Cati Leak (00:00:00):
So the biggest thing for me that I needed to do was get to the ball. Like I had great court vision, high IQ, and a really good arm, but there was very little lift to my game. Like I couldn't jump compared to gotcha. What you would
Mark Burik (00:00:14):
Say. So you're an athletic, you just didn't have the highest vertical.
Cati Leak (00:00:16):
Yeah. I'm coordinated. Just not a big jumper. So a three step in that scenario would just allow my first step to get to the direction. And then my last two just had to gather as much as it could to get me to, like, what I needed to do
Mark Burik (00:00:32):
Is Mark Burik and here at better at beach, we do everything to help you get, guess what better at beach, we have seven day training camps that are awesome vacations. We have one day clinics. We have coaching clinics and coaching certifications. We also have a plethora of online courses and online coaching where you can get coached by current NCAA coaches, professional AVP coaches, national team coaches, just by uploading your film to our private Facebook group. We actually give you feedback on your game, your practices, your skills, as well as, uh, nutrition and fitness advice. So if you ever wanna jump on board with that, you're more than welcome to visit [email protected]. And we are currently, if you're watching this live, this is in the middle of June right now, 2022. Uh, we are releasing our camp dates for fall of 2022, uh, and the winter there.
So if you're not on our email list, make sure you get on it because those camps sell out quick and don't want you to miss it. They're gonna be in Florida this year. All right, on today's show, she was a member of the 2013 SCC first year academic honor role where she earned her bachelor's degree and master's degree from the Louisiana state university. She was named all S E C following her junior season and finished her impressive career with more than 1000 digs and kills. She was a four year starter for indoor volleyball and beach volleyball for one of the most powerful programs in the entire country. Unbelievable. And she helped lead the tigers to back to back NCAA championships in 2013 and 2014, she has helped build the LSU program from the ground up as a player. And now as a coach and her 73 victories, uh, stand as the fourth most in the young history of the program in her first season as an assistant coach with the LSU beach volleyball program, Cati Leak, who is our guest today helped lead the tigers to a program record 31 victories and a third place finish at the NCAA championship without further ado.
Katie Lee, welcome to the, the show, congratulations on all your success.
Cati Leak (00:03:02):
Thank you. Happy to be here.
Mark Burik (00:03:04):
Pretty awesome to, we talked a little bit off camera about what it was like to play beach and indoor at the same time. You know, it's such a rarity, even in high school now to find what we used to call three sport athletes where you'd play three different seasons and here, okay. There's there's argument to be made like volleyball's the same sport. It's truly not, but a lot of the skills carry over and you were a two sport athlete at a super prestigious and competitive university. So what was the best part of playing indoor and beach at the same time and what was the most difficult part?
Cati Leak (00:03:43):
Sure. I think the best part was, I mean, you get to be a part of two teams, two like that wanna compete, wanna be great. And it's hard not to have that year round and feel that I guess, anticipation, excitement of game day for a whole year straight. Um, that's rare when you get into college. So for, to be able to do that most of the year was really fun. The hardest part was probably not having an off season to get stronger. That was something that definitely took its toll. And by my senior year of, um, both, it was hard to feel strong to make it through like a full season of all the load. But looking back, if I were to go back, I'd do it all again and would know how to handle it probably better and better. But if it's available,
Mark Burik (00:04:27):
What would, what would you change
Cati Leak (00:04:28):
My nutrition that total, like, I really try not to live with regrets. I think everything can be a learning opportunity and something to take like into the next situation. But if I would've really utilized the resources around me to figure out how to fuel my body, I think my health and just overall approach to the game and longevity of a season would have been a lot better.
Mark Burik (00:04:54):
were there any like specific eating habits that you're either embracing out or telling your players now? Like it's hard, you know, there's so much advice out there, especially from, I guess what I used to look at as like old people. Sure. now currently like my age, like 36, like you're old, you know, and they had all the advice for like eating and everything like that, but I would just stuff my face at chow hall. I was pretty lucky that I actually enjoy vegetables and fruits. So I would dump like a big plate of salad and then a big plate of everything else, but it's not easy for everybody to like, know those choices and, and exactly how to fuel. I remember having like a Snickers and a red bull before a practice when I was gased just because I was like, I know that some form of sugar is gonna kickstart me, so I'm gonna do it. It's better than not having anything. And then the caffeine yes. That increases performance, but I'm sure I could have done better. So what could you have done better, like specifically and what do you tell your players?
Cati Leak (00:05:57):
Yeah, great question specifically. I could have gone a little bit easier on the French fries. this is a pretty fun joke, but I was an emotional eater for a very long time. Just I would like ride the waves if I had a really high, high I'd wanna celebrate with dessert. If I had a really low, low, I would like be able to consume probably a larger amount of food than I needed to, or just the nutritional value of what I was eating. Wasn't very good during those emotional spells. And I really think as I'm externally processing that experience and kind of going back, being in season kind of has highs and lows. And so I just naturally like rode the wave instead of learn how to, I think I should have eaten a lot, like just because we're competing a lot, you're training a lot.
I never believe in restricting food just because of how much I know that athletes like expand on energy, but learning how to like maybe eat more proteins versus chips or desserts, like just really learning what actually is gonna fuel my body and give me the energy that I need to perform. And I think a lot of times that's what I encourage our athletes with because you see specifically in beach volleyball or just any sport that does have probably tighter clothing or less clothing, like there's a lot of poor body image that we never want. I never encourage or never want any player to ever experience in a negative way. Everybody's built different. I think everybody has different needs when it comes to their fueling for their bodies, but it's never gonna be from a restrictive place or how you look on the external like factor of life.
It's more like, what does your body need and how much does it need to be able to perform at a highest level? And that's something that typically is starting to become more important in the college scene. And, and I think just in general for athletes and universities are starting to really buy into performance nutritionist, just mental health in general, like that might cause different triggers that could involve eating habits or eating disorders. And I didn't expect it to take this turn, but I think it's something that is important for athletes to like experience and acknowledge and really figure out what their body needs to fuel the best. And it doesn't have to be restricting or like getting skinny. It can be, no, I actually might need to more, just more healthy or options,
Mark Burik (00:08:21):
Right? Like what macros, you know, you're taking in like the proteins versus the fats versus the carbohydrates and then what types of carbohydrates and, and when for sure, really, I mean like you could eat terrifically and that'll benefit you over the long term, but the timing of your eating yeah. Could also just, you know, it's not gonna wreck it. You're still putting good fuel into it, but you'll feel sluggish if you have too big of a meal, you know, like an hour before your match, because then you'll hit like that downside of blood sugar and you'll be like, I'm exhausted. And I ate, right. So what's the point of eating, right? Yeah. You know, it's like, well, you kind of ate, right. I suppose somebody might have mentioned eating well in college for us. Sure. But there wasn't like, so we have now, now that I'm creating our own programs with better beach, right.
We've got nutrition challenge and it's a, it comes with a 21 day fitness challenge. And then we have our 60 day max vertical for it's a workout program, but we give one nutritional challenge per week. So it's like this week you're going to drink a gallon of water. Yeah. Every day, you know, that's your like one challenge. And then this week you're going to cut out. One thing, one thing that you know is not serving you at the highest level in terms of your diet, like just one item, you know, and for old Katie, it might have been like, Hmm, all right, let's get rid of F fries, uh, this week, but we never had challenges like that. Like any way to guide us into, can you give me something actionable, usable that I can start making some building blocks into a good diet. We never had any of that. And I think more coaches and more programs could probably be served by doing the challenges the way that, that we do them now with our company is like, Hey, let's just build one thing at a time. See how it makes you feel.
Cati Leak (00:10:10):
Yeah. For sure. An all or nothing mentality can be scary for that piece. I know I have that tendency to be all in or all out. And there's no in between. And I think too, for athletes, just learning about who they are and their personalities can even like help them trust that they can figure it out and that they can do it. I mean, it's okay to actually go there and figure it out for yourself and take the time to do it. It's gonna be really helpful.
Mark Burik (00:10:35):
You're right. It's when people look at like a dietary change, they think about an overhaul. And as soon as they think an overhaul, they think I'm not gonna be able to accomplish it. You know, it's too high of a mountain to climb instead of calm down. Let's just, we're gonna start here. How much water did you have today? yeah. Tomorrow we're gonna have one more glass of water. Like let's start there. And so that's why some of the people are really like enjoying our programs. We just give them bite size stuff to be able to build. And I think more collegiate programs or coaches could have just that, you know, there's so much concern with playing recruiting, paperwork, accounting, and keeping up with all the NCAA roles that it's like, what's diet slides sometimes and nutrition slides as far as being a coach. And then the team you don't know that might be causing all of your losses. like, if you don't eat the right time or over time, maybe it's causing injury. Who knows?
Cati Leak (00:11:27):
Yeah, for
Mark Burik (00:11:28):
Sure. Anyway, I didn't expect to go to a nutrition talk, but interesting to know that, like, that was the one thing that, uh, that you'd like go back and change if, if you could, and maybe that could have given you more longevity, more wins, more strength. What do you think?
Cati Leak (00:11:41):
Yeah, I think longevity was accumulation over time and being a hitter indoor, you're taking a ton of jumps, a ton of swings. And then in the off season, if you weren't playing another sport, you would be, be able to actually build the strength back to go again for another year. And so on top of not maybe eating at the right time or eating too much at a time and not enough here, my energy and capacity to actually have the fuel I needed was probably what caused longevity and really winds at the end of the day. I think the accumulation of kind of everything who knows if we would've won more or lost, like not lost as much or whatever that would've been. I think a lot of factors play into that, but right on an individual scale longevity to help the team probably be as good as it would've been the answer
Mark Burik (00:12:25):
When you were making this switch every year between indoor and beach and let's, let's go both ways from beach to indoor and indoor to beach. Okay. What were the absolute changes that you had to battle mm-hmm between that little transition? Like what did you tell yourself? I guess you had to probably go through a few cycles, but, but what did you tell yourself your junior, senior year early when you had to make the switch to the sport? Like, make sure you change this cuz we're playing this now.
Cati Leak (00:12:54):
Yeah. Good question for beach, like coming out of an indoor season into beach, I knew passing would be different. I mean, indoor you're passing to one specific location. So your platform angle, like how you get to the ball, what your movements that you make in the angle that your platform's gonna be at is always gonna go to one specific spot mm-hmm for like success, but beach and being with two people like your platform and the location of your past, isn't gonna be in one spot at all times. And so that was one thing that over the years got easier to just transition into. And then also hitting like on an offensive scale, there's a lot more power that goes on indoor that you have to make sure you have, whereas beach, you kind of have to be able to have control and power to be successful and where you start your approach. And when you start your approach is completely different from indoor to beach because indoor doesn't have wind and it doesn't have the elements. Yeah. And the surface and the depth of the sand changes for beach. So for beach, like going from indoor to beach, it was always passing like, and hitting like timing, I guess, would be the best way to simplify it.
Mark Burik (00:14:04):
And then can we unpack that just like a little bit where, when you're going to beach now, where does LSU teach to pass? Because indoor you're passing to the front right. Of the court, right. Between the middle and the front right. Of the court. Right? Yeah. So that's kind of, and you're always getting it probably three to five feet from the net.
Cati Leak (00:14:25):
Sure. Yeah, yeah,
Mark Burik (00:14:26):
Yeah. Yeah. Is that accurate? Is that where you guys, or are you a program that passes on top of the net or do you leave the ball 10 feet from the net in indoor? Like what numbers were you guys given
Cati Leak (00:14:34):
For? Not recruiting purposes. There's like NCAA rules that like, don't allow me to specifically talk about LSU. I probably should have said that before I went live and I apologize. Okay. That's like a big, I apologize, but generically, I can say generically, mm-hmm broad scale
Mark Burik (00:14:51):
Where, where should great indoor players pass
Cati Leak (00:14:54):
Front, right. Not run. Right. That's kind of funny, uh, front right of the court. Like not on top of the right side, not on top of the middle hitters, but kind of in between that zone kind of area. Okay. Typically where you'd want to pass and generically where you end a pass from age eight to the rest of your life. And typically for beach, you're wanting to get that ball up in front. Definitely in front of the middle of the court is what anybody that I've talked to would be a good area. And you don't wanna be on opposite sides of the side that you're actually passing from. So if I'm on the left side and I'm passing to the right of the court, that's probably gonna be tip like harder to be consistent offensively every single time. And then if you're on the right side of the court and you're passing to the left side of the court, most of the time, it's hard just to get where we need to be, to put ourselves in position to approach right
Mark Burik (00:15:48):
Back in the day. I like this passing location has changed for so many coaches. And from when, when I came, because when I was learning, it was past, straight in front of you and a couple years into the game, I'm like, this doesn't make sense. Why would I like make my, my setter run an extra distance? And now I have to work harder to get into a hitting lane. And so, so then I started moving my pass more to the middle and what we teach. Sure. I'm allowed to, what we teach at better at beach is one o'clock off of your inside leg. So like if you're standing on a clock and straight in front of you is 12 o'clock. We always pass to our one o'clock if we're a left side and to 11 o'clock, if we're a right side, essentially like a 30 degree angle. Sure. Right. And for us, the way we teach it, it's that angle will stay no matter where you pass from. So if I pass this from the sideline, I'm not gonna try to tug it all the way back to the middle. Sure. If I pass from my middle, now I'm gonna leave it actually on the opposite side of the court, cuz I still keep that 30 degree angle.
Cati Leak (00:16:50):
Sure.
Mark Burik (00:16:51):
But why was the straightforward pass? Like a simplification?
Cati Leak (00:16:55):
Maybe I feel like it's and this is just in my experiences. Like I feel like if you, if we take that route, if that's like the teaching point, if we're going straight in front of us, I feel like that's a pretty and you can accomplish it. And you're consistent enough to actually like attain that I'm passing straight in front of me every single time. Then my setter knows exactly where I'm gonna be and knows exactly where to go. So it's less like it's more pressure on the passer or consistency. There's more trust. There's more like just straight line. Like we can go right where we need to go. And then we can create from there versus different types of system. I mean, any place is gonna has the potential to teach so many different things, but for sure that's, I would think the benefit or maybe why that was in the beginning or why that could be a teaching strategy.
Mark Burik (00:17:44):
Okay. As a player, do you pass further off of the net in beach than you do in indoor? Or are you like no. Same location, both sports.
Cati Leak (00:17:53):
I would say it's different more on top of the net for indoor and maybe less on top of the net for beach, but I'm not above. I'm pretty low forward. pass most of the time. That's my favorite skills passing. Like mm-hmm, I love creating the angle that I need and was really confident being like, get to the net, like release. Like I'm gonna put it where you need it, just get there and then we'll go from there. So it was kind of fun for me
Mark Burik (00:18:20):
As a player. Did you have a cuz we're talking about your history and those transitions, did you have a different height that you passed at for either sport or was your height always what it was, no matter what sport,
Cati Leak (00:18:32):
I would say for beach, it was lower height and that's more so for wind purposes and indoor, it was probably height of the antenna. Like with a little bit of arc, like I didn't wanna pass too high,
Mark Burik (00:18:46):
That's it
Cati Leak (00:18:48):
Like maybe, maybe a little bit higher, like it's not gonna be a line drive, but it's gonna, like, it's not gonna be super high. We wanna like kind of push the tempo for our setter to, to be where they need to be. And if the setter's back row versus front row, like in the zone, like kind of depends personally like on if I were to be served and depending on what rotation I was in and where our setter was coming from would probably determine the height of my pass, if that makes any sense. So like if my setter's in zone one behind the right back passer, I'm not gonna like bullet it to her cuz I wanna give her time to get to her spot and then be able to have the footwork to create from there. But if she's already in zone two, depending on her rotation, I'm pulled back to pass and I'm on the right side of the court. Then I might lead her a little bit more than just like set her up on top and maybe give her a little more time so that it comes into her window and she can still see the blocker.
Mark Burik (00:19:42):
Oh, okay. So if you're passing from the right side, you focus on creating like a little more arc because yeah. Coming kind of from behind her
Cati Leak (00:19:51):
And then if I'm on the left side and she, depending on where she's from and the time it's gonna take her to get to her point of like setting and dishing, then it would depend on like kind of where I put it. That was my favorite part was just kind of figuring out what the team needs, what the players need. And if I could do it, then that would be really fun to create for them.
Mark Burik (00:20:10):
Yeah. I was told, you know, growing up, like pass low pass, low pass, low, and a lot of people like low set and then they accused height of wanting a higher set. Well, I don't wanna set that high. I'm not six, three, I'm not six, six. And the more I watched film , you know, and like every F I V B and AVP match, I'm like, there's not a single pass that isn't getting six feet above the top of the antenna. Sure. People, I, I just pass at the top of the antenna, keep the ball under the top of the antenna. I go, do you know what really happens if you try that? You know, there's, you can run the spread offense or like a little bit Shooty, but keeping a ball under the antenna in normal conditions when it's not windy that's personally, I think it's brutal. And I think people think it is because I, I just played tournament with Dave Palm who actually just won in yeah.
Cati Leak (00:21:01):
Muske
Mark Burik (00:21:01):
Musk in Muskegon. Yeah. And I go through this with every one of my partners, I say, all right, how high is your perfect set?
Cati Leak (00:21:08):
Yeah. And
Mark Burik (00:21:09):
He's like top of the antenna, top of the antenna. And I set him top of the antenna and he like barely got to it. And then I set him about four balls above the top of the antenna. He's like, yeah, that's it. And I'm just like, so it's not even close to top of the antenna. like, it's just what you yeah. Imagine. Right. You're like, no, let's, let's give this visual. But in actuality, the game I think is played much higher than yeah. Lower levels verbally say, you know, and then putting a camera on the side of the court makes a huge difference
Cati Leak (00:21:40):
For sure. For sure.
Mark Burik (00:21:42):
Okay. So you're passing changes cuz it's not a fixed location. Now you have a, a floating location or is, or do you guys always pass to middle?
Cati Leak (00:21:51):
I would say floating kind of, depending on where you're served and also depends on the experience level of the person that you're playing with or yourself.
Mark Burik (00:21:59):
How so? Like,
Cati Leak (00:22:00):
I mean, we see a lot more in this game, indoor players transferring to beach they're like last years or even freshmen coming in to a program. So kind of, you gotta learn how to be controlled first before you can actually start to play with like the location of where you're ending up. Does that make sense? So like typically it'll be floating. They're not gonna aim for straight middle. If we get past to the serve to the outside of the court, they're not gonna try to yank it back inside. So that might float a little more towards the sideline ending up, not on the sideline obviously, but, and if we get served middle, we're not gonna try to like bring it right back to where we started from in our passing zone. So, and if kids can control that, then that's fun to be able to maybe like start to strategize on like where we wanna end up passing. But if they can't then typically we're just low forward.
Mark Burik (00:22:53):
Oh. So if you get a more advanced player, then you kind of set up a different passing location based on what you wanna do. Is that what you're saying?
Cati Leak (00:23:02):
Yeah. Yeah. It could. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of just depends on what the capability of the player is. And that's not necessarily something we like and I, I can't be specific, so I just have to kind of generically give ideas
Mark Burik (00:23:17):
Okay.
Cati Leak (00:23:17):
Okay. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:23:20):
Wow. Huh. Okay. And then when you were telling yourself for hitting, what was the advice that you, that you put in your head for hitting cuz you said you needed, you know, more shots during the beach. I'm actually kind of surprised that people change so much when they go to the beach, like compared to indoor. I think if more people held onto the mentality of I'm going to hit, you know, I'm going to hit this ball with, with power instead of its beach, it's an entirely different game. So now I need shots. Yeah. You need shots at some point, but if you were terminating against six people and two or three blocks, why aren't you terminating here on the beach? So what did, what did you tell yourself going into, I guess, between indoor and beach? Like what was the difference that, that you gave yourself?
Cati Leak (00:24:08):
Yeah, my goal was to be able to at any point in time, unless it's just a gnarly outta system situation where at that point I'm probably free balling it over anyway, but for in system and partly outta system setting, I wanted to be able to have an aggressive swing on ball, a great high line and a great cut shot at all times, no matter where I'm at on the court. And so I feel like there's gotta be some level of consistency in looking the same for every single approach that I took to be able to create all of those shots that I would need. So if they pull the blocker pulls, then I can just get it on 'em or like go middle or even like create the cut shot while they're so deep and won't wouldn't expect it. So I think just having more consistency in how I looked and then my contact point to be able to like over time, have the reps to really see where on the court I could create all those swings, um, or shots, whereas indoor, depending on where the pass ends up would depend on where my approach becomes and starting point is or where I'm transitioning to or out of.
But it's basically still creating a ton of power from that place. But as the years went on, I got to create like a gnarly cut shot on the indoor. So like if I was at a system or was in system in the block, like was the game plan was to be double blocked or whatever the defense would give beach really allowed my control to just get gnarly. And so a lot of the time I knew when I could create pace. And then if the off blocker decided to like go in for the tip, then I could just like hit the cut and like off speed cut because I was still approaching aggressively. Like I would in the beach game. Right. And an indoor to know that I actually have a ton of availability with my shots on top of the power that I
Mark Burik (00:25:58):
Had. So do you think beach gave you that bailout and you might not have discovered that if you had consistently played indoor
Cati Leak (00:26:06):
Yes. 100%. It started to get really fun. And I think even that even played into a factor on a positive note, like whereas nutrition might have been negative to the game or negative to like doing both like control and being able to place the ball wherever, whenever, however, was something that actually was the positive from getting to play both. And then in the beach, like indoor allowed me to stay aggressive in the beach game more than anything. And like allowed me to continue to get aggressive approaching reps, aggressive swinging reps, even though I might not have been able to spend time the off season to like work on that for the beach.
Mark Burik (00:26:46):
Was there anything negative that beach brought to your indoor game that you're like, mm, I have to get myself out of doing that because it's a habit that was developed from beach.
Cati Leak (00:26:56):
I don't know if it was necessarily a habit. Uh, okay. I got one habit and then I've got one, like again, the habit was probably passing because my location changed to like the habit of like fighting for different techniques. Just kinda like was weird of like going to one location at all times. Even the height of the pass, the distance of the court. I mean the court's bigger indoor, so it was just a different distance in my platform and using my lower body to get the ball where it needed to end up for indoor to beach.
Mark Burik (00:27:26):
So, ah, yeah, you need almost no lower body with beach, right. When that ball's moving so soft, it's like, all right, well now I have to nudge it 80 feet, you know, it's like a free ball and indoor, you have to kind of Chuck that thing. Yeah. To, to get it up there. Cause the ball doesn't bounce as well. Okay. That's interesting. Yeah.
Cati Leak (00:27:45):
So that's like what comes to mind, but then the pace of the game, like was an adjustment in the summertime when I'd go back into indoor, cuz I think beach can produce a ton of pace and a ton of power, especially nowadays like the beach game has grown so much. And I think it's always been there, but not as frequently and not as many people like would be able to produce the power. Like you can see now, but indoors fast and it's heavy and it's quick and a lot of moving parts to where you had kind of beach, it's a little slower like movements cuz it's only two of you and you're covering the whole court. Whereas now there's six moving parts and the ball's getting on you like that defense blocking like anything really I would say. And the ball's different.
Mark Burik (00:28:32):
Right?
Cati Leak (00:28:33):
So it's a little more indoor. So there's different factors that definitely have probably a two week period of adjustment. But when you do both for that many years and you've kind of grown up playing indoor, it wasn't as hard as it probably felt at times. two weeks. I always give my, I give, I have the two week role. If I'm doing something new, I gotta give it two weeks. And like I can adjust whether that's a workout coming back for spring, like whatever it may be at two week role, you gotta give it two weeks to adjust and then you can start to see like kind of how you actually feel about a certain thing.
Mark Burik (00:29:10):
I love that patience to be able to say like, I don't need to fix it today. Yeah. I, I have two weeks to fix it and I'm like, for me, I'm going through it right now. I'm just coming off of a broken foot. So I haven't touched a ball in eight weeks, you know? And I was in great shape with great touch. Uh, took a third in the AVP in Florida. And even then I wasn't feeling like I was anywhere near my max, but the first, all of last week I was just like, get me as many touches as I can possibly get because my nervous system will come back. You know, my body will remember, but I have to get as many touches as possible. Yeah. And I knew that it would be ugly and it really was. It really was all last week.
And now today I finally felt like, ah, my body remembers how to get my feet set up. You know, I, I can set the ball with control and my legs are solid and I'm still really not waiting on my approach, but I'm piece by piece figuring it out. And I'm like, at least accepting like, Hey, there's time. yeah. I can wait here, but just keep doing the reps and trusting the reps. I feel like Kobe did that. Yeah. You know where he's just like, no, you do the reps cuz we're gonna shoot 1,003 pointers and your body's gonna learn how to get it in. If you keep doing it. Yeah. With decent technique
Cati Leak (00:30:27):
And your worth isn't in the sport, like you're not doing like the, the broken foot thing can really like force you to face yourself and kind of like check where you're putting your worth in. And I'm saying this because I gotta face it myself. So I'm not sinner saying I have it figured out, but your worth isn't in what you're doing. You're doing it because it's something you're passionate about and something that brings you fulfillment. And I think you can do that at practice, after you're healing from a broken foot, like the results of what you're trying to get to are fun to try to go after, but you're not doing it because that defines your worth. You're doing it because it's something that brings you fulfillment and that's to be celebrated. So for you who has a broken foot or coming out of that, that sucks. And that's hard and that's real life, but it's kind of cool to see you get back on the horse and really thrive because you enjoy it. not because it defines you.
Mark Burik (00:31:23):
You know? I, I feel like I'm luckier than most because I knew that when I got hurt in college, I was way more depressed than like this injury. Like once I had my broken foot, I'm like, believe me, it was brutal on the psyche. Yeah. And the mental, but I have so many other things to work at now consciously. Like I wanna work on my relationship with my wife every single day, you know? Like how can I be there for her? I have this stuff, my team sending you a message. That system was created only because I had the time to work on a system because I was hurt. So I couldn't like be physically training. So the podcast got strengthened during that time. Our website got strengthened during that time, but I had other stuff to focus on and improve where I had like multiple goals.
Some people who are so fully invested in a sport, especially I think a lot of D one athletes mm-hmm, , it's tough for them to then say, where can I improve now? Yeah. You know, and, and where can I find worth? Because you associate that worth with like your teammates, you know, you're like, you're doing things for them. You're, you're helping them. You're leading a team or guiding a team or being a part of it. It's not only like that volleyball is your worth, but yeah. The view of your peers and, and what you can do for them. Yeah. I just think it's so hard for people who, who are fully committed to a sport when they get hurt. It is a brutal few weeks there. Yep. Do you have any advice for when your players get any injuries and you're trying to keep them from going over the deep end, in terms of like depression and, and mentality. Yeah. Is there any initial focus point that you give them?
Cati Leak (00:32:58):
Yeah, it's the big thing was, is worth like, I'm very passionate about that. And starting like to encourage them, like I initially start with encouragement and never like, this is why, or this can no, just I'm encourage them to like really look in the mirror and address like what they think about themselves now that their sport isn't available to them every single day. And for me, and I can't speak for like our players, but I can speak for myself who went through that. Like I really learned my identity and really learned that it was solidified in like Christ. And I know that that's not for everybody and their, like their everybody's faith journey looks different. But for me, like learning that there is a God who created me and has made me for specific plans and for a specific purpose and to be able to have something outside of what I could do, give me acceptance no matter what happens or no matter what occurs.
Um, and that there was somebody who was willing to kind of pay the price for my shortcomings so that I could live a life of joy, fulfillment, peace, patience, kindness, like really got real in that time of injury. And so I think that it can be used as a blessing, even though it like forces you to kind of admit that it's not and admit that it sucks and admit that I'm hurt. Like I ask them to go to a place they don't wanna go and admit like, what's actually what they actually think about themselves, about the sport, about where they stand, where their confidence lies about what they doubt, what they believe, like, whatever that is. I want to be available at that point to love them exactly where they're at and show them that they're more than what we ask them to do and prove that in my encouragement, in my availability, in including them, whatever we can include them in like on a daily basis.
Mark Burik (00:35:01):
That's huge. Yeah. Not, not letting them feel like they've been excised from the community just because they're hurt. That's where depression occurs. Right. It's like when you're alone and you don't think that anyone understands or anyone cares or that you can even reach out and contact them. Yeah. So I think for those injured players, bringing them and keeping them around the team and giving them responsibilities, you know, we had a great coach who, at least when I got hurt, I was like, what can I do for the team? What can I do for the team? Yeah. Yep. And he was like, I need somebody to take stats. Honestly. I've always need somebody to take stats. Cause he is one guy. Yeah. And I was like, fine done. But then I found two games into taking stats. I was like, I was holding this clipboard and I was like, Fred, I think my team needs my voice right now.
Mm-hmm they need me to fire them up and like punch 'em in the chest and to get them going. And he was like, you're the captain, you make the choice. And so I like threw the clipboard aside I was like stupid stats. And uh, you know, I just started like raging on the sideline and, and getting the energy up. And that brought my value back. Like I had to find my value and sometimes you search for it's good. And you miss, you know, you don't get it. You might miss 3, 4, 5 times, but you just gotta keep shooting.
Cati Leak (00:36:11):
Yeah. And at that point they kind of realize like they don't have to earn anything. They're already a part of it. They're already a part of something. And so to be able to kind of be a tangible representation of in a weird way, like faith of like, it, it didn't take you earning your way, earning this swing, earning this pass. You didn't have to earn that to be a part of who we are and be a part of this group and be a part of something bigger than yourself and injury kind of allows you to kind of see if you can take that or not. But the value piece, like you said, was really good and something to always encourage.
Mark Burik (00:36:49):
Cool. Well, let's shift gears away from injuries for a second. Was there anything that you learned cuz you, you said you were so many sports growing up mm-hmm so as a multi-sport athlete growing up and then you're from Arkansas, is that right?
Cati Leak (00:37:02):
Alabama close,
Mark Burik (00:37:03):
Alabama, apologies. Alabama, were there habits or things that you learned to play the game in high school or as a kid, as a junior that once you got to university at a new level had to be erased, you know, sort of like a warning or a common thing that so many coaches or so many players are being taught or teaching that you're like, oh, that's not actually how we do it at the top level.
Cati Leak (00:37:28):
Hmm. That's a good question. I kind of wanna say no because
Mark Burik (00:37:32):
You had great coaches
Cati Leak (00:37:34):
Yeah. I was blessed to have rose majors, Powell as my club coach. And she was a part of an Olympic team back in the eighties. So I had an Olympian as a club coach, and I think that when you get to the collegiate level and professional level, there's different systems and different ways to succeed. So I was like taught how to pass one way and then I got to college and it was a different passing technique. And then there were different assistant coaches that came in and came out of my time at LSU. And so we
Mark Burik (00:38:03):
Might, what were those differences
Cati Leak (00:38:05):
For passing speci and I love passing. So that's why I'm like I land on passing. Cause I think it starts off
Mark Burik (00:38:10):
Everything. And what were you taught? Pre-college and, and during college that was so different.
Cati Leak (00:38:14):
Yeah. Fighting to like kind of be midline was a technique of like a lot of footwork, like on the front end to like create what we needed to get it to zone two or a three pass is what is coming to mind for me. And then there's some years where it's like a lot of angles with our platform, like getting our platform out early and creating that angle and then kind of flowing through the pass and different ways to address a short ball versus like taking deep ball. Like there's just different techniques that I'd always been taught or opening how to open up correctly versus like one, like there's one where you can take whatever foot needs to get to the ball, the quickest, like an immediate like drop step directly back versus like opening up like tips open versus stepping back. Like I've just kind of experienced different types of technique in that way. And then a three step versus a four step approach. Like I've learned both and I, yeah, let's say attempted both.
Mark Burik (00:39:09):
What did you learn? Three college,
Cati Leak (00:39:10):
Three step approach. You
Mark Burik (00:39:12):
Learned three step.
Cati Leak (00:39:13):
Oh yeah. And I'm not been able to figure out a four step for me, like,
Mark Burik (00:39:17):
Wow.
Cati Leak (00:39:18):
And I'm not gonna bring in dancing cuz that would take a whole nother, like turn, but there's like little rhythm to my body. And so going from like three step all my life to attempting four step like the rhythm and the timing like really got in my head and I lacked a lot of confidence and was scared of failure at the time that it was introduced to, to actually use it to my advantage. And some of our teammates did some of 'em didn't so,
Mark Burik (00:39:43):
Okay.
Cati Leak (00:39:43):
Those are examples.
Mark Burik (00:39:45):
I'm still shocked that a three step is used like almost anywhere when I look at all pro and national teams. Yeah. I'm like how is a three step still existing in some places. But then as a coach, I still know, Hey, you have to figure out what works in a short amount of time for a player. And if you have a title on the line or if you have something the line and it's just, it's not clicking for that individual or for you as a coach or you us program, then you have to figure out what works for you. I just see every single national team. Yeah. Each and indoor all on a four step. So that's why, that's why we push it. You know, it's like, well listen, if we're gonna do it one way, we're gonna do it the way that all of the best players in the world are doing. And it's always a little bit surprising when I still hear that a three step like exists in places. So like, do you have any rationale or can you present the, this is why we do a three step. You know, this is why someone would prefer it or why you should do it.
Cati Leak (00:40:45):
Okay. I'm gonna try.
Mark Burik (00:40:46):
All right.
Cati Leak (00:40:47):
And I don't know if it's accurate. So I'm like gonna warn with that as well.
Mark Burik (00:40:52):
Discussion point
Cati Leak (00:40:53):
Goes is I lack athleticism compared to like most
Mark Burik (00:40:59):
IM a division one volleyball player, two sports Multisport growing up and I lack athleticism. First of all, BS second, not,
Cati Leak (00:41:08):
I'm not a big jumper. So the biggest thing for me that I needed to do was get to the ball. Like I had great court vision, like high IQ and a really good arm, but there was very little lift to my game. Like I couldn't jump like really compared to what
Mark Burik (00:41:24):
You would say. So you're an athletic, you just didn't have the highest vertical.
Cati Leak (00:41:27):
Yeah. I'm coordinated. Just not a big jumper. That was always something that I wish I I've talked to God about many times if like, why couldn't that just be a part of my design?
Mark Burik (00:41:37):
Just gimme the bunnies please.
Cati Leak (00:41:39):
yeah. So a three step in that scenario would just allow my first step to get to the direction. And then my last two just had to gather as much as it could to get me to like what I needed to do. And obviously I tried to jump as high as I could and be as athletic as I could, but like adding another step, almost like could create just more steps in the process of just getting to the ball.
Mark Burik (00:42:03):
Okay. So you thought you in defense of the three step, you think that it's a potentially more accurate way to get yourself to the ball? Not necessarily the could the highest jump, but it it's possible that you can have some better feet to ball. If you're a little bit more patient, you have less momentum going into it. So you don't have to like break your momentum and then readjust.
Cati Leak (00:42:23):
Yes.
Mark Burik (00:42:24):
I can see that because we still, even with the four step, you still like, okay, your second step, your left step should still be directional. Yes. You know, that's, what's getting you to the ball and you have to have control over how you step off of it because from your left you could go left forward right. Or backwards. Yep. And if you already have momentum gained into that, that becomes a little bit more difficult, I think.
Cati Leak (00:42:47):
Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:42:48):
All right. Cool. Four step verse three step. Haven't had that discussion a while. yeah.
Cati Leak (00:42:53):
I don't, if you ever will moving forward.
Mark Burik (00:42:56):
No, we definitely will. There definitely will. Okay. So you made this immediate transition from player to coach, right? Yes. What was the most difficult part for you of being a player and then now you have to coach your peers. Yeah. Like the person that you were just battling with now, you're kind of in charge of them. It can't be easy.
Cati Leak (00:43:18):
Yeah. It definitely took its toll, like being up until this past season and I'm going into my fifth year. So my fourth year of coaching at this level was the first year I didn't play with the teammate or like coach with having played with somebody. And as they got older and became leaders, it became more and more like difficult and enjoyable. It was really fun to watch like a freshman that you got to like be a leader for and a mentor for like figure out who they are as a leader and like lead a team to that's cool high success. So there was a lot of just friendship that was still there. That was hard to like kind of have an authority over more than a peer leadership over. And it definitely took its toll emotionally and mentally, but physically being there and getting to watch great volleyball and get to like help.
Great volleyball come to life is always gonna be a, a bonus. But the biggest themes that I've taken away in my time so far as a coach is you go from getting to be selfish, even though you are a team player and wanna do what's best for the team, but you are asked to become great as good as you can become. So you're asked to get the reps you're asked to like do the work you're you're the attention is on you as a player. And then you flip that as a coach and it's like completely selfless. Like you are just giving that to the players. And so I didn't realize that probably my first year I was like, I had a harder time with being selfless and I would like to think I would aim to be a selfless person in general, but you still get attention as a player that as a coach, you're providing that attention. And that was like an interesting kind of transition. And now that I've been in it for a while, it's really fun to be selfless. It's really fun to give back to the sport. That's given so much to me and it's allowed me to figure out like how to make each player as good as they can become, because I want to, and like get to versus the, have to that you were kind of asked to as an athlete. Right. So it's kind of, that would be the biggest thing I
Mark Burik (00:45:21):
Would think. I remember Brandon, my partner out here, he did that same transition where all of his best friends, you know, all of the parties and Hangouts that, that we went to previously. Now you cannot go. Yeah. So it's like, there's this like cutoff now between you and all of your best friends and you have to respect it as a coach. You know, you have to live by that. Yeah. Sometimes it turns into like, you know, I don't see that. And sometimes you're putting this program in trouble and you can't do that because now it's my livelihood as well. And yeah, we made a few crazy calls when we were on the team. But like I know all the calls that you're about to make and you can't do that anymore. yeah,
Cati Leak (00:46:05):
Yeah, no, that, that was fun. And I, that was hard to deal with, but I also got to embrace a different type of relationship that I'll never get to have again. So I could still be that leader that I could be a leader to the leaders that I didn't even get as a leader of like, Hey, when I was in your shoes at this point, like I know what you're heading into and I know what you're trying to do. Like, this is how I think you could go about it. Like not allow them to avoid what I wish I would've avoided, but be there like for them just like they were, when they were freshmen. And I'm kind of speaking more to like when the last group that I got to coach like left when it was done or in their last years. But that was, yeah. Not being able to go to a movie or a dinner with people that you endure was messed up,
Mark Burik (00:46:51):
But it's hard. I bet some people go through that like later on in, in their job jobs where they're like, they're in the mix and now they become like a C level exec and all of a sudden there's a different, weird barrier. And now that shifts, it's not an easy time in life when you upgrade, but everybody else has stayed at the same level. Not necessarily like you're a higher human yeah. Than them. Mm-hmm . But in your role, your position, and then sometimes your friend in social circle actually does have to change and you have to figure out how to navigate that as a human.
Cati Leak (00:47:23):
Yeah. That's a
Mark Burik (00:47:24):
Really good point. I know that you had a, a hard stop three minutes ago. So then what are you guys currently working on for your players and what skill or asset are you currently improving as a coach?
Cati Leak (00:47:39):
I could probably speak to the first one cuz I think that'd be unfortunately illegal. I should probably just write a blog and maybe that would suffice. But as a coach, I am wanting to improve my knowledge of the beach game. I mean, I came in as a sophomore, like into this game and I've been five years old when I started indoor. So like there's just been years upon years of knowledge that I've gained. And I think that I'm still scratching the surface on like what I can learn to coach our team. And I feel like
Mark Burik (00:48:10):
That's the most recent thing that you've learned that like popped your knowledge where you like, oh yeah, that's great. I got a little tip from me today. Like one of the coaches that I hired, he works for me, but I have him coach me as well because he can give tips and I was missing, serves wide and he's like, your torso can stay middle and your wrist can turn, but you can't have torso and wrist cuz you're gonna miss everything out. And then as soon as he gave me that, like I know that, but I wasn't doing it. So as soon as he gave me that boom, all of a sudden my surf location got better. And I was like, thank you. You know, there's stuff that, that we know sometimes that it's like, you just need somebody to tell you in the moment, but it had there been any light bulbs for you where you're like, this is a great
Cati Leak (00:48:52):
Solution. Yeah. I think like learning how to properly miss, like with the wind mm-hmm so like if the wind's like a strong crosswind and you're hitting a shot with the wind, not missing like a certain way, like if it's a Highline shot, like not missing wide with the wind. So my like shot like that I'm gonna aim for is maybe more like five feet inside so that if it were to like blow, then it actually might go like to the proper
Mark Burik (00:49:18):
Spot. That's huge for a lot of people
Cati Leak (00:49:21):
Or vice versa. If it's against the wind, then I'm gonna like be able to miss. If I'm gonna miss I'm gonna miss sideline or wide and see like how far I can, like miss that
Mark Burik (00:49:30):
Would changing where you imagine it's gonna land based on the wind. That's huge. I see people miss all the time cuz they aim for the sideline or they think they have to get their cut shot all the way to the sideline. Mm-hmm I'm like, listen, if you land your cut shot four feet from the net and four feet from the sideline, then your misses will be like the nastiest shot you ever had in your life, which is cool. yeah. You know, your good ones will still be a kill and your bad ones will be in play at least mm-hmm you know, so, but when people aim for that sideline and then you take it, like you said, take into the account, the variable of wind that's gonna that'll change things bad and people will just make errors
Cati Leak (00:50:06):
For sure.
Mark Burik (00:50:07):
All right. And that was something that you didn't pick up on or like light bulb dooring while you were playing?
Cati Leak (00:50:14):
No, not at all. I would just go for the shot and see if it like did
Mark Burik (00:50:19):
Hell
Cati Leak (00:50:19):
Yeah. Just hit the open plan,
Mark Burik (00:50:21):
Hit it away. Just take away Meryl. And is there anything that players do across the board where you see adult players, you know, B a level double a that you think most people are making mistakes on or not doing it? Right.
Cati Leak (00:50:36):
I don't know why this is a pet peeve. Like,
Mark Burik (00:50:39):
Ooh, I love pet peeve.
Cati Leak (00:50:40):
Pet peeve is when you're standing on like the in line in our like standing at the very edge of like, I guess the corner and you're serving whether it's into the wind or line side, cross court, like, I know it's so specific, but if like kids are standing, like with their dominant hand to the cross court, like across the court and they toss to the opposite side of their body, cuz they're trying to toss in that direction in the miss, in the middle of the net, I get angry.
Mark Burik (00:51:04):
Oh. So if I'm on like the right side of the court and I'm a right-handed player and I wanna serve diagonal. Yes. It's bad. If they toss and they lead themselves into the diagonal.
Cati Leak (00:51:17):
Yeah. And then they still like serve as if they tossed well and would have a higher contact and it just murders the net. Huh. And I'm like fix you, your boss.
Mark Burik (00:51:27):
do you make them toss? Would you say the solution is to toss to the, to your right side and then change your hand angle? Or would it be to just turn your body and then have the same toss you always do, you know? So that your body just kinda gives it away.
Cati Leak (00:51:40):
I'd say make sure you toss to the right side. Okay. Cause even if I turn, like it's still a sharper angle to like hit the zone, but if I actually get it to my right arm, then I can still use my body and still finish the way I need to finish to actually like accurately hit the target. Mm.
Mark Burik (00:51:57):
All right. You heard it, everybody stop tossing to your nondominant arm.
Cati Leak (00:52:02):
Please.
Mark Burik (00:52:04):
But miss way. I mean, if you're gonna miss in one spot, miss way outside on your dominant arm. Yeah. You'll always be in a better spot there. Yeah. We get this like west coast wind in California. And if the wind's blowing off of the ocean and the wind's on your like coming from your right arm, people toss, like they normally toss and then the wind tugs it to their left ear. Okay. That's fair. And then they just buried it into the net, just like you're talking about. Yeah. So when you feel that wind on your right side, I tell people, Chuck it way, right outside your body, I'm fine. If you chase the ball to the right and then you need to cross body to come back, but at least you'll be high. Yeah. When you do that cool pet pee, bad surf tossing.
Cati Leak (00:52:44):
it's weird. It's the weird and I can like handle mistakes, but I'm like just mistake differently. Like please learn differently.
Mark Burik (00:52:54):
Got it. Okay. Anything that the world should know about as far as the future of LSU beach volleyball, what your guys' goals are, what are you going for this year or anything new on the horizon?
Cati Leak (00:53:02):
It'd be hard to not wanna go for a national championship, be in the mix every single year for that and conference championship. If those aren't some of our goals that I think we're, we're doing it wrong, but at the end of the day, like we wanna do what we're supposed to do and be who we're supposed to be, and then allow fulfillment to come from that place and trust to come from that place. And at the end of the day, just enjoy who we get to be around and what we get to
Mark Burik (00:53:26):
Do sounds like you guys are developing a fantastic culture. And I think that culture always breeds good people and good athletes and attracts the right people to the program. So salute you for that. That's big instead of Xs and OS you know, creating that personal culture is everything in terms of enjoyment and success across all facets of life, I think.
Cati Leak (00:53:47):
Sure.
Mark Burik (00:53:47):
All right, Kate, I know you got a call. Uh, I know I, I held you late, so I really appreciate your time and uh, thanks for me. Absolutely, absolutely. Good luck next season.
Cati Leak (00:53:59):
Thank you. Do you care if I've prayed for you in this?
Mark Burik (00:54:03):
I would, would love for you to pray for me.
Cati Leak (00:54:06):
Okay, awesome. I'm just gonna do that and then we'll say goodbye.
Mark Burik (00:54:10):
Absolutely. Let's do it.
Cati Leak (00:54:12):
Okay, father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to mark and just be a part of a really cool endeavor that he's going after. Uh, we just lift up it's time to you and better at beach to you and just ask for your blessing and your favor, um, that people would come to know you through this avenue that mark would continue to grow and who you have him to be for not only this, what he's going for here, but with his family and his wife, uh, but you heal his foot and teach him what you wanna teach him through this time. And holy spirit would just allow him to experience all the fruits of the spirit while he continues to become who he's supposed to be. But we love you Lord. And we thank you for, uh, sending your son to down the cross for us to just have a better life and to have maybe not an easier life or, um, less storms, but somebody to go through them with and have peace in the moment with, so we love you Lord, and we thank you for this opportunity in your son's name of prayer.
Amen.
Mark Burik (00:55:10):
Amen. Thank you so much for that.
Cati Leak (00:55:12):
You're welcome. And thank you for having me.
Mark Burik (00:55:15):
Absolutely. All right, Kate, we will see you on the sand. Enjoy your call. Go get to work, have a great season, all blessings and prayers and, and good thoughts to you as well. Um,
Cati Leak (00:55:28):
Thank you so
Mark Burik (00:55:29):
Much. Amazing having you. Nice meeting you.
Cati Leak (00:55:31):
You too. See ya.
Mark Burik (00:55:33):
Bye bye. Cool show from a assistant coach. I mean Louisiana state university, I mean, does it get higher level than that coming off of, uh, us and, and cloth. If you guys know the AVP, the girls who are dominating right now at the age of like 22, 23, that programs now storied and they're heading in the right direction. And it sounds like culture is huge for them as it usually should be for champion championship teams. So loved having that talk loved having her, her pet pee of the toss into the non-dominant side. And I went through that today and served a couple into the net. And she's exactly right tossed to your dominant side. As far as announcements from us guys. Currently, if you're watching this live, we are releasing our camp registration. So we're gonna Saint Pete beach in Florida, we have five weeks scheduled, but we know from experience that these are going to sell out and they sell out fast.
So if you are not on our email list, you need to get on it because we do a tiered release, which means that the members of our complete player program, our online members, they get first crack at our camps. We keep our numbers, our coach to athlete numbers really small. And that's why we have to keep our player availability limited, right? So there's limited spots because we need excellent coaches there. And we need a lot of coaches for the amount of players that we have. So we have only a certain amount of spots and you guys have to be on it. If you want to get your spot, our members get the email. First, they get the chance at first booking. Then our email list members. After a few hours, they get their chance before we release it to the rest of the world, on our website at better at beach forward slash camps.
And of course to social media. So if you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, better at beach volleyball and TikTok, we actually have a TikTok count. If you wanna go ahead there, all of those dates are being released in the next five weeks. This is in June and uh, one by one, each of those camps will be released soon and there is early bird pricing. So if you wanna save some money and book ahead of schedule and reserve your spot, definitely, definitely, definitely make sure you are on our email list. If you go to better at beach.com/camps, there's an easy form to fill out there. You can get on the email list and just for signing up for our email list, you get 36 essential drills for beach volleyball. We have a little ebook for you. So if you need some beach volleyball drills, you can head on over there and grab that drill book and get on our email list.
So you know what we're doing. If you're watching this and you enjoyed all of the coaching, if you're a player or a coach and you are interested in getting practice plans, beach volleyball, practice plans, we have them written out and we have them on video. Okay? So if you just want to know what you should be doing and drills that professional teams are doing and how they lay out their practices, we've already built that for you. We've got them all written out and videoed so that you can see the drill in action. And all you do is download our app, take a look at your phone, say, that's the drill we're gonna do. Let's emulate it, emulate it, imitate it, both of them. And then they're all set as far as your practice plans. So that's [email protected] slash practice plans. And as usual, if you want to become a complete player, we have an incredible coaching program.
And we are recruiting coaches apparently now from around the world who want to coach for better at beach. They're recognizing that we have positions for coaches on a, essentially a commission basis. So we're adding to our, our staff. And what we do in the complete player program is you get all of the courses that we have. Every single one serve, receive setting, arm, swing mechanics, attacking, which is a lot of offensive design decision making vision, everything like that. We also have a serving course in ultimate defender course and a blocking and peeling course along with the practice plans. And of course our 60 day max vertical workout program, all of those are included in the complete player program. And when you sign up, you go through one tutorial and then in that tutorial, we tell you what drills you should do. And we give you modifications.
So you can do them on at home or on the court. And then it's your job. Here's one of the bonuses. It's your job to film them. Then you post them on our private Facebook group and that's where we can actively coach. So there is a ton of value in there because you have all of the courses that they do their job on their own. Even if we didn't coach you, you would know everything there is to know about passing, setting, offense, defense, et cetera. Then if you want to, you don't even have to upgrade. All you have to do is film your game, your practice, your technique, or even your squats and your hang cleans and everything. Cuz we have strength and conditioning coaches and then you post them on the Facebook group and we go in and actively coach you. We've got a great staff that wants to help you with your game and help you guys get better.
So if you're a coach and you wanna join the team, please get in touch. And if you are a player and you want to get better, this is the way to do it for you. Coaches who are new to the game. And you wanna add to your tool belt. I'm telling you right now that the complete player program will make you a better coach. You will have more knowledge, more drill ideas, and uh, you will be more efficient as far as a coach plus all the ideas that you can get and generate. So whether you're a player or a coach, the complete player program is a great answer. If you're looking to upgrade your knowledge and definitely your skills, okay, you can check that [email protected]. The page that actually explains a lot about that. If you need to to hear it or read it explained again is better at beach.com/coaching, and you can check all of that out on our website.
I don't think I missed anything, but if you want to support us and you wanna get some cool swag, you can head over to better at beach.com/shop and you can check out our staff picks everything that our staff loves bringing to the beach or having in our beach volleyball arsenal. We come out with three new staff picks every week in different categories and you can select from there. And then we get a little affiliate bonus from those companies, but they're all things that we use and that we love. So head over to better at beach.com/shop. If you wanna check out our staff picks, I don't think I've missed anything. So editors have fun with this, with my freezes and pauses. Thank you guys for listening to a great conversation. If you wanna jump in a camper clinic, you know where to find us, and if you have any ideas of who we should interview and what types of questions we should ask, please send those. If you think that we need more structure and less conversation, or if there are certain things you want to know from certain people, let me know so that we can make this podcast more effective, better, more enjoyable for you. All right, that's it, everybody. This is mark. Burack signing off. I will see you on the sand.
