Mark Burik (00:01.954)
Hey everybody and welcome to the Better at Beach podcast. My name is Mark Barak and I am here with Brandon Joiner. And today we've got a really exciting episode. We're going to talk all about the four step approach and why it's so difficult to time it. We're going to give you drills that you can do to fix your timing. We're going to help you with your spacing and we're going to give you some really important cues.
to know how to start developing that timing so that you can hit more balls hard, clean, and with vision. And so many players make really key mistakes that we are always able to fix in camps and in person, but they come into it with just a real struggle with timing. And I think timing is something that you will always focus on throughout your entire career. And...
And it's probably the hardest thing to pick up when you're not doing reps or you're not getting quality coaching. So this episode is clutch for you, for everybody, for your friends. So I want you guys to stay around, stick through it. We're gonna get really technical and we're gonna do some screen sharing. So if you are listening, great. We're gonna make sure that that's clear. But on Spotify and on YouTube,
we're gonna be sharing our screen so that you guys can follow along to see these things in person. So we've got the new video feature on Spotify and we're going to try to upgrade the level of this podcast. But if you are listening, totally cool, you're still going to get a ton out of this. But this is gonna be one of the most value packed episodes that we've ever done talking about the four step approach and all the important parts of that.
Brandon Joyner (01:49.223)
Yeah, I love it. And before you even get going, I think that this is one of the keys that if you are a B level player trying to get to an A, if you're an A level player trying to get to double A, this is the easiest way for you to make your jump. So I'm excited for this one as well.
Mark Burik (02:03.88)
Mm-hmm. Okay. Before we get to that, we've got a couple of camp announcements. We have our Punta Cana all-inclusive seven day camp. it's going to be awesome. It was awesome last year and it is the weekend that follows Thanksgiving. starting November 29th in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, hope to see you there. Aside from that, we've got camps coming up very soon in Santa Monica, California, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Des Moines, Iowa.
Brandon Joyner (02:13.202)
Mm-mm-mm.
Mark Burik (02:32.738)
Bend, Oregon, Santa Rosa, California, Chicago, Illinois, and Youngsville, Louisiana, just to name a few. You can find those all on the links around this video, as well as betteratbeach.com forward slash camps. Also, if you want us to help you completely upgrade your attacking, our online members are currently working through their setting block, and we are about to get into jump and arm swing mechanics.
followed by our full live attacking course where you guys submit your videos and we coach you based on those videos, along with a slew of tutorials and at-home drills where we'll give you weekly assignments that you can do at home or on your volleyball court to help upgrade your game. Again, check the links around this video to check it out. And Brandon's got a special announcement about our club consultant program.
Brandon Joyner (03:26.611)
Yeah, so it's been really fun. We're starting to work our way into clubs. You know, I think one of the things that I certainly value the most out of my relationship with you and with Better at Beach is the fact that I've learned a lot along the way of what makes a small business successful. And like I've learned more in these last six years than I did in college about teaching. So.
Mark Burik (03:46.166)
You
Brandon Joyner (03:52.763)
It's been fantastic and now we're at the point where we're offering our assistance. If you have a club and you're trying to make more money, you're trying to get more athletes, you're trying to be more successful, you're trying to offer more programs, reach out to us. We have our club consultant offer where we work with US coaches. We work with the director to kind of optimize what you're doing with your systems. And we work with the kids.
So it's been great. think right now I'm working with two or three total clubs and it's just been a fantastic time and we're already seeing a lot of growth. So it's been fun. So if you're interested in that, shoot us an email at support at bettertobeeach.com and we'll get you going.
Mark Burik (04:38.178)
Yeah, it's awesome. You know, it's that same thing that everyone goes through. I think every club or everybody who's coaching, they start doing a good job. They got into it for coaching. And then all of sudden, you know, they had 12 tryouts the first year and now they've got 80 kids and all of a sudden they have to hire these coaches. So they end up hiring their friends or somebody who plays volleyball at a high level. And then all of a sudden the product and the systems and everything that they knew about volleyball.
Brandon Joyner (04:52.447)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (05:04.097)
just starts going out the window and practices turn to trash, parents get upset. So it's hard, we know it's hard, but we also know how to make it easy. So if you're looking to help your coaches create a great system and a product and a club that you love and enjoy, this is what we're here to help you with. We are your assistant coaching staff. We are also your coach training staff.
Brandon Joyner (05:27.849)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (05:32.862)
and we'll help you wrap your head around all of like the pricing and systems and how to train your coaches and get them on the same page so that you can truly have the club that you dreamed of.
Brandon Joyner (05:45.469)
Yeah, it's been great. And I think you and I with Better at Beach, just a couple guys trying to figure it out, we have had to experiment a lot. So we know it works. We know it doesn't work. it's a yeah. So let us help you let us help you avoid the speed bumps that we went through. And it'll it'll kind of it'll help you right away. I promise.
Mark Burik (06:10.764)
Yeah. And a little teaser, we got a accepted offer on a facility. So we've got a big fundraising thing about to happen over the next three months. I've got to either qualify for an SBA loan, which is a small business association, or raise three million in investors. And all of the systems that we've already built are just going to get transplanted directly into this facility.
Nothing's going to change. We're just going to do it with unlimited hours and have some really sweet amenities. More to come on that. I'll have a whole like email sequence that you guys can become a part of. If you want to get on that email list, just DM me on Instagram, Mark Burick, and I will share the entire journey because I'm learning a lot as we go. Never raised money. So this is a first time for that. Never applied for an SBA loan. First time for that. And it's going to be an exciting trip, but we're able to plug and play.
our systems into that so we can hit revenue on day one, which is pretty sweet. Okay. Let's talk about hitting right. Four step approach, three step approach. What's your take on it? What did you learn as a kid? Three step or four step? Cause I learned both.
Brandon Joyner (07:15.871)
I love it.
Brandon Joyner (07:20.329)
Let's do it.
Brandon Joyner (07:30.885)
So when I was in high school, I didn't even have a, my coach, still one of my favorite coaches that I've ever had. He was a phenomenal communicator, really good team leader, but volleyball wise, he didn't really know what he was doing. so I was actually goofy foot in high school, but when I got, when I got to college, Fred, and I'm sure you probably remember this, he wouldn't even let me play until I learned. Yeah.
Mark Burik (07:48.43)
Hmm.
Mark Burik (07:57.432)
He did a lot of that. I didn't get the first year.
Brandon Joyner (08:00.209)
Yeah, he would like bullied me and he would make me go onto a side court and throw a tennis ball against the wall by doing my approach. And I mean, at first I was extremely upset because I was like, this is dumb. Let me play volleyball. but for me, learning that four step approach was huge. I'm, I'm extremely glad that I
I never really had to battle with the three step approach. A lot of times middles have to deal with that. but I played a lot of outside my freshman year and just moving through that four step approach. just makes, makes me feel like I'm calm. It makes me feel like I'm, I'm always able to use my steps and get to the ball. I understand the conversation of, of three step and four step. think it is a, it's funny that it's a huge debate because to be honest,
Mark Burik (08:31.085)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (08:55.111)
I don't think there's a difference. I think they're, I think they're the exact same thing. I think you just, yeah, I think you're just focusing on the wrong thing. Like regardless, if you're doing three steps or four steps, you're still doing the same amount of steps. You're just, your timing is just a little bit different and you're maybe not able to wrap your head around that idea. Yeah.
Mark Burik (08:56.96)
same. How can say that? It's the manatees.
Mark Burik (09:09.581)
Yes.
Mark Burik (09:15.884)
Right. let's, you know, use the, I guess a technical or an industry term there where you said goofy foot approach. So we'll unwrap that for a second. If you're a right-handed player, you should jump off of the last two foot plants from your jump in general, especially for indoor. We're going to talk a little bit about how it's okay. A little bit more okay on the beach or why there's, advantages and disadvantages, but
If you're a righty, the last two steps to hit the ground before takeoff should be in the right-left sequence. That is crucial for indoor. Doesn't have as negative effect in beach, depending on how far forward your foot is in front of the other. So if they plant together like they're on skis next to each other, you'll be pretty okay. But a goofy foot approach is when a right-handed player finishes left-right.
jump or a lefty player finishes right left jump. Easy way to know if you're goofy-footed. A lot of people don't know until they come to our camps or they give one of their videos online, but we tell them, you're goofy-footed. And they go, huh, I am? You didn't even know. But there's a lot of great, great goofy-footed approaches. Phil Dauscher is an easy one. Alexander Samoilov is an easy one.
Karch Karai switched between going a regular four step approach and goofy footed. Avery Drossed, Troy Field. So I'm basically naming an all star lineup of people who are goofy footed. And one of the things about being goofy footed is it just slightly prevents a little bit of broad jump and also the way that your footwork is designed. So if you balance on your left foot, like just imagine it with me.
Brandon Joyner (10:55.571)
Right. Right.
Mark Burik (11:13.676)
If you're balancing on your left foot, it's really, it's a lot easier for your body to eject or push to the right side, right? You can use your calves, your big toe and your glutes to power that. Now, if you try to leap from your left foot, from balancing on your left foot to your left side, that's a lot more difficult. So this is why for setters, it's crucial to set the right arm. If you're goofy footed or a lefty,
So that means that if you balance on your right foot, it's really easy to push to your left. So a goofy footed approacher, if they get a set that's in front of their face or accidentally to their left shoulder, they're able to get their feet to that ball better than somebody who has a normal foot approach. Likewise, if I've got a normal foot approach, I can push off my left to the right side so I can get those
right sets that are too far to my right arm, I can get those better than a goofy foot approacher can. So there are advantages to being goofy footed, but they're just, kind of neutralize each other because the same, there are same advantages and disadvantages. There are balls just that you close earlier or close easier than other balls. When we're talking about getting feet to ball. And when we say get feet to ball, I mean,
Your last two steps should put you in a location that you can have a slight broad jump and have your right shoulder under the ball so that you can crank.
Brandon Joyner (12:52.063)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (12:52.76)
So that's quick discussion on like goofy foot. do have a video if you guys are watching on YouTube, if you just search goofy approach, better at beach, we've got a few great videos that talk in depth about that and give you like slow motion video analysis. So you might want to take that in your notes or write it down or just open it up in another tab.
Brandon Joyner (13:12.895)
Yeah. And just to kind of add to that, like, I think sometimes when we say the word goofy, it makes people think like, I shouldn't do this, you know, and something, right. something that I say like at our camps a lot is like, if you want to make this change, I'm, welcome it. Right. Like I think if you're new in your journey of volleyball and your goofy foot and you want to make the change, I say, go for it.
Mark Burik (13:20.59)
Like, I'm making fun of you.
Brandon Joyner (13:39.059)
Go ahead and do it. If you've been playing for an extremely long time and you find a lot of success attacking, don't feel like you have to make the change. There are just some things that we have to think about. like one of the things that I pick up on a lot with people who are goofy foot is a lot of times we spent a lot of time last time when we were last episode when we were talking about our arm swing. If you guys didn't get a chance to watch that, make sure you guys.
Scroll back and watch that episode. But we talk a lot about this torso twist, right? And opening up to the ball or opening up your body so that we can create this elasticity for our swing. And with goofy foot players, a lot of the times, if you can imagine, when you go to jump, if you're goofy foot, a lot of the times your chest will stay parallel to the net.
Mark Burik (14:33.934)
Mm.
Brandon Joyner (14:35.091)
And so like, if you have like two poles going out from your shoulders, like sideways away from, away from your body, then a lot of times that those poles will stay parallel to the net with a normal approach finishing I'm right-handed. when I finished right left and I have my left foot is a little bit in front of my right. It automatically opens up my chest a little bit. And so now those poles are.
Mark Burik (15:01.73)
Hmm.
Brandon Joyner (15:04.519)
intersecting the net. I think so if you are goofy foot and you don't want to make the change, if you want to stay goofy foot, do it, but really focus on that torso twist so that you're still opening up your body so that you can swing.
Mark Burik (15:19.896)
Yeah. And if you're a coach and you're working with, players, especially juniors, number one, if they play both sports or you think they might also play indoor, fix it. Like, you know, we say fix, make them have the normal step approach. This will be a recruiting issue if they want to play indoor. And then there are still some college beach coaches that think like goofy foot is, is a huge problem.
Brandon Joyner (15:32.265)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (15:45.608)
so they should study more, but you might start limiting their prospects by showing a goofy foot approach. if they're playing indoor, definitely, definitely you have to adjust this footwork. If they are only beach, then it's okay to let them ride. And our camps, one of the first questions I have, go, okay. You're goofy footed. Do you want to change? And then they'll give me an answer. And I go, one of the most important things is do you play indoor? You play indoor, we should change this. if not.
Brandon Joyner (16:06.963)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (16:14.028)
And you've been rhythm-ing this out for five, 10 years. Like it might not give you a huge advantage. There might be this long sticky point where you're trying to fix it. And then it breaks down your attacking for a little while. Cause anytime you change technique, you know, your results dip before they increase. And who knows if it'll actually increase your hitting percentage. So you don't have to fix goofy foot unless you play indoor and
Brandon Joyner (16:26.665)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (16:36.051)
Right.
Mark Burik (16:40.982)
unless you want to maximize your absolute chances of getting recruited because some of those college coaches will still think, no, she's goofy-footed when it really doesn't matter when we're talking for beach volleyball.
Brandon Joyner (16:44.414)
Thank
Brandon Joyner (16:56.081)
really passed the eye test. yeah, yeah. And it's a good, if you do decide to make that change, I think it's a good off-season change. If you're playing in tournaments already and you're going for it, I mean, right now we're kind of in that pre-season mode, so it's not too late, but yeah, I think it's a good like January work. Yeah.
Mark Burik (16:57.934)
Right.
Mark Burik (17:20.598)
Yeah, yeah, rip it out. Okay, so let's break down the sequence of this four step approach. And again, if this like puts an ugly taste in your mouth and you're a three step, just listen, in order to get to left, right, left, you have to take a right step before that, just like you have to take a left step before that. So I mean, you could call these five, six, seven step approaches and they will all mean the same thing. Okay, but we will say for the purpose of this episode that it's gonna be a four step because
Brandon Joyner (17:43.486)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (17:50.306)
We think that the most important timing step is four steps away from your jump. Okay. So we'll talk about it like that and we'll start sharing our video soon. But if we talk about the four step approach, right? Essentially, how do I time it? Timing is crazy because you can't just start your approach. So to say that your approach starts on your first step, which for righties is going to be your rest, your right step.
It doesn't start, it just unlocks on your right step. Right? The one metaphor that I always give when you're sitting at a stop sign, right? You don't just hit the accelerator. First, you release the brake, you start coasting and checking things out, making sure there are no other cars coming. Then when the coast is clear, then you can hit the accelerator. So that should be the whole metaphor for your right step.
Brandon Joyner (18:25.727)
Hmm.
Mark Burik (18:50.636)
you're just taking your foot off the brake so that you have this really slow forward momentum. That step should happen, and we're going to watch this on video in a second, but that step should happen around set contact for a normal up and down height set. So we're talking about a set that gets...
you know, six to 10 feet above the top of the antenna, which is a pretty standard set. that's when your right step should happen at about set contact. And I would say that a lot of pros are just after set contact or on set contact. Now the goal is to have your last three steps be really free so that they can aim at the ball. Okay. When you guys are learning this at home.
or on the court, don't worry about it getting sticky early because it's kind of like learning to dance. First, you just have to like count to eight and learn the dance steps. Then you have to figure out how to match it up to the song or multiple songs. Right? So that's how your set's going to work. First, you to learn the technique and it's going to feel like you can only do it in one certain rhythm or one certain timing. And then over thousands of reps.
then you learn how to do those same sequences with different timings of sets and from different positions. And then later we'll talk about transition sets and maybe even onto attacks where we can use a five step approach, which means you would put your left foot down. So you'd be five steps away from your jump and you'd put your left foot down on or just after set contact. And that allows for even more accurate feet to ball, right?
Why does steps, why does more steps make feet to ball easier? Well, when I see a ball flying, if I need to land or put my feet in the place where that ball's going to land, right? And I only have two steps to do it, it's gonna be a little difficult. If it's far away, I've got to really push hard to get there, okay? And because I'm pushing so hard and so far,
Mark Burik (21:12.426)
it might be less accurate. Okay? If I'm allowed to take four or five steps to exact my feet into that spot where the ball is going to land, I'm probably going to be really accurate. Right? So
Brandon Joyner (21:25.567)
I I loved when we did that YouTube series with miles partain and he was talking this was mainly about optioning because that's kind of what miles and Andy are known for but the way that he talked about it was having steps in the tank and I love that idea I've used it ever since I heard it and it's kind of the same idea that you're talking about right now is when we put down that first step we're just
Mark Burik (21:33.005)
Mm.
Brandon Joyner (21:55.561)
putting it down, but we need to see the set location. We need to see the set height. We need to figure out everything. We need to gather as much information from that set as we can. And if we can have at least three steps, this is why three steps and four steps are the exact same thing. If we have at least three steps to in the tank to get to where the ball is going to land, then that's a great place. Right? So I think timing.
That idea is huge. Like once you see that set go in the air, we're just leaning forward. We're putting our weight on that right leg. And then I see where the set goes, but I still have those three final steps in the tank to find my direction and find my, find, find my like finishing spot. I think that's huge.
Mark Burik (22:47.03)
Yeah. So we're going to share the screen right now and we're also going to talk through it, but we're going to give you, show you some of examples. So this is an AVP match between Kyle Friend, who was awesome on the AVP and just slid into announcing and Tim Brewster who's still playing and then Sean Cook and Logan Webber. So it's from a few years ago. But if we see Kyle Friend passes and they are running during this because it's a little bit windy, they're running a little bit of a lower set than they usually do. Okay.
But I want you to take a look at this. This is more of a run step. Okay. So they're running tempo here, which means that they're having a lower set and a speedier set. But on that set contact, Kyle is actually getting onto his second step. So that's his left step there. He is gunning it. They're running a lower speed offense. And then from his left.
Brandon Joyner (23:21.407)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (23:41.324)
His body should hopefully pick up exactly where the ball goes. And since it's such a fast set, we need a really accurate setter to be able to do that. And we can see that he kind of, you know, that set wasn't exactly perfect. It got pushed a tiny bit behind his head. And because, you know, Kyle doesn't have exact feet to ball there, still really good. that's the danger in running speed or tempo sets. If you don't have a perfect set, it's harder to get there.
Okay, so if we take a look at the next approach, we'll see what they do on this side. And with this wind, this might be a bad example video. But this looks like a more standard tempo that they're working on. Okay, so we can see that, first of all, the spacing. Kyle is well behind half court. This really doesn't matter how short or long you are. You might have, you know, legs that are a couple more inches. But if you've ever had a 5'2 person walking next to a 6'9 person,
Brandon Joyner (24:19.593)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (24:39.948)
Everybody walks at about the same speed, covers the same distance. somewhere behind half court and three quarters depth is where you gotta be. Right? And you see right here on set contact, Kyle's putting his right step down, but look at him just coast through it. You can see from his body that he's not yet accelerating. Okay. He's just putting that step down. Right. And then this is where, so at the end of his right step,
This is where his eyes and brain start picking up where the set is going to land. So then he puts his left step down. And this is that crucial moment where he has to decide where to put his right left down. So the right left step. So he's recognized now. Okay. And again, a little bit of a lower set. we're talking, this is rushed, but he's recognized where the ball is. And then he takes his right.
left step. And if you can see his right left step is slightly behind the ball. Okay. He's, if we want to talk vision, his eyes are now peeking at the other side of the court, right? His arms are coming through and his torso, look at his torso. It's behind his knees and feet. That is going to equal a really good vertical jump.
Okay, if his shoulders were way out in front of his knees right now, he would have to use a lot more hip hinge and be pushing from the quads and he would break his momentum and not be able to jump high. Lots of technical stuff, but this is the picture that you guys want to have. And it's so easy to do at home. Okay. If you just film from this angle, you can look at your own approach. And if you can't fix it based on this episode, submit it to us on our online platform, and then we will help you fix it over time. Okay.
So then his eyes pick back up to the ball. And again, look, look all the everybody who says that you should land in the same spot that you jumped from. is one of the best players on the AVP with a three to four feet broad jump, right? That's nowhere near what he used to do in indoor when he's playing against us and with us in Sweden, right? But.
Brandon Joyner (26:46.707)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (26:53.129)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (26:59.465)
Yeah
Mark Burik (27:02.254)
This is still a broad jump on a shot, so he is landing in front of where he jumped from. So again, the first step, small and easy. It looks like he's athletic. So some people will walk really high here on that first step. And that's a good cue for people to relax and slow themselves down. But once you get control of your timing, you can still be in your athletic crouchy position while controlling your timing.
Okay. After, so right foot on set contact, then recognize where the set is. I've got three steps in the tank by the time I'm recognizing where that ball is. And then a good step close. And you can see the intent that he has with this left step, because this is where he recognizes at this moment when the ball's about six to seven, maybe eight feet out of Tim's hands. And then this is where he decides to attack the ball.
with his last two steps. He attacks it with his feet.
Brandon Joyner (28:05.471)
But it's just to keep going with that kind of just keep doing what you're just doing. One of the things that I love about this is Kyle and this is one of the biggest issues that we see with players, especially at lower levels, is that the ball isn't always in front of them. So if you guys look at Kyle's body with this approach, at no point is he underneath it. Like even when he goes to jump at this ball, it's still.
Mark Burik (28:09.922)
Love it.
Brandon Joyner (28:34.373)
If you had to draw a line, it's Kyle, the ball, then the net, right? And he always keeps that ball in front of him. And I think that's where the timing step is huge is because if you're able to wait on that timing step and be slow, then you're going to keep that ball in front of you. The biggest issue that we see is that if we go back to the timing step or at the beginning of this approach, a lot of you in this position.
when that ball is in Tim's hands, you are probably already on your second step, which means that by the time that that ball peaks and starts coming down, you've already hit your last two steps. Because with our approaches, we're really good at speeding up, but I think it's impossible to have a really fast first step, slow down on the second step, and then speed back up on the end. And so what ends up happening is players find themselves underneath the ball.
And they're waiting. like they've, when those last two steps hit the second that that left, last left hits, he's getting off the ground. He's getting in the air. And so if you're early, you're going to feel like you're underneath the ball. You're probably standing up and then you're having to squat down and then jump. And now you've gotten rid of all that momentum. So one thing that I think creates, and this is.
This always gets a chuckle at, and luckily we work with lot of adults or kids if you're listening, cover your ears. But when you slow down and you have this first step, you create what I call the shit moment. And...
Mark Burik (30:12.898)
We can't. You have to edit that out. Because now it's it's eliminated YouTube. The old. OK.
Brandon Joyner (30:16.479)
Just bleep it out. The crap moment where you have this feeling of I need to catch up to the ball. And if you create that moment, then that's when your last two steps are extremely aggressive. You're getting up in the air quickly and you're attacking on the way up.
Mark Burik (30:24.302)
Thank you.
Brandon Joyner (30:46.333)
like creating that crap moment and speeding up to hit this ball, it has to happen. If you never have that moment, then you're too early, you're underneath the ball and you've gotten rid of all the momentum energy from your approach. So, sorry for the language, but I had to get my point across, you know? So.
Mark Burik (31:04.11)
Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So here's another look. So this is Sean Cook's approach. So if you guys are following along in video, Sean has a mediocre pass. So the pass gets behind half court. Now this is where we talk about the five step approach, leaving steps in the tank. Okay. One thing that we didn't really talk about is most
Most beginner intermediate players, end up just waiting at the net for the set because they think, well, that's where it's going to end up. That's where I have to be. So that's where I should wait. The key is that you guys wait behind half court. And like Brandon said, leave that ball well in front of you. Okay. if you've never distanced out your approach in order to know how far again, I've said this in a couple hundred podcasts probably, but go to the net, wave your arm until you can't touch it.
can't touch the net, turn around in place and take your approach backwards into the court. That's where you should start your approach. Now, if we look at Sean's pass, Logan is right now setting from the back half of the court. And Sean, because it's now a transition or maybe an inaccurate set moment, he is converting to a five step. So you can see that he puts his left foot down on Logan's set contact.
Then he's able to recognize where the set is. Look at all this. This is about six feet off of Logan's platform. After six feet, after it's left Logan's platform by six feet, then Sean takes his right step. That just didn't really get him anywhere. Again, look at this chill right step. He's just leaning on it. Then he really recognizes it. And now he's got three.
full steps where he can be in attack mode to the ball. One, two, three. Again, a good step. Close. Look at how far the ball is in front of him, even in a transition situation. I mean, this is a master class in transition hitting right here. Because even though the ball is behind him from the pass, he kept it and left it in front of himself for the entire approach.
Brandon Joyner (33:14.164)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (33:25.11)
Most people would just go wait at the net and then they'll end up blind and without power. Sean's able to keep his power window right there and crank down the line. Okay. And to my point of, you know, yes, we broad jump in beach volleyball. Check this out. Okay. Yats might be a little bit tighter than he wants, maybe, but this is where he takes off from. I'd say that's maybe five feet from the net.
Boom, lands basically under the other side of the net, making friends with Kyle Framp. Okay, there is that broad.
Brandon Joyner (34:02.043)
Mm-hmm. That's a great example of your your analogy of or your metaphor of Letting off the brake not pressing the gas, but then all of a sudden he sees where that ball is going He puts he puts his foot on the accelerator, right? So it's yeah
Mark Burik (34:21.196)
Yeah, right? That's he recognizes. This is foot off the brake, but he's still taking a step, but not really intending on going anywhere. He just places the step. And that should be the first step in our approach. He just places it. Then you can see the moment where he recognizes.
Brandon Joyner (34:29.79)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (34:37.491)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (34:39.808)
There it is. That's when he recognizes and he turns on the jets. Boom, boom, go crank.
Brandon Joyner (34:39.913)
Yep, right there. Yep.
That's cool.
Brandon Joyner (34:47.911)
Yep. I love it. That was beautiful. Saw Sean this morning walking with Baby Ocean. He'd be happy to know that we're chatting them up.
Mark Burik (34:51.554)
That was beautiful.
yeah.
Mark Burik (34:59.342)
Okay, and then we'll look at our third pro approach of the day, right? So this is Logan. This one is a perfect pass, balls in front of him. Takes the right step on set contact. This one does look like he's almost gunning it. Okay, so we'll see if he controls a little bit later.
Brandon Joyner (35:16.233)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (35:20.866)
Yeah, so he didn't quite recognize where that's going, right? So maybe a little bit early as we're going, okay? But then this moment, this is when he's still in control of his left foot and the ball's far enough out of the setter's hands for him to take his last two steps in the direction that he needs to. Okay, yeah, see, it's interesting that we saw the timing issue happen.
before he approached and now we can see that his body is equal with this ball and he's jumped from underneath it. So we could almost tell like this wasn't gonna be his best approach or best hit based on the first step of his approach. And that's when it's so much fun to be a coach and you look like this kind of savant because you can tell like when a good hit is coming way before the player jumps.
And it's just based on that one. And you can say, like, you can see them take the first step and like, this is going to be good. And then, boom, they crank. And that happens at our camp all the time. And the person who's standing next to you is like, how did you know that? And it just happens every time. Right. So you get yourself under the ball. And so he doesn't have max power there. Of course there's wind, all that.
Brandon Joyner (36:30.121)
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Brandon Joyner (36:37.791)
And the cool thing that you can see about this, and this is just the level that these guys are at, you notice Kyle didn't even stay up the block. Right? So once Kyle kind of picked up on the fact that Logan was going to be underneath it, so now he's eliminated this straight down hit. Kyle's not effective at the net anymore. Kyle drops back and plays defense. So Logan did a good job of getting the ball on him quick, but...
Mark Burik (36:46.734)
Mmm.
Brandon Joyner (37:03.687)
I'm just as impressed with Kyle of like recognizing that early-ness and then getting out of there because now he's not really effective at that. So that's a pretty cool little clip.
Mark Burik (37:11.384)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (37:15.598)
Yeah. Would have been nice for him to use the back pedal right there instead of open that foot. Because I mean, this is defense, but, uh, if you can see exactly when Logan can see him, when he's in the squat of his last approach, right? This is where he sees that Kyle's hip has turned. So he's definitely not going to be at the net. If Kyle had used the squat and straight into a backpedal.
Brandon Joyner (37:21.0)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (37:24.904)
Yeah
Mark Burik (37:42.434)
He might have tricked Logan just a little bit more. But once this hip turns, now Logan can jump knowing that there won't be a blocker there. And that allows him like the confidence to say, OK, I'm going to swing down for sure. Right. So a slight early leave, but also very good recognition. And look, he gets two hands on the dig.
Brandon Joyner (37:57.897)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (38:06.198)
He just misses the dig because it's a good fast swing. So if you get two hands on a dig, you didn't do anything wrong. Just keep doing it. Rep it out.
Brandon Joyner (38:09.342)
Right.
Brandon Joyner (38:15.892)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (38:18.434)
All right, last little look here at this step, but remember we're going from gold medal squared, like this is where we learned how to coach as well for indoor. The first step, your right step is slow. I mean like slow. Second step is faster. You're starting to be able to gain momentum. And then your last two steps are fastest, right? So the right left finish for righties.
Brandon Joyner (38:33.875)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (38:45.622)
is going to be like you accelerate hard off of the left step and your ground, your feet hit the ground as fast as possible in a squat position so that you can load up. And there's a whole bunch of biomechanics and physics reasons why that works to get you super high, but you want the last two steps to be on the ground for as short of a time as possible.
Brandon Joyner (39:06.251)
I've been talking about it recently and a like a power level chat where like imagine every time so let's let's say we're working on a power level of 10. So it's zero to 10 and like every time that you put your foot down like a little meter comes up and it tells you what power level you put that step down and I always say like the first first step of your approach should be like a zero or a one. It's almost like you're
Mark Burik (39:34.958)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (39:35.945)
You're like trying to sneak in, sneak around, somebody's sleeping in the room or somebody is like at home. Maybe you came home late and you're not trying to wake anybody up. You're like kind of just creeping around the house. so, no, was, I was a goody two shoes. I, I, yeah, no, that wasn't me. and college different story, but, so when those, that first step should be like a one, maybe a one and a half, two.
Mark Burik (39:48.642)
You just get in your house a lot as a computer.
Brandon Joyner (40:05.887)
The second step, maybe we're getting up to like two, three, but then those last two steps should like be off the charts, like a 10, 100 % or maybe even a 12 if that's possible. But making sure that your steps are different power levels. First two can be light, last two can be really aggressive.
Mark Burik (40:26.274)
Yeah. And so, you know, we're supposed to do a whole section here on exercise and things to like help your vertical and help your timing. But one of those is if you sit on a box that's about leaving your feet at about 90 degrees, if you rock back so that your feet are in the air and then you slam them into the ground and jump and make that contact as fast as possible. That's a drill both you and me, I think didn't in college. it helped with.
timing for the ball, because the coach would toss while we were rocking back, then we would recognize, slam your feet on the ground, get up as fast as possible, and then go. Because if you rock forward and you put your feet on the ground before, before you recognize where that ball is, then your feet are going to delay on the ground. And for reasons, again, with physics and biomechanics, you're going to be slower or you're going to jump lower because you don't have that plyometric reaction.
So really cool drill that we did in college and that you can do alone in the gym, or you can bring a volleyball and have somebody toss it and then slam your feet on the ground is get yourself a plyo box or anything that you can sit on at 90 degrees, rock back to lift your feet on the ground and then rock forward and have as quick a contact on the ground as possible and get as high as you can. If you add the ball, go ahead and spike the ball after that coach tosses, right? That's a really good drill.
but it really helps you understand all the balls up, but I don't go until I know it's time to go. And that's how you develop timing. It's not just trying to like match the steps into the sequence really, but it's seeing the ball and then going, okay, now I can get it at my highest point. And then you slam at max velocity. Okay.
Brandon Joyner (42:02.463)
Thank
Brandon Joyner (42:15.069)
Yeah, another another drill. Another drill that we do is called like if you don't have a box or anything like that, we call this the flamingo drill where you would just be waiting on that. For me, I'm right handed. So my approach is right, left, right, left. I'm going to get rid of that first step. I'm going to be hanging out only on my left foot. My right foot is in the air and same idea. Somebody tosses the ball for you and all you have is your last two steps to get up in the air.
You're going to same thing. You're going to notice the exact same things that Mark was just talking about, where if you go onto those last two steps, you're going to be early. But if you are decide and you are able to read that set and the timing and you hit the ground and then get up high and hit, then that's going to find that same, same outcome.
Mark Burik (43:01.058)
Yeah. And as coaches, we like messing with that timing, right? So if you hang out on your left foot, I'm going to toss one low ball. And then without telling you, I'm going to toss you a high ball. And that will tell me if you have the patience to allow yourself to hit the ground, to the last two steps with max velocity. Cause if you get onto your right left and then you pause and then you kind of slow jump, you're not going to have as good a vertical and you're probably going to be really early on your approaches.
Brandon Joyner (43:02.463)
.
Mark Burik (43:30.648)
Okay, but if I throw a nice high ball and you wait, wait, wait, boom, and then you hit the ground with your last two steps, then you're starting to learn timing and you're starting to learn how to be patient and not need to move forward just because you see a ball in the air. You have to first, your brain has to first recognize its timing and location, and then you attack it with your feet. Not really hard concept to grab onto. It does take some people months or years.
But we get a long way just by using some crucial drills at camps and practices to be able to get people to bite onto it a lot quicker. Okay, so here's the last approach. And Tim Brewster has taken this approach. Thank you, teams, for serving everybody.
Brandon Joyner (44:17.073)
And Tim's a lefty, just to let everybody know. Yeah.
Mark Burik (44:18.978)
Tim's a lucky.
Okay, so some people might call that a five step approach. Some people might call this a four step approach. At this point, it becomes a three step approach. Like it's semantics. One leg in front of the other.
Brandon Joyner (44:34.43)
We're all right. We're all right. You know, nobody's wrong. Everyone's right.
Mark Burik (44:41.47)
Yeah. Three steppers, four steppers, two steppers. We're all friends. Okay. All right. But he's a lefty. So his first step of, if we're calling it a four step approach, it's going to be his left step. And look, he's got a little bit more patience. So after the set is released, then his left step or his first step is getting onto the ground. Then he sees the ball.
Brandon Joyner (44:47.369)
Yeah, we're all friends.
Mark Burik (45:10.718)
He takes his right step. It's a little bit bigger, a little bit faster. Ball is still very much in front of him. And then this is where he attacks the ball. Okay. Little hip wave there. We're not going to talk about it this episode, but little hip wave there. And you could see he's just barely under the ball, but it's still kind of in front of him. So I don't think this is going to be his most powerful attack. Right. But yeah, see.
Brandon Joyner (45:38.303)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mark Burik (45:41.346)
Okay, just misses maybe outside. Yeah. Okay. So we can see during the approach, isn't that interesting that like we've seen during the approach and slow motion where these inefficiencies happen that lead to hits that are not so great. And these are pros and we can see this in the first two or three steps, right? with amateur we can see it happen way earlier, right? But he got himself a little bit under the ball, maybe by having like his steps a little bit too fast, even though they were delayed.
And he got himself a little bit, I mean, still pretty close to carving this, but once he's under the ball and you can see that his chest has already passed the ball, he's not gonna have power anymore because that ball's not in front of him. And this is a position that a lot of players get stuck in where they're directly under the ball. Okay. And then yes, he broad jumps just a tiny bit, right?
Brandon Joyner (46:36.169)
Yeah. And another thing that I noticed on this is, and we see this a lot is if your timing of your approach is good, then a lot of the times your approach is, in a straight line and you're able to land balanced. If you're early, then at the end of your approach, a lot of the times we see side to side movements. And if you let the play keep going, you'll notice that Tim is going to be finishing on the ground. like that shows me that.
Mark Burik (46:57.613)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (47:05.829)
His feet were not in the right spot. His takeoff was not, it didn't allow him to land balanced. And if you notice now he's out by the sideline, laying on the ground. so in a perfect world, did a great job of having a slow or having a late first step, but he didn't make it slow. And so if he could have remained, if he could have, he could have kept the exact same timing of all of those steps.
Mark Burik (47:17.037)
Thank
Brandon Joyner (47:35.369)
But if he can let off the brake and then accelerate, this is where Tim, if there was a car running through that intersection, Tim would have t-boned it. Because he never really saw it. He never looked both ways. So if he could have delayed that first timing step, allowed himself to hang out there for a second, and then sped up, he would have maintained his balance. A lot of times, if I have players at camp that
that have a problem with this, I give them a challenge where when they're done attacking, I want them to finish like they're gymnasts trying to get a perfect 10. And I want them to be able to land with both of their feet planted and be able to hold their finish. It works for passing, it works for setting, it also works for attacking. So you're like on that one, if we watch Logan at the end of that attack, watch how he can land on both of his feet. So he might've been underneath it a little bit.
Mark Burik (48:11.598)
Mm.
Brandon Joyner (48:32.403)
but he was still in a good spot because when he goes and hits this ball, he jumps, he hits, he's underneath it. We'll talk about that later, Logan. But then when he lands, he's controlled, right? If he was looking like he's stumbling, if he looks like he's tripling over himself, or if he lands sideways, then that's not gonna be a great approach either.
Mark Burik (48:57.346)
Yeah. And this, happens a lot to, to left sides where they feel like they're behind it, but it's actually on their right shoulder. So that's, you know, if you're taking a hard line swing, like he tries to do here, now he's pulling it from his right shoulder to his left. Instead of, if he left that in front of his left shoulder, he'd have a stronger line attack and.
Brandon Joyner (49:07.903)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (49:25.814)
And you can see from this position, like if he's already so far underneath the ball, right, he's also limiting his power going hard cross. So the angles play with this differently because if you're approaching from the left side, you're at an angle. So you want that ball in front of you in relation to basically the back corner of the court. So now having the ball in front of you equals your body, then the ball, then the back.
of the court, that allows you to access most of the court. And if you're going to crank line, then you've got to really leave it in front of your left shoulder or let that ball travel a little bit longer before you snap on it down the line. So because he hits it from his right shoulder, he doesn't get maximum power, even though he sees the leave. And that's when Kyle gets this nice little slap dig.
Brandon Joyner (50:04.351)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (50:14.943)
Yeah, we've talked about it a little bit. with when you're attacking, it's a lot of peripheral. like if wherever you're sitting at home, if you have your screen in front of you and you're watching it head level. right now, if I look straight ahead of me, I'm looking right into the camera. If I have a ball that's straight up above me and I'm looking at it, I can't see the screen anymore. But if I bring that.
Mark Burik (50:32.514)
Mm.
Mark Burik (50:39.373)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (50:41.713)
If I bring this ball in front of me now, and now it's kind of straight in front of it's like maybe 45 degrees, then now, even though I'm looking at this ball, I can still see the screen. can't see you per se, but I can still see that there's a screen there, that there's something going on and that we want to feel like we're in the same position where we're attacking.
Mark Burik (51:02.306)
Yeah. Okay. and then he does a good job of letting this ball drift in front of him. It looks like he's there early now, but remember we're looking at it from the side and he's got a left, a left sides approach, which means his body is still behind this ball in relation to the diagonal corner. And then he lets it keep carrying. So now this ball gets in front of him. So he's in the perfect attack position and look at the angle he can access from there.
head is above the net, that's convenient, right?
Brandon Joyner (51:35.423)
And there's that ball of contact angle that I was just talking about.
Mark Burik (51:39.474)
Mm-hmm. And a nice diagonal cross slash cut shot that lands seven, eight feet from the defender. So really sick.
Brandon Joyner (51:43.731)
Hahaha
Brandon Joyner (51:52.127)
Not all of us can be Logan. Right.
Mark Burik (51:53.842)
No, no. Most of us want to be. Okay, so there's essentially returned to a podcast into an attacking master class there with video. If you guys were listening, bookmark this, save it, just share the link, add it to a message between you and your friends because these videos in combination with what we just did, like that is a full free.
attacking masterclass with video demonstrations. And if you want to fix your attacking, you should for some videos film from this angle, far outside the court and looking at it sideways. And then the other best angle is from the back middle of the court. Please stop filming matches diagonally or from corners. Back middle will give you the best look at your overall game. And if you're looking specifically at your attacking, it's cool to put it well far back.
from the net and along the sideline so that you can see the entire court in one landscape view. And then if you do that, you've got weapons to submit to us in our online program where we can help you and show you exactly what you're doing and give you the drills to fix it.
Mark Burik (53:13.986)
That was, yeah, this, if, if it doesn't go viral because of the thumbnail and the title, it's gonna go viral for the shares because this is the most active and what people need the most help on. And we didn't even talk about setting because without a good pass and set this stuff becomes really difficult. And most times people think they're attacking stanks.
Brandon Joyner (53:14.205)
I love it. That was great.
Brandon Joyner (53:26.311)
Yeah, share it up.
Brandon Joyner (53:40.83)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (53:43.646)
And they come to our camps for help with that. And then we fix their passing and their setting of their partners and everybody around them. And then they're automatically executing better hits. So trust in your sliders is a pretty big deal.
Brandon Joyner (53:53.407)
Right. But also, it allows you as the attacker to take ownership. know, obviously we want a good pass, we want a good set, but this timing, it's even more important if you get a bad set. Being able to delay on that first step. If you get set 10 feet off the net, you're used to getting set three.
It's even more important to hold that timing step and feel calm because then you still look like an attacker. You know, if, you're super early and you don't have any of this timing or any of the, any of this approach, make any of these approach mechanics down, you're just surviving. And so yeah, take ownership, obviously do the work, make sure you're a good passer and make sure you're a good setter. But once you make that pass as, as a passer.
Mark Burik (54:26.648)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (54:47.113)
That's the beauty of the sport is that you can't control the set, but you can control your attack timing. can control your steps and you can still take ownership. So many times that, I mean, even when you and I played together or when we were in college and I was setting you like, maybe I miss you, but you do a great job of being a good partner and using your footwork to fix my mistake.
Mark Burik (54:50.603)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (55:15.111)
Right? So like this allows you to better the ball. That's what, that's what volleyball is. We want to pass well, the setter has to better the pass. Once that ball goes up, the attacker has to better the set. And so all of those keys are super important to get that done.
Mark Burik (55:30.942)
Mm hmm. Yeah. It's funny that like my best results in my pro career came with the worst setter of my program. Right. Like her, her topple. He knows.
Brandon Joyner (55:41.801)
Who? god, yeah, he just won some event with John Moran in China or something.
Mark Burik (55:49.964)
Yeah, he won the Old Man Olympics, the Masters Olympics in Taiwan. He represented the way for beach volleyball.
Brandon Joyner (55:55.155)
Yeah, still getting it done. he's just...
Mark Burik (56:00.61)
Yeah, I mean, he never really, really fixed his setting, but if I had patient feet, that was the only thing that I had to say like, okay, hey, this is a lesson in feet to ball. If I want his block in front of me, if I want his athleticism and his six, nine, but at the net, like I've got to deal with these sets. And so my job is having really patient, but late quick feet so that I can keep the ball in front of me and on my right arm.
And then making patient choices. When you've got an athletic monster who can't set, right? Your job a lot of times is to just hit the ball in the court to put the other team in enough trouble and have the patience to say, this isn't the opportunity to kill, but this is the opportunity to just put them in enough trouble and see the next play. And maybe, you know, they just get led straight back into my six, nine blocker, which is terrific. So, a lot of defense back there.
Brandon Joyner (56:50.439)
Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah, that's kind of crazy. Like, so when you were playing with a worse setter, you had this mindset of, I really need to focus on my approach. And I bet when you played with better setters, maybe you lost some of that thought, and it led to you finding yourself in a difficult position to attack. Like, that's that's,
Mark Burik (57:14.818)
Probably, yeah, when you start relying it mentally.
Brandon Joyner (57:17.299)
That's kind of, that's an interesting spot to be in. Yeah. I'm sure that happens to a lot of people. I'm sure it happened to me as well. I was always very lucky to play with really good setters. So yeah.
Mark Burik (57:27.63)
Yeah. And so long as you, you know, the last thing that we'll say is if you're expecting the set to go to a location and so your approach goes to that location instead of in your mind calling for a set, hoping it's going to go somewhere, but then actually wondering where it is going to go. That wonder, like I wonder where he's going to put this. If that thought enters your mind.
Brandon Joyner (57:45.779)
That's a suggestion.
Mark Burik (57:54.924)
Then you have enough patience to say, it's going over there. Now I'll attack with all of my feet instead of saying the set belongs here. So that's where I'm going to approach. And then when it's off by one, two, three feet, like you're hopeless. Instead, your mind should say, Hey, set me a four, send me six feet from the antenna. Right. Then your mind has to switch to, I wonder if he's going to be able to do it. And then you can attack.
Brandon Joyner (57:59.731)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (58:18.495)
Yeah. The set calls it. It's a suggestion, but then you have to get you have to deal with whatever whatever they give you.
Mark Burik (58:29.102)
Yeah. Okay guys, if you want our entire collection of drills for attacking, and you also want us to help you by you submitting videos, just like the ones that we looked at so that we can critique your game. You can just go to a better beach.com forward slash virtual training. You will find that we have this course available along with our coaching and of course our workout programs for volleyball players. And while you're on the website, sign up for a camp.
Let's work together for eight, 16, 22 hours in one weekend. Pretty banger opportunities there. And if you're ever in Southern California, go ahead to again, betteratbeach.com, find the Los Angeles or Hermosa tab, and you can find our three hour Sunday clinics. You can find our three day camps in Santa Monica, and you can find our regular drop-in classes, which are always available.
Brandon Joyner (59:22.591)
Yeah, I'm going over attacking this weekend. Did passing and setting last weekend, this Sunday, the 15th? What is it? Sunday? I think it's the 15th. All attack, all attacking. So I'm just going to use this podcast. I'm not even going to coach. I'm just going to play this and I'm going to tell them to go play. Yeah. Hey guys, watch this. All right. Now go do it. Good luck.
Mark Burik (59:24.984)
yours.
Mark Burik (59:32.558)
Mm.
Love it.
Just put your computer and say here's your three hour plan. All right, cool. That's it from Brandon, from myself, from everybody at Better Beach. We appreciate you guys listening and thank you so much. you haven't subscribed to our channels or our podcast, please do so. If you want to share this with a friend or a coach,
Go ahead, this has been a master class in attacking and we really hope that you've enjoyed it. So we will see you on the sand.
