Phil Dalhausser (00:00:00):
What I try to do on Jo, I always used to lose on Jo and there's a German blocker. He was so good at just grabbing the ball like this, holding it, and then he would bring it onto his side. I grab that from him. And so every once in a while, I'll grab that ball. And usually I try to play to myself, but maybe in that situation, I played it in Nick somehow.
Mark Burik (00:00:23):
that was another example of me looking at you. Like he's just on a different planet in terms of skill and knowledge of the game.
(00:00:31):
Hello everybody. And welcome to the better at beach volleyball podcast. My name is mark Burk here at better at beach. We run vacations camps, clinics classes, online courses, and mentoring for anybody who wants to improve their game fitness level nutrition, or just skills in beach volleyball. And I don't want to spend a long time on our intro because today we have a short time with a really cool, really special guest. He is one of, if not the best beach volleyball player to have ever graced the sand. And I want to hear how he reacts when he hears that. But thank you everybody for attending the are doing a live meeting today with the players in our complete player program. So the players in our complete player program are gonna be able to ask questions of Phil live as part of one of our two weekly meetings, where we review game footage, practice, and they seek advice and coaching. So without further ado, Phil D Hauser, welcome to this show.
Phil Dalhausser (00:01:37):
What's up. Thanks for having me on. Yeah,
Mark Burik (00:01:39):
Absolutely. So what's your like kind of initial reaction when people call you the goat? I mean, I'm, I'm not trying to like make you blush, but I, I wanna know what it actually, you know, feels like, or, or what feelings you get. You kind of check I'm
Phil Dalhausser (00:01:53):
Already getting uncomfortable, like itchy and, you know, you know, obviously it's a huge honor. I will say you could put me in the discussion as one of the best ever, but I think there's a dude from Norway right now. That's playing better ball than I ever have that team's revolutionizing the game. And he's like blocking three balls of set, which is insane before that it was either me or somewhere around the top at like 2.4. So he's like shattering blocking stats.
Mark Burik (00:02:21):
Don't wanna make the show about Andy cuz he's tremendous, but what did he change? What did he come along and do so differently? Was he just, it's hard to say that he, he might be just another level of athlete, like yeah, 6, 9, 6, 10, and able to, to move very athletically agile and everything. But what do you think was the difference maker that is, or does set him apart? And I know that a lot of federations, I know USA specifically like looks at Andy's game and said, Hmm, we're going to apply what he's applying. So could you just discuss a little bit on what he did did so differently?
Phil Dalhausser (00:03:00):
Well, he's actually a smaller blocker. Believe it or not, he is like six, seven, you know, in the world tour. That's like probably on the smaller end, but he's got kind of short legs and a really long torso. Right. So he can get super low in his block load. So then as a hitter, he's out of your sight. Right. And then he's so powerful. He could get up in the zone, you're hitting zone and he's got really long arms strong hands. And he's like really like flexible to his side like that. And he takes up so much air at the court because of all that. And it's really kind of impressive to watch.
Mark Burik (00:03:40):
Was he the first one trying these like waves and hands extremely outside your body blocking? Cause I remember Jake was doing it. I was part of against me and knocking me out with like hand plays. But that was before I even knew what was happening to me. I thought I was just getting warm.
Phil Dalhausser (00:03:55):
I would say, uh, the original guy was probably witty.
Mark Burik (00:03:59):
Okay.
Phil Dalhausser (00:04:00):
And then Ricardo, and then I guess I would be next, but I was kind of going with one hand rather than like the windshield wiper two hands and then Al song is probably the next guy in line. Uh, that was making those moves.
Mark Burik (00:04:14):
I was always looking at your block at least early on like the first 15 years as really structured and big. Were you during the early parts of your career in, in the middle of your career, focused more on perfect positioning and staying stable and taking up space with your hands? Or were you trying to use individual hand placement? Move them a lot
Phil Dalhausser (00:04:36):
When Todd and I played, I mean, we probably blocked line nine out of 10 times, maybe even higher than that. And I would just show the Hiter I'm in the line and then kind of read the hitter and reach into the angle. If I thought he was, you know, gonna hit angle. And Todd was always like, Hey man, it's way easier to get a point. If you still block a dude, rather than me digging the hard driven, and then you have I set of high spin ball and then me citing out or putting the ball away. So I was like, all right. So he kind of gave me free reign there. And then if I didn't block the ball, he would let me know what I did wrong. Every single play
Mark Burik (00:05:12):
Phil Dalhausser (00:05:14):
Every single play.
Mark Burik (00:05:18):
That's nice to have some feedback, you know? yeah.
Phil Dalhausser (00:05:22):
Was that's a, a good way to say it. A nice, a nice way to say it
Mark Burik (00:05:26):
was Nick, before you moved to Todd, was Nick like as choppy or vocal behind you in telling you kind of like where you should be? Or was it more celebratory? Were just working through this together for me and Hudson, like we butted heads on several ideas, but then we also came to some great conclusions. Right, right. So, um, we weren't too argumentative. It was more like, I hate that you're doing this, but let's come to a conclusion. So what was it like with
Phil Dalhausser (00:05:54):
Nick waspy all the time to everyone cross the net? To me, he's really calmed down over the years, so I gotta give him credit. But yeah, he definitely, I don't know. I wonder if it's just like a defensive defender mentality, like they're seeing the whole play, right? Like everything's in front of him and maybe they're seeing it a little more clear than the blocker. Maybe it's just like little guys like to chirp at their big guys. I don't, you know, I don't know.
Mark Burik (00:06:20):
just a little bit noisier. Yeah. Back there. Yeah. It does feel like you can see things, but how often were you thinking as a player that somebody behind you should have done something different at a moment? Like, were you ever giving anybody, you know, Todd, John, Nick, anybody saying like, man, you gotta stay wider or like just cover the seam and, and play for shots. And I'll go a little bit more Eagle. Were you giving them sort of feedback on, on misplays or was it usually a little more? One way
Phil Dalhausser (00:06:50):
Todd and I were usually on the same page, we both kind of saw the game and the similar light, just kind of playing the odds and maybe Todd taught me that I don't really remember cuz it was so long ago. But so like for example, if the ball was seven, eight feet off the net, I would slide over to my, my line. I'd deal with the line. He would slide a little meat middle, you know, and give anyone anything sharp. Uh, but the game was a little bit smaller back then. Now guys are seven, eight feet off, but it's like, that's their sweet spot. You know, their sweet spot is like 10 feet off. So it is a little bit of different game back. And now you play the Dutch guys that are just crushing balls feet off than net.
Mark Burik (00:07:32):
Do you think that more players let's, let's talk about made you be the girls that you're coaching at Phil out Hauser beach volleyball academy, right? Yeah. Where do you ask your junior players and should it be different for any adults at like the BAA level? Where do you think they should be setting the ball to be successful? Like a distance from the
Phil Dalhausser (00:07:52):
Net I've tried to get 'em like four or five feet off the net where they want to set, especially the better players. They want to set like a little tighter cause they want to hit of course, but I'm like, I like you you'll be better off four, five feet off.
Mark Burik (00:08:05):
Okay. Nice. And you think that's just because a bigger blocker would take more control or do you think of the risk of overset?
Phil Dalhausser (00:08:13):
Well, especially with the boys, they want to hit down. Right. And I'm trying to teach him to hit up and through the ball and they're not gonna do that. If they're two feet off the net,
Mark Burik (00:08:24):
, I've seen that I've seen the old grip and rip then slam down to tape balls, right? Yeah. When
Phil Dalhausser (00:08:30):
You say yeah, exactly.
Mark Burik (00:08:31):
When you say swing up, could you kind of dig into that a little bit? Like what you feel or what you mean when you say that?
Phil Dalhausser (00:08:38):
Sure. Like instead of hitting on top of the ball, right? Like most people probably should hit a little bit underneath it. Right. And then come over and that's the snap. Right. So it's up and through the ball. And then the snap creates that top spin and spins the ball into the court or down into the court.
Mark Burik (00:08:58):
Okay. So instead of, I guess, do you have to take the ball behind you straight above you slightly in front of you? No.
Phil Dalhausser (00:09:04):
Like still right in front of you? Just a little, I mean, I'm talking like the bottom panel, if your Palm was on the bottom panel. I never heard that before until Jason Lockett or a coach mm-hmm and I'd be like, dude, of course you gotta hit up first. You know? Cause he was like, if you don't know Jason, he was like five, 10. He says five, 10, I'm gonna call BS on that.
Mark Burik (00:09:28):
But he still played on the world tour and still coached one. You know, he
Phil Dalhausser (00:09:31):
Was, yeah, he was a good player. But then I started thinking like, well, what if I started hitting more up like that? And then rather than down, and then I could hit that deep one high, that high, deep one and really kind of, it worked, I hate to say it, but it worked I wanted to hit either extreme angle or straight down line, but then I got stuff every once in a
Mark Burik (00:09:53):
While. Yeah. You know, I remember, I don't know why I have this like kind of vision in my head. I'm watching you and Nick warm up with Jason on one of the off courts. And I just remember very specifically seeing him, you know, chip balls in. And then when you came to hit, you were just hitting the half court sidelines, just ping those spots. Yeah. Do you have favorite spots or, or spots that you just had to master over time? And do you think that a shorter or less skilled player should try to match those same spots or should they come up with their own?
Phil Dalhausser (00:10:27):
No, I'm six, nine and I jump pretty well or tall guy. So like I could hit angles that most people can't. I think I'm very conservative as a coach, I guess. And I say, figure out how to hit the last meter of the court pretty consistently. Right. Make the team, make the play and then that'll hopefully, well actually I should say hopefully the defender doesn't adjust to that, but if he does adjust to it, then you gotta like a nice little easy cut shot available. That's kind of what I'm coaching, but I'm also, I don't have any six, nine guys out there or like six, three girls, you know, who could maybe hit that sharp angle pretty consistently and not make errors.
Mark Burik (00:11:10):
Okay. So a different size, maybe even a different skill set, try to find what works. But in general, that buzz cut that high flat, deep rip kind of, I mean we had Sam PLO on a while back and he was just like, yeah, I'll hit a couple sharp, but then it's all just high, hard, deep corner. And to me that always seemed kind of generic because then when you're playing against like try, he hits that a few times, but then he'll also hit that sharp cross angle, right. A lot. And he's bouncing balls in front of you. So as a defender, you gotta make that quick, late choice of all right. Let me go outside and grab that or let me stay a little bit deeper and see if I can play this one.
Phil Dalhausser (00:11:49):
Yeah. I think guys will make more errors in the sharp in general. Right. But if a guy is feeling it, you know, and he is hitting 12, 13 foot line consistently, you're gonna probably have to take a step into their, into that angle at some point. Right? Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:12:03):
Do you think that all B AA players and your juniors, should you guys be blocking line slash seam line as much as you and, and Todd did where you're saying like nine outta 10, is that an, a good idea for most people? Or do you think more teams should be switching up their calls to stop certain things?
Phil Dalhausser (00:12:24):
Well, I guess it really depends on the hitter, but most of the time they're peeling right on the women's side. Anyway, mm-hmm but on the men's side, like, I mean, if you've practiced, blocking, making, blocking moves, then I would say try to set up the hitter right into thinking you're blocking line. Like, you know, it's the chess match, right? That's what I love about beach. Volleyball's the chess match, you know, you start off block and line, show the hitter a line block, and then you show 'em that same block, but then quickly jump into the angle and maybe you get a block or two that way. And then at that point you're kind of messing with the hitter, right. Especially if you get him then the kind of the ball's inner court and you're trying to debate him into, to bait him into hitting what you want.
Mark Burik (00:13:10):
Right. Do you go into a point by point mental process there? Or are you kind of choosing like a three point or a four point setup? You know, when we had Campbell on, he was discussing like Troy and Chase's different mentality where chase is like get points right now. And Troy is more, I'm gonna get the point in like three or four points. Like that's how we'll set him up over time. Right. So how many points does your setup to make a hitter feel comfortable and then you decide to, to jump in and steal one. Uh, how long do you specifically wait or is it more of a feeling in that moment?
Phil Dalhausser (00:13:46):
I don't know if there's a right answer to that through a good question. I would probably say I'm setting up a dude three or four points down the road, especially on a guy that likes that sloppy line, a low sloppy line. Right. I'll look, go for his high line and I'll hit it off my elbow. I'm like, okay. And then couple points down the road. I'll show him late block line block, and then kind of give it like, I don't know, a 60% jump. So I'm just blocking that low line. And sometimes, you know, sometimes it works. Sometimes it's not, there's so many guys are out there that are so good. That will recognize that they'll just swing high off the top, you know, but sometimes I'll get guys on that. Usually that's like a defender block, like a Taylor crab, the Polish. I like to call the Polish Todd Rogers fi
Mark Burik (00:14:37):
Yeah.
Phil Dalhausser (00:14:37):
He loved hitting that like little sloppy line against me.
Mark Burik (00:14:40):
Yeah. I felt when we played against each other a few times, I felt like you covered that shot better than any other blocker because usually against taller guys who, who, or people who can jump, you can kind of almost get him to reach up delay and then chip it right under. Yeah. And that might have worked once on you. But I was like, why is he blocking down there? How is he still getting this shot when, when he's that high? And it's interesting to understand that you're using a half jump or a 60% jump to actually make sure that you cover that instead of the high line. Once, once somebody gets comfortable doing
Phil Dalhausser (00:15:14):
It, listen, I've definitely been like, you know, uh, flags in the wind up there, you know, and just getting chiseled. So chiseled over the years, you know, you kind of learn your lesson and hopefully you learn it sooner than later
Mark Burik (00:15:27):
In Chicago. Did you cheat on center court against me? There was play that cheat. I think you peaceful. Yeah. I think you cheated. We Joed. And I felt your hands around the ball and me kind of barely pushing. Oh yeah. And then I think you threw it back to, to Nick, like after holding onto it. And I was like, he could have dumped it after that, but did you grab it and throw it back to Nick?
Phil Dalhausser (00:15:51):
What I try to do on Jo? Because I always lose, I always used to lose on Jo and there's a German blocker named Yos reman one gold done 2012. He was so good at just grabbing the ball like this, holding it, and then he would bring it onto his side,
Mark Burik (00:16:08):
Get in
Phil Dalhausser (00:16:09):
Touches controlled. Yeah. So I grabbed that from him. And so every once in a while I'll grab that ball and usually I try to play it to myself, but maybe in that situation, I played it in Nick somehow
Mark Burik (00:16:20):
you threw it like back three quarters. And I was like, in the moment I was like, did that, did what I felt just happen actually happen. . And that was another example of me looking at you. Like, it's just, he's just on a different planet in terms of skill and knowledge of the game, you know, like that, to experience that play and be like, Jesus.
Phil Dalhausser (00:16:40):
Well, I had the privilege to play the world tour where there was so many talented players and I would kind of just sit around and watch a little bit and try to pick up some things from, um, you know, some of the top players or even playing against them. I'd be like, dang, that was a good play. I'm gonna try that one time. You know, it's like, you've seen it enough. It gets into your subconscious and then you just do it without even thinking. Right.
Mark Burik (00:17:05):
Mm. Who do you think you stole or learn plays other than recommend? Like, that's like one specific one that you remember. And, and I agree. I think more people maybe at the pro level, I'm not sure about the amateur level, but it's better to lose a joust under control than to like, yeah, win, win the muscle match. But now they've got two or three touches and then, you know, then you gotta deal with a hit. So I like the push and then recover. I felt like I got decent at that from indoor just cuz I was getting blocked so much. I was great at covering myself. yeah. So I think more people can learn to push, let, go and play. I think that would be an important micro scenario for people to pick up. But what other players did you learn from and what moves of theirs? Do you think you stole just like one or two?
Phil Dalhausser (00:17:52):
Well, when I started on the world tour, Ricardo was like the guy, him and Emmanuel were winning everything. So I would watch him and I'd watch how he kind of set himself up on blocks and, and things like that. And then probably,
Mark Burik (00:18:05):
But yeah, but to me he was so different than you, right? Like Ricardo has this step back, SWAT, you like, he'll like literally take a giant step off the net and maybe half jump and then just like basketball kind of rebound throw some things, but that I've seen Avery do that, but not to the exaggerated point that Ricardo just stands and no swats flies.
Phil Dalhausser (00:18:27):
No I didn't, I didn't pick that up more just the way he kind of set up himself where he lined up, I should say. And then, uh, made a move from there is kind of
Mark Burik (00:18:39):
Where I, how did he line up?
Phil Dalhausser (00:18:40):
Well, he would always line up kind of head on ball, like a neutral position.
Mark Burik (00:18:45):
Okay.
Phil Dalhausser (00:18:45):
And then he would just be low and over into the angle, outside his body or down the line, you know? And then that would open up kind of the deep middle hit, right. Like right over his head because he'd be like this and then he would kind of wait for that and then he would stick his, whatever, his inside hand on that ball. And then he would start stuffing that ball.
Mark Burik (00:19:10):
Do you think that's a wise position for like a six, three, a six foot blocker? Somebody who's up there? Should they be doing the active hands? Cuz we did one of the posts on Instagram that was like kind of a funny post, but I was like stop watching Andy mole to learn how to block because yeah, no. And similar, it could have been about you. We could do the exact same post, like stop learning to play from Phil do because he's gonna have a different skillset and ability than you. Yeah. So do you think that that head on ball and hands outside works well or could work for a shorter
Phil Dalhausser (00:19:45):
Blocker? I think the head on ball setting up there and then making a low move with a step rather than outside, uh, outside your body with your hands. Okay. Um, like I think try is a really, really good blocker for, for a size and he's like, well I guess he's six, five. So that's, you know, pretty good size, but he's so good at moving low along the that. And then, and then he makes quick moves into the zone and he's so good at just sealing, whatever he's blocking for. I don't think you gotta have long arms to reach outside your body. Right?
Mark Burik (00:20:21):
Mm. I think like, uh, bill Kolinsky is one of those guys who's his, his footwork to me is really comparable to try like how much tiny shuffle step action he does. Yeah. Um, and how low he stays for so long that like you don't see big body leans. I think a lot of amateur blockers you can, when they drop down, you already see their torso leaning. Yeah. And that's tough, but bill and try, I think their, their torso stays kind of right above their feet. And then they float instead of angle jump. Yeah. Is any of that stuff that you focused on? Like having your torso centered up above your feet? Anything like that?
Phil Dalhausser (00:21:01):
So if you're a shoulder leaner, right. If that's how you feel comfortable blocking, that's fine because all right, you're going to, it's dead giveaway, but you could use that to your advantage. You could give it shoulder lean into the angle and then go back to the line. Right. So you could kinda,
Mark Burik (00:21:16):
You have to know that about yourself.
Phil Dalhausser (00:21:18):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that's yeah. With video or someone telling you, but I would suggest not to do the shoulder every once in a while. I'll kind of see if it works against a hitter I'll act like and block an angle and then go back to the line, you know, do that with a little shoulder lean. But usually I try to go straight up and then outside my body or like one hand outside my
Mark Burik (00:21:43):
Body. When we talk about that difference between you try Andy, when I study film, I'm looking, you're getting into maybe a half squat, right? Like 90 degree bent. And these guys are asked to grasp like dropping down inside their knees super wide. And I have my thoughts on what different people need based on their bodies. But is that something that you ever considered dropping down that far or did you just figure it wasn't for you? Wasn't valuable enough? Do you not have the mobility in your bone structure? What's talk me through like the depth of your block.
Phil Dalhausser (00:22:21):
Definitely something I've thought of, you know, everyone says lower the better, but like when you have femurs that are like four feet long, you know, , it's a little tougher to get down there. So I would say usually I always say there's like two type of jumpers, right? There's guys that kind of bounce out of their load. Right. And then there's guys that are just powerful that could sit down there for three seconds and still get enough power out of there and you know, be big enough. I'm definitely the first type of jumper. And so if I think you find out the type of jumper you are and then where that sweet spot is in your load. And, and usually if you squat and wherever, you're dropping down to your, where you squat, that's probably your sweet spot in most scenarios, right? Unless you do some mobility and you could get a little lower, but that takes a lot of time and effort.
Mark Burik (00:23:19):
Is there a test that somebody could, as soon as they get outta the car or whatever, and they listen to right now, see it to tell myself, man, I should be a deep jumper or I should be like a 90 degree jumper. How would I figure that out about myself? If I wanted to know how deep I should get when I block,
Phil Dalhausser (00:23:35):
I think that's just, you go out there and try to figure out where you're comfortable. Like, you know, in your warmup, go out to the net and take a couple debt, different depths, jump from a couple different depths. It's a little bit of a tongue twister and see where you're most comfortable and then kind of go from there and you know, doing it one time is not gonna give you your answer. You're gonna have to do it multiple times. Sure. Like on multiple days, you know, because every day's a little different, that's
Mark Burik (00:24:02):
Uh, pretty good point. You know, I think the speed of the drop helps some people because like having the biometric effect, I know when I was playing with Brandon, he pauses a lot in that half squat and then he jumps. But when we got him to stay a little bit taller and then do a quick drop and then go up, he was jumping way bigger. When we got him to get really low, quickly, he got high. But then he, it ended up where we were like, so off balance and out of position. So sometimes when you drop too low, you find yourself more out of position. But then you're also balancing that with like, you're now you're bigger over the net. So does the extra three inches, you know, which do you choose? Do you wanna be laterally perfect? Or would you rather be further over the net? And I think people can go out to nets and they can test speed of their butt drop and see how high they're touching depth of their butt drop. And if you kind of play with those things, there's a real opportunity there to, to understand when you're going to be at your best. But then when you're sore, you're going through the season, you're in practice sometimes going deep down into that. Yeah. Hurts into that block. Jump is like, man, I don't wanna do this one today. I'll just do the quick jumps. Yeah.
Phil Dalhausser (00:25:16):
Yeah. I think, yeah. It's kind of trial narrow, right? Yeah. Like I would probably say you're better off being a little more balanced, maybe being an inch lower. You're gonna probably get more blocks that way than being bigger because you could be eight feet tall with whatever 10 foot wind wingspan. And if you're not good with your feet and you're like, you know, way out in the line and the set is, I mean, way out by the antenna and the set is inside. Doesn't matter how long your arms are, how tall a hitter's gonna see that and just smash angle.
Mark Burik (00:25:46):
Mm. I want to talk a little bit about the way that you approach the game. I know we talked off camera about mentality. So everybody for a long, long, long, long time has recognized you as one of the best blockers and one of the best setters. Right? When you look at yourself, what do you think you do intangibly better than the people around you than your peers? Is it the stuff at home? Is it film work? Is it game planning, staying mentally steady? What do you think other than setting and blocking that you pride yourself on and think you do pretty
Phil Dalhausser (00:26:19):
Well? I think the most important thing you said out of that, those examples was probably mentally steady. I think it was Luke. Eric. I think it was Luke E that said, or maybe Joe DEMA. I don't know. One of the old baseball players said that sports is 90% mental and 30% physical or so he got all the numbers wrong, you know, but I really believe that like if your mind's not in it, then you're just not gonna be very good that day. And I've been there and I've gotten the poopy pants award ATP bank, the last two or three times, you know, cause I'm always poopy pants on the court and it's days where you're like wanna sweat today. I don't want to side out or whatever it is. Those are the days where you grind through. And if you get a win on those days, then you're like, that was tough. But uh, very rewarding. So on the, the crappy days that you could like grind through and like make it through the day, I think those are big wins for your mentality. You
Mark Burik (00:27:19):
Know, when you're out there and you don't feel confident and you don't feel like playing maybe, or your body or your mind or your stressors outside, whatever marriage kid's job are preventing you from like really caring about full speed. What do you think people should tell themselves when they're in that grind mentality? You know, sometimes we start training in December, January, and by the time it's like June at the pro level, you're almost burnt out.
Phil Dalhausser (00:27:50):
Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:27:51):
what do you tell yourself? What do you think people could tell themselves when the rest of their lives and volleyball is burning them out a little bit to the point where they, they're almost not wanting to show up?
Phil Dalhausser (00:28:01):
Well, I've definitely been there and it's really just staying in the present moment. Right? Like, and what I mean by that is like, just try to get outta your head cuz your mind is a lot of time can be your enemy. Right. You know, say you got a hurt knee and all you think about is your knee. And if you keep focusing on your knee, your knee's gonna hurt way more than it really does. Right. It like kind of snowballs. And then you're like, oh my knees hurt. This sucks. You know, like you go down that road and if you could just stop that as soon as you notice it and just be like, okay, my knee hurts big deal. Like this is not the first time let's focus on something that feels good. How about my shoulder? Oh, my shoulder feels pretty good. And then whatever puts you in the present moment, if it's feeling the sand in between your toes or feeling your breath, you know, focusing on your breath, just as long as you're out of your mind and just reacting to what's happening in front, you gonna be better off. And I've learned that just through being in all different types of situations, knee hurting, neck, hurting, whatever back or, uh, torn
(00:29:17):
missing home, you know, missing the kids and wife don't want to be out in China, eating rice and the beans I brought,
Mark Burik (00:29:27):
You know, butter from a, from a jar that you had to pack.
Phil Dalhausser (00:29:30):
Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I mean, you know, I may sound like a, a spoiled athlete or whatever, but there are times where you were like, man, I just, the only thing I wanna do right now is be home. And if you let that thought, grow a little bit, you know, grow some roots and that takes a large part of your brain, then it's gonna be tough to focus on the task at hand.
Mark Burik (00:29:53):
I always looked at guys like you and Jake as I was coming up. And I was just, you know, I got like these little tweaks, little injuries, my shoulder would start hurting or I think we've all felt this, like my legs felt good, but my upper body and my arms felt kind of gooey. Like I couldn't get like any crispness out of it. And I was like, oh no, you know, my body's not feeling like it should. It's not feeling perfect. Right. And I kept looking at you and, and Jake and go, man, how did these guys always feel perfect. And then I saw you win with the torn abs. I saw, you know, Jake win without looking forward once because he had the flu in like, uh, Seattle. Yeah. And I go, oh man, I was way off because everybody does not feel perfect. Like everybody's hurting in some way, mentally, emotionally, or physically, everybody doesn't feel extremely perfect or at all perfect on any tournament or practice day. Right. But those are the people who say, this is what my body's got today. Cool. Now it's time to play and focus on winning, not how my upper body, my lower body, how tight it is, how loose it is.
Phil Dalhausser (00:31:01):
Yeah. You just, you play with what you're working with that day, you know, maybe dead legs, maybe a noodle arm, whatever, you know, oh, noodle arm, sweet. I could work on my shots today. I could work on my short serve today. You know, there's always a, a silver lining. Right.
Mark Burik (00:31:17):
So is that what you do in your mind then? Do you take like a scan of your body on that day? Or do you take a scan of your mind and then say, what do you say at that moment to then start competing at your best and to get your mind, right. Is there something specifically that you tell yourself, a mantra, a meditation, something you listen to?
Phil Dalhausser (00:31:37):
Well, I've been into meditation probably like around six or seven years ago. Maybe a little less five, six years ago. I don't remember. But the way I was even aware, I always thought meditation was for like hippies, you know? And I read Tim Ferris's tools of Titans.
Mark Burik (00:31:53):
Yeah. I get that book. Yeah.
Phil Dalhausser (00:31:54):
Yeah. And basically it's interviews of super successful people. Right. And I don't know, I would say maybe 75, 80% of those people all had some sort of meditation practice and I was like, Hmm, maybe there's something behind this meditation. So then I kind of started messing around with it and like there's so many YouTube videos and things. So I think meditation is huge. Not only for on the court, but just life in general because we're running on autopilot. Like we're our subconscious mind is basically running our lives. Right. We do the same thing every day. Same thoughts every day. You ever drive down the street, down the highway and you're like, I've just drove 10 minutes. And I don't don't really remember doing anything. Right. I
Mark Burik (00:32:42):
Like ending up in the wrong place when you're driving and you end up there and you're like, that's not where I was going. Like
Phil Dalhausser (00:32:47):
. Yeah. Yeah. So that's just like your subconscious mind, you know, like, uh, running things. So to be aware of what's going on in between your ears is so valuable, you know, on and off quarter,
Mark Burik (00:32:59):
Do you have any videos or, or apps that you recommend that is like an easy starter for people? I always recommend Headspace. I think that's a great one.
Phil Dalhausser (00:33:06):
Yeah. I really like Joe Dispenza, Dr. Joe Dispenza. I don't know if you're familiar with him. He's more into his story is incredible, but that's another show, but he has a lot of guided meditations on YouTube and he's a little out there, but I also like at Carle who has like guided, I mean, not really guided meditations, but like just kind of suggestions.
Mark Burik (00:33:30):
Nice. All right. So some good tools there. People can check out as we're going. We don't have too much like that. You gotta be out at 45. Is that right?
Phil Dalhausser (00:33:38):
Yeah. I gotta pick up the kids.
Mark Burik (00:33:40):
Okay. So then we're going to do a couple cool things, cuz I wanna tell people about first of all, your opportunities, cuz you're running Phil D haard beach volleyball academy. So now you have your own club in Florida. Do you invite other clubs? Do you invite players to you? Is it just your juniors in your area? How does that work? And then you have to tell us about your camp with April coming up in October.
Phil Dalhausser (00:34:03):
Okay. So yeah, we got a little club in Orlando. Uh, I wouldn't even exactly call it a club. It's more like classes. I'm really kind of anti indoor club model. Mm-hmm because these kids are locked in for six months playing the same sport and they wonder why they have shoulder problems at 15, 16 years old. You know? So we kind of set up a way where you just buy classes, like a package classes and maybe eventually we'll get a club going. If we have like a group of like really athletes that like wanna go to the next level, then maybe we'll I'll think about starting up with club. But right now it's just classes and like adult leagues, you
Mark Burik (00:34:45):
Know like that. Yeah. It's a good, good model. It's more fun. Right? I mean yeah. To be able to like show up and be like, yeah, I'm gonna do pass. And we did the same thing in Hermosa where we started these classes and it's no, we're not trying to take you to tournaments. We're not guiding you there it's you can go play it if you want. But while you're here, where you gonna train you, we're gonna show you how to play and we're gonna have some fun. So I love the model that you guys are using. And I don't know. It's always scary to think about going into that club realm and everything that comes with it and the drama and appearance and politics and
Phil Dalhausser (00:35:17):
Stuff. I don't want any part of it. yeah. I like you said it perfectly. There's no drama. We just come play little volleyball. We have fun. If you wanna play tournaments, I there's a tournament almost every weekend in Florida. I'll point you to the right direction. That's kind of how it works.
Mark Burik (00:35:34):
Nice. And you and April team it up for a camp. Yeah.
Phil Dalhausser (00:35:37):
So April and I have gotten together and kind of what similar light, what you're doing with adults is like you wanna level up your game, you know, come to either. We have options, all kind types of options, different classes. We have a four day camp and it's two weeks, October, October 10th through the 23rd in Santa Monica. Obviously would've been nice being her most Manhattan, but as you know, it's, it's expensive there yeah. Santa Monica's a little, um, more affordable and it's all, all a cart you kind of pick and choose on on what you wanna, what you wanna work on. Or if you, you go to the four day camp,
Mark Burik (00:36:17):
Is that for adults and kids or just kids or what? We
Phil Dalhausser (00:36:20):
It's mostly geared towards adults. Cool. And there are two junior classes.
Mark Burik (00:36:26):
Awesome.
Phil Dalhausser (00:36:27):
The juniors, like everyone juniors have a ton of opportunity, right? Yeah. And honestly, a 15 year old girl probably doesn't know who I am, but you know, a 35 year old guy probably knows who I am like, well, the point is, is like, they'll appreciate the experiment experience a little more. I think I like that. We'll see what happens.
Mark Burik (00:36:49):
Yeah. Maybe, maybe one day we'll convince you to, to come out to a, a better at beach camp when we're across the coast in Florida.
Phil Dalhausser (00:36:56):
All right. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:36:57):
That'd be nice.
(00:36:59):
well, alright. So we gotta sprint through this and I, and I know that we only have 11 minutes left, but for our complete player program members, guys, if you wanna sign up for better beach.com, we have a complete player program, which means that we have courses that you can take yourself through. And then we have a coaching program where you take the courses, but you take it with our team. It's treat us as if we're a pro coaching staff or an NCAA coaching staff. And we're taking you through different skills, different courses, piece by piece. You post your videos in our private Facebook group. And we go in there and we coach you on your technique and on your strategy. And we also have two meetings like this per week. Now this is a very special case for our players because we got Phil as our guest. So for our members right now, we're gonna have the opportunity for our complete player program members to ask Phil any questions live. So complete player program members as you're sitting there right now, if you have a question, raise your hand, I'll say your name and then you're gonna turn your mic on and you get the opportunity to, to ask Phil, uh, one of your big questions and I'm gonna start off with Rodolfo. Is that right? Yeah. Rudy, let's go. Baby. What
Rodolfo (00:38:14):
Books are you currently reading? If you're reading anything right now, or have you recently read in the past that helped you with anything with your volleyball skills?
Phil Dalhausser (00:38:24):
Right now I'm reading two books think can grow rich. I mean it's number. I think I'm reading, read that five or six times classic. Is it gonna help your volleyball? It can't hurt I guess. And then another book called, uh, getting things done, which I don't think it'll help your volleyball.
Rodolfo (00:38:45):
That's awesome. All right. Rudy's awesome. And then you played at UCF, is that correct? Oh, I just curious. Well, yeah, play UCF at all
Phil Dalhausser (00:38:54):
Indoor club. And then we had, there was four beach courts on campus and I was there like every day,
Rodolfo (00:39:02):
Basically. Nice. I never saw you there. Darn I missed you.
Phil Dalhausser (00:39:07):
Rodolfo (00:39:08):
You had your chance to partner up Rudy. You just had to show up on the right day. I missed it. Wow, thank you.
Phil Dalhausser (00:39:16):
Cool, sir.
Rodolfo (00:39:17):
Thanks Rudy. Yeah, go ahead.
Jack Witkowski (00:39:20):
Hey, Claire Jack here. Okay. I have actually a question and by the way, amazing, amazing tips so far will be really good for defense. I have a question that is, uh, not directly related with the blocking it actually from a friend of mine. And he asked if you recall a particular game that you had with Todd where you, uh, I think Todd surf received with the fingers and directly attacked. Is this something that, uh, how come? I think it was very successful and how come no one else. Does it, do you recall
Phil Dalhausser (00:39:55):
He passed the ball with his hands,
Jack Witkowski (00:39:57):
Uh, your server received that ball with the hands
Phil Dalhausser (00:40:01):
I did or he did.
Jack Witkowski (00:40:02):
He did.
Phil Dalhausser (00:40:03):
Yeah, I, he
Jack Witkowski (00:40:05):
Did that talk.
Phil Dalhausser (00:40:07):
He did that. I remember twice, one time he got called and then another time he did not, but Todd had really good hands and even for a guy like that, it's pretty risky.
Jack Witkowski (00:40:21):
Mm-hmm
Phil Dalhausser (00:40:21):
Pretty risky.
Jack Witkowski (00:40:23):
So not recommended next.
Phil Dalhausser (00:40:24):
No. Okay.
Jack Witkowski (00:40:26):
No, no, no. thanks.
Carter Wright (00:40:30):
Hey, okay. So my question is, what do you think the biggest thing that you've learned about your yourself nutrition wise since when you started to now later in your career, like, what are some of the most important things you think you've learned or some something you wish you had learned earlier on?
Phil Dalhausser (00:40:47):
Ah, that I can answer. I, um, lately I've been kind of following these biohacker guys like Dave PRI and this guy carnivore MD, and they only eat grass fed beef and like whatever and fruits and veggies, well, carnivore MD just does straight fruit and grass fed beef and grass fed beef fat. And so I've kind of been messing with that. And I found like a local farm in Orlando and man, like I've lost probably like five pounds of bad weight. Not that there's much bad weight on me and I feel pretty good. And I feel like I'm supporting a local farmer, you know, instead of like industrial farms. And so I wish I would've gotten that on the grass fed beef a little earlier in my career.
Mark Burik (00:41:41):
Yeah. Awesome. So I'll follow up. Do you are not one of the ones who think that's like a vegan diet, it worked for you or more, more vegetables and stuff? I, for me, I, I saw a lot of inflammation go down and I was recovering quite well. Like the two to three months that I switched to vegan. It was just really difficult to maintain socially , you know, to go out and always ask for sides of vegetables.
Phil Dalhausser (00:42:11):
Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of good things about being a vegan, but along the same lines with this grass fed beef, like you go out to the restaurant, they don't, you know, most of the places don't have grass fed beef and same thing with being vegan, like try being vegan and, you know, Germany where it's like brought PED and sauce, you know? Uh, like it's really hard. Uh, I mean, I don't know. I like I'm from, I'm a German descent, so I love German food and like schnitzel and you know, like, so it'd be tough for me to travel and be vegan.
Mark Burik (00:42:52):
Uh, I have a question from Illa. She wants to know when you go to practice or when you went slash go to practice, what is in your bag? Can you name almost every item in your bag that you is there purposely
Phil Dalhausser (00:43:07):
Yeah. Always have a lacrosse ball to kind of get in. If whatever, if I have problems with my shoulder, I have, uh, a metal roller, like the, you know, the stick, but it's metal and that thing's great. And I have a, obviously some sort of electrolyte and also water and massage gun, I think that's oh, and like bands bands for your shoulder and, um, that go around your knees. That's about it. I guess it towel.
Mark Burik (00:43:39):
What do you think is in your warm up routine? You know, I know Todd seemed to be pretty religious. Uh, you know, Hayden goes, he gets after it and you could tell like once he started, you know, you don't wanna be the guy that stops him, but in general, what do you say? Do you roll and then start and then start getting blood flow and jogging or do you jog get blood flow and then start rolling and then some DROS how do you warm up yourself?
Phil Dalhausser (00:44:05):
Uh, I hated warming up. It was the worst that, or putting sunscreen on the two worst things of, of the sport. Like I hated both, but I was pretty consistent with putting band around my knee, doing those, like, you know, lateral walks and things with that. And then I kind of went on and off with a shoulder band and, but basically just moving around and getting some kind of D dynamic movement going and try to break a sweat, basically. I'm, I'm the worst person to ask about a warmup by is just, I hated him.
Mark Burik (00:44:39):
well, maybe there's a secret cuz there weren't too many, you know, long term injuries for you. I know you've gotten banged up a couple times, but your health
Phil Dalhausser (00:44:47):
I'm pretty lucky. Yeah. Pretty lucky. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:44:50):
Yeah. Nice. I have a question that might be sensitive so you can answer it or not, but I want to know the actual story. The, this is bringing it back, but okay. Sean, when you moved from Sean to Nick, was it the case where, you know, you had recovered from an injury or pretty frustrated and then Sean, maybe wasn't doing his part in terms of training hard or he showed up late to a practice and you just made a phone call. How was that process? That thought
Phil Dalhausser (00:45:19):
Process. I mean, all those are like some part of reality at what happened, but I torn my internal bleak and I was out, it was 2015, so it's a Olympic qualifying year and I was out for two months and then I missed like the meat of the season, world champs, all like most of the grand slams. And I told Sean, I was like, Hey man, stay on the world tour, stay in shape or whatever. Grab either Ryan Dorty or Stafford slick. I think he grabbed Stafford. And after two tournaments, he came back to LA, he's like, oh my knee's been bugging me. I'm just gonna rehab here. So come to find out the next weekend he was playing a drunk draw at eighth street in Hermosa and, and I'm like busting on busting my ass to get back out there because we need finishes. You know, like I hired a guy that was going to a few times a week to get me back in shape and, and right around the same time, like Nick reached out to me, actually Nick reached out to me right after Tokyo.
(00:46:27):
We had a grand slam in Tokyo and we got a ninth there and I was just like frustrated with him and Nick, I know Nick he's that guy's a work horse. And I knew that I never would have to deal with that type of issue, issue with him. And at the same time, I always pictured myself ending my career with Nick, like starting and again. And I was like, oh, this is, I felt like this was a good time to jump ship. And there was also like, there was one practice where we had a 10 o'clock practice and we showed up like 30 minutes late. And I was like, dude, like 30 minutes late. Like he was like, oh man, sorry I was walking the core. Oh, we played golf this morning. We, I was walking the course and I was like, come on, like, and people were waiting for you, you know? Like I was kind of frustrated. And then he complained about his knee, the whole, whole practice. And I was like, well you think walking the course and playing golf had something to do with your knee being bugging you mm-hmm. And he was like, ah, I don't know. And uh, I was like, ah, come on, man. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:47:37):
yeah. Be professional. You know, it's tough.
Phil Dalhausser (00:47:39):
Like he's just be,
Mark Burik (00:47:41):
He's been in it so long. And he, he, he had that young, he was just able to do it from the start who was able to do it. So his mentors were Rosie's Raiders, you know? And it's like, those are mentors, that'll pull you in. And it's part of it says to me like, Hey, you know, surround yourself with the right people. And then the other part of it says, listen, your partner needs to have faith in you because there's little like chips and confidence that I think every partnership feels. And one of you have to choose your places where your partner can never question X about you and for you, for Nick, that was how hard Nick was always working, how much dedication he had to like living the athlete life and being a true, hardworking, hardcore teammate. And I think people can really, really learn from that juniors adults. People need you to show up whether it's sport, whether it's family, whether it's work, they need to rely on the fact that you are doing your part at a hundred percent. And even if you can't do it, like you don't have the ability that you are putting the a hundred percent effort at it.
Phil Dalhausser (00:48:55):
Right. Right. And that, yeah. I mean, that was really well said. And Sean was the type of guy that was, he probably, I would say is the best athlete I've ever seen on a, on a volleyball court. Like he incredible, his quads are like this big and never really lifted, you know, like he was just gifted with all these natural abilities. So like, if you were never really had to work hard at, you know, something, it's just God given talent. And then like, we were both 35 in 2015. So like if you're not lifting and rolling out and stretching and thats gone, given talents are slowly gonna diminish. Right. And if you do all things in that, back of that, or then say someone who doesn't do all, um, little lifting and stuff there he'll is a little more steeper. Right. And you went a flatter back part of your career hill or whatever you
Mark Burik (00:49:54):
Wanna call it, flat flatten the curve.
Phil Dalhausser (00:49:56):
yeah. Yeah. There you go. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:49:59):
Okay. One last question. I know you gotta run the, from crystal, from our complete player program, she asks, how do you stay mentally in the game when you feel like your partner has checked out?
Phil Dalhausser (00:50:11):
Oh, that's a good question. And being a good partner is a skill in like passing setting. And probably one of my weakest skills as a beach volleyball player, I was always like, you take care of your, uh, your job. I'll take care of mine. Don't worry about me. And, um, which was kind of silly now that I think about it. Like we are a team, you know, like if my partner was struggling, like you think, okay, let's see if, how I could get him going a little bit. Or if he's checked out, like see if I could get it back into it. But I never was good at that. And probably still on isn't on probably not very good. It's still like, I never learned how to be a good partner, I guess
Mark Burik (00:50:59):
I will say personally, it's so much fun. It was so much fun. Seeing you play together with Nick again and hearing his like nicknames for you hearing him call, call you by your gaming nickname. yeah. And like he got you smiling and laughing on court in a lot of situations. And to me it was like, there was, it looked like you were reinvigorated. And I felt that the world was in even more trouble. Once I started seeing feeling like you were having fun. I don't know if you weren't having fun. You know, some people just have that demeanor. Yeah. But it, it looked like you were really thoroughly enjoying yourself on court, hanging out with Nick and getting to do that with best, bud is at some special
Phil Dalhausser (00:51:43):
At some point. And at some point you just drove me nuts.
Mark Burik (00:51:47):
Best friends do that, man.
Phil Dalhausser (00:51:49):
yeah. I'd rather get kicked in the teeth sometimes and play volleyball with them. that's how I felt. I was like, oh my God, please get this thing over with. Hopefully we win. Let's try to get it over real quickly. But um, yeah. He's character.
Mark Burik (00:52:09):
Yeah, he is. Well, alright. Do you have any sort of parting, you can share any links, any opportunities that you're doing any way for anyone to reach out websites so that you can get on your road?
Phil Dalhausser (00:52:22):
Sure. If you are interested in our camps, so clinics, I mean classes Phil and april.com. And then I don't know, I guess follow me on Instagram. I filled do Haer. I have a whole bunch of old videos that my dad recorded. All our old matches that I'm slowly going through and like cutting 'em up a little bit and kind of posting the highlights. So if you're interested in that, follow me, I Phil ER,
Mark Burik (00:52:49):
Nice and Phil on april.com. And of course you can probably look up Phil do Hauser beach volleyball academy in Orlando. Yeah. To see if, uh, maybe somebody can get some training from you or join your classes.
Phil Dalhausser (00:53:02):
Yep. Thanks for that.
Mark Burik (00:53:04):
Awesome. Absolutely. Phil, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Sure.
Phil Dalhausser (00:53:08):
Thanks for
Mark Burik (00:53:09):
Having Jen. Hopefully she's feeling better and go say hi to the kids.
Phil Dalhausser (00:53:13):
all right. all right. Thanks guys. Thanks. Yeah. Bye
Mark Burik (00:53:19):
Bye. Cool. Complete player members. We're gonna stick around and we'll do a little bit of our session and you guys can gimme some feedback. So for everybody listening, if this podcast is not over and we decide to leave this in now, I'm just gonna go through kind of the last 15 minutes that we normally go through with our complete player program members. We have two meetings a week. They are optional meetings, but they add the opportunity for all of our players to ask us coaches and pro players and former pro players questions about their technique, about their diet, about their workout programs. So that we can customize and adjust their different workout programs, techniques, strategies, and gameplay. Along with those two meetings, they're also able to post their videos and clips on our private Facebook group, where within 24 hours, they get coaching through our commentary section from our staff of coaches.
(00:54:17):
And of course they get our entire course collection and library, which has 53 beach volleyball practice plans, a full course for every skill. And it's pretty cool to see all the results and new high finishes in that group. So for you guys now that it's just us, let's talk, you guys can ask me questions about any of your games. I know that we are in ultimate defender right now. I'm not gonna leave you on camera. I'm gonna give you you guys, your drill and tutorial homework for Thursday's meeting. But I wanna know if you guys have any specific questions related to the courses or any big wins from this weekend, because I know that your homework, isn't it interesting that the last two people we had on the podcast follow the exact same homework that we gave you this weekend. So our complete player program members, they had to play at minimum, a complete set of volleyball using only line blocks to try to fix their strategies, get them to focus on how to solve one problem instead of flipping the entire board.
(00:55:24):
Right? And we had born who said that in his championship in Manhattan beach, he blocked line more than nine outta 10 times. And Phil Doha saying he blocked line for seven years, more than nine outta 10 times. So this is something that works can work well. And I want to hear what your guys experience was this weekend with only blocking line. And if you guys have any other questions about any of the drills, any of the videos, or just a separate questions from your tournaments and training this weekend. So let's get into it. You guys are more than welcome to all turn your mics on. If you don't have any noise in the background. I see Jesus in there says, I wish I was into the strength training during the off season. What can I do to still do strength training and play volleyball three times a week, any workout programs you recommend, Jesus, you signed up for that workout program.
(00:56:20):
It is a 60 day max vertical at this point, what you want to do. If you're playing three times a week, you have the option to lift twice a week or lift three times a week and play at the same on the same days that you're playing volleyball, cuz you do need recovery. You have to have those days where it's complete rest, that you're allowing your body to repair. So more and more, the people who only have kind of three days, we're asking them to find a way to modify our 60 day max vertical program. Use the workouts in there. But if you only have time to visit the courts or the gym, go visit the courts, but then take the workouts from the 60 MX vertical and use the modifications that I give with the bands or with the dumbbells or just the body weight stuff.
(00:57:09):
Instead of the weights, those videos and recommendations are in there. Find a way to incorporate all of the workouts or at least part of the workouts into your warmup, right? The conditioning will come in game, but you also have to know what it's like to move at full speed. You have to test your body at full speed. So even though in those videos in six AMX program, I'm saying, Hey, you know, you'll get some of your conditioning by playing. You still should reserve some sprints or all out maximum bursts. You have to reserve a time for that because it's interesting that most of our jumps in beach volleyball are not at a hundred percent. They're not even at 90%. Sometimes they're at about 85, 80, 85 and sometimes less because it's difficult to get to the ball. Same thing with sprints. You might have one fast step, but it's not with the intent of moving as fast as possible.
(00:58:08):
So we have to add that to our training. So if you're going to just do a beach day show up earlier, stay late, make sure that you're doing the DROS from the program, make sure that you're doing the band work and the core work from the program. That should be all part of your warmup. And then see if you can add some of the single leg strength that we show in the early videos in, in the modifications of those workouts. And then maybe your two hour session turns into a two hours and 40 minute session. But in those two hours and 40 minutes, you've done everything you need to be operating at extremely high level. Okay. Welcome. Jesus. Anybody else? I understand. Some of you can't use your mics. So I'm reading from Jordan here. Jordan, do you have, can you do your microphone or is it just through the chat?
Jordan Blake (00:58:55):
I can indeed.
Mark Burik (00:58:57):
Cool. So, uh, tell me about your question.
Jordan Blake (00:58:59):
Uh, it wasn't really a question. It was just sort of a statement on the line blocking that you were asking for some feedback on. So I've mostly sort of exclusively blocked line sort of recently been able to convince some of my friends it's, you know, worthwhile having a blocker net protector to protect certain situations in the game. So I wouldn't say I'm too experienced in, in blocking I'm. I would probably usually be, be the defender as part of my team. Um, anyway, but for me it's been trying to get into my defensive base position and not guessing where the appointment's going to shoot. If I have that stable base, I can probably get to 80, 90% of balls.
Mark Burik (00:59:46):
Nice. Um,
Jordan Blake (00:59:47):
It's once I, once I start guessing, then I'm like, ah, my footwork, I, if I just kept my footwork there and stayed balanced and ready, I could have picked that ball up. That's definitely my been my observation.
Mark Burik (01:00:01):
Cool. Are you incorporating the crossover footwork into your warmups?
Jordan Blake (01:00:06):
I have been actually a little bit. Yeah, just sitting in that cross and into one to the high line and one to the cut short. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:00:15):
Perfect. I think from what I've seen, when I see players warm up and they start their match, but they haven't dove yet. They haven't attempted a sprint yet. They're not ready to play the game. If you haven't taught your body before you start playing or you haven't showed it, what your maximum speed is for that day, it will set its own limit. It's kind of like, yeah. Like when they tell you your battery and your phone or your computer, like if you don't charge it all the way, eventually it just learns that it has a new, lower, maximum capacity. Right? Mm-hmm so you want to either, you know, whatever you wanna use a metaphor on the front end of the back end, you either wanna drain the battery the entire time or, or supercharge it up. Right. But you have to show before you play, you have to show your body what an all out attempt at a max vertical jump is. And you should be, you should be warm, should have the DMS for that. And you should have an all out attempt at a couple of sprints, you know, or a couple of block appeals. But if you operate for the full warmup at 70 to 80%, just to get your blood flowing and you never prime your nervous system to operate at max speed, then yikes, you're gonna be in trouble for the first half. And that's when everybody says, oh, you know, it usually takes me a game to warm up, like what
(01:01:40):
Destroying your own game. Okay. So you're having a good experience with it then Jordan trying to, yeah,
Jordan Blake (01:01:47):
I think so. It's just learning the, the basics, I guess the correct footwork, staying low, not guessing before the, the opponents sort of shoot. Yeah. Those, those sort of things. Trying to really solidify them in my, in my game at the moment
Mark Burik (01:02:03):
When you're back there playing defense in the diagonal. Mm. What do you think your mind turns to in terms of worry? Do you think that you're more worried about the headline shot more worried about the hard cross or more worried about the cut shot?
Jordan Blake (01:02:18):
I think if I hadn't seen a few shots yet, it would probably be the, the high line is where, where my body would want to want to go to. And I've seen when I've been split blocking, my partner does same thing. I might like go up for the block or maybe peel and my partner might start already moving over to cover the high line. And then that cut is just wide open.
Mark Burik (01:02:45):
I think there's one kind of answer to that, that you can attempt to play with. And if you start your defense deep and wide, there is a good opportunity. And I think Triess podcast Tribo his podcast is on our most recent YouTube videos right now, but he was playing with that too, starting wider and deeper. And then you can find yourself going from there into your true defensive
Jordan Blake (01:03:09):
Position. Right. Okay.
Mark Burik (01:03:10):
So that you have that kind of forward momentum and that wide position, maybe not the deep position, but the wide position might tell somebody not to hit a cut shot and then you're ready for the hard cross. But then you also have the momentum and the forward moving action where you can easily get to the, to the high line. And you don't necessarily have to think about it. Your movement could take care of that. And your positioning to could take care of that to where you can read, but your body is actually primed to chase it better. Mm-hmm so maybe consider starting a little bit wider.
Jordan Blake (01:03:43):
Yeah. When you're there and that one step in get balanced, go watch it go .
Mark Burik (01:03:49):
Yeah. And then see if they hit some cut shots and it, you know, if they don't then you know that, that you've turned them off from that. Cool. Thanks. Thank you like it.
Krystle (01:04:00):
Hey mark.
Mark Burik (01:04:00):
Yeah. So crystal,
Krystle (01:04:02):
So I'm running into a couple of issues with my partner. I have two different partners depending on the day or that we're in, we play competitive and the people we've played with this week and last week actually are not what I would call standard attackers. So they're roughly five, six, maybe five, 10 mm-hmm . And I still have my partner going up to block and when they should be peeling. So their crucial conversations that we're having, but what's happening is one. They either choose not to peel two. They choose to do a different call, but not call it, or they'll on the peel. They'll touch the ball. And then they send it out where I was positioned and I would've had it. So what kind of conversations should I be having with my partner to better communicate what needs to happen in those moments or
Mark Burik (01:04:59):
You're playing at the double double a, uh, like a double a level, right? Chris, here's one idea that you can try draw a line five, six feet from the net. And when you're playing people who are five, six, and they can't thump the ball, there's really no reason to ever be in front of that five foot line agreed. Right. Because if an overset comes, then you'd wanna play it. You know, it's kind of rare that an overset is just something that you wanna detonate in. It's usually not in the perfect spot. So you have the chance to use three touches and have control instead of just hitting it. Then, you know, the caveat is if you see that something's wide open and you can control it. But I feel like a lot of players get stuck on overpasses and they become predictable. And it's not ideal where they should just play all three touches and reestablished control or play on two so that you have a legit control attack. My advice would be draw that five, six foot line or leave your flip flop kind of outside the court and say, we're never going to be in front of this line defensively.
Krystle (01:06:10):
Right.
Mark Burik (01:06:11):
You know, even that overset even still move easily into it.
Krystle (01:06:15):
Right. Exactly.
Mark Burik (01:06:17):
It's in front of you. And then you are going to need to say, take left, take right. Or use the butt taps that we talk about later in the ultimate defender course where yeah,
Krystle (01:06:30):
We do that a lot, but I, it's not something that has been timed correctly for those moments recently. So they have worked in the past. It's just a timing issue now where I think they're second guessing what they're running and what side. And so it's just kind of running a little late, which kind of puts us in a defensive position. That's not ideal mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (01:06:52):
Yeah. My, uh, people usually wait to see the past the set mm-hmm and then they make a call and it's too late by that time. So when you show the new block sign, the transition block sign, it should be, as soon as you think the ball, this is the keyword. As soon as you think the ball might get Doug. Okay. That's when you start asking for where your blocker is telling them, which side of the court to take or using the butt taps.
Krystle (01:07:24):
Okay.
Mark Burik (01:07:25):
Right. If you're the deep player, say, where are you? Where are you or say, take left, take left.
Krystle (01:07:29):
Okay.
Mark Burik (01:07:30):
You know? Awesome. And then you can do the same thing as, as a blocker, if you wanna be the vocal commander on your team.
Krystle (01:07:35):
Great. Awesome. Thanks. Welcome,
Mark Burik (01:07:37):
Brian. I saw you wrote something here. Do you wanna come on the mic? He says he always blocks line and throw a few other blocks into mix it up. I think it gives us the best chance to side out. So this is something that I, I kind of want to get away from Brian. I don't want you to think we need to throw other signs in order to mix it up. We need different defensive play calls to mix it up. We have to have intent, right? There's scenarios that I'm trying to bring up in my mind where you try different things, but you're not measuring them. And there's not a reason why you're trying. And so there's no like result that you can get or measure and no reason why you did it. For example, you'll see people throw two line blocks, right? And they'll throw a line block for the right side line block for the left side.
(01:08:32):
Their partner will miss the serve and then they side out and then on the very next play. Right? So let's say the other team misses the serve. Then on the very next play, we have a different defensive call. That to me shows immediately that there was no reasoning or intent behind the defensive play calls. Because if I give a play call, it's because there's a reason it's cuz I think I wanna defend line or I think, you know, I wanna bring them into a hard cross at my defender, right? So that's why I called the line. But then we miss a serve. So we didn't get to implement it. Then they missed the serve. So we're in the exact same spot trying to test the same theory or we should be trying to get the same results because we think that this is gonna happen.
(01:09:16):
And then we change a play call. Right? And that's that you have to get away from that. So don't change your defensive signs, your play calls, just to mix it up, call it because you're guessing, assuming or testing that this player will want to do this at this moment. And if it's a guess and it has reasons or a hypothesis, then that's a good thing to do. But if you just change to change, you're not going to progress in your game. And you're not going to understand why that play call worked against that player. So then it won't be a repeatable process. Won't be it repeatable match against that opponent or similar opponents to the person you're playing. Okay. So let's make sure that we have intent and it's not mix it up. And if you give a play call and then there are two MIS serves and you have a different play call, something went terribly wrong with your game strategy. Okay. Nicole, can you get on the mic and ask the question?
Nicole Ruji (01:10:17):
Yeah. So was wondering when I'm blocking line mm-hmm
Mark Burik (01:10:23):
Nicole Ruji (01:10:24):
How much room behind me and am I responsible for like reaching back and grabbing all of it or? Okay. So like if somebody digs it like right over me, mm-hmm I should reach back and get that
Mark Burik (01:10:37):
A hundred percent
Nicole Ruji (01:10:37):
What I'm asking.
Mark Burik (01:10:38):
OK. Yeah. This is kind of a common question. Like whose ball is that? Whose ball is that? The answer is, if you see it and you can get it, you go for it. And if you're currently not going for it, you have to find a way to get yourself to go for it. There are line shots that I've seen people after blocking. And this is at a high level. This is at a, like a top, top seven or eight in the AVP, like this type of blocker. But the high line landed just behind half court. And after blocking the blocker landed crunched down into the ground, got super low and shot out, right? So by landing in that like kinda wide squat and then getting low and then powering off of that one leg, you're already across half quarter. And if you can cover more than a quarter of the court after blocking your defender's job, they're gonna get so much better, right?
(01:11:38):
So there is no whose ball your ball, my ball, we all should get out of that mentality. And instead we should be in our team has to get this no matter what, right? And if my partner saw something different or they were in a different spot where they took a misstep or tripped and I'm not going well, then we automatically lost the point. But if they're going for it and I'm going for it, great, then it's just up to somebody to bark louder or touch the ball. And so long as it comes up, we have a chance, but once it hits the ground, we have zero chance. So for all of you blockers out there, you have to learn how to land and pursue that ball around you. That gets DED because you should be at minimum. If you're at the antenna, like strictly at the antenna at the net, you have to cover that entire front quarter of the court, right?
(01:12:33):
And you have to figure out how to do it. And it's usually the problem is people land pretty off balance. And then they don't love the mobility getting dropping low so they don't learn. And I'm talking, there are pro blockers that haven't learned this skill to land and completely sink all the way down that that butt drop all the way down and then shoot out all in one motion. But instead people land in that stiff high squat or quarter squat, and then there's no way that they can run and then get low to the ball. So if you can visualize it with me, it's trying to block. Then when you're coming down to land, you get your butt below your knees, all in one motion. And then you swoop and you fire out into a dive. It's not jump land, run, and dive to very different movements. And I, and I hope that visual is clear without being able to see it, but it is a tremendous play. And when you see guys like, uh, Cantor, LOAC, Sam molas and SMS, Stafford slick, I know has made this play a lot. Try is great at covering behind himself. These are elite level plays, but you don't need to be an elite level player to do it. You just have to learn how to make that play. And sometimes it comes from landing too stiff instead of sinking with the landing and then firing out.
Nicole Ruji (01:14:01):
Gotcha. Thank you. Yeah, that was gonna be my next question is how do I work on that? Cause that's a big shift from indoor for me is the whole reaching back thing. It was taught strictly not to do that ever. So
Mark Burik (01:14:13):
yeah, I know. Which is also crazy to me. You know, they say that, but it's because your defender should be moving forward at that. But again, like even with my players in indoor, I was like, Hey, if you can get it, get it, learn how to control it. Unless somebody behind you is screaming, mine, your team still has a responsibility to take care of that ball. And if you can get good at those weird plays, like you reach back behind you with one arm or a flipper and you can make the ball go up above the top of the antenna so someone can get their hands on it. That's a great dig and you don't know who's behind you. You know? And that's the reason they, they always think that that player should be moving forward. So they should have the better opportunity to make a controlled play.
(01:14:57):
And yes, theoretically they should, but in the moment they might not be there. And if you don't stick a limb out balls hit the ground. So I always pursue every ball at maximum while telling my partner to go for it. Does that make sense? Like I'm going for it. And then I'm saying yours, yours, yours, yours. I'm still there in case they can't or in case I witness them in that split second, not pursuing the ball, then I'm already on my way, you know, but there are certain balls that I want them to take, but I'll try to be there for them if I can't get there.
Nicole Ruji (01:15:32):
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Thank
Mark Burik (01:15:34):
You. You're welcome. Great to see some highlight reels of blocker landing low and picking up some Highline shots. Maybe I'll give you guys some homework. everybody's gotta watch matches until they find that play reaching back and examples where blockers don't, you'll be able to see that a lot. Like if you look at the, the recent AVP that was in Virginia Beach, then you might be able to see some blockers who don't know how to turn where their instinct is not to turn and pursue when you say it. And when you experience it, you'll start seeing it more and more saying like you have to cover that space behind you. And then when you're blocking, sometimes if you're the player that doesn't know how to do this landing and then dive and then pursue, you start thinking mentally, well, that's impossible. It's not my ball. And we have to turn that impossible mindset into, I have to, it's not impossible. I have to, right. That's a, a better mentality to have for that specific play. You'll save a lot. And if you watch the Norwegian guys, these are two players that go after every ball every time, you know, and, and they're world champions for a reason who was just about to get on the mic. Lee, go ahead.
Lee Moran (01:16:49):
Hey, Hey mark. Thank you. Hey, uh, yeah, one comment. Hey, that sky ball against roast and freshmen where it came one inch from the net. That was insane. that was incredible, man. Yeah. And I just wanna make a confirmation on when we're serving and I usually block, no matter if the other team can bang or not, you still wanna be up at the net ready for the one over or the two. Right. And then peel a hundred percent of the time. Okay.
Mark Burik (01:17:13):
Come matter. And when I, when I say at the net, this is very dependent on what type of athlete you are, how high you are, how tall you are, how high you jump. And another part of the equation is what type of athletes are on the other side of the net. Mm-hmm right? Because let's say that you're six, nine, and you have a 40 inch vertical. Right. But you're playing against 2, 5, 2 girls on a men's net. There's no way you should be blocking them. Even though you can get your nipples up over the net. Great. It's not worth it for you to jump because those players could never hit down on you. So you'll get more touches there. So there's two factors. And so when we say, you know, when you're looking at yourself as an athlete, your teammate as an athlete, and then the others and saying like, okay, what are the Heights?
(01:17:56):
Can I get over the net? Okay. If I can, maybe I should say a block. Now my second question is, can they get their heads over the net and pound? If the answer is yes. All right, then we should have a blocker up there. If the answer to either of the first two questions is no, then we shouldn't have a blocker up there. And that's when we go for the, we call it like the Rover position. Mm-hmm or the net protector and civil blocker. And that's when I was telling crystal, we're saying hover around that 10 to six foot area where you can't even reach the net, but you're at least close enough to comfortably cover that. And then you're only a step and a half away from your true defensive position.
Lee Moran (01:18:34):
Are you in the middle at that point, if you're hovering or are you on one side or the other?
Mark Burik (01:18:38):
So where is the setter aiming? That's the position that you should be as a blocker, right? A lot of people make that mistake where let's say that we're facing the net, right. You and me are facing the net mm-hmm . And over on the other side, they're about to set their left side. So they're about to set our right hands mm-hmm , but I have a diagonal block called, so I stay in the middle of the court, even though they're about to set towards the antenna. And then I peel into my diagonal
Lee Moran (01:19:08):
Mm-hmm
Mark Burik (01:19:09):
Now I'm nowhere near where the play is supposed to happen. So my whole job as a net protector, I've now had to leave that because I'm so concerned with dropping into that diagonal defense. And that's a nightmare. And that's why at our camps, clinics classes, and in this course, the ultimate defender course, we're saying, if you're a net protecting team, that means that you're not playing with blockers, or you don't have to play with blockers for certain matches. You always move as if you are a line blocker, but you're not blocking. Right. So you move with the plate and then you drop straight back or not going to do diagonal peels. So nobody should call cross if you don't have a blocker, unless it's a very specific scenario that we're not gonna get into right now, cuz it doesn't happen often enough. Right. You're going to miss those over SETSS when you decide to peel cross or give that cross call and you know, that you're peeling anyway.
Lee Moran (01:20:03):
Okay. Okay. So yeah, I think I understand. So, uh, in that scenario, the Rover, well, I mean I'm six, three and, and can block, so, but yeah, you would trace them out to the pin on the left side and then your defender would obviously shift on the left side for the cross. Yes. But you would still be off the net a little bit if they're not banging
Mark Burik (01:20:22):
Exactly.
Lee Moran (01:20:23):
And kind of this in between. Okay. 60
Mark Burik (01:20:26):
In that Rover position, chill just to, until you make sure, you know, you could even, you could honestly even be at like half court so long as you've got that forward lean and your body's intense and it's ready to run forward or run backwards. So you get into that surfer position more than your chest facing the net.
Lee Moran (01:20:44):
Yep. That's helped actually quite a bit.
Mark Burik (01:20:46):
Great. And it's a faster move, right? And sometimes you don't need the crossover plant plant. All you have to do is like push off of that right. Leg and step backwards and it's, and it can be a quicker, more comfortable move. But yeah, if you're peeling or you know that you're not blocking everybody, there is no right side, there is no left side and there is no cross peeling. Just make sure that the blocker flows and waits in the position where the play is going to develop. That means that where the setter is going to try to aim, you're never gonna have a, a hitter on the right side of the court and the setter accidentally set the left antenna, right. Unless this is a complete beginner's game. In which case you should be able to handle that anyway. And, and in that point, so you wanna flow have that net protector flow with the play or where the play is gonna be and then drop back parallel along the sideline that the hitter is on.
Lee Moran (01:21:36):
Makes sense. That makes sense. Thank you, mark.
Mark Burik (01:21:39):
Well, cool. All right guys, this was a hour and 45 minute meeting about, I want you guys to really go onto the post in the private Facebook group. And I want to hear your very honest opinions about what you thought of this format as one lesson per week. Did you enjoy being here for the live podcast and then being able to ask that person a question, or would you prefer us to go back to where we're showing the videos from the course and we review and do a Q and a there or, or is, was this just cool as a once in a while type like substitute teacher type fun. So if you guys could share with me in the group, all of your feedback and opinions, that would be fantastic. I wanna hear it. We're continually, you know, I'm continually working to make this program great for you, great for everybody and trying to grow it and, and give you guys results.
(01:22:39):
So that's where we want out of it from me, for everybody who is listening at home to the recorded version of this podcast. I want to thank you for your attention. Remember, we [email protected]. You just saw an example of what our meetings are like for our coaching program. We also do have private one on one mentorship. Uh, if you want to be one of the 12 athletes that either me, we have two chances, me or Brandon work personally with, for a full year, you don't have to sign up for full year. It can be month by month, but you can meet with us one on one. You need to get in touch with me. Uh, ask me about it. Probably the best way is, is at Mark Burke on Instagram. And you could be in one of my one OnOne groups where we're meeting with you one on one.
(01:23:31):
As we go through the courses, it's a little bit of a step up from our group meetings where you're just in that private Facebook group, and then we're getting the group meetings. But if we wanna dive into your full matches into everything that you're doing with a ton of specificity and, and you wanna work very closely, uh, one on one, get my personal phone number and be able to have pretty much non sub conversations. I'm willing to take on 12 athletes this year. I'm very excited about it. It won't be for everybody, but if you're wanting to invest in your game that much, then get in touch with me. If you have any questions about joining the complete player program, which you just saw an example of head to better at beach.com/coaching better at beach.com/coaching. That page should answer most of the questions. And then if you got any more questions, please, I'm inviting you.
(01:24:19):
I'm currently inviting you to send me DMS direct messages on Instagram. I'm happy to answer those questions. And you could also get in touch with Brandon at joy beach, VB. We have our camps coming up. I don't know when this is gonna air, but we have camps in October, November, December, January, we're scheduling ones for February and March. I hope they're not scheduled yet, but we might have a new resort coming up and we've already got four spring clinics booked. So if you want to bring us to your hometown, your home facility, remember that you need a minimum of, I know minimum of the equivalent of 12 people at two 50 for the day. So that's basically a $3,000 commitment for one day of training and that's three, two and a half hour sessions. You need legal access or the ability to rent from a legitimate facility or area for those courts and 12 people or $3,000 would be what we need as the minimum promise to get us out there, flying there, giving you your shirts, lanyards, swag, and an entire day of training.
(01:25:32):
Obviously the more people we get to sign up, the more coaches we could bring, but we've already booked four for the spring. So if you want to jump on that or let's should say, you got a court in your backyard and you know that you've got four die hards and you want to get that training. You want us to, to bring us out to your court for that. And you're willing to foot the bill, get in touch. We can do that too. Okay. Happy to do it. So camps, are there clinics, are there online coaching programs there? I don't know what more you need. If you loved this podcast, please share it with somebody. And I don't know how the ratings work on podcast. I've never actually rated a podcast, but I do follow a bunch. If there's a place to rate it and you loved it, please give us a really cool rating. And if you have any comments or ideas or things that we should do or that you would like to see, of course, get in touch, either [email protected] or you can DM me. I'll be happy to hear from you. Thank you guys so much. That is it here, Mark Burke with better at beach. We'll see you on the.
