Sarah Pavan (00:00:00):
Knew that we were better than that. Not that we were better than third in the world, but we were better than the finishes that we were putting out week after week. And it's one thing to finish ninth and know that you gave everything you had and you performed at a high level and you played to your level of expectation. But it's a completely different thing when you're finishing ninth and you are not playing the way you want and you're not executing the game plans and the skills the way you want. So that's where we were at. So heading into 2019, um, we had learned our lesson. We, neither of us had been in the position in that we had been ranked so highly in the world. So we obviously, it was a learning process of how to maintain that level. And so we we're ready to head into 2019.
(00:00:42):
Yeah. Heading into the world championships. We had a couple rough finishes. Um, we had one of our, well, actually our worst finish ever in the Czech Republic in late May, and then a fifth in Poland where we did not, again, didn't play the way we wanted to. So heading into worlds wasn't feeling amazing. And even fighting through group play, like we had some battles. I think we went three sets almost every game. And we were just still trying to figure it out, work into the rhythm. And we had to really fight through to come out on top of our pool. But it was like the minute playoffs hit, like a switch was turned and it was like, K enough.
Mark Burik (00:01:22):
Hey everybody. Thank you. Yeah, we, uh, AVP posted a little little video of me that was nice of them. Hello. So we got over 150 people right now are registered for this, so I'm grateful. Awesome. That not everybody always shows up, but pretty shows how excited people are for this week.
Brandon Joyner (00:01:41):
Yeah. This is, we've really kind of struck gold in the last two weeks talking to some high level athletes and I'm still getting to know Sarah. I got to spend Thanksgiving with her and that was actually the first time I had met her amazing person. And then since I met her at, at Thanksgiving, I've had the pleasure of going out and working with her and Melissa a couple times. Has it really gotten to be as consistent as I am? Kind of hoping for once all this gets back. But just knowing them on the very little level that I do, they're both amazing people. And I can tell that the intensity and the competitive nature that Sarah has is something that I am striving to get back into my game. Yeah. And so, yeah, I'm just really interested to kind of hear a lot about her mindset and going into big games and obviously moving forward into the Olympics. I'm, I'm interested to see where her head's
Mark Burik (00:02:30):
At. I've been watching, sorry. We don't, we don't talk that much. So this will probably be the longest conversation we've had, but I've been watching her since colleges, like since her days at Nebraska. Yeah. I think she was there in the middle of their transition from being like a pretty popular women's team to having to move into a new gym. Like they were getting so many fans over there and, and you know, John Cook leading the way, uh, who is now like considered one of the world's best indoor coaches and just absolutely crushing it. So I do want to hear what her pathway to NCAA was like, you know, then, then moving into beach and just like utterly dominating. She's, it's number one in the world right now.
Brandon Joyner (00:03:11):
Yeah. It's really cool. Yeah. And I actually, something I'm, I, I'm also a little interested with is like most of the time, and she'll obviously be able to go more, tell us more about this, but most of the time you have indoor players that play indoor and then they play as, as long as they kind of want to, or as long as they feel like they can and then they make the complete switch over to beach. But I don't think that she, uh, had that experience. I think she's kind of been bo or was bouncing back and forth for quite a while. Mm-hmm. . Um, yeah, so I'm kind of, I'm, I'm really interested to just hear a little bit more about that as well.
Mark Burik (00:03:48):
I can't wait to hear more, uh, on her rivalry with Alex in April. Uh, Ooh, that's, that's gonna be exciting to me. Cuz we can see right here for the number one ranking, right? It's just 200 points apart, which is tight race. And then you got two Brazilians on the heel. Can't believe how well Australia's doing. Um, they've been like, since I was there, I was, when I played in Australia, they were like just coming up, what's her name? [inaudible] Um, and she was like a kid when I was there, . Oh, cool. And now she's like number, uh, right here, number five in the world. So
Brandon Joyner (00:04:21):
Yeah, I mean, especially with the last couple weeks having, getting the chance to talk to a few, uh, Australian players, you can kind of see why they keep bouncing towards the top with all the, all the experience and all the knowledge that they have as well.
Mark Burik (00:04:35):
Unique ways of thinking about it. I would, do you have anything? I mean, I want to, this is, I, I do wanna let some people appear for the next two minutes just so that they can, um, get their calendars going. But, uh, I would love to.
Brandon Joyner (00:04:49):
Yeah. Well I think we're, uh, we're not completely strapped for time by any means, but, um, I think, uh, I know Sarah has another live webinar today, so, um, yeah, I'd like to, if we, if we're ready, let's, uh, go ahead and bring her on and get this conversation going. I'm sure, uh, this whole time will be full of gold, so whenever people join in, they'll, uh, they'll get some pretty good information.
Mark Burik (00:05:16):
Absolutely. Okay, so let's give it a shot. Here we are promoting you to panelists. So ready to camera, ready the audio.
Brandon Joyner (00:05:27):
Do your hair and makeup like Mark and I have done.
Sarah Pavan (00:05:30):
Am I there
Mark Burik (00:05:31):
You are. There
Brandon Joyner (00:05:32):
You are, are looking. You. Oh my gosh, .
Sarah Pavan (00:05:37):
Okay. I was getting a little nervous. I didn't know if I was supposed to like be seen or not, so I'm glad this is working. Amazing.
Mark Burik (00:05:44):
Perfect. We probably gotta send like a, a, a pre-packaged to everybody cause it's not the first time we've heard about like, am I on, am I not on? Yeah, , we do a little intro that you get warmed up. See, see how we're chatting.
Sarah Pavan (00:05:55):
I mean, the intro was great. You're putting a little bit of pressure on me. I don't know how much gold I'm gonna be spinning today, but, uh, hopefully some useful stuff for people. We'll
Brandon Joyner (00:06:06):
See. Well, I, I know this, the conversations that we've had have already been, uh, pretty knowledgeable for me. Um, and you're just fun to talk to. So, um, like I, I appreciate you coming on and talking to everybody, especially in this time where not able to get outside and play what have you. Uh, how have you been? How are you handling everything? Are you, uh, stay, staying busy? Somewhat,
Sarah Pavan (00:06:29):
Actually, I think I'm more busy now than usual. Don't know how that's happening. Yeah. So obviously I can't practice, but I'm kind of psycho when it comes to like working out and staying in semblance of a routine. So I've been working out in some form every day. Um, I'm taking an accounting class and the semester's almost over, so I've been studying for that. My c I'm like not great at social media, it's just not a priority for me usually, but I'm like, okay, this is the time that I have to like, get my game up. So I've been like trying to like do some YouTube videos and stuff like that. I have a pottery wheel, I'm like 80, so I'm like like in my garage.
Mark Burik (00:07:11):
Most exciting life I've ever heard about
Sarah Pavan (00:07:13):
With my pottery
Mark Burik (00:07:14):
Accounting. You're doing pottery ,
Sarah Pavan (00:07:18):
Like all over the place. I clearly have no direction, but it's fine. Yeah. I'm actually having a lot of fun and using this as an opportunity to
Brandon Joyner (00:07:28):
Like, so Sarah, I heard you say, and I actually watched a couple of your, uh, YouTube videos recently. Um, I'm gonna, I'm going to kind of paste,
Mark Burik (00:07:40):
I'm gonna share some links in the chat for everybody just so they can, uh, they can follow.
Brandon Joyner (00:07:44):
I'm not sure if that's everything. Um,
Sarah Pavan (00:07:46):
Okay, got it. Cool.
Brandon Joyner (00:07:48):
Yeah, sorry, my computer is about as old as, uh, it can be. So and
Mark Burik (00:07:55):
Your, so your, uh, Instagram Sarah is, uh, Sarah underscore Pavin, right?
Brandon Joyner (00:07:59):
Yeah. Yes.
Mark Burik (00:08:00):
All right. So guys, if you are watching and you have not followed Sarah, you just heard that she's upgrading her social media, she's about to
Brandon Joyner (00:08:09):
Fire exciting times, exciting times.
Sarah Pavan (00:08:12):
I mean, my current track record with Instagram is like a post every month. So I think it can only go up from there.
Brandon Joyner (00:08:17):
And I
Mark Burik (00:08:19):
Like hiring somebody or you know, like kind of just saying like, Hey, do I have any, well, superfans would be weird. Um, but like somebody who just wants to take it over for you and just post like Sean Rosenthal, he's got a couple of friends that like, they'll come, some of his coaches during in practice, they'll just like shoot some pictures during practice. Oh really? They'll post, yeah. Um, so some of his posts are his own, but some of them he is just like, man, I don't, I don't really want to do this, but I know that I wanna fans, so
Sarah Pavan (00:08:46):
See that's also a problem because I'm kind of a control freak. So like , I would have a really hard time like giving control of that to somebody when it's like me and like my brand or whatever. Um mm-hmm. . Yeah, I'm in a tough spot. I don't love it, but I don't want anybody else to do it, so I guess I need to figure that out.
Brandon Joyner (00:09:06):
Yeah. And I, I also linked, uh, you have a website, right? Sarah pavin.com.
Sarah Pavan (00:09:11):
I do also on my list of things to update in these coming weeks. It's been a while.
Brandon Joyner (00:09:16):
Well, I, I went on it and, uh, I mean, other than updating a little bit more, the content is amazing. Um, thank you. Uh, I, I was, uh, kind of, I got a little sidetracked in reading all of your stories and, uh, especially, which we're gonna talk about in a little bit, um, talking about the world champs and all that stuff, and like the mindset that went into it beforehand and everything like that. So, um, yeah, I think the website's pretty cool too. And, and I also saw that you're posting like blogs with the videos that you're creating for, so you're doing like on, uh, at a lot of, at home drills, right? You're kind of helping people out through, through this time.
Sarah Pavan (00:09:55):
Yeah. Right now, I mean, obviously nobody can go to the gym or have access to like one, like personal coaching. So I know a lot of kids and a lot of people are getting a little antsy, not wanting to like lose their touch on the ball because Yeah, it's like once you get into the rhythm you don't wanna lose it and then you have to fight to get it back. So just like little at home things that you can do just like by yourself against the wall or like if you have a partner or your mom can like toss to you just like really easy stuff that you can do at home.
Mark Burik (00:10:29):
Hey, that's awesome. Do you have any, you said, you know, because I've, I've definitely felt that we're, you haven't played for maybe a couple weeks, maybe a month or you took an off season and like your first few weeks coming back to playing beach For me anyway, I feel like, like garbage. Like I know that like my old habits, whatever my body wants to do, like they come back and I go through this period of underperforming compared to how I'm used to because I think like, ah, well this is how I played in October, it's now February, so I should play how I played in October. Do you go through that period of, uh, suckiness for a time when you're like coming back to ball work and how do you get through it if you
Sarah Pavan (00:11:09):
Do? You guys, I'm really old, so, um, and I've been doing this for a really, really, really long time. So I think my muscle memory is just at the point where it's just, it's easy to come back. But I will say for the longest time in my career when I was really young, um, through my twenties even, there would definitely be a period where you just have to get back into it. And I think that's totally normal. Um, I think the big thing with beach especially is just getting your sand bikes back. And that is one thing that I'm very scared of for this time, is just like, I got in such good shape for the season and now I'm gonna have to do it again. I think it's completely normal with a, like volleyball is such a skill-based sport. Um, it's not like how strong fast whatever is just very, very technical.
(00:12:00):
So it always takes time to get back. Something that I have started doing as I get older and older is, um, visualizing. And I don't even consciously do it. I just find myself like daydreaming about performing skills. And I used to think that that was crazy when I was young and I used to think that it was so stupid and there's no way that that's ac actually gonna do something. But the older I've gotten, the more I've found myself doing it and actually seeing myself performing skills is a type of training. Um, and I do think that that does help if you can't get out into the sand or on the court necessarily.
Mark Burik (00:12:36):
I think that's a huge tip to be able to look at that. See, like my daydreaming of volleyball was, uh, in a, in college I would wake up because I thought a ball was flying at my head. probably the maximum of my visualization .
Brandon Joyner (00:12:54):
That's awesome. So, um, so did you, uh, we know that you played a lot of indoor, we kind of talked about that for a second. Um, would you mind giving us like a little rundown of your history of playing, um, like when
Sarah Pavan (00:13:08):
You
Brandon Joyner (00:13:09):
Because I know, because one thing that I was talking to mark about was, um, a lot of times when, especially with you coming from indoor and playing in college and then going overseas and playing for the Canadian national team and everything like that, there wasn't really like a hard switch for you, per se of like Yeah, from indoor to beach, um, where you kind of just, I know it's a lot, but yeah, try to sum that up. We can break
Sarah Pavan (00:13:36):
It into junks and got the first chunk of my life taken there.
Mark Burik (00:13:40):
Okay. So when did you play your first indoor tournament? Like easy
Sarah Pavan (00:13:43):
Start? So I started like, or you're talking like when I started
Mark Burik (00:13:47):
First ever indoor
Sarah Pavan (00:13:48):
Tournament. Okay. Uh, I started playing club when I was 10.
Mark Burik (00:13:52):
Okay. Uh, first beach tournament.
Sarah Pavan (00:13:55):
, well, we played like really random ones. Like I played a couple times in high school, but like none of us knew what we were doing. We were all indoor players. I would, and then I played like, there was this like collegiate sand nationals the year after we won, um, Y NCAA championship. So me and Jordan Larson actually got sent for our school to San Diego and the top eight women's programs sent two players. So that was like the first time that I like kind of played beach volleyball.
Mark Burik (00:14:24):
Before it was like an NCAA like yeah, popular sport. They said, Hey, we're kind of starting a beach thing. Uh, send us some of your really good athletes so they can try out this one.
Sarah Pavan (00:14:34):
That's basically what it was.
Brandon Joyner (00:14:35):
Awesome. Was it the, was it the top eight teams in the nation? Like for indoor? Yeah.
Sarah Pavan (00:14:40):
Oh wow. So I remember like Minnesota sent a team, uh, Stanford sent Brynn Kehoe and Cynthia Barbosa, I think, gosh, I think Penn State sent people, uh, ucla, like it was Oh cool. It was a bunch of us huge and or girls trying to figure this out. I don't know how it looked, but we won. So that was great.
Brandon Joyner (00:15:04):
. Oh, so is that kind of the, was that kind of the spark that you're like, oh, this is kind of fun too?
Sarah Pavan (00:15:09):
I mean, I always thought it was fun, but I never in my life thought that I would actually play it. Yeah. After college, like my goal all along was to go play pro overseas and so I did that right after college. I went to Italy and then I had been with the Canadian indoor team since I was 16. Yeah, it was cr it was really scary. .
Mark Burik (00:15:29):
So let's unwrap that for a second. . So, so you're, you're playing in high school, you've been playing since, since you were 10 and beach is not even on the radar yet. Uh, but you're probably doing really well in Club , uh, and you're at club now. At what age did you first start to get recruited for ncaa? Cuz you're playing in Canada at this time, aren't you?
Sarah Pavan (00:15:49):
Yeah, so I grew up in Canada. I was living outside of Toronto, so yeah, my parents let me start when I was 10 and I loved it, but I was playing everything. Like I played club basketball, club soccer, tennis, like I was fully immersed in sports. Um, started trying out for junior national teams and stuff when I was 13 and then started getting recruited to go to the NCAA in ninth grade. Um,
Mark Burik (00:16:16):
In ninth grade. Yeah. Was there anybody around you that was, um, going through the same experience? Like did you have any teammates that were also, uh, you know, in that recruitment state that early, that young?
Sarah Pavan (00:16:33):
I would say probably not. The rest of my teammates started getting recruited in our junior year. Um, but I knew right from the start that, I mean, growing up in Canada you don't really know a ton about the different schools and like what the opportunities are. So I knew that I wasn't gonna commit until my senior year just cuz I wanted to have all my information. Um, so
Mark Burik (00:16:58):
Wait, you, you were starting to get recruited in ninth grade and you said, I'm not gonna tell you until I'm a senior.
Sarah Pavan (00:17:04):
Yeah, because I didn't know anything. Like I didn't have access to any of the schools to like visit them except like the big 10 schools in like Ohio and Michigan. How
Mark Burik (00:17:15):
Did you understand closes pressure from friends from other, from like college coaches who are like, oh, you should tell me now, like as a sophomore, like you should tell me now that you're coming to my school.
Sarah Pavan (00:17:27):
That definitely happens
Mark Burik (00:17:28):
Now they say, right, like if, if you're a senior, like it's too late for you to get recruited cuz they're, their plans are all set.
Sarah Pavan (00:17:35):
Yeah. And I, I was very transparent with my decision making and I told them like, listen, if you need to give this spot, like I totally understand, but I need to make the decision that's right for me. Um, so I was prepared to give up those opportunities if they needed to make a decision, but I knew that I was gonna be spending four years of my life at a place and I wanted to be as comfortable there as possible and I wanted to be as fully informed as possible. Um, so I knew that yeah, I might lose some opportunities in schools that seem really cool, but for me my happiness and feeling comfortable was more important.
Mark Burik (00:18:18):
Wow. Do you think your, your parents gave you that confidence and and supported you there or was that just like, was that just completely on you? Because I remember college, thinking about college is like, man, there's so much pressure right now to make a decision right now. And I feel like these sophomore girls who are in high school, they're going through that and like, yet they have a hundred different people giving them advice over where they should in three years, where they should go and spend five years of their life.
Sarah Pavan (00:18:46):
Yeah. And I don't wa for fear of sounding like a jerk like I am, I was very fortunate in that I had a lot of options. Hmm. Um, and I know that that's not the case for everybody. So I'm speaking from my experience that potentially looks a lot different than, than other people's does. Um, but I can totally understand if you have limited options, if somebody tells you, you have to decide right now, of course it's very compelling to want to do that mm-hmm. . Um, but my parents had my back in that a hundred percent. They actually encouraged it. Um, cuz not only was I gonna spend four years there, I was gonna spend four years in a different country, um, far away from everything I knew. Um, so again, my situation was a little bit different in several regards, but, um, I think it worked out
Mark Burik (00:19:47):
, I I think it's pretty, you know, um, I'm not gonna say heroic, but I I, I think it's awesome that you can recognize that, that you're at a different place than other people where you're like, Hey, you know what, at 16 I was recruited to the national team, you know, I'm, I am in a different place. So there's gonna be a different pathway for everybody mm-hmm . And you made the best out of the unique pathway that you've had. And I think that that's amazing and that that's the lesson there, that everybody has their own path and that you gotta make the decisions unique to you and what's available to
Sarah Pavan (00:20:22):
You. Yeah, definitely. And I think, uh, that's a big thing that a lot of kids right now are facing is that they see what their friends are doing, they're seeing, you know, what the people on Instagram are doing and they feel like they're like missing out or they're behind or they have to catch up and, and that shouldn't be the case and I know that it's hard to get away from that mindset, um, when you're seeing what everybody around you is doing. But yeah, like you said, everybody has a different path and everybody has, you know, different goals, different skill sets, different priorities. Even so one kid might use volleyball as a vehicle to get an education, whereas another one, volleyball is the, the end goal. So that whole process is gonna look different too. So, um, it's just knowing who you are and knowing what your priorities
Mark Burik (00:21:05):
Are. Hey Brennan, can we get into the, uh, can we get into the lightning round?
Brandon Joyner (00:21:09):
I like that. Sarah, are you up for a little, uh, lightning round? Uh, say get a quick yes or no to some, some questions that Mark has prepared for you.
Sarah Pavan (00:21:19):
Okay. I'm scared
Mark Burik (00:21:20):
. No, you're fine.
Sarah Pavan (00:21:22):
You're gonna nail rapid fire. Like I have to answer like first instinct or what?
Mark Burik (00:21:26):
Pretty much you're
Sarah Pavan (00:21:27):
Gonna get me in trouble and someone
Mark Burik (00:21:29):
I'm not gonna get you into trouble. You'll be fine. Okay.
Brandon Joyner (00:21:31):
.
Mark Burik (00:21:32):
Um, okay, so we already went over, did you play indoor before you played beach and uh, your first beach tournament? Was your first beach tournament, uh, that college tournament, the championship? Or had you played any form of tournament before then?
Sarah Pavan (00:21:46):
I had played a couple tournaments in high school.
Mark Burik (00:21:48):
Okay, cool. Now let's start it. Would you rather be taller or jump higher?
Mark Burik (00:21:57):
.
Sarah Pavan (00:21:58):
be taller than I am.
Mark Burik (00:21:59):
. .
Sarah Pavan (00:22:01):
I'll say jump higher.
Mark Burik (00:22:03):
Cool. Uh, how tall are you, Tara? So that everybody knows who's white.
Sarah Pavan (00:22:06):
I'm six five.
Mark Burik (00:22:07):
Okay. Um, would you rather your partner be a great passer or a great setter?
Sarah Pavan (00:22:16):
Who's getting served more?
Mark Burik (00:22:18):
. Lightning round Sheriff,
Sarah Pavan (00:22:20):
I'm
Mark Burik (00:22:21):
Sorry. Uh,
Sarah Pavan (00:22:22):
Okay. Kids work on your setting. A great setter is a difference maker. I want my partner to be a good setter.
Mark Burik (00:22:29):
Okay. Uh, do you want your partner to be a great server or a great digger?
Mark Burik (00:22:35):
Ooh, .
Sarah Pavan (00:22:38):
Great digger.
Mark Burik (00:22:40):
Okay. Would you rather them be taller or more agile?
Sarah Pavan (00:22:44):
More agile. Height doesn't matter. If you could play the game
Mark Burik (00:22:48):
Like it pass low or pass high.
Sarah Pavan (00:22:50):
Pass high so I can swing on two.
Mark Burik (00:22:53):
Set Lower set High.
Sarah Pavan (00:22:54):
Set high because I'm really tall.
Mark Burik (00:22:56):
,
Mark Burik (00:22:57):
. Is it better to be athletic or smart?
Sarah Pavan (00:23:02):
Oh shoot. Smart. When it really comes down to it, the smart players are the ones that win.
Mark Burik (00:23:10):
All right. Uh, number one most important thing in choosing a partner?
Mark Burik (00:23:17):
Ooh.
Sarah Pavan (00:23:20):
I would say, I don't wanna say compatibility, but you don't really know when you're partnering up with somebody. I would say complimentary skill sets. Don't play with somebody that's like you.
Mark Burik (00:23:34):
Interesting. Okay. Um, would you rather get more ACEs or side out better? Right now? You gotta
Sarah Pavan (00:23:43):
Imagine where I'm in my career right now. Yep. I need to improve my serving. Get more ACEs.
Mark Burik (00:23:48):
Okay. Would you rather get more blocks or side out better? Right now
Sarah Pavan (00:23:53):
Getting blocks is so satisfying. Get more blocks. ,
Mark Burik (00:23:58):
I like it. Okay. Uh, lift faster, lift heavy.
Sarah Pavan (00:24:03):
Depends what the phase of the season you're in. I'm gonna say let's think that I'm gonna play sometime soon. Lift fast.
Mark Burik (00:24:11):
Alright, but you're lifting heavy in the off season then.
Sarah Pavan (00:24:14):
Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:24:15):
How many times a week do you lift in pre-season?
Sarah Pavan (00:24:18):
Four.
Mark Burik (00:24:19):
How many times a week do you lift in season
Sarah Pavan (00:24:22):
Two and a half?
Mark Burik (00:24:25):
Most important lower body exercise.
Sarah Pavan (00:24:29):
Hmm. Rd. Ls.
Mark Burik (00:24:32):
Most rd ls? Most important Upper body exercise
Sarah Pavan (00:24:35):
Row.
Mark Burik (00:24:37):
Favorite stretch?
Sarah Pavan (00:24:41):
Oh.
Mark Burik (00:24:43):
Oh, .
Sarah Pavan (00:24:45):
Probably the frog stretch.
Mark Burik (00:24:47):
Oh yeah. Yeah. The one the wide knees and
Sarah Pavan (00:24:49):
Then the, yeah, it's like, yeah.
Mark Burik (00:24:52):
I think they actually call that the best stretch ever.
Sarah Pavan (00:24:56):
. That's what it says in a dictionary.
Mark Burik (00:24:58):
Yeah. . Um, okay, you have to pick a partner of the opposite sex. Who do you pick?
Sarah Pavan (00:25:07):
. Brandon. Uh,
Mark Burik (00:25:09):
.
Sarah Pavan (00:25:11):
Hi. We're both blockers. That might not go so well. Actually you know what? Oh. Uh, but we're both lefties. I was gonna say Smns, but we're both left-handed so that might be tricky. You know what, Christian Sorum?
Mark Burik (00:25:27):
Yeah. Nice. Good choice. He has missed by the way. Quick fact. Um, in the last two years he has missed less than 1% of his serves.
Sarah Pavan (00:25:38):
Damn. That's why they win.
Mark Burik (00:25:40):
Unreal guys. Okay. Uh, so bait and switch are straight up when you're playing defense.
Sarah Pavan (00:25:47):
I've played defense a total of zero times. Um,
Mark Burik (00:25:51):
Like what are you, are you in boards or ones and twos? If you have to pick one strategy, you're the blocker.
Sarah Pavan (00:25:57):
I know. I'm gonna say you guys, I can't even predict what I'm gonna do with it half the time. . Um, I'm gonna say bait and switch.
Mark Burik (00:26:06):
Okay. Okay. Dinner before game day.
Sarah Pavan (00:26:10):
Pasta, chicken. Probably dessert cuz I always have dessert.
Mark Burik (00:26:14):
breakfast on game
Sarah Pavan (00:26:16):
Day I usually have yogurt with granola and a piece of bacon because bacon's the
Mark Burik (00:26:24):
Best. . I like it. Uh, what statistic do you think, what statistic separates the Sunday teams from the Friday teams
Sarah Pavan (00:26:34):
Transition percentage.
Mark Burik (00:26:36):
Ooh. Hmm. Uh, who is the most frustrating player to compete against? Oh
Sarah Pavan (00:26:43):
Man. Are we talking like AVP or everywhere?
Mark Burik (00:26:46):
Everywhere.
Brandon Joyner (00:26:47):
Everywhere.
Sarah Pavan (00:26:48):
The most frustrating player. Oh shoot, that's tricky. Oh, you know who's pretty frustrating? Taliqua. Clancy.
Mark Burik (00:26:54):
Okay. Australia.
Sarah Pavan (00:26:56):
Yeah man, you gotta get your ass up to the net quicker. You're gonna get ripped in the face and then if you get up to the net they'll just set a ball to the pin and then you're screwed Anyway, so that's pretty annoying.
Mark Burik (00:27:05):
looping Australia offense. Yeah, , this is on too nonstop. We uh, we had Damien Schumann their top defender on, uh, last week and he, you know, he talked about how they were like, every opportunity is an opportunity for on too. That's
Sarah Pavan (00:27:17):
Yep. They execute it so well. It's impressive.
Mark Burik (00:27:20):
Okay. And then, uh, what player did you, while you were growing up or do you right now watch to learn from
Sarah Pavan (00:27:28):
Logan? Tom Logan. Nice.
Mark Burik (00:27:30):
Indoor.
Sarah Pavan (00:27:31):
Yeah, indoor
Mark Burik (00:27:32):
For a while, right of the national
Sarah Pavan (00:27:34):
Champ. She was arguably the best of the world for a very long time. Her life, all the goals that I had set for myself as a child, she was several years older than me. She had achieved those, so I used her as the, the example and I wanted to be her. And interestingly enough, we ended up playing professionally together in Brazil one season, which was super cool.
Mark Burik (00:27:57):
All right. Um, and then there's one more question. What job do you think you want to do when beach volleyball is over for you in 20 years?
Sarah Pavan (00:28:07):
Yeah, for sure. 20 years from now. I always thought that I would get away from volleyball when I'm done with it, but I think all I'm here to stay. So I think something that I'm super passionate about is just giving back to the younger generation and there were so many people involved in helping me get to where I am today. So if I can play just like a small part in helping kids do that and do what I've gotten to do, then I will feel amazing. So whether that's like mentorship, consulting, offering like recruiting support or coaching in any way, like I can see myself doing that.
Mark Burik (00:28:42):
Good luck. Well played, well played.
Sarah Pavan (00:28:45):
Thanks .
Brandon Joyner (00:28:47):
It was a, it was a little bit of a slow lightning storm at some parts, but, uh,
Sarah Pavan (00:28:52):
I'm sorry, I had to make sure, but
Brandon Joyner (00:28:53):
We were still going quick. I like it
Sarah Pavan (00:28:55):
Answers
Brandon Joyner (00:28:56):
. No, it was perfect. It was great. Oh, that's, that's awesome. Uh, so I kind of wanna get back to, we do want to talk a little bit about some, some skill stuff when, for blocking, but we'll save that for a little bit. But I was reading again this morning your kind of trip up to world champs, uh, this past year and, uh, winning that, but going, I kind of want to build up to that. So I'm gonna write the story for you right now. It was kind of saying, I think in, uh, 2017, you, you guys said that you, that was kind of you and Melissa's kind of breakout year, right? Like you guys had a pretty solid year as far as
Sarah Pavan (00:29:40):
Finishes go. Yeah, uh, that was our first season together. Um, our goal going into that season was, um, to be ranked top 10 in the world. Melissa had been an up and coming player and you know, she was switching to the left side. She had never played on the left. Um, and we were making a push, um, so she was just coming into it, so we didn't wanna go too crazy. So yeah, the goal was to be top 10 in the world and we finished number two, which was really cool, especially for our first season together. And so obviously we had big expectations heading into 2018 and, uh, af like looking back, it really wasn't that bad, but in the moment we were like, oh my gosh, we're terrible. Like this is, so the season went awful. Like we finished ninth so many times, which you guys, it's not a bad finish. Like don't judge me, it's not a bad finish. But for what we were ex for what we were expecting of our, we actually finished the season third in the world, which is why looking back it wasn't bad, but like it was consistently finishing ninth with an odd win or like an odd fifth, but we just were expecting more from ourselves. Um, so it was really disappointing. Again, don't hate on me. I know it was, it was ended up being really good. So heading in
Mark Burik (00:30:57):
There, you know, like everybody has to set their own goals and I do, we do want to talk about that in a second, but no one's gonna judge you for saying like, man, it was a crappy season because you have your goals. And I think everybody needs to understand that. Um, and we help them here understand that the like insecurities that they're feeling on the court, like, man, I am a crap passer. The number one world, like the number one female player in the world right now is probably going through the exact same and has gone through the exact same mental situations of like passing a ball shanking one and being, why am I even on this court? You know, like telling yourself like to get it together. I think, um, the elite level performers probably to have more consistency and just have better tools to mentally get out of that pump. So for anybody who's watching, like, yeah, Sarah, Sarah's got her goals and they're different than yours, but that she just told you, that doesn't get you out of that same insecurity that every beach volleyball player feels at one moment or another. Totally. Go, go on with your, uh, so you're third in the world and you're like, ah, I suck .
Sarah Pavan (00:32:02):
Yeah. Uh, yeah, it was just, we knew that we were better than that. Not that we were better than third in the world, but we were better than the finishes that we were putting out week after week. And it's one thing to finish ninth and know that you gave everything you had and you performed at a high level and you played to your level of expectation. But it's a completely different thing when you're finishing ninth and you are not playing the way you want and you're not executing the game plans and the skills the way you want. So that's where we were at. So heading into 2019, um, we had learned our lesson. We, neither of us had been in the position in that we had been ranked so highly in the world. So we obviously it was a learning process of how to maintain that level.
(00:32:45):
And so we were ready to head into 2019. Yeah. Heading into the world championships. We had a couple rough finishes. Um, we had one of our, well actually our worst finish ever in the Czech Republic in late May, and then a fifth in Poland where we did not, again, didn't play the way we wanted to. So heading into worlds wasn't feeling amazing. And even fighting through group play, like we had some battles. I think we went three sets almost every game and we were just still trying to figure it out, work into the rhythm and we had to really fight through to come out on top of our pool. But it was like the minute playoffs hit, like a switch was turned and it was like, kay enough, here we go.
Brandon Joyner (00:33:27):
That's, um, were sorry to kind of backtrack for a second. Um, were you, so you said that you're, you're kind of, you weren't feeling normal on the court and stuff like that. Were you also feeling that way in practice or like, were your practices pretty solid, like you're really happy with the way you're playing, but it just wasn't transitioning to the tournaments? Like was that,
Sarah Pavan (00:33:47):
I'm trying to think of what the sequence was. So Czech Republic was the first leg of the year up stretch and we were gonna go like seven or eight weeks in a row. So we went to Czech Republic, our coach wasn't there then we stayed in at a training camp in Prague alone. Then we played in uh, Poland and Adam came cuz Scott couldn't come. So it was just like we weren't completely in our routine. Our, our like our coach wasn't there. We were kind of figuring it out for ourselves. And then Scott joined in Germany. You know, having the coach on the road definitely makes a huge difference. So it's not like we were even getting that many chances to practice. We were just like back to back tournaments, just grinding it out. Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:34:33):
So did it feel like a grind at the time? Did it feel like, you know, there's like, there's an apple that's just too high where you're trying to reach and grab it like, and you know it's right there if you get the right jump or uh, was it more like, no, we're doing great, we're doing great. Shoot, that's unlucky. Um, did you know that there was another gear that you could, could kick it into at the time or were you were just thinking we
Sarah Pavan (00:34:55):
Got fight? It was incredibly frustrating cuz I remember in check we were up huge in the third set and blew it in Poland. We crushed the team in the first set and then just blew it. Um, so it was just a lot of inconsistency and not really having to like, take it attitude. We were more like being passive and letting the game happen to us. So we definitely weren't happy about it and we could feel it. Um, and there was a lot of frustration for sure.
Mark Burik (00:35:24):
What did you attribute the inconsistency or the shift to consistency to, was it a mental change? Was it physical? Was it just feeling each other? Cause you've been I definitely consistent the last two years.
Sarah Pavan (00:35:36):
, well, from that point on, yeah, it was great. I honestly think it's a mindset thing. And it's so funny how a lot of people play to the score. So it's like you see that you're up five points in the third set and you're like, oh, no way we can lose this. And then all of a sudden your passing isn't, as Chris, you're walking outta your of your set, your serve isn't that precise and it's just like, why does that change? It doesn't have to change. Every single point is an opportunity to execute at a high level. The numbers on the scoreboard shouldn't, shouldn't affect that. Um, I think that maybe played a role into it is just a mindset shift of like, no, we are taking it, we're gonna take every opportunity that's given to us. If we dig a ball, we're gonna score. And it's just reframing every point as a chance to, to win.
Mark Burik (00:36:27):
So no re no relaxing. Every point is like, we're not gonna, you never hit cruise control during a match. Um, and you take every point as do you measure what happened, uh, in the last five to 10 points. I know you're not keeping score, but are you keeping mental stats over like what that player is doing or how they've been successful or what they're gonna try to do next? Or do you just have complete blank mind coming into each point?
Sarah Pavan (00:36:54):
No, I am, I'm keeping track of everything that's happening for the whole match. Um, I am always remembering every single serving strategy we do, what response that elicited from the other player, what block and call we had. So I am keeping track of everything in my head, um, throughout the whole match. And then I'm able to, to make a more informed decision when the ball, when the game really gets down to the line after having all the, the pieces in my mind for what's happened for the, the plays before that. Um, I
Mark Burik (00:37:33):
Think that doesn't lesson that, sorry, a lot of our players have been learning more and more from everybody that we have on is that all of the greatest players in the world are the ones that basically have a track in their mind. They have their own stat sheet of what, what that, what that team already does. And then in the game, what has or hasn't been working, like a statistic sheet of all right, she's got four cut shots. Um, so we got a, we got a bank on a play that's going to get that cut shot and stop that bleeding and then maybe she's comfortable enough, we're gonna go back to it at the end of the match. But I think a lot of amateur players and definitely myself included, never keep a mental sta sheet in their mind so that you're not, you're not aware of how you're bleeding. You know, it's like, oh, there's blood coming from somewhere like, where
Sarah Pavan (00:38:24):
Is it? Yeah, I think, you know, first and foremost you have to take care of your own side of the net. So if you're struggling, you need to figure your own stuff out, like pass the ball. Well give my partner a nice early call, you know, pass for two cuz I'm sucking siding out right now. Like little things like that. I think as you get to the higher levels or if the game is tight and it's a really high intensity, high performing match, yeah, for sure that's when the strategy comes into it more. But if you're just struggling to side out, like you need to focus on you for for sure. And, you know, not every player operates in the mindset of being able to keep track of stats the whole time. That is the role that I have for my team.
Mark Burik (00:39:19):
Oh, okay. So that's, that's you and that's, that's not Melissa. So you're kind of the in-game re strategist every now and then.
Sarah Pavan (00:39:27):
Yeah. So like, it's not every player's strength and it doesn't have to be, but you have to know what you bring to the table. And for me, I have, I'm very fortunate that I have an incredibly strong memory. And so yeah, that is what I bring to our team is designing the plays and like in timeouts, reminding our team of what has been happening up until that point.
Mark Burik (00:39:54):
It's, I I love that you said I, I played one tournament with Peter Marck, and I'm not gonna steer this to me at all, but he, he said, Hey, you know, at one point he was looking at Theo and he goes, every time he is here, he hits here. Every time he is here, he hits there. And so I just went and looked for that situation from that point forward and then like I, I broke a dig record for myself in an AVP match and I was like, all right, now, now, now this is where my mindset has to be. Like, what is somebody, what position is somebody in when they're hitting a certain shot and is that their rule? Is that like the rule for that player? Because everybody has a certain tendency
Sarah Pavan (00:40:32):
Yeah.
Mark Burik (00:40:33):
And it's amazing that you're like the cerebral type, whereas like in in my partnership, I was not the cerebral stat keeper, you know?
Sarah Pavan (00:40:41):
Yeah. But you have to be okay and comfortable knowing what your role is, and it has to be o you have to be okay accepting and receiving feedback from your teammate. So there are times when I'll turn to Mel and I'll be like, Hey, what do you think about my left hand? Did I leave too much in the seam for you on that one? And if she says yes, it's nothing personal. It's like, okay, I got you. I'll, that's my ball. Or if I turn and they hit a ball outside my block and Mel's behind me, I'll be like, Hey, I think you're a little bit behind my block yet outside my hand so that you can make that, you can definitely dig that ball. And it's nothing personal. It's, we're helping each other and telling each other what we see. I'm at the net face to face with every single hitter.
(00:41:25):
So if I see something like, Hey man, when she's doing a cut shot, do you notice that she's like kind of leaning back just a little bit? Ah, and it's like that might be something that, you know, Mel has a lot of things that she's looking for. Maybe she didn't notice that. And it's not me telling her that I know better than her. It's me just relaying information that I saw in a hopefully constructive way. Um, so you gotta put your ego away, especially in beach volleyball because there's only two of you on the court. You guys have to share information, you have to tell each other what you're seeing. And you know, maybe she did see that and at that point she was like, yeah, you're right. I saw that. Good catch. And there you go. It's, you have to constantly be communicating about things like that.
Mark Burik (00:42:12):
I think so, yeah, go ahead Brandon. I love that bit on communication of making sure that you know, that your partner might be seeing or looking at something differently than you. So if you never talk about it, if you never open your mouth and say like, this is what I'm seeing, what are you seeing? Uh, if you don't have that conversation, you might, you might miss a crucial part of how you're winning or how you're losing and that might be the key. Yeah,
Sarah Pavan (00:42:38):
Definitely.
Brandon Joyner (00:42:39):
Yeah. Um, so you, you said obviously that you're, you're keeping charge or you're keeping track of all the stats and or thinking about the game in a very cerebral way. Um, did you have, how did you have that conversation with Melissa and then did you kind of give her some responsibilities as well to kind of be like, okay, I'm gonna do this, so I need you to help me with this or,
Sarah Pavan (00:43:03):
Um, I don't know if it was really a conversation. I think like when we started playing together, you know, like I said, Melissa had never played on the left. She had, she was like a young player who was making the push to come to the top. So our first year together, she was just absorbing a lot of information from Scott and, you know, just the way that our team operates mm-hmm. . Um, so I don't think it was necessarily a conversation. I think everything that's happened with our team has happened organically. Um, and you know, with Melissa, I will say that she plays her best when she's relaxed and when she's joyful. Um, and so I think that is something that she has honestly brought to me because I am incredibly intense and would not four years ago Yeah. I would not be the person that's like smiling on the court, but, um, she allows me to show that side of myself and in being able to show that to her, it helps her play better too, if that makes sense. Um,
Brandon Joyner (00:44:12):
100%.
Sarah Pavan (00:44:13):
Yeah. So she definitely brings that, that energy aspect, um, that really helps our team function because, um, you know, I, we've gotten so many comments from people that were really fun to watch and it's because we genuinely love it and we love being on the court together. Um, and we show our competitiveness in different ways for sure. But, um, she has allowed the fun to come back into it.
Brandon Joyner (00:44:45):
That's awesome. Yeah, I think, uh, finding that, like you said before, that compatibility with a partner, um, certainly is important. Um, and it's crazy. Like once you find that with somebody, how much more, it's almost like falling back in love with the sport. Yeah. Um, I know I've had that happen to me a few times and, um, it's really cool to hear, hear from someone playing at the top level that that can happen as well.
Sarah Pavan (00:45:15):
Yeah. So, um, I mean even in some of our, like most difficult moments in matches or matches where it was like so tight that like everybody's like shitting their pants, it's like, we'll, like look at each other and honestly just like make eye contact or just smile and it's okay. And never a million years that I think I'd be the person at 1414 after blowing four points who's turning and smiling at my partner, like never , but you know, it, that it works for us and it brings a sense of calm and a sense of, um, unity to what we do, and it's really, really cool.
Brandon Joyner (00:46:00):
That's cool. Um, so that was a, I love where we just went with that, but going back to the team aspect and getting back to playoffs where the flip Yes. The switch has been flipped. Um, and I know that you guys, you talked about your mindset and so what, take us through that, uh, the world champs kind of playoffs and, and what happened to your mindset there and moving forward?
Sarah Pavan (00:46:30):
Yeah, I, I don't even know if our mindset necessarily shifted, but it just seemed like we were so dialed into what we were doing. Our game plans were so precise and very, very, I don't wanna say complex, but very particular. Um, and there was like a lot of information that we had to hold onto. And just having those specifics, I think it really helped narrow our focus into what we had to do and what we had to control. Um, so having that as a foundation and heading into the games just really helped us knock off options like defensively and stuff. And, um, we were able to, you know, gain momentum every single step of the way, uh, throughout the playoffs. And I mean, obviously we had a couple dicey moments there, like in the semis and in the finals even where we, where we blew a big lead or we gave up a lot of points, but like, when it really, really came down to it, we were just so incredibly confident in our ability to win every game. Like it was never a question. Um, and call me cocky if you want, I don't care. But we were just confident and knew that when it really came down to it, we were gonna execute. Um,
Mark Burik (00:47:48):
Well, you can't be an elite athlete without confidence. Like to, to show up and say, yeah, I'm betting this, this 10 years of my life that I can be successful at this sport. I'm betting this, you know, $1,200 plane ticket. That's, you know, that's, you have to be confident and if it rides a little bit on cocky, to me, that's, that's okay. Like, so long as like there's a big difference between confident where you're saying, yeah, I'm, I'm going into this game and I'm gonna win and cocky where you like actually off the court, put people down and like you act as if you were, you were a better human being than them, rather than Yeah. Just a better beach volleyball player. Yeah,
Sarah Pavan (00:48:28):
Totally. And I don't think that our mindset is cocky at all. Um, I
Mark Burik (00:48:33):
Don't get
Sarah Pavan (00:48:33):
That from your team. I, I just truly believe that even in the, the moments that were really tough and that we could have gotten worked up or nervous or, or lost a bit of focus, that's when we came together even more. And I honestly think that, you know, in the world championships and, and continuing along that path for the rest of the 2019 season, I think that that is something that was so crucial to our success is, you know, at this level everybody's a great volleyball player, but, um, I think the thing that makes Melissa and I really work is that our relationship is so good and we've really worked on knowing each other as, as athletes and as people and what we need. And, um, knowing that we're in it together, a hundred percent just, just elevates our game as a partnership.
Mark Burik (00:49:26):
So I've got a question here from, uh, again, back when we were talking there, uh, you said that you had set a goal early on to be top 10 in the world mm-hmm. , how do you set goals? Do you have a process for setting goals and how do you know where to set them? Um, and do you use like the whole like smart, like can it be measurable, um, attainable, whatever it is? Uh, what's your process for goal setting and having
Sarah Pavan (00:49:53):
Yeah, I guess I do use the smart technique even though I don't like actually think about it. Um, so I've been setting goals my whole life for absolutely everything. Um, you know, one of the earliest goals I can remember setting, I was five and I, I told my parents that I wanted to be an Olympian and they were like, cool, that's cute. Um, , but, uh, . But yeah, it literally shaped every decision I made from that point on. And that sounds really intense and it's kind of, uh, I think it's scary to say that, um, and think about it, but, um, I think a big thing with, with goal setting is that you wanna set short-term goals, um, and long-term goals. So personally I set a goal or a couple goals, which I consider my focal points for every single practice. Um, you know, whether that be, you know, I don't, I don't care what the situation is, I'm gonna force myself to handset. That is a short term goal and it's measurable. Was that all hand settable? Yes. Well, you didn't do it. You didn't. Why? Um, and then there's long-term goals obviously, which as a five-year-old be an Olympian. Okay. Um, I think a big thing is you don't wanna set goals that are too easy. Okay. Because then they lose their meaning. Um, does
Mark Burik (00:51:20):
It have to scare you a little bit?
Sarah Pavan (00:51:23):
Um, yeah, I think they, I mean scare, I mean to if maybe ,
(00:51:33):
I think they have to be challenging. Okay. But not impossible. So I don't know for me to say like, Hey, I'm gonna go be in the nba. Well, first of all, that's impossible, so stop it, you know? Um, so you don't want 'em to be easy. You don't want them to be impossible. You wanna be able to stretch yourself and require growth to be able to get there for the long-term ones. And I think that it requires a lot of accountability. Um, you have to be honest with yourself, um, and you have to, you know, really set your priorities to, to be able to achieve them.
Mark Burik (00:52:14):
That was actually my next question. How do you keep yourself accountable? How do you keep yourself on track if you set a long-term goal? You know, do you write it on a wall? Do you write it on your hand? Do you get a tattoo of it? Um, how do you, how do you keep track of your goal and make sure that you're driving towards it consistently? Or do you just like set it once and kind of forget it?
Sarah Pavan (00:52:38):
Um, I mean, I think it needs to be something that's important to you. Um, and I think if the goals that you're setting are important to you, you're not gonna forget them. Um, I personally have never written my goals down because I've always known what I wanted, um, and I've just structured everything to do that. Um, but yeah, if you're not passionate about the things that you're setting goals for and you don't have a reason why you're doing it, then it's, it's doomed to fail. Um, so I think, I think those things are, are really important to, to really love what you're doing. Um, but push
Mark Burik (00:53:22):
Yourself. I think that's huge. Anybody who's, you know, like out there working out trying to change like a fitness program and they're like, I'm gonna work out every day, and it's all right, but what's your deeper reason? You know, what do you have to hold onto that you need to work out every day or this won't happen? Because if, if you're trying to set that every day thing, but there's no, I don't know, carrot at the end of the road, um, that you can hold onto in your mind, what is gonna make you wake up at 6:00 AM before work and do it if it's not Yeah. Hugely important to you.
Sarah Pavan (00:53:56):
Totally. And you know, maybe along that same vein, like a better goal will be like to hit a, a goal for lifting. Like, I wanna squat 250 pounds for something, you know, that is a measurable goal. It's, it's probably challenging for a lot of people, but like, if you want it, then you can go get it. And why do you wanna do that? Why? Because I wanna be more st I wanna have like stronger glute muscles because, so I can move better in the sand. I wanna be explosive so I can get off the ground faster when I'm blocking. Like there are reasons why you wanna achieve that thing and it makes it more, I don't know, practical to set it.
Mark Burik (00:54:43):
Absolutely. Well, um, yeah, Brandon, unless, unless you have any other que, I mean, I could dive into your mind, Sarah, I know you're busy today, dive into your mind for hours. But, um, I do want to get chunks of a little bit of video analysis from you and just talk maybe some amateur players through specific parts of a point and like what your mind is doing. So I did pull, uh, the end of this first set, which kind of went crazy, uh, against April and Alex, they're currently number two in the world. You guys just meet it seems like in every final or semi-final
Sarah Pavan (00:55:21):
. Yes.
Mark Burik (00:55:22):
Um, and from my understanding, you guys have a pretty good relationship about it. Um, I'm sure that you can't be, you know, sitting there at lunch talking about how you beat each other, but , um, it's, it's a friendly, we are the four queens of the world right now, . Um, and we're gonna be doing battle for a while.
Sarah Pavan (00:55:42):
This is an old game. Oh man. I don't even
Brandon Joyner (00:55:45):
Know. Yeah, we, we tried to find your, uh, world champs game, but they haven't put it up yet.
Sarah Pavan (00:55:50):
Yeah, they're keeping that secret. I think NBC's holding onto that. Oh,
Mark Burik (00:55:53):
Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. All right. So it's, so it's 1918 here. Um, this is 2018 Huntington Beach avp. Uh, again, at this point, you are now kind of rocking. Your game is elevating. You guys are getting stronger, consistently, right? And, uh, let's just talk about when you serve. Sorry, I know everybody who hates when I scrub like this, . Okay. So when you served, right, uh, first of all, if you can, what was your strategy at this time against April and Alex? Were you going middle side?
Sarah Pavan (00:56:36):
I think we've played them like 37 times since then. So, um, gosh, at this time.
Mark Burik (00:56:41):
So that means that you, you've changed your strategy against them consistently. Maybe you don't have to give us too many. Got it. Got it, got it. , I have a feeling that you got, you're gonna meet them a few more times. That's fine. There's too much on the line. No worries. How about this, when you serve, what is the first place that you run? What does your mind tell you after you serve? Like where do you have to be?
Sarah Pavan (00:57:04):
Um, get to the net as quick as possible? Um, I usually like to set up a little bit inside, well, it depends on how the per her partner's setting, but I usually set up on the player or a little bit inside. Um, because I find that it's way easier to adjust the block going from inside out than outside in. Um, so if I'm gonna be out of position, I'd rather start being a little bit inside
Mark Burik (00:57:33):
Your mind. Doesn't ask you to make sure that you're covering the setter first. It says start getting inside the hitter.
Sarah Pavan (00:57:41):
Um, I mean, you can usually tell pretty quick if a setter's gonna go over on two or not. Okay. Um, in this particular game, I recall that Alex did not go on two. We started serving Alex, I think, and then switched. Um, so Alex had not gone on two at all. Plus she's a bump setter, so if she's gonna swing on two, she's gonna have to give it away really early. Um, so that was not concerning me much at all. Um, if there is a hand setter or somebody that likes to go over on two, I do keep my eyes on them a little bit longer just for any of their tells if they're gonna go over. But in this particular case, it wasn't necessary.
Mark Burik (00:58:22):
Okay. So when you serve, you're running between like to the space between the setter and the person who received, and your eyes say like, they have to look at the setter first. So you're not just running at the person that you served and like running directly in front of them. Your eyes are saying, uh, okay, make sure that I'm protecting the setter, my hands are up and, and she can't hit on two, and if she does, I need to move towards her. Is
Sarah Pavan (00:58:48):
That correct?
Mark Burik (00:58:48):
Kinda accurate. Okay. So you're serving here, you start in the middle of the court, I see a lot of amateur players who will start like in front on one side or the other. Do you, do you always start in the middle when you're partners serving as a blocker?
Sarah Pavan (00:59:01):
Yeah, I start usually somewhere in the middle and then I adjust based on where Melissa's serving to get out of the way, um, out of the line of vision. But I usually start in the middle and especially against a player like April who likes to take it down on two. I will hold my position in the middle a little longer, um, depending on the pass.
Mark Burik (00:59:22):
Okay. Like this one right here. So this is a play that I see at like aa men's level, um, still open women's level where you, you guys served a great ball. Melissa here served a great ball. Uh, Alex shanks it. I would see players leaving right now. You know, like blockers would just be saying like terrible path and they would leave
Sarah Pavan (00:59:50):
The net. I mean, that happens internationally a lot too.
Mark Burik (00:59:52):
. Do you think that that's the right way to do it? Would you rather set up early and play defense or do you really wanna protect that net first? How do you play it?
Sarah Pavan (01:00:00):
I think you have to know your strengths, um, as a bigger presence at the net. And somebody who, um, would prefer to block than pole. Uh, I usually stay because, you know, if the person does set a really good ball and it's like a 50 50 set, we're about to eat it if I'm not up there. So, um, I would rather see how the play unfolds and then get off the net after. Um, there are players whose strength is to get off and dig a lot of Brazilians, you'll see do that. I
Mark Burik (01:00:37):
Would chip say that they're so good with their
Sarah Pavan (01:00:39):
Hands. Yeah. And they're smaller blockers generally, so I can see why they would choose to get off instead. My personal preference is to stay because I trust Melissa's ability to play defense behind me, and I would rather shut down as many options at the net for the hitter as possible.
Mark Burik (01:00:59):
Okay. I like that you didn't give a, a cold hard rule there that it's just, all right, well my strength is blocking. That's why, you know, I'm a big threat, so I'm gonna stay longer than somebody who might be smaller and has great defensive handwork. Yeah. And we all know that there are players that when they peel, they are absolute trash. Like some players cannot peel and dig. And those are the people that I'm just like, if I've played with them before, like just stay at the net, let , because if you try to use your hands, you just end up getting hit in the sunglasses
Sarah Pavan (01:01:31):
. Yeah, and I mean, the thing is, is like let's say April had made a really good set, uh, right on the net, if you bail because you're a really great pole digger, there's still no excuse. Like if she freaking yachtys the ball straight down, like that's your job to be there. So I am a proponent of just seeing how the set unfolds before making a decision.
Mark Burik (01:01:53):
And one more measurement. You know, maybe, maybe, uh, Alex here, maybe she's like 5 6, 5 7 and she doesn't ever go yacht seek. Maybe that's an opportunity to peel a little bit earlier too. But because you got Alex here and she's already six four, you know, so her hands above the net when she's standing, you know that a good set is gonna lead to her pounding of ball. But yeah, could be athlete specific. Um, I love this as well, just, just as a teaching point for everybody. So they did a good job of sending a deep ball. They eliminate the on two threat by sending the ball deep and creating a long pass and a tough set. So because Melissa has to pass this ball from the back line, she's got a pass with much more distance than usual, which puts a little bit more pressure on you as a setter. Right. Especially cuz the, the wind is blowing that
Sarah Pavan (01:02:43):
Day. Yeah. I believe it was coming from Melissa's corner actually. Um, if I was right-handed, I probably would've hit this ball. Um, but I'm not, yeah. So that could have gotten a little dicey. Um, I give her a very bad set here. , geez.
Mark Burik (01:03:05):
Oh, that's a pretty good set.
Sarah Pavan (01:03:08):
.
Mark Burik (01:03:10):
Okay. So default, you know, instead of just giving you a Christmas present because they can't hit, um, they choose to make sure that you have to pass from the back line. And because it's windy, they created kind of a rough situation for you guys with a long pass in a windy environment. And Melissa gets the ball to the net. Now you set her and you say this is a crappy set. Where, how far exactly off the net do you aim to make Melissa efficient? Three feet, four feet. Two feet. One
Sarah Pavan (01:03:39):
Foot. I like to go three feet or closer. Um, you know, Melissa, she's five nine, so she's not small. She jumps well. And I would much rather I want, as a setter, especially in transition, I want my defender to be in as great a position to score no matter what. Honestly, I am of the mindset that there is no excuse for giving a bad set. Um, so yeah, I'm a little upset with that if the pass was a little tight. But I'm really upset with that set because I could have gotten her a lot closer. I like setting, I would rather the ball be tighter because then she can bring it back to me if it does get too tight or she can tool the block. Um, if it's too far off the net, her options are cut down and then it makes it easier to defend.
Brandon Joyner (01:04:34):
So what do you, what do you mean by bring it back to you if the set's too
Sarah Pavan (01:04:37):
Tight? Yeah, so sometimes if the set is too tight, a lot of people just try to power through the block or try to score anyways. But a really useful technique is to, to poke it or to even hold it into the blocker's hands and let them push it to just get a really easy cover ball. Because sometimes out of system it's hard to really get a perfect rhythm attack. Um, so if you're not feeling comfortable to get a great swing on a ball, it's might be easier to just like hold it, bring it back to get a really nice, um, controlled second attempt.
Mark Burik (01:05:16):
I like that. I, I I used to call it recycling. I still call it recycling. Yeah. But like tapping the ball off the block. And this is all I did in indoor college. Like I, I had no idea how to side out, but I could see the hands, which is like kinda like, so I just put it there and I'd be like, set a big guy. . .
Sarah Pavan (01:05:33):
Yeah. It's completely underutilized. And I don't think a lot of people realize that it's done on purpose. Some like by a lot of players, so it's always like, Ooh, great block. And it's like, well that was on purpose. So great play by the hitter actually. Um, to have the presence of mind to know that a good swing wasn't in the books that time. So let's give ourselves another chance.
Mark Burik (01:05:54):
Love that. So awesome. Here, uh, Melissa's wide here. You guys just served, uh, looks like you're picking on Alex during this match. Yes. So Melissa, this is our standard kind of diagonal defense. You're in between them and you take this step out to the line. It looks like Melissa's already running there, but I don't,
Sarah Pavan (01:06:17):
Yeah. So that was a dive angle.
Mark Burik (01:06:18):
That is a dive angle. So you're diving to the right. So do you guys call this a four or do you have like Right, right, right. You you have your own.
Sarah Pavan (01:06:27):
No, we don't. So that you can, I know a lot of Americans call it a four. Our symbols are, a lot of 'em are very similar. Um, okay.
Mark Burik (01:06:34):
But you have to tell us. You're saying
Sarah Pavan (01:06:35):
This would be a four? Yeah. Okay.
Mark Burik (01:06:38):
So this means that your diving angle and Melissa is running to the line.
Sarah Pavan (01:06:42):
Correct.
Mark Burik (01:06:43):
What is, what does your mind tell you to do to make this place successful? Does the hitter have to believe that you are in the line? Um, uh, do you, do you make a late move to the line and then dive back to the angle or, um, what's, what's like a simple process that you can tell somebody who's learning how to run a
Sarah Pavan (01:07:06):
Four? Um, so you want your lineup on the block to be the same every time. Unless you're trying to bait them into doing something. Every
Mark Burik (01:07:15):
Time
Sarah Pavan (01:07:16):
You wanna line up with the ball or the hitter in your midline,
Mark Burik (01:07:21):
Their shoulder, their body, their path is coming right at the middle of your chest. Um, what do you mean by line? The hitter up in the midline.
Sarah Pavan (01:07:29):
So like, let's say that, so your base block will be like a line block. That's your base is where your body position is. So you want your, the middle of your chest to be on where their arm is going to contact the ball. Cuz some players contact the ball out here. So you want the middle of your chest to be, um, on their hitting arm.
Mark Burik (01:07:51):
Okay, cool.
Sarah Pavan (01:07:52):
Um, and then every move that you are going to make, if you're doing like a straight up line block or a for, um, is gonna be from that position. So you want to let them get that visual of you in the line and then as they're swinging, you jump and you take away the angle swing. Now, on a dive angle play like this as a blocker, your responsibility is to take the hard driven ball angle. Um, if they do a cut shot, that's what you're giving up at that point, um, you know, Melissa's there for the line shot, hopefully for the hard driven line ball. Oops, . Um, and, and I'm there for the hard driven angle ball. So the cut shot is what you're giving up on that particular play.
Mark Burik (01:08:41):
Do you, do you want her to be there for the, for the hard driven line or is that something that you give up? Like does she have to leave that early? Because I know that she would've to leave really early in order to actually go from where she is making a, uh, making this Alex or April making a, uh, Alex believe that she's in the other side of the court. So are you telling that, that when you run the bait and switch that your defender should pick up the hard driven
Sarah Pavan (01:09:05):
Form? That's a tough one because I'm li because as a blocker you're gonna be lining up in the line. You, your presence visually when the person is taking off will hopefully detract them from hitting down the line. And then because you're diving into the angle, you're showing them that your body's in the line, they think the angle's open. So by diving into that, that's why you're trying to, that's the response you're trying to get. It is tough to be able to dig a hard driven ball, especially if it's hit right down the line, um, in this particular play. But it happens sometimes.
Mark Burik (01:09:45):
Okay. So there you are, there's the middle of your chest, right where Alex is aiming. Yeah, definitely looks like you're, like you were moving towards the line. You that angle lean. So I know that different players do this differently where some of them use a full step and then they, then they go into the cross. Some people step into the line and then dive angle and some people just hold still and then like flash their hands. Do you dive with your body? Do you dive with your hands and do you do anything on the ground other than lining up the same way to make somebody believe that? And if you don't wanna give any of that away, cause you're about to win
Sarah Pavan (01:10:27):
Up, depending on what our game plan is and depending on who I'm blocking and what their tendencies are, et cetera, there are different ways that I do block angle. Okay. Um, sometimes I, I'll line up and jump into it with my whole body. Sometimes I will line up and just go with my arms. Sometimes, you know, I will step tall into the angle and let them see me doing it. You know, other times I will step tall into the angle, drop down and get off the net. Um, there are so many ways that you can mess with a, with an attacker's head. And I think the first way to be able to do that is to identify if the attacker is seeing the blocker or if they're paying attention to the defender. Um, there are not a ton of players out there who can see both. Um, so you have to figure out as a team, are they making moves ba because they don't wanna get blocked and they're hitting away from me, or are they watching Mel and just shooting around to where she's not. So you have to figure out what your hitter is seeing before you can start messing around like that.
Mark Burik (01:11:37):
Are there any specific, specific tests that you can give to like AA player where you can say, if they do this, then you know that they're looking at the blocker and not the, and not the
Sarah Pavan (01:11:52):
Defender? I think, well, so a big thing for me is like if I am able to bait a hitter into doing what I want based on what my moves are at the net mm-hmm. , then I know that they're paying attention to me. For example, if I step tall into the angle and dive back into the line and they hit line anyways, they're paying attention to where I am. Got it. If Melissa is doing, like for example, if I'm standing in the angle and Melissa's starting her base in the line and they just do a little cut shot or if they try to do a jumbo or if they hit it right at me, they're watching where Melissa's going. If Melissa takes a fake step and they get stuck baiting into that, like they're probably watching what she's
Mark Burik (01:12:39):
Doing. So you can run a double up like once where like you block angle and Melissa defends angle and if they rock the ball line, you know, okay, uh, this girl's looking at the, at the block or not the defender, but if they shoot, if they shoot, and also if they shoot over cross, you know that they're looking at you because they wouldn't shoot at, at Mel who's back there. So maybe one or two double ups where you guys are both defending the same zone might, if you look at it the right way, it might tell you what that hitter is looking at and you can use that information later.
Sarah Pavan (01:13:13):
Yeah. Like if you're making moves at the net as a blocker and none of them are working, they're not looking at you, dude, like just stay straight up or like design plays for your defender to dig balls. Um, so yeah, it's, you could usually figure it out.
Mark Burik (01:13:33):
Awesome. If you're paying attention. I think most people are just like, you know, they're like, they randomly throw in line cross three four without paying attention to the result and the why of the play.
Sarah Pavan (01:13:45):
That's definitely
Mark Burik (01:13:46):
So funny. They, somebody serves, they have a line block or we'll say they have a cross block and they serve and they serve it into the net and then they side out the next ball and then they serve again and they call it different block play. And it's like, wha where did the first idea go? . . Did that just become a bad idea because of what happened?
Sarah Pavan (01:14:06):
? Yeah. There definitely has to be intention behind what you're doing. Mm-hmm. . Um, and I think that that's a big thing that people who don't play beach volleyball don't really understand is that there is a very high level of decision making and between the defender and the blocker for every single play, we're not just making decisions because we feel like it, it's, there are definitely responses that we want to get from the other team or we're testing them to see what they will do in certain, uh, circumstances.
Mark Burik (01:14:41):
Got it. It so much players do not do that enough. And I definitely know that, uh, I have not done that enough in my career, like running those little experiments and saying, what happens if we change this? What happens if we get the blocker moving? What happens if we leave the blocker still, but we get the defender moving and then trying to understand why somebody hits something. Yeah. Because once you understand why they're doing it, then you can lead them into your little traps.
Sarah Pavan (01:15:08):
Yeah. And I think like the beginning of the game is a great time to do that because at the end of the day, you always have to focus on your own stuff. You always have to make sure that you're siding out and taking care of your own side of the net. So you don't really have to worry about like stealing points. Like right off the hop, if it's 18, 17, that's when you can use the information that you've compiled all set provided that you were actually taking care of your side of the net at the same time if you know it, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:15:38):
Oh absolutely. Uh, I love this hand dig here. We only got you for maybe three more minutes here, but I love this hand dig. You know that you're not gonna get there in time and you know that it looks like you know that Alex is pretty far off the net so she can't hit down anyway. So you decide just to stay there and keep the hands up before she even hits hands are coming up because I think you know that anything fast, the only thing fast is gonna come past your head. So that's why I think some defenders, they would leave their hands down when they peel because they, they're so comfortable using their platform. Um, how often, how much do you train Just overhand digging.
Sarah Pavan (01:16:18):
I would say anytime I pull my hands are here because it's easy. It's a great place to be able to go high or low. I think if your hands are up here, you're not gonna dig anything low. If your hands are down here, you're probably gonna get hit in the face. So, you know, keeping them in a neutral position, um, in front of your chest allows you to react to both. Um, when I work on pulling my coach hits at me anyway, he, he wants to quite frankly, um, pretty much does whatever he wants. So Yeah, he will, I'll pull, he'll shoot it over my head. I'll pull, he'll poke short, I'll pull, he'll drill it at my face like I don't know what's happening. So I train in random circumstances all the time.
Mark Burik (01:17:08):
Okay. So, so there is significant time during your training dedicated to hitting all of these weird balls. Like at your head, above your head, around your head. Do you pepper overhead? Do you guys pepper?
Sarah Pavan (01:17:21):
We do pepper, yeah.
Mark Burik (01:17:22):
Okay. Do you hit at each other's face or is it only platform?
Sarah Pavan (01:17:26):
No, we just pepper.
Mark Burik (01:17:29):
Okay.
Sarah Pavan (01:17:30):
. Yeah,
Mark Burik (01:17:31):
I've been, the reason I'm asking, like I've been trying to push our players at vo cam promosa to do like all the overhead stuff because everybody, I know players that can, that can pepper for 20 minutes straight using their platform and you ask them to hit one ball at their, at the face and dig with the hands and that play is over in less than three rallies.
Sarah Pavan (01:17:51):
Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:17:52):
. So, um, I
Sarah Pavan (01:17:54):
Can't, no, it's definitely useful. Um, it's definitely a good idea. We just don't
Mark Burik (01:18:02):
, it's a rhythm. It's a meditation for you. Yeah. Yeah. The overhand digs and your coach is training you. You guys are just smiling, laughing, telling jokes, . Yeah, pretty much . I like it. Oh man. Cool. Um, all right, you probably had a play call here. I just wanna point out to the fans and students that are watching that this play got a little bit squirrely and I'm just looking at your hand right here at the net because maybe you had a play call, but now it's like on the other half of the court and I think for a lot of players now it's like, well, what's line and what's cross, what's left and what's right? Um, so you reconfirm with Mel, it looks like you're doing this. Tell me if I'm wrong. Yeah. With this little butt tap here. Yeah. And at that point, cuz she looks like she's actually going to the right, right. It looks like she's lining up on the right side of the court and then you give this butt tap and she starts booking it to the left.
Sarah Pavan (01:19:03):
Yeah. So I mean, our team, we d a lot of what we do, we don't operate the way that a lot of teams do in that. We, a lot of decisions we make happen in the moment, um, based on what both of us are reading. And that might not be feasible for a lot of like beginner teams or, or amateur teams. But, um, anytime like we will have a play called for Service Eve, but anytime the pass or set does not go the way that we expect, I'm making a different call. I'm always communicating with Mel about what I'm blocking and what side I'm taking and yeah.
Mark Burik (01:19:47):
Is that vocal, are you going like, hey, hey, hey, and you know, and and hitting one side, or is she always like, when it,
Sarah Pavan (01:19:54):
She's always looking at my butt. Um, cause that's where I communicate what side I'm gonna take. Or if I do have a play called and I say no, then we predetermine. Um, if I say no, this is what I'm doing instead.
Mark Burik (01:20:10):
So I like that you use free, like a diving blocker player or running defender play. Um, if you have that called and then, oh, we can't say it too loud. All right. But you have, you have a signal word that brings you back to a certain base defense.
Sarah Pavan (01:20:24):
Yes,
Mark Burik (01:20:25):
We can say that. Okay.
Brandon Joyner (01:20:27):
Yeah, mark and I actually had that we played together a couple weeks ago or months now, who knows . But we actually had that conversation. It was something that kind of got us a little question where it was like we had a place that called and then something happened where I saw that it wasn't so like I made a switch, but then he was questioning why, and it was so I like, I I think that that having that idea set up ahead of time, yeah. And just being able to resort back to that, that would've made our conversation that we had literally nonexistent because it would've been something that we could have done. So yeah,
Sarah Pavan (01:21:03):
We need to, I don't, I'm of the belief that you can never communicate too much during a play. Um, because any information can be useful. It's always better to say too many things than to say nothing. And like another decision you can make before hand is what side you're gonna take on the two ball. And so just having a play in mind, if you're playing a team that, that swings onto a
Mark Burik (01:21:30):
Lot. So for those of you who are out there, um, talking about like what side to take, that's when you can release the, the need to do this stuff with your fingers. Like showing like what's line, what's crossed. If I tap this shoulder or I tap this butt, that means that I'm blocking the left side of my court and your job is to defend the right side. So you can use just butt taps instead of finger signals and that shows you where you should be and it shows a blocker where you should be. So if, if you're out there next time you play , get used to those butt taps. But you can watch on YouTube, any avp, any FIV B match. And anytime you see a bad pass or a crazy dig, get your eyes on the blocker while you're watching that photo and watch how all of the world's best blockers just are tapping their butts nonstop during beach volleyball points.
(01:22:21):
Because it's something you don't recognize until you actually get into an avp, until you get into an F I B B. And then you realize how much in moment communication there is with signals. So just for those of you guys who are watching and you wanna watch more, uh, of this match of, uh, Sarah and Melissa versus April and Alex, go ahead and watch it and then just check out for little butt taps and hand signals midpoint. So I just wanna see if anybody right now we got 46 people left here who have, uh, wanted to hear us ramble and if you guys have any questions, we're gonna run through it really quick cuz we gotta get Sarah outta here. And so if a
Sarah Pavan (01:22:58):
Little bit of time, so it's
Mark Burik (01:22:59):
Okay. Okay. Uh, cool. Sweet. Um, go ahead and, and pop into that q and a. Don't use, use the chat. Let's go into the q and a and if you guys have any questions at all for Sarah, uh, save your questions if you have them for me and Brandon. But if you have any questions for Sarah, go ahead and ask. Uh, Chris Morehead asks Sarah, are there any players who are really good at paying attention to both the defender and the blocker? And I want to add on to this, do you switch your vision between blocker and defender mid-game? You know, like if one way is not working, do you stop paying attention to a certain thing or do you just stick with your comfort?
Sarah Pavan (01:23:38):
Can't say it's a conscious thought process. Um, I will say that like in system I'm able to see everything. Obviously if things get a little wonky, I usually end up seeing the blocker instead. And that's where having a partner who can call the ball is really helpful. I would say like my focus is always to deliver a really, really good pass. So I'm putting myself in a position to be able to see the whole chord at all times. But I would say somebody who's really good at seeing the whole court as well is Duda. She can unload and she will find like the smallest sliver outside your hand to hit, but she's also got really good shot placement. So she is really good at moving the ball around and that's why she doesn't get served is because she's able to see everything really, really well. On the men's side, I would say. Well the Norwegian boys do a really good job. They're Christian does a really good job. He moves the ball around really, really nicely. He's in system most of the time, so that definitely helps. Again, Sedins, I think he sees the court really, really well,
Mark Burik (01:24:41):
Just how he can his trigger release, just like how quick. And
Sarah Pavan (01:24:45):
That's, he's all, he is so good. If you wanna see somebody who has a great arm swing, he holds it, he's got it back here, just waiting and then he can do anything he wants because he loads his arm back so quick. So I would say, yeah, those are a couple of ex of examples of people who see everything really well.
Mark Burik (01:25:01):
Good question. Thanks Chris. And thanks for coming to every single webinar, bro. Really, really appreciate it.
Sarah Pavan (01:25:07):
That's amazing.
Brandon Joyner (01:25:08):
Yeah. Um, so Jessica says, when someone is tooling your block, uh, do you start making adjustments?
Sarah Pavan (01:25:16):
Absolutely. I am not one to really wait to make adjustments. So some adjustments you can make are to switch up your timing. Could
Mark Burik (01:25:25):
You, uh, could you just, uh, dive deeper
Sarah Pavan (01:25:27):
And you can hold your squat at the bottom for a little bit longer. You can do what I call indoor timing where, so beach, by its nature, you hold your block a little bit longer at the bottom than you do indoor. If somebody's really finding your hands, use indoor timing, get off the ground, show your hands really, really early so you're in a really strong position. I like to pull my hands sometimes. What does that mean? Or if you are up at the net and you're holding and you can see that they're actually gonna, you can yank your hands when you jump.
Mark Burik (01:25:59):
Oh, when they're, when they're like, you see that they're going to to try your hands outta bounds. Okay.
Sarah Pavan (01:26:04):
Yeah. Or you can try like a late pole. So show that you're there and then right when they're about to swing, duck and get off the net, um, there's a lot of different strategies that you can use to try to switch it up. Or another thing that you can do even is to get them out of their hitting rhythms. So you can serve short, you can serve it at their throat, you can take them to the ground by switching up your serving technique and and getting them to do what you want them to do because you are the one in control when you're serving. You can get them to do exactly what you want. It's maniacal, it's great
Mark Burik (01:26:41):
. That's awesome. How many tools and answers and solutions you have to like, one problem, I think we got six or seven different answers there to like, how do I get somebody to stop tooling my block? And you're like, well if you go to the service line,
Sarah Pavan (01:26:56):
Coming from somebody. Yeah. Serve better. No, just kidding. Um, coming from somebody who has been a lot, I've had to devise a lot of strategies. So
Mark Burik (01:27:06):
, well I imagine like, you know, you're up there strong, probably penetrating more than, than maybe any player on the world tour. And so it might be that could potentially in some places be a weakness. Cuz if somebody comes along like me who loves using hands, I'll be like, yeah, jump up there. Let me see what I can aim at, and then I'll go. So you, I think like the changing of your timing when you're saying jump later so that I don't see those hands up there and I don't get comfortable with where you're set up. You would mess someone like me up pretty bad. Oh yeah. Um, by just by changing your timing and being later.
Sarah Pavan (01:27:40):
Yeah. And you can like reframe any circumstance into an opportunity. Quite frankly, I love playing against big blockers because they don't get low. I can see them. They got the big sticks in the air, easy to tool. It's amazing the little blockers, they duck so low, they could get completely out of your field of vision and then all of a sudden their hands are over the net. So there are definitely opportunities in front of you for whoever you're playing. Um, don't let a big blocker scare you unless it's me just kidding. . Um, and then because I wanna win. And if it a smaller blocker, yeah, there's, there's definitely opportunities no matter who you're playing. Uh,
Mark Burik (01:28:21):
Okay. So Mike asks, uh, what are your favorite drills to do by yourself while you're social distancing? Do you have like one fitness, uh, one fitness exercise or, or a ball drill that you're doing on your own?
Sarah Pavan (01:28:33):
Right now? I'm working on the hand setting, so I'm literally just laying on my floor setting to myself over and over and over.
Mark Burik (01:28:41):
Why do you think hand setting's important? Why, why are you trying to open up that part of your
Sarah Pavan (01:28:45):
Game? I think it'll really open up my two ball attacking more. It's where, uh, easier to disguise my two ball. You're able to run with more consistency, like a variety of plays. Even though I, I love bump setting and I feel really comfortable and good about, about it. I think it'll just add another dimension to my game. So I'm hand setting a lot. I love just like going out and playing against the wall, just like set to myself, jump set against the wall or like pepper to myself, um, against the wall. Just, yeah, I'm a balling nerd, so I just go out and play by myself.
Brandon Joyner (01:29:19):
. Um, and Mike, I, uh, in the chat, I, I posted her YouTube channel again and she's been putting up a couple of ideas for solo use drills and, uh, partner drills. So make sure you guys check that
Mark Burik (01:29:34):
Out. Yeah, definitely. Go follow her on Instagram. Go follow her on YouTube and check out her website sarah pavin.com. All right, we've got two more questions. Brandon, you wanna ask a question from Caleb?
Brandon Joyner (01:29:46):
Yeah. Okay. So as one of the best blockers on the tour, which blockers do you look up to or watch and try to emulate some of their technique? I think we kind of already talked about that a little bit, but
Mark Burik (01:29:58):
She said Logan, Tom of who she emulates, but Logan Tom like play Beach for one season, I think, right?
Sarah Pavan (01:30:04):
I think she tried to play avp. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (01:30:06):
Yeah. So do you have any blockers that are on tour or that were on tour that you've tried to look at?
Sarah Pavan (01:30:12):
I'm not gonna lie to you. I watch men's blockers a lot. I watch Phil a lot. Ricardo, I'm always
Brandon Joyner (01:30:22):
Looking. Who, who are they? Phil. Phil who?
Mark Burik (01:30:25):
personal friends using me. First names .
Sarah Pavan (01:30:28):
Sorry, Phil do Hauser and Ricardo. He only needs one name. Just seeing the different kind of moves that they do because on a Women's net, being a taller woman, I feel like I could do a lot of the moves that they do on the men's net. So just like different strategies and, and hand positioning techniques and stuff. I, I like to watch them.
Brandon Joyner (01:30:50):
I've actually, I've never really thought about. I've I love that you said that because you're probably one of the biggest players to play on the women's side. Yeah. Being able to look outside of your own gender and look at some players that you feel like you could bring into the women's side is, I think that's really cool.
Sarah Pavan (01:31:07):
Nice. Yeah, they're legends and I, I respect them so much, so anything I can learn from them, I, I want to for
Brandon Joyner (01:31:14):
Sure. That's
Mark Burik (01:31:15):
Cool. Justin asks, any technique suggestions for digging the short shot after you
Sarah Pavan (01:31:22):
Peel the most good? One important thing when you're pulling is to be stopped. If you don't think you're far enough back stop. If you think you're too far, stop. If you are moving in any way when the hitter is hitting, you're not gonna dig anything except the ball is hit right at you. As soon as you see the player leaving the ground, stop wherever you are and that'll help you get your body moving forward.
Mark Burik (01:31:50):
And we saw that play. Hang on, I'm just gonna share it one more time. We saw a perfect sample of that. Isn't that play that we were looking at right here? So this is where boom, you kind of get into trouble, you're in a transition play and you said, I'm gonna make the decision to hold. Like no one in their right mind would be playing defense here where you get stopped, but you're just like, okay, this is where I am. Yeah, they're hitting now. Let me be stable so that my hands can make a good reaction.
Brandon Joyner (01:32:21):
It's a scary spot to be in .
Sarah Pavan (01:32:23):
Yes. It's those hands up. That's when you can have the hands a little bit higher,
Brandon Joyner (01:32:29):
Right?
Mark Burik (01:32:30):
So, cool. Uh, great piece of advice. Get stop as soon as you can and, um, be able to accelerate. And one, one of the answers that I, that we always give our players, you gotta be looking at the hitter to know if they're going short cuz they can give that away. Mm-hmm. . Um, so if you, like, if you peel and you do this, you're losing valuable information, uh, based on reading. And a lot of them, I, I do say, hey, sorry, but you gotta get faster. Like you have to have the leg strength to stop one motion and push off forward and like be comfortable laying down. So sprint work and like a little bit like one-legged squat, one-legged lunge work, all of that stuff, that is a big answer for how you can make plays in game. Just like getting the short shot, being able to drive off of strong legs for that shortfall, um, can be an answer for some people. Well Sarah, we cannot thank you enough for coming on and sharing your knowledge with us. And I, and I know everybody's got a lot out of this and, uh, we can chop up a bunch of these parts and put 'em on on YouTube. Do you have any hurting questions, parting advice? Best, uh, I'll lock you in here. Best piece of advice for a, uh, player who's coming up.
Sarah Pavan (01:33:48):
My best piece of advice is just to be patient with yourself. When I first started I thought that I was insane and that I was, couldn't figure it out and I was terrible. Definitely be patient with yourself, give yourself time. This is a really tough sport both physically and mentally. So just get out there, get as many touches as you can and just like you'll slowly see the improvement.
Brandon Joyner (01:34:10):
I like it. I need to take that advice. ,
Sarah Pavan (01:34:13):
I think I do too. .
Brandon Joyner (01:34:15):
Yeah. . Oh man. Well, Sarah, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Um, I know Mark does too and everybody that's watching, um, yeah, fun. We didn't even get, I love where that conversation went, but we didn't even get to talk about the fact that you're already guaranteed to go to the Olympics in 2021 now. Uh, now that they switched the dates, you guys are back in it. I'm sure you guys have wild year ahead of you with trying to reorganize and train and stuff like that. And, uh, we're definitely excited to keep an eye on you.
Sarah Pavan (01:34:48):
Thanks so much and thanks for coming out all you guys. Like I know I can't see you, but , it's cool to be able to share a little bit and thanks to you two for having me on. It was fun.
Mark Burik (01:35:00):
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (01:35:00):
Awesome. Very cool.
Mark Burik (01:35:01):
All right, well we will check to you later guys. Uh, if you wanna stick around, me and Brandon are gonna be here for a couple more minutes just to do a little of our own q and a, but we're gonna say goodbye to Sarah. Make sure you go follow her, make sure you subscribe to her YouTube channel. We posted those in the chat, so copy paste them into your browser right now so you can follow along. She is already an Olympian, she's already qualified world champion. Follow along on her journey and support her. And as you can see that she's amazing person and an unbelievable athlete. So, um, she's somebody who you want to follow throughout, uh, throughout the rest of her career and beyond.
Sarah Pavan (01:35:39):
Thanks sweet guys.
Brandon Joyner (01:35:40):
And she's gonna start posting so much more on social media, so we have so much to look forward to. ,
Sarah Pavan (01:35:46):
, somebody needs to keep me accountable for that.
Brandon Joyner (01:35:49):
Oh, there you go. Weekly goals we talked about you gotta set some weekly goals.
Sarah Pavan (01:35:55):
I need to really take my own advice. Okay.
Brandon Joyner (01:35:58):
Yeah. Thanks. What I say? Yeah. All right. Have a good one, Sarah. Safe. Thanks again.
Sarah Pavan (01:36:03):
We'll see you soon.
Brandon Joyner (01:36:05):
All right. Bye. Stay safe.
Mark Burik (01:36:07):
That was
Brandon Joyner (01:36:07):
Cool. Once again, killed it. I just like, every time I get on I'm like expect like, just cuz we know, we know these players, you know, and I'm expecting myself like, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna learn about this. And every single time I just learned so much more I was expecting to, and not only so much more, but topics that I wasn't really thinking that were gonna come up, you know? But, um, that's kind of, it shows how different everybody is as, as players and our, even our perceptions of these athletes I think is surprising me. Um, and in such a good way, you know, it's, it's just been such a cool experience.
Mark Burik (01:36:46):
Yeah. I love her competitive fire where, you know, some of the other guys were kinda like, oh, well this is exactly what I was trying to do there and wait till I get that gold medal .
Brandon Joyner (01:36:56):
Right, right, right.
Mark Burik (01:36:58):
But the basics of, of what she was going into and, and the thought process and how much it's, it's not like X's and o's it's strategy and what they're thinking, what everybody is thinking in the middle of the game and trying to understand their opponents. Not just like, ah, we're gonna dig cross. Ah, we're gonna dig line like this. Mm-hmm. , why are we doing this play right now? What in the past 10 points has led us to choose this play right now? And I think if you can't answer that, if you don't have a sound reason, like what, because they've gotten seven hard cross kills and nothing down the line. That's why we're changing our defense now,
Brandon Joyner (01:37:44):
You know? Right. Yeah. And I I just love her how much credit she gives to her and Melissa as like a partnership and yeah,
Mark Burik (01:37:53):
That was
Brandon Joyner (01:37:53):
Interesting talking about how like one thing that I, I don't think that we, we mention a whole lot is whenever you get to being a really, really top level team, the conversations of, I'm gonna block line, you're gonna block cross, they, it starts to get a little bit looser. And when she was talking about how flexible they are within the point and kind of picking up on things and then changing calls or kind of adjusting throughout a point, whenever you get to experience that with somebody, it's amazing. You know, I, I'm, I'm sure you had it with Hudson and I know I like with Eric Lucas, who was a guy that I played with when I first started playing beach. It's just, I had so much trust with him and he had so much trust with me that it was really cool to you. You didn't really have to stress too much about what you were taking and what they were taking.
(01:38:45):
Right. It was definitely like a team conversation. And I think if you watch, so now that everyone, everyone that's here, um, and you understand that conversation at a little bit of a higher level, if you watch Sarah and Melissa play from now on, I think that you're gonna see like how much adjusting they make throughout points and it really, it makes the game in almost into an arc, uh, which is once you can start watching that, then that's like the next level of viewership where you're starting to understand it more and it's, it's not just a sport anymore. Yeah. Um, it's a little bit more
Mark Burik (01:39:18):
Than that. How like ex football players and like guys who played in college, how they watch football and then how everybody else does. You know, like they're watching the offensive and defensive line cuz they know that that's where the action happens and that's where the holes develop and you know, everybody else is like trying to find the ball in the quarterbacks hands or the running backs hands so that you understand the game more fully and not just like the action point of following
Brandon Joyner (01:39:42):
The ball. Right. I, I know I like, for me, when I, when I've gone and watched some of these high level players, I've started u I've, I've realized that I've started to kind of understand the flow of the game a little bit more because my adjectives have changed. You know, like I, when I used to watch it when I was just coming outta college or something like that, I'd be like, oh, that was a sick play. Like that was freaking awesome. That was gnarly, blah blah blah, you know? And now I'm watching it and I'm like, that was beautiful , you know, I'm like, uh, like my, my adjectives have changed and my appreciation has gone to different points of the game. Not just like the hard spike that gets the crowd going crazy.
Mark Burik (01:40:22):
Yeah, yeah. Or not just like a, a sick athletic dig. You're like, he got him to hit right where he wanted. Right. You know, not just like, whoa, how did he get that dig? It's, you see the step by step process and the more we watched film and the more we study this and you know, we kind of get led through these conversations, the more we can understand.
Brandon Joyner (01:40:42):
Right.
Mark Burik (01:40:43):
And I think that's, that's where our, that's where our responsibility is you and me, is to how do we translate what these players are doing? Because I think when, when we get to this level, when we're playing like professional, like you were like N v l newcomer of the Year, right? And, and we're, you know, I've been on the AVP for a minute and it's been okay. Everything that we do every day we think is normal. So we just sort of like skip over it, you know, we're just like, this is how you do it. But I think, uh, our strength here and from what I'm hearing in my text messages and the people who send us emails afterwards, like, you do a good job of sort of reshaping what these players are saying so that everyone else can understand it and break it down and, and do something useful with it.
(01:41:25):
Because I think we do, we think like, oh yeah, well this is the standard. So anybody I have my roommate shoots rockets into space to put satellites around the planet and like he works on this every day and when you talk to him about his job, he's like, yeah, I'm just doing some engineering cubicle . And I'm just like, no dude, , you shoot an alien ships into the air so that they stay there for the next hundred years. Like that's insane. Yeah. Um, so you get used to this sort of like language where it's hard to break it down piece by piece so that it's digestible and also like incredible. I think we're doing a good job to, to tap ourselves on the back, um, of I'll give you a tap. Thanks brother. Yeah. Just don't, no touching. I think we're doing a good job of uh, making sure that people can, can understand and, and can take things away from it when these elite players might think that their conversation is standard.
(01:42:17):
Cuz you forget what it was like when you were 18, 19 and you're playing your first tournament or when you're 30 and you're playing your first tournament. So guys, uh, I do, ooh yes, we we're getting some, uh, some film advice. That would be awesome. Guys. If you have any questions, please, please let us know. We're still here, but we're gonna close it down. We're gonna shut down shop, um, in a little bit. Uh, all of our replays are available, uh, in less than two hours for our main draw members. So if you're a main draw member or above on [email protected], uh, you get this replay right away. Everybody else, we take small chunks, uh, and we chop it up to, to be like some of the juicier parts, but they have to go in accordance with our release schedule so that we can design our release schedule the proper way.
(01:43:05):
Because, you know, we're always coming out with new courses, new training systems, and we talked a lot here about blocking. So what we do is we take these chunks and we say, wow, we got so much information from Sarah Pavin about blocking. So we're gonna take these little advice chunks and we put them into our blocking course, which is being developed right now and that gets tailed onto that course. So any course that you buy, any membership that you buy, whatever it is today, in two months, three months, four months, a year, it is an entirely stronger and stronger and stronger course. And the stronger it gets, most likely the the price will be a little bit higher. So if you buy that membership now or today, you pay that price. We, we don't do like the scumbag companies do and we like increase prices on on people who are, who have already paid.
(01:43:52):
Like everybody I promise will always get grandfathered with their price. So the course that you're buying today is gonna be twice as valuable in a year and you're gonna be paying the same price if you sign off now. So if you wanna look at those memberships, we got beginners memberships, um, we have a Rising Star membership, a main draw membership, and those are main draw membership is two courses away from being completely built out, but you do wanna get it now so that it doesn't increase price next time you go. Um, cuz it's gonna be more valuable like we said. But all of those members main draw members get full access to every webinar replay. Um, and we upload those two hours afterwards and then we make all the other small bits of it really pretty so that we can put it on YouTube so that our YouTube channel doesn't become sort of like unedited trash. Um, our editor would be pissed at us. did
Brandon Joyner (01:44:41):
That. Yeah. Um,
Mark Burik (01:44:43):
Alex, thanks for coming buddy. Um, uh, I'll talk to you soon. So we got a slight production hint from someone who, yeah,
Brandon Joyner (01:44:49):
Christopher, thanks for the, um, I'll try the light. Uh, I unfortunately, I I think the, ah, look at that. Yeah, I'll have, I'll, I'll have to play around next time and see if I can find something. I need to have that natural glow. I care a lot about that. So
Mark Burik (01:45:03):
This one that I got, it's like 17 bucks. It's got a little bendable thing. It's l e d so cool energy.
Brandon Joyner (01:45:08):
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I don't wanna have a cold blue hue .
Mark Burik (01:45:15):
And I think over time guys, uh, if you are in those production businesses or you have any connections, we would love to get like quality microphones or anything like that. We're not coaching currently the, what we're doing is running free webinars and we do have courses built. We currently have over 140 members now, uh, in our strength and conditioning program. Cause everybody's buying into the beach volleyball 60 day strength and conditioning program. Really hope that you guys invest in that because it's awesome and it's built specifically for beach volleyball players. And yes, if you are a volleyball player, it is 100% app applicable. So you do wanna invest in that during right now because a lot of the practices, maybe you can't practice with a ball. That doesn't mean that the courses lose their value though, because most of it is learning the whys and the hows of every little thing so that the next time you do get on the court, that is when you say, I know exactly where I need to be every single time and this is why I need to be there.
(01:46:17):
You don't want to go onto the court and then start learning how to do things because then you've wasted this opportunity that we have in quarantine. Right? So I do recommend investing in those courses right now. I do recommend for sure getting the 60 day strength and conditioning program and if you guys have any questions about them, we're happy to answer them. But the most common question that I'm getting about the 60 day strength and conditioning program is I don't have gym equipment. What do I do for almost every exercise? 80% of the exercises you need one, uh, volley band. So, uh, a rehab band. And if you guys go to, uh, I'm gonna put it in the chat here, volley bands.com and you enter the promo code Burrick, uh, you will get 10% off there. You're going to look at power bands. Uh, so you need power bands and then you need some hip bands. And I am also going to include those links here so that you guys can buy them on Amazon. And those are super easy to get. So just wait for a second while I give you that link. And
Brandon Joyner (01:47:22):
You, I think we completely understand with everything that's going on and how it's affecting our lives and everything like that. And so if, and we don't, we're not publicly saying this, this is clearly just for you guys, so definitely keep it between us. But if you are interested in a membership or you're interested in a product and something's happened in the last couple weeks where money is an issue for you, like we don't necessarily want this to hold that, to hold you back from trying to do this, I'll put my email, uh, it's just Brandon Bamp, uh, brandon vo camp promosa.com. Please reach out to me and I'll do whatever I can to get you on board with this and kind of keep, get you moving forward. Um, we understand that this is a really tough time and uh, we definitely,
Mark Burik (01:48:08):
People right now who, who are trading with us these courses for a certain number of video editing. Like we have one person who is trading this course with us to write some SEO blogs for us. We need help because our goal is to become the number one beach volleyball education resource in the world. And so, you know, it's me, Brandon, and Tanya and John and like we are working as fast as we can, but everything takes time. Like editing this one hour and a half, uh, webinar takes close to seven hours just after shooting that. That's crazy. So that's, that's an entire day gone where you've ignored the rest of stuff. So if you got a skill, if you're a writer and you love volleyball, um, if you just want to learn something, uh, if you know video editing and you guys want to do trades that can help us grow, please, please, please get in touch. Do I need to start the program right away or do I lose it if I don't start directly now? Yeah, if you buy the 60 day Strength and conditioning program, you have that for life.
Brandon Joyner (01:49:09):
Yeah, you could do it every single off season or if you never did it this offseason and you just wanted to start next off season, you could do it then as well. But same thing as that grows in popularity, um, and as we add to it, it's gonna become more expensive. Kind of keep that in mind. If you think at all you're going to be interested in it and you think it can help you get it , just get it.
Mark Burik (01:49:30):
Get it, get it, get it. All right. That's it. Yeah, I'm up to, uh, I'm up to day three. I restarted that program, making some good notes on it and uh, gonna make those modifications too. But I am on blog number six for our strength and conditioning stuff, so adding that as well. Yeah guys, if you got special skills, if you know anybody who's got like a good microphone used for podcasting webinar, cuz this is, this is our new reality and we'd love to make it a better experience for you. And I know that there's that echo sound, but if you know anybody who's got like a cheap old microphone that they don't use that it's good for this stuff. Anything, we're, we're more than happy. You can get creative with how you can help us and then we can help you. Or if you just need help, please let us know. Cause we, that's, I think that's why we both became coaches and teachers because we thoroughly enjoy helping people and
Brandon Joyner (01:50:20):
Helping them appreciate. Sure. Yeah. Better. All righty. Well that was fun. Thank you guys for uh, tuning in. I'm sure you loved having Sarah on. I don't know, maybe at some point we can get her back on cuz everything leading up to the Olympics I'm sure is gonna be amazing for her and hopefully I can get back out there with them and train with them here soon. All righty. See you, mark. I'll talk to you later buddy. Peace out brother. Thanks for having me.
Mark Burik (01:50:41):
Hey man, anytime. Awesome Mel. Yeah. Going to sign up for strength and conditioning. We'll see you in there. If you have any questions, post 'em on the comments inside the product and we will answer them right away. Um, and you can check out our Instagram channels as well because we're doing exercises from those workouts so you can get some different ideas in case you have different equipment.
Brandon Joyner (01:51:02):
Perfect. Take it easy.
