [email protected]. Reach out. He's open to adult training, juniors training. And of course he's got one of the largest, if not the largest beach volleyball club in the us. So great guy to reach out to. And just like we did pick his brain, get some knowledge when they're willing to share it really appreciate you, man.
Matt Olson (01:21:47):
Cool. Right on you guys. Well, thank you so much.
Mark Burik (01:21:49):
All right. Have a good one.
Matt Olson (01:21:50):
Yeah. As well.
Mark Burik (01:21:51):
Really cool interview there guys. Um, me and Matt, actually, we played maybe for three years along the same, we had a little bit of crossing there in our careers. And at that time he was the older guard that everybody was looking to. That everybody said me, me, me, you know, and when I went down to San Diego, my first few years, you know, he was one of those guys that everybody was talking about. And when I look at the progression of his career, what he did and what he's capable of now and how big of a club he's got, he's one of the guys that I, you know, secretly follow and check out what he's doing. And I love that we get this little platform where I can actually pick his brain and get some advice and mentorship from him. And remember, you know, that we talk about a little bit about mentorship and there was something on Instagram that I looked at a little while ago and I said, to be a coach, you only need to be 10% ahead of the person who is learning from you, right.
You just need to be able to guide them to just the next step. You don't have to guide them the full way. And I have a lot of coaches reaching out to me on Instagram and on Facebook who are thinking about starting programs or want to start classes or want to grow beach volleyball in their community. But they feel like they don't have the clout. They feel like they don't have the reputation. And I'll tell you right now that if you open yourself up and you say, Hey, I'm running this, I'm going to run an hour and a half of setting reps for whoever wants to join. Once you put yourself in that situation and you know, just a little bit more, or even if you don't know more, think about rich lamb burn, right? Who was coaching take Gibb and Casey Patterson. And then Taylor KRA.
This is a coach who really hadn't played that much beach, but was able to, all right, now he's got knowledge of defense. He's got knowledge of blocking from indoor for me in national team Labaro and he's able to provide all of this information. So the short story is you don't need to be so far ahead of somebody in order to be able to help them. Anybody can help anyone at any point. And if you wanna become a coach and you're just 10% ahead of somebody fine, if you're an intermediate or an advanced player, guess what you get to coach beginners, somebody who's brand new to the sport. If you wanna learn how to do that, if you wanna learn how to coach, how to start a volleyball business. That's part of, one of my pet projects that I'm jumping into. I'd like to mentor some people who are trying to grow the community, that they have the community around them.
And I've got a bunch of experience now from blogging to creating YouTube channel, creating successful Instagram channel classes, private lessons, camps, and clinics. So I think I might be 10% ahead of somebody else. So if you wanna learn how to coach I'm here, reach out, shoot me a DM. And let's see if, uh, we can create another little community of people who want to grow the game in their community. All right, we are currently our online players are currently in the middle of their ultimate defender course, which is an eight week defensive masterclass. If you want to look at what that looks like, go to better at peach.com/ultimate defender. That is our defensive masterclass. It is recorded videos. Plus you have the opportunity for two live meetings per week, uh, with a coach and with another group of players where we do a lot of film analysis, including your film analysis, because at the meetings and in the course, we tell you what drills to do at home or on the court.
We modify it for you no matter where you are. And then when you post it onto our private Facebook group, we actually coach you and we show you what you're doing wrong, what you're doing, right, and how to progress to the next level. So we have recorded courses, but we also have our membership where you're working in real time with real coaches, you post your videos, you post your technique, your workouts, and we get in there and we help get you to the next level. We study your technique and we show you how to do it in our private Facebook group. More than welcome to just take the recorded course. That's why we built it. But I think the meet and being able to connect with other players in a community and get to that next level. I think that's what separates us. Being able to work with our coaching staff.
Another little side note from me, if you know Facebook ads, if you know Instagram ads, Google ads, please reach out. We're trying to get the word out to as many people as we can about the programs, because these programs did not exist when I was coming through my career. And I know that there are a lot of people that are still trying to get themselves to the next level, but they don't quite know how to get there. So we've done a pretty good job. When you search on Google, that you can find a lot of our videos, but people don't know how in depth we run our coaching program. So those ads would help us grow. And we are currently looking for some customer service people who can tour people through our programs and introduce them in making sure that they succeed. And if you are a beach volleyball coach, or you want to learn how to be one, we have opportunities.
Those opportunities involve getting players to the next level, through online coaching and mentorship. And we have some commission based sales. If you want to get into some sales and help us grow better at beach. And we think that we can hit a lot of different avenues from online courses to clinics, to camps, to coaching clinics and people who are starting their own volleyball businesses. So if you are shy about reaching out, this is your invite, DM me, shoot me an email. Okay. You can reach out to me at mark Burack on Instagram. That's a good way. Or you can visit our Facebook group. We've got 10,500 people in there. It's called VO chat. Get better at beach volleyball. That is a great way to stay up to date with anything that we have going on. And finally, our first camp is sold out. The October 30th camp in Florida is sold out.
We still have space in our other camps. We have one in November, one in December, one of the end of December and one in January. And we will try to add some in February, March, April, if you want to come hang out with us and play volleyball all day, every day for seven days, training under pros, under great coaches, as well as being able to play in many tournaments and hang out and meet people from all over the country and world. That's the place to go. And I'll tell you right now, thank you to my friends from the camps who ha put me up. Me and Brandon put me up at all of our tournaments. It's an amazing community. So if you get into that Facebook group, VO, Jack, get better at beach volleyball. It is connecting players all across the world and all across the country so that if you're traveling or if you're going to another city, you say, Hey, who is a volleyball player in Richmond, Virginia, I'm looking for some sand games.
Boom. You know, you're gonna get that answer. So at our camps and on our Facebook group, you get to connect with people and make true, true, true friends from all over the world, all over the country and, uh, keep it in the volleyball family. So I know that's a lot of announcements. I'm really happy. I got to hang out with Matt for a little while. I hope you guys got a lot out of it. And as always reach out to me, if you wanna become a member and you want to interact with me on a regular basis, go to better at beach.com/coaching. And if you're just looking for a free drill book, we have our 36 best beach volleyball drills. You go to [email protected] forward slash free beach volleyball drill book. You'll get on our email list and we'll send you our 36 best beach volleyball drills along with a ton of our favorite videos in your email and our podcast episodes as well. If you haven't yet subscribe to our podcast, like it, share it, do all the fun things, send it to the volleyball player that you want to play with or want to partner with. And it helps us go a long way. So thank you guys so much for your time. Enjoyed hanging out, reach out if you want, love to talk to you, have a good one and I'll see you on the stand.
