Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 239. Jordan Thompson, Pro Volleyball Player & Olympic Gold Medalist

Transcript

239. Jordan Thompson, Pro Volleyball Player & Olympic Gold Medalist · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: The way that you were created is so unique and
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Speaker 1: beautiful and there are so many strengths to who you are.
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Speaker 1: And to remind yourself and this is something I tell myself,
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Speaker 1: you have greatness inside of you.
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Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, EMILYA Badi here. You are listening to Hurdle,
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Speaker 2: a wellness focused podcast where I connect with everyone from
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Speaker 2: your favorite athletes to top experts and industry CEOs about
0:37
Speaker 2: their highest hies, toughest moments, and everything in between. We
0:41
Speaker 2: all go through hurdles in life, and my goal through
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Speaker 2: these discussions is to empower you to better navigate yours
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Speaker 2: and move with intention so that you can stride towards
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Speaker 2: your own big potential and of course have some fun
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Speaker 2: along the way. For this week's episode, at number two
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Speaker 2: hundred and thirty nine, I am chatting with Jordan Thompson.
1:02
Speaker 2: She is a pro volleyball player and an Olympic gold medalist.
1:07
Speaker 2: And if there's one thing I can say right off
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Speaker 2: the bat, it's that Jordan is she is wise, well
1:14
Speaker 2: beyond her years. So many of the things that she
1:16
Speaker 2: was saying. As I was sitting here listening to her,
1:19
Speaker 2: I was just like shaking my head and thinking, Wow,
1:23
Speaker 2: her strong growth mindset. She attributes to her time playing
1:28
Speaker 2: with the US woman's national volleyball team, and today she
1:33
Speaker 2: tells us how she got there, how she landed herself
1:37
Speaker 2: a spot on the team after working her way up
1:41
Speaker 2: in the sport, playing at Cincinnati and now overseas for
1:45
Speaker 2: a team that she has been dreaming of playing on
1:49
Speaker 2: for some time now. Jordan talks to us about how
1:52
Speaker 2: pro volleyball works similar to basketball, why so many of
1:57
Speaker 2: the best players from the United States go up broad
2:00
Speaker 2: to play and gain experience. She also chats about one
2:04
Speaker 2: of her big hurdle moments, navigating an injury that had
2:09
Speaker 2: her reevaluating what it meant to be a team player.
2:13
Speaker 2: Jordan and I also chat about what it's like for
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Speaker 2: her to be one of the few black women in
2:18
Speaker 2: her sport and her hopes for the sport moving forward,
2:22
Speaker 2: plus the high value she puts on the relationship that
2:26
Speaker 2: she has with her teammates, and how lucky she feels
2:29
Speaker 2: to have some of the best of the best as
2:32
Speaker 2: her mentors, including Jordan Larsen, who have had on the show.
2:36
Speaker 2: I'm going to link her episode in the show notes.
2:38
Speaker 2: Super happy that we were able to find the time
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Speaker 2: to have this convo. A huge thanks to the good
2:45
Speaker 2: folks at under Armour for connecting us. And on that note,
2:49
Speaker 2: if there is someone you want to hear from on
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Speaker 2: the show, I am all ears. Feel free to shoot
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Speaker 2: us a dm over at Hurdle Podcast or email me
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Speaker 2: over at Hello at Hurdle dot us. But not least
3:00
Speaker 2: I'm putting a call out I would love your listener
3:03
Speaker 2: questions for an upcoming listener Questions episode. So whatever you got,
3:09
Speaker 2: it can be about sports, it can be about life, health, work, career, whatever.
3:16
Speaker 2: The link to leave me one is in the show notes.
3:18
Speaker 2: And with that, let's get to it. Let's get to
3:22
Speaker 2: hurdling today. I am sitting down with Jordan Thompson. She's
3:32
Speaker 2: a pro volleyball player. She's also an Olympic gold medalist.
3:36
Speaker 2: How are you doing today?
3:38
Speaker 3: I'm great? How are you?
3:40
Speaker 2: I'm great, I'm We kind of rapped about this a
3:43
Speaker 2: little bit before this formally started, but honestly, I'm just
3:46
Speaker 2: a little bit jealous that you are sitting in Italy
3:50
Speaker 2: and I am sitting in Brooklyn.
3:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
3:52
Speaker 1: No, it's a great place to be, it's a great
3:54
Speaker 1: place to work. Definitely park from home, but it's fun.
3:59
Speaker 2: A little bit are from home. So right now you
4:01
Speaker 2: are over in Italy playing with a series A one team.
4:05
Speaker 2: Talk to us a little bit about what that's like
4:07
Speaker 2: for you.
4:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really exciting. Italy has one of the strongest
4:14
Speaker 1: leagues in the world for volleyball, and so I'm playing
4:18
Speaker 1: with a team called Vero volley Milan, formerly known as
4:22
Speaker 1: Baro Valimonza, and so this is a team that I've
4:24
Speaker 1: been trying to get on for a few years now,
4:27
Speaker 1: and so I'm just really excited to be here. And
4:30
Speaker 1: it's been really cool, just a lot of strong competition,
4:33
Speaker 1: and it's exciting because I feel like things are kind
4:36
Speaker 1: of falling into place for me in terms of my
4:38
Speaker 1: career and just feeling like I'm finally building again.
4:44
Speaker 3: So I'm really excited to be here.
4:46
Speaker 2: And when you say trying to get on for a
4:49
Speaker 2: few years now, what does that look like.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's kind of interesting.
4:56
Speaker 1: There are when you think about like the volleyball world,
4:59
Speaker 1: there are differ different leagues in different countries all around
5:02
Speaker 1: the world, and there are specific countries that have stronger leagues,
5:06
Speaker 1: and then within those leagues there are stronger teams and
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Speaker 1: so as an opposite, which is my position. You have
5:14
Speaker 1: like one starter, one starting opposite on each team, and
5:18
Speaker 1: so there aren't many really big jobs out there that
5:23
Speaker 1: are on a really high level team where you are
5:26
Speaker 1: going to make good money and it's going to be
5:29
Speaker 1: like a really great situation, and so I knew that
5:31
Speaker 1: this was a club where it had all of those things.
5:36
Speaker 1: I was going to be playing high level volleyball, have
5:38
Speaker 1: a great coach, just a great living situation, and be
5:41
Speaker 1: able to play in a really strong league. And so
5:43
Speaker 1: this was somewhere that I've been wanting to come to
5:46
Speaker 1: for a while now. And it's sort of difficult because
5:49
Speaker 1: the job just hadn't really opened up in the way
5:51
Speaker 1: that I kind of needed it to, and then I
5:53
Speaker 1: had signed other contracts to play other places, so we
5:56
Speaker 1: were just kind of missing each other for a while.
5:59
Speaker 2: Right like ships in the night. So being there, now,
6:02
Speaker 2: how does it feel.
6:04
Speaker 3: It's awesome.
6:05
Speaker 1: It's I don't even know how to describe it, honestly,
6:08
Speaker 1: because I had kind of a few rough seasons overseas
6:13
Speaker 1: and I was like, listen, if this is how professional
6:16
Speaker 1: volleyball is, I cannot do this as a career, Like
6:18
Speaker 1: maybe I'm just not cut out for it, Like maybe
6:20
Speaker 1: maybe I'm not tough enough to do this job.
6:22
Speaker 3: I don't know, and coming.
6:24
Speaker 1: Here and realizing that this experience is a possible, Like
6:29
Speaker 1: it's possible to have this kind of experience and have
6:30
Speaker 1: such a positive one and kind of get my love
6:34
Speaker 1: for the game back and really bond with my teammates
6:37
Speaker 1: and have fun playing to have this experience, it's I've
6:43
Speaker 1: been just feeling really thankful and blessed because for a
6:47
Speaker 1: while there I was just a little bit nervous, like, Okay,
6:49
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this like isn't the career for me, Like
6:53
Speaker 1: you know, I want to play national team, and that's
6:55
Speaker 1: a huge reason why I'm over here playing professionally, but
6:59
Speaker 1: is it worth it? And so coming here it's like, Okay, yes,
7:02
Speaker 1: you're doing the right thing. This is worth it, and
7:04
Speaker 1: I'm going to have a fun time doing it.
7:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, your whole like energy shifted when you started talking
7:09
Speaker 2: about how it feels to play there now after as
7:12
Speaker 2: you said, having a few tough seasons. How would it
7:16
Speaker 2: feel for you if we explored what those tough seasons
7:19
Speaker 2: consisted of.
7:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it might be a little triggering, no, but
7:24
Speaker 1: I'm definitely.
7:26
Speaker 2: Open to it, open to it. So talk to us
7:28
Speaker 2: about the tough seasons. Talk to us about how those
7:31
Speaker 2: were different than what you're experiencing now in this new chapter.
7:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a huge differences.
7:42
Speaker 1: I mean, one, I'm healthy here, and so I think
7:44
Speaker 1: that's really helpful, having different support staff at different clubs
7:49
Speaker 1: and going into places not knowing what that's going to
7:53
Speaker 1: look like, what kind of physio you'll have, and you know,
7:57
Speaker 1: if the club will give you the time you need
8:00
Speaker 1: to recover from injuries and stuff like that, it can
8:03
Speaker 1: be really daunting. And so I was in a situation
8:07
Speaker 1: where I went into a season with an injury and
8:10
Speaker 1: I just wasn't able to get the time I needed
8:12
Speaker 1: to heal. And so, you know, you play this game
8:18
Speaker 1: of like I have to. You know, you want to
8:20
Speaker 1: work hard for the team, you want to be there
8:22
Speaker 1: for the girls, but at the same time, you're looking
8:24
Speaker 1: at yourself like I'm pushing myself to a point where
8:27
Speaker 1: I might be jeopardizing my career and my long term health.
8:32
Speaker 1: And so trying to play that balancing game can be
8:37
Speaker 1: really difficult. And so I think it was just a
8:39
Speaker 1: lot of different things kind of thrown at me at
8:42
Speaker 1: one time. But like I said, again, I'm just really
8:45
Speaker 1: thankful to be having a positive experience.
8:47
Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, it's so understandable the feelings that you articulated
8:51
Speaker 2: that it can be frustrating and definitely triggering to think
8:56
Speaker 2: about a time when you were putting your own personal
8:59
Speaker 2: health and well being into jeopardy in favor of the team.
9:04
Speaker 2: With volleyball being a team sport, what have you learned
9:08
Speaker 2: about perhaps the necessity to really listen to what's happening
9:13
Speaker 2: with you so that you can show up for all
9:15
Speaker 2: these other people that you care about.
9:17
Speaker 1: I think I've learned that, like, if I'm not showing
9:21
Speaker 1: up for myself and I'm not the best version of me,
9:25
Speaker 1: whether that's like one day I'm at my one hundred
9:27
Speaker 1: percent or maybe the best version of me is me
9:30
Speaker 1: at my sixty percent. If I'm not there and listening
9:35
Speaker 1: to my body and what I need and showing up
9:37
Speaker 1: for myself, then I'm ultimately not being there for my
9:40
Speaker 1: teammates and showing up for them in the way that
9:43
Speaker 1: they deserve. And so sometimes I'm definitely a people pleaser,
9:48
Speaker 1: so I'll kind of not want to think about like, Okay, well,
9:52
Speaker 1: you know, maybe I need just like a day off,
9:54
Speaker 1: or maybe I need time to just reset and recover
9:56
Speaker 1: whatever it may be. And I'm like, Okay, well what
9:59
Speaker 1: about the team, and maybe it's not fair to them
10:01
Speaker 1: or blah blah blah. And it's like, you know, if
10:03
Speaker 1: we all individually take care of ourselves and pour into
10:08
Speaker 1: ourselves so we can show up and be the best
10:10
Speaker 1: for our team, like, that's when you have the strongest
10:12
Speaker 1: group of women to play this sport. And so I
10:14
Speaker 1: think it can sometimes be hard because you want to
10:18
Speaker 1: just constantly pour into the team, poor into the team,
10:20
Speaker 1: and you have to remember, like you're part of that team,
10:22
Speaker 1: so remember to pour into yourself.
10:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, And really it's the whole concept of like putting
10:29
Speaker 2: your own oxygen mask on before you can help someone
10:32
Speaker 2: else around you. In practice, sometimes though, that's harder to
10:37
Speaker 2: do than we may be able to dole out that
10:40
Speaker 2: advice to somebody else. Right, Like when you're looking at
10:43
Speaker 2: a teammate and you see that she's so burnt out
10:45
Speaker 2: and you're like, dude, you need to take some time. Yeah,
10:48
Speaker 2: you might be going through the exact same thing, and
10:50
Speaker 2: it's like, do I need to take that time?
10:53
Speaker 3: Right? Right?
10:54
Speaker 1: I think it's hard, and like I said, you just
10:56
Speaker 1: want to Sometimes you feel guilty for that, but just
11:00
Speaker 1: reminding yourself that at the end of the day, by
11:02
Speaker 1: you being good for yourself, you're being good for your teammates.
11:04
Speaker 1: I think you have to go back to that so
11:06
Speaker 1: you don't get consumed with the guilt. If that's something
11:09
Speaker 1: that you're struggling with.
11:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well we kind of dove right
11:13
Speaker 2: into this. But the fun fact that I love about
11:16
Speaker 2: you is that when you started playing sports, you actually
11:20
Speaker 2: started with basketball. Do you remember the choice on pivoting
11:24
Speaker 2: from basketball to volleyball way back in middle school?
11:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just I remember my dad played basketball professionally
11:34
Speaker 1: for a long time for the Harlem Globe Chatters, so
11:37
Speaker 1: that was really cool. And so yeah, for for me
11:41
Speaker 1: growing up, it was kind of just natural, like, well,
11:44
Speaker 1: I just play basketball until I kind of find something
11:46
Speaker 1: I like. And I remember my parents telling my brother
11:50
Speaker 1: and I like, you're not going to be like f ups.
11:54
Speaker 1: You're gonna be like contributing members of society, and so
11:57
Speaker 1: you need to play a sport, be involved in something,
12:00
Speaker 1: go to college, get an education. And I'm like, okay, like, yeah,
12:03
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do what I swear. I just wanted to,
12:06
Speaker 1: like please my parents and do what they had asked.
12:09
Speaker 1: And so played basketball for a long time and then
12:12
Speaker 1: it was just too much of a contact sport for me,
12:15
Speaker 1: Like the amount of times I would start hyperventilating because
12:18
Speaker 1: I was crying from getting hit.
12:20
Speaker 3: Was just like I need to find something different.
12:22
Speaker 1: And I had a friend in middle school who was
12:25
Speaker 1: trying out for the volleyball team, and so I was like, Okay,
12:28
Speaker 1: well I'll just try it.
12:29
Speaker 3: Like I know absolutely nothing about the sport.
12:31
Speaker 1: Like I got to the tryout, they had to teach
12:33
Speaker 1: me like how to put my hands together to pass
12:35
Speaker 1: the ball, and but I just remember like having so
12:39
Speaker 1: much fun learning a new sport and getting to play
12:43
Speaker 1: a different kind of team sport, and so I think
12:47
Speaker 1: I just like fell in love with it right away.
12:48
Speaker 1: And I told my dad, you know, I don't think
12:50
Speaker 1: I want to keep playing basketball. I think I want
12:52
Speaker 1: to really like see what I can do with volleyball.
12:55
Speaker 1: And he he didn't care at all. He just wanted
12:57
Speaker 1: me to have fun playing a sport and just enjoy it.
13:01
Speaker 2: Was that one of those scenarios that you were telling
13:03
Speaker 2: yourself a certain story, kind of hesitant to give him
13:08
Speaker 2: the details, like tell him like this is what I
13:11
Speaker 2: want to do.
13:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I guess like in my head, I was thinking, Okay,
13:16
Speaker 1: I have to play a sport. I'll play basketball, and
13:18
Speaker 1: I'll make my dad proud. I'll just go to college
13:21
Speaker 1: with a scholarship and then I'll just play the WNBA.
13:23
Speaker 3: And I'm like, at no point was I.
13:26
Speaker 1: Ever good enough playing the WNBA or like on that trajectory.
13:30
Speaker 1: But I was nervous because I didn't want to disappoint him.
13:33
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, he just reassured me, like,
13:37
Speaker 1: you don't need to play basketball. I just want you
13:39
Speaker 1: to have fun and play a sport.
13:40
Speaker 2: So, yeah, so you get into playing volleyball. I also
13:44
Speaker 2: feel like it's important to note here you're six or four,
13:47
Speaker 2: Is that right? Yes, so you already knew from the
13:51
Speaker 2: get go that you were going to be destined to
13:54
Speaker 2: do something where height could help you to your advantage.
13:57
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely.
13:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is something from a girl who stands tall
14:00
Speaker 2: at five four, so I can see how that could
14:05
Speaker 2: be good for you. So you get into volleyball and
14:07
Speaker 2: you and you like what you're experiencing, and do you
14:10
Speaker 2: know pretty shortly in that you want to take this
14:14
Speaker 2: farther than just playing in high school.
14:18
Speaker 1: I think I knew maybe after like a year of
14:23
Speaker 1: playing that I was like, Okay, maybe I could try
14:27
Speaker 1: to get a scholarship to college and see what that
14:30
Speaker 1: looks like. And sure enough, my freshman year, I had
14:34
Speaker 1: a school looking at me. And I remember my high
14:37
Speaker 1: school coach said, because I was going to go on
14:40
Speaker 1: a visit, she was like, do not commit to this school,
14:42
Speaker 1: Like you are going to have different offers, Like, do
14:45
Speaker 1: not verbally commit to them. Just wait it out, Like
14:47
Speaker 1: I know it's exciting, but like, go there, have an
14:50
Speaker 1: open mind, just do not.
14:52
Speaker 3: Commit to them.
14:52
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, cool, got it. I go there and
14:55
Speaker 1: I come back. I'm like, I verbally committed.
14:58
Speaker 3: And I told her.
14:59
Speaker 1: I was like, I just don't think that, like another
15:01
Speaker 1: opportunity is going to come my way.
15:03
Speaker 3: This seems like a really good one. You know, I
15:06
Speaker 3: can have.
15:07
Speaker 1: A full ride scholarship, and that's really all I'm like
15:10
Speaker 1: needing this for. Like, of course I want to play
15:13
Speaker 1: volleyball in college, and that seems like so much fun.
15:16
Speaker 3: But the ultimate goal was my parents said I need
15:19
Speaker 3: to go to college.
15:20
Speaker 1: They can't afford to pay for that, so I need
15:22
Speaker 1: a scholarship, and so I remember my coach was just like, Okay, well.
15:29
Speaker 2: I tried, did other offers end up coming in?
15:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, so other schools would you know, send letters or emails?
15:40
Speaker 1: And there ended up being a coaching change at the
15:42
Speaker 1: school that I was committed to, and so I ended
15:45
Speaker 1: up decommitting and sort of trying to figure out like, Okay,
15:51
Speaker 1: maybe that wasn't like where I was supposed to end up,
15:54
Speaker 1: and just trying to figure out where I was going
15:55
Speaker 1: to go. And it was just interesting because I would
16:00
Speaker 1: have some I guess, like bigger volleyball schools maybe reaching
16:04
Speaker 1: out and showing interest, and I couldn't decide really like
16:10
Speaker 1: what I wanted. I was really just unsure and I
16:13
Speaker 1: didn't want to make the wrong decision, and I ended
16:16
Speaker 1: up I was talking to my best friend in high
16:18
Speaker 1: school and she was committed to Cincinnati, and she was like, well,
16:21
Speaker 1: why don't.
16:21
Speaker 3: You just come on a visit and like, but do
16:23
Speaker 3: you think they would want me?
16:24
Speaker 1: Like, I don't even know if I'm good enough to
16:25
Speaker 1: like play there, And so she reached out to the
16:28
Speaker 1: coach and the.
16:29
Speaker 3: Coach was like, yeah, of course, like we'd love to
16:31
Speaker 3: have her on a visit.
16:32
Speaker 1: And I just remember driving into the city, like I
16:34
Speaker 1: just landed at the airport. We're driving in, not even
16:37
Speaker 1: on campus yet, and just the feeling that I had
16:41
Speaker 1: driving in, I was like, why does this feel like
16:42
Speaker 1: a second home already? Like I haven't even seen anything yet.
16:45
Speaker 1: And then talking with the coaching staff and meeting the team,
16:49
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, yeah, this is for sure where
16:51
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be.
16:53
Speaker 2: Talk to me about what it was like for you
16:56
Speaker 2: to balance sport and school, knowing that, as you said,
17:02
Speaker 2: your parents really valued you getting an education.
17:05
Speaker 3: It was actually easier than I thought it was going
17:08
Speaker 3: to be.
17:09
Speaker 2: Okay.
17:10
Speaker 1: It's interesting because I remember in high school all of
17:14
Speaker 1: our teachers telling us like, well, you can't this isn't
17:16
Speaker 1: going to slide in college, like they're not going to
17:18
Speaker 1: let this happen in college, and just being really kind
17:21
Speaker 1: of tough on us and really trying to repair us
17:24
Speaker 1: for college and what it was going to be like.
17:26
Speaker 1: And I remember getting there and I'm like, oh, I
17:29
Speaker 1: have like one or two classes a day and then
17:31
Speaker 1: I have the rest of the day to like go
17:33
Speaker 1: to practice and do my homework and study tables and everything.
17:37
Speaker 1: And playing a sport in college and having that structure
17:43
Speaker 1: at least at Cincinnati, they made it hard for you
17:46
Speaker 1: to fail because there were so many different people checking
17:49
Speaker 1: in with you. You had your eight hours of study
17:51
Speaker 1: tables every week that you had to do and you
17:54
Speaker 1: had to schedule those, and you had to meet with
17:58
Speaker 1: your academic advisor, and your coach would check in with you,
18:01
Speaker 1: and your teammates would talk to you about class and
18:03
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So for me, I felt like there
18:06
Speaker 1: were so many different structures in place so that it
18:10
Speaker 1: was I felt really supported and also knowing that, like,
18:15
Speaker 1: all my teammates are doing the same thing, so I
18:18
Speaker 1: don't want to feel like the odd one out and I'm.
18:20
Speaker 3: Like, oh, this is just too hard. I can't do it.
18:22
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, I got a stand tap of
18:24
Speaker 1: things and really lock in because I also want to.
18:28
Speaker 3: Make sure that I can make volleyball a priority as well. Yeah.
18:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're making it a priority. You're in the
18:35
Speaker 2: thick of things and you struggle with a pretty devastating injury.
18:41
Speaker 2: Talk to me about what it was like to damage
18:45
Speaker 2: your UCL.
18:46
Speaker 3: So that was just a really bizarre injury. I was playing.
18:51
Speaker 1: It was in the summer before season, before preseason started,
18:54
Speaker 1: and we were just playing an open gym and we
18:58
Speaker 1: were playing defense and there was a ball hit and
19:01
Speaker 1: it was sort of coming in between me and a
19:03
Speaker 1: different teammate and she crossed in front of me and
19:05
Speaker 1: I reached out to try to play the ball, and
19:08
Speaker 1: I basically ended up punching her in the back and
19:11
Speaker 1: hyper extending my elbow and completely tearing my UCL. And
19:15
Speaker 1: I didn't realize it at the time. I just knew like, oh,
19:18
Speaker 1: that really hurt. I'm going to go get it checked
19:20
Speaker 1: out after practice, And a few weeks later, it still
19:24
Speaker 1: wasn't feeling better, and so they're like, okay, we should
19:27
Speaker 1: probably like take you to get an MRI make sure
19:29
Speaker 1: everything's okay. And I remember I had talked with this
19:34
Speaker 1: doctor so many times before and knew him pretty well,
19:37
Speaker 1: and he's like, yeah, why don't you come back into
19:39
Speaker 1: my office. I'm like, that's weird, Like why can't you
19:42
Speaker 1: talk to me here in the in the room. And
19:46
Speaker 1: so my coach and I go back there and he's like, yeah,
19:48
Speaker 1: so you tore your UCL.
19:50
Speaker 3: You're going to need surgery and you're going to be
19:52
Speaker 3: out for a year.
19:53
Speaker 1: So just like stared at my coach and I and
19:57
Speaker 1: I was like immediately devastated. I felt like my life
20:01
Speaker 1: was over. I always said that my biggest fear was
20:03
Speaker 1: getting injured. And I was just really thankful to like
20:08
Speaker 1: have my coach there in that moment to support me
20:11
Speaker 1: and just.
20:12
Speaker 3: Kind of like be my mom.
20:15
Speaker 1: And so she was like, you know, it's gonna be okay,
20:18
Speaker 1: We're going to figure this out. Super comforting, and then
20:22
Speaker 1: we ended up going and grabbing coffee and she's like,
20:26
Speaker 1: you know, if you think about it, this could you
20:28
Speaker 1: know we can make this a positive, Like it will
20:30
Speaker 1: be okay. I know it's tough, but you'll have more
20:32
Speaker 1: time here to continue getting stronger and learning and growing
20:35
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And so I ended up I
20:40
Speaker 1: was really nervous because I didn't know how it would
20:42
Speaker 1: come out on the other side. Like I didn't know
20:45
Speaker 1: if I would still be like a good volleyball player.
20:48
Speaker 1: I didn't know how my elbow is going to respond.
20:50
Speaker 1: But I just remember, like I just made the decision,
20:54
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna come back stronger, like I I'm not
20:57
Speaker 1: gonna let this.
20:59
Speaker 3: Be a huge set back.
21:00
Speaker 1: And so I was watching a ton of film, you know,
21:04
Speaker 1: watching my team play, trying to encourage them as best
21:07
Speaker 1: as I could. Going home, watching film, watching other teams overseas,
21:12
Speaker 1: play watching people in my position, just thinking like, Okay,
21:16
Speaker 1: if I can't play the game, how can I continue
21:18
Speaker 1: to like soak it in and see things better and
21:21
Speaker 1: just use this as a time to grow. And so
21:25
Speaker 1: I definitely for a while, for the first few months,
21:27
Speaker 1: had kind.
21:28
Speaker 3: Of like a.
21:31
Speaker 1: Just like sad mindset. But I think that's normal, like
21:34
Speaker 1: you're devastated you have an injury. But once I kind
21:37
Speaker 1: of made that decision of like, Okay, there's nothing I
21:40
Speaker 1: can do about this, like about the situation I'm in,
21:43
Speaker 1: but I can kind of turn this into a positive
21:46
Speaker 1: and use this time to the best of my ability.
21:50
Speaker 1: And I think just really focused on that and it
21:53
Speaker 1: was really helpful just coming out on the other side.
21:56
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow, what an impressive mindset to take on as especially.
22:00
Speaker 2: I mean, you've mentioned an injury a couple of times here,
22:02
Speaker 2: I know, the one that we just referenced clearly super
22:05
Speaker 2: devastating for you. For someone who's navigating their own injuries
22:09
Speaker 2: or maybe even just a setback in general, what did
22:13
Speaker 2: those experience teach you that you could share with them.
22:19
Speaker 3: I think.
22:21
Speaker 1: It's really difficult whether you're dealing with a physical injury
22:25
Speaker 1: or something. Maybe it's mental health or just some kind
22:29
Speaker 1: of life struggle. I'm not someone who really I don't
22:32
Speaker 1: want to be super overly.
22:34
Speaker 3: Positive about everything.
22:35
Speaker 1: I like to be very realistic and like, Okay, this sucks,
22:38
Speaker 1: but how can I make it better? And how can
22:40
Speaker 1: I if there's not a positive create one. So I
22:44
Speaker 1: think allowing yourself the time to grieve if that's something
22:49
Speaker 1: that needs to happen, and be upset and feel those emotions.
22:53
Speaker 1: But then once you've kind of worked through that process, Okay,
22:57
Speaker 1: what's the next step forward from here? And how can
23:00
Speaker 1: I just continue to move forward in a positive way.
23:04
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing, because I don't know,
23:06
Speaker 1: it's just it's really difficult when you whatever situation you're in,
23:10
Speaker 1: to just be in a crappy situation and feel like, Okay, well,
23:16
Speaker 1: how do I move forward from this? And I think
23:19
Speaker 1: having a support system is huge in that, and so
23:23
Speaker 1: I really leaned on my friends and my family and
23:25
Speaker 1: my coaching staff to kind of help me in those
23:28
Speaker 1: moments where I felt like, Okay, I'm trying to move
23:31
Speaker 1: forward in a positive way, but I'm just having one
23:33
Speaker 1: of those days where I'm feeling really discouraged because maybe
23:36
Speaker 1: I'm having a setback in my rehab and so I
23:39
Speaker 1: kind of need you to help encourage me right now.
23:42
Speaker 1: But I think having a support system is huge.
23:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so much awareness on your part to recognize
23:49
Speaker 2: that it can be both right, like, it can be
23:51
Speaker 2: a hard time, and you also have the opportunity to
23:53
Speaker 2: lean on others to get to where you want to
23:56
Speaker 2: be and also recognizing where you want to be. I
23:59
Speaker 2: think that can be really truly just so difficult. So again,
24:04
Speaker 2: that awareness is so impressive. And to hear you talk
24:09
Speaker 2: about that value in leaning on others, I would be
24:14
Speaker 2: curious to hear what that's like for you now, playing
24:19
Speaker 2: so far away from your friends and family, how do
24:23
Speaker 2: you pick yourself up on those hard days being across
24:27
Speaker 2: the pond in Italy.
24:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm still clinging to my teammates and my family.
24:33
Speaker 1: I actually just am now kind of getting out of
24:36
Speaker 1: a rough patch. I wasn't feeling very well and I
24:39
Speaker 1: was kind of like sick, didn't have a lot of energy,
24:42
Speaker 1: not playing good volleyball, and I'm like, what is going on?
24:44
Speaker 3: It just seemed like so many things were not going.
24:47
Speaker 1: Right, and I a few weeks ago, sat down with
24:50
Speaker 1: two of my teammates and one of them was Jordan Larson,
24:53
Speaker 1: and I was just like, how do you stay motivated
24:57
Speaker 1: and stay positive when it's such a long season and
25:00
Speaker 1: things aren't going your way, Like things aren't kind of
25:04
Speaker 1: clicking like they usually do and you don't feel in
25:06
Speaker 1: this rhythm. And she was like, you have to think
25:09
Speaker 1: about like it's like putting money in the bank and
25:11
Speaker 1: just you're investing and you're showing up every day and
25:14
Speaker 1: the consistency will pay off.
25:16
Speaker 3: And so.
25:18
Speaker 1: It was something really simple. But to hear her say
25:21
Speaker 1: it as somebody I really look up to and a
25:23
Speaker 1: player who has so many amazing accomplishments in this sport,
25:28
Speaker 1: I think hearing it from her, it was like, oh duh,
25:32
Speaker 1: Like I'm just going to keep working hard and keep
25:34
Speaker 1: putting in the time and effort and eventually it has
25:37
Speaker 1: to pay off. Like I can't just be in this
25:41
Speaker 1: funk forever, like maybe I can't see the end of
25:44
Speaker 1: this long tunnel of just seems like it's dark and
25:47
Speaker 1: things aren't clicking and I'm not in a rhythm, but
25:50
Speaker 1: I'll get there eventually. Eventually I'll see the light. And
25:52
Speaker 1: so just kind of like, Okay, I'm going to keep
25:55
Speaker 1: putting my head down, putting in the work and staying consistent,
25:59
Speaker 1: and so my teammates just continue to be my support system.
26:04
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that's really special. When you
26:06
Speaker 1: go overseas and you have different foreigners on your team,
26:10
Speaker 1: you guys are kind of in the same boat, you know,
26:12
Speaker 1: like you're all far away from home and you don't
26:16
Speaker 1: get to go home for the holidays and you miss
26:18
Speaker 1: your family and your friends and your pets and whatever.
26:21
Speaker 1: But to have each other is just really important. So
26:25
Speaker 1: I think if you have different foreigners or just your
26:28
Speaker 1: teammates in general, being able to lean on them, at
26:31
Speaker 1: least for me, has been really huge.
26:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, totally. Jordan's went on the show. She's an
26:36
Speaker 2: absolute delight, an absolute delight. So I'm so happy to
26:40
Speaker 2: hear that you guys have one another to be support system.
26:45
Speaker 2: I think it could be helpful here for us, just
26:48
Speaker 2: for those that might not be familiar with how playing
26:52
Speaker 2: volleyball works at your level, if you could give them
26:55
Speaker 2: some insight into why you do have to travel overseas
26:59
Speaker 2: to play at this point.
27:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, so right now in the States, there aren't many
27:06
Speaker 1: options for us to play professional volleyball at a super
27:11
Speaker 1: high level for a long period of time, to have
27:14
Speaker 1: that kind of normal professional season and have the same
27:19
Speaker 1: like competitive pay. And so there are a few leagues
27:23
Speaker 1: that are actually getting started pretty soon in the States,
27:27
Speaker 1: but as of right now, our best option to make
27:30
Speaker 1: good money and have really high level volleyball is to
27:32
Speaker 1: go overseas and find different teams to play on.
27:36
Speaker 2: Having had the opportunity to play for a Team USA,
27:40
Speaker 2: do you feel a little bit differently playing overseas or like,
27:44
Speaker 2: how does that shake out for you?
27:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think playing with Team USA and winning gold,
27:52
Speaker 1: I kind of.
27:52
Speaker 3: Feel like I have more street credit.
27:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds kind of funny, but I think, you know,
27:59
Speaker 1: being overseas, being a younger player and trying to hold
28:04
Speaker 1: your own you can sometimes kind of be used as
28:08
Speaker 1: like the scapegoat and just like, oh, well, it's because
28:12
Speaker 1: the younger players are, you know, messing up practice or
28:14
Speaker 1: the game or whatever, and so not to say like
28:18
Speaker 1: now people can't say that stuff about me or something
28:20
Speaker 1: like that, but you do feel more of like, at
28:23
Speaker 1: least for me, I feel like, Okay, I can take
28:25
Speaker 1: up more space. I have more confidence because I was
28:28
Speaker 1: a part of something really special in making history. And
28:32
Speaker 1: I think I just have a little bit more confidence
28:35
Speaker 1: in myself as a player now being overseas and kind
28:38
Speaker 1: of having that experience with Team USA.
28:41
Speaker 2: When you say I can take up more space, what
28:44
Speaker 2: does that mean to you?
28:48
Speaker 1: To me, taking up more space means I think being
28:54
Speaker 1: confident in my skills as a player and knowing that
28:59
Speaker 1: the things I view as my strengths on the national
29:03
Speaker 1: team with Team USA, like being that cheerleader, that loud encourager,
29:08
Speaker 1: the one who's celebrating other success and like trying to
29:12
Speaker 1: pump up the team, getting having a lot of energy
29:15
Speaker 1: and trying to play like just fearless volleyball. I can
29:21
Speaker 1: do that overseas and it's still those are still my strengths.
29:26
Speaker 1: And so I think sometimes you get on a team
29:28
Speaker 1: and I for me, I don't really know all the
29:30
Speaker 1: time where I fit in and how it is my
29:32
Speaker 1: personality and my style play kind of fit into this team.
29:36
Speaker 1: And it helped me to realize, like I can still
29:39
Speaker 1: just be myself and that has been good enough in
29:42
Speaker 1: different situations, and I'm hoping that's good enough here. And
29:47
Speaker 1: so whereas other times I was like kind of more quiet,
29:51
Speaker 1: maybe not cheering as loud because other people weren't cheering
29:54
Speaker 1: as loud, and it wasn't always this like high energy environment.
29:58
Speaker 1: I would kind of like dim my light a little bit,
30:00
Speaker 1: and I realized, like I don't have to do that,
30:03
Speaker 1: Like I can just be authentically myself and that is
30:06
Speaker 1: good enough. And if somebody doesn't like it, like if
30:09
Speaker 1: someone doesn't like having a personal cheerleader, like I'm sorry,
30:12
Speaker 1: I'm still.
30:12
Speaker 3: Gonna cheer for you.
30:13
Speaker 1: But it's just encouraged me, like to have confidence in
30:18
Speaker 1: who I am and what my strengths are and to
30:21
Speaker 1: actively continue to do those things in a different space.
30:25
Speaker 2: It's interesting to see you and hear you light up
30:28
Speaker 2: talking about playing fearless volleyball, and also to hear you
30:32
Speaker 2: say that you're kind of coming out of a little
30:35
Speaker 2: bit of a rough patch. Can you speak a little
30:38
Speaker 2: bit on that, what it's felt like for you lately
30:41
Speaker 2: to play fearless volleyball, and maybe how a difference differs
30:46
Speaker 2: now than it has in the past.
30:48
Speaker 1: You know, in the past, like when I've been i
30:50
Speaker 1: mean just recently kind of feeling in a rut. It's
30:53
Speaker 1: sometimes it could be easy to like lose track of
30:57
Speaker 1: the things that make me feel like myself when I'm playing,
31:00
Speaker 1: Like if I'm not feeling in a rhythm with my game,
31:04
Speaker 1: then maybe I start to fall out of that rhythm
31:07
Speaker 1: of always like bringing that high energy and being that
31:12
Speaker 1: cheerleader and stuff like that, and so then it seems
31:15
Speaker 1: like everything's a little bit wonky again, just like reminding
31:18
Speaker 1: myself of if I put in that work, it will
31:21
Speaker 1: show up again, like that rhythm will will come and
31:24
Speaker 1: I'll find it. And also sometimes I just have to
31:29
Speaker 1: like I don't want to say, like fake it till
31:31
Speaker 1: you make it, but if I'm not feeling good and
31:34
Speaker 1: I'm feeling really low energy and I just like I
31:37
Speaker 1: don't feel like it today, sometimes I was like, Okay,
31:42
Speaker 1: I'm aware of this, I'm aware of how I feel,
31:44
Speaker 1: but I'm still going to go in there and just
31:45
Speaker 1: like be the hype woman and have a ton of energy,
31:50
Speaker 1: because then, yeah, I'm tired. I'm going to be tired
31:53
Speaker 1: either way, but my feeling and that kind of feeling
31:58
Speaker 1: like in sync with my team and that of them
32:00
Speaker 1: will kind of flow from that energy that I like
32:03
Speaker 1: put into it.
32:04
Speaker 2: If that makes sense, Oh, it totally makes sense. And
32:06
Speaker 2: I think It's it's funny, right because as we like
32:09
Speaker 2: get older and we have so much more awareness about
32:13
Speaker 2: our thoughts and our emotions and how we respond to
32:15
Speaker 2: our thoughts. It's like, Okay, so I know this to
32:18
Speaker 2: be true, but that doesn't mean that I'm not like
32:21
Speaker 2: going to start by feeling this way and know that
32:25
Speaker 2: I can get to feeling like the other way. It's
32:27
Speaker 2: just going to take me a beat. Something that someone
32:30
Speaker 2: said to me earlier today that like really resonated with
32:33
Speaker 2: me was this concept of I get what I don't want,
32:37
Speaker 2: so I learn what I do. It's like, even though
32:40
Speaker 2: this thing is happening that might not be what we
32:43
Speaker 2: hoped for, that thing is still happening for us, so
32:47
Speaker 2: that we can learn and then apply that going forward,
32:50
Speaker 2: which when you're in the moment, like that's hella difficult
32:53
Speaker 2: to implement.
32:54
Speaker 1: Yes, it sucks in the moment, And that's where I
32:58
Speaker 1: go back to, I think, to kind of validate yourself
33:01
Speaker 1: and be like, yeah, this does suck.
33:03
Speaker 3: This is like so.
33:04
Speaker 1: Crappy right now, But there when I come out of this,
33:08
Speaker 1: I'm going to see the reason or see the lesson
33:12
Speaker 1: in it. And just having that awareness of knowing like
33:16
Speaker 1: this tough time will not last forever, but it is
33:18
Speaker 1: crappy right now, and that's okay.
33:20
Speaker 3: I think that's really helpful.
33:26
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37:11
Speaker 2: When I was twenty five, like I was not speaking
37:13
Speaker 2: like this, like so I would just say I would
37:18
Speaker 2: just say that, like, your perspective already shows like so
37:22
Speaker 2: much growth. Why do you think that that is? Why
37:24
Speaker 2: do you think that you already have like this very
37:27
Speaker 2: much growth mindset.
37:29
Speaker 1: A huge reason for this kind of like growth mindset
37:33
Speaker 1: is things that I've learned on the national team and
37:36
Speaker 1: also playing at Cincinnati, and a lot of it I
37:38
Speaker 1: think just comes from volleyball and kind of being in
37:42
Speaker 1: tough situations figuring out the best way to handle them
37:46
Speaker 1: and even when things aren't going your way. And karch
37:51
Speaker 1: are the head coach of the national team, he always
37:53
Speaker 1: talks about this growth mindset and having this growth mindset
37:56
Speaker 1: and having like really low expectations but high hopes for things,
38:02
Speaker 1: and he talks about that a lot in terms of
38:04
Speaker 1: how we're going to show up and play. We don't
38:06
Speaker 1: expect to win any games, so we have high hopes
38:08
Speaker 1: and we know that we're capable.
38:11
Speaker 3: And I think I've just kind of.
38:14
Speaker 1: Been able to watch a lot of amazing intelligent people
38:19
Speaker 1: operate and live their lives with this mindset and realize
38:26
Speaker 1: that like the way they go about life is just
38:31
Speaker 1: it's so powerful to me because I think then it
38:34
Speaker 1: opens this door for like constant gratitude, and like, how
38:38
Speaker 1: can I continuously find this, like find something to be
38:42
Speaker 1: grateful for even in the difficult moments. And like the
38:47
Speaker 1: other day, my teammate Dana and I were warming up
38:51
Speaker 1: and we just got done with a really long week.
38:53
Speaker 1: We had like four matches in seven days, and we're training,
38:57
Speaker 1: we're traveling, we're doing all this stuff. Are so tired
39:00
Speaker 1: or warm me up for a game, and I'm just like,
39:03
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful that my legs work and I can
39:06
Speaker 1: like run around and jump and play this sport, and
39:09
Speaker 1: like just something as simple as that, I'm like, I'm
39:13
Speaker 1: so grateful for that. But to try to stay in
39:16
Speaker 1: this mindset of gratitude and this growth mindset, I think
39:22
Speaker 1: has been really helpful, especially in the tough moments, because
39:26
Speaker 1: I'm just just seeing other people live that out has
39:29
Speaker 1: been huge for me.
39:30
Speaker 2: When did you start to understand the benefit of small
39:35
Speaker 2: gratitude and small wins?
39:38
Speaker 1: I think it really hit me and sunk in when
39:41
Speaker 1: I started playing on the national team, because we always
39:45
Speaker 1: take moments for gratitude, and Karch really implements that, like
39:50
Speaker 1: we'll have team meetings where on certain tournaments, I remember,
39:54
Speaker 1: I think it was my first summer with the national
39:55
Speaker 1: team in twenty nineteen. At the beginning of each meeting,
39:59
Speaker 1: we would have one player stand up and say, I
40:02
Speaker 1: think someone who was like basically made it possible for
40:06
Speaker 1: them to be there, someone they were really thankful for.
40:09
Speaker 3: And so.
40:10
Speaker 1: Even with team meetings that we have now will end
40:13
Speaker 1: with a moment of gratitude.
40:14
Speaker 3: And so there are always.
40:15
Speaker 1: These intentional moments where you're reminded of the power of gratitude.
40:23
Speaker 1: And so once I realized that and I started implementing
40:27
Speaker 1: that into my everyday life and the really small moments
40:31
Speaker 1: and the moments that seem insignificant, I realized just how
40:35
Speaker 1: powerful gratitude is and just how it can change your outlook.
40:41
Speaker 1: And so I think the national team and everybody involved,
40:45
Speaker 1: the staff and the players, they really instilled that in me.
40:51
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So for you, you mentioned coming out of
40:55
Speaker 2: a little bit of a rough time, what would you
40:56
Speaker 2: say was the catalyst for you to you kind of
41:00
Speaker 2: shift your attitude and really make some progress there.
41:06
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing for me was having that
41:09
Speaker 1: moment with Jordan and Dana. We were just having brunch
41:14
Speaker 1: at a local coffee shop and sitting there kind of
41:18
Speaker 1: like getting everything out, telling them where I'm at, how
41:22
Speaker 1: I'm feeling, feeling like really validated and heard in that moment,
41:27
Speaker 1: and then just having their support and their advice, And
41:31
Speaker 1: like I mentioned earlier with what Jordan had said to me,
41:35
Speaker 1: just showing up in that consistency, I think that was huge.
41:39
Speaker 1: Like sometimes I think it's it's simple stuff that you've
41:41
Speaker 1: heard before, but if somebody specific says it to you,
41:44
Speaker 1: it just hits home a little bit more. And so
41:46
Speaker 1: I think in that moment hearing it from her, just
41:49
Speaker 1: I remember looking at her and we're like, how do
41:50
Speaker 1: you do it?
41:51
Speaker 3: Like how do you always show up?
41:52
Speaker 1: And you're so professional and you're so good at this,
41:55
Speaker 1: and she was like, it's consistency, Like that's all it is.
41:58
Speaker 1: You know, I don't feel like it day, I don't
42:00
Speaker 1: feel my best, and she's like, but every day I'm
42:03
Speaker 1: going to show up in little by little, I know
42:05
Speaker 1: that the improvement is going to come. And Okay, wow,
42:09
Speaker 1: that again so simple.
42:10
Speaker 2: It reminds me. There's like this Instagram post and it's
42:13
Speaker 2: like a graph of three hundred and sixty five dots
42:16
Speaker 2: and like only seven of them are like colored in
42:20
Speaker 2: and it says like one bad day doesn't make a
42:22
Speaker 2: bad year. And it's like a visualization that you see,
42:26
Speaker 2: like there's literally only seven of three hundred and sixty
42:28
Speaker 2: five dots that are black, and wow, like what a
42:31
Speaker 2: great way to realize, Like that's so true, right, Like,
42:35
Speaker 2: are you going to make these seven black dots be
42:38
Speaker 2: the reason that you reflect on the year as a
42:41
Speaker 2: whole as a negative? And it goes back to our
42:43
Speaker 2: conversation on perspective, right, like we have the opportunity to
42:48
Speaker 2: decide to not look at a life and experience XYZ
42:53
Speaker 2: in a certain way, but rather reframe and then move
42:56
Speaker 2: forward with that.
42:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think that's huge.
43:01
Speaker 2: For you outside of volleyball. What excites you right now?
43:06
Speaker 1: The sound it's really it feels kind of silly to say,
43:09
Speaker 1: but just like different moments to create have been really exciting.
43:13
Speaker 2: For me, elaborate.
43:15
Speaker 1: I'm not like a huge TikTok person, but something like
43:20
Speaker 1: just creating a TikTok, a little vlog or maybe it's
43:24
Speaker 1: like a little dancing video, but just like creating these moments.
43:28
Speaker 1: And I really enjoy capturing moments with my friends or
43:32
Speaker 1: just in life and things that I can look back
43:35
Speaker 1: on and remember like, wow, I remember exactly how I
43:38
Speaker 1: felt in this moment, and look at how different things
43:40
Speaker 1: are now, whether that's like in a more positive or
43:44
Speaker 1: negative way, Like maybe I was feeling really bad or
43:47
Speaker 1: sad or something and I'm looking like, wow, I'm just
43:49
Speaker 1: so happy now look at that. But just you know,
43:52
Speaker 1: capturing those moments and then being able to create something
43:55
Speaker 1: from them is really exciting for me and just something
43:58
Speaker 1: fun and lighthearted to do. And I actually was talking
44:02
Speaker 1: with one of my teammates today. We created this like
44:05
Speaker 1: unofficial club called the Sad Girls Club because we were
44:11
Speaker 1: we all had like kind of a rough practice a
44:13
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, and so I was like, guys,
44:16
Speaker 1: we should have a Sad Girls Club where we can
44:18
Speaker 1: all come to my apartment and cry tonight. And we
44:22
Speaker 1: ended up making sweatshirts that say Sad Girls Club and
44:25
Speaker 1: they're really cute and I love them.
44:27
Speaker 2: But I can guarantee you that people that are listening
44:30
Speaker 2: to this right now would buy a Sad Girls Club sweatshirt.
44:34
Speaker 3: I feel like they're actually really cute.
44:36
Speaker 1: I posted on my Instagram and people, like a few
44:38
Speaker 1: people are like, oh my gosh, I want one.
44:41
Speaker 2: You're like, this is limited edition.
44:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know, kind of like silly stuff like that.
44:46
Speaker 1: That's just very different than what I'm doing with my
44:50
Speaker 1: everyday life of going to practice and going to lift
44:52
Speaker 1: and traveling and going to games and stuff like that.
44:56
Speaker 1: Just something to kind of like stimulate my mind and
44:59
Speaker 1: just do something fun and kind of like outside of
45:01
Speaker 1: the box for me.
45:02
Speaker 2: How do you feel about spending time alone?
45:04
Speaker 3: I love it.
45:07
Speaker 1: Maybe a little too much, I think, Okay, yeah, I'm
45:12
Speaker 1: kind of I think I'm I'm definitely an introvert, I think.
45:18
Speaker 3: But I love my friends because a lot of them
45:21
Speaker 3: are very like extroverted and they're like they have an
45:24
Speaker 3: idea and they're like.
45:25
Speaker 1: Let's go do it, and I'm like, I love you
45:28
Speaker 1: because if it were me and I had this idea,
45:30
Speaker 1: I would probably.
45:31
Speaker 3: Talk myself out of it and be like, well, well
45:33
Speaker 3: then I have to figure out this, and oh, I
45:35
Speaker 3: probably just shouldn't go.
45:37
Speaker 1: And so I'm really thankful for my friends because they're
45:41
Speaker 1: always like drawing me out and like helping me experience
45:44
Speaker 1: new things, because if it were up to me, I'd
45:45
Speaker 1: probably be in my apartment a lot of the time.
45:48
Speaker 2: I always love asking women who play on teams how
45:53
Speaker 2: they feel about alone time, because it kind of goes
45:57
Speaker 2: like one or one of two ways. It's like, oh,
45:59
Speaker 2: I'm so ingrained in team and team mentality that I
46:02
Speaker 2: really don't like spending time by myself or I crave
46:05
Speaker 2: it because I can't get enough of it.
46:07
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I'm definitely the one who craves it.
46:11
Speaker 1: And we were just traveling for like five days as
46:14
Speaker 1: a team and we have I think we got home
46:17
Speaker 1: around like three pm and we have lyfts all together
46:21
Speaker 1: in the morning.
46:22
Speaker 3: At ten, I'm like, Okay, see you guys in a
46:24
Speaker 3: few hours.
46:25
Speaker 1: And they're like, what do you mean, We can't wait
46:27
Speaker 1: to see you, And I'm like, I love you guys
46:29
Speaker 1: so much. I would like a few times, like moments
46:32
Speaker 1: to myself every once in a while. But it's it's
46:35
Speaker 1: just funny because you definitely see those two kind of
46:37
Speaker 1: like personalities playing out on a team. But people who
46:39
Speaker 1: are like I cannot wait to get away from you
46:41
Speaker 1: guys just for a little I love you so much,
46:43
Speaker 1: but I need my space, and then the ones who
46:45
Speaker 1: are like, we could live together, it'd be great.
46:48
Speaker 2: So you're like a little bit above a little bit
46:51
Speaker 2: of both, yes, a little bit of a pivot here.
46:53
Speaker 2: This episode is coming out on the first Monday of
46:57
Speaker 2: Black History Months. How do you feel about, let's just say,
47:01
Speaker 2: like the state of diversity within your sport as a
47:05
Speaker 2: black athlete.
47:08
Speaker 3: I think.
47:10
Speaker 1: It's definitely getting better, like it's becoming more diverse, but.
47:18
Speaker 3: I think it's still like not where it could be.
47:21
Speaker 1: And I think about, like even just playing overseas, I
47:24
Speaker 1: will get so excited when I see another black player,
47:29
Speaker 1: whether it's a men or women's player, and I'm like, oh.
47:33
Speaker 3: My gosh, this is so cool look at us.
47:35
Speaker 1: And like I probably shouldn't like that shouldn't be like
47:38
Speaker 1: the normal response to it, but like that's just kind
47:41
Speaker 1: of how it is right now because there aren't that
47:43
Speaker 1: many black volleyball players, and so I think that's definitely
47:49
Speaker 1: when you think about like the the younger like the
47:52
Speaker 1: kids and girls who are playing in middle school and
47:56
Speaker 1: high school and stuff like that, I think there's there
48:01
Speaker 1: are definitely still barriers that are stopping probably a lot
48:04
Speaker 1: of young black girls from playing the sport.
48:09
Speaker 3: And I think it can be intimidating to.
48:14
Speaker 1: Want to go into a space where there aren't a
48:16
Speaker 1: lot of people who look like you. And so I'm
48:18
Speaker 1: hoping that the sport continues to grow and that people
48:26
Speaker 1: feel welcomed in this space and that we do see
48:31
Speaker 1: just a lot more diversity in the sport because it's
48:35
Speaker 1: so fun and I just know that, like so many
48:38
Speaker 1: people would enjoy playing and you know, I want everybody
48:41
Speaker 1: to like feel welcomed in the space.
48:44
Speaker 2: How does it feel for you, knowing that there are
48:47
Speaker 2: few other women of color playing at your level in
48:51
Speaker 2: this sport, to be that person that like, if they
48:55
Speaker 2: want to be her, they need to see her and
48:57
Speaker 2: they see you. How does it feel for you to
49:00
Speaker 2: perhaps a role model for them?
49:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I sometimes I think I forget about that aspect
49:07
Speaker 1: of it because I'll even look at my other black
49:11
Speaker 1: teammates on the national team and like I look up
49:13
Speaker 1: to them so much and for me, like they are
49:17
Speaker 1: those women, like they are the ones who I'm looking
49:20
Speaker 1: up to, and I'm like just in awe of and like,
49:23
Speaker 1: look at how amazing you're doing and how far you've
49:25
Speaker 1: come and all the things that you're accomplishing. And there
49:29
Speaker 1: was actually a moment at the Olympics after we won gold.
49:33
Speaker 3: We were in our.
49:35
Speaker 1: We were in the Olympic village, in our little like
49:38
Speaker 1: apartment getting ready for the closing ceremony, and I was
49:44
Speaker 1: getting ready in my room and I had my speaker
49:46
Speaker 1: on and I was playing Brown Skinned Girl by Beyonce,
49:50
Speaker 1: and one of my teammates, Kim Hill, came up to
49:53
Speaker 1: me with like tears in her.
49:54
Speaker 3: Eyes and I'm like, Kim, what is wrong with you
49:58
Speaker 3: right now?
49:59
Speaker 1: She's like, do you you know how many like young
50:01
Speaker 1: black girls are looking up to you in this moment,
50:03
Speaker 1: and like how many lives you're touching and impacting? And
50:07
Speaker 1: She's like, this song just like made me think of that,
50:09
Speaker 1: and it just made me really emotional, and I was like,
50:13
Speaker 1: it was just such a wholesome moment and just reminded
50:17
Speaker 1: me of the people that I have the opportunity to
50:23
Speaker 1: leave a positive impact on and inspire. And I think
50:27
Speaker 1: sometimes when you get caught up in the day to
50:29
Speaker 1: day of this career, you kind of lose sight of that.
50:33
Speaker 3: And so that was just like a really touching moment
50:36
Speaker 3: for me.
50:36
Speaker 1: And every time I play that song now, I think
50:38
Speaker 1: of Kim and just her saying that and how it
50:42
Speaker 1: really hit.
50:43
Speaker 3: Home for me.
50:44
Speaker 2: I have the chills as you like tell that story,
50:47
Speaker 2: and it's really awesome to hear you step into this
50:51
Speaker 2: place where you accept almost what seems to be a
50:54
Speaker 2: little bit of a responsibility, and this carries over to us.
50:59
Speaker 2: Take a look at, you know, the platforms that you've
51:03
Speaker 2: built and also the platforms that you have access to,
51:05
Speaker 2: whether it's the almost one hundred thousand people that follow
51:08
Speaker 2: you on Instagram or this year fact of you being
51:12
Speaker 2: an under Armor athlete. So let's talk about that briefly.
51:15
Speaker 2: What does it mean for you to be an under
51:19
Speaker 2: armor athlete?
51:22
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's such an honor because I
51:26
Speaker 1: growing up that was never something in my wildest dreams
51:29
Speaker 1: that I would even think of. But to have access
51:33
Speaker 1: to the under Armour platform and what they stand for,
51:37
Speaker 1: and the resources that they have, and the way that
51:41
Speaker 1: they want to support and help their athletes in the
51:44
Speaker 1: different avenues and places where that you know, their athletes
51:47
Speaker 1: are really passionate about and they want to have an
51:49
Speaker 1: impact on is such an honor because you know, it's
51:55
Speaker 1: one thing to say like, oh, yeah, we want to
51:56
Speaker 1: support our athletes and help help them, you know, help
52:00
Speaker 1: young girls who maybe live in the inner city who
52:02
Speaker 1: want to have access to the sport but don't have
52:04
Speaker 1: the means to do it, and there's another it's another
52:07
Speaker 1: thing to actually make that happen. And so I think about,
52:11
Speaker 1: you know, the Jordan Thompson under Armoer camp, and I'm like,
52:16
Speaker 1: that just blows my mind that that was even a possibility.
52:19
Speaker 1: But they put so much time and effort and resources
52:24
Speaker 1: into making that happen, and I'm just really thankful that
52:28
Speaker 1: they care a lot. And so to, like I said,
52:30
Speaker 1: to have access to under Armore and be a part
52:33
Speaker 1: of the under Armer family just is such a huge blessing.
52:36
Speaker 2: That cam the first one took place at the University
52:40
Speaker 2: of Cincinnati. How did that feel for you?
52:43
Speaker 1: It felt so surreal to be in the place where
52:48
Speaker 1: I started my career and ended my career in college
52:51
Speaker 1: and had all these different experiences, and then to have
52:55
Speaker 1: like my logo next to the under Armour logo in
53:00
Speaker 1: this place that I call home.
53:04
Speaker 3: It was like, I just I felt so in awe
53:07
Speaker 3: the entire time.
53:08
Speaker 1: And I was just so excited to be able to
53:11
Speaker 1: connect with those girls and hopefully leave them a little
53:16
Speaker 1: bit inspired or motivated in some way, and just to
53:20
Speaker 1: like let them know that like I genuinely want to
53:22
Speaker 1: be a resource for them, and like I want young
53:26
Speaker 1: girls to feel like they have not only people in
53:32
Speaker 1: this sport, older women in the sport to look up to,
53:34
Speaker 1: but also access to them and to be able to
53:37
Speaker 1: ask questions and get information and you know, hear more
53:40
Speaker 1: about our stories and how we got to where we are.
53:42
Speaker 1: But I mean, just to be able to do that
53:44
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati was just so surreal.
53:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it. And when I
53:51
Speaker 2: was prepping for this interview, I was looking back at
53:55
Speaker 2: some of the work that you've done and then the
53:57
Speaker 2: work you've also done with Under Armour and the Athlete.
53:59
Speaker 2: No one saw a coming campaign which is essentially like
54:02
Speaker 2: a focus on, let's say, blocking out toxic comparisons. So
54:08
Speaker 2: if you had to offer advice to someone who may
54:11
Speaker 2: be stuck in that comparison trap, what would you say
54:15
Speaker 2: to them to be their own biggest hype woman.
54:19
Speaker 1: I think I would tell that person the way that
54:24
Speaker 1: you were created is so unique and beautiful and there
54:28
Speaker 1: are so many strengths to who you are. And to
54:31
Speaker 1: remind yourself, and this is something I tell myself, you
54:34
Speaker 1: have greatness inside of you and you might not always
54:37
Speaker 1: feel it, you might not always see it playing out,
54:40
Speaker 1: but you have greatness inside of you, and you are
54:43
Speaker 1: so uniquely able to do certain things that like not
54:48
Speaker 1: everybody else is. And so I think that's the beauty
54:51
Speaker 1: of being an athlete and playing a sport and doing
54:54
Speaker 1: all these things. It's really easy to compare yourself to
54:58
Speaker 1: others and see others their journeys and how fast they're
55:03
Speaker 1: rising or how much they're going in a short amount
55:06
Speaker 1: of time. But each journey is so beautiful because of
55:09
Speaker 1: its uniqueness.
55:10
Speaker 3: And so.
55:12
Speaker 1: I think find strength in that and find encouragement in
55:15
Speaker 1: that because every story is just it's very beautiful in
55:19
Speaker 1: its own way. Just I don't know, just to remind
55:21
Speaker 1: yourself that you have greatness inside of you, because I
55:22
Speaker 1: feel like that's so powerful.
55:24
Speaker 2: It's so powerful. It's so powerful. I've the chills just
55:26
Speaker 2: thinking about it. When I say Paris twenty twenty four,
55:30
Speaker 2: how do you feel?
55:33
Speaker 3: I feel excited and nervous.
55:37
Speaker 2: Your entire face is it up? What does that look
55:43
Speaker 2: like for you in this moment? When do things shift
55:45
Speaker 2: for you to start preparing for that?
55:48
Speaker 1: That was like on my radar Immediately when Tokyo ended,
55:53
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I want to do this again,
55:55
Speaker 1: and I want to do it completely healthy, and so
55:59
Speaker 1: getting injured in Tokyo it was like a bummer, but
56:03
Speaker 1: then you know, winning gold, it was just it felt
56:07
Speaker 1: so I don't even know how to put into words,
56:09
Speaker 1: but it just felt so powerful, and even just walking
56:12
Speaker 1: around the Olympic village and feeling the sense of like
56:17
Speaker 1: I'm so connected to everybody here, even though I might
56:20
Speaker 1: not ever see any of these people ever again, but
56:23
Speaker 1: like we got through a pandemic and qualified to be
56:28
Speaker 1: here and it's the pinnacle of sport, and so it
56:33
Speaker 1: just I don't know everything. It felt so powerful and
56:35
Speaker 1: I really want to experience that again, and so I
56:38
Speaker 1: think that was like my focus once we got back
56:42
Speaker 1: from Tokyo. But now it's like, Okay, we have to
56:45
Speaker 1: qualify first, which is crazy, not crazy, but it's like
56:49
Speaker 1: we talk about Paris and everything, but like we still
56:52
Speaker 1: haven't even solidified the fact of like going there yet
56:55
Speaker 1: or qualifying. And then once we qualify, hopefully, then it's
57:01
Speaker 1: still like playing the waiting game, trying to make the roster,
57:04
Speaker 1: and you don't know if you make the roster until
57:06
Speaker 1: like a month before you leave. It's really crazy because
57:10
Speaker 1: you work so hard towards this goal and.
57:12
Speaker 3: Like you might not even meet it.
57:14
Speaker 1: You might not be in Paris in twenty twenty four,
57:17
Speaker 1: but you still just like you grind every day with
57:21
Speaker 1: that goal in mind.
57:23
Speaker 2: What keeps you grinding.
57:25
Speaker 3: Thinking about Paris?
57:27
Speaker 1: Thinking about like, I want my family to be in
57:29
Speaker 1: the stands, be able to see me compete at that level.
57:33
Speaker 1: I want to chase another medal with Team USA, And
57:37
Speaker 1: then you know, that's kind of like the long goal,
57:40
Speaker 1: but then like the daily goal is the motivation is that,
57:45
Speaker 1: like the team I'm on now, these women and this
57:49
Speaker 1: club and the staff, they deserve my best, They deserve
57:54
Speaker 1: my one hundred percent, and I want to respect them
57:57
Speaker 1: in that way because I feel like when I do that,
58:01
Speaker 1: like I respect them, I respect the sport, and they
58:04
Speaker 1: deserve nothing less. And so I want to continue to
58:08
Speaker 1: just show up for them and work hard for them,
58:12
Speaker 1: knowing that as I put in this work each day,
58:15
Speaker 1: hopefully it will lead to my ultimate goal.
58:19
Speaker 2: Yes, we love it. We love it. I mentioned earlier
58:23
Speaker 2: you having a sizeable following on Instagram. Someone goes to
58:27
Speaker 2: your Instagram page and they see an elite volleyball player,
58:32
Speaker 2: an Olympic gold medalist, and under armoor athlete. When you
58:35
Speaker 2: look in the mirror. What do you see looking back
58:39
Speaker 2: at you?
58:40
Speaker 3: I love this question. I kind of see like just
58:43
Speaker 3: kind of a weird not.
58:44
Speaker 1: Like a weird, random girl, but like I think I
58:47
Speaker 1: kind of view myself the way I did when I
58:50
Speaker 1: was younger, which is like, oh, I'm just kind of
58:52
Speaker 1: like awkward and trying to like figure things out. But like,
58:57
Speaker 1: as I get older and I get more life experiences,
58:59
Speaker 1: I'm definitely starting like when I look in the mirror,
59:03
Speaker 1: I have a lot more confidence in myself, which I've
59:05
Speaker 1: loved to grow in that way over the past few years.
59:09
Speaker 1: I think that's been really huge for me. But yeah,
59:12
Speaker 1: I definitely I don't really see like, oh, this amazing
59:14
Speaker 1: volleyball player and so good. Oh, I see like I'm
59:18
Speaker 1: just kind of like awkward, maybe hopefully a little bit funny,
59:23
Speaker 1: but yeah.
59:24
Speaker 2: I see those things too, and not your awkwardness that
59:28
Speaker 2: you are a little bit funny though. Oh my gosh. Well,
59:33
Speaker 2: I'm so excited that we were able to make this happen.
59:36
Speaker 2: We're winding down here. My final question for you, Jordan.
59:39
Speaker 2: Right now, you have an opportunity to offer yourself a
59:42
Speaker 2: piece of advice. Let's go back to that devastating college injury,
59:46
Speaker 2: which just really rocked your world and was one of
59:49
Speaker 2: the first times you truly learned about the value of perspective.
59:53
Speaker 2: You have the opportunity to offer that young woman a
59:56
Speaker 2: piece of advice during the hurdle moment, knowing what you
59:59
Speaker 2: know now, what would you tell her?
1:00:03
Speaker 1: You have no idea now, but you have so much
1:00:06
Speaker 1: greatness ahead of you. And if Jordan Larca could just
1:00:10
Speaker 1: tell me at that point that just keep putting money
1:00:12
Speaker 1: in the bank and it'll pay off. I think that
1:00:15
Speaker 1: would be a huge, huge thing. Little by little as
1:00:18
Speaker 1: you continue to put in the work and allow yourself
1:00:21
Speaker 1: to experience your feelings and emotion, feel validated in those things,
1:00:25
Speaker 1: and know that that's okay to have those hard days,
1:00:28
Speaker 1: but continue to look for the positive because you have
1:00:32
Speaker 1: so much greatness ahead of you.
1:00:34
Speaker 2: Man, a validation is where it's at. And b I
1:00:38
Speaker 2: just want to remind you, Jordan Thompson, that you are
1:00:42
Speaker 2: the quote unquote Jordan Larsen for a lot of people,
1:00:46
Speaker 2: I'm sure, So keep doing what you're doing, and again,
1:00:49
Speaker 2: thank you so much for making the time to chat
1:00:53
Speaker 2: with me. How do the hurdlers follow along with you?
1:00:56
Speaker 2: How do they keep up with you give us all
1:00:57
Speaker 2: of your details.
1:00:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am at J t O M M nineteen
1:01:04
Speaker 1: on all social media platforms, well not all, just.
1:01:07
Speaker 3: Like Instagram and TikTok basically.
1:01:10
Speaker 1: But.
1:01:11
Speaker 2: Ones amazing. I'm amazing. I'm over at Emily Abodi and
1:01:17
Speaker 2: at Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.