Mark Burik (00:01.848)
Hey everybody and welcome to the better at beach podcast. My name is Mark Burik. Brandon is busy coaching today. And if you haven't heard it by now, we have a special announcement coming up, but since you guys are listening to the podcast, maybe this'll be your first taste of the news. We're super excited for Brandon.
He is listed now as one of the assistant coaches for the USA men's beach volleyball national team. Along with that, Matt Furbringer just got the national team head coaching job. I would love to get him on for a future interview and hear about his thoughts and the future of USA men's volleyball, but.
Brandon has increased his coaching hours yet again, and he's helping out with the men's program along with April Ross and Kyle Friend. So we're super excited for him. Hopefully he's not too busy all the time from now on to come on to the podcast. But a huge like round of applause and congratulations for him. However.
We have a really special guest for you today and I'm going to introduce him in just a second. before we get to that, have upcoming camps in Oklahoma city, March 6th, Seattle, Washington, March 13th, Long Island, New York, March 20th, St. Pete, Florida. That is for men's double a and above only. So you can only get into that camp by application and showing us.
a performance standard, but as a high level men's camp, there will only be 10 spots. We already have eight of them sold out. Um, if you want to come and hang out with me down in St. Pete, please start the process. DM me on Instagram at Mark Burik or email support at better beach.com March 27th. We will be in New Orleans, Louisiana at sea or sandbar April 10th. Brandon's going home to tidewater volleyball center in Virginia beach.
Mark Burik (02:11.266)
We'll be back in Fort Myers, April 17th, April 24th. We'll be in Scottsdale, Arizona, May 15th in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 22nd in Lowell, Michigan. Again, in Long Island, May 29th, along with that same weekend, May 29th in San Diego, California. And the last camp on our list is June 19th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So we got a lot.
for you Midwesterners, if that's what we're calling you. And we hope to see you there. We're bringing top level coaches and would love to work with you in person. If you can't make it to a camp, head to betterpeach.com, check out our online coaching. It is the way to go. And I don't wanna convince you on this podcast of how valuable.
film work and steady accountability can be, but that's also a part of the conversation that we're about to get in with our special guest. So he played for and is from Cameroon. He moved to Canada, a professional player, and he's turned into a coach and is now a volleyball influencer with over 55,000 followers on his account.
and we've developed a little relationship off camera on the side and it's been a pleasure getting to know him and I want to hear a little bit more about his story in this episode. So this is Bruno and ngotcha and it is an absolute pleasure to have you on. know we just talked a couple minutes ago, but thanks for coming on the show, man.
Bruno (03:49.675)
Yeah, thanks for having me Mark. It's so early, I'm on the Better Beach podcast, like listening to it for a few years now and then having a child with you and being able to help one year is so cool.
Mark Burik (04:04.32)
Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. I want to hear. So the only, and I try to exit myself from these conversations, but most people, most Americans don't know the absolute international threat that Cameroon presents, as a national team. played, we had a training session against them during one of my pro tryouts where it was just a rag tag bunch of us versus the Cameroon national team.
And I mean, absolute thunderbolts on their team. This was like 15 years ago. So kind of what I want to hear is how you came up in that system through that system and what what it's like to be a budding and then growing volleyball player in Cameroon.
Bruno (04:56.768)
Thanks for saying that. Volleyball in Cameroon has gotten bigger and bigger over the years and I think it's probably the third national sport I've now. It's just so huge. I think what makes the difference is just the fact that it's very physical. Like the demands of the sport growing up when you're studying out in Cameroon, it's so physical. And I started out as a soccer guy, so I played soccer growing up.
And then I eventually made it back, but volleyball was in the family. And so my older sister played volleyball for the junior national team. My older brother, same thing. And so I ended up picking a little bit later, but once I got into it, I discovered that it's just a big culture around it. especially in the capital of Cameroon, like the demands is everybody wants to be able to play pro. And the only way to do that is really by leveling up. And so the system is, it's very different from anything we have here in Canada.
So we have a lot of volleyball is still very much outdoors, but it's a lot of pickup volleyball. And so we have a mythical stadiums and we have one in Yauane that we call Mesa. So it's an outdoor stadium with like concrete floors. have like, yeah, we have like concrete floors and then you have metal barriers around it. And then you have the whole just passing by the court. But what is so mythical about that court is the fact that
Mark Burik (06:11.758)
concrete floors.
Bruno (06:24.273)
At the end of the season, during the off season, have all the pros from overseas would come back and play there just like nothing ever happened. So the guys you watch on TV, so you got the opportunity to be able to rub shoulders against those guys. And it was an opportunity for young guys, like also show like, okay, I can also ball. And maybe this guy will have a link with a contract somewhere. I was like, okay, these kids are coming up. So that's kind of the feeling. So it gets really intense and.
I always say we never really play volleyball for fun in Cameroon. It's always, are you trying to win or not? It's like, well, you always want to play to win.
Mark Burik (07:01.354)
I love that. So is there is there club system? So I mean, so it's outdoor. Are you when I played or I got to coach for a month in India, they had it was kind of dirt courts and they would like just lay chalk powder for the lines before every practice and before every match. Do you guys have set lines there? mean, there has to be indoor gyms where people are practicing because the level
is just insane.
Bruno (07:33.649)
Yeah, we do have indoor gyms. So majority of teams, like it's changed a lot when I started in 2014. Most of the, so you have every province has a club. So every province has a club that plays in the National League. And so we have the National League that runs for almost six months. And so you have, yeah, so you have league games, you have cup games, and then you have...
other open championships in between. So it's well organized, it's well structured. And facility-wise, majority of teams still practice outdoors, but we have gymnasiums. so in Yaoundรฉ, we have the Palais de Spor, the mini spa stadium that is a multi-facility stadium that hosts many sports and events. So that's where they would play the most important parts. By the time we get to like playoffs or the Cameroon Cup.
they would happen there indoors and other league games would happen more outdoors. So every team had its own practice ground. It would probably be at a school or at a university that they would rent out. They would have that. And so I was fortunate enough to play with PAD, which is the biggest club in Cameroon right now and the only club that had the financial means to be able to.
train indoors all season because we're trying to win the African Champions League. we would train indoors all season.
Mark Burik (09:05.07)
Who's the main competition for African Champions League?
Bruno (09:11.003)
That would be, I would say, Arab Africa. I'll put it in general. You have the clubs from Egypt and the clubs from Tunisia are usually the ones that are up there. So, Al Ali, Esperanza Tunis. Yeah, so those are the clubs. And fun fact, that is where I met Gared Magotitia, who played for USA at the Champions League. So, that was my first time meeting him there. He signed a contract with Al Ali that season.
And so it was so cool. Like I'm sitting in the restaurant and I see Garrett passing by and I'm like, wait, wait, I think I just saw Garrett with Mungutee Tea in Africa. And so Garrett was there. was a surreal moment.
Mark Burik (09:50.158)
That's cool. Okay. So there's no like in the US, you know, all of our stuff is at the juniors level, there's club volleyball, but there's also school volleyball. And then above high school level, it just turns into college, college, college. Do you guys have associated school teams in Cameroon or all of Africa? Or is it just like sports club?
Bruno (10:21.169)
Alright, so at a junior level, the sports clubs is once you've really made it to the higher level. at a junior level, you have every from elementary school all the way up to high school. Every school has its own school team. And so you took part in the school team and we had and so we have tournaments. So we call them FINA SCORE like a youth sports events every year.
Mark Burik (10:38.733)
Okay.
Bruno (10:48.345)
And so they are not league based the same way we have them here where it's like this school play for entire season is usually we have like one tournament for like a weekend or for a week and all the schools go against each other to find the winner. Yeah. So and that's the same way that the university system is. So you have that at the elementary school level, the final scores where schools would practice. So they will have their friendly games and games against other schools.
Mark Burik (11:00.929)
Whoa.
Bruno (11:15.867)
But you have the one big tournament during the year where all the schools from all the 10 provinces in Cameroon would maybe travel to, let's say, California and Yondu will be hosting the tournament. And so you get lost in the schools. So you just have like dormitories. And so you would travel, be there for like a week, and you're just competing for like one weekend, for one week to get the winner of that tournament for the year.
So that's the format at that level. And then at the university level, it's similar in terms of the season is long. So it's like the whole academic year. But during that season, university teams are allowed to be affiliated into like the club system. So once when I started out, our university, University of Boya could play. We had an affiliate team that could play in like the National League. And then for the university games, you have
two weekends and every year it's a different province that hosts it. you have two weeks where the best teams in Cameroon go against each other, the best universities go against each other and so you go around or being format and then you have playoffs and then you get the win of the university season.
Mark Burik (12:31.502)
That's crazy. So there's no like standard season. It just all wraps up into either one weekend or one two week event for
Bruno (12:39.409)
Exactly. That's how it is.
Mark Burik (12:43.422)
mentally, how do you prepare for that? Because usually you talk about seasons, because you do a lot of coaching now.
Bruno (12:50.671)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (12:52.834)
How do you shape that for an athlete when there's one event? Because I know some of our listeners, they play a little bit, but they'll play one banger tournament. We have the Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament. There are some people that that's the only tournament each year that they come out for, and that's their fun thing. The other one is Pottstown, the big grass two-on-two tournament. For a lot of people, these might be the only two tournaments that they play in a year.
How did you shape training or stay motivated to practice for so long, knowing that it's only gonna be a weekend or maybe a two week event?
Bruno (13:35.471)
Yeah, that's such a great question because we always said you could have the worst weekend of your life and that's the season. You don't have time to catch up. Yeah, you could show up for that one weekend and if you don't ball, there's really no other game to catch up with. So the motivation comes from the pride of being able to take part in that tournament. So imagine the entire university of hundreds of thousands of students.
Mark Burik (13:44.856)
Yeah.
Bruno (14:03.642)
just being able to make it to the school team, it's so difficult because you have to go through a trial process. And then there's a lot of...
Mark Burik (14:09.954)
Did you say hundreds of thousands in one university?
Bruno (14:13.73)
Yeah, like the University of Boia is pretty big. so I might be exaggerating on the hundreds of thousands, but definitely in the thousands for sure. Yeah, thousands. Let's go with thousands. So the University of Boia is really big. so making it to the school team is, it takes a lot of pride from being able to do that.
Mark Burik (14:20.854)
It's that big?
Mark Burik (14:29.463)
Okay.
Bruno (14:41.71)
the university games on its own is it's the biggest tournament of the year. We always call it like it's the Cameroon Olympics. It's like everybody you have the have the club season and the championship, but there's a lot of bragging rights to be able to do that, to be able to take part in that tournament. So we have friendly games in between. That season is punctuated by the it's punctuated by the league games. So you get to play.
club games while you're preparing for the university games. So your season is like, okay, we're getting ready for the university games by practicing and getting better for these club games. So it was at the back of your mind, but the fact that you also knew it's almost like the Olympics. The fact that it's it's once every year and you don't have to, you don't get to do it again until the next year.
you stay motivated for those six months just getting ready so that once it's time to go you go give your best shot and you also get bonuses for winning because we got paid to go play in those so that was a that's a big difference yeah
Mark Burik (15:46.7)
No way. Cool.
Time out. need two minutes cause somebody's working on my house. So stay here. I've got my next question, but I just got to take care of this.
Bruno (15:53.795)
Alright.
Bruno (15:57.753)
Okay.
Bruno (16:03.674)
Smells good.
Mark Burik (20:15.438)
All right.
So either playing for university in Cameroon, how then do you end up in Canada?
Bruno (20:27.504)
That's very good question. All right, so that's where my beach volleyball journey kind of begins or takes over. So I played indoor for most of my career and in 2018, one of my former teammates, Obenda Besange, he moved over to the US in 2000 and I think 2010. Yeah, 2010 by that point, played NCAA.
And he had just noticed that on the beach volleyball scene, like we had some other smaller African countries, like Cameroon is a big volleyball country. We had other smaller African countries playing on the pro tour, like trying to qualify for events, but there was nothing, like Cameroon was not really invested in that. And so he had reached out to me in 2017, I was like, would you want to qualify for the Olympics? Cameroon, I'm like, dude, I...
I'm an indoor guy. I think at that point, he just seen me play beach volleyball. That was my first year playing out beach volleyball. A buddy, he was missing a partner and I was preparing for an exam and he was like, I don't have someone to go play with. You want to go play? was an international event in Younde in Cameroon. So I went and played. So I posted a few pictures and he saw that. And so he reached out and it was like, there's no one in Cameroon doing anything beach volleyball. Would you want to?
hop on this project with me. I want to see if we can make a run for the 2020 Olympics. So we got onto that journey together and I just fell in love with beach volleyball at that point. I started practicing more and it was hard because nobody really played. So it was in Cameroon, it's indoor guys who go play beach volleyball for like a tournament and then back to the indoor scene. So there is
Mark Burik (22:22.509)
Mm.
Bruno (22:23.118)
The tour wasn't really big at that point. It's gotten so much better. But was usually someone would organize one tournament and I would go play. Or there would be an international tournament qualifier somewhere in Africa and they'll pick the best two guys or the guys who played the most to go play that tournament. so it was a lot of personal sacrifice and a lot of investment. so by the time we're getting closer to the Olympic qualifier, I had a friend who lived here in Canada, who lives here in Canada. And so
Got the opportunity to get an invite because he lives in Baltimore. So I like okay we used to do him living Baltimore live in the US traveling down to come along will practice for maybe one weekend and then go play tournaments and so I yeah, and so we were doing pretty well, but it was really tough and so the same way that we got my first opportunity on the portal
Mark Burik (23:07.735)
What?
Bruno (23:18.712)
Like I was literally practicing on my own. Like I would grab teammates in Yandere, I would reach out to people and like, go up, I have to go play an event in Italy. Can you come and help me practice? And so I had a few teammates who would come out with me. And so Obi would leave, fly from the US, we'll meet in Italy and then play a few tournaments. And then I go back to Cameroon and we just did that.
Mark Burik (23:40.802)
Dude, I mean, the people that I get to talk to are like, I can't find a partner. Like I can't start because I can't find a partner. Your partner was in Atlantic Ocean away and a continent and you're still playing international tournaments with him. That's insane.
Bruno (23:55.201)
Yeah.
Bruno (24:00.143)
Yes. Yeah.
Mark Burik (24:03.352)
Did you guys do any video meets or organize your practice or was the mentality kind of, yeah, you just work hard, I'll work hard, we'll see what happens when we play.
Bruno (24:14.53)
Yeah, it was a big, exactly one, it's a project for crazy people. You needed two insane people to be able to hop on that and be like, yeah, we can make this work. And we also needed to trust that the work ethic, you needed to really trust your partner that because one, was we had to invest a lot of our own money because the federation would not pay for us to travel. So we were not getting handouts to go for holidays in Italy. We had to invest our money into it.
Mark Burik (24:38.574)
Mm-hmm.
Bruno (24:44.236)
It only happened because Obi, Obi Ndabisonga invested a lot of his personal money to be able to make this happen. And so he trusted that I had the work ethic to be able to put in the work because I was playing indoors. And so he would send me and he was already playing beach. I think he just finished NCAA. He was playing more beach than he was playing indoor at that point. So he was kind of coaching me to it. And it was like, OK, I want you to work on this. He would send videos. I was like, work on this. And I'll send videos.
you get feedback and be like, you need to load more on this side, you need to do this for your hands. And so we just got coached through that process. And then when we would go to Italy, we always went at least one week before so that we could get reps together before we played the tournament.
Mark Burik (25:28.216)
Okay.
Mark Burik (25:32.257)
Wow.
Then the question still stands. OK, so you're living in Cameroon. Your buddy who recruited you off of a picture from, I guess, Instagram says, let's play internationally together. And so you're throwing down your own money traveling. get a couple of pieces of film advice from him in Baltimore, which is not a volleyball hotbed, although shout out to Baltimore Beach, their
They have those nice, nice five courts right on the bay there. It. How did those tournaments go like, OK, so you're stepping into a sport, right? You played indoor. lot of people play indoor before beach and you're trying to figure out beach on your own by getting other indoor players out there. And then your partner who has got some experience is also trying to teach you over video like what you need to work on.
What were the biggest hurdles that you had coming from indoor and then trying to just make it up on the beach?
Bruno (26:45.168)
What hoes did I not have? Like everything. Like when I watch back at those games in And I watch back at those games in Italy, I'm like, my gosh, I don't know how he played with me. Like I was so bad. Like it was so bad. But I, so in the beginning, everything, the same things that all indoor players will move onto the beach spacing. Like I would still try to pass tight to the net. Still trying to play the game so wide. Didn't have any beach hands. Like.
Mark Burik (26:49.614)
That's weird.
Mark Burik (26:58.808)
you
Bruno (27:15.084)
my hands, like I had very indoor hands, they were really bad. Like if you watch me set now, I had to put in so many hours to be like, okay, we got to make this work. If I have to be a better teammate, I have to improve. everything about this sport, they kind of learned that, it looks like volleyball, but it's a completely different sport. Like it was just like, yeah, it's the same sport. wasn't the same. So I had to learn new things. so...
Mark Burik (27:33.347)
Mm.
Bruno (27:40.433)
He did a good job in really being patient and just coaching me and being patient on the sand because of the experience that he had and where he expected me to be and the competition we're playing against. We're playing against guys that had been either playing beach all year round or had so much more experience than us. So the result was the first few tournaments weren't good. And then the more we played, I kind of felt like, I'm beginning to understand this thing a little bit more.
And it was just a lot of watching other players on the portal and when we would go practice, I would watch a lot of what the other guys on the tour would do. And I took a lot of videos and I would go back and I'm just trying to replicate the same things. So, and then it got better there. So it was a lot of work, a lot of difficulties adapting to the game.
Mark Burik (28:32.258)
What was, if you had to pick the hardest transition, was it attacking? Was it passing? Was it defense? Was it setting? Like what, what was the most difficult thing for you or the thing that you knew needed to change the most?
Bruno (28:51.387)
Passing and setting were the two biggest. I was pretty good at hitting and once I figured out my footwork, that got easier. But really moving on the sand because of how much more space I had to cover in terms of passing and being mindful of the location of the passes. And was just like, I have an indoor setter that I can just jacket up to him. He'll barely move. But now I have a partner who's beside me.
Mark Burik (29:06.636)
Mm.
Bruno (29:17.963)
And setting was also very difficult because now I was outdoors, the conditions were changing. You had the wind, you had the sun. And just thinking about where I wanted to put the ball all the time, I think those were the biggest challenges I had.
Mark Burik (29:33.238)
Okay. So kind of, so passing and then figuring out the offensive design and where you wanted to be versus instead of like spreading to the pins every time, figuring out how to, how to connect. there, there's a couple of different offenses there that you can run. Like you can, you can spread pin, but you also have to have a substantial amount of footwork.
Bruno (29:57.777)
Yeah, at that point, exactly. At that point, I didn't have the ball control for it. I didn't have the ball control for us to do that consistently and be successful.
Mark Burik (30:03.31)
Thank
Mark Burik (30:12.086)
Okay, cool. So now transition to, yeah, you're, moving to Canada. Was this an indoor move? Was this just a life move?
Bruno (30:17.488)
Canada.
Bruno (30:29.105)
So it was a beach move because one, we're going to get closer to each other to prepare because there was a pro tour event in Halifax. And so we're going to play the pro tour event in Halifax and then get more reps. My visa was six months. I had a six month visa. So was like, we're going to try and make the most of the six months. He could drive down. He has an uncle who lives here in Ottawa.
Mark Burik (30:57.164)
Was it just easier to do the visa in Canada than it was US since he was in Baltimore or. Okay.
Bruno (31:04.377)
Yes, it's way tougher than to the US from Cameroon than it was getting to Canada.
Mark Burik (31:11.214)
Okay, so you're like, hey, we'll be within a two hour flight of each other. Probably like a 15 hour drive or and that's that was easier than doing the whole like us visa stuff.
Bruno (31:17.869)
Exactly.
Bruno (31:27.185)
Yes, it was better than we saw like it was better than me being in Cameroon and not having to practice with each other and getting a little bit closer and still have the opportunity to be able to get more than a couple of reps before a tournament.
Mark Burik (31:41.334)
Okay. Cool. so I was under the impression that like you, I don't know, kind of typical, like came for college, in Canada and then like ended up staying there because we have a lot of players like that where they'll come over for school. they'll stay there. We know a few of our better at beach coaches like Marine who does all of our marketing. She came over to us college university from France, DJ.
Klaznik who's now on the AVP as well. He came over for volleyball for sure from Serbia, which is a low beach volleyball country and he got a student visa. So he ended up getting his masters and doing all of that while playing volleyball. So like they all found educational excuses to come and play a higher level than was in their country at the US.
But you went a different, different route. wasn't for university.
Bruno (32:42.457)
Yeah, it wasn't. So I had my six months on my visa, but during that six months I came here, I did a lot of networking. And so I would go out to the beach and whenever I went out to play, just, you know, when you just move into a new country, was just on Facebook groups, I'm looking for places to play. And so people would invite me. I moved to Ottawa, the capital.
Mark Burik (33:07.362)
Yeah. And what city did you move to?
Mark Burik (33:12.906)
Okay. So you're, and you're still in Ottawa and that's where all your coaches and your training and everything like your personal lessons. And, I know you've got a few, places where you coach and people that you coach in Ottawa. So that's, that's your center and that's your hub and where people can find you. Right. Okay.
Bruno (33:15.249)
I'm still in Ottawa.
Bruno (33:31.929)
Yeah, that's, everything is happening here in Ottawa.
Mark Burik (33:36.366)
Nice.
Bruno (33:37.317)
Yeah, so when I moved here, met, so just networking and then I got linked to Derek Deadman. And Derek Deadman is the founder of Deadman's Beach, which I'm currently repping. And so...
Mark Burik (33:52.022)
I've heard of it. I think I've seen it on Instagram, Nedmansbeach. Yeah.
Bruno (33:54.897)
Yeah, yeah, so, so I show up one day playing with these guys and so I was like, oh, I live in Kenata. I just gave out my address. So I live in Kenata. I'm looking for a place to play. And someone called me and said, oh, there's this guy who has a beach volleyball court in his backyard. And I was like, we played on Mondays. I'm just going to reach out to him.
Mark Burik (34:08.643)
Mm-hmm.
Bruno (34:20.433)
So of course Derek is just like, oh, there's this guy here who plays in Cameroon, he plays with the national team. Can I invite him? Can I give him your number? He's like, sure. So went out to Derek's place. We played on Monday. I was like Monday, 10 a.m. These guys are crazy. Who's playing volleyball at 10 a.m. on Monday? But he could. And so beautiful facility, beautiful home with his beach volleyball court. So we played there and after I just got to share with him.
Mark Burik (34:37.518)
Jobless people.
Bruno (34:48.113)
I I think he's one of the most passionate volleyball people you would ever find. This man loves volleyball so much that when there's any event anywhere here in Canada, he buys funerals, he tickets and he's there with his family to watch every game. He would travel to go to Halifax to go watch the Pro Tour, the futures events. He would watch anything that was volleyball. So I just got to share my story a little bit about what I was doing and the challenges we're facing.
And we connected there and then luckily to him, he had just established Dead Men's Beach as a company. that is how I ended up staying. So I got hired by Derek to stay in Canada to coach for Dead Men's Beach.
Mark Burik (35:34.508)
And so you got in there, I mean, you got in there as a player, but you're also coaching there.
Bruno (35:40.559)
Yes, so once I was in Cameroon, I don't know, like the last few years, you know, when you're drawn to something, it's always been there. I come from a family of teachers. my family is a big family of teachers. My mom wanted me to go to a teacher's training college. I didn't want it. didn't want to be a teacher. But at that point, once I was playing in Cameroon, I was doing part time. I was doing online teaching. So I was teaching French.
I was doing translation online. So I did a lot of freelance work on my own. And so I was already teaching and then with the Cameroon, the female national team, when they were preparing for the African Nations, African Nations Cup. So I would go out there and volunteer. So I worked with them for a couple of years, like whenever they would prepare those tournaments. And so I was lucky enough to the head coach Jean-Renรฉ Acron who brought me on to the staff.
And so I stayed with the squad for like the three months of preparation, living in the hotel, practicing with the girls. So I got to, so I started rubbing my shoulders with coaching a little bit more, even though I was still playing. And so I was just in between both worlds. And I think just moving here to Canada, the fact that there's no poly and beach volleyball was now in the focus. was like, okay, with beach volleyball, I have more time. And coaching just became the natural, the next natural progression.
Mark Burik (37:06.094)
All right, cool. then, okay, so move to Canada to try to play, get some connections by posting on Facebook and hunting people down on Instagram. So now you've got your play crew and you're starting to coach. Now, next, how do you end up with 55,000 followers on Instagram?
Bruno (37:31.409)
Yeah, that is, that is, that is, I mean, I love, I love everything. So I think when I was back in Cameroon and sometimes when I look at my, I look at my Facebook page, like the old ones, like I watched some of the videos that I would post, like do push up challenges. Like I'd always been, I'd always been drawn to that. I'd always wanted to create stuff. Like I'm very creative.
Mark Burik (37:52.686)
Mm.
Bruno (37:58.801)
And so I'd always wanted to create stuff and when I came here I was just like, I have no more excuses like I can easily have a camera here There's facilities available things that I couldn't have in Cameroon. Why will I not create here? And then I I love a good challenge. And so I always ask myself like how do people grow massive accounts? How do people get 1 million followers? And so I asked myself that question. I'm like, I we've come to the the line of
a land where things happen because as immigrants we always feel like this is where there's opportunity. So I came here with that mindset, I'm like, yeah, there's an opportunity, I'm gonna try. So it started as that. I'm just gonna put out the things that I did back in Cameroon here. And so the inspiration was, we didn't have big facilities. Outside of the practice time, you didn't have access to the gyms. So you couldn't really get any reps.
And so I lived with my uncle and he had like a big yard. And so we had a wall at the back of the house. And so I would wake up every morning. We had, we used cement blocks to mold like a bar there. And so I would do squats with it. So I had my own mini gym that we just created in the back of the house. So I'd wake up in the morning, do my strength work, do some passing and hitting those on the wall, shower, work on the, do my freelance stuff and then go for practice. So that was my routine.
Mark Burik (39:11.67)
Nice.
Bruno (39:26.577)
So when I came here, I'm like, yeah, everything is so much more sophisticated, but I grew and I got better doing that. So that love for sharing, I was like, okay, I'm going to share how I got better and I'm going to find ways to be able to do it with what I have here.
Mark Burik (39:42.222)
Mm And that's it's kind of the nature of it, right? It's like if you can find more reps than somebody else can find, no matter where it is, no matter when it is like we just did it. We said in our last podcast, but like Phil Dowell Hauser was giving us, hey, how did you become the world's best setter for like seven years in a row? And he was just like, I don't know, kind of laying on my couch, leaning back and
setting to myself for like three hours. Like, oh, no kidding, you got 1000s of reps, like just sitting in your living room and then on the court and then in the backyard and all of these touches count like, yeah, you got to implement them at some point. But like finding a way to get reps. And that's why like we both have online courses and online programs, right? You have a substantial arm swing program that you're running.
And we have like all of our beach volleyball courses and coaching, but so much of it. And the question that we always get is how do I get, you know, I can't get to a court. can't get to a court. So how do we get better? It's like, dude, there are so many ways to get better without a court. if you have a wall and, or a ball, like there are thousands and thousands of reps that you're missing on by just not touching a volleyball.
because you don't have a court. Like that's not an excuse. Even in college when I was coming up, I used the squash court, like the indoor racket ball court, because we couldn't set up the nets on our own. We didn't have gym time. The basketball guys had it. And well, how do I get better at volleyball? All right, we're gonna sit here in the squash court. I'm gonna hit against the wall. I'm gonna set against the wall. I'm gonna serve against the wall and pass it. And me and my buddy actually figured out that since we had such terrible ball control,
Bruno (41:21.553)
That's so good.
Mark Burik (41:40.962)
that if we peppered in the squash court, we spent like less than half the time actually chasing the ball. So we got double the reps. So, okay, so you created, you love creating. You wanted to show people how to get better from home. And then you created this arm swing and then we ended up meeting through Instagram and
Now we're kind of working together on the back end through like the business stuff. So what's the next evolution for you? Because for anybody out there who's like, I don't have the credentials or the contacts to become a coach. Well, somebody just moved to a brand new country, had zero contacts, now has 55,000 followers on Instagram and has his private lessons and personal groups sold out. Like someone figured it out.
people at home, you can too, right? So now what's the next step for you? Are you continuing beach volleyball? Are you more focused on coaching, more focused on building the online courses? Tell me a little bit about that.
Bruno (42:57.687)
So it's a mix of both. What I know right now is I want to make one more run for LA 2028. So thanks to the internet once again, there's another Franco-Cameroonian guy who lives in France and he saw me posting more content and he had restarted the year before even when I was playing with my partner and so he was like, dude,
I think we got a solid shot. I want us to partner together to see if we can make a run for LA 2028.
I was like, all right, we got another battle on our hands. We're not in the same, we're not living in the same country. He's in France, I'm in Canada. It's going to be at another harder. But I think I have accepted that the fact that we are not a big beach volleyball country. this is, Olympics is a personal dream. And so you got to make the sacrifices for it. And so if this is how it's going to be.
I think Obi and I had that conversation. were like, we're gonna stop making excuses about the fact that we only practice two times together. We gotta find a way to make this work if we chose to do this. so, Gatum and I are working on the back end to make sure that we're getting everything sorted. So big thing for me was getting my paperwork sorted here in Canada. So that is going really well. then, so the plan is to be able to go to France and...
get some training camps he's in Montpellier they got they have a really good visual yeah like he he's really good all of those young guys are coming up all over there in France and so so i'm really looking forward to it so on the sport side of it like i want to make that run and on the coaching side i want to keep getting better at coaching but grow the business so long term it's going to be
Mark Burik (44:36.307)
Montpelier has got a nice facility. Yeah.
Bruno (45:01.307)
to create a little bit of more like what you've done. Be able to get, I want to be in my own facility here in Canada. It's a really big dream. I'm like, if you don't dream big, then you might as well not dream. So I want to build my own facility. That's going to be like a one-stop shop for everyone. You come in, you get your reps, you get strength and conditioning, you get physios, and then you get a few breakdowns. So that's the goal. Right now is try and get more people to hit the ball better.
So with the program that we're working on, just trying to get more people to be able to hit the ball better, reach more people, be it in Canada and outside. That's the goal. I've been getting a lot of invites from teams to be able to run practices for them. So I've been coaching other teams now. So people are reaching out for me to come coach their teams. So that's something that has added itself that I didn't initially have.
Mark Burik (45:31.436)
Mmm.
Bruno (45:56.146)
And so I'm really looking forward to it. I think we spoke about it. I would love to take the show on the road at some point and be able to coach people from different places.
Mark Burik (46:06.21)
Awesome. Well, maybe we can get you at a better beach camp and coaching one of our, one of our camps and squads for a little bit. that would be fun now. and just like, spoiler. so for me, if you guys listen to the podcast, you know that occasionally I do very occasionally I do business mentorship, and coaching and me and Bruno, we got to meet on Instagram.
through friends, one of his good buddies, Guy, he came out to a couple of camps and training sessions and he's like, hey, you know, maybe you should have a chat. so now we're working together in like a mentor-mentee relationship on the online business side of it and how to get good information and training programs into people's hands. Would you, could you share like,
Like two things that you think we have worked on together from, for the people who are here trying to grow their coaching business, people who don't think that they belong as a coach or, or they think they're in the wrong area. what do you think we're doing or the best things that we've worked on so far that have helped you from the business or developing as a coaching business side?
Bruno (47:34.482)
Yeah, first of all, the work that we've been doing together has been awesome. The changes have been great. But I'll just go piece by piece, just kind of give people more perspective on the work we've been doing. I think the first thing was just how you show yourself on the internet, how you present yourself. That's a big one. So when I started, you asked me the question, are you trying to be an influencer or are you trying to be a coach?
And when I looked at my account, I discovered that I was lost in between the two. was just like, oh yeah, I'm trying to be a coach, but I'm presenting myself as an influencer. And so my message to people and the people I'm trying to address was lost. Like if someone came to my page, it's like, nice is getting videos, but who is he? And so I think that's one of the biggest things that people are getting lost in terms of you need to understand who you're trying to be and you need to show that version of yourself on the internet.
And so just changing like the first conversation we had just me changing my bio to say who I was. It's so funny, like even Derek saw that and he was like, hmm, OK, something has changed. Like he saw it. He didn't say anything until I brought up the conversation. I was just like, I know that you changed your bio and it says this. And I was OK. People that know me can already see the change. Then I imagine people would know me and just like, OK, I'm coming here because this is what this guy can do. Like.
That was a big one, like the first one just showing my thinking stuff like who am I trying to be on the internet? Who am I trying to talk to? What is my audience? The second big one was just asking me, just figuring out what my goals were. Like sometimes you set out and you don't really know what your goals are, but asking me what my goals were also brought me back to looking at what I am doing.
I didn't think something doing right now, I'm bringing me closer to my goals or away from my goals. And those questions just kind of hit checkpoints. I'm like, all right, I'm trying to do this and do this, but everything that I am doing is bringing, is taking me away from what I'm trying to do versus closer to my goal. That was a big one. I just changed my mindset. And I think one of the biggest ones to without putting so much is just the fact that
Bruno (49:54.758)
there's no one else if actually if anyone who's listening that is trying to be a better coach was trying to get the know-how you're trying to bring that knowledge to people like you have been in this space so long that you know what works and what doesn't know that what doesn't work in terms of the directions we're supposed to be taking the kind of conversations we have to be doing and just setting priorities or just like little things like that it's just
Mark Burik (50:13.966)
Mm-mm.
Bruno (50:24.261)
just, it challenged me in the way I was looking at the business side of it. And it's been challenging every day, like the homework and the tech, they're just like, okay, you got to do this. So I don't think there's anyone in this space that is more knowledgeable about being a great coach one, which you are and being a good business man, which you've been able to blend both. And like it's already changing. It's like I was able to make
I was able to make $649 without working with you. And so I know for sure, once this program gets going, we're going to be making big bucks because of the changes I've already made, because I can already feel it.
Mark Burik (51:10.702)
Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to see the progression, especially, you know, that that little changes that we make now. It's investing, it's compounding. Right. So it's like, if you invest $100 today, it might not be anything. But in a year, it's $110 in 30 years, it's, you know, 10 times 10, you know, becomes thousands. And every little change, whether you make it in volleyball, your sport, and then you keep
adding to that investment bank through workouts, through reps, those compound upon each other. And then that's how you develop a good business. That's a develop a decent bank account. That's how you develop like fitness is these consistent deposits into the right account. And so with your programs, with getting arm swing reps at home and learning how to attack and then training yourself
how to learn how to attack online and watching videos and then getting input from a coach that like, make sure you don't head in the wrong direction or deposit into the wrong account. it's, tying sport and business and life together is something that not enough coaches do. But once you realize that the common threads of hard work, reps, and then compounding interest in the right area get you a long way.
It's a big deal and it's exciting to see like your many chat. Um, you're getting like a 95 % open rate. And I know that this is a volleyball podcast, but like it's exciting to see that people are now signing up for your programs, getting your free downloads. And if you guys haven't, uh, followed him or heard of him, please check out beast mode underscore volleyball and follow Bruno and follow his path. we're rooting for him.
in the 2028 Olympics. Hope you get that that African spot. That would be really nice. The continental spot. I have to head to a player meeting right now, but I would love to have you on again and would love to have you come to a better beach camp and see if you can give some of your knowledge to our campers. So and then we'll see in a few months if I'm as good as a
Mark Burik (53:36.066)
Business coaches. am a volleyball coach, but it's been a fun journey. Cool. Well, Bruno, thank you. No, thank you. Appreciate it and have a great day. And, for anyone out there listening, make sure you follow beast mode volleyball on Instagram, check out his arm swing programs. He's got a lot of at home drills and coaching programs.
Bruno (53:39.279)
I'm sure you, I'm sure, what the, what the, what?
Bruno (53:45.297)
Well, thank you so much for having me, Mark. Thank you so much for having me on. This was really fun.
Mark Burik (54:06.11)
and follow his journey to the 2028 Olympics. Fingers crossed for you, buddy.
Bruno (54:11.857)
Thank you very much.
Mark Burik (54:13.772)
You're welcome.
