Latest / Whatcom Preps Podcast / Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 219 - Volleyball Top 50 Breakdown

Transcript

Whatcom Preps Podcast Episode 219 - Volleyball Top 50 Breakdown · Whatcom Preps Podcast

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This is Linden Senior Grace Rice and you're listening to the Top fifty volleyball countdown
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on the Walkham Preps Podcast with Tyler and Ryland. Go Lions, Greetings and
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welcome into the watcom Preps podcast. This is episode at two and nineteen,
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a breakdown of the volleyball Top fifty. I'm Ryland Spencer along with me as
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always is Tyler Anderson of Watcomb Preps. Tyler, how are we doing doing
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fantastic? This is something a little different than we've done in the past,
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but I'm excited to kick it off and talk a little volleyball. Yeah.
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I'm not going to say this is a little outside of our comfort zone,
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but let's just say there isn't one at this point. I mean it's kind
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of gone. So yeah. Yeah. We need to give a thank you
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to Grace Rice for the intro, and if she's doing the intro, that
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means going to talk about her for a little bit. Probably in a little
1:02
bit, so we will get around to that in a moment, but first
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we need to give it thank you also to Kurt Mayberry Farm. Kurt Mayberry
1:08
Kurt Mayberry Farm is a fourth generation family owned and operated berry Farm committed to
1:12
growing the highest quality berries strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. You can find
1:17
them at Kurtmayberryfarm dot com. That's Kurt with A C, M, A
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B E R R y farm dot com. We also would like to give
1:23
a shout out to Belle Anderson Insurance for their continued support of Watcompreps athletes.
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This past season, Bell Anderson Insurance sponsored the volleyball score boards that went up
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seemed like almost daily. They also sponsored the Lignement of the Week for football.
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If you or someone you know would like to get involved with watcom Preps,
1:40
be sure to reach out to them to excuse me to Tyler on Facebook,
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Twitter, and Instagram by searching Watcompreps and to send them a direct message
1:48
or send him an email at mister Underscore Mohawk at hotmail dot com. Tyler,
1:53
we have all kinds of stuff going on right now as far as Watkompreps
1:57
is concerned. So really what we need people to do as far as the
2:01
podcast goes. You should be subscribed already, and if you're not subscribed,
2:07
be sure to subscribe because tomorrow a new podcast will be launching. As a
2:12
matter of fact, if you're not listening to this the day that we release
2:14
it, which is what day would that be, Tyler, that's the tenth,
2:20
Yes, right, the tenth, so December tenth. If you're listening
2:23
to this on December tenth, then it's tomorrow. If you're listening to on
2:25
the eleventh, it might already be out. But basically, what's going to
2:29
happen Every Monday, We're gonna be putting out a podcast at eight a m.
2:32
And that's going to be our weekly winter sports wrap up. So boys
2:38
and girls, basketball, wrestling, swim and dive, lots of stuff to
2:42
talk about every week. And as you know with football, we would do
2:46
a wrap up and then we do a preview. This is gonna be a
2:47
little bit different because Tyler's got a lot of work to do, so we
2:52
don't have nearly the amount of time that we have available. So because of
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that, it's just going to be a weekly one. We will record it
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like Sunday night, and then it'll get posted first thing Monday morning, so
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lots of stuff going on. After that, we're gonna start getting into our
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Top one hundred Countdown podcasts, the actual top one hundred. By the time
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you hear this is already going three times a day, So yeah, head
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over to walkompreps dot com. Make sure you follow walkcom Preps on Facebook,
3:23
Twitter, and Instagram. Tyler's got all kinds of stuff going out there.
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Yeah, so lots of stuff going on over at walkome Preps. So be
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sure to The reason I tell you the subscribe to the podcast right now is
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almost because there's so much stuff going on you might actually miss the post about
3:38
it's gonna be exactly, it's gonna be really easy to miss it if you're
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not subscribed. There's you know, you're you're kind of everyone's kind of used
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to the normal schedule, right of one coming out early in the week,
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one coming out later, kind of middle later of the week, and that's
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just the way things have been going for a few months. But now things
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are gonna be coming out a lot, and they're gonna be kind of all
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over the place. So you don't want to miss it. Subscribe. It
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makes it really easy to make sure you don't miss anything. Yes, and
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with the top one hundred, basically we're going to go every nineteen is going
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to get a podcast. So once number eighty one, basically when number eighty
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one is posted on the site the podcast for one hundred down to eighty one,
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or is it eighty two, it'd be eighty one. So the podcast
4:19
will go up basically at the exact same time, and so if you're subscribed,
4:24
great, you get it. If not, Tyler will end up posting
4:27
it probably a couple hours later, so you'll still see it, but maybe
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it gets mixed in with some things, because well, let's just run it
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really quickly, Tyler. I mean, you've got the wrap up from the
4:36
day before, You've got the three top one hundreds, You've got what the
4:42
volleyball or the basketball scoreboard, You've got swim and dive wrap up, you've
4:46
got rep I mean, yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot of
4:48
stuff going on right now. As a matter of fact, anybody wants to
4:51
volunteer, Tyler might take some hands. I mean, I'm just telling you,
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yeah. But yeah, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast because
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there is a lot of stuff to talk about today where we are going to
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talk about volleyball. Yeah, for the first time, well no, I
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guess not the first time. We have talked about it a little bit in
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the past, but we've never talked about it, like what we're gonna do
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right now. Yeah, we've never dedicated a full podcast to it. Yeah
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ever, and so uh yeah, I guess a couple things in advance.
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If I say something stupid, I apologize right now. That goes for both
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of us. Yeah, Tyler, you want to know how much I know
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about volleyball. Yeah, yeah, well, I've been to volleyball in the
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past, Like I used to go to some UDB volleyball when I had a
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thing called an Olympic Pass and you could go to all the Olympic sports for
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free. Basically basically the most I know about volleyball. I'm sitting here right
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now looking at my Nintendo games and I've got Kings of the Beach and Volleyball.
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Yeah. I mean I liked, I like playing Super Spike v Ball.
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Yeah you know what, I probably house that one somewhere up there.
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Yeah, like a beach volleyball game and two on two Yeah, yeah,
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the Beach Volleyball Kings of the Beach, that's the one that I have.
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Okay, I don't know if I played that one. That one and then
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the regular volleyball one that that game's just awful. It's it's like, you
6:06
know, eight bit impossible to even see anything, and you can't even yeah,
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you know what I'm saying. It's different. It's like the ten yard
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fight of volleyball exactly. That's a great point. Oh my goodness, bad.
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Yes, And so if I say something stupid, it's literally I don't
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know. The other thing is plead ignorance. Oh yeah, well that's easy
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to do. The other thing is we kind of went through the names.
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I could very easily screw up one of these names. I could very easily
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do it. I think I got it down. I think I do.
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But there's fifty names here, Tyler, so the odds are good, I'm
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gonna screw one of them up. That being said, the way that we're
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going to do this right now is I'm going to count down from fifty down
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to forty one, and then forty down to thirty one, and basically,
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Tyler, I'm going to give the names. What would that be? It
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would be ten names at a time, right, yes, yeah, okay,
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So I'm gonna give ten names at a time. I'll give the name
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and the school, and then basically, once I get down to forty one
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or down to thirty one, Tyler, that's where you start talking and kind
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of give me your thoughts and maybe who it is that is in there,
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if there's anybody specific that's you know, maybe got some cool numbers anything like
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that. You know, you kind of give us the info and you're the
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big brain over there. All right, I'll do my best. All right,
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let's start off at number fifty. Anna Lee Kon from Mount Bigger High
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School. I guess I could still use that. Huh, Yeah, you
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can't, Yeah, because everybody knows Lep. She's in at number fifty.
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Bella Vezzetti from Blaine, number forty nine, Kaylin Lichel LIKEL LIKEL, Michael
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LIKEL from Nooksack Valley. She's at forty eight. Gwen Foy Squalicum at number
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forty seven, Anya Winter from Seahome at forty six, Gracie Papp from Meridian
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at forty five, Jolie Paz from Squalicum at forty four, Jada Knutsen from
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Bellingham at forty three, Eva lenn from Seahome at forty two, and Casey
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Thomas from Lyndon at forty one. Tyler, what do you got for me?
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Yeah? Gwen Foyd just a sophomore, she's the shortest player to make
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the list at five feet even. Wow, and she missed a big chunk
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of the season to start out. I think she missed the first three weeks
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of the season. So just to make the list was really saying something.
8:24
Squalkum had, you know, a lot of injury issues all year, but
8:28
when she came back, they started to play pretty well. But I just
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couldn't move on in districts. It was kind of a rough year for the
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Storm. But she's just a sophomore. I thought that her spark really ignited
8:39
them when she was able to come back and play. Gracie pap from Meridian,
8:43
another sophomore that she There are certain athletes that when they like, especially
8:50
in the middle. She's a middle blocker. She just floats in the air
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like I don't like it's she's like a skywalker. It's like, I don't
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know how she can stay in the air longer than everybody else, but she
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and she's left handed, she's got a great it just it's a really good,
9:05
you know spike, and and she's very good at at blocking and has
9:09
great timing, and she's and she's always just very happy on the court.
9:13
And so it's always fun to root for her. She's always a lot of
9:16
fun to watch. And then Casey Thomas you mentioned from Lyndon, she is
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she's gonna go and play college softball at I believe it's Scadget Valley College,
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and she's she's, uh, you know, she's not gonna put up huge
9:30
numbers, never plays near the net. She's a defensive specialist, which it's
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really hard to rank those types of players because the numbers aren't there. You're
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gonna get a lot of digs and stuff like that. She's a very good
9:39
server as well, but you know, there's not going to be any sister
9:43
kills or anything like that. But man, when I was at State and
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I saw how important she was to that team, it was pretty obvious that
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she belongs on this list. Let's go to number forty down to thirty one.
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We start at number forty with Catherine Chen of Ellingham number thirty nine,
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Ellie Meyer of Lynnon Christian number thirty eight, McKenna Andrews of Seahome thirty seven,
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Olivia Copps of Ferndale thirty six, Ava Langstrat of Lyndon thirty five,
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Leah Lockwood of Seahome number thirty four. Oh, Amilie. Yeah, Amie
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mckehon. I think she's related to Jack Trader. Jack, Yeah, probably
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not. Out of Ferndale. Peyton Bartell, I recognized that last name.
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Out of Nooksack Valley. Mischa Rivier out of Bellingham. She's at thirty two,
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thirty one. Caitlin Harrington from Blaine Tyler. What do you got?
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Yeah, Leah Lockwood at Seaholme. She was a player that I think when
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I I saw a lot of Seahome matches early on, and and she's another
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one that didn't wasn't you know, in the rotation a ton in the beginning,
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but really started to play a lot more. And she's just super athletic,
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and I think that she has a lot of potential to even get better.
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She's I believe she's she's an underclassman. I know that I can't remember
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she's a junior or a sophomore, but I think that she she's one of
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those players that, like next year's list, she could have a huge jump.
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She just has that ability. Amilia McKeon was near the top all year
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in blocks. I want to say she was a defensive player of the Week.
11:26
One week she was probably. I think she was second for the whole
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for the whole season and blocks per set and it's which is really impressive because
11:41
she's only about five to eight. Wow. You know a lot of these
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middle blockers are around six feet tall, so you know, I don't know,
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that's a good question. Yeah, and I but I you know,
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she's just one. She's just one of those people that is really good defensively,
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has great timing and just found a kind of a new spot and played
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really well there and it was great. And she's an underclassman as well.
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And Kaitlyn Harrington from Blaine's she's an underclassman too. I think she's a junior
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and she Blaine kind of had two different setters, which is really odd that
12:18
they kind of went back and forth on all year that they would you know,
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rotate and they play a different position if they're both out there at the
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same time. And and Caitlyn Harrington was one of them. And she's six
12:28
foot one, and you just don't see a lot of setters that are six
12:31
to one. But it could be so valuable because you're playing close to the
12:35
net, so you can you can, you know, do something else if
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you want to. If you want to have like a surprise killer if you're
12:41
up there for a block. So that was really beneficial for Blaine and her
12:45
her abilities, and she I think she had to learn a new position doing
12:48
that as well playing being a setter half the time. So I was really
12:52
impressed with her abilities. So I'm just looking here, Tyler. It says
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I think the number I'm coming up with here is seven feet for it inches
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and an eighth. Okay, so it says women Indoor Volleyball Regulations and it
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I mean, I'm just guessing that has to do with with high school because
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it seems like all of the numbers are the same. Yeah. Probably,
13:13
I would imagine men call it eleven feet eleven five eights, Okay. I
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wonder how much that one eighth of an inch makes a difference, Like,
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I bet, I bet it's like, actually crazy how much of a difference
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it could make. Though, Well, how much practice they do, you
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know, the warm ups? They they run up, they square up,
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jump up with two hands. They do it over and over and over and
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over again. If you if you're playing, I mean, I'm wondering if
13:35
they've ever played it in net that you're like they can tell it's off.
13:37
I mean yeah, if it was you know, if it was seven and
13:39
two eights, like right, yeah, seven four two eighths, they are
13:43
like they're like, hey, wait a second, here, this is an
13:45
eighth off. Yeah, this is something's different here. I mean, I
13:48
would imagine there's some players that have been playing a long time to be able
13:50
to tell that you never know, Yeah, I mean that's I don't know,
13:54
it's crazy, and you're right, like, I uh, you know
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now that I'm working a baffle. One, I was about to leave the
14:01
school after football practice and I was like, oh, is there volleyball going
14:03
on over there? So I just went around the corner and like just took
14:07
a peak real quick, and I noticed a lot of our football team was
14:09
up in the stands, all dressed up, going nuts, having a good
14:11
time. But I was like, I was watching warm ups and I'm like,
14:16
I would be absolutely exhausted at the end of warmups. Oh yeah,
14:20
and that's just warm ups. I was like, good lord, Like,
14:24
I mean, they are jumping constantly. I couldn't believe it. I mean
14:28
was it was truly impressive. It really was. Let's see here, where
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are we at? Thirty? Yeah, thirty all right, number thirty,
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Juliana Jamaica out of Nuksack Valley, Olivia Swain out of Squalcum at number twenty
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nine, Mary Lockhart from Bellingham at twenty eight, Ella Fritz Lynnon Christian twenty
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seven, Elizabeth Delang Nuksack Valley, twenty six, Grace Wells from Meridian.
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She's at twenty five. Grace de Hogue from Nuksack Valley at number twenty four.
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You know what's messing me up here? You have the abbreviations. Yeah,
15:03
I know, Yeah I should Yeah, I really should have wrote these
15:07
out Finley Departure from Lyndon. She's at twenty three, number twenty two,
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Katrina Ferry from Ferndale, and at twenty one Audrey Ellingbow out of Lynden.
15:18
Christian Tyler. What do you got for the twenties? Yeah, well,
15:22
Elizabeth Delang at twenty six, six foot two freshmen. Wow, I think
15:28
that she, you know, got better as the season war on. By
15:33
the time they were at State, she was a difference maker, didn't you
15:39
know. It was a it was a really good team where they had they
15:41
rotated in and out like nine or ten players, and so she wouldn't start
15:46
all the time. But holy cow, she would make a difference and there'd
15:50
be there'd be glimpses, there'd be moments where you're like, whoa, that
15:54
was the that was the best kill of the whole match so far. And
15:58
yeah, but it was kind of sparse. It was here and there.
16:02
She wasn't the focal point of the offense, you know, but she will
16:06
be down the road. I think that, you know, big time,
16:08
sky's the limit. She's gonna be a great, great player. Finley Parcher
16:11
at Lindon very similar also, you know, I think six foot one as
16:17
a freshman as well, she might end up being one of the She might
16:21
be an All conference basketball player this year as a freshman, really really good
16:25
athlete. I sat with her grandfather at State. Her grandfather was was in
16:30
like a like a motorized cart there and so he was able to be down
16:36
on the floor, you know, with like the press, and so him
16:38
and I watched a ton of volleyball together. So that was really that was
16:42
really cool getting to know him and and Audrey Ellingbow from Lyndon Christian. You
16:48
know those liberos are they just throw their bodies all over the place, and
16:53
there's like there's like you know, you're going for a dig, and if
16:57
you see that player in a different colored show going for it, you should
17:00
always just let them get it because they're they're they're made to do that,
17:04
that's what they're trained to do. And I always, I'm always worried that
17:07
a couple of girls are gonna dive at the same spot and just hit head
17:11
to head. And Audrey Ellingbow is one of those players at Lennon Christian that
17:15
she she just sacrificed her body all the time to get every single thing that
17:19
she could is she hustled down everything that was way out of bounds to get
17:23
it back into play, and it was really impressive to see her do that.
17:26
What Tyler, of all the matches you went to this year, m
17:30
hm, how many injuries did you see, I'm curious. Just a couple,
17:38
Yeah, just just like two. Yeah, it wasn't I was.
17:41
I mean, yeah there there There'd be little things every once in a while,
17:47
but they'd pop right back up and it'd be like wow. But there
17:51
was there was Uh, there was a couple of serious ones that I knew
17:55
about. Uh, Like I know, Squalkum and Lendon Christian both had a
17:57
ton of just like they just staying healthy was a problem. Yeah, but
18:03
other than that, and there was one major one that we'll get to later.
18:08
But yeah, it wasn't it wasn't too bad. It was you know,
18:12
it was pretty good. Let's see here we are at number twenty,
18:17
right, yes, alrighty number twenty, Malia Johnson Lynden Christian number nineteen,
18:22
Ryan Stephen Lynden, number eighteen, Mallory Button shown Ferndale, number seventeen,
18:30
Maddy Barons Seahome, number sixteen, Tia Gilde out of Ferndale, number fifteen,
18:37
Tanna Hookema out of Nooksack Valley number fourteen, Taya Zadig from Blaine,
18:42
number thirteen, Brooklyn Larabie out of Ferndale. I like that name. It
18:47
just flows really well. Number twelve, Eden Bernardi from Meridian and number eleven.
18:52
Emmy Lee out of Seaholme Tyler. Yeah, this is a great group
18:57
of players here Button showing at Ferndale. I don't know if I've ever seen
19:03
anybody go out go like all out more when just when playing sports like she
19:10
is intense. She's passionate about her teammates, her coaches, her opponents.
19:17
Winning everything. She leaves it all out there. She's so fun to watch,
19:22
you know, play volleyball, and then now watching her playing basketball,
19:26
she's just she's just and she's like she's one of those players that like I
19:32
can send a message to and say, hey, you know, can you
19:34
tell me about this player or like, like her basketball coach. I needed
19:38
to get ahold of her basketball coach, and I didn't. I didn't have
19:41
her email or phone number. So I messaged Mallory. You know, She's
19:45
like, yeah, it's this, you know, good luck, like like
19:47
she's on it all the time. And so that's that's been helpful for me.
19:52
Taya Zadek at Blaine, she's going to Western Washington University to play volleyball.
19:56
Six feet six feet tall and ton of potential there now. She was
20:00
the main focal point for the Border Rights offensively. I mean it was get
20:04
the ball to her every time. Uh but it was they just they just
20:11
they kind of had a rough season and you know, there's so many good
20:15
teams up here and and uh so her numbers weren't as good as they could
20:21
be. But she's a heck of a player and I'm glad that she's going
20:25
to continue on and play locally, which is really really cool. Brooklyn Larrabee
20:30
just a freshman and she she is thirteen. Yeah, Eden Bernardi is also
20:36
a freshman. They're they're the two highest ranked freshmen, two different players.
20:41
Brooklyn Larrabee is she's like she's like the natural, like she just she makes
20:48
everything look easy, and it's hard to believe that she's just a freshman.
20:52
She's the setter, so she so she's constantly running the offense. She never
20:56
comes out of any match, and she is just nails on the course.
21:02
She's she's unbelievable. She will go play somewhere. Ian Bernardi very similar where,
21:07
but she's more of a power player. You know, probably the probably
21:11
had the most aces in the entire county this year as a freshman, but
21:15
also as an outside hitter, like unbelievable, hops, great athlete, and
21:22
you could see it on her face, like she is competitive. You know,
21:26
it's so much fun to watch her and her sister Ryland just you know,
21:30
plays so well for a Meridian. They had a really deep run too
21:34
in the playoffs. I'm not her sister, by the way, for those
21:37
listening. Yeah right now, Tyler, we're at the top ten. So
21:41
what we're gonna do here is will go. I'll give you the next five
21:44
and then we'll talk about five, four, three, two and one individually.
21:47
All right, sounds good? Okay? So yeah, So starting at
21:52
number ten, Rylan Bernardi from Meridian, number nine, Molly berfind from Seahome,
21:59
number eight, Haley Kochie from Lynden, number seven, Chase Flick Williams
22:04
from Bellingham, and number six and I apologize that if I say this name
22:08
wrong. Hayden Niueyadomski out of Seahome. Yeah. Again, amazing group.
22:15
They just keep getting better and better. Here loaded with seniors. The only
22:19
underclassman here is a Hayden and Niweyadomski from se Home. She's a sophomore.
22:26
She's the highest ranked underclassman. And Ryland Bernard is a junior. But Molly
22:32
berfiend is she is just a defensive gem. She's a great athlete, really
22:41
good fast pitch player, and it seems like she's been I remember covering her
22:48
in fast pitch when she was a freshman and I couldn't believe she was still
22:52
in high school and it was just like, wow, she's still going.
22:55
This is crazy, like I remember going, and you know, taking pictures
22:59
out at seems you know, fast pitch practice and everything, and it was
23:02
that just seemed like a long time ago, and she was there, Uh
23:06
Chase Flick Williams. She's also going to Western to play to play volleyball.
23:11
She had a pretty bad injury and it really changed the course of Bellingham season
23:18
because they had to really rearrange everything. She is probably the most athletic kid
23:25
in this whole list. State long jump champion, just crazy hops only about
23:33
five to six maybe five seven, but you know, at least champion.
23:38
Yeah, at least at least a thirty inch vertical at least because I usually
23:44
when I think of like long jump, I think of like guys that are
23:45
taller and longer arms and you know what I mean, Right, That's that's
23:51
my vision. But honestly, I think we all know that that only comes
23:53
from like the Olympics. That's I've ever seen that stuff. But you know,
23:57
yeah, she's she's just different. She's just a different athlete. I
24:02
what's I mean? Like you like you go to like you go to a
24:04
ton of Mariners games, you know, and and a lot of people like
24:10
love to go go early, like maybe back in the day you went early
24:11
to see Griffy and batting practice, right, and so you want to come
24:17
early to watch Chase Flick Williams warm up because like like the spikes that she
24:22
does, like you hear the whole the whole crowd go, whoa half of
24:26
it is? The hops, Like, it's just it's just unreal to see
24:30
her the roof, It's crazy. And then but when she got injured,
24:33
it took all that away. Yeah, and when she was able to come
24:37
back at the end, she played liberro. She was playing defense, and
24:40
she was unbelievable and still finding ways to help the team win. Couldn't jump,
24:45
but that was a gutsy performance that was a lot of fun to see.
24:48
And Bellyam just they were just staying alive in district. They had all
24:52
these loser out games where they would win, and they just kept playing and
24:56
kept playing and kept playing against teams much highly ranked than them, and they
25:00
kept beating them. And she was a huge part of that. And she
25:03
had a really great senior year. Tyler is libero the one where they wear
25:06
like a different colored jersey. Yes, Now, why is that? It's
25:11
because they well, I think it's a couple of different reasons, and I
25:14
again, I'm not an expert, and I'm gonna get called out on it,
25:15
but we need somebody to correct us here, right exactly. But they
25:21
can sub unlimited times. That's that's kind of part of it, so that
25:27
you can go in and out all the time. And yeah, you kind
25:30
of go in and out as you please almost you see, like you always
25:33
see like a sub like you know, they go there, they kind of
25:36
like they match hands with each other. One's facing one way, one's facing
25:38
the other way. The rest can see all the jerseys and then they blow
25:41
the whistle and you go in. But when they sub for the libero,
25:44
they just they just go in and out as they want, like they don't
25:47
have to do it in front of the officials. I think Also personally,
25:51
I think it's it could be because you know, your team wants, you
25:56
know, the team maybe the team that's serving is like I don't want to
25:59
serve to that person because they're they're basically the defensive specialists, you know,
26:03
or one or you know, the libero is usually your best digger, you
26:07
know, So it's kind of it could be a benefit that way as well.
26:11
But are they usually kind of like the leader too in a way,
26:14
like you know what I mean, like a well, I think the setter
26:17
is more the leader. The setter kind of runs the offense sen and I
26:21
guess if they run the defense, they run the back line. You know.
26:25
They like serve receive is their game, you know. They they they
26:29
need to make sure that there's not an ace against them, and they need
26:32
to make sure they can get the setter set up for the kill. Yeah.
26:34
Like that's so it's kind of you're kind of all over the place,
26:37
you know. It's it's a tough position, but uh, there's some really
26:41
good ones in Walkome County. Yeah. It's kind of like a good midfielder
26:44
in in soccer can distribute the ball and but that first touch from off of
26:48
a serve is huge because if you can if you can score a point without
26:52
the other team even ever getting the ball, that's a great thing. Yeah.
26:56
Yeah, And it's amazing to see like how they can take a tough
27:00
serve and then dig it straight up in the like you know what I mean,
27:04
like like something like they have to run after it, but they can
27:07
dig it to where it sets up the setter for a good set if that
27:10
makes sense. Yeah, it puts it like right in their hands to get
27:14
up. Yeah, which right, that is so hard to do. Yeah,
27:15
that's the stuff that and see. And so when I used to go
27:18
to like some of the Husky games, or we used to go to Seattle
27:19
Pacific too, because it was like two dollars to get in and you can
27:22
get or excuse me, it's five dollars to get in, but you could
27:23
get a costco dog and a and a coke for like four dollars. It
27:26
was crazy ten bucks. You could get a night's entertainment and a hot dog
27:30
and a coke. Yeah. I mean, that's that's good money right there.
27:33
But so, yeah, but when I used to go to the University
27:37
of Washington games, we would sit in the end because we like to watch
27:41
the serfs. I know. That's you can see the ball back and forth.
27:45
Yeah, yeah, that's the third like knuckleballs. Yeah yeah, And
27:47
that's what blows my mind is exactly what you're talking about. When they go
27:49
down and they dig it up and it's and it goes right to the setter
27:53
and you're like, dude, how did they do that? When that ball
27:56
was moving as much as it was right, you couldn't I mean for me,
28:00
and obviously I haven't practiced this, but if you just threw it over
28:03
the net and just like lobbed it to me, I don't think I could
28:06
put it right to the center exactly. Yeah, you know, and they're
28:08
going and it's just sometimes it's it's you know, now, a lot of
28:11
times the serve is just kind of like loft it over the net or whatever,
28:15
and I'm sure they're putting it in the spot where it has something to
28:18
do with strategy, right. Ohit the times when they throw it up in
28:19
the air and then they just absolutely crush it, it's just ridiculous. Yeah,
28:25
And it was absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, when I was at State,
28:27
the way that there was five courts set up and the four there's like four
28:32
in each corner, but there was one in the middle that was lined up
28:34
opposite way. Yeah, so the media had to be you had to be
28:38
basically behind, you had to be in the back, gotcha. And so
28:42
so that's the view that we saw, and exactly those serves were unreal,
28:48
Like it was a totally different outlook on watching volleyball, and and I saw
28:55
I always got to see one match that way, and it was the semi
28:59
final that Linnen played in. But holy cow, it was crazy. You're
29:03
sitting down on the ground behind the court. Yeah, I was like,
29:07
I mean I'm getting pelted during practice to make sure that you're like if there's
29:11
a serve and it's a it's a hard, fast one and it goes right
29:15
through, I mean you could take it right in the dome. Yeah.
29:17
I was behind Linden and the opposing team had that six or five player that's
29:21
going to Stanford. Yeah, but she plays on the U nineteen national team,
29:25
and like when they were serving like during practice, it was like it
29:29
was like a warfare zone. Uh, like back back where I was,
29:33
because and Eric, Trent and I were like guarding our equipment and we're and
29:37
we're like practicing, you know, you know, our shortstop moves and fielding
29:41
it and then rolling it back in and man, and they still had players
29:44
that were on the back line like guarding us and you know during the war
29:49
crazy, where's it here? I got to see home football helmet and I
29:52
know you got to squalic the one right. Yeah, I'll let you borrow
29:56
this for the weekend. You can bring it over there for Eric. Uh,
29:59
just just put it on. I mean, last thing we need,
30:02
you guys get a concussion from a stray bullet, you know what I mean,
30:03
Like just during just during warm ups, yeah, just during war Yeah.
30:07
Yeah. The rest of the time, you guys are on your own,
30:08
but during warm ups, I would be wearing a football helmet. Yeah.
30:11
Well, that's the thing is I have my camera out during the match,
30:15
and there were some times when you know, you you you have to
30:18
brave it to get the shot that you want, but just man, you
30:21
never know. Well that's yeah, that's There's a couple of times this year
30:23
where I was standing in the end zone for football and you know, I'm
30:26
recording video of our team and everything, and and I'm doing media stuff.
30:30
I'm not you know, like trying to get you know, like the the
30:33
film view, you know, to watch like the scout. Uh. And
30:37
they would throw a like one time, it was a quick slant and the
30:40
ball was thrown right at me, and it went right off the fingertips of
30:42
our receiver. And boy, I got really lucky that I happened to realize
30:48
what it was at the very last second and just barely got my knee up,
30:51
because that would have been a really I would have been talking with a
30:53
much higher voice right now. Yeah, all right, Tyler, crazy number
30:59
five and we're gonna go in individual from here on out. You can give
31:00
me your take on all five of the top five. Here. We are
31:03
going to start with Laney Kimball from Knooksack Valley. Tyler, what can you
31:07
tell me about Lane kim unbelievable overall athlete, competitor, awesome, awesome person
31:15
she's been. It's she lives at the state tournaments. I mean, State
31:22
champion as a third baseman her sophomore year for fast pitch, State champion as
31:29
a forward on the basketball team as a junior, and made it to state
31:33
this year for Betford volleyball. They end up getting sixth place. Boy,
31:40
it was it was a heck of a run. And she was the leader
31:42
of that team and just a unbelievable just athletic ability. We were talking power,
31:51
speed, you know, jumping ability, leadership too. I mean they
31:56
all just you know, respect the heck out of her. If I don't
32:00
know if they're putting together a one A all state team, but she definitely
32:02
deserves to be on it. And as soon as you know, the final
32:09
match was over and they realized that was it. They all kind of went
32:15
to her because it was you know, they realized I mean even the other
32:19
seniors would went went to her because she the emotions got the best of her,
32:23
and you know that's gonna happen at these tournaments. But it was just
32:29
like the respect that she had from her teammates and her other players and coaches
32:32
and everything, and she was she was a force. You know, cousins
32:39
with the lenses. You know, younger sister to Dawson Kimball. I knew
32:45
I recognized the last name. So yeah, so there's you know, there's
32:50
really there's you know, they've all grew up together playing sports and and boy,
32:57
she's like I saw her hit a home run last year at the district
33:00
tournament for fast pitch that it looked like it was still going up when it
33:04
went over to centerfield fence. She just hit it straight center field. She
33:07
moved from third base to center field this last year on defense because she's just
33:12
that athletic. You always need a good center fielder and fast pitch to cover
33:15
a ton of ground. She does that. You know that she's they have
33:19
a good chance to go back to state and win state for basketball this year.
33:23
And she's a main reason why. Uh, just a great athlete and
33:29
so fun to watch her play sports because she she's she's she's a killer man.
33:35
I mean she she's just crazy. Like it's awesome to watch. At
33:40
number four Tyler from Linden, it's Maya vander Yacht. What can you tell
33:45
me about her? Yeah? That Nate Schumach I quoted Nate Schumach on this,
33:51
the sports writer from the Linden Tribune. We were we were watching Linden
33:53
play Burlington at Lindon this year. They were both undefeated in conference at that
33:59
time, this huge match, tons of people there, uh you know,
34:04
and we were sitting there and Maya Vanderyott, who's the highest ranked liberro on
34:09
this list. She's going to Central Washington to play. She is about five
34:15
to two, and the way that she can contort her body to dive after
34:22
things is just ridiculous. And Nate looked over me and he's like, she's
34:25
like a spider monkey, Like like the way that she just attacks the ball
34:30
on defense. Yeah, is is it? I don't even know how to
34:35
I don't even know how to describe it. It's like she's it's like she's
34:37
diving into a pool but there's no water, but she does it to where
34:44
she doesn't injure herself. I don't. I don't know how to explain it.
34:46
Like she wears elbow pads, like not many volleyball players wear elbow pads.
34:51
But she's gonna go elbow first into the ground multiple times of match and
34:54
and and do well like and control the ball. It's unbelievable. I interviewed
35:00
her after the after they got third in state. Uh, just a sweet
35:06
kid, great, you know. Uh, it was weird because she didn't
35:09
have a lot of emotion that she just played her final high school volleyball game.
35:12
And she even said like she's like it hasn't really sunk in yet.
35:15
I don't think it's you know, it's we just played Burlington for third place.
35:19
We play them all the time. It's not like it's a it did
35:22
it just maybe just didn't have that feel. I know they went in with
35:24
championship aspirations, but I think when you go out with a win, it
35:30
still feels pretty good. And that's what you know, third place will do.
35:34
You actually get to go out with a win and and uh, unbelievable.
35:37
The best, best defensive player in Walkin County at number three from Meridian.
35:45
Emery Clays Tyler, what can you tell me about Emory? Well,
35:47
I remember watching her mom play when I was in high school, and she
35:52
was the dominator. And as a freshman even it was like, holy cow,
35:55
you know, Shannon Roland is amazing. She's gonna dominate us, she's
36:00
just a freshman. Uh, And she did. She played at Meridian as
36:05
well, and I think they won a state title when with her. She
36:09
ended up playing at Western, was a big time player there and then uh,
36:14
and then she had three daughters that were all they were four years apart
36:19
from each other, so they all got to play together, which was really
36:22
cool. And Finley and Hayden were her older sisters. But this was you
36:29
know, this was the first year where it's it's her on her own and
36:32
she was the only senior on the Meridian Trojans this year. Six foot one,
36:36
outside hitter, really just really quiet but powerful, you know, six'
36:44
one, big, big, huge, dominating you know spike and but played
36:51
with finesse when it was needed. They they always tried to, you know,
36:55
block her shot and she was so good at the tip, you know,
36:59
just tipping right over their hands and falling down to kind of the no
37:02
man's land area, you know. And and she she racked up a lot
37:07
of kills that way. She probably had the most kills in the conference.
37:12
And but she was the main, main focal point of the offense, like
37:16
I said, the only senior on that team. They end up getting fourth
37:20
in state. So it's gonna be a pretty good group coming back. But
37:23
boy, she's gonna be you know, they're gonna have to find a spot.
37:28
You know, they're gonna have to replace her. Eden Bernardi will probably
37:31
take that spot. But it's gonna be weird without Acclay's playing volleyball for Meridian.
37:38
It's been there's been one for six seven years straight. So it's it's
37:45
like the hatchets and football or the or the the brosels. You know,
37:49
it was weird all of a sudden there wasn't one, and it's just kind
37:52
of like something seems different. It's gonna be different next year. Uh.
37:55
But but it's a great program that the Trojans have. Uh, there's a
38:00
there's a dominance to it and district district champions and fourth and state. Great
38:06
year for Emery Clay's she's she can do it all. She could play defense,
38:09
she could serve everything. Just really fun season. She's also deserves a
38:14
one a you know all State mentioned there because she she belongs in that category.
38:21
In at number two, Tyler from Lyndon, it's Ashley Shoemate. What
38:25
can you tell me about Ashley? Well, this was tough because two and
38:30
one it was kind of a pick them, But when I was at State,
38:32
it really sunk in who you know, uh, And they're both amazing.
38:38
Ashley Shoemate six foot three going to Biola College in California and she what
38:47
was amazing watching her And again this is the view from the back that you
38:52
like you were talking about. She's an outside hitter, she's on the left
38:54
side of the net, but her ability to have a kill to the right
39:00
side where you you kill it across the court was just like holy cow.
39:06
Like you would think they just go up and they just put it straight down,
39:08
but she's placing it with a ton of authority, more authority than anybody
39:14
in Walkin County. And it's just and it's like every day for her,
39:20
like it's like ever after a big play. Her teammates are giving her so
39:22
much love and she just kind of smiles like, yeah, those that was
39:27
fun. Uh really just unassuming and uh wow, power just powerful. I
39:35
think she's gonna play really really well in college because she can do a lot
39:42
of things really well. She serves, you know, six foot three and
39:45
you're serving. There's no upward angle at all on her serf. She serves.
39:49
Every time she serves it, I'm like, oh, it's a fault
39:52
because it's gonna hit the net because it's going it's going down. But it's
39:57
it's it's like an optical illusion. It goes over the every time. But
40:00
it's like, man, how does she do that? Uh? And it's
40:05
and she can play great defense, you know. It's you know, you're
40:07
not going to be the star right away at college probably, so her ability
40:12
to adapt and play different positions probably you know, is going to help her.
40:15
And then naturally just being six foot three is going to be great too.
40:20
But man, you know, been starting for four years on the varsity
40:23
team. She's you know, when I when I first thought of the of
40:29
the idea of having a top fifty list, she was my number one and
40:35
uh, and then I didn't know if anyone could knock her off. But
40:37
we'll get to that. Oh setting me up there. Huh yeah. I
40:44
was about to say, that's a that's a dynamite segue there, Tyler.
40:47
What do you think should we talk about number one? Number one on the
40:52
top fifty countdown for volleyball? Tyler? Also from Lyndon, the young lady
40:55
who gave us the intro tonight, that is Grace Rice. I realized,
41:01
well, I realized a ton watching, you know, volleyball. I was,
41:06
I was at I counted them up. I was at thirty seven volleyball
41:08
matches this year live, and I watched a lot more as well, just
41:14
streaming. But I actually saw thirty seven of them live, and I got
41:17
to see Lyndon I think eight or nine times. And the more I saw
41:23
them, the more and more I realized how important Grace Rice was to that
41:28
offense. She's the setter. She never ever came out of a game at
41:31
all, and she had a lot of weapons around her, but she knew
41:37
exactly when to give the ball to which person she could read the defense.
41:42
She knew, you know, she knows all of their all of her teammate
41:44
strengths. They you know, they had actually shooting make but they had you
41:49
know, Haley Kochie Come you know, was a great outside hitter, Aba
41:52
lang Strat, Finley Parcher, Ryan Stephen. These are all really super athletic,
41:58
offensive minded play that she always had three or four of them around her
42:02
at all times, and she knew, you know, where they liked it,
42:06
where they didn't like it, and so that goes a long way.
42:09
She also set really high, if that makes sense. She would jump up
42:15
and set the ball like above the net so it would throw defenses off.
42:20
And and then she's a great server and at the same time, she there
42:28
was a couple that, like, there was a couple of plays that that
42:30
wowed me at State. There was one where she had a block that was
42:36
unreal and then I and then I looked back at the stats and she's she's
42:39
one of the leading blockers as well. She's not she's not a middle blocker.
42:44
She's a setterer, but she can fill that role when needed. She's
42:46
just so smart and knows what to do. But at the same time,
42:51
the other the other one that really got me was it was against Burlington in
42:54
that third place match and there was a ball that was kind of what I
42:59
would like a fifty to fifty ball like it was kind of up. It
43:01
was up in the air, probably fifteen feet in the air, and it
43:05
was kind of right in the middle of the net where it's like it could
43:09
come down and hit the net, you know, So it's like a fifty
43:12
to fifty ball. I don't From where I was sitting, it was hard
43:14
to see what side it was actually on. And as it was coming down,
43:17
she just jumped up and spiked it like and it was like the best
43:22
spike I saw all year. And she's not an outside hitter. And when
43:25
I saw that, I looked over at her coach, Chris Elsner, and
43:31
I looked at her and I just I mouthed wow. And I don't know
43:36
if her coach saw me, but if she did, it looked like she
43:38
was nodding her head like yeah, she's She's that good. She she is
43:46
the main reason that team did as well as they did. She's also going
43:51
to Biola University in California, so her and Ashley Shoemate gonna go together play
43:55
down there, which is awesome. I think she could go down there and
44:00
the setter. She could play college as a setter right now. Uh just
44:05
and a great kid. Uh man, that Linden team had some stars on
44:08
it, and but you have to be the one too, you know,
44:15
there has to be the one player that not that that controls the stars.
44:19
They definitely didn't have any ego at all. It was all for everybody.
44:22
But she was that glue. She was that one that kind of made it
44:27
extra special. You can throw out a bunch of stars and have an all
44:30
star team, but if they're not, if they're not playing together for each
44:32
other, and then it's it's it's still it's gonna be hard to win against
44:37
really good teams. And they dominated against really good teams. And she was
44:40
the She was the main reason why it was so much fun to watch that
44:45
whole senior class from Lynden. But uh boy, what a great player.
44:49
And I'm gonna mis watching her play next year because uh I do see a
44:53
lot of her in Brooklyn Larrabie. Very similar type player Brooklyn we talked about
44:59
from Frienday just a freshman. Yeah, and I'm and I'm curious if how
45:02
that's going to translate for Ferndale going forward, But I could see her turning
45:07
into that kind of player. They're they're very very similar, so so at
45:12
least I'll be able to see a player like her. But I had so
45:15
much fun going down the state watching all these volleyball matches. It was it
45:19
was awesome. I can't wait to go again. I have a lot more
45:22
confidence now about doing it now that I know where to go. I've been
45:27
there before. I know where to stay, thank you, thanks to you.
45:30
I know like where to go eat, I know how to get to
45:34
the sun Dome. I know what entrance to go into, I know where
45:37
to park. It's like I'm one of those change yeah. Right, I'm
45:40
one of those people that if I if I just if I've never done it
45:45
before, I'm very anxious, very nervous. When I was playing music all
45:51
the time, we've I think we've talked about this. I was playing like
45:52
almost every weekend. But if I was playing at a venue where I've never
45:57
been to before, that I would go the night before, or even if
46:00
there was no live music that night, I would just pop in. See
46:02
where the stages, see where the plugins are, See where the water jug
46:07
is because I'm going to go through a ton of water. Where am I
46:09
going to park? Where am I gonna unload my equipment? Where I mean
46:13
all that stuff like I have to. It's almost like I have to visualize
46:15
at first, I have to see it. And so now that I've got
46:20
that out of the way for volleyball, I'm excited to go again. And
46:24
it was awesome. So I just want to thank all the players and coaches
46:27
because you guys put on a show. It was so fun to watch and
46:30
I can't wait till next fall. It's gonna be awesome. Tyler, I
46:35
was so how many how many girls are on the Florida Time Is it six?
46:38
Six? Yeah, Littine, Yeah, I had eight players in your
46:44
top fifty. Yeah, there's only six on the court. And then I
46:46
noticed I believe see Home also had eight. Yeah, Nooksack had seven.
46:52
Yeah. I mean that's unbelievable. Yeah, yeah, it really is.
46:54
It was. It was when I came up with the player, I just
47:01
you know, I just kind of checked off the names that could possibly make
47:04
the list, and I actually had fifty three, so I was really close.
47:08
Yeah, and and I feel bad for the three that were left off.
47:14
But and it sucks because one of them I've been getting I've gotten messages
47:19
from two separate people, I think family members, saying hey, how come
47:22
this person hasn't been named yet. She's really good and I'm like, oh
47:24
man, how do I reply to that? But but it's but it's And
47:30
then ranking them was was tough. I had. I did have some help
47:36
with a person that was an unbiased official that knows all the players very well.
47:40
Uh, and she I had the kind of my list and then and
47:45
then I gave it to her and she was kind of like, Okay,
47:47
so you want to look at this, and you want to look at that,
47:50
and this is the reason why I said, oh, thank you came
47:52
up with a new list, and yeah, so it was it was I
47:59
learned a lot. I had a lot of help too. And uh,
48:02
but you're right, eight players and they only have six on the floor at
48:06
one time, you know. Yeah, it's it's it's crazy. And there
48:09
were there were some great players. Ali Wright from Lenny Christian was injured most
48:14
of the year. She would have definitely been on the list. Uh.
48:17
Oh man. Now I can't remember her name, but there was the setter
48:21
for Squalum got hurt really early, like in the second or third match,
48:25
and she was out for the year. I saw her arm in a sling
48:29
and I was like, oh no, because she was like their best player
48:31
and that and when you when it's your setter, I mean that that the
48:35
whole team can just crumble for the movie. So yeah, exactly, So
48:39
it was that was really really tough too. So there were some good players
48:43
that you know, unfortunately because of injuries, weren't able to make the list.
48:46
And uh, but you know what it is, what it is,
48:52
and it was a lot of fun doing it. So much positive feedback,
48:54
very little negative feedback. Uh, and that's a little bit of a shock.
49:00
What's that? Very little, very little little negative feedback. Yeah,
49:05
very little, just a just a just a couple, just two emails.
49:07
That was it. Well, that's awesome. I mean, I'll tell you
49:09
what. I'd maybe we need to air cover more volleyball. That's I like
49:14
it. I like the I mean I think I think a lot of it
49:16
was they just were thankful for the coverage. Yeah, and you know,
49:21
the Herald did a great job, you know, ten fifteen years ago,
49:24
but they haven't been to a volleyball match in ten years. And and I
49:29
think that and I and I would try every year. I would try to
49:32
go, but then I'd get consumed with football and the busy season at the
49:37
chocolate factory. Yep, I just did. I just I would not have
49:39
time anymore. I would try to go to like a game a week,
49:44
but I wasn't keeping up with what's going on. And this year the chocolate
49:47
factory more than football. Oh yeah, for sure. Football. Yeah,
49:52
you know, you do a lot of stuff, but typically by Monday you're
49:54
good to go. Oh absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
49:58
it was, but it was I was doing so much on top of the
50:00
chocolate factory, which was football, that I couldn't It was really hard to
50:04
include volleyball. You know. I went out and got head shots and everything,
50:08
but I only got headshots from like seven of the schools because I couldn't
50:12
get a hold of all the coaches. Some coaches were hard to you know,
50:14
get information from. And I just, you know, I give coach
50:17
Chris Elsner a lot of credit from Lindon because and she's been around for a
50:22
long time. Yeah, and and you know, she she brought up She's
50:28
like, hey, I'm going to the coaches meeting right now, Like she
50:30
texted me, she goes, what do you you know I want? I
50:35
what do you think about covering volleyball this year? And should I tell the
50:38
coaches give them your contact. I said that'd be perfect because there was like
50:43
in the in the entire Northwest Conference, there was like seven new coaches.
50:45
Oh wow, so it was so it was kind of like a everybody as
50:50
a team. So that's ten ten teams. Well, I'm including you know,
50:53
seven new coaches includes like you know, Si, Drow and Lakewood and
50:55
I'm tying talking about the whole north Wall Northwest Conference. Okay, right,
51:00
but in what but in Walking County there were a lot of new coaches as
51:04
well. And you can kind of create a good habit right away by saying,
51:08
hey, after every match, if you get your information to this guy,
51:12
he'll post something the next day, he'll do stat leaders, players of
51:15
the week. If held all that stuff right, And for the most part,
51:21
it went really well. Some coaches like to text, some coaches like
51:23
to email. Some coaches needed a reminder. Some coaches wouldn't get it till
51:28
maybe the next day at around noon when they're on their lunch break, which
51:30
I understand that some coaches were like, well my stat thing broke. I
51:35
don't have anything, which happens. But for the most part it went really
51:38
well, and I'm glad that we've gotten through that season because I think next
51:42
year's going to go even better. Yeah, it was, it was.
51:46
It was cool and I found my rhythm with it. I knew, like,
51:51
you know, when to go to what matches. I wanted to make
51:52
sure I saw every team at least five times, which I was able to
51:55
do and uh yeah, and I and a lot about you know, like
52:00
the district tournament. There was a match that started at ten to fifteen at
52:02
night. What oh it was a tournament tournament in the tournament Yeah, okay,
52:07
okay, that makes a little bit more sense. I mean very late.
52:10
But what do you do tournament stuff? You kind of gotta yeah,
52:15
you kind of have what you what you play the cards that you're dealt.
52:16
And it's crazy because you can go to a match. I was talking to
52:22
a Linden Christian parent about this at one of the matches where you know,
52:25
there was like like they played two nights in a row and this was the
52:29
second night, and I was like, well that was you know, that
52:31
was a heck of a match last night because it went like five sets,
52:35
and he goes, yeah, he goes, I don't want this one to
52:37
go five sets too. That could last like two and a half hours,
52:38
or you know, it can go a long. Yeah. If they're playing
52:43
five sets, it can take away five points and then the final the set
52:47
five is what fifteen or something, it's fifteen. Yeah, So I get
52:51
a little volleyball knowledge that I did. Yeah maybe realize, absolutely do.
52:54
So it's it's they can be really fast, yeah, or they could be
52:59
really long. You just never know. And uh and there and that district
53:02
tournament, the two way district tournament out at Squalicum High School was there was
53:07
just a lot of five set matches and all of a sudden, you know,
53:10
when Sea home, they put out a team. I can't remember who
53:14
they beat, but they they put it. They they put a team out.
53:16
So then they had to play Bellingham back like right after that. Oh
53:20
and and it was crazy. Oh yeah, like twenty minutes later they had
53:24
to play again against Bellingham who had played like six or seven hours earlier and
53:30
was still and we're just sitting there waiting to play. Yeah, oh my
53:37
lord. So it was. It was, but there was like a twenty
53:38
minute break in between break. I mean, no, I know, I
53:43
know I was because it was crazy because I had come home from the tournament.
53:46
I didn't. I didn't realize. I think it was that I would
53:49
think I was at the one A tournament and I knew Two Way was wrapping
53:52
up. I came home, I was all set to do some stuff.
53:54
I was hooking up the infusions for Laura and I was and I was like,
54:00
yeah, I'm done for the night. And then all of a sudden,
54:02
I get a text about, you know, Bellingham and Seaholme are about
54:06
ready to start. I'm like, no, they're not. They're gonna they're
54:08
gonna play that one on. I was like, no, they can't play
54:10
it because the playing for the you know, is that day, so they
54:15
have to determine it now. So I got on NFHS and they were like
54:19
warming up and it was it was after ten o'clock at night, and I
54:22
was like, that wasn't I scheduled for that time though, like it just
54:27
kind of happened. Oh it just yeah, right, it just happened that
54:30
way. And I was and I had a scoreboard scheduled. I was like,
54:31
that makes no sense. Yeah. I had the scoreboard all set up
54:35
because I thought they were done. And then I was like, oh,
54:37
it's instead of five it was actually six matches tonight because of this, So
54:39
I did, you know, completely redo it and I was, I was
54:43
panicking a little bit. It was it was. It was a little stressful,
54:46
but now I know what you know, the parents and the coaches and
54:50
they all have to go through. It's it's crazy, but so much,
54:53
like I said, so much fun. Uh gained a ton of appreciation for
54:57
it. Had a lot of fun watching athletes and and the drive that they
55:01
have and the athletic ability and the and the the the communication is unreal.
55:07
Like I started seeing things like I always saw, like a coach like give
55:10
a little signal to who's serving, like and they put like the they put
55:15
like the clipboard yeah up so they can't see it and they're giving a sign.
55:19
But I've always now I'm I started watching the setters started to give signs
55:23
like they would like pull their shirt and they'd give like a number, like
55:28
a thumbs up or something. And that's like I started noticing that at State
55:31
and I was like, holy cow, there's a ton of hand singals going
55:34
on. There's way more communication that I ever thought. And I've always thought
55:38
that with volleyball, the teams that communicate the best are the teams that do
55:43
the best because it's it's such a fast paced game where you know you're having
55:47
to say certain things to set certain things up and it's go, go,
55:52
go, and you have to really know your teammates their strengths, their weaknesses,
55:54
and and that's why Lynnon did so well. And there was a lot
55:57
of that was Grace Rice, which she would know the team's strengths and weaknesses
56:00
and what they did, and it was it was so impressive to watch,
56:05
and I kind of want to, like I want to go out on the
56:07
court and like see if I can see if I can even like dig a
56:15
serve from like Eaton Bernardi, Like I just want to be on the other
56:17
side and she can't hit it, like I'm the only one over there.
56:21
She can't hit it to where like I can't get to it, But I
56:22
just want to see if I can do it like physically, Like this would
56:25
be so fun to try. I know Eric Trent tried all those things years
56:29
back, and you call it Joe versus Joe, and remember pros versus Joe's,
56:37
yeah, but it would be me versus you, and it's like who
56:42
can who can? And you know, five serves, who gives the setter
56:46
the best chance in those five serves? Right? Yeah, you know,
56:50
and and just hope that neither of us take one in the dome, you
56:53
know. Oh yeah, I mean, or we both wear glasses. I
56:57
don't want to work. We're not going to break our glass. I don't
56:59
need them that I would I could take them off for that. Maybe I
57:02
can get some rexpecs. Yeah you could, yeah, maybe they could be
57:07
a yeah, you know, and then and then like you know when the
57:10
girl soccer is that in the fall? No, that's also in the fall?
57:15
Yes, okay, so that's like next year we need to get girl
57:16
soccer and like both you and I can like I mean, I I say,
57:21
goaltending, but it might be better if we're if we're trying to h
57:23
trying to kick the ball, you know what I mean, trying to definitely
57:27
better for me. Well, yeah, but like I'd be any better Tyler,
57:31
you know, I know, I'm just saying. Oh no, I
57:32
mean, like if for me, I'd be much better at kicking a ball
57:37
than trying to stop one. Yeah, I mean, yeah, me too,
57:39
I mean yeah, yeah, I mean gravity breaks me straight to the
57:43
ground. I mean I mean we could both be in goal. No,
57:46
I mean we still would double double goalie. See yeah, No, we'd
57:51
be better off to try to kick a penalty shot or whatever it's called.
57:53
Ye, you know what I mean? Or ak penalty kick? Is that
57:55
what it is? Yeah? Yeah, I think we could do that and
57:58
maybe like line up the cup of the best goalies in the in the county
58:00
or something. Yeah yeah, nil nil on the pitch. I mean I
58:04
guess we could do that this spring with with boys, right, absolutely,
58:07
yeah, And actually I think we already know. I believe it could be
58:10
wrong. I believe we already know a soccer coach. Right, yes,
58:16
yes we do. Okay, we might have to set something up here,
58:20
this could be this could be interesting, and then make this happen. Oh,
58:22
Tyler, I mean it gets even better. Oh boy softball? Oh
58:29
yeah, I will get in there and swing. Oh I will, but
58:31
I would absolutely do it. I will too. Oh yeah, Now,
58:36
boys like pitching baseball, Maybe not like Eric Trent did. He took,
58:43
he took, he batted again, he took pitches against Jacob Kaepernick. See
58:46
here's the thing. Girls are so much nicer, you know what I mean?
58:51
So like I could see who's the best pitcher in the county that I
58:54
know the name of? Uh, well, the two best pitchers that are
58:59
going to you, they're just baseball players. You don't know. Give me
59:01
a football player that's a pitcher. Camen Raymond Okay, well I did call
59:07
him beautiful the other day, so maybe he wouldn't. But I could see
59:09
that guy trying to take my head off, you know what I mean,
59:12
give him some high cheese. Whereas you know, I don't know who the
59:15
best softball pitcher is, but I got a feeling she's gonna be nicer and
59:17
not try to run one up in the uh you know, in the old
59:20
grill. You know what's crazy, is the best softball pitcher is Camden Raymond's
59:23
girlfriend, Emerson Baker at Blaine. Unbelievable. Yeah, how about that?
59:28
Well there we go, so we got it. We got it in with
59:30
both of them. Yes, yeah, and I yeah, and I'd love
59:35
to take to take some BP. I mean, I'm not gonna get anything.
59:37
I mean, I'm not gonna you know, oh, trust me,
59:38
I'm just hoping to foul tip you know what I mean too, too,
59:42
absolutely, Actually, no, I'm not even hoping to foul tip. I'm
59:44
hoping not to get hit. That's all I care about. Tyler. You
59:47
and I would be the only guys to step in with a softball helmet with
59:52
the mask. You know what I mean, we would step We would step
59:55
in in both softball and baseball with that with that mask on. You know,
59:59
I might. I'm in full hockey gear. I might just like I
1:00:01
want to. Maybe i'll maybe I'll try to steal second base off the best
1:00:05
catcher too. Now that would be fun, just for the optics. I
1:00:10
think that would look great. Yeah, that would be I mean, you
1:00:14
know what I would like to do. How about this? You want to
1:00:15
be the catcher, throw it on the catcher's gear and you got to steal
1:00:20
second base on me. Oh, I love it. And then you put
1:00:22
it on and I gotta steal second base on you. I love it.
1:00:24
Yeah, this could be fun. Now now we're talking. Now we're talking.
1:00:28
And then track and field. Obviously you and I are not going to
1:00:30
do that. Yeah, I will do the I will do the what would
1:00:37
I I would actually love to do the lung jump. I used to be
1:00:38
pretty good at the lung jump. Come on, Tyler, you wouldn't even
1:00:42
get into the sand. Hey, and I can say that because I know
1:00:47
neither you know, the javelin, I think, you know, I had
1:00:52
to talk with the Knooksack Valley track coach about this, and Joey Brown and
1:00:55
I were going to compete and we had a little bet going whether I could
1:00:59
throw throw it one hundred feet? Now is that a good number? Like
1:01:05
that's I mean, like a JV I mean what yeah, yeah, yeah,
1:01:10
I think I could do one hundred feet. What is that? That's
1:01:12
not even thirty yards? Right? Yeah, right, well ninth ninth,
1:01:16
like ninety feet is to first base, you know, so yeah, but
1:01:21
it's a little different. Oh, you know, it's a little different thing
1:01:23
to throw. But like, yeah, hold on a second here though,
1:01:27
Joey Brown, Joey Brown throws it like a like one hundred and seventy.
1:01:30
See, I've okay, well I'm in on this because I feel like a
1:01:34
hundred feet would be I feel like I could do that. See, I
1:01:37
feel like I could too. But but it's you know, it's it's a
1:01:42
little crazy when you think about like how different you're throwing something. You have
1:01:45
to kind of hold it out and then you have to run with it out
1:01:47
and then throw and you can go past the line and all that stuff.
1:01:51
Well, see that's where I would probab screw up. I'll probably step over
1:01:52
the line. I feel like I could throw it. I feel like I
1:01:55
could. I feel like a hundred feet wouldn't be that tough. Now that
1:02:00
being said, I don't think I'm getting anywhere near those guys, Like I,
1:02:05
oh, sure, way way behind them. But I feel like,
1:02:07
because you know, in my head, when you said one hundred feet,
1:02:09
I was like, oh, there's no way. But then you mentioned it's
1:02:12
it's home to first is you know, ninety, and it's like, oh,
1:02:14
yeah, okay, so another ten feet beyond that. Like, I
1:02:15
feel like I feel like I could get it to the outfield, you know
1:02:20
what I mean? Like, yeah, if you're just throwing it right down
1:02:22
the first baseline, I feel like I could get a javelin to the outfield.
1:02:25
Yeah. I've never even picked up a javelin. Like, I have
1:02:28
no clue how heavy it is. Yeah too, I guess I don't know
1:02:30
how heavy they are. Yeah, it's it's just one of those things shot
1:02:34
put. Those things are stupid heavy. Yeah right, yeah, it's crazy.
1:02:37
Yeah, all right, Tyler, we're seeing talking to other sports now.
1:02:40
I mean, I don't know what's going on doing what we do.
1:02:44
Any last words before we I guess you already kind of said them. You
1:02:46
give some thanks to some people, But any last words before we get out
1:02:50
of here. Yeah, just again, just it was really really fun to
1:02:53
watch. You know, last time I ever played in the volleyball match was
1:02:58
in Pe and I was serving it on hand just like everybody else. So
1:03:01
it's a big difference from that to what I saw out there, and it
1:03:06
was super impressive and and everyone was so thankful and helpful and uh, you
1:03:14
know, just gracious with their time and and so many of the players were
1:03:19
thankful about being named on the list and sending me messages and stuff. So
1:03:22
it's just a really cool deal. And I'm hoping that I've built more connections
1:03:27
to to have more fun with this. And do you know this this day
1:03:30
in sports history and shout outs for birthdays of former players and all sorts of
1:03:35
these cool things that I have ideas of down the road for walking preps and
1:03:39
and building that foundation with with new sports is a great way to do it.
1:03:44
Yeah, And a reminder if you or somebody you know would like to
1:03:46
sponsor walking Preps. I mean, I feel like PBS right, like,
1:03:51
oh to keep doing this, but it's it's the truth. To keep you
1:03:54
know, being able to do this stuff, Tyler, we got to have
1:03:55
sponsorships. So again, thank you to Belle Anderson and Insurance for their continued
1:04:00
support of watkome Prep Athletes. Kurt Mayberry Farm, Kurt Maayberry Farm dot com,
1:04:04
Kurt with A C M A B E r y Farm dot com.
1:04:09
Those are the two big main sponsors for what we do, I mean,
1:04:14
not what we do in general, but what we do here then. I
1:04:15
mean obviously Edeline Darry has come on board or some things, and Stoff Insurance
1:04:19
and any timee Fitness you mentioned with the top one hundred and yeah Bagin Salon
1:04:26
Spa and Maxer Studio and Pet's real Estate and it's been awesome. So many
1:04:30
of these local businesses and have reached out and wanted to be a part of
1:04:34
it. And uh, it's great, It's great. I mean, that's
1:04:38
that's what's needed. And uh, if you know, I think people are
1:04:43
now seeing that when I have the time to do this full time, how
1:04:46
much more I can do. And I think it's really excited some people and
1:04:51
they understand the future is bright and they want to be a part of it,
1:04:56
which is awesome. Alrighty well, he is Tyler Anderson of watcom Preps
1:05:00
and watcompreps dot com is the website. I'm Ryland Spencer. You've been listening
1:05:04
to episode two hundred and nineteen, a breakdown of the volleyball Top fifty here
1:05:09
on the watcom Preps podcast. We will talk to you when we talk to
1:05:13
you next. Quite that