Logan Webber (00:00.882)
One.
Mark Burik (00:06.405)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Better at Beach podcast. My name is Mark Burke. My co-host is back in town. I don't know if his microphone is working. We're setting things up, but we're back. I apologize for leaving you guys for so long, but we've got everything back in order. We're gonna do a podcast. It's gonna be every week. We're gonna have new guests and we're doing something kind of cool. All of our podcast guests.
for the next three months, we'll see if it goes beyond. All of them are actually, we're gonna create a master class with them, which means that they're going to share all of their best volleyball advice, workout tips, things that they learned, either on the NCAA, AVP, FIVB, whatever it is, and then we are going to take them in, and they're gonna come to our members on Better at Beach, our Better at Beach Complete Player members, and they're gonna do video review with our members. So, if you're not a member on Better at Beach,
just make sure that you sign up because we have unlimited video analysis, which means that me and my team of coaches are ready to watch any video that you post in our community, soon it will be an app, and within 24 hours you will get feedback and advice on the video you post, whether that's workout and fitness advice, technical advice, strategy, or just positioning and game, or if you just want some life advice from us, we will definitely shoot it your way.
But each of our guest coach, so each of our podcast hosts or podcast guests will become a guest coach for that week. So we're gonna build a masterclass with them. We're gonna include that masterclass into our Better at Beach library. Then once that happens, we're, sorry, as that's happening, we're going to be coaching and having them coach. So next Tuesday.
at our complete player meeting. If you're not a complete player member yet, go to betterbeach.com forward slash coaching, betterbeach.com forward slash coaching. Sign up, you can upload your videos. Logan, me, Brandon, Matt, Chad, we'll all watch them. We'll give you some feedback based on what you're doing. Then on Wednesday for our members only, Logan is gonna take us through one of his favorite matches or recent practices, and he's gonna give us what he was thinking.
Mark Burik (02:27.409)
what he was trying to do in that match, what he would do next time, and give us a video analysis of an elite match. And then, from our members, one of our complete player members from Better at Beach is going to get the chance to have a 20 minute video analysis one-on-one with Logan. I'll be hanging out in the background. And if you wanna be a part of that, and if you wanna enter that lottery to become, to get your video analyzed by Logan, just go to betteratbeach.com.
coaching, sign up now because that starts next week. And then each week, we're gonna have a new podcast guest, new guest coach. So that's our new direction for 2024. We've been doing some camps and we've been doing a lot of things and we've got new directions. So first things first, Logan, do you have any new directions? I'm not talking about like bands.
Do you have any new directions for this coming year?
Logan Webber (03:27.642)
As long as it's not one direction at least two directions. Oh man new directions, huh? Yeah, I mean we've been basically just experimenting around with things over the last probably month and a half It's really nice to be at this part of the year and already know who my partner is for this year Which is Hagen Smith once again? So it's been great because Hagen and I kind of jumped in like the
early to middle of last year and basically had two practices before our first event together. And then since that event started, it was just like tournament, up until we ended the year, the end of October at the Pan Am Games in Chile this past year. But it was basically just tournament after tournament. Chile, yeah.
Mark Burik (04:19.825)
pronunciation. Very good. Chile was, yeah, that was on it. It definitely didn't sound like a Midwestern. That was, I mean, you've been in SoCal for long enough.
Brandon Joyner (04:23.618)
I'm going to go to bed.
Logan Webber (04:26.471)
Um.
Brandon Joyner (04:26.614)
Very cultured.
Logan Webber (04:31.084)
She- She-Lay, yes.
Yeah, we went to Chile and it was chilly. But no, it's been great. We kind of last fall, once our tournaments had kind of wrapped up, we just immediately started jotting down kind of things we wanted to hammer out over the off season. And yeah, it's been great to just have time to be OK with not being good in the moment, but just like being able to build up a foundation.
Mark Burik (04:36.721)
Hahaha!
Brandon Joyner (04:37.166)
I'm going to go to bed.
Logan Webber (05:04.202)
We've been not, we've been kind of getting into a little bit more competitive things now, but for the first, I think our first practice back together was probably January 8th, which is right after we finished up our camps in Florida. So we got back and basically the first two weeks, we just didn't jump the entire time. Um, and that was kind of our goal going into it was to like, try and hold in some of the competitive juices for at least the first two or three weeks and like strictly pass.
Like every practice we're going to pass 500 balls and we're going to set 500 balls and worry more about the physical athletic stuff in the gym and not quite as much jumping and hitting and whenever you get into like full play volleyball it turns into your you get
Automatically, just as humans, we get a lot of focus on the result. And so if we're really trying to break down process and not worry about the results, it's a lot easier to do that when we know we're not jumping because we're just kind of taking away that last, that last step. So when we're taking away the last step, rather than judging on how hard I hit the ball or whether I hit a good spot. Now it's strictly judging on, okay, did I pass to where I wanted to? And was the set where I wanted it to be.
So yeah, it's been great over the last few weeks and Yeah, still trying to hold that in it's funny because we got maybe six practices in of doing a lot of drills and like zero gameplay and We're already like we would look over at a court next to us and see people like playing games and we're both just like I just want I want to play a game because it's We've been doing all this stuff and now I just wanted to do it But yeah, it's been important to kind of like hold ourselves back from that and just kind of
Mark Burik (06:46.246)
Mm.
Mark Burik (06:49.541)
So that's, I'd say that's pretty typical of most teams. It's when you start January, February, some, really in my experience, and you can throw down on this too, but in my experience, some people wanna start early, like December, getting out there, end of November. Some people wanna start in January. Some people are like, I'm not touching a ball till February. I think, who is it, Troy right now? I think he's like, no, still.
holding back, holding off, Miles Partain might be holding off for a while. And it's individual. You know, some people need a little more of that mental break. Some people want to hold off and make sure that their body is healthy before you go explosive, because it is it's tough physiologically to do explosive things.
while correcting motor patterns. Because the moment you do like violent actions and explosive actions where you're not controlling them or it's not a closed environment, your body will fall back into old patterns. So I think most players usually start literally, and we're talking ABP, maybe FIVB players, who knows how they do it out there, but at least the American side. January is a lot of standing and like trying to limit.
jumps and limit maybe big block moves, and then they focus really a lot on the sprints. But then I think everybody loses focus. Then I think like, you're so locked in to that way to say, now we're gonna build our technique and make sure that we've got this great foundation early in the winter. And then it comes time for tournament season, and I think two thirds of the teams fly off the rails.
Logan Webber (08:20.739)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (08:36.377)
you know, something happens wrong in the first tournament and whatever their goal that they set was in January, February, bye. You know, they think about the last cut shot that they hit into the net for one tournament that just knocked them out of the qualifier and now that's all they think about for the next week and it's like, hey man, you had 12 crappy passes. Like, go back to what you were working on in January. So have you always started in January or I know you're a high reps guy.
Logan Webber (08:56.31)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (09:05.121)
You know, it's tough to get you off of a volleyball court. And I think that's a great foundation. But is that when you always started? And what did the fall look like for you?
Logan Webber (09:16.49)
Well, I had never really had a starting point to the year because it's this was maybe the first year where I actually had like an ending point. So basically, the entire time I've been playing, I've been somewhat nonstop in terms of like, I'll just play like I'll play random tournaments in the middle of December. Like, so it was.
Mark Burik (09:37.369)
I can't believe you haven't played in Australia yet. It shocks me that you haven't done the Aussie New Zealand tour.
Logan Webber (09:40.414)
Yeah, I can't, honestly, I can't believe we, Hagen and I talked about trying to do either that this year or going to, uh, Tenerife where a lot of the international teams are training right now. Like they kind of have their like preseason training camps. Um, so we thought about that and then just like, man, we, I actually wanted to get some use out of my
ridiculous rent that I pay in California. So it's tough to, it's tough to get, like when we're on the road so much during the year, it's tough to then justify it to be like, let's leave again when we could be here.
Mark Burik (10:15.137)
Yeah. And you're already in an intense volleyball environment. You know, some of those teams in Europe, they have to leave because otherwise you're playing against the other team from Slovakia. And that's it. So most teams probably have or sorry, most countries have one to five competitive teams, you know, that you're getting good reps against and good challenges against. And so if they all go down to Tenerife, then it's like, OK, now we can.
Logan Webber (10:19.783)
Exactly.
Logan Webber (10:27.455)
Yeah.
Logan Webber (10:38.615)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (10:45.125)
kind of knock around against each other. Here in the US, Hermosa, where our classes are, by the way, if you ever want to stop in, this is where everybody is. There's 30 competitive teams and there's probably six teams that just retired because they either had a baby or found a good job and they'll still play in the morning. They'll still come out and bang with you, but they might not be playing on tour. So there's always an abundance of good reps in competition.
Logan Webber (11:14.634)
Yeah, it was really good for me to like, Hagan was very firm on when he was gonna stop and when he was gonna start with a volleyball again. So that was good for me, because again, I'll go like a week without being on the sand and just immediately wanna get back to it. I did kind of break my off season a little bit because Jake Urrutia and I had the opportunity to go play a King of the Court event in Doha in like the middle of December.
So I was like, well, you know what? I'm not going to pass that up. Like I wasn't worried about it. We didn't really train much before, but it was, it was a really cool experience. Those, uh, those tournaments are a lot of fun. And, um, it was great just to like, at least get introduced to that tour. Cause that's the first time that I had ever played one of those. And hopefully that'll lead to lead to Hagen and I, cause Hagen's played a lot of them and he's pretty involved with the whole king of the court thing. Um, so hopefully that'll lead to.
us together being able to get in more of them. But even like when we're at camps those two weeks, you know, or well, we did the two weeks in November as well. Like when we're at camps, it's still like, I'm still touching a volleyball, we still do practices two or three times. But if anything, it was more, I felt like I was able to kind of mentally just like go out and play when we're at camps.
Mark Burik (12:15.421)
That'd be cool.
Mark Burik (12:24.507)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (12:39.357)
Mm.
Logan Webber (12:39.702)
versus I knew when I came back, it was gonna be very like less physically taxing because it was three weeks of like not jumping at all, but it was also gonna be a lot more mentally focused. Whereas when we're at camps, it's just like, I'm gonna go out and just play because it's fun to play at camps. And so, yeah, and like, yeah, just, yeah.
Mark Burik (12:57.681)
Yeah, yeah. Just talks back to each other. It's like, that's the only goal is make campers laugh.
Logan Webber (13:05.298)
Yeah, just go out and play and, you know, throw sand in Matt's pockets and, um, and just kind of, you know, that that's honestly, it's, it's so much fun for me to have those camps and being able to coach them during the off season because the people, a, you're just around all the campers that just love to play volleyball. So you kind of, it brings you back to that, like why you started playing in the first place. And then for me as a player, when we do our training and things, stuff like that, I'm also able to then.
take that and just go out and have fun and like play competitive games, but not worry about whether I win or won or lost, or not really worry about, you know, putting together like a structure because I'm not playing with my normal partner. So I never really, you know, I didn't take three months without touching a volleyball because obviously during those camps, it's very active still being around volleyball, but just kind of being able to.
Mark Burik (13:48.902)
Mm.
Logan Webber (14:00.958)
Mentally not focus on my own game for a while was really nice this year
Mark Burik (14:06.786)
Do you think you focus too much in the past? Or did it create any sort of mental spiral or problem? Personal experience I've gotten.
Mark Burik (14:23.261)
So built up for so long, and then you put so much effort into it and so much time, and then that, because you do that and you get that hope, that first loss is so devastating. Like, way more devastating than any loss after that, because you trained yourself and you convinced yourself for so long that you're invincible, unstoppable, doing more than everybody else is doing, and finally ready.
And then that first loss is probably one of the stronger ones that knocks you down that you have to recover from. So have you felt kind of that mental pressure? Because again, I know that you can't stop playing volleyball. Some people like, I mean, Haydn when he was playing, he was like, no, it's winter. I'm not. No, I'm in the gym. And even in season.
His two or three practices were the most efficient, least amount of time wasted, no downtime, no chit chat, but he was very efficient with his body. And you could argue like, did he not like volleyball at that time? Or was he just being super elite athlete and saying, okay, this is my time, this is all I need and no more because I got to stay and recover.
Logan Webber (15:32.503)
Yeah.
Logan Webber (15:41.482)
Yeah, I mean, I think for him, it was probably a combination of a little bit of both of those things. But the start of last year, I felt that a lot that just like kind of let down when the start when the season started and you kind of realize that like, maybe, you know, maybe other people are working hard as well. Like, not that I wasn't working hard, but it was like, OK, well, you know what, everybody was getting better. I think that just kind of came from like.
That was last year when I was playing with Evan and Evan and I had really high expectations going into the start of the year. Part of that was off of the back of like a really good couple of international events last fall that we had. And then we were like, oh man, we did really well. We didn't, we hadn't trained much together the whole year and now we get this off season and we're going to get better. And then it's just going to keep going on an upward trajectory from there. And then we lost in the qualifier of like the first two.
Mark Burik (16:20.657)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (16:37.198)
two FIVB events that we played after getting a fourth and a ninth in the ones in the fall. So it was just kind of a letdown in terms of like, oh man, like this is really hard to do. Like playing international volleyball and staying at a high level consistently is not easy at all. And I think that was kind of a letdown as well as like one of the first AVPs was Huntington and we went 0 and 2 in Huntington or whatever we did.
Um, yeah, I think just kind of the, the high expectations that we had going into it, we kind of thought that it was, it was like, Oh, we got a fourth in a challenger on the world tour. There's no way we're ever going to go Oh, and two and an ABP again, because we just got to, you know, we just beat some of the best teams in the world. And then you realize like, Nope, like it's really is every single game is just the first person to score 21 points and anybody can score 21 points against anybody. Um, and that honestly is like the, the emotionally.
Mark Burik (17:29.484)
Yeah.
Logan Webber (17:36.45)
difficult part of this sport is like you can train as hard as you possibly can for the entire offseason and You play a team and they get a couple good roles against you and all of a sudden you lost to a team that you In your head you never thought you would lose to again and like you were saying that's the point where it's like I just put in so much work this offseason and Thanks to three trickle ace serves and like one bad pass by me. We just lost. Yeah Exactly, exactly
Mark Burik (17:51.32)
Mm.
Mark Burik (17:59.677)
spent $3,400 to visit Qatar. Yeah. Which isn't the worst.
Logan Webber (18:06.238)
But ultimately, for me, I'm always like, I would rather have that, and at least I knew that I did everything possible to my ability to not lose this game, and we just happened to lose it. But I would rather do that than not work hard and look at it and be like, if I just would have worked harder, like, well, no, I worked as hard as I possibly could. It just went their way today. So I would still rather have it that way, but still, it's never easy.
Mark Burik (18:34.077)
Now one thing that we're talking about, I'm talking about like company wise with my team and Better at Beach that we're focusing on this year is, it is not how hard you work. Like that's one of the things that we're flipping the script on. And it is not how hard you work. It's if you're working in the right direction and then are you working hard. Because if you work hard in the wrong directions or directionless, nothing good is gonna happen.
You know, you can like dig diagonally for a thousand yards and put all your muscles into it and you'll never hit gold. But if you would have just dug straight, you know, then you're going to hit gold. And so if you don't have sight on that, the direction that you're going and the different things that you're trying to implement with an understanding of, is this actually adding to my game? Have you listened to the, I think it's Scott Trumbauer podcast on Theo Vaughn?
Logan Webber (19:15.126)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (19:33.527)
I'm not, no.
Mark Burik (19:35.069)
So baseball player, he got famous because he was like a national college player of the year, like he won the Heisman for that. And then he got the Cy Young Award, but also got really famous because a girl made accusations against him and it was proven that she was trying to take his money and basically bribe him. And so the MLB and his organization distance himself from him immediately.
So, legally, he was not innocent until proven guilty, but in terms of his career, his organization, and Major League Baseball, he was guilty until proven innocent. So he had to go and play in Japan and everything. Anyway, big like volleyball, or sorry, big baseball mind, and that sort of intensity that he brought. And then in the, me going into Scott Trumbauer, what were we talking about? Because now I'm talking about Scott Trumbauer.
and I brought them up for a reason.
Logan Webber (20:36.599)
We were just talking about making sure we're going in the right direction because you can work really hard in the wrong direction. It doesn't really get you anywhere.
Mark Burik (20:41.365)
Oh, yeah. So he took a look at each year, who's the best pitcher in the league. I might have his name wrong, but either way. He said, who's the best pitcher in the league? What do they do better than I do? And you know, they've got a lot of statistics and everything, but he'd studied film and he says, what does this person do better than I do? How do I fix it?
And that was his whole goal. Like he took it like exact analysts and he didn't let it come inside himself, what he was thinking or anything like that. He took a look at other pitchers and he said, okay, what stat are they doing? What pitchers are they throwing? And then he petted those to sort of almost chase models, but then be better than them at the thing that they were great at. And I really, really enjoyed the podcast and how his brain works for how he attacks.
the Cy Young Award. Like he went for the Cy Young Award for 10 years and he's like, yeah, that was a goal that I had every year that took me 10 years to accomplish. Yeah.
Logan Webber (21:46.282)
Yeah. I think kind of on a micro level of that, we see a lot of players, especially these kind of like preseason practices. It's not a lot of like competitive stuff. And like for Hagen and I, it was a lot of three person practices. Right. So there's a lot of, you know, hitting on open nets. Exactly. Yeah. The one thing.
Mark Burik (21:55.93)
Mm.
Mark Burik (22:05.337)
and only because that helps you not compete. It's funny the stop gates that we put in. It's like, well, if we only ask three people to compete, like you're not gonna have necessarily more or better reps, but it'll prevent you from trying to compete and then trying to like not fix technique.
Logan Webber (22:19.115)
Yes.
Logan Webber (22:23.242)
Yep. And the one thing that we said was, okay, anytime, obviously we're not going to have a blocker on the other side. We're not going to have a defender on the other side for a lot of stuff. So what can we do to make, to make our attacking reps? This was once we kind of got to jumping a little bit more, what can we do to make our attacking reps more valuable to us? So what we did was we started drawing a line at like four or five feet from the net whenever we didn't have a blocker on the other side.
Mark Burik (22:40.999)
Hmm.
Logan Webber (22:52.498)
And we just said, okay, this, this four foot line is our new net. And we're going to work on hitting balls that are four to five feet off. Because what we saw was like, we would see teams practicing and even if it was warmups and they're just kind of doing like hitting line type stuff, and they would just be setting each other at like one or two feet and just like crushing the ball or like, you're not really getting better if you're setting each other at one foot off the net and just crushing on an open net, like there's not really any.
Mark Burik (23:20.012)
And so stupid, yeah.
Logan Webber (23:21.61)
Yeah, nobody's like, you're not getting better at anything. So that was our big thing for probably the first two or three weeks. It's like, we're going to get used to hitting at five feet. Because once a blocker does get there, if I'm setting the ball at five feet, it just takes the blocker so much out of the game at that point. And it was funny because one of the first kind of competitive practices we had, we were playing against Lev Prima and
Mark Burik (23:40.253)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (23:46.234)
Lev was just so confused for the first like 80% of practice. He was like, why are you setting so far off the net? Well, that's true. But he was like, why, like, why are you setting five feet off the net? And we're like, well, we were siding out at like 95%. So like, apparently it's working. But that was one of the things that, uh, when we were at the Pan American games, um, the top Brazilian, right. Top Brazilian team right now. Um,
Mark Burik (23:51.307)
He's confused at practice anyway, dude. It has nothing to do with you guys setting.
Logan Webber (24:14.586)
Andre Stein and George All of their sets are especially George like his preferred set is probably six to seven feet off the net and he just he works it just completely takes the blocker out of the game and we're like, okay if we can get good at doing that then when we get in game and the ball is at maybe three or four feet instead it's gonna feel so comfortable and every time that we find because
Mark Burik (24:26.257)
Mmm.
Logan Webber (24:43.278)
90% of volleyball players when they're attacking, their biggest issue is that they get too far under the ball. So we figured if we can get used, if we can expect the five foot set, when we get the three foot set, then it's our time to like just absolutely crush. And we'll do that with vision. Whereas if I'm expecting a two foot set all the time, when I get the five foot set, then I'm just totally out of luck at that point. So that was always our big thing over those first three weeks is like we're setting this boundary and
Mark Burik (24:57.981)
Mm-mm.
Logan Webber (25:13.282)
We made it tough on ourselves because we were also Sinjin, who's obviously Hagen's dad, but like one of the best players ever. Sinjin's big thing for us when we started working with him a little bit this year was, I want you guys to work on passing more to the net because a lot of the time last year, you looked, you passed at like 15 to 12 feet and that looked comfortable for you. So see if we can move that from 15 feet.
Mark Burik (25:21.861)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (25:39.117)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (25:42.306)
to like five feet, right? So we're airing tight on our passes, but we're airing off on our sets. And it made it really difficult because we would have a lot of tight passes that would then need to get set back off the net. And we're like, man, this is really hard. But then when we got in games, it was like, okay, now that I'm kind of bringing that, both of those things more in the middle, it's saving.
Mark Burik (25:44.189)
All right.
Logan Webber (26:05.866)
a lot of plays. So drawing that line and being like, okay, we're going to pass the first ball in front of this line and set the second ball behind that line. It created just a little bit higher level of difficulty versus just I'm going to pass and hit every single.
Mark Burik (26:21.017)
Yeah, I do like that. And then getting people to pass in front of the 10 foot line. So we always, camps, classes, everything, we always recommend, hey guys, pass it six feet from the net. If you aim at three feet regularly, there's a bell curve and then it might look perfect, but you're gonna miss a little bit around it. So then you end up getting a few too tight and then a few at a perfect spot, but the few too tight are when people end up losing those points. It's for sure.
better to pass 10 feet off than one foot off. Because you've got that control. But at the same time, there's that balance, because having a ball that's traveling towards the net. From like behind or from next to your shoulder or from slightly behind you, it's a very different visual. And you end up looking sideways more than you look forward sometimes, sometimes not for everybody.
Logan Webber (26:53.183)
Hmm.
Mark Burik (27:18.609)
But then you lose vision of what you're supposed to have vision on, which is defense and block. And if you can pass so that the ball is in front of you and you never go off sides for all those football, soccer people out there, like don't let yourself get in front of the ball ever, then the ball is always in front of you. And then that means that the defense should always be in the background. And a lot of people pass and then their center is next to them before they even start their approach and say, well, now you're looking sideways. Then the ball's going to go up.
then you have to look forward, then you have to look up again. And so at no point, except for that one flash forward, where you're able to check out the defense, and instead it should just exist behind the ball so that you always have the view of them without even trying. I remember playing indoor and just shanking a pass and setter would yell at you like it was on purpose. The other hitters would yell at you, but if you pass right in front of your antenna as a left side, and then the setter kind of had to set straight up so that you get that set.
Logan Webber (28:15.85)
Yep.
Mark Burik (28:17.605)
But those are some of the biggest hits. It's like, I'm coming forward at a straight up set, I know where it is and I can see everything. There's no fear in that situation because nothing's sliding around.
Logan Webber (28:30.666)
Well, and the other thing that we talked a lot about this off season, and it seems like every single year, like every team talks about trying to hit more on to during the off season. But when we talk about passing, basically just like, we're going to be the aggressors throughout the entire first, second and third contact. So if I'm being aggressive and more, I'm thinking about setting my pass instead of just passing my pass. We immediately.
we take control of that play back because we're already messing up the other side's defense. And it's funny, because literally every team this off season, I've heard they're like, yeah, we're working on like pushing the first pass across a little bit more so we can get a lot of on two stuff. And obviously like a lot of that stems from people watching Andy and Miles. And I think maybe this year, a more impressive example of that is watching Chase Buddinger and Miles Evans and how like they're
Mark Burik (29:13.562)
Course you are, yeah.
Logan Webber (29:29.598)
able to hit so many balls onto and really like took both of their games to a level that they hadn't. I mean, definitely Miles Evans has had more success this year. I think a lot of that is due to a lot of option swings by both of them, just because they're always pushing the ball like across and forward. And that just it's so hard to try and like pick on either of them.
because you might get them to make one error, but then the very next play, it's like, well, Miles isn't hitting the ball now, it's Chase hitting the ball because he's putting him up on two. And it's crazy to watch like those guys and how that change in their offense has made them just so good this year.
Mark Burik (30:01.895)
Mmm.
Mark Burik (30:12.021)
Yeah, and hitting a ball coming from the back part of the court, it's really not easy. It's you have to absolutely rep it out. And there's a time when you can get comfortable with it for sure. Finally, I think I always get slack for this, but coed courtesy rules, I just don't believe in them. If you assign coed by level.
Logan Webber (30:18.135)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (30:34.626)
Ha ha.
Mark Burik (30:38.613)
you know, it means that you should play your hardest. So, like, play at that level. But, you know, if I'm playing against a B level person, alright, yeah, I'll be kind if you decide to play in the highest, the highest level of this, like, let's go at it. But playing co-ed at the level where there are no courtesy rules makes guys fantastic at hitting on two. Because you really learn how to try to
you should be playing on a men's net for that. And then especially if you have like a shorter libero type female, then she should be able to pass nails and you should be able to crank on two to make that happen. And that is, it's really nice to play a coed, non courtesy rule match every now and then, just to do it, just to get really good at that on two stuff or
make a rule in practice, maybe we can do this next week, make a rule in practice that, well, we kind of do it anyway. The third touch, you have to be standing. So all of our warmup drills that we're doing right now, just so listeners know, we can do anything with the first touch. So the first touch can be anything. And then we go through a bunch of emergency series where you're allowed to, or your second touch,
and third touch must be tomahawks. So you could either spike it over on one, bump it over on one, set it over on one, or you could pass the first ball, and then you have to tomahawk either the second ball or the second and third ball. And if you can pass the ball tight enough to the net for that second touch, that's probably that first pass is your best control option. And then a jump tomahawk looks stupid.
Like we're doing it in practice. It really looks dumb. But it gives you that really nice importance of, okay, can we lift this? And then we go through first touch is anything, second two touches must be pokies. So you either learn to control that pokie and then doing jump power pokies is getting pretty funny. And the best one that I think we're doing is passing so that...
Logan Webber (32:31.947)
Defective.
Mark Burik (32:58.529)
the second two touches must be open hand contacts. Because number one, that I think is gonna teach to how to get somebody in trouble when you have a terrible set or a terrible situation and you need to get the ball over the net, you're probably gonna use an open hand slap on the third ball. So if you set the second ball with an open hand slap, right, if you get a good one, you're not really gonna be in a rhythm approach. So it should be teaching us to jump quick slap.
right, in those trouble situations. But if you get a great first pass, I mean, plays are ending right there. So it's been a nice warmup series that I've enjoyed seeing, and I think holds us all to a certain standard with our first touch. But you're the one who's playing. You've been through it now for, this was our third practice. Third, fourth. Fourth? Yeah, so are you enjoying?
Logan Webber (33:50.23)
fourth, I think. Yeah.
Mark Burik (33:54.709)
that style as a player or is there a different way that you would rather start a practice that you think gets you in a better mood?
Logan Webber (34:01.834)
No, I love it. Just for people who have been to our camps before, it's basically, and you described it like this the first time we did it is it's like the next evolution of our like 10s drill that we do at practice where we do like platform, hands, hands. And then you have your tomahawk, your knuckle, your slaps. It's basically that only instead of just with my partner, it's now kind of aggressive over the net. Um, I love, I, a lot of practices, at least for people in California start with like just a normal no jump game.
Um, and then that kind of, you can kind of play different like evolutions of no jump. Um, I actually liked this a lot better than no jump because like you said, it, a, it warms you up in terms of like, if I can jump on this ball, even if I jumped Tomahawk or I jumped knuckle, it starts to warm up your jump a little bit more and it also just creates a little bit more chaos. Whereas sometimes when you're just playing no jump, it can just be like, I'll serve, I'll get to my spot and then I'll just like stand and wait for
10 seconds while I wait for something on the other side to happen. Whereas this just, it's a little bit more dynamic than your normal no jump game. And also, like you said, it just, it puts you in weird situations where you have to be smart to get out of it. It's funny because it does really force you to pass or it makes you incentivize you, I should say, to pass.
tight and somewhat well because you don't really want to use your third contact in most of those. Because I am, if I can pass tight, yes, if I can pass tight and just tomahawk chop the ball over, that's going to be more effective than me trying to give my partner a good tomahawk set so that they can, they can tomahawk over. Same with the knuckles. My knuckle setting is awful. So I would much rather get a tight set and just be able to like knuckle the ball over on two than I would trying to knuckle to my partner.
Mark Burik (35:32.282)
Because now you have to set with the tama octet. Yeah.
Mark Burik (35:55.877)
Mm, yeah, I like that it gives us a good warmup. Guys, just in case, if you do want to see this drill and this practice, number one, the link below, so if you check out the links below, if you opt in to our email list, we send you volleyball tips every day, we send you a five, you get a 5% discount code on any one of our camps or in-person, in-person or online training programs.
and we send you our 36 favorite beach volleyball drills as well as three workouts for your vertical jump. So check out that link that's around this video and you'll be able to get free drill book, three free workouts, 5% discount code and we send you constant volleyball updates, information, drills. Also, if you want to join the Complete Player Program where our members get to learn from elite coaches and you can submit an unlimited amount of video.
30 seconds at a time and we give you the advice right back. So you got a coach in your pocket. Logan and me will show you on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, if you're a member, we'll show you exactly the practice we're talking about. And it's how we've warmed up and initiated every practice and it equals about the first 25 to 30 minutes of practice in a nice competitive way where we're not necessarily getting bored or getting
complacent and we're certainly not peppering because God I hate peppering. So we waste no time getting into it, but we get pretty warm. So if you guys wanna join the membership, we'll show you that drill, but if you just want 36 free drills and a few workouts and a 5% discount code, check out the link around this video for free volleyball drill book.
Logan Webber (37:44.582)
And I actually, I pretty actively use that drill book. Um, it is funny, even though like, I mean, I practice definitely more than like the average volleyball player around the country. And even, even I like, I, I just for you forget drills that you liked. So it's funny going from like coach to coach to coach to coach. It'll be like coaches all have different styles of how they, they kind of run their drills or what drills they run.
Mark Burik (37:51.107)
Thanks.
Mark Burik (37:57.959)
Yeah, you're an a-
Logan Webber (38:14.178)
But it's so funny when I get out then without a coach, even in the like three person practices, and it's like, man, I know there's so many three person drills that I really liked and that flowed really well, but I just cannot remember them in the moment. So just having like some sort of document, like those 36 drills and the drill book is super helpful because so often like people are okay with doing drills. It's just, they don't come in with any sort of plan to practice. So then trying to think of drills on the fly is like, oh man, that like.
Mark Burik (38:38.538)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (38:43.818)
What drill are we gonna do? Eh, we'll just play. And that's how most practices end up divulging into just play.
Mark Burik (38:46.838)
in some way.
Yeah, devolving.
Logan Webber (38:52.534)
devolving, something like that, yeah.
Mark Burik (38:54.585)
divulging is like when you give information. It's all right, man. You're an athlete. I'm a big grammar guy. Huge grammar police. Janelle can't stand it. Yeah, there are those different theories of practice. Like there's the kind of
Logan Webber (38:57.206)
Ah yes, you're right. Devolve.
Logan Webber (39:03.966)
Yeah, no wonder I can't remember the drills.
Logan Webber (39:13.13)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (39:23.749)
typical or stereotypical Brazilian practice, which is like a million touches constantly. And a lot of them you don't see when it's coming or getting into a game format. But how are you gonna argue with their success based on all of those systems and based on all of those players? Like a million touches done well or just getting the same result, you're allowing your athlete.
to just figure it out on your own. Whereas kind of typical US coaches talk a little bit more, typical Eastern European coaches just, you know, drive your ego into the ground. So you make sure that you're crap and hopefully you build yourself back up. But what do you vibe with and what do you think is actually the most effective? This is totally opinion. But what do you think is actually most effective? We know from certain learning studies.
Unfortunately, a lot of studies are done within a single environment or culture or society. Like when we're nice to those Eastern Europeans that come to our camps, they can't stand it. They're like, this isn't a practice. You're just telling me everything that I did nicely. Like, whereas if you get, yeah, a 15 year old American teenager, like their parents are going to
Logan Webber (40:30.134)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (40:43.432)
Max from this year is watching, that's him.
Mark Burik (40:50.073)
jump down your throat if you don't tell them that sunshine is coming out of all orifices. So what do you think is the most effective style of coaching or the favorite that you've been a part of?
Logan Webber (41:05.21)
I think a lot of it comes down to whether you're a player that can stay focused through an entire Brazilian style practice so I mean that is a lot of the times in those like super high rep like dig a ball then run down a shot and then dig another ball and lay on the ground and crawl under something and then Like I think there's a time and a place for those The thing for me is if you're a player that's going to be very outcome
uh, focused in something like that. I don't think you're going to get much better through that because you're just going to continue to do the same thing that you were doing just at a faster pace. Um, so.
Mark Burik (41:46.649)
Well, isn't it just up to the coach to say, well, no, that has to be higher. So you're still, you still like get the outcome. You just get a million chances at the outcome because yeah, if you dig crappy balls low all the time, you're going to dig that ball. Maybe you're going to dig that ball low in the game, you know? And I see a lot of those. Yeah. They're touching balls that get three feet in the air. It's like, okay, great controlled touch, but can your partner hit on two off of that layout dig?
Logan Webber (42:15.858)
Yeah, so I think being able to...
Logan Webber (42:22.27)
to focus through like what am I trying to improve in this fast drill or is it strictly a conditioning drill? Because I think there's a place in practices where it's like, all right, like we're gonna end practice with just like a straight out like burnout type drill where it's just a bunch of balls in a row. And basically this is just cardio at the end of practice. So I think there is a place for those like super fast, more cardio based drills. But I think
Mark Burik (42:28.069)
Okay.
Logan Webber (42:52.094)
you need to have still like active, slower, coached type reps. And then maybe throw in some of those faster drills. If you're, if you're like, you know what, I get tired at the end of long rallies. Okay. So in order to improve that, we're going to do some burnout drills at the end of practice before we play our like final set to 21, that way we get our bodies. Feeling like they would at the end of a full match before we finish.
So that way we're used to playing under that slightly, I guess, deteriorated physical condition and how do I respond in that circumstance. But if I'm trying to actively, like if I'm trying to focus on dropping my inside shoulder more on passes or something like that, getting hit 100 balls at me in a minute, I'm not gonna be able to self-evaluate and also my coach isn't gonna be able to evaluate me. So I think...
If I'm really working on something technical, that's when you need a slower, just more coached and kind of like introspective practice more than just the rep, rep. So I don't know, I go back and forth on what kind of style is best. Like I worked a lot with Jose Loyola and he,
is obviously Brazilian. So he's a little bit more up tempo, but I also think he's been in the US and been around like USA coaching enough that he's a pretty good balance between the two. Like he'll run a lot of reps, but he'll also give you quick little bits. Sometimes you don't understand what he said, but a lot of times he'll give quick little bits on like, he's a really good blocking coach. So he'll give quick bits on like, we're going to shuffle out and then, you know,
make sure your right hand is getting, you know, you're pushing like through your shoulder for this block. And then we'll do it all really fast. And it'll be like, okay, yeah, you did it that time, or you didn't do it that time. So not as much like single rep evaluation, but you'll do six straight really fast. And then he'll give you kind of a key, which I liked that a lot. I also think, you know, the just slower evaluating each play.
Logan Webber (45:13.963)
Especially I like the slower practices if you're trying to kind of get on the same page with a partner in a new partnership I think you have to do that. Yeah
Mark Burik (45:20.065)
You gotta, I mean, that's everything. The fact that people just constantly play with a new partner, they show up and somebody say, was that set good? And then the response is, no, it's fine. I'll fix it. That's my feet. It's like, wait, something went wrong in that process. And because you want to be so complementary, honeymoon stage with this person and you're excited that they're playing with you and you just want them to keep playing with you.
you're not willing to correct anything. I mean, it is 100% how like actual relationships work. Like, everything's perfect. You don't mind when she does that here and there. You don't mind that like, oh, it's cool that he leaves his shirt on the floor in his room. But long-term, if you don't address those at some point, they become the thing that you just focus on and it ruins your mind and it eats at you until you either.
in beach volleyball, more typically, the blow up is you just like break up with a partner without even letting them know why and you never talked about, you never told them the thing that they needed to do to make you good. You just didn't mention it and then you kind of assumed that they never figured it out on their own and why didn't they figure it out on their own and then you assumed that they suck, you know? And meanwhile, you just needed to open your mouth and I think for you guys, like when I'm coaching you guys,
I'm still of the mindset that the most value I have for you guys is to ask you questions that you wouldn't sit, discuss, talk through with each other because I've been a guy, because I've been a male athlete on tour and I know that the majority of people just don't have the right conversations. And then that.
That initial garbage of, no, that's fine. That doesn't help your team at all. You know, like I love Adam Roberts, I share this all the time, but when he sets a ball and he's like, you like that set? And it's like, yeah. And then he goes, okay, was it an eight or nine or a 10? Like, rate it a nine. Great, what would, you know, if you say like seven or six, he's like, great, what would make it a 10? That's the best series of questions, period.
Logan Webber (47:18.691)
Yep.
Logan Webber (47:29.342)
Was it perfect? Yep.
Mark Burik (47:42.881)
You know, like getting that exact picture of what a good set is early, so that, or a good pass, or a good, you do this in this situation. Yeah, it's going to take you five, six minutes to sit through and talk. No, you can't sit down and have a 30 minute powwow while the other team is waiting for you to figure it out. But the conversation has to happen. And to me, working with you guys, maybe there's more there. But
I think that most of the value is going to be like, hey, let's open up our vocals a little bit and try to discuss problems before they become problems or the little itches that create a blow up later on.
Logan Webber (48:22.582)
Yeah, I think part of that too is even if you're in a volleyball community that is very fast paced and other teams will get angry with you, even if you take those like minute to discuss something, try to find a time during a week, A, always film everything you do, and then try and find like just 30 minutes when you and your partner can go get coffee or something and you can just watch that set back because that
then you can have all of those discussions while you're actively watching it and you're not engaged in that like competitive mode and trying to fix things. So if you're in a community that, you know, we're just gonna be competitive, like, okay, fine, be competitive, but then have 30 minutes during the week to break things down a little bit with your partner and be like, okay, what could have been better with that play? And then you're both watching it. There's no...
Ambiguity in like what you're trying to do. It's like oh well Why did you do this on this play and as you're both watching it there you can figure that out Versus like you said just never knowing why they're doing certain things
Mark Burik (49:24.177)
Mm.
Mark Burik (49:31.757)
Yeah, and if you don't have a partner that wants him to do that with you, you guys know where to go. That's exactly what we do, like every day, complete player program. So last ad guys, I promise, but in the complete player program on Better at Beach, that's exactly what we do. You guys, you can take our courses at your own pace. We give you tutorials and then we give you the drills to fix various parts of your game, whether it's fitness, mobility, nutrition, passing setting, attacking, your arm swing or your jump mechanics. You film the drills.
You can put up a 30 second clip into our community whenever you want and we're there to coach you 24 seven. We will respond within 24 hours and Logan's been cool enough to just jump in there without even asking. I saw you're in there just like coaching all of our members. Thanks Logan. But if you guys don't have somebody who knows the answer to those questions or you feel like you and your partner won't communicate in the best way or neither of you have the answers or.
you just don't have, or they don't have the time to sit with you 20 minutes and say, hey, let's look at this film together and decide where we were. That's what we're providing. It's because in our careers, you know, still, and when I was playing, I knew that that's what I needed. I got the absolute most out of 10, 20 minutes of having a coach on my couch, instead of having him on the court hitting a ball. Like...
When I went to Jeff Alzena's house and sat on a couch, I go, no, I'm paying you for a private at your house. Like we're watching film together. Did the exact same thing with Rich Lambert, right? And then Jason.
What's his last name? Shoot. Kelly's wife. Kelly's husband. Jason. What's his last name? Asian Jason.
Mark Burik (51:26.022)
USA coach.
Logan Webber (51:26.323)
Oh, Jordan Chang. Yes. Jason.
Mark Burik (51:28.837)
Jordan Chang, how the hell did I call him Jason? Anyway, yeah, when he talked to us at Pan Am Games, it was like me and Ian are looking at each other and I'm like, man, that's a perfect pass. And he's like, yeah, man, there's nothing I can do with that pass. And I'm like, what? That's where I need to put it. And he's like, that's way too far. And this was seven months into us playing together.
Logan Webber (51:37.986)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (51:56.077)
And we didn't take the time to sit there on film together with a third voice saying, is this exactly where you want it? No? Okay, where do you want it? Like, how many points did we lose? Because I was sending a ball to the place I thought was perfect, to the place where he felt like an absolute victim and it was an awful pass, you know, and we stayed silent and never fixed it and went through months of losses because of it. So anyway, yes, film, guys, and then ask questions such as good, bad, perfect.
That's a great question just to start a good conversation. Hey, was this good, bad, or perfect? And then just have them measure it and just pause it after the pass. Pause it after the set, pause it after the hit. And then at least you have those conversations and you don't run through partners because there's this silence that you guys never figured out and you assumed that they just couldn't figure it out. I was upset. I really was upset to see you break up with Evan. I thought that you guys...
Logan Webber (52:34.19)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (52:56.357)
did have huge expectations early, which I didn't think about then, but after seeing you guys break up, I was like, yeah, they had these monster expectations, and then probably assumed, and I guess I was thinking that because that's kind of what me and Hudson did. We got into the main draw several times, and then Frischmann and Brunsting, like Brunsting showed up.
Logan Webber (53:23.97)
Mm-hmm. My doppelganger.
Mark Burik (53:26.689)
out of the qualifier, and I'm like, we're a main draw team. You know, who are these kids? And they beat us, you know, in Huntington, and that was this big throw of like, never expect. Have that same dog hunger that you have, and then when you are a big dog, like, don't expect yourself to win. Mandate that is your mountain. You know, and all those little whippersnappers, like, they don't.
belong there but don't act like that, like bite them hard instead of just expecting that it's going to come because you think that you won something last year. So I think I do think the expectations there were tough on you guys and maybe they're, do you think that different conversations or a different coach might have held you together longer or had it just run its course?
Logan Webber (54:06.582)
Yeah, it's a...
Logan Webber (54:19.962)
Um, I think for kind of where we're both at mentally, like we, because we, we had a lot of conversations. We worked with a, uh, like a sports psychologist through USA volleyball and, um, got a lot of, a lot of use out of him. Um, but I honestly think at that point, it was just, it was kind of uncurable where we were at. Um, I think we both just.
we had we had gone through so many cycles of like you know One person's side out would break down and then that would turn into the other person Trying to do too much on the other end and it was just like it was almost like every match we were both waiting for that like edge of the cliff to come and It was just like how long can we hold ourselves back from falling off the cliff? but it was always like we could always see the cliff so then it was just like
whether we held it off until it was 18-18, or we held it off until it was 12-12 and the other team went on the run. It was just like we were always waiting for the other team to go on the run, versus like you said, being like, we're attacking this game. The game's not attacking us. Like it always felt like the game was attacking us. And I do think it just kind of got to a point where it was, it didn't even feel like a certain skill thing or like a, you know.
Mark Burik (55:30.705)
Mm.
Logan Webber (55:48.334)
I should have passed better. He should have done something better on defense. It didn't even feel like it was that. It just felt like we had gotten to a point mentally where we didn't really trust each other to do our individual jobs. And then from there, it just like very quickly broke down and kind of showed itself in the game. But yeah, I mean, I think it looks great on paper and we had obviously had a lot of success in years before that, but.
Mark Burik (56:06.022)
Mm.
Logan Webber (56:17.118)
Ultimately, I think it worked out for the best. Sometimes you just need that breath of, not even fresh air, but just different air. And again, I go back and forth now a lot on the idea of goal setting, especially in terms of long-term goals, because we did a lot of goal setting that year, and it just felt like every time we weren't on track to hit our goal, it was just like...
kind of devastating because our goals were so high that if we were like, how we want to make the Olympics and then it was, we would lose in like the semi-final of a CBVA. And then it was like, man, if we can't even win a CBVA, how are we supposed to make the Olympics? And it was, yeah. But it was just like, we set those goals so high. And I think we put so much expectation on ourselves. And then when,
Mark Burik (57:00.881)
CBA is the hardest volleyball in the world. Yeah.
Logan Webber (57:12.778)
when we split up and I was like, man, I don't even know who I'm going to play with. Like there was zero expectation for the rest of this year. And that's when I felt like I played my best. Um, even the first tournament that Hagan and I played, we lost the very first match of the Virginia beach ABP last year. And that was the first match we had ever played together, or at least in the last like year we had played together. And so after that match, it was just like, well, if this doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But you know,
Mark Burik (57:21.265)
Mm.
Logan Webber (57:39.242)
So that was when we really had zero expectations. Yeah. Yeah, it was like zero expectations at all. And that's when we played our best. See, I've gone back and forth on the idea of like long-term goal setting, because a lot of people push that a lot. And I understand the idea of like, nothing great ever happened on accident. But I think for me, just like putting so much pressure, like I put a lot of pressure on myself as it is. I don't really need the like.
Mark Burik (57:40.593)
Like a first date. No expectations on a first date, you know? Like, I don't really...
Logan Webber (58:09.266)
external pressure of trying to reach a long-term goal. I like now the idea of taking week-by-week goals versus goals for the whole year.
Mark Burik (58:21.093)
Yeah, we're doing in the company, so with like Chad, Brandon, Matt, Cheryl, all the people behind the scenes at Better Beach, now we're doing goals, but our main page that we're gonna be looking at every week is actionables. What action can we definitely take this week that leads or we think could lead to a bigger overarching goal? And if it's...
Logan Webber (58:37.328)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (58:50.941)
Getting more of our members to win tournaments, what actions can we possibly take? Number one, call them more, maybe. Maybe two, text them more. You get more group or team challenges, like divide them into teams and do challenges so that engagement and actual reps at home, you make sure that you increase because then they put a little bit of pressure on each other to win the challenge. So more of our focus now is on actionables.
Logan Webber (59:20.802)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (59:21.777)
more than goals. And it's going to be, okay, did we perform the actions? And then you take a look and you're like, all right, after a week, two weeks, did it have an effect? And a big problem is the measurement that we use, you know, and the measurements in volleyball, they usually have to come down to attacking percentage. That's attacking percentage, blocks per game, digs per game, and then maybe service pressure where you're putting a passer rating on the other team.
But I mean, I think side out and blocks per game is everything. Digs per game is a nice bonus, but you can dig all you want, case in point. And I was always top third of a tournament in digs per game, but side out, I was always bottom third. So it's like, great. If you can't terminate, you're not gonna win that. So I continue to think that side out percentage is the number one thing that you pay attention to.
Logan Webber (01:00:13.063)
Yeah. Oh.
Mark Burik (01:00:19.929)
and then you say, okay, what shifts do I have to make in order to do it? And in order to answer that question, you have to say, what swings do I get blocked on or make errors on or what situations do I make the most errors? And then insert in actionable. Like if the set's coming from behind me, I'm only going to hit deep middle. Did that increase my hitting efficiency this year? Did I ever make an error or get blocked? If you didn't.
Logan Webber (01:00:35.234)
Mm-mm.
Mark Burik (01:00:47.137)
You know, you solve one problem. You stop making errors, you stop getting blocked. So I think there's importance in actionables that lead to goals and that's easier to focus on.
Logan Webber (01:00:49.234)
Yep.
Logan Webber (01:00:58.514)
Yes. Yeah, something like that I've been trying to focus on this off season has been like, if my main goal is like, well, this year I want to win an ABP. So what's something that I want to focus on that if I do it a certain amount of times per week, that's going to put me in the best possible spot to obtain that. So like my thing has been like, I'm trying to get...
three really heavy lifts every single week, or like really intense lifts every single week. And then I started counting a lot of my calories more, and I'm trying to, this is gonna be different for most people, I guess, but for me, I'm trying to hit my high calorie mark. So I'm trying to go over my calorie mark at least six days a week. And that's something that's like every day and every week, it's like, okay, did I do it? Yes or no. So.
Mark Burik (01:01:41.263)
Hmm.
Logan Webber (01:01:52.262)
Even when we were in Florida coaching the camps, it was like, well, I got to get to the gym at 5 a.m. three times a week this week, because that's my goal for this week is three times next week, still three times a week after three times. And that's going to then hopefully lead to the results I want versus looking at the big results every single week and being like, man, I'm just not seeing it right now. Like, because you're not going to see the improvement on the court every single week. So you have to think like, am I doing?
Mark Burik (01:02:19.757)
No, you're not even gonna see it in a single drill. I saw you guys getting a little bit frustrated today and Sean getting frustrated today. I'm like, guys, this is 20 repetitions. We are building one brick at a time here and you don't even lay a single brick at a practice. Like maybe you put the stuff down that's between bricks. I gotta, Joe Lambert's gonna rip me apart if he listens.
Logan Webber (01:02:22.932)
Yes.
Logan Webber (01:02:30.052)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (01:02:45.206)
Don't you just, as I say, don't you just improve an Airbnb home? You don't know what... Mordor, I think, is what it's called. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:02:49.309)
I did. Yeah. Yeah, mortar. I was gonna say mortar. Um damn. Yeah but there are no bricks there and I had a guy lay the cement but yeah guys uh we did build an Airbnb in Saint Pete with a beach volleyball court and a set of weights and a big swim spa. So if you're playing a tournament in Florida or you just want a house that's nice and warm during the winter and you want to uh book a spot it will help me feed my family.
Logan Webber (01:02:57.921)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:03:19.233)
So stay at my place instead of a stranger's. That'd be nice and you can play volleyball and lift. Okay, so here's how we're gonna wrap this up because we can talk forever. But I'm gonna steer you through some content that later on we'll be able to turn it into some Instagram clips. So you're just gonna have to answer in a certain way. But before we do that, before you guys go through our Instagram.
real leading thing. I do want to just announce, of course, that our memberships are available and you can get video coaching. And Logan will be our guest coach next week, which is starting February 20th, will be his first day doing video analysis. And then on Wednesday, we'll pick one of our members as a lottery to be able to get a 20 minute sit down with Logan.
And of course you get access to all of our workout programs, our Fix Your Arms Swing program, our attacking program, our courses, and unlimited coaching and feedback through video. Also, we've got a few events coming up, and we're just gonna run through them here. So, February 16th to 18th, we're in Houston in Texas at Third Coast Volleyball, they're having us back. We had an awesome first event, so February 16th to 18th. Oh, you're coming with me for that too.
Logan Webber (01:04:39.467)
Yeah.
Logan Webber (01:04:44.028)
I am.
Mark Burik (01:04:44.953)
We got a lot of time together coming up. And who else is going to be there? Nolan Albrecht and Matt Hazel. So going to be the fierce enforcing. February 23rd looks like 23rd to 25th, maybe? That might be the right name. Yeah, 23rd to 28th, February, Hermosa Beach.
Logan Webber (01:04:53.066)
Matt? Maddie Ice. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:05:10.169)
We have a three day mini camp for any men's A and AA players and March 8th to 10th in Hermosa Beach, women's B and AA, sorry, B and A players. We got a three day camp for you. The first weekend of every month, we have a six hour beach volleyball fundamentals for all of you intermediate and beginner players out there. And if you do just wanna.
do a six hour course on passing setting, lock that in because there's no other place where you can get coached for six hours in a row. Just come hang out. Even if there's some intermediate players around and you're advanced, you're gonna get a lot of reps and the coach's eyes will not change, okay? June 14th to 16th, we will be down in San Diego at a three day camp for men's B and A players. We might open it up to men's double A players. We will be in New York.
the first weekend of June, it's not on the website yet, and we also have New Orleans planned for September 6th to 8th so long time before all that. But just head to betterbeach.com forward slash camps for all of our camps and go to events. Just hang out on our website, click around, you guys will find it and if you have any questions let us know. All right, that concludes the podcast. Thank you guys for listening. We're gonna run through some tips.
Logan Webber (01:06:12.014)
Hmm.
Mark Burik (01:06:37.957)
with Logan as a little after snack and then use them to chop them up and put them onto our Instagrams. Hey, Logan, what's your Instagram?
Logan Webber (01:06:44.918)
dessert, I believe is what that's called.
uh, at Logan Michael Weber. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:06:52.217)
Nice. Michael's always a tough name to spell. I never know if it's E-A-L or A-E-L or...
Logan Webber (01:06:58.086)
Yeah, I spell it wrong sometimes too, so it's okay. And it's literally my name. Yeah.
Mark Burik (01:07:01.029)
and stuff, man, especially when you're doing writing in cursive, it's a mess. Yeah, and I'm at Mark Burrick on Instagram. You can find me and find a bunch of free tips and of course, at better at Beach volleyball for Instagram. All right, Logan, you're gonna phrase it like this, okay? You're gonna give me, I'm gonna ask for your three best tips for passing, but in front of each one, you're going to say,
Logan Webber (01:07:25.87)
Alright.
Mark Burik (01:07:30.353)
Here's my best tip for passing. Even though they're your top three. So everyone is going to be your best. And the audience will know on Instagram, of course, that it is your best tip for that day. All right, so you're gonna say, my best tip for passing, here's my best tip for passing.
Logan Webber (01:07:33.151)
So everyone is my best tip. Alright.
Logan Webber (01:07:42.889)
Yes.
Okay.
Logan Webber (01:07:53.546)
All right, here's my best tip for passing. Keep your arms away from your body. Don't get scrunched up. Don't bring your elbows to your sides. Give yourself a really long platform.
Mark Burik (01:08:06.845)
Very nice. You got the second lined up?
Logan Webber (01:08:12.573)
Yes.
Mark Burik (01:08:14.063)
Okay?
Logan Webber (01:08:16.246)
Here's my best tip for passing. Act like you're going to catch the ball right off the server's hands. So basically if I had a nice better at beach shirt like the one with the cool ball right in the chest. Yep. Get you one of those shirts and then your initial reaction off of the serve you want the ball to hit you in the better at beach ball.
Mark Burik (01:08:30.073)
at beach.com forward slash shop.
Mark Burik (01:08:43.049)
Mm, right in the middle of your chest. Okay.
Logan Webber (01:08:45.915)
Yep, that was a DJ nugget from a couple weeks ago in Cincinnati, and I've absolutely loved it.
Mark Burik (01:08:51.693)
Nice, good for initial movement, making sure that you're there early. Of course, statistically we wanna pass a little bit, a little bit outside of our body. That doesn't mean force the ball outside your body, guys, but allow the ball to get outside your body and be okay with it. That study that had midline is best, redone on the beach especially, a little bit outside your body line is okay, if not encouraged. Okay, third tip.
Logan Webber (01:09:01.73)
Yep.
Mark Burik (01:09:21.671)
for passing.
Logan Webber (01:09:23.59)
My best tip for passing is to be really strong with your platform and don't let the ball push your platform to the side or back into your body. So be really strong, be a rock, think of your platform as a rock, and don't let the ball go through your arms, but try and really stick your arms, even if that means your pass is maybe a few feet higher than you would want, let that ball go higher but be in control of your arms.
Mark Burik (01:09:52.889)
Nice, okay. For me, well, I mean, it looks terrible. Limp noodles thrown behind your body. A little more al dente, please. Okay, so we'll do two more and here are your options. You can give your favorite three tips for setting, attacking, blocking, defending, peeling.
Logan Webber (01:09:54.423)
That one was strictly for you. Because that's what you've been telling me to do for the last two weeks.
Logan Webber (01:10:05.326)
Yes, no limp noodles.
Mark Burik (01:10:22.089)
serving workouts, fitness, and recovery, nutrition, or mindset. So you need to pick two more categories.
Logan Webber (01:10:22.294)
Hmm.
Logan Webber (01:10:29.582)
Alright, I'll do some blocking. Yeah, I love blocking. If, for those of you that are still watching, I do love coaching blocking because nobody coaches blocking. So that's at our mini camps, I love to give little blocking tips because it's something that outside of Southern California, almost nobody will ever do a blocking drill in practice. And with that, my best blocking tip is be later with your jump.
Mark Burik (01:10:31.469)
Ooh, really? All right. Here's my best tip for blocking.
Mark Burik (01:10:52.389)
That's true.
Logan Webber (01:10:59.01)
than you think you need to be. We would always rather be later, that way the ball, I'm going up and I'm strong at the top of my jump, versus jumping with the attacker and then falling down as the ball is crossing my hands.
Mark Burik (01:11:15.517)
Nice. You ready? You're just running through it, I love it. Ha ha ha. Now be like Instagram. Ha ha ha. Throw some energy into it, baby.
Logan Webber (01:11:18.65)
My, yep, I'm running through it. I got all the blocking tips. I don't know how to pass, I do know how to block. All right, my best blocking tip is to keep your spacing from the net. So a lot of people when they block, they end up jumping towards the net.
rather than giving themselves just a foot or two of space from the net, which actually allows me to reach over farther rather than just having to reach straight up in the air.
Mark Burik (01:11:54.035)
Nice. Ah, so push forward instead of reaching up. I like that. Okay. Last one for blocking.
Logan Webber (01:12:03.47)
Let's see, last one for blocking. Ah, okay.
Mark Burik (01:12:07.705)
How about the worst, how about this? Because I actually enjoy. And it's one of our most opened emails and podcasts. It's advice that I got that I thought was right, but like I never do it again. So like something that I did that I thought was right, that everybody told me to do, that I definitely don't do anymore.
Logan Webber (01:12:10.09)
Yeah.
Logan Webber (01:12:26.622)
Mmm.
Logan Webber (01:12:37.841)
tch
Mark Burik (01:12:39.269)
So the lead would be, here's something I thought I was doing right, but definitely wasn't.
Mark Burik (01:12:51.645)
Don't ever knock your socks off with like a, or like coming out to California, you know? And then you're like, oh, nobody does that. And like everybody back in Michigan or back in New York, you know, was like, oh, do it like this. And you're like, okay, yeah, open guy. Thanks for coaching me. And then you go to the AVP and it's like, no, no.
Logan Webber (01:13:16.562)
Alright, yeah, I got one. It's not blocking, but it's attacking.
Mark Burik (01:13:20.321)
Okay, so here's something I thought I was doing right, but definitely wasn't.
Logan Webber (01:13:25.454)
All right, here's something that I thought I was doing right, but I really wasn't. When I'm hitting, a lot of people would always tell me to get the ball basically in my midline. This year I've been super focused on getting the ball a little bit more over my right shoulder, and it's allowed me to have a lot more range and a lot more power into the angle because for a long time I was always everything cross body. Once I let the ball stay over towards my hitting shoulder a little bit more.
gave me a lot more range, a lot higher contact point, and a lot better hand contact.
Mark Burik (01:14:00.401)
Nice. I like that. That's pretty good. Yeah. Cool. You know, one thing that I did that I stopped doing was, we talk about it a lot, but the look sequence. Like, look, see where the defender is, shoot away from them. And so, like, I'm becoming a reactive offensive player.
Logan Webber (01:14:17.304)
Hmm.
Mark Burik (01:14:26.773)
And then that means that I'm waiting for information. And then once I have that information, I make a decision instead of going for one swing so that there is no hesitation if it's still open. And just like jumping, seeing somebody in the middle. Because of course it works in New York level, open volleyball, right? Like somebody will sit in the middle, and then eventually if you just hold on to your swing long enough, they'll feel like they have to either defend cross or defend line.
And so they jump away and then you hit the other way. So if you've got half decent ball control and half decent vision sequence, you can get kills all day. And then all of a sudden, smart people at the AVP start peeling on you, they don't show you a side, they just sit middle and say, go ahead. Or, you know, they're so fast and so quality that because you're now on your way down and you're hitting just a little bit slower.
Now they can get a touch on you.
Logan Webber (01:15:23.506)
Yeah, once they know a good defender, once they know that you're shooting, it takes an absolutely perfect shot to beat them. That's the biggest transition that I found, going from mid-ish open level tournaments to legitimate end of qualifiers and kind of middle main draw type, is I had to be able to hit, or at least show hit on every single ball.
because I can't get away anymore with the defender knowing that I'm gonna shoot. Even if they don't know if I'm going cut or high line, just the fact that they know that I'm not coming in full speed, that just allows so much freedom of movement from the defender. And now all of a sudden you're standing up, you're playing it a little bit higher and you're so relaxed and ready to go both directions as a defender. Whereas if I come in and just show you, even just for a second, even if I've predetermined I'm going high line, if I show you just that
little bit of aggressiveness on the last two steps of my approach. It at least freezes you a little bit more. That way I'm able to hit a good shot. Um, I would say at a lot of middle level tournaments, people just get away with. I'm definitely shooting and I'm just going to try to like fake them into thinking I'm hitting a cut shot and then go high line or fake them into a high line and then go cut shot. And if the person just sits in the middle, they're still able to run both those down.
Mark Burik (01:16:49.449)
Mm-hmm. And if it's a, I don't wanna insult people, but if it's a somewhat intelligent blocker, they should peel. As soon as you know somebody's shooting, it's not up to your defender to do it. It's up to your team to dig it. Like, that's the responsibility. Not shots are for my defenders and swings are for me. I absolutely not get out of that mentality if you know that somebody's shooting.
Logan Webber (01:17:00.671)
Yes.
Mark Burik (01:17:18.637)
Make sure that you stay at the net long enough to make them believe that you might stay, and then get out of there, help your defender cover the other at least a third of the court, maybe 40% if you peel. Unless you're a monster like Logan, in which case you can just hang out super long and then reach and touch the clouds and make it tougher. But if you're not, six, nine, peel, please.
Logan Webber (01:17:29.422)
Mm-hmm.
Logan Webber (01:17:41.354)
Yeah. My best attacking tip is to make your bailout to swing high and hard right at the blocker. So many times people want to swing away from the blocker. Make the blocker prove twice or three times at the start of a match that he actually has good enough blocking hands to block you down. So many people just stay away from attacking the blocker.
And that actually gives them a lot, gives the blocker a lot more freedom to kind of reach outside their body or make big moves. If I go straight at the blocker a couple of times and they don't block me. That like high hands tool is the best thing I can possibly do to get me out of a tough situation.
Mark Burik (01:18:23.693)
I love that. We don't have to keep you on. We gotta save some for the audience. But that being said, guys, if you do want to support this video cast podcast, of course, we know that you can become a member. But being that Logan just did tell you to swing at or over blockers, we have on sale for pre-order our Over-U tank tops and crop tops.
Logan Webber (01:18:41.511)
Ha ha
Mark Burik (01:18:51.033)
So if you go to betteratbeach.com forward slash shop, there are some fun shirts there screaming over you. So if you're a loud player and you want to scream at blockers and let them know that you have the ability to hit over them, you gotta wear the shirt. Go to betteratbeach.com forward slash shop. And that's enough from our tips. We're gonna have a lot more tips for our members on Tuesday.
and on Wednesday. So guys, if you do want to get coached by Logan and if you want access to his complete masterclass, go to betteratbeach.com forward slash coaching and you will be able to sign up for our membership there and get workout programs, technique courses and constant coaching and video feedback from us. So Logan, thanks man, appreciate you.
Logan Webber (01:19:41.306)
Absolutely. Did you see you see Joe in the chat that literally chatted in mortar?
Mark Burik (01:19:46.681)
No. He did it, did he really? I can do it!
Logan Webber (01:19:49.334)
Good work, Joe. Well done.
Logan Webber (01:19:55.638)
20 seconds to address the one other question that was about the AVP schedule and what I think of it. I'm approaching it with an open mind and trying to see what happens with this whole league thing. I think it's a new idea which we haven't had in a long time, so hopefully the new idea will go in a good direction. Obviously like everybody else, I wish there was more of their heritage series tournaments.
But I'm gonna try to not knock on the league thing until I see what it actually is.
Mark Burik (01:20:25.085)
All these stupid names.
Mark Burik (01:20:33.361)
Nice. Thanks for answering that. I don't even see where you can see the chat, but I'll figure out how to work my own software later on. All right. Cool, man. Thanks. I'll see you at practice, and then I'll see you in Houston, and then we'll all see you at coaching for the Better at Beach Complete player members.
Logan Webber (01:20:38.11)
I was looking at it on my phone. Hehehehe. Alright. Absolutely.
Logan Webber (01:20:56.374)
Sounds good. See ya.
Mark Burik (01:20:57.629)
See you later, have a good night.