Latest / Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast / Episode 013 | Leah Edmond Talks Atlanta, Team Culture & the Future of MLV
Transcript
- Mike Moline: Hello, hello. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Set 6 Podcast, the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. Things look a little different, and that's because I am in a hotel room in Pittsburgh right now where we are already working on the next episode. That's just the dedication of the craft that we have. But in all seriousness, no, it's ⁓ really fun. I think you're all gonna like it a lot. ⁓ and also some stuff that's gonna be on our social media, so stay tuned to our Instagram. ⁓ and keep touch on it this week. ⁓ because we'll have some great stuff ⁓ from being out here. But just again, one of the one of the great perks about this job and just being able to travel a whole bunch and get to do you know, meet up with our athletes ⁓ in the offseason. But I'm I'm getting ahead of myself. Please, welcome to episode 13, the official MLV podcast, this being set six. Please continue to like, comment, and subscribe. Got a lot of great feedback this last week on the pod, which is always always so much fun. And ⁓ yeah, I just love hearing from you. So thank you for for doing that. Before you listen to this one in its entirety, Please go listen to episode 12 with AliCheck, an awesome conversation with one of the newest members of MLV NorCal. And this one you clicked on because we are talking to Leah Edmond. Arguably well the one of the biggest faces, maybe the biggest face of MLV. It was such a blast to talk with Leah. ⁓ got to chat with her a little bit last season as well. ⁓ she's just the best, which you all know, and that's why you're here. So so excited to talk to Leah. ⁓ but first, ⁓ you know, to preview a little bit again of of next week's episode, and we'll say more of this too when we get there. ⁓ being here and and and being able to see some of the the pit facilities in the University of Pittsburgh ⁓ just a truly truly a pleasure and so if if ⁓ any of those ⁓ staff or alumni are watching, just a a big thank you to what we've been able to do here this week in Pittsburgh. ⁓ and and a thank you to them and again you'll see more of that ⁓ this week. And ⁓ a thank you to to Leah and the the ⁓ Atlanta staff for being able to talk to her. We actually did this one a while ago and we didn't want to ⁓ schedule Leah and ICO too back to back. You know, we had to spread it out a little bit. ⁓ to not be so Atlanta-centric. But ⁓ we know you want to hear from from Leah, ⁓ like we said, one of the one of the faces of these this league, which you know. So the format of this episode is going to be the news. Then we'll chat with Leah and then we'll wrap it up pretty pretty smooth and simple. So without any further ado, let us get to the news from ⁓ this lovely hotel room here at the Hilton in Pittsburgh. First, the news goes all the way back to MLV NorCal. So from one side of the country to the other, you might have seen that ⁓ some coaching announcement happened. ⁓ this week it was Alex Dunfey, new MLV NORCAL head coach. By way of you, some of you in that area might remember her with Stanford 2022 through 2025 as an assistant coach in 2024, assistant on the U21 USA Norseca gold medal team, and also had experience with the U19 and U20 national team being their head coach in 2023 and 2024. Been around the coaching ranks in the NCAA as well, head coach at Auburn in 2020 through 2021, assistant. Or sorry, associate head coach at Auburn during that time, assistant at USC before that. ⁓ and you know, if you don't know, please, the the one of the absolute icons in the sport, she's the daughter of the legendary Marv Dunfey, ⁓ obviously headed the men's program at Pepperdine for four decades, multiple medals as a member of the USA men's and women's national team coaching staffs, including the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. So amazing pedigree, but also just from everything I've heard, Alex is a fantastic person and a really good coach. So A great one there for MLV NorCal and excited to talk to her and see how that squad continues to shake out. ⁓ but yeah, great signing and ⁓ looking forward to it. And then VNL is coming out of the final week already. It's hard to believe, right? But let's first recap ⁓ the last week, which was pretty big for at least the U.S. national team. Cut came in ranked fourth ⁓ obviously to the VNL and then went 10-2 to finish up the three weeks of play. And Earn the top seed for the VNL Finals. They'll face China in the quarterfinals next Wednesday. ⁓ so that's at least for me a week from today, here recording on the 15th. ⁓ just to recap the week after I talked to you last week when they had beaten Thailand, I believe, right after when I talked to you all. ⁓ it then followed with a two to three loss to Poland. But in that loss, Stephanie Samedi scored 14 points on 12 kills and two blocks. That was followed by a three to two rally win over Turkey, who came into the tournament ranked third. ⁓ Turkey A actually had won the last VNL matchup in 2024 between the two and defeated the U.S. in the 2025 FIBB World Championship quarterfinal round. ⁓ and Morgan Fan Morgan Hens had a great match ⁓ in that Turkey A match. He had ⁓ team high 15 digs, and if you watch, just was flying all over the place, ⁓ making some great plays. So ⁓ two great performances and back to back matches from our MOV athletes on the US national team. And then ⁓ one of the matches that I just I thought was tremendous was a a 3-0 sweep of Brazil to end the week. They came in ranked second ⁓ to the NL US national team at a forty-six to forty-two advantage in kills, thirteen to nine advantage in blocks, ⁓ seven to one by the way, in the final set, and then made seven fewer errors, fifteen to eight. ⁓ that Brazil team always looks like a juggernaut, and then for the US to to beat them so dominantly. And it was such a funny ⁓ I don't know, at least for me, it was a funny sports viewing night. I started the night with Argentina-Switzerland in the the soccer and And then ⁓ unfortunately, ashamed to say I tuned into the the UFC fight that night, the McGregor fight, which lasted all of like two seconds. And then I was like, you know what? This is perfect because I I can get over I was two screening at the time on my phone. I was like, you know, well, the the US team goes up on the big screen. And so then got to watch the majority of the rest of that on my on my bigger screen and ⁓ is much, much more enjoyable out of ⁓ everything I was watching. But ⁓ no, great to see. And then also ⁓ some more ⁓ VNL news for us as it relates to MLV around the league. ⁓ Japan with ⁓ potentially Ari Miyabi is in the quarters against Brazil, ⁓ and then ⁓ Team Canada is in the quarters ⁓ versus Turkey. So ⁓ some quarterfinal representation for all of us in the MLV. And then Thailand may be out, but they swept Brazil last week as well, and Pure Congat had eight kills in a block. So ⁓ great, great kind of way to go out for Thailand ⁓ getting that win. And Pietimer had three kills in a sweep of Serbia for Team Germany. ⁓ last week. So all in all, some great final results for the teams that won't be moving on. And ⁓ we'll be fun to ⁓ get to kind of see some of the quarterfinal action ⁓ if you're able to tune in. I know some of that is real early or real late, depending on where you are throughout the league. All right, two our conversation and just to set it up, first I feel like, you know, it's almost like I'm assigning homework here, ⁓ which feels appropriate in like this Zoom kind of setting that we've got going on here. But ⁓ there there should be two kind of well what do I call them? It's like Parallel readings, I think they used to call it. You can tell it's been a while since I've been in a classroom. But ⁓ I'm I'm giving you a little bit of homework to watch along with this set six episode and it's vibe and around and ⁓ the escape game all put out by the wonderful staff at Atlanta before you watched this. I had a blast watching the the vibe and around, ⁓ which the most recent episode had ⁓ Iko and Leah playing golf, which was which was great. Looked a lot like my game recently, so ⁓ it was good, but it was it's the best just for their reaction and singing and and all of it. ⁓ so please go watch those on socials either and and the full versions on YouTube, either before or after this. ⁓ just gives you a great sense of, you know, the awesome people that they are, but also the fun that they can have ⁓ off the court as well. So that was really cool. And ⁓ just from the from the highlights from this conversation, it was so cool to hear Leah talk about her different views and her different passions for broadcasting, being with the SEC network. I think it's so great that, you know, we talked to Ali last week and ⁓ getting to kind of hear just how much the athletes love broadcasting and and kind of being able to change around their perspective of the game, which is the uniquely ⁓ expert perspective that it is, and to be able to give that to the audience and to be able to help some of the people, I mean, you'll hear in this interview, maybe some of the the less volleyball inclined people kind of cr bridge the gap between what they might know and what might not know. And while at the same time also breaking down the X's and O's for the more ⁓ hardcores and and the more the veterans. And ⁓ I think it's so neat, like I said to Ali last week, that we have ⁓ ACC and SEC representation. And I hope that eventually we'll get someone in every league. I think that'd be really awesome. But no, that was really great. I think another thing that really strikes me about Leah and the way that I'll I'll describe it is I think it's such a realistic confidence. It's not the it's not bluster. It's not the fake sort of ⁓ you know, you see some of like the the the fake tough guy, I guess I'll say for lack of a better term, that you see like for example, I just I watched ⁓ a little bit of the Netflix ⁓ quarterback documentary and Sorry for any Tampa Bay fans, but I feel like Baker Mayfield sometimes puts on an act. I'm getting sidetracked. But the point is, I feel like Leah has a very realistic confidence that does not come off as cocky. It doesn't come off as ⁓ unearned. It's very earned. It's confidence in her ability. And it's you'll hear what she talks about in this episode of just being able to trust in her ability while also knowing where ⁓ maybe she needs to make adjustments. And I thought that was a a really, a really cool highlight of this of this talk. And yeah, I just I I think you get back to just you can see why, at least I could from chatting with her, why she is the best kind of star to have and the best kind of a face of the league, if it's if it is her, which I think I see no reason why it shouldn't be and why it that should change. ⁓ I think it's just we we couldn't have anybody better. So hopefully that's a good setup to get you into our conversation on set six this episode with Leah Edmonds. Leah Edmond, thank you so much for joining us here on the set six podcast. We are so excited to learn that you will be back. with Atlanta. Just first, I have to ask, walk us through the process of how you decide to return back to Atlanta for another season. ⁓ I mean, it's always like been in my head of like I really don't want to just switch teams every year. I think that was like a big thing for me coming into MLV. It was just like, we're not gonna do that. I'm not gonna bounce around. I'm gonna find somewhere that can really be my home and that I can make a difference. And Atlanta was the first place I wanted to be as soon as they announced the initial teams that first season. And I was like, it's going to take a lot to get me to not return. And I think that was like kind of the mindset of like it would have to like some huge falling out or something nuts for me to not want to be there. But I mean, I just love the city so much. And especially after how this season went, I definitely am like, nope, we gotta run it back. We're not, we're not doing this again. I don't want to be a part of this again. We're gonna fix this and gonna go back to playing how we had been. So it was it was an easy decision to want to come back. I love it too. And and you're you're reuniting with Iko and with Corey and with Coach Kayla. Like you're getting the band back together, but also going to be shoring up some other parts of the roster to really make that run at it again. But did you have any conversations with with coach, with ICO about, you know, bringing back that core and really having obviously what are so many phenomenal pieces that complement your game? Yeah, I think the big thing was making sure that we had the group that like this is how we want to play. So putting a group together that worked well with our coaching staff, that worked well together with each other, that had the same kind of mindset and goal of even something as simple as how we want to train, like that takes a toll on things. If people like more relaxed practice compared to a more competitive intense and just making sure that we were all on the same page and of course of what are we looking for in this season, what are our goals? How are we going to get there? And making sure all of that was on the same page and knowing that we all wanted to do it together as well, I think make it made a big impact as well. My my request is the next time that your contract is up, I think we need the the Leah Edmund decision. You know, we get maybe maybe it's like, you we we we bump it a little bit up from from the the college hats, but I'm thinking more of like LeBron's, you know, heat decision kind of thing for Leah. I know that would freak out some Atlanta people, but I still think that you're worthy of of that level of hype. ⁓ Leah, just you know, your your thoughts on the way the team is is looking set up so far. Now there are a couple of names that have been officially announced. You know, obviously we ⁓ Zoe ⁓ coming over from League One. There are a couple that I I'm guessing you know that I know as well that haven't been officially announced yet. But just if we can speak about it broadly, how how do you view the the way the roster is being set up? And I guess the second part of that question is, you know, just kind of touch on what I asked before, what do you what do you need really to be b ⁓ around you in terms of of players that compliment your game? ⁓ I think the first word that comes to mind with like the people who are coming is like maturity. And I think that was something really big for me coming into the season again. Of like I'm on the older side of like my team. I was the oldest this year. And that takes a toll on you being the oldest. And not really having people who have played for such a long time can also make a difference and just understanding the game, understanding how this works, understanding this as a job, ⁓ the expectations. And so I think that part I'm really excited about of just like having that maturity, having those people. have been around the game for a long time, have been around it at a high level, have played in so many different atmospheres and experiences. And I think being able to bring that along with what we've had here already, like knowing how to play in America, it is different. And just knowing what we have dealt with and what we have here and being able to bring some of that along with us, I think is really exciting. I'm super excited for that. ⁓ I think that's not what everybody thinks is like I want older players and I'm like, I want older players. And of course you mix in, sprinkle in the young ones that bring in that fire, but just knowing like what it takes to compete at the highest level, doing it at a high level already, I think is going to be a real difference maker in pushing for that championship. Look, I I know that you're right, but it hurts my soul because I'm pretty sure that we're the same age. And just to hear you talk about yourself as an older player, I mean like look I I'll leave that one to you, but I just ⁓ I I don't think of you as that way. And I think a lot of people too just, you know, especially look at you just being at the top of your game. I mean, you're arguably the best player in this league. How do you do you I guess the question here is, do you feel that kind of pressure, not only among your team, but among the league to you know, be that star night in and night out to be the one that is relied upon to, you know, score all of the points and and be also a leader on your team vocally as well. No, I take it as kind of like a privilege. Like I am ecstatic. I'm honored that I'm looked at at that way and expected to do those things. And I think I take it more as like, wow, I've been able to play in a way that puts me in a position for people to think of me in that way. And I think that's how I take it of like I'm gonna go on the court and I'm gonna play volleyball, like how Leah plays volleyball. And if that turns out being like a great thing, then so be it. But I think I'm also focused on just like what can I do for my teammates. I think I'm extremely hard on myself of like if I don't get where I think I should be, I feel like I'm letting them down more than I think I'm letting myself down. I think that's like the double-edged sword of it, of like, yes, you all expect me to do this. And then when I don't do it, I feel like I'm really letting you down because that's your expectation for me. And so it's kind of also finding a balance of like, I'm not gonna be perfect every single night, but I'm gonna try my hardest. But like it's an honor that I'm thought of that way, that you put that pressure on me to be able to perform in those really tight moments. And I mean, I love it. If it's 25, 25, go to a fixed set, like those are the moments I want. I thrive, I crave those type of moments. So I think it's a fun space to be in as well. It's funny, Iko said the same thing. I was talking to her the other day and she said, Yeah, I want it to be that fifth set in the high pressure intensity moments. And I feel like you all went to a fifth set every every match last year, it felt like. But yeah, you know, if that look tells me you feel the same way. If ⁓ if you could if you could kind of sum up the the 2026 season, I know that obviously it it probably didn't go the way that you wanted it to, but I I'm I'm hoping there are there are certain elements and certain ⁓ ways that it did transpire that that you might be positives you can take over into 2027, right? Yeah. And I mean, like I think I'm treating it as a year of growth. Yes, maybe we didn't make the playoffs and weren't in a position where you'd want to be. But through kind of all that, I mean we went through like a hard spell of just like we could not win a game. And in those situations, like you you have a choice. You can either see the positive in that or like you can go deeper into the hole of like we're losing. Why am I coming to practice? Like, what is this all for? And especially after like you hit that point of like you knew you were gonna make playoffs, you could shut off completely. And I was just like, well, I'm gonna take this as a moment of like, I only get two more weeks to play. So I'm gonna take advantage of every single time I get to be on the court because after this, I have to wait another six months before I get to touch a ball with my team in Atlanta again. And so taking it into the mindset of like, how much can I grow? What can I learn from this situation? Even if we're still losing, even if we lose the rest of our games, what can I learn from this so that This doesn't happen again, first of all, next year, that we're never in this circumstance again. And then I know kind of the signs of when you're getting to that moment and when you're in it, you don't know that that's a sign of like, ⁓ something might not be going right. But looking back at it, I can be like, okay, that's when I started seeing things that maybe in that situation, what could we have done different? And now taking that into next year of being like, okay, if I see this type of environment starting to like prosper, we're gonna shut that down real quick. And we know how to do it and not do it in an efficient way that would lead to us not being in that situation. Cause I think we were in that situation year two and we were able to get out of it a little bit easier. And then this year it was just really hard and we just really couldn't get out of it. And so learning from that of what were the differences, how can I make sure that when we're in this situation, even if it happens for a couple of games, that we can come out of it stronger than we were going into it. That's that veteran leadership right there for sure. ⁓ Leah, just looking at You know, I I don't know how ⁓ how in depth you you got to watch the the championship and the and the run up to it, but for those teams where it quote unquote did go right, were there any themes and any trends that you noticed that really separated the teams that were able to make a deep run? Any any common themes maybe ⁓ among the way that their teams were either constructed or the way that they played? ⁓ I think it's kind of a mix, I think, of how they played. I think a lot of those teams Their starters were their starters the entire year. And I think a lot of our games, we were kind of rotating a lot of. We're trying to find a six that's going to get us somewhere. And even with that, I think some of the people that they had come off the bench that were playing were able to make a huge difference. Cause even a couple of those teams when we played them were switching back and forth depending on who they were playing. But those people were able to show up regardless. And I think there was a huge trust in the bench. And you saw that. early on. I mean, I remember when Indy, it was like the second or third game, like flipped their entire lineup and all of us were like, what is happening? But I think doing something like that, then you put everybody in the position of you have to be able to come in, you have to be able to win, regardless of what your position is, whether you're first string or second string, you better come in and win. And I think that type of mentality was kind of a difference maker for all of them. And I mean I it just remembered me like Omaha Merritt Beeson was just kind of like ⁓ through the whole season and all of a sudden the last couple of games she just like tore it up. And was really big on their win against indies. So I just like situations of that, of just like being able to find players and putting them in the positions to win. I think they all did that really, really well. And I think they all had really nice veteran leadership in the right places too. And I think that helped. I mean, Dallas winning it all. Sorry, go ahead. No, please keep going. Please go keep going. The best setters, veteran setters, and setter that I got to play with for three years. Like that's not shocking when you have someone like a leader like that that can put you in those circumstances. So it's just like they just had the right pieces and they worked together at the right time. And sometimes there isn't an answer for that. I'm like, I don't have an answer for Dallas, to be honest. I mean, just everything was working for them when it needed to. And even when it didn't, they were still doing good things. Like it wasn't like they lost that game because this thing fell apart. It was just like that team just happened to have their number that night. I I was gonna say I need to bring you on more as an analyst because I this it's it's such great analysis because I mean I I was I feel like I was describing it wrong because I was kind of like, I feel like a lot of these teams are being you know, are are able to change their identity or the way that they built their core. And I feel like maybe listening to you that might have been a flawed way to describe it because it was really just their their depth was was so important. And I think that's such a that's such a great thing to point out as well. I mean, I remember covering Omaha and being like, you know asking them like is this the the merit that that we're gonna see going forward and then sure enough, you know, she just absolutely goes off in in the I think it was the semifinal match as well. So I I think it's it's fantastic analysis. And that depth, I feel like, is such a big thing in this league where no matter what team you're looking at, you you can have anybody come off of the bench and and provide a spark. Yeah. It it's really interesting, honestly, because I don't think you see that in a lot of other pro sports. I mean even Volleyball overseas, I feel like you don't have a lot of that type of switching. It might be very many switch, like many switches, but not that big of like I've seen like multiple people come in and multiple spots being rearranged. And the person that you thought was gonna start the whole year is now sitting on the bench. And so like things like that that you're just not expecting. I think, but that's the cool part about the league is that you just have so many good players that all they need is a shot and opportunity. And that's why I'm so excited that we continue to add teams on because someone that might set the bench on. one of the a teams this year might be a starter and might you might find something. And I think it also just depends on your situation. Like there are players that switched teams that played way better on the teams that they were on now than the teams that they were on before. And it just sometimes the situation might be better for you, might bring something out better for you, and that's okay too. Many good players, but none that that have put up the numbers that you have and in this season, one of those was being the first player to reach a thousand career kills. What did it mean to reach that achievement and to to be the the first player in this league to to earn that accomplishment? I think it was it was just such a surreal moment because I think in college that happens all the time. Like people getting a thousand kills, that's normal. And you don't really talk about that in the pro game. And coming out of college, I would have never thought that I'd be able to play in the same place throughout ⁓ majority of my pro career. I mean, I'll be year four at Atlanta. That's the most I've ever played with one team in my seven year career. So to be able to say that I get to stay somewhere enough that I can create a record like that, I think was super cool and just like a really fun thing to be a part of, getting to celebrate it like in Atlanta during like four ⁓ four weekend, I think was the best part about it because the place was packed. All these people from Atlanta were here and that was just like again, exposing them to the game. again and getting them to understand like no like all the girls in this court are like really, really good at what they're doing. And you guys are missing out so much if you're not at our games. So I think it's just like more big for the league that we're in a position that we can start doing things like that and having records and having people hit those type of milestones. I think is super cool. Leah, can I ask you like more of a philosophical question, which I again we kind of touched on on up top with just you returning to Atlanta, but just from my, I guess, point of of Hopefully not too much ignorance, but I'm curious in this sport and and speaking of it as a whole, not necessarily just MLV, why is it so rare for someone like yourself to be there at for four years or for ha to have that length of time where you're with one one team? ⁓ from the outside, I look at it and I'm like, you know, I feel like that's putting some extra pressure on yourself to to go multiple different places a bunch of different times and you can't really stay comfortable. But maybe that's just from me, not a professional athlete who likes to stay in the same spot a whole bunch. But And I know there's a lot of just as the final caveat before, you know, I I I give you the the floor is just I know that there's a lot of different things like contracts and, you know, may maybe, you know, coach changes and things like that. But just again, your your perspective on on why we don't always see ⁓ an athlete staying in one place for a long time. I just think it's never been kind of the same for volleyball as it is for other sports. And I mean, like you're not offering a contr a huge contract over a certain amount of years upfront. I mean, I've seen people sign like two year contracts overseas, but I've never seen anything more than that. And I think it just has to do with money and opportunities. There's so many different leagues. The level of each league changes. And so you might start off in a lower league and then play so well that an upper league in a Italy, Turkey might want you. And with that comes a pay raise. So if you're Trying to move up the ranks of being considered one of the best in the international game, you're going to continue to move to the best teams or get towards those best teams that you see in the club world championships and in situations like that. And so a lot of us do sign one-year contracts because one year makes such a difference for us. And you don't see a lot of coaches or organizations putting forth that type of money that early on. Like, I mean, an NFL player, you sign your first round draft pick in the first 10, you're signing a $25 million bonus and then they're signing you to about 30 over a four year period. Volleyball doesn't have that type of money yet. I would love for us to get there. And even some of the international teams aren't putting that much stake into players that quickly. And it's just, I think it's a different game as well. A lot of us play at different levels of how long are we going to play? I played for seven. I have friends that played for one or even a half of the season. Like there's just too much variability of like doing that, especially since we don't have an established long-term league yet in the in the states. And I think the more the MLB grows, the easier those situations are going to be for multi-year contracts because now you have the money to support them, like you should be able to. So I hope in the end that that is where we get to, where you can sign a multi-year contract. You know that money is guaranteed and you get to stay and build something just the way that other professional athletes in the states are. But yeah, it's it's a hard situation because there's just so many different climates, so many different coaches, so many different leagues and levels that there's just too many options. And so those options kind of make it harder to want to stay in one place. But I mean, I do know people who have stayed with the same teams overseas because they've loved it so much, but they were re signing one year contracts. It it's a it's a perfect answer to a word salad question that I gave you. But that's ⁓ it's it's and it makes a total sense. I just I sometimes look at it from the the hopefully the fan perspective where you get so attached to these players who are part of your team and represent your city and then, you know, i ⁓ you can only enjoy them for so long sometimes. But w luckily Atlanta will get to enjoy being ⁓ fans of you for another year here and and and I wanna get back to the the culture that that Kayla Coach Kayla has set there for you all and and what makes her unique, what makes her style really work with with your game and with Ico's game and to have You know, again, just such a great ⁓ core group there that we mentioned up top. Yeah, I mean, in the first thing is she's an Olympian. So she's done it at the highest level. She's competed against the best of the best. And I think having that perspective of someone who's done it. So like she knows what the ceiling is. Like she knows where you need to get to if you want to play at that level. And she's been around people, you know, all even though she's not my specific position group, she's been around people who do it. And know what it's supposed to look like to be good. And I think she's also put a great staff around her that really can help us individually. Like she might be the person I talked to passing and digging, but hitting, she might be like, Yeah, let's go try someone else for that. Like I can help you, but maybe someone else can help you a little bit more. And I think just knowing that and allowing me to be me. And I think that's always been a big thing in coaches that I'm looking for is like, hey, I'm a little fiery. I have my moments where you just gotta let me feel all the emotions, but I'll get back to it and just allowing me to be that and not try to stifle that. Cause I think that's what takes away from me being me and the way that I play. And so that's something I'm so grateful for her is that she just lets me be me and all the emotions and all the excitements and all the anger and the fiery and the sassy. She loves it when I'm sassy on the court. If anything, I'm getting like pushed to like, you're not being sassy enough, actually. We know what you can do. We need to do a little bit more. And I'm like, okay. But it's just like been great. And ⁓ at this point in your career, there's only little things that you can grow on. Like you know the basics, you know how to do it. You're growing on little things. And she has somehow continued to find little things that I can continue to be better at. Because I think sometimes in some situations, people would be like, you hit the ball hard, great. You can hold your own passing a little bit, great. That's all we care about. But with her, it's like, yeah, you can hold your own, but how can we make it so like this is clockwork for you? This is like a simple movement for you. And she holds the expectation. I mean, there are times in practice where I do something and she's like, that could have been a little bit better, can't it? And I was like, You're right. It can be better. Next time I would make it even better. Because there is, there's always a fine line of like, I could have dug that ball a little bit more to the middle of the court. I could have got it closer to the net. How can I control it to get it closer to the net? And just like finding ways to use my volleyball skills in ways that like I'm not thinking about. I'm like, I'm not thinking that that could be a better dig. It was up in the middle of the court. But I guess if I put it Two feet closer. That's a difference between us being able to run three or four people and just two people. And so little things like that that like I truly enjoy. And I just really enjoyed being around her. She has kind of the same competitive mindset of like, I'm here to do a job. We're gonna do it the best of my ability. This is what I'm here for. And I love that as well. I love that as well. Well, now I'm just figuring we got to go back and find. I mean, we put ⁓ your like your top 10 best kills all the time. Now we gotta go find your top 10 most sassiest moments from 2026. I feel like that's gotta be. I had a couple this year. Any that stick out? Any any that you can share? Any that that could come to your mind? ⁓ I think I'm thinking about Grand Rapids, literally the second game of the season. I hated a call from the ref, because I'm floor captain, so I'm the one that gets to talk to them. ⁓ that's where the sassiness comes in because I could say anything. ⁓ and I was it. And I remember I told our setter, set me on the big and I she ran the big and I bounced it and I was like, let's go. I like turned and did like I was like so over it. And everybody was like, I remember they posted it and everybody was like, What happened? And I was like, We were winning. That's the problem. We were winning. Like we were up by a lot. And I was just pissed at the ref still. And so I just like that's a lie. You can tell when I'm upset because I just like I'm trying to hit the ball as hard as I possibly can, but like not in uncontrolled, just in like I can't believe you just pissed me off like that. So yeah. Yeah. It would it would never work, but I just I I wish that we could have like the the mics right at the net that we can all hear just so that we know what's going on in the middle. I know I know it can never happen, but I mean 'cause like you said, with people. Is seeing me like if somebody like I get really pissed off about anything. Hitting lines don't start the way that like don't start on time, things aren't starting on time because she knows I like order and she's ⁓ my god, we already pissed her off and she hasn't played a s a point yet. And I'm like, yay. That actually it actually feeds into the next thing I wanted to ask too, because ⁓ what I'm trying to figure out how to phrase this, but basically from from Was was this always you as a player in your pro career? Did you how have you grown, I guess, from the the first moments with the with the vibe up until where you are now as an athlete? ⁓ I think like maturity-wise, I've grown a lot of just like understanding situations. I think we've been, I mean, Atlanta's been in a great spot, like other than this past season, we've been in number one, number two going into the postseason. And so Being able to learn in those situations, like just because things are going great from a record point doesn't mean that things at practice and behind the scenes are always amazing. And being able to find your way through that. And I think also remember I think I've gotten more into a mindset of like this is bigger than volleyball too. What I'm doing right now, I cannot let sometimes what is happening on the court consume so much that I forget what I'm doing. I forget that I'm getting to play an all-star match. on CBS and all these people that I haven't seen in years got to watch me play volleyball. Like little things like that of like all the little girls that look like me in Atlanta are looking at me and they don't care what the record is. They don't care what the score is. They don't care how many kills I had because I'm playing volleyball the game that they love to and I'm doing it in front of them. And I'm someone for them to aspire to be. And so like little things like that I think have become more in the forefront of my mind of like, yes, my record might not be great. Yes I might not be hitting what I want statistically, but what I'm doing for the Atlanta community, for the black community, for the volleyball community is going to transcend any kill record or anything that I'm doing on the court. Like that's going to live on way longer than a record or my stats for a certain game. I want to keep going with talking about the Atlanta community because you know, just just from my observation, I feel like the vibe have connected with the community and the city. In a very special way. And then we have several new teams coming in this season that will be trying to replicate that. Do you have any advice for the athletes and the teams to really try to do that, to try to connect with their city in the same way that it feels like the vibe have? ⁓ I think Atlanta started off by doing a good job of just like putting us in front of people. Like I remember like my first two years, like especially the first year, it was like, we're gonna send you to this, just meet people. Like I'm just like meeting people, introducing myself, just putting them out, putting them on notice that this is happening. And so going out of my third year, I'd made so many connections in so many different places, solely because it just put me in front of people. And especially people who I think Atlanta's special because it's already such a sports town and just putting us around other sports teams because you put us around other sports teams that are doing well, the people that support them. now see us and just little things like that. Like we went to a soccer game, they put us on the board. People cheered because they were like, we know who they are. And that part, they just a great job with visibility. I mean, I haven't had I don't know how many people have told me, I've seen your Instagram ads. They're always on my Instagram. Like just knowing us from that. We have billboards. The things that we do in the community are so great. And I think they also did a great job of making sure that we were doing things that cater to us. Like I'm really passionate about education and children. So I have a school that I'm partnered with that I do things with all the time in Atlanta. We got to do hospital visits. We did clinics. I got to go visit live, like I just got to be around children and be in environments that make me feel just like happy. Like I'm an educator. Like that's what my degree is in. And so being around that is what brings me joy. And so I'm able to put a whole lot more into that compared to if you put me in just some random community service, maybe it's not something as I'm as passionate about. But I think they've done a really good job of putting us in circumstances like. Love animal shelters. They got to do that. Like things like that of catering to what we're passionate about and what we like because it makes it easier for us to make connections because we're just so happy to be there and just happy to be around. And I think they've done a really good job of that and just like kind of listening to us of like I've said, like these are the things I want to partner with, these are the sponsorships that I want to work with, like these are the companies, the ideas and things that I have. And Elena has done a really good job of listening to me because they absolutely don't have to, but they've taken our input really well. And that's something I'm super appreciative of of how much. they've listened to us players, how much they've listened to me, especially knowing that I've been there since the beginning. Tell us more about your your your work with education and and and some of those partnerships that that you have. That sounds amazing. Yeah. So I taught during COVID before volleyball, professional volleyball was even an option again for me. I wasn't going overseas to play during pandemic. So I taught fifth grade and then I taught special ed preschool and then I stopped to play full time when it was available. ⁓ but that's something I miss dearly is being in the classroom. ⁓ and so any chance that I can get, I go. So there's a school called the Ansley School in Atlanta, and it is a school that's run completely nonprofit for families that deal with homelessness. And it is completely like funded through fundraising. The entire school is through fundraising. And so I've done multiple visits with them, ⁓ Read Across America week. I go and hang out with them. ⁓ I actually like auctioned off a private lesson so they were able to raise money for that. as well. ⁓ I've done YMCA visits. Those have been my favorite. I got to go to a preschool classroom and I got to read books and they got to ask me all the questions because they want to know why I'm so tall, because that doesn't make any sense. and we got I got to teach them like the basic skills of volleyball and a lot of that. And then we got to do the children's hospital. We got to go and visit some of the kids up there. And then we got to also go and have like a room where the kids can come down and play in. And so we had a whole day down there where the kids could come down and hang out with us. And it just it's been cool. And I done all the club visits, all the clinics that I can and just like visiting and anything that I can do. So that's a lot of the stuff that I do in Atlanta with kids. And it's like my favorite part. And I've like these are like outside of like our team things. I'm like, no, I want to do these by myself. ⁓ this is what I want to do. And so it's been really great to kind of have those relationships with them. That now the school's like, whenever you want to come in, you let us know and you can come hang out. And we gotten to a point where the kids are like, ⁓ my God, you were just here. And I'm like, I'm back. And they were like, yay. And so it's exciting that they now like recognize my face and understand who I am and what I do. And they love reading books and love asking all the questions. That's just that's unbelievably cool. And I'm I'm hoping that if people want to learn more, if if they want to see more of what you're you're doing with these schools, they can go to your your ⁓ social media and and find some more information on that. Lina kind of post about them too of like what we're doing. Perfect. Perfect. Leah, is that a a lot of what your off season entails? Is it is it getting back to your your love of of education or are you taking some Time as well in between all of all of that to kind of decompress and relax a little bit. What is your off season looking like? My off season is like the opposite. I just like dig into volleyball from the TV side. So during the off season, other than like June and July, I work with SEC Network and ESPN and I do volleyball on TV. So that is how I spend the majority of my off season. It's like training and then go to a college game. And I that has become One of my favorite things, it is like such a joy to see how much the game has grown. The visibility. I mean, last year I got to do two games on ESPN and it's collegely it would have like they're playing on ESPN now. Like that's crazy. Like we used to get excited just to be like on ESPNU. We thought that was huge. So the now that they're playing like primetime ESPN and they're getting so much visibility and social media is catching on and just like g being able to like give them a platform and talk about how amazing the game is has been super fun for me. I think it's even helped me. ⁓ as a volleyball player, of being able to it's one thing to know and analyze the game inside your head. It's another thing to be able to make it presentable enough that someone who knows nothing about volleyball can follow along. And so I think it's helped me understand the game on a deeper level of like I have to know just as much as I already do know, and I need to know how to explain it to you. So I guess that's where my teaching comes in a little bit, teaching all the people on TV. ⁓ how the difference between a five-one and a six two and why the setter made that decision when she did, like things like that. That like I know why, like in my mind, and it's kind of cool to be able to sit there and they really allow me to talk as if I'm playing, because I'm probably the only person that's still actively playing while doing it. And so getting to actually put you in the mind of like why that hitter chose that spot. I had one of my friends was literally like listening to me and he was like, I had no clue that like When you're swinging, you're like actually trying to hit a spot. Like he's like, I thought you're just trying to hit the ball as hard as you can. And I was like, ⁓ no, like I'm tearing apart defenses. Like I can see what they're doing and where I want to take the ball. And he was like, That's crazy. And he was like, And these girls are doing that too. And I was like, Yeah. So like little things like that bring me joy because I'm like, You're learning the game and learning that it's not, I think, and that's a lot of people don't know. We have offensive and defensive schemes. Like there are certain things that we're running at certain times to put ourselves in the best position to score in. watching the game, you just think we're just hitting the ball and hoping that it lands. And I'm like, nope. There's so much strategy behind it. And I love being able to explain to people that as well. I mean, I I could talk to you about the broadcasting forever. That's so, so cool. I what just g give me a couple extra questions on that. Just what what is the what is your prep process like when you're going into those matches? Like are you making a whole whole board in front of you? Are you just someone who's like, I want to see it to be able to react. Just tell me about your prep process for it. So it's kind of in between. I have like a mini board because I'm definitely not telling anybody any facts or anything, but I kind of get the behind of the why. So a lot of my questions are like, what makes this player so good? What are her strengths? So then when they're doing it during the game, I can further be like, This is why this is so good and add on top of like in general what a volleyball tape would be. ⁓ and I think also depends on the team. I get a lot of Kentucky. Cause I'm in Kentucky and I played at Kentucky. So knowing I know them and I know Craig really well. So I can also add on of like in the huddle, I guarantee this is what he's probably saying. This is his philosophy. And that's been the cool part of being in the SECs. I get a lot of the same coaches over and over again that I've learned how they like to run their teams, what they're gonna make their like I mean, Oklahoma, for example, they emulate a lot of the men's game. And so I get to add on to that of what I know about the men's game, how is that coming to women's, how does that affect the way they play their opponents? And so it's kind of really knowing the teams and knowing the girls and trying to get kind of a deeper understanding of why they play volleyball the way they do. So that when they're doing the things on the court, I can explain further of like, yes, this is normal in volleyball. This is why it's so different for a Kentucky and Auburn and Oklahoma than anyone. So that part's really cool. And then I guess do sideline as well. And that's my favorite because then I can get active and kind of move around and Hear things like and just talk about it. I mean during the SEC tournament this past year, I got to explain the difference in hand contact of like thumb up and thumb down. And they put me on the camera and I looked like I was about to swing. And got to explain that. And so I think that's like little things that I think are really cool that you don't see very often. And that's the stuff that I kind of push for is why this hand does this? Why does this ball go here? How does this affect this team? Why does this work so well against this team? Why does it not work this well against this team? And kind of dive into what makes a Kentucky at Kentucky and why their defense works as well or why that team was able to tear their defense apart and things like that. Their defense apart and things like that. That's just it's unbelievably cool. I I wanna can I ask you more about your perspective because I I think it's fascinating where it feels like with volleyball, as you mentioned, there there are two sides of the aisle where you have the hardcore fan who's played, who knows everything about everything, about where everybody is, what everybody's doing. And then you have maybe the the casual fan Who doesn't know exactly like you were mentioning that I just thought you all were going to hit the ball and hit it as hard as you can. How do you how do you approach, or tell us more about how do you approach bridging that gap and how you make the the complex simple enough for the the casual fan to understand, but not so dumbed down that the the hardcore fan tunes out? It kind of made me think of like when I watch football. ⁓ football is very complex in everything that's going on on football. But when you listen to a broadcast, they're not talking about it in such a small moment of like this person just runs here and that's what they do. Like if they tell you, like, yeah, that person's running here, but they're running here because this is the route. This is how the defense is set up. They're in like cover three, and this is why this guy is able to take this route and be open right there. So I think I take it in that type of approach of like, yes, there's some difficulty going on. I can explain why this is difficult without you one not understand like still understanding that that is the player they're trying to run. And so I think that's kind of like with like the rotations and explaining how you rotate and why they're still going back to the same place. Yes, that's a complex thing, but I can take that in a way, I can explain that in a way that makes it more simple of like a five-one, five hitters, one center. Yeah, not everybody's hitting on the court. That's what the libero is there for. And just kind of like adding on to it. And I think a lot of it is building throughout the game. So like we might introduce something in the beginning, like a team runs a 6-2. We introduce that they run a 6-2 after the first time they sub. Then we build upon why that 6-2 works, what it is. And so that helps the casual fan be like, ⁓ that's something new. And it also helps the person that knows it a lot kind of hear maybe a different analysis of why that rotation, that type of structure for your team is working for them. And I mean, and there are times where I throw in things that I know only a real volleyball like guru would know. But I think that's good too, because sometimes you just you're just watching the game. Sometimes you're not listening to me. And so then I can throw in some things that I'm like, if you know the game, you're gonna watch it. But I think also that's helpful if you don't know the game to hear me say that because you're like, wait, she said what? Like what is that term? How can I add that now I know what that term is and I just watched it happen. So then kind of like I teach it like Like when I did in classroom of like identifying, like I showed you this, I gave you a keyword for it. Now when you see it again, you'll remember it. I mean, you just you just have the perfect skill set from all angles of just being an amazing player, a teacher, and an amazing commentator to bring it all together. I mean, I'm nerding out about this if you can't tell. But just Leah, one more question on it is just what you know, you're you're such at the at the forefront of the major league game and then the the you know, being able to see the college game. What what you notice about the college game, maybe the SEC game in in particular, obviously where we have a a lot of high level college athletes coming out. And following in your footsteps ⁓ into the major league game. But but what are some things that you notice just generally about where that game is at? ⁓ I think the way that it's improved towards more of the professional game. And I think that's a cool thing to see because it's now like, well, now coaches are starting to implement some of the things that we are doing and it's helping them get ready. I mean, I think the most thing we're notorious of is DSing. And how much we DS and how much our right sides do not play six rotations. And so seeing that now become more of a thing of like, yeah, no, we're gonna have some six rotation right side. Our outsides, both outsides may potentially be playing six rotations all the time. ⁓ I mean, serving for middles is kind of hard because I feel like everyone's still gonna let the libero serve, but I think maybe putting more of an emphasis on practice of like, hey, you might not be the middle that's serving, but you're still gonna learn how to serve, and that's still gonna be a Of your game. And I think it's exciting to see the pro game kind of get into college a little bit, even like with triple blocking. That's becoming slowly a thing that's happening more here in the college game. And I think that's exciting because then it prepares them a little bit better if they were to make that switch. And I think you're seeing a lot of more college players, even if they're not playing in the state, are now more aware of even the international ⁓ side of pro volleyball and knowing that, like, yes, you can stay here at home. Yes, you can go overseas, you can be prepared. Prepared to play in both, and you can gain the skills to be able to play in both. And so I think that's what I've seen a lot more of is just like schemes and things that you see a lot of in the pro game are now happening in college. And I think that's really exciting for development wise, because a lot of girls in that age range of college overseas are already playing personal. Like they're getting built into those programs, and then they're going and competing against that their 18-year-olds competing against 28-year-olds overseas. And so being put in those situations and preparing them to be able to play against us once they get to an older age. And so giving those girls the opportunity that when they get out of college at twenty two, they can compete with the twenty-eight year olds, thirty-year-olds and whatever because they have the skill set and they're seeing it. And I think the game's getting a little faster as well, continually. I mean, you still have your programs that are gonna run. The nice high ball, just throw it up there and I think I have my own opinions on that. But You're f you're finding your rhythm and being able to be able to transition to the pro game, I think is the big push that I'm seeing. And now college coaches are like, Well, my girls want to play pro. The same way you see it in football and basketball and baseball. Like we're preparing you for the next level, if that is your goal. And we're gonna introduce more of that into our game. And by introducing that pro game into a college game, it's gonna get better regardless. W the thing we need to know is when do you get your broadcast schedule and will that be shared on your social media so we can all tune into those games that you will be on? I usually get it like mid to end July because they're so focused on all the other like softball, baseball track and field are also happening right now. So they're like on that. But mid July and I definitely post every single time I am doing a game, so everybody knows. Perfect. It's and we'll we'll have just even more of a reason to watch now that we've heard all of the the the great insight that you have here. It's just that's unbelievably cool. So cool. ⁓ Leah, I've already taken up so much of your time here. We we've enjoyed having you so much here on the Set Six podcast. I figure we'll end with some fun. You know, we'll end with some fun questions and get it back to Leah. Talk a little bit more about who you are as we as we end. But what we're gonna do here and what we've been bringing to every guest is some rapid fire questions. Now these are These are first thing that comes to your mind. Don't think about it too much, but you know, give us, give us the first thing that comes to mind. It's it's a little challenging, but I think you can do it. Are you are you ready for this? Ready. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Leah, the first rapid fire question for you is what is the last TV show or movie that you watched? Euphoria. Euphoria. There we go. Okay, perfect. What is your current W I I can't say that I've seen Euphoria yet, but I've seen the trailers for the the ⁓ most recent season. What is your current hobby, Leah? Baking. Baking. Wha any any favorite things to bake? I do everything. My right now the favorite is my ⁓ vanilla pound cake that I will not share the recipe to. There was a whole Instagram video about the fact that I won't share the recipe. Understood. Understood. You get something that good, you gotta keep to yourself. Absolutely. We you're gonna have to like leave some for the media though at one of the points where and I've gotta make sure I circle that game to go to go and find. Leo, what is what is your current pet peeve? Or just a pet peeve? Ooh, I have so many. I'm gonna say not use a blinker. When you're changing not using a blinker? Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. You'd you'd fit right in with ⁓ Yeah. That's a very East Coast thing I feel like with I'm from Rhode Island, ⁓ more north, but same thing. Everybody's like, use your blinker. So there you go. ⁓ what is what would be what is your guilty pleasure? Any sour candy. Like Sour Patch Kids. Sour Patch Kids, Sour Patch watermelon, Sour Gummy Worm, Sour Skittles. If it's sour, I love it. And I always have a bag of something in the house. Like I have to have it. Hotcha. Got not not a bad advice, honestly. I understand that one completely. What would be your last day on earth meal? ⁓ I think it would be a mix. So it would be waffle fries from Chick-fil-A, beast curds from Culver's, lemonade from Canes, and a lemonade from Wendy's and a steak, but I don't know where. That's a hard. I mean the the Fry's choice there, not going with canes is an interesting take. You might make some people mad, but I'm not I'm not hating on it. I'm not hating on it. Next question. Couple more. Who would play you in the movie of your life? Or who would you want to play you in the movie about your life? I'm gonna say like Gabrielle Union. Someone just asked me this and I was losing it because I could not answer it. See, but you were prepared for this question this time around. So it was it was perfect. What fictional world do you wish that you could live in? I love the Hunger Games, but I don't want to live in the Hunger Games. You'd be one of the people in the cool, the cool outfits, like viewing from the top, not in the not in the dome, right? ⁓ because none of my teammates think I would win because of all my allergies. They were like, all you gotta do put peanuts in there and you would be done for. And I was like, great. That is rude of them to say. I think I would probably want to live in like Disney. Like I Princess and the Frog is all time favorite and I would like love to live in New Orleans and eat at Tiana's restaurant. Two very different answers, I feel like, there Disney and and Hunger Games. That's great. Leah, you y you kinda already answered this next question, but if you weren't a volleyball player, what would you be doing? I would either be a commentator or a teacher. Whichever. And last one for you, Leah, what makes you happy? My family and friends and the joy that I get to play the game that I love as a job. Can't complain about that. Well, Leah, what makes us happy is being able to have you as a guest here on the Sat Six podcast because what an unbelievable chat it was to be able to talk with you about all things returning to Atlanta and then also just all the awesome stuff you get up to when you're not absolutely killing it on the court. But we just can't thank you enough for joining us here today. And we are so excited that you are returning to Atlanta for another season. Leah, thank you again for joining us. Thanks for having me. All right. Our thanks to Leah. And of course a huge thank you to Brennan and the Atlanta staff, the great ownership there too. And and just always great to chat with ⁓ anybody from Atlanta, but especially with ⁓ Leah and previously ICO as well, and for them for setting this up for us. So we really appreciate it. ⁓ I I can't wait to hear more about ⁓ her baking secrets, you know, which what she does in her free time, but also, you know, the broadcasting, especially. And I think her fighting through the injury. you know, her injuries is is wild. I mean, you can see even in the vibe and around she's got the big boot on and and just kind of I I think it's so impressive ⁓ what our athletes go through in terms of injuries and and I feel like you never hear any complaints. There's never any woe is me. ⁓ it's always just being able to compartmentalize that as being part of the game and and it's gotta be so frustrating. And ⁓ you know, I've I've seen some of that with some high level athletes athletes being, you know, in the Olympic cycle or also, you know, just with our athletes last year. and you'll hear it of course next week too when we talk to to Lane and and Kayla. But I think that this has been this has been just a a really fascinating journey for me to see how well they deal with it. And Leah's certainly no exception. I I honestly had forgotten at one point. I remember that it it had come up at some at a certain point throughout the season that she was dealing with something, but ⁓ the fact that you don't notice and the fact that she's still one of the best that that there is is just that's a testament to her and her game and how good she is. ⁓ we had just a great talk too for twenty minutes after, which I want to thank her if she's watching. Le Leah's ⁓ the the way our system works sometimes is you need to stay after to ⁓ let the let the video upload and ⁓ Leah was more than gracious with her time, but just so fun to just talk talk about life and chat about a whole bunch of things. I've learned that I need to visit Kentucky for sure. ⁓ so that's on my bucket list definitely. But just yeah, the just such an easy team and people with the team to root for. ⁓ all the pieces are there. I really love the ads going into twenty twenty seven of Zoe Jarvis and Eidon Woozi especially. I think those two hopefully will come in and help kind of not stabilize, that's the wrong word, but to help kind of give a boost to the core that's there that I think is so good. And as we talked about a couple episodes ago with Jenna Rosenthal, our sense set six correspondent, to me, you know, just looking at it, I think Atlanta is poised to just with one or two tweaks, I think they're right back in it. So ⁓ I'm looking forward to that and and I I really believe that some of the the little changes to their roster they may have made will will help them springboard hopefully into into the playoffs. And ⁓ they'll certainly need Leah to be Leah and ⁓ Iko to be Iko and so ⁓ I I think there's no doubt that'll happen. But it's it's looking like a strong squad for twenty twenty seven. We're excited to hear hear more from Leah and follow her along ⁓ throughout the next season. So can't can't come fast enough, honestly. I'm loving the summer, but ⁓ I like the the post that you're seeing. It's I think it was a trend where it's like everything's going great, but I've got the itch and the itch is to get back there on the volleyball court. So we feel the same way. All right, we'll wrap up with just ⁓ w what I've got going on and ⁓ some other mis miscellaneous things. ⁓ a lot of a lot of live music for me that I've scheduled, ⁓ in between different travel different travel schedules. It was so funny when ⁓ Mike pr producer Mike ⁓ texted me yesterday, he's like, Hey, wanna or not yesterday, last week. He's like, Hey, you wanna go to Pittsburgh? And I like, Heck heck yeah, let's do it. So You know, all travel is always happening, but in between I've scheduled several ⁓ live event ⁓ showings for myself to keep me entertained. Going to see the Strokes in Milwaukee this weekend. ⁓ so straight from Pittsburgh, I'm excited about that. Been listening to a lot of ⁓ a lot of stuff ⁓ from them. I actually got into them from one of the baseball video games I played when I was little. ⁓ MLB two K eight was one of the first video games I ever had and and the Strokes had several songs on there. So I like it. A little bit a little bit different than my typical pop punk stuff. Another thing that was different from my typical pop punk stuff is last weekend I gotta go to the ⁓ the Hollywood distillery where ⁓ an event put on by S ⁓ Sofar Sound was just awesome. I mean, I think you can probably tell from my interest, I'm always gonna be an advocate for going to go see some live music and supporting your local bands. But ⁓ it was it was interesting. It wasn't it wasn't necessarily the music that I would choose. It was kinda sad cowboy music, but it was a lot of fun. It was really cool. It was awesome to see ⁓ some of the the performers and and just some incredible voice talent, I think, is some of the things that even if it's not your kind of music, you're just in awe by it. And I I genuinely had a great time. They brought down the vibes a little bit. We were all having fun and then it's all about, you know, singing about their exes or ⁓ the ones that got away. And it's like, man, this is really good music, but it's depressing. But it was it was fun. It was a cool, ⁓ cool atmosphere. So that was again ⁓ Hollywood distillery and ⁓ Sofar Sound. That was awesome. And then lastly, ⁓ spur of the moment, ⁓ right before we head off to Ren, ⁓ next week or in a couple weeks, I've already got my calendar out of out of whack. But ⁓ I I caved and bought a ticket to Warp Tour in ⁓ in Long Beach. So it was funny. My mom actually sent me an email 'cause she got an alert and she's like, Are you gonna go to this? And at first I was like, ⁓ I don't know if I wanna go to a a full day ⁓ festival right before I gotta get on a plane. But yeah, then I was like, you know what? That's that's the sign. If even my mom is emailing me about it, then then I gotta stick to I gotta be on brand and I gotta go. So live music's gonna be fun. ⁓ on the tr on the plane over here, I watched Train Dreams and Another Round, both very depressing movies. And I can't say I'd recommend them. I think look, Train Dreams to me was I I know that one's got been up for awards and I really love Jewel Edgerton, but ⁓ I don't I didn't really get the point of it. And I think a lot of it at the end it tried to tie it in nicely together with being like, this is the point why. And you know, this is the guy that's like been trying to figure out his life. And I just was like, I great, you know, good cinematography. I like that it looks a lot on on location, but I don't really get the point of making this movie. So that's kind of how I felt about that. And then another round, I mean I had seen a lot of the memes of Mads Mickelson, so I was like, you know what? I I I've got to watch it. And so I did. And I I Again, I don't want to say what's the the point. I think more like it didn't really w it was dealing with some heavy themes and I won't I won't go any further because I think, you know, it's worth a watch for sure. And I I think I gave that one more of like a, you know, average movie score. I was kind of like, ⁓ it's it's good, but I don't know if it landed the plane on trying to make its point. So there you go. That's what I watched. Two two depressing films on the way over here. So I'll try to lighten the mood when I when I head to head back or or when we head to Ren later on this month. And then lastly, just for what I'm up to, I've finished the Double O seven game that I was telling you about a couple of weeks ago. And ⁓ I'm now reliving my childhood with Assassin's Creed Black Flag, which was like a game that all my friends were playing when we were younger. And I feel like we're in that cycle where all the games that we played were are are now being remade and are are repopularized. And it's kind of trippy because you're like, I remember this when I was ⁓ younger, and you think like it wasn't that long ago, and then you look back and it like twenty twelve or something, which was a while ago. So Anyway, like I said, not that I have a ton of time to play it. I've seen a bunch of people that are already most of the way done. I'm like, I've probably got maybe four hours into the game so far. So ⁓ yeah, but 007 was good. If you're into video games, I'd play it. And ⁓ that's about it. But although before we go, I do want to, you know, give a couple shout-outs to first off, ⁓ Jessica Vuong. I Jessica, I'm sorry if I said your last name wrong, but Jessica sent us a fantastic list of meals and activities for when we head to McKinney for Wren. ⁓ Tex Rex, she called it, ⁓ which I so appreciate it. It was got a whole bunch of great stuff. Food, places, activities. Best believe I will be sharing that with ⁓ our our producer Mike ⁓ and with the team because we all will need to check out as many of those as possible. But ⁓ Jessica took us up on the mailbag for for sending that. We really appreciated that. Thank you, Jessica. And ⁓ shout out to ⁓ one of my former coworkers, Alana Newsome, who sent us Rex here for Pittsburgh. ⁓ it was very nice to send along that list too. So ⁓ for Jessica and Alana, if you're listening this, thank you very much. Those will all will be ⁓ all will be sent to the crew and we'll all be trying those out. So I'm also want to shout out ⁓ our set six correspondent Jenna Rosenthal. If you didn't see on our socials, which you should be locked into those anyway, Jenna was ⁓ Wapacka boat ride and got some great content with our athletes while she was out there. ⁓ Wopaka always has seen so cool and I I wanna go. I think actually we got a nice message from them ⁓ that ⁓ we were might we might be able to go in more of a ⁓ a capacity next year. So Looking forward to being able to do that. But it was so s so cool to get a kind of an inside ⁓ inside perspective on how that went. And ⁓ Jenna was playing too. So when we bring her back on, we're gonna ask how she did ⁓ and and get more details on that. But that was that was awesome. So ⁓ Jenna did a great recap of the day. So please go go and check that out. And lastly, please, if you want to reach the show as ⁓ Jessica and Alana did, you can email me at s that's severin at mlvb.com or comment, like, subscribe, do all that and and Please help share the show, but also ⁓ that's your way to get in contact. So thank you as always to our producer Jenna, Mike, and Amy. It doesn't happen without them. And as I've said, it does not happen without you. We really appreciate your support of this podcast. Thank you for listening. And it's been fun. Pen another episode in the books, and we'll see you back here next week. ⁓ probably with this special episode from Pittsburgh, ⁓ being the one that's on the way. We also had a great conversation with Lauren Bertolacci that we've Got coming up. ⁓ and also, ⁓ like I said, we're we're heading out to Ren for that as well. So some great stuff this summer for you. So we hope you'll stay tuned. But in the meantime, that is gonna do it for this episode of the Set Six Podcast. I'm your host, Severn Laddenstein, and as always, we thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.