Pri Lima (00:00:00):
There's a difference when you come outta college, all collegiate girls come out into the AVP like, ah, we got it. You know, they like in the, they come in out of national championship that is happening right now and they have all this training behind them and they very successful. And then once they graduate college, their first year, they really like, they come out as seniors. They come out so strong on the AVP tour, but after two or three years, they fade away because they don't know how to keep up with the professional training that they've had.
Mark Burik (00:00:30):
Hey everybody, and welcome to the Better at Beach Volleyball Podcast, where we learn everything we can about playing and coaching beach volleyball. As always, you're welcome to visit our site betteratbeach.com, where we have a number of ways for you to get better. We have online training programs that take you step by step through tutorials and drills where you can fix your passing, setting arm, swing mechanics, attacking, fence, and serving and blocking. Uh, you can also download our 60 day max vertical jump program. If you've ever asked yourself, Am I really doing this right? Am I playing with the best technique, the best strategy? And where do I go for answers? That's what we do. We help players erase bad habits, uh, get more control of the game and learn high level strategy. Uh, we would love to see you at any one of our seven day training camps where you can hang out with pros and get over 40 hours of training and playing at beautiful beach resorts, including St.
(00:01:18):
Pete Beach, where our today's guest, pre Lima, uh, is actually running a fantastic company. It seems like she's running like nine different companies, so you can't wait to actually talk to her about it. She's a long time pro, a fantastic coach, entrepreneur that is from, from the outside, at least can't wait to dig into it. Looks like she's crushing it and, and creating opportunities for coaches and players everywhere. So we're gonna talk to her about that. And as always, if you wanna support your sport, beach volleyball, always, always, always support the creators and the people who are putting it out there and creating audiences and creating new things for players and enthusiasts to enjoy. Because that's where the bigger companies, so big monies that can blow up our sport, that's where they look. So if you love this podcast, go ahead and subscribe to it and give it us a five star rating wherever you are. And if you really like the episode, go ahead and share it with the volleyball players and coaches in your life. Without further ado, Pri Lima. Welcome. What's up girl?
Pri Lima (00:02:18):
Hey, what's up ? Just, I'm a former player.
Mark Burik (00:02:21):
Former player. Yeah. But can you be a former player and still be able to absolutely crush all of your players? Do you feel like you have to like pat 'em on the butt a little bit sometimes just to knock the confidence down one
Pri Lima (00:02:32):
Step? I don't, I don't crush all of my players, but I still, I, I can still teach some lessons like on the court, let's just say
Mark Burik (00:02:38):
That. Nice. And now I did a quick, a quick glance at Bvb info and it said that you've been playing since you were 15 and you started playing in Brazil, right?
Pri Lima (00:02:47):
Mm-hmm. , I started when I was 15 in Brazil indoor, and then at 16 I started a little bit of beach. So I was playing beach since 16 and then I came to college and didn't play for like two years. And then I found the beach community in Lafayette. And then, uh, I never stopped playing uh, beach like, but you know, like Louisiana beach volleyball we're just playing games and leagues and you know, tournaments on the weekends. But after I graduated from college, I went straight to the adp.
Mark Burik (00:03:11):
That's unbelievable. I think for people who are making, you know now for, I think for the women's game players who are able to make the transition from college to AVP quickly. Mm-hmm. , it's a, it's a strange transition because you all of a sudden it was always strange because you went from a place where you're nearly coddled, everything is put out on the court for you, all of your equipment is there, all of your coaches are there, and then you get to the pro standard and it, it's like, it's worse almost. You know, going from college is a better, more professional experience than actually playing pro. And I remember kind of when playing overseas indoor, it was so similar where in college we had a locker room, we had one gym, we had chairs with our logos on it. And then you go over and you play pro overseas and you're literally like playing in church basements in suite. Do you think that players are equipped coming out of college to be a professional AVP or fiv B player? Or is there a learning curve that they need to experience first and what's the most important thing that they need to, to do in order to make that transition?
Pri Lima (00:04:14):
Yeah, a little bit of both. You see top players that have, there's just those special players that they understand what it is to be professional and all that. What I was talking to one of my girls, it's Lexi Dana Berg, she's a ucla. Um, and I, I told her there's a difference when you come outta college, all collegiate girls come out into the ADP like, ah, we got it. You know, they like in the, they coming out of national championship that is happening right now and they have all this training behind them and they very successful. And then once they graduate college, their first year, they really like, they come out as seniors, they come out so strong on the AVP to work, but after two or three years they fade away because they don't know how to keep up with the professional training that they've had, just like you mentioned.
(00:04:54):
So I said, the difference is gonna be the ones that understand that this is how you're supposed to train. Now when you go pro and you like, Hey, let's get a group over here and do triangle setting and then two sets to 21, that's not pro training. Pro training means you find a coach, you figured how to find your way, but you find a coach and you train with that coach as much as possible to understand or get a group of girls. Sometimes it's better to have four, six girls and you have the same coaching you guys able to afford, there's a program built for you. That's what I try to provide over here for my guys, especially for my girls, that they actually train five days a week. And like I said, every, I try to give them everything they supposed they would need in their career before, you know, they get out there and some have done it alone and some came straight to college to me. So they don't know the difference yet. But when they go alone, you know, if they ever go alone over there, they're gonna be like, Wow, we
Mark Burik (00:05:42):
Had a lot, You know, I just had a conversation, uh, with Billy Allen in a previous episode where we were talking about would would American volleyball better off if, if the AVP kind of forced us to join clubs and then three teams or four teams all trained together under a coach so that there was a path that you could take. I think so many pros get get lost because they don't set their own training plan, they don't set their standards. And then we have this obsession with always training against a new team or a different team. A, because we don't want somebody to know our game fully and B, because we seem to find this hardcore validity in always playing against a different team. But do you think that players are better off playing with three other people? Like if I'm, if I'm a player, I play with my partner and we train against one team and we have one coach and we have our path, or would that team be better off all things equal? Of course. Just playing against and with a different coach, a different player every single day where they see the different battles and different problems that they have
Pri Lima (00:06:46):
To solve. Yeah. Well my experience was when I got to, when a veteran pulled me up, she said, Here's our coach, We're gonna train like this, we're gonna do like this. So we trained with the, with the same coach every day. Who was that? And then, uh, Chico, he used to be in California for a long time and then he was also the coach of Elaine Youngs and either Rachel or Nicole br for a while as well. So we had our own practices at different times, but this will be the team that we got to practice with or against. Okay. Right. To get our reps. And by the end of the year, they were the two, they were second in the nation. We were with third in the nation. But that's the only team that we, we played against
Mark Burik (00:07:22):
Ever in practice.
Pri Lima (00:07:23):
Yes, we may get some, you know, we call the dummies like younger players just to run, but it was telling you like maybe two or three times a month, didn't do anything else. It was just honed in on what we need to get better. Maybe what was the reason why we lost, you know, the last tournament. Let's hone in and make sure we're better over here. Let's create new ways to score. Um, we know we kind of knew our bracket a little bit, you know, so we would like plan on like, this is how you're gonna play again, so and so you gonna do these things. So I didn't become a professional until I had that. And then from that on, that's what I tried to create for myself as a player. I always got a coach. I wanted organize practices. I didn't care who else was training against.
(00:07:59):
It was about me and my partner creating us, us us. And then we'll bring somebody like a team for one day. You know, just give us that. But at the same time, on the AVP back then, we play 18 tournaments a, a summer. So we practice playing at the highest level. Next week I'm applying at the highest level. What I just try to fix Yeah. During three or four days of practice before we travel and play again. So I believe like if everybody would have a coach, the level would be so much better. So think about how many girls, by the end of, by middle or end of the season, they all taped up. They got back injuries, they got shoulder injuries, they are overtrained because they go Monday through Friday in California or whoever. Even over here, they don't have a coach playing, playing, playing, playing, playing.
(00:08:38):
Like you can play. You can't sustain that an entire year. Um, my girls, my players, my pro players play practice five days a week. We don't jump on Mondays, Tuesday we jump 25% Wednesday. It depends if they traveling or not. It depends when they, their most important competition is because if they play a local turn, I was like, go play tired. I don't care where there's a program planned for them based on their most important like that you don't have that in America. And then in Brazil there's no like, oh, I'm playing professional and they're doing it on their own. It's completely the opposite. Everybody has their coach. They don't do without a coach. There are no teams showing up without a coach in Brazil that they're there every day with their coaches.
Mark Burik (00:09:14):
That's gotta be why they're so deep. And I think that's why Europeans completely caught up with the US for our men's, I hesitate to say done, but we're gonna struggle currently. And, and I'm hoping one of the teams can, can really step up. But when I was playing indoor overseas, I was also doing some beach coaching and playing some beach and I couldn't understand because the players couldn't dream of showing up to a volleyball court without, well who's going to coach it. It was like the equivalent of players in the US saying, well where, what net are we gonna play on? We don't have a net. You know, like you would see that as impossible in the US and the players in Europe were treating that even even at the B and AA level, they were treating that as as important as having a net like, well who's going to lead the training? And I saw that difference and I said, that's a little like less than creative, but I think that's important, you know, the fact that they put that much emphasis on a coach and, and meanwhile there are still pro teams who are still in the top 10 that no don't have a coach. At least on the men's side, on the women's side. I think that kind of happens a little bit less. What do you think, do you think that women are more likely to, to grab a coach and and to hold onto it than men?
Pri Lima (00:10:15):
Yeah, and I train women and men and it's way easier to start women to train. Yeah. Women to come at least trial training than men is really hard. Men don't want to pay for training. They think if they just get the best together and they scrimm at each other train or whatever, they wanna do the little drills with not a coach and save the, the 25 to 30 bucks that it is over here versus they think they're gonna be better, they're gonna play better, everybody's gonna improve because you, after you're getting your reps. But in Brazil we say you're gonna play like you never play before, but you're gonna lose. Like you always lose because you're not fixing yourself.
Mark Burik (00:10:43):
. I like that. I do like when you came, when did you come to the US to
Pri Lima (00:10:48):
Start playing? I went straight to college, so I was 19 when I came to
Mark Burik (00:10:51):
Us. Was there a significant difference between how the Brazilian school of training was and how the US school was in terms of college versus versus that? Cause I know the sport club systems are kind of similar in a lot of ways between the US and Brazil, but
Pri Lima (00:11:04):
Yeah, it is but it isn't though. Like, let's say Rio is a huge city. Everybody knows Rio. Imagine Rio and, and Florida, right? Like, oh, one of the meccas of of volleyball, the sport, how many clubs we have over here? I don't even know the count in Brazil when I played, we have six clubs. Like they're not, and you don't pay to play. You're invited to play. So if you have one day that you have a bad attitude and that coach is like, you know what, I'm done with you. Bye. And where are you gonna go? You're gonna go to the other club. Why are you here? You were with the other team. Oh, I got kicked out. They, I'm take you. So you learn how to be like a professional since you're a, since you're a teenager because you're playing to show work and then you compete for a spot, but you're not paid. Like you don't pay to guarantee your spot, it's based on you. Um, that was different. And then what I noticed obviously is uh, training was very specific when I got over here. So Mia and one of my best friends when, when we were like 15, we, we both came together together and we're both middle blockers and we were the only middle blockers in the nation that played six rotations.
Mark Burik (00:11:57):
Oh, nice.
Pri Lima (00:11:58):
Yeah. So, and to today I still have one of the top five, uh, career, you know, uh, dicks in school.
Mark Burik (00:12:04):
Awesome. That's big time as a middle. What?
Pri Lima (00:12:06):
Yeah. And play middle back behind the block.
Mark Burik (00:12:08):
Isn't that shocking that the only position that people are refusing, they like have to put a libero in is the middle. Where are the schools and why isn't it more frequent that you have somebody who can play middle excellently and is still legit on defense? Cuz I know that those players and those athletes are out there and all of these club teams and all these high school teams, they say, Well no, the middle has to come out. That's an optional substitution. Yeah, that's optional. And some of the girls are clearly better athletes, you know, that are playing middle and then they get subbed out because they're somebody with a different colored jersey for indoor.
Pri Lima (00:12:44):
But it starts from the beginning, right? You have to create more opportunities and sometimes even more money. You have two liber bears now in the team and you have three middles versus just four middles, right? Mm-hmm. , you have one more person paying for it. I don't know, but I think like they train six four outside hitters to be six rotation. Why they not training middles just to have a good overall, right?
Mark Burik (00:13:03):
Yeah. Give them another skill set. I, it still baffles me. We had a middle who was, could have done probably whatever he wanted in volleyball, but he just didn't, He liked it in college. He enjoyed it. And he literally said to me, he's like, No, I, I like my horses. I like taking care of my farm. He goes, College has helped me with agriculture and, and like agricultural business and uh, I'm good. After college, he got invited to US national team. He didn't even go. He's like, no, no. But he, when he was recruited in high school, he had a shoulder injury and he was a six nine middle, he had a shoulder injury and instead of him being out, they used him as the defensive specialist, as the libero. So my coach, without even seeing him play at that point, you know, without like watching the full game, he goes, your coach puts you, takes you out because you're the six nine middle and puts you as a defensive specialist.
(00:13:47):
Uh, when you have a hurt shoulder. He goes, You're recruited. I don't need to see any more than you're that statement. And he was, he was freak athlete. He could have played any position on our team, on our team that he wanted. Uh, he just ended up being so quick to the pins and so big back to getting to the next level going pro for the volleyball players who are coming out of college. I know that in your program you see a bunch of different levels. You focus right now on some of the pro players who are already AVP caliber and people who are just pushing that edge, who are in the qualifiers have the ability to get into the main draw circle. What do you think, what are you seeing as the two most important attributes? And they could be mental or physical, but the two most important attributes for getting to the next level.
Pri Lima (00:14:29):
It has to be your, let's just say your maturity for the sport. Because it comes with the mindset being mature. Not just like, Oh, I pay my bills, or I take care of my life, you know, I do whatever I want. I can't do whatever I want. Like not in an attitude way, but like, you know, this is my life and I can do all this. But like, but can you handle everybody when they start, they have like leaps of getting better, like the most improved player, right? I got that. I went from being like eighth and ninth in the nation around that time and I jumped in once in one season, fourth, third in the nation. I got m i p. But like how did that happen? Well, I luckily I had a veteran who taught me during practices and during the game how to do that.
(00:15:07):
But I tell everybody else like, I don't know how, but thankfully I had the mindset to support that. I was very mature about the game since I was young, probably because coming from Brazil hold our ish together, we're not like losing our minds, you know? It's like, hey, um, every day I need to show work and I know my coach has my back and I'm gonna struggle. So that's something that really try to teach my, for my juniors going to college. It's not easy. Like making mistakes is normal. Being good is special. It's not the opposite way. You're supposed to be good and making mistakes is special. It's not like that. So being mature to be able to, can you go an entire season trying to become 1% better? Mm-hmm. , that's tough because everything else is like pretty good. But there's one thing that is holding you back and you have to fix it
Mark Burik (00:15:49):
In maturity. Are you saying that you mean focus? What would another way to say maturity be for
Pri Lima (00:15:55):
You? Well, is maturity for me just I guess is like, is general for the mindset slash attitude, the focus, right? The discipline involves all the untenable things that you do on volleyball, right? And then I'm not the thing that makes a huge difference that when you become a, a pro, like for me it changed my game when I had a coach and a strength and conditioning coach and putting in work off the court. Like it's not just train everybody trains in the whole entire world. They can get five to 20 practices a week. That's not gonna make a difference. But are you intentionally doing conditioning? We call physical technical drills, like kind of like what you saw, what we were doing, right? When you can train everything's
Mark Burik (00:16:33):
Footwork or, or volleyball movement based, but with a, with a physical like additional challenge or a weight fest
Pri Lima (00:16:39):
Mm-hmm. or something. Sometimes we include balls, sometimes we don't. And plus we have running and conditioning. Like conditioning. It's what you watch kinda like the circuits and then running sprints and everything is like the intensity goes up and down depending where they are in the season. And the upcoming competitions that I learned from my coaches as a player and I kept on like brainstorming with them and now I can call 'em and be like, help me out. How do I build this for my team? And that made me a pro. I was already training, I was already playing tournaments. I was already having pretty good like miracle fifths with Angela Lewis on the avp. But then what got me from fifths to six semifinals the next year in a final, a full-time coach, the ability to handle training at a much higher level and failing at a much higher level, which for me, I love challenge.
(00:17:20):
So I embrace that. And also if I didn't have the conditioning to sustain the amount of training and, and the physicality, like, yes, we all wanna improve our, our vertical and you will improve your vertical until you get to the point where, you know, at your career you improving your vertical at 1%, at 5%, you know, improving your vertical like from the beginning of your career to, you know, you start with like specialty guys, I don't know, like 22 inches and you go to 40 inches in the matter of like three to five years. But like you're at that 1% trying to, but can you sustain your best jump the longest an entire tournament that is conditioning
Mark Burik (00:17:53):
As far as like the most important attribute. I, I feel like you're saying the ability to, to plan out a season with practices and training. So almost if if we, if we dial it down, like if we brought it back into its simplest form, like the the person who can plan the best, you know, and design a real season might be the person who is to the next level faster than somebody else who might just be playing. Would you agree with that? Is that, is that kind of what
Pri Lima (00:18:18):
You're saying? I just, I'm so passionate about that stuff. It's just hard to pick too, you know? Yeah. Cause I'm thinking and maybe because I'm already thinking it's like you have a coach mm-hmm. and this coach is doing this conditioning. If I put uh, work on this outside stuff, which is the outside work, everybody lift, but some people skip. But the conditioning makes a huge difference. And if you can do the untangible things working on yourself to be more mature, a can develop you as a person mm-hmm. to become the player that you wanna become. That's
Mark Burik (00:18:46):
One actionable thing that somebody could do tomorrow. One actual thing that they can, they can do tomorrow to live what you're saying, like step
Pri Lima (00:18:54):
Hire
Mark Burik (00:18:55):
A coach, step one, hire a coach, Boom,
Pri Lima (00:18:56):
Figure it out and hire a coach will be like, can you plan a season for me where I'm not gonna get burned out? We're gonna work our best not to get injured, you know, and you're gonna get me in shape. That's huge. And then on your own, you're gonna have to probably hire a, I would say a sports site or get a mentor, Hey, could you be my mentor? I would love to talk mindset with you. I'm struggling at this. How can I make this better? And then have weekly or biweekly meetings that it was also something that when I became a pro with all this system, they told me you need to get somebody to help you with your mindset. Not because I need, in my mindset,
Mark Burik (00:19:29):
I think mentors are difficult to find. Like they hide themselves. You know, there aren't too many who announce themselves as say, Hey, we're available for you. You know, you do it, I do it. There's a few other people who are putting themselves out there. Uh, Sam Pelo. Dustin Watton does it for Josh
Pri Lima (00:19:44):
Binstock in
Mark Burik (00:19:45):
California. Josh Binstock is now doing it even more. More. Mm-hmm. . And these are people who are shouting and we have to shout so repeatedly, loudly, loud, like, hey, we're here if you want help. If you're not paying attention to one of the five of us, then I think it's so tough for people to actually find somebody who it's like, Hey, can you lead me? It's, it's almost like mentors have to find their students and and seek them out when it should be the reverse. But then when you're looking out for a mentor, it looks like there's, you know, hundreds of thousands. So how do you choose? And I think that's a difficulty that a lot of people run into of finding that person that they want to guide them through their at least a part of their season or their whole season or their career in when that would be be the fastest way to get better.
Pri Lima (00:20:31):
Yeah. But what can you do yourself then? Right? So you're gonna be proactive. So the first AVP that I had this veteran in Tacoma as a coach, um, I took on myself to read books, you know, the mind gym. I luckily got introduced, Mike JoVE, I had a couple of sessions with him, but then everything else was on my own. I, um, in pursuit of excellence, whatever, all the mindset books. And I was like, I was a professional. So my free time as dedicated to volleyball, did I watch film? I'm look in my everything. It wasn't like I just read something, somebody saying how to be more mature about all involved watch film, but don't watch your highlights, you know, study yourself. Yep. Like, because people wanna see, Oh look how cool because that's what they wanna put on Facebook or Instagram or
Mark Burik (00:21:15):
TikTok and don't watch trying to prove yourself. Right. That's what people do. Mm-hmm. , they, they think they have this notion of I know how it's done. And then they watch a film like, yes, I did exactly how I think it's done. That's not helping you. If you already know that, that's like what you should be doing, you need mm-hmm somebody who can challenge all of the things that you're not seeing. Cuz your mind is only queued in to what you think is right and what you think is wrong. And so you're not changing when you watch your own film with, with the exception of seeing like some of the big ones where you know what's right and you're like, Oh my God, I didn't get my feet stopped. Like, come on. Yeah. But you, you don't get any fresh ideas, which means that you don't actually see any exponential growth unless you have somebody else looking
Pri Lima (00:21:59):
At your stuff. Yeah. So you know what's been really, really fun is you had an interview with her. Like, I've been working with Kim Hildreth this year. She's great. And
Mark Burik (00:22:06):
Wes just a great human
Pri Lima (00:22:07):
And she's been like, she has been successful, right? She has a good career already. But her openness to tweak the things that I told her I thought was gonna make her better mm-hmm. . And we tweaked her passing, we tweaked her setting, we added to her setting. She can jump set any ball now she can, you know, Nice set what? Like, it's been super cool to see tweaked her second ball. We tweaked her hitting a lot, actually. We did a lot with her hitting. We tweaked her defense finally long. And then on
Mark Burik (00:22:35):
Things, how these tweaks take for you. So when, when you see something, do you say, do you like comment on it and, and go piece by piece? Or do you say, Hey, these next two weeks we're going to add this to your on two game, just this little tiny piece. Do do you have a how long it takes process or how long?
Pri Lima (00:22:48):
I think it depends on the, it really depends on the athlete. Okay. She was willing to get 1% better all the time. And she's really good This practice, my goal is to do this and this and this. So I'm gonna, I don't care if you miss, I don't care if you hit two courts away, but we're getting your, your risk faster. A thousand balls out and you get 10. We're winning to have that mindset and be okay making those mistakes. It's hard if you're an athlete who seeks confirmation of how good you are all the time.
Mark Burik (00:23:13):
That's a great point. Seeking confirmation of how good you are. E that's a thing people need to watch out for, but you don't know when you have it. Maybe this conversation will make people think like maybe it'll make them think that
Pri Lima (00:23:24):
Was cool. You know what I mean? Like it was, it's on her success. I tell everybody, guys, when I I coach you, you see me like I coach passionately like a good pres. Like does, you know I'm there with you guys at practice, but I said, I've done it. I want you to get it before I got it. Your success depends on you, not on
Mark Burik (00:23:42):
Me. When you're coaching and maybe, maybe it can come from your history too, but what technique do you think people get wrong the most? As, as far as like across the board, If there's one thing that most people think that they're doing right but they are doing wrong or not at its best form, what, what skill do you think that is? Or what part of a skill?
Pri Lima (00:24:02):
Well, I love setting. I need and pick setting. Most of my players when they go and play with other players, they like, whoa, their sets are so different. Really Like the slow moving slow peak. We're not caring but it's just making the ball moving the same temp. So I say you gotta nail the tempo and the peak and the location will come, right? So if the ball's moving consistently all the time, you as a hitter be like, I got time to take a step in. I got time to take a step out. But if the ball moves here, here, here, here, and it's different times and that's when you're like you're rushed. Oh, now you, you don't know as a hitter when to take off. But if your ball's always moving this way over and over again, even if it's a temple and it moves this way, something different. Like,
Mark Burik (00:24:42):
So like faster hands versus I know we're talking on camera sometimes we have to like dial it back for if somebody's listening audio version. So pre just made up, made like a fast motion with her hands and then a slow motion with her hands. And if you hit one ball fast, or sorry if you set one ball fast and one ball slow because of the different rhythm in your hands or how fast or slow even your forearms move on a forearm set. Yeah. Changing the rhythm of what you look for of your hitter, their timing gets jacked.
Pri Lima (00:25:07):
So are we gonna be able to face all the time where we wanna set? No because the game is so dynamic but trying your best. Right. So at the end I always tell, I was like, are you give your hit a psychological safety Joe, your hitter, what do you intend to do? And just let the ball move really slow from there. Okay. And then you as a hitter, are you gonna appreciate that for me, I think there's a lot more better setting to happen all around versus just throwing a ball. I tell my players, if you play with me it's gonna be really hard because I need this slow temple set. I'm not young that I can explode and go get a ball where guys, guys can explode, get a ball, be like, yeah, the good set dude. But like was
Mark Burik (00:25:44):
It really Ricardo? Yeah you just recover from that. You know, it's not like you recover from it and it looks like you could still hit hard because you're jumping high and you're strong. It still masks itself because that's repeatable over a hundred, a thousand sets.
Pri Lima (00:25:56):
And that's what say simple is repeatable. You wanna show consistency
Mark Burik (00:25:59):
When you see Ricardo set, it's crazy how even when he's running, falling, standing still the speed of his forearm lift stays exactly the same. That's exactly what I'm talking about. He'll be falling, he'll be on one leg about to land on his knee and that that platform, that slow slow platform just still moves in slow motion and you're like, ha. It, it looks like, you know when they put in an action movie and somebody's like shooting and diving at the same time. Yeah And they always put it in slow motion. That's how it looks like when, when he sets or when he's falling or diving into, is he moving fast or slow? I
Pri Lima (00:26:32):
Can't, I tell my juniors, I say you're a ninja on the bottom. Like move your feet really fast but you're dancing whiles on top then I'm not saying if they're falling, I say we call it holding the baby. Have you ever seen anybody fall with a baby and put the baby down to hold themselves?
Mark Burik (00:26:44):
The I see people like holes and on the beach playing volleyball with beers in their hands. I, I've never, thankfully not too many people that I see are falling with babies in their hands. But if we can throw it to my adult-like campers out there like, you know, just pretend you're not spilling the beer as you fall . Yeah that would be great
Pri Lima (00:27:00):
Drill. I can't say that to my
Mark Burik (00:27:01):
Juniors first. No, good point. Good point.
Pri Lima (00:27:04):
Yeah. Ask me how I know that nobody drops a baby. How
Mark Burik (00:27:07):
Do you know
Pri Lima (00:27:08):
? I you dropped felt baby in my hands. I felt with a baby in my hands and I don't know why. All I remember is that I was on the ground and the baby was on top of me like this. I was holding it up and I was like nine years old and I had a baby and
Mark Burik (00:27:20):
I was walking around the day you became an elite setter and
Pri Lima (00:27:23):
I'll try to explain how do you make somebody hold like's an emergency? Don't let it go. It's like hold the baby
Mark Burik (00:27:29):
. And I think metaphors are the answer for elite coaching. Like you have to be able to transfer to, to say what you wanna say but just so that somebody else understands it. Maybe my best skill set as a coach is just the ability to say one thing in 50 different ways. You know, until like something clicks on you. And I think that's why some coaches actually fail with athletes because they say one thing over and over and over and over and they keep saying that same thing but it's like, can you put it in some different words for me? Or can you show me? Or can you have somebody else? Show me the difference between what you're, where you're trying to get. Like I don't think enough coaches have a metaphor database in their head for each skill or each way. I think because you and me end up coaching so many athletes that we have to use so many cuz we have so many individuals, like somebody who coaches a college team, I can, I'm not knocking them of course, but if, if you're only coaching, you know, 12 athletes per year, you find the 12 metaphors that work for slowing down when you're setting then you're done there.
(00:28:30):
But if you have somebody new on your court the time every single day and they don't get number 12, then you gotta move on to 13, 14. You know? So went to
Pri Lima (00:28:38):
Tool belt, you know. But even with 14, like my wife is a college coach and I helped her so many times. It's we we steal at her and that wanna help her. We still gotta find those ways and because when players are younger they forget. They don't sustain and retain everything. So if we're like on preseason and we got like, okay, we honed in on this type of technique and then we're building out the techniques when you try to apply in the beginning of the season, they might have forgotten and we have to review that. So, and same thing with upcoming pros. Like they or my juniors, I know I taught 'em but they don't sustain it and retain it. Yeah. So I have to have a little reminder, hey remember that practice this and this, hey let's get three reps this way so we can move on and do this new thing where you can apply. But I joke with my players, like you chose me to be your coach, I try to speak, you know, all these languages. But after three months y'all need to
Mark Burik (00:29:30):
Speak pre. Once they understood, once you got them to understand what you're trying to say, then you can say it however you want. Mm-hmm that first border that you have to get past mm-hmm in order to do it.
Pri Lima (00:29:40):
Yeah. I have have two former indoor setters that I coach. One is Kim and one is Kinley Adams. So like early wrists or early hands or get your wrists ready, cock your wrist back, you know, whatever it is. So we're being finding and then it's like two or three months one thing works and then all of a sudden it's gone and we need to find a, you know Bo I we're saying the same thing, but then with somebody more experienced as Kim, she finds it right away and she sustains it longer. And now we found one that I think like is helping Kinley and she sustains longer. It's more talking about her hands versus her wrists, you know, to be able to set. But that's what I found said, hey whatever, if I forget your cue, remember when I say that it means this to you.
(00:30:18):
So I try to help them, you know, And that's why I think it's so important to take notes on your practice, which I did. You become a student of yourself in the game. We, as you saw, we have water and notes. They don't go just to water. They supposed to go over there and ride the queue or you know, if I have my players who also coach for me ride the drill, they're gonna remember better and the goal of the drill and or what do you need to get better and what are you adjusting? What are you not adjusting? So we always
Mark Burik (00:30:44):
Do that when you write that, when you have them write there in their journal. Cuz I'm actually trying to develop a volleyball, uh, performance journal where mm-hmm , it's just prompted, you know, you could let it, so it asks the questions that every coach would want them to answer on a water break and after practice. But would you have the tips that they want to stick? Would you have that just for that day or would you have a section of like tips you want to stick or is that the entire journal? Is the entire journal just made of tips? You wanna stick?
Pri Lima (00:31:09):
Yeah, that's kind of like that because some days you're gonna struggle with some days like go back if I'm not there, hey, this past match you struggle with this. Go back on your notes. Okay. Um, if we're learning something very new or very important, I tell 'em to put a box. So then when you flip, you're gonna see it. And then there's something that I love that I said is one of our sequences that we call when I am tired and then you're gonna be, when I am tired I don't move my feet when I am tired, I don't adjust be well to my set. When I am tired, my arms are not early to pass, you know, so they start learning themselves. Like you know that you take one or two reps like, Oh I'm tired, I need to work hard on this. But younger players or less experienced players, they can be older but they have less experience at the high levels. Like we gotta catch when I am tired a lot faster, not off to seven points.
Mark Burik (00:31:54):
That's interest. I have a weird take on fatigue in game because I have been pretty well conditioned. You know, like I did a lot of the outside gym work. So when people talked about fatigue and how tired you get and how important conditioning was, maybe I automated like the outside training so well, but I never understood how do you get tired? This is beach volleyball. Like I couldn't understand that there was fatigue. I do see it in some players and then you'll see like one little bit of technical slide. Mm-hmm , you, you know, that something just falls apart for a single point or they fall asleep because they don't put a hundred percent energy. They put like 95 and that's where it goes. And I think my, the first wake up call wasn't really a wake up call, but I learned it over time when people said, Oh you just, they just lost focus.
(00:32:41):
They just lost focus. I used to hate fans who would say that about anyone. They're on the court. Like there's no way they're not, they're losing focus. But then I caught it in myself where I said there were points where I didn't stare straight at the server, straight at the serve contact and like mm-hmm fully 100% engaged before the point started. I kind of stared at his body, uh, was there, I didn't set myself up in a perfect athletic position. And I think those are the details that a lot of definitely young players and non perfectionist myth of are you going to start every point the exact same way and with full 100% intention. And I finally understood what some of the fans are saying in lost focus. Yeah. But in fatigue I imagine that happens as well. And the only times I've experienced that is Florida, Texas, New Orleans because I'm just like trying to keep my eyes open as sweat is dropping into like my pupils
Pri Lima (00:33:40):
My favorite. I love that feeling. So the people that don't prepare as well, they get fatigued. And then some people think that they tired or fatigue when they breathe hard. And I'm like, at the end of the drill or at the end of that point, look back right now in less than 15 seconds could have done more. Yes. I said, well your mind is playing a trick when you, when you're fatigued you go and then all of a sudden your leg trembles and you like fall on your knees before you're supposed to. That's fatigue. Breathing hard sometimes is not fatigue. I'm all about mental health. I'm all about uh, balance. I'm all about um, longevity on the sport. Hello. You know, I played for a long, long time. So I try to teach 'em that it's not about pushing your body but you need to check yourself out.
(00:34:19):
Are you freaking out? Cuz you, you know, you, you're breathing hard. There was a player on the tour, on the ADP back then every time she came to Florida, Texas, she already, she looked at me, she's like, You gonna serve Mr. Char and D aren't you? Yes. That was the game plan. And she knew and guess what? Nowadays people would be like, well, but she knows, you know, But she knows that I know that She knows. She knows. So I should, No, here you go because it's already in your head. Here you go. Go again, go again , go again.
Mark Burik (00:34:43):
Yeah, I had two partners that that was the answer serving short long enough and we would crush for a full set and then it would get really tight in the second set and if it went to a third set we were in trouble, you know? Mm-hmm. and the tour knew because it seemed like this happened match after match after match. Mm-hmm. And it almost seemed, seemed like the whole tour was just like ganging up on you because everybody did it. So if, if we won the first two, the the third team was like, thanks first two teams for local tournament players. I think that that's valid. That hey, if it's not working for you in pool play by serving the person short, but you think that that's the right strategy, you might meet them first game of playoffs, second game of playoffs, you might come back against them.
(00:35:23):
And now with this new stupid modified pool play, I will go full throttle on saying that it's the stupidest way to run a tournament and gives nothing in terms of rankings. You might as well just not rank anybody at all. But that could be one of your valid points where now you're modified pool play for a qualifier. So hey, you're gonna run into this team again, uh, if you make it to the quarters or the semis. So even if you don't beat 'em this time, you'll have fatigued them enough so that it'll pay off the long run. And I think people think about individual matches sometimes maybe mm-hmm. a little too much. But a strategy like that can work over time. It's just embarrassing when it does for the person who like can't handle a full match or a full tournament.
Pri Lima (00:36:04):
Yeah. But it comes down to the training. Yeah. You can play all the volleyball you want and the deepest sand and play volleyball. Are you training? Are you working on your skills to be efficient at how you get to that ball? How you push off, how you gonna get your footwork over there so you know, like you know the entire time using more energy, Oh you're not efficient. And then are you doing your conditioning? Are you doing, but are you gonna do conditioning all the time? No. Why are people doing, you know, are you gonna run every day? No, that's not, you have to get a professional to do that. Once I had a professional and then I learned from my professional coaches, then I was able to build this, you know, and obviously I've had less people or or less investment and slowly growing my pro program and then this is the year I'm going full throttle with them and I said, We're doing this. You guys are gonna do what I did when I was playing my best volleyball. And it's been really cool to see results.
Mark Burik (00:36:58):
I think people forget a very important point in terms of conditioning your, your body. The more you do a singular movement, the more your body figures out how to do it better, faster, easier, while costing less energy, actual less calorie burn, the more you do a similar movement. So if you're going in there and, you know, for all the dudes out there who are chucking through bench press and burning all their calories like on a bench press and on hardcore shoulder presses, it's like you could be utilizing these calories towards building a pathway that will make this movement easier for you during matches. And when you do get so fatigued, hey, guess what? Your pathway is built so your body will default to that instead of some sloppy other movement that wasn't ingrained every single movement. Yeah. And I think every time I see a Brazilian training on like, uh, Instagram or, or or one of those, it's all those movements. It's, it's nonstop step shuffle. It's nonstop like, uh, step outside. All of their movements is not just erratic movements or, or jumping in random directions. It's, it's so close to how they would move in the game. And there's so much movement in between touches and a lot of drills. Uh, but they also have a million touches of practice cuz again, nine people coaching them. ,
Pri Lima (00:38:23):
I just, I just show my players a picture of my, my coaching staff. In 2011 I had a coach, an assistant coach, three arms and a ball shagger.
Mark Burik (00:38:32):
Incredible. Gosh. And Lucas, who's, who's taken your classes, he's like in Brazil, it was costing him like 50 bucks a month for that, for training every day with that many people. Mm-hmm. . I was just like, dang, it should be the answer for every American like to go down there and use that, the exchange rate and get a million touches per practice with perfect conditioning. Somebody can come up with a better company, a better way to, to train and help players sustain their living up here. Because that's the hardest part is yeah, I wanna commit all these hours but I don't have the money to be able to pay rent
Pri Lima (00:39:05):
Florida's cheaper. I provide group training, I have partnership with chiropractic who you got to to see him too. Um, other companies, anything I call my Optum Beach team. So like I have chiropractor, massage therapists, whatever you need everything at discounted price because I feel for the pros nowadays where they don't make the money that I was able to make when I was playing. So I wanna try to like, you might train in a group, but it's, you are gonna improve. Like I'm not gonna show up. Like I don't care about you. I'm more devo. I feel like I'm all devoted to your volleyball than you are sometimes I tell them all the time, you know, you're gonna, like I said, your success is with you because I'm presenting everything to be successful. So that's on you.
Mark Burik (00:39:46):
Yeah. I love the program that you've got there and how many options players have for health, for body work and you know, you were the first person that I called when I was like, Hey, you know, I know elite athlete, elite coach, you're going to like take care of your body. So there's gotta be people you know here who are doing good body work and as soon as you recommended your place, I went there, signed up for appointment and Yep. If I were a physical therapist or if I were a chiropractor, I think the elite athlete population is probably the first people that I would start trying to get on my side or I would just sponsor them because people trust them. Who do you go to? Like people actually will seek out? Yeah, they seek out their friends and advice. But more often people will ask us, who do you go to? So if you're out there and you're a physio or you're a chiro, go and sponsor an athlete with some body work and I guarantee you if you have openings in your calendar, they will fill them with their recommendations. You know, that'll be worth, there's your marketing budget right there. Give, give an athlete an hour a week. I
Pri Lima (00:40:52):
Think something that is really important, that's whoever's used to work with an athlete, the mindset is how do we keep you in the game While you might have some tweaks where you go another place, like I have a a be my best friend in Brazil was like, Oh, my doctor said I need um, meniscus surgery. I was like, what kind of meniscus? What's going on? And then it was something minimum. I was like, No, go, go look for a performance doctor. Don't look for a regular doctor. Cause some people might need to, you know, there's, I feel like there's physical therapy for the general population. There's physical therapy for an athlete. Yes. And then there's sports performance therapy
Mark Burik (00:41:27):
And there's the rules that you're locked in because people are scared, afraid of insurance and the whole doctor thing. I, I currently have a broken foot, um, so fell out of a tree. Sucks, I'm outta commission. But one doctor that I went to was the fastest disappointment that I can get. Not who my people recommended, but I wanted to get into somebody fast. So I went to somebody who he first of all couldn't find the fracture on the X-ray. That's bad enough. And I was like, here it is. I will point out where it is, where the emergency room like showed me. But then he was like, I was telling him how easy certain movements were and that there was no pain and he was like, No, no, no, no this needs to be in a boot for eight weeks. Well actually nine weeks cuz I have an appointment available in nine weeks, so keep it in a boot for nine weeks and then we'll see if it's there.
(00:42:09):
I go, no movement. I I just told you that all these things don't cause any pain, any issue. Mm-hmm . And I said if you keep me in a boot for nine weeks, it's going to cost me an extra five weeks just to get my mobility and some version of strength and flexibility back. Mm-hmm. . I go, So now you are telling me with your advice that this is gonna be a 14 week situation when I know that my people can get me back in six, seven, you know, if, if I take care of it total and eat right. Yeah. Total. And you know, I, I'm connected with a bunch of people so I said, you know, this is what he said, What do you guys think? And I've been through enough injuries where I know that this was BS and they're like, oh, why, why would you leave a boot on when you're sitting around the house doing nothing and like when you can move pain free. But they're so locked in general population and insurance and you know what their system tells them that they have to do instead of working with people who are like, No, no, no, no. I I don't wanna walk again. I want to play in six weeks. Yeah. I want to play professional volleyball in six weeks. Yeah. How do we do that? Impossible. Oh interesting. Cuz I've got six people who like are within a block of me telling me what, what they do.
Pri Lima (00:43:21):
I think, you know, when my wife had cancer, you know, so we tried, we did chemo and holistic treatment and then everything else for me it's like this is what they know for us as athletes is understanding this coach sets this way, this other coach sets this way and they don't like each other's way. So that's what they believe in, you know, and that, that that's all they know. Mm-hmm. and that's why there's something more specified for athletes nowadays. We're much luckier than we used to be. Where it was hard to find even a performance gym. Everything was just
Mark Burik (00:43:53):
Jim. Yeah. Some space trainer were just where I can run fitness
Pri Lima (00:43:56):
Personal like training was fitness. It wasn't like, Hey, I'll be your strength and conditioning coach. It was hard to find those.
Mark Burik (00:44:03):
Yeah. And thank God it's easier now and thank God that gyms have the areas with, if I see a gym training with a turf area that's like longer than 20 yards or longer, I'm like, this is my place. I am so happy you exist. You know, and, and I'll go there way over the, the meathead like oxygens with all the stupid machines that waste time and money. But uh, for a different podcast slamming the current gym culture. I don't wanna keep you too much longer. I do want you to talk about the 27 different companies that you're currently running. And I don't wanna have you on the, on the other podcast so we can like talk about like the business side of it. Uh, but let's start with Rise Beach tour.
Pri Lima (00:44:44):
So Rise Beach tour, we're very small and we started like, we have five stops last year. And there was a little gap between like having good quality tournaments and we wanted to present something that, it's me, former Brazilian, uh, player. He also played I b Rodrigo Sounders. And his wife and my wife we're the four owners of the company. But we wanted like players to come in play. They know are they gonna go? Everything is online. He's so cute. Like he rakes between matches. Right. You know, like we just wanted to be like, Hey, we know what it is to show up at a, a local tournament and you don't know what time you play. Oh, you like, there's no communication and we just wanna run something smooth for you and we wanna, at that time, some tours over year weren't paying like in person where you used to be common. So why we're not paying people in person anymore. We're like, we'll pay on the do transfer straight to your account right away. I was value you to our account. You know, we,
Mark Burik (00:45:37):
Is it juniors or adult focused? Both.
Pri Lima (00:45:40):
Both. Okay. So here on Saturdays we run adults all levels.
Mark Burik (00:45:43):
Where's here again? So that everybody knows.
Pri Lima (00:45:45):
Sorry. St. Petersburg, Florida. Nice. Um, and then on Sundays is co-ed and juniors. So we're having our first one this year, Memorial weekend. Cool. So if you're playing pro in New Orleans on a p, go get your money. Yeah. But if you're not traveling to watch them come to St. Pete and play a fun tournament with us.
Mark Burik (00:46:04):
Awesome. And I think there's a, we had another episode, don't remember which one it was, but we talked about tournament organizers and how the large majority of them, it's like an embarrassing product that they're putting out. They are putting it out, you know, they're creating ability to play. But as far as, hey, do you run the best tournament or are you the only one around here who runs tournaments? Mm-hmm. . There's a big difference in that. And if you can't finish a tournament before sunset, something went terribly wrong in your scheduling and on the next day you need to go back and say, what did we do wrong? Why did our finals have to be played in the dark with, you know, third through first splitting a check that to you should be, you should give the first place prize money to every one of those teams because you didn't do your job as the tournament organizer.
(00:46:55):
Mm-hmm. . And I understand for the first year there's gonna be hiccups, but if you're gonna keep putting that product out and keep inviting players, do a better job and have somebody walk around, point at a player and say, you're up. If you don't start your match in 60 seconds, you are out of the tournament. People just aren't mean enough to be able to do that. Um, so I think everybody needs like an enforcer, you know, a goon shot if you will at every tournament organizer or somebody who's just willing to say, Guys, we need a good product, so please start your tournament. Yeah. Because I don't want you to have to sit here and, you know, argue with your family members because you need 12 hours for your tournament day. Instead of like, Hey, we could get this done in eight for
Pri Lima (00:47:37):
Sure. Yeah. We have a Y for that. She's been working with us and she's awesome from South Florida. And another thing is like, we make people play for third. You cannot split so
Mark Burik (00:47:45):
Long as you're not making the play in the dart.
Pri Lima (00:47:47):
No. Wherever we've been, we've had lights. So because we had it rain delays and all that, we do that. And over here in Florida, because we always anticipated some type of rain delay, weather delay, we always say like, expect 16 or 18 teams or more teams, we might go to two days.
Mark Burik (00:48:05):
So that's a different story if you gotta play in rain, things like that. But if you, if you're not finishing in one day or you know, there's one pool that took literally an hour and a half longer than all the other pools, it's not the pool's fault, It's not the player's fault. It's who's ever organizing the tournament, the tournament director. It's gotta be their fault. So I, I wanna put some, I'm leaning on tournament directors and I wanna put some pressure on them to, to run better, easier, faster tournaments that people can predict. And you know, you're not sitting around out
Pri Lima (00:48:33):
There Challenge accepted.
Mark Burik (00:48:34):
Nice. I like it. Rise Beach Store next. Optimum. You have clubs in multiple states. You have a strong online presence. So what is everything that Optimum Beach volleyball includes? So
Pri Lima (00:48:47):
Optimum Beach Store has, I've always had like, I actually only had like two or three juniors and I had two or three adults. I started, you know, word of mouth, just growing, growing, growing. Long story short, there was a, when my wife went through a camp, started kind of like folded and I just had a, I built it to something like having more kids, more groups. And then I had to, you know, slow it down again. Those, her primary caretaker. Uh, and then we rebuilt it since 2016.
Mark Burik (00:49:13):
16. Oh wow. It started that
Pri Lima (00:49:14):
Long ago. 17. We started in 2014. So in 2015 she was diagnosed with cancer. So a year, a year and a half of treatment. And then I was back into like full-time coaching and being able to build everything and then like you have dreams and you have vision, you know, and you're like, okay. But I never knew when it was gonna happen. Our adults like grew tremendously. And then our juniors now we started growing juniors more outside of St. Pete. So we in Tampa, Clearwater, I mean Tampa, Palm Harbor and Temple Terrace.
Mark Burik (00:49:44):
When you say the adults grew, the juniors, what programs does Optimum run that adults partake in and that juniors partake in?
Pri Lima (00:49:53):
So for juniors we have juniors beginners, Juniors intermediate. And that Advanced Juniors, it's called Collegiate Recruiting Training Program. Okay. Level one and level two. So ultimately you wanna graduate to level two. That's who trains with me. And then it's right before they go to college. Those are my highest level juniors.
Mark Burik (00:50:09):
Okay. Um, so that's, that's club volleyball.
Pri Lima (00:50:12):
Mm-hmm. , that's club. Well I don't run entirely as a club. We have a piece as a club that we travel together to like three to five competitions as a club and represent the club. Everything else I run them. Like I, I'm their coach, mentor, and trainer. Okay, I'm getting you ready for college. Depending on a group scenario, you know, cuz I don't think playing club all the time gives them preparation. They're over there, you know, some clubs is like, Oh we got you. 20 of you go. You know, and we try to keep our counts not huge, but not small. Yeah. But we try to provide quality. We do have little big spikers, six through nine year olds too. Nice. And then our adults, we have women's Pro men's Open, Women's open Men's Double A whereabouts to start a men's A Nice, We used to have women's double A, so it kind of like, it floats depending on demand, you know. And that's
Mark Burik (00:51:03):
Travels that's focused in. Okay. So that's, and that's focused in, in St. Petersburg in Florida. Mm-hmm. for adult training and juniors training and kids training. That's awesome. If somebody were to, cuz a lot of people travel and you know, like our camps are, uh, in St. Pete, but we're only there, you know, a few weeks a year. So if somebody were to travel to St. Pete for vacation or just for volleyball, cuz there are a lot of them. Could they look you up and could they just drop in? Yes.
Pri Lima (00:51:31):
Yes. So we have available drop ins. We try to match you up with the best possible group for your level. And then if not, we also offer private lessons. I have many coaches, um, available for private lessons. My time is kind of hard to get in , so it really depends. And if you come with a group, we can cater to you. So, Oh, you coming in with a I've had that. I have, um, Natasha from New York, she came for her 50th, um, and she brought uh, nine, 10 friends. Cool. And I did a training camp with them for that week. Great. So we can cater training and
Mark Burik (00:52:03):
Oh, that's awesome. Okay. So a group of friends wanted to go down and they were like taking a group vacation. So they, they came to you and they said, Hey, can you train all of us at the same time together? And you're willing to do that and you made their trip. Yep. Awesome, Awesome. Okay. And uh, that, that's [email protected], is that right? Is that the website? Mm-hmm Optimum beach.us. Cool.
Pri Lima (00:52:23):
Yeah. And most, most information you can get through our Instagram and then you diams and they quickly just send you where you need to go, depending on the level or whatever you're looking for. They send you to me or most of the things are gonna go towards. Jules was my co-director,
Mark Burik (00:52:37):
Coles Jules.
Pri Lima (00:52:38):
Her name is Jules Colina.
Mark Burik (00:52:40):
Colina Colina. I don't know why I told her. Coles awesome. What was her name? Diane. Now I'm trying to remember what her name, uh, was before she got married.
Pri Lima (00:52:48):
Really?
Mark Burik (00:52:49):
Jules Ridley. And you have clubs, uh, with the optimum name in Tennessee and in New York. And you're also doing a lot with Flawless. So what's going on there?
Pri Lima (00:52:59):
So I have satellite clubs. I own, I'm a partner owner in New York and then satellite in Kentucky and Tennessee and Dorsey, who owns va. Mm-hmm. owns him and his wife own Kentucky and Tennessee. So Valez is his facility and apparel company, but his beach volleyball training is Optimum.
Mark Burik (00:53:18):
Okay,
Pri Lima (00:53:18):
Cool. So what we do
Mark Burik (00:53:19):
That sold
Pri Lima (00:53:20):
Partnership there. Yeah. So what I like to do with them is pretty much coaching the coaches, you know, and becoming a big family. So we had a club v club competition, so I was like, how many of your girls can come? How many of your girls can come? And we just mix 'em up, they're all optimum, they all have the same, you know, they understand the same terminology or whatever we talk about. Yeah. And then they played together. And it was really cool to see that somehow the way I made the teams, none of the girls that train in the same state ended up playing with each other. So we had Tennessee in Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee. And, and you couldn't tell they never played together. And to me sitting back and seeing that for the first time, I was like, it works this work.
(00:53:55):
You know what I mean? Like Yep. When you get the great system, you get to play volleyball with somebody that doesn't have a system. Yes. Right. Is hard. That's like, Oh, we didn't jail. Well, well you don't have the system mm-hmm. . So either you implement the system, but as a junior, how much is a junior gonna implement the system? Right. Not a lot, but our juniors, like, I train them, This is a system, but you're gonna talk to your teammates, whoever you or your partner, whoever it may not be for office. And you're gonna figure it out how you're gonna do their system or your system suggests our system or play around their system. Because once you have a system, you, you understand what's outside of the system. But if you don't have a system, you don't understand any system
Mark Burik (00:54:33):
For club coaches out there. And I think you and me both see this, uh, huge opportunity to help club directors specifically to say you don't have the weekly meeting with your coaches that discusses the words that you use and the way that you teach this. And so instead of somebody being in your club for four or five years and a linear growth line, you know, something where they progress, they, they grow with one coach and then the next year there's just this huge zigzag for the first two months until they learn a completely different system way of talking, way of learning. And then they go there. So instead of this like just continuing to increase their skills and ability and knowledge, a lot of the club directors who are still doing great things, they're just, again, not directing it. You know, going back to players like no mentor, no director, no.
(00:55:29):
Hey, how can somebody else look at my club and what would they say about our coaching when they see it? And I've walked into a lot of junior's club and coaching practices where that's exactly what you see. You just see it's sporadic. You know, so there's, there's no progression from being 12 years old until 18. It's you join a team for a year and then you join a new team for a different year, but you're wearing a jersey with the same name on it. That's the, you know, that's the only thing except for teams like sports performance in, in Illinois, who turns out products, you know, they have a system, every coach is on the same thing and they turn out products. And a college coach can predict the type of player that's gonna come out of that. So it's an advantage. Uh, and I, and I think there's just a lot of room in the consultation space for club directors and for coaches. But it's also tough to admit to yourself that somebody knows better than you. But it's not that they know better. They can just see from different eyes.
Pri Lima (00:56:29):
Yeah. Well I don't, the reason why we chose, my wife and I chose the name Optimum because it's not the only way, it's the best possible way. So I never tell my players I know everything. This is the only way. This is what worked for me, This is what I'm learning. I'm always talking to my mentors, former players, former coaches, whatever, and try to figure it out. And, and the the game is growing, is developing and is becoming something new. And I'm always presenting something new. So I have players with me for six years. They like, I don't remember doing like the same Drew over and over ever. You know, So I love my creativity that that's the difference. And I think there are, I thankfully I have met many club directors that are growth mindset. I, and I tell our coaches, like if we want our players to be growth mindset, we need to be growth mindset. We need to have it. Yes. Because it's hard. We need to live it. It cannot be, you gotta do and not don't do whatever.
Mark Burik (00:57:20):
Hundred percent. Yes.
Pri Lima (00:57:22):
So, and I'm only growing like set of lights. I'm not in a hurry to grow that I wanna find the right people. Dorsey and Emily are a fam like my second family, my third family that I found in the United States. And it's awesome. I trust them with blind eyed is and they believe in Optum so much. Sometimes it makes me work harder because of them, you know. And then New York is stuff BDA who I coached since I was 14. And you know her, She's awesome. Yeah. So everything she knows is Optimum. And I was like, I trust that kid and I love seeing her develop into an entrepreneur, a coach, a director. She's doing such a good job, you know? Mm-hmm. while going through med school. Like it's insane,
Mark Burik (00:57:58):
Bonkers. That's
Pri Lima (00:57:59):
All awesome. So I'm like, this is amazing. Like I love this and do I need more? I don't need more. Do I want more? Yes. Because I wanna create this atmosphere that we have created. You know, I tell my players we're a family, but it's like you have a third cousin, second cousin, you don't like all of 'em in your club or maybe in your college team, but you have to learn how to live with them and be family. Mm-hmm. , you know, So it creates a lot of like accountability Yeah. Of what you do.
Mark Burik (00:58:23):
And that's, that's one of those, you know, those nice slides, uh, that people can take from sport and if they focus on it can take that into their family, their next level life of who they go with. You know, when for start living with somebody that you're in a relationship with, you have to understand that you're not gonna like every single little minuscule part of them and every single thing that they do. But as a teammate going through sports before you have to deal with that. You have to, you take a look at all your teammates and you're like, he does that, but we're gonna succeed together. Mm-hmm. , you know, and if people could, could translate that. I think some people have have trouble translating that from their court to their personal life. Mm-hmm. . And if they could just focus and just make that little bridge of like, I did that on the court, I know how to do that. I can do that in my personal life and be a better wife, be a better husband, be a better roommate, whatever it is. Uh, dad, mom. I think that's one of those really tangible situations where you can say, I know that you don't like your middle's arm swing, but you're still going to set them and you're going to like make their arm swing work for them and you're gonna celebrate them. You know, and you could find any situation for your,
Pri Lima (00:59:30):
Do not stop setting your middle if you have a beef with him right now. Mm-hmm. , that doesn't matter. Like it's professionalism being mature, Right. All that stuff to play the sport. But with Optimum, I'm really happy that I was able to create this, these opportunities for either my former players and I have a lot of my pro players that coach or my men's open that coach for me. So I love providing opportunities. I have former junior players who are playing currently at NCAA a but they come back and do internships with me. So they help me with the business side of it or they Cool. Uh, I had two that ran, one ran off to them, the other one ran Rise Beach tour. So I, I just love providing more opportunities for everybody and hopefully, you know, and just help 'em make more money or get experience to get their, those hours that they need from college. And I'm really proud cuz obviously like everybody else, you go through hardships and last year we got voted Florida Region Directors of the year, Jules and I and I was Florida Female Coach of the Year.
Mark Burik (01:00:25):
Congratulations.
Pri Lima (01:00:26):
Thank you. And this year. Year, that's awesome. I cannot believe it hasn't sunk in yet. We are U S C V Club of the Year, Juniors Beach
Mark Burik (01:00:33):
Coach. Whoa.
Pri Lima (01:00:34):
Juniors Beach Club of the Year. And I also got awarded Female Beach Coach of the Year by U S C V. Just
Mark Burik (01:00:41):
Clean it, it up . How did you hold all the trophies in awards? Uh, after the day? I
Pri Lima (01:00:46):
Only have, I only have two right now. So when get all the two, I'll let you know. .
Mark Burik (01:00:50):
That's
Pri Lima (01:00:51):
Awesome. It's, I don't know, like, you know, when you like your work so hard and you get to your first final, you don't, you're like, I don't even know how I got here, but I got here. You know, but you know, you work so hard, but you can't pinpoint what happened. But you do.
Mark Burik (01:01:02):
It's usually never like this huge turning point, right? It's the consistency over time. And you started this in 2014, we're now in 2022 for anybody who's thinking like, Oh, I didn't succeed this year. Hey, it's eight years. Eight years. It pre put into this. And plus all of the time before that, that went into the knowledge building and experience and, and book like, and you know, eight years into, into developing and since Optimum First exists now Club of the year, that's unreal. But that takes time, consistency, ups and downs. Little had to push it away a little bit to tackle some more important things and then bring it back to your perspective, right?
Pri Lima (01:01:41):
Tears and sleepless nights, Oh my goodness. You know, just try to do better. But one thing is that I tell my players that is really important is like, I didn't do it alone. You know, you can't have all your training, you can play your volleyball, you don't do it alone. Somebody's gonna be there with you or you've had many people come along the way and that's what, um, to get vote to get those votes. It's not me saying, Hey, look at us, we're good. It's about all the parents and players and former parents and players who gave their time to actually vote for us. And you don't get those votes unless you did the work. And I'm proud of my coaches and Jules as my director because I could not do it without them. . There is no way I could not do it without them. And my wife in the beginning just pushing me to be better at business because I was, I always say I was a volleyball player. All I care is about eat, sleep, train, and play my next trip. So once I started Beach Vo, I mean, I started Optum Beach, I was like, how do I do all this business stuff? You know, you don't do it alone. So that's why you need to build a team, a team around you, whatever you
Mark Burik (01:02:41):
Do. I think that's a, a good place for us to, to cut it here. Such a good conversation pre, uh, I can't thank you enough for sharing, telling me, uh, everything. I feel like I know you a lot better and, and I would love to have you on more on the other podcast is someday I'll release the episodes, but we can talk about like the actual business side and, and then your experience learning that because there's, I'm sure there's a number of people that do want to start a club but have no idea how to start or they hesitate for years because it's just scary to start your own,
Pri Lima (01:03:10):
Reach out, reach out. I, I always have people reaching out and I'm willing to share. I wanna grow the game. Doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be through me. You know, I wanna help. So that's awesome.
Mark Burik (01:03:20):
Do free. Well thank you so much guys. If you guys wanna follow pre, uh, Lima and what she is doing, we have all the links included in our podcast underneath this, this video is on YouTube, of course it'll be in the description and we will link and, and tag every one of her sites, her companies and her personal Instagram. And like she just said, reach out if you're going down to Florida, if you want to start your own club, if you wanna become a part of Optimum, she just mentioned that she just gives internships for kids who are looking for work experience and, and in the sporting world. So if you need a job in internship, it never hurts to throw at least a message to somebody that so that you can learn how to do a job effectively or maybe just become an employee. That goes for, for you and me, both . You guys, you guys got any skills like, uh, I want to add to my Rolodex of people who've got great skills.
Pri Lima (01:04:10):
Yes, same. Same. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:04:11):
Even if your skill is hustle, right?
Pri Lima (01:04:13):
Yeah. I just wanna put one more thing. I started a tick with Beach Coaches' diary, so you're gonna get to like know a little bit more what's in my head. And once in a while I also started posting like cute little, not cute, but like some good little drills that I love. Awesome. That, you know, I just made up.
Mark Burik (01:04:27):
So, And it's uh, what is it? On, on TikTok
Pri Lima (01:04:29):
Beach, Coach Diaries,
Mark Burik (01:04:31):
Beach Coach Diaries on TikTok. Cool. Follow along. All right, Bri, thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Pri Lima (01:04:36):
That was great. Yes, my pleasure.
Mark Burik (01:04:37):
Anytime. Have a nice day. Bye.
Pri Lima (01:04:39):
You too. Bye.
