Latest / Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast / Episode 006 | Aiko Jones, Expansion News & Free Agency Rumors

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Episode 006 | Aiko Jones, Expansion News & Free Agency Rumors · Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast

• speaker-0: I just feel like a better player. And I can say now, I know I said that about last season, but I am now playing the best volleyball I've ever played. I think that's how you want to feel every year. speaker-1: What's going on everybody? Welcome back to the Set Six podcast. This is episode six of the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. I'm your host, Severin Levenstein. Thank you for joining us on whatever podcast platform is your preference. Apple, Spotify, YouTube, whatever it may be. Thank you for tuning in and making us part of your day, part of your week. And we had a fun week. This is a fun show because we get to talk about roster announcements and really just it's the first signings. It's not the full complete roster, but this is the first week that the signings can be become official for these teams for 2027. And we are just so incredibly enthusiastic to bring them to you. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun as the news trickles out. But before we get to that, please like comment, share, subscribe. So we grow this podcast, so we get more viewers and listeners and how we can share more of this with you. So please ⁓ share it to your friends and please comment and like we appreciate it. I've seen as well as some great engagement on YouTube, which we hope to keep going, which I'll mention in a second here. like I mentioned up top, the show format is going to be, we will hit ⁓ those latest names that have signed. I know that's why a lot of you are here and we will do that for you. Full disclosure, I actually recorded this intro, left, had dinner, realized there were more names that I could share with you. And so I came back and I'm re-recording this because I want to make sure that I can give you the most up-to-date information and the most names possible. So... the things I go through for you. I'm only kidding. ⁓ No, we want to make sure obviously with this recording on a Wednesday here, this is May 27th to be out for you on ⁓ Thursday, May 28th. We want to make sure that this is the most up to date for you because I know that some of you might not hear this on Thursday and you'll tune back in and you'll be like, hey, this is all old news. So my meeting you in the middle is for things that I cannot share with you directly, namely if I cannot give you names. I will try to hint at what I know because there are some names as I said that ⁓ you know, you may be listening in the future be like, hey, I know this he doesn't. There are some names that I know that you don't. And ⁓ so I want to be able to share as much as I can. And so I will do that. We'll see if I get in trouble or not. Hopefully not. ⁓ So yeah, we will do that. And then later on the show, I've completely you know, if you clicked on this, you also know that we're talking to Iko Jones, which I will tell you up top, are super, super excited to hopefully be one of the first, you know, obviously after their official announcement to share that Iko is returning to the Atlanta vibe, which is incredible. She's going to be reuniting with Leah Edmond and they're building, rebuilding a squad there out of around their core pieces, which you'll hear us talk about with Iko. ⁓ But just a great conversation, a candid conversation. We love Iko. We're so glad that she stopped by. to share really a little bit of insight into her decision making. And we figured this was a good one for you to get kind of some perspective into one of the most high profile signings of this week. ⁓ So, and then as I mentioned up top about liking and commenting and subscribing, we want to start doing giveaways. We think that could be kind of fun. So the way we want to do that is we need to test the waters first, see how you feel about it. So we're looking for about, let's say, you know, I'm going to come up with some numbers off the top of my head. Let's say maybe 100 likes and you know maybe 25 comments is what we're hoping for on the YouTube side. So let's say that you are listening on ⁓ Apple or Spotify you want to head over to that and comment giveaway. We've got some cool MLV merch. We've got some great PVF merch for our OGs some of the OG PVF fans if you want I mean some of this cool stuff that I like to hang and you know behind me like hey maybe we would want to just give it to you. We got a whole bunch of it and we want you to have it so. Yeah, give it give us some comments on the videos. And then if you comment, we're going to go through with our production team and you know, see how we can we can gauge the interest and then I don't know, maybe we'll start sending stuff your way. You never know what can happen. But yeah, please, if you're interested in that, go ahead and do that. So let's get into it. Obviously, before we get to the roster news, and there are time codes below if you want to jump ahead, but we do also need to hit the normal news because I am bearing the lead. One of the biggest announcements we had this week was about the new L.A. franchise, which we are just over the moon about. I to have a team still back out here on the West Coast, that's everything. And just the ownership announcement that happened, we were just, it's awesome. It's so cool. So let's get into that. The first bit of news is that L.A. announcement. The ownership for this L.A. team is going to be majority owned by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. As I said, majority owner will be part. He's also part owner of the Lakers, which is really cool. He's one of the richest men in California, according to Sportico. And there were a bunch of great articles this week. So I think I saw LA Times, Sportico, and it might've been New York Times. I could have that last one wrong, but either way, he's got a Wiki page. It's got a quite extensive list. So if you want more background on him, I'll just give it a quick Google. Also, Ben Priest is going to be part of the ownership. You remember him from Omaha. He's going to be governor and managing partner. We love Ben. We're glad that he's sticking around and going to be part of this ⁓ LA venture, which is great. I'm hoping to talk to Ben and Dr. Patrick here in person coming up ⁓ soon, working on that for you. ⁓ up top, that's ⁓ yeah, we're just great. Great to have this LA announcement. Just more details. Their headquarters are going to be in El Segundo. The venue has not yet been announced. So Not too sure as of this moment where they will be playing. Their team name has not yet been announced. I've heard it. It's pretty cool. But it has not been officially revealed yet. So stay tuned for that. Their head coach this has been officially announced is Alicia Childress. We're incredibly glad to see Alicia staying over here. Again, to a little that commutes a little farther up the 405 now to head into LA. But Alicia has obviously been such a great coach in this league. And we're so happy that she's taking around here with this LA this LA group is LA team. In the first roster tease of today, honestly, I'm going to put it in right here since we're talking about LA. There's not a lot that I can tell you about LA ⁓ because of how new they are and because they haven't released any Sinies yet. However, I have seen some names and what I can tell you is it's a really, really good list. And if you were paying attention to the MLV Championship, ⁓ you'll recognize a few names and yeah, man, there's more I want to tell you, but at least for LA, you will be, I think this is a really, really well-constructed roster for the first iteration of the team in 2027. And I'm really, really excited to see them all out there on the court together. ⁓ Yeah, more when I can there. But again, that's the LA announcement. Also, we cannot forget about DC and we will not, they made a huge announcement with their coach signing, their coach announcement. This week, that's Dieter Collins Parker. She's going to be the head coach of DC. Three-time All-American at Hawaii, two-time Honda Broderick Cup winner. That's for the best college player in the nation. Seven-year U.S. national team player, a middle at the 1998 Olympics. 25 years coaching collegiately. That stops at UNLV, Cornell, San Diego State among them. and was an assistant with the San Diego Mojo in 2024. So if you remember her, that's probably where you might remember her for those who are not as up to date with all of her background outside of MLV as well. I'll tease here, I've seen the branding for the name of DC and I like it, I like it. What I can share, that announcement should be coming relatively soon. I think there's some final things to work out there. What I can share is... The color scheme is not one that is currently in the league. so yeah, use your imagination with that, but maybe take a look around the other teams and think what colors do I not see? And that might be your first hint at what DC might look like. But again, congrats to them on that announcement. Their new head coach, Deacher Collins Parker. And we've touched on this a little bit, but I just want to give the full full flowers here for the ownership expansion in MLV NorCal. So that's again, we've like we mentioned Zaza Antigua Petulia, Brad and Andrea Hillsbeck officially joining the ownership group. The Hillsbecks have ownership interest in the WNBA's Dallas wings. And then also E Ashley Dean Gilbranson was named co GM alongside Kerry Walsh Jennings. She has a volleyball background as an athlete at Dartmouth. her work with P1440, which was beach volleyball, and then ⁓ hero volley as well. And the last bit of ownership news there out of NorCal was Heather Vaughn named president. She of course has had previous leadership roles with the San Jose Sharks, the Pac-12 and Sacramento Kings. So what's really neat is across the board, no matter what team we're talking about, the pedigree, the history, the resume, however you want to characterize it is always so impressive from all these people. But what I've enjoyed being able to... at least meet the people that I have so far and, you know, whether it's email communication or whatever it may be, everybody's been really down to earth and I'm looking forward to meeting those that I haven't. But you've heard me talk about NorCal, for example, seeing them at the MLB Awards has been great. Getting to work with Kate Greenberg in DC has been fantastic. I'm looking forward to meeting the ownership with LA. So I trust that these are all in great, capable hands and I'm so, so excited for. seeing them in action and on the court in 2027. I'll tell you more about the well I can't tell you there's so much so much I can and can't say but basically so once again we're gonna get into the rosters right now. Here's the deal it's a slow trickle and so I think I alluded to this up top. Forgive me if this is something that I said in my scrapped intro that I'm now redoing but this isn't going to be the one time that we will talk signings and rosters and that's what I'm referring to there. This is going to be something that you know, signings are going to trickle out throughout the rest of the off season. So this is of course the first day. Think of it the first day of free agency. If you're not familiar with this format, if you're a newer fan of MLV and more is going to come. What I'm working on in or what is being efforted, as they say, in corporate jargon is I'm trying to get us an expert next week who can come on and give us her feedback on more than what I'm about to do, which is tell you the names of the rosters and actually tell you more about how the roster will be constructed, how they will fill some gaps and what needs to be ⁓ put here and there to really fill out the rest of this roster. Maybe what that process is gonna be like from a little bit of someone who might have some experience with it. So working on that for you and yeah, we're gonna keep sharing this information with you. If you think I'm talking too fast, which has been a problem in the past, I will direct you to our website where you can find all of these under the transactions. but we also figure that you're a busy person. You're moving around, you're running around a lot, and maybe you want the audio version. This is where we're gonna keep them every week, so we'll keep those updates for you. without any further ado, let's get to the roster announcements, or rather the signing announcements on the first couple days of free agency here. And first, we will start with Indie. The short version is Everybody's Back, except for a couple of notable names. So, listening closely to who I read out, see who you might pick out who isn't there, but also, Take note of who is there because it's a lot and basically the short version like I said is India running it back. So your middles Kara Kressy, Lydia Martin, Emma Clothier, Blake Moller. Those are your middle blockers. LeBarrows, Alana Scott, Emma Halter, Setter, Mia Tuaniga, Johnny Teeler opposite. And then your outsides Anna DeBeer, Kayla Lund, Emmany Bush, Cameron Hanna and then a new signing Tia Scambre who is a new ad from Viteos NUC. at outside hitters so a lot of familiar names and with the great season that Indy had last year I think no surprise that they are taking that run it back approach and will probably be looking to set the league on fire with that revenge mentality after the way that the postseason ended. But makes a lot of sense why Indy wants to bring everyone back there so that's a lot of signings on this first day of free agency and that roster is looking like a lot of it is Pretty filled out at this point. So there you go. That is Indy. Dallas. There are none currently announced. So there is nothing that I can officially tell you in terms of who is on that roster. However, I will tell you, you can expect this roster to look very different than the championship winning team from 2026 beyond the players that you already knew and expected would not be there. So chew on that one for a little bit, but also chew on this. a couple of really, really good defensive gets to replace areas of need. I mean, really good. And I think Dallas fans are going to be very happy with who Coach Shannon Windsor got to replace the Departures. I think while it will be a new team, I think it's a pretty strong team, well worthy of defending the title. And I'm very excited to share the specifics of those names when we get there. But yes, while some... notable departures, also some notable ads, and I'm excited for when we can share who those are. again, if you're listening to this in the future, maybe, you know, check back and be like, ⁓ yeah, he had a point with that or be like, hey, he was he was full of it, which, know, you're more than entitled to think that and maybe right as well. ⁓ This this team had a couple more that I had to go back and announce. But ⁓ you want to talk about a similar situation to Indy where there's not a lot of questions about who's going to be on that roster. They went full bore for the for the first day of free agency. and really wanted to fill out their lineup. so there's going to be some returners and then also a couple of key names that are big ads. So see if you can point them out. Of course, we are talking about the Omaha Supernovas. So here's their new look squad for 2027, or at least the signings here this week. Opposites, Merritt Beeson, Kimberly Druniak, Emily Londot, back at opposite. And then outsides. Lena Stigrott and apologies if I messing up some of these names of the players I'm unfamiliar with. I will get those correct and I will chat with either the players or representatives to get them correct. But for now, please excuse me and apologies for my ignorance. ⁓ Lena Stigrott is outside. Hayden Kubik ⁓ as outside as well. Nora Tobrak as outside. course, a couple of these I should know from last year as well. But then Middles. Keanu Reinhart. course back at middle Lila Blackwell at middle Kirstie strong and McKenna Vecini at middle blocker your liberos Teodora Pusich and Allison Holder and then Cami Miner and Josie Von Drin as setters Cami Miner big get it setter Teodora Pusich notable name coming over to be the libero and a couple of really great signings there to really complete the majority of the Omaha roster and it's It's impressive to get to get some of these names. We talked to Cammie at ⁓ it was USA volleyball's red blues scrimmage that video should be up hopefully by the time this podcast is up on your social. So please go and check that out if you want to hear more from Cammie in what might be one of the first interviews that she's done as a member of Major League Volleyball. But a strong strong showing for the Omaha Supernovas in the first day of signings and ⁓ Yeah, I'm impressed with the amount of players that are already ready to go there for, course, new head coach Chris McGowan as well. Okay, Columbus, as we keep rolling along here. Columbus, I can't announce anybody to you right now. Two players should be announced pretty soon. ⁓ It's going to be a very new team in Columbus, and I'm excited for that. I think there's a surprising get from a team that made the playoffs that you'll see. Also coach announcement I've heard is coming soon. I don't know who that is currently in even my behind the scenes area right now. But yeah, we want to see a new look for Columbus because we want to see them back where they belong, know, in the playoffs fighting for a postseason contention spot. I think it's going to be great to have them with sort of a retooled lineup to go back at it. And I think it's great to have that market and that franchise, those amazing fans with a team that that can fight for a title. I think this roster, at least from what I've seen, looks to be heading in the right direction, and I'm excited for when we can announce some of those for you as well. Similar situation with Orlando, I cannot tell you anybody officially. I have seen quite a few names. I can tell you there are two big Gets from two teams that were in the postseason. And let's see, how am I gonna phrase this? ⁓ Use your best judgment on who you think might be a good returner. Take your best guess at who you think would be logical returners and you'll probably get it. And I'm hopefully not getting in trouble by saying that. But Orlando's roster looking great as well. Minnesota, ⁓ Stephanie Samdy, of course, we knew about her. Miyabi Aya... Miyabi Eri at opposite and ⁓ those are their two big signings from the first day. It's a good get from Orlando last season. There's another one. So ⁓ pay attention to that when that gets announced. ⁓ Now I'm not going to even tell you her position because I feel like that's that's saying too much. But I'll give you this one. There's also a middle that I've seen who might be coming over from League One who played for the U.S. national team a couple of years ago. So that could be that could be a great signing as well. So what I know about what's coming down the pipe for Minnesota. going to be a really strong, strong start for them in their first season and some really big names that they've gotten to build their rosters so far. Grand Rapids was another one with a couple of late announcements that I can share with you here on this episode. PBR, Page Briggs Romine is heading back to Grand Rapids. Carly Snyder, also an outside back to Grand Rapids. Morgan Hens-Lobarro, friend of the podcast, heading back to Grand Rapids. And Alyssa Jensen at middle heading back to Grand Rapids. There's also three previous League One athletes who are joining Grand Rapids that I cannot currently divulge right now, but ⁓ Grand Rapids building a solid squad there as well on the first day. And I can't even really tell you much about DC. Seen three names so far, some valuable contributors from last year for other teams. NorCal, I really can't tell you much. No one's officially announced for both of them. ⁓ LA we already went to. And then Atlanta. 12 flares I know of in total, ⁓ only the following were confirmed for this week and they are Leah Edmond at outside, Iko Jones at opposite, Taylor Head at outside, and Corey Lewis at middle, and then Zoe Jarvis at libero coming over from League 1. So again, I apologize there. I'm trying to walk that tightrope of what I can share and what I cannot share, but all will be revealed in due time as someone once said. And so hopefully you find that this is a little bit of an insight into what's going on. And like I said, if you need to see the names in their physical form, please head over to our website and you can see all of our transactions there as well. ⁓ And with that, I feel like that's a good transition to get to our interview today with Iko Jones. Iko was so gracious with her time sitting down with us. We got to chat. Aiko, thank you so much for joining us here on the Set Six podcast. We are so happy to have you and we are so happy that you're heading back to Atlanta. Just first, what was that whole process like of making sure that you wanted to re-sign and be back there for the 2027 season? speaker-0: First of all, thanks for having me. I'm super excited to be here and to just chat with you. ⁓ Going back to Atlanta, I'm gonna be honest, it wasn't a very easy decision. The easy parts were knowing that I love the city and I love our staff and I just, I love the culture and as a Jamaican, there are Jamaican people in Atlanta and I haven't connected with them, but just knowing that and the food and we hear Jamaican music like everywhere we go. So that kind of stuff is just like, it pulls me to Atlanta and I have family. right outside the city. it just feels good to be there. And so that was the easy part. And the hard part was, like, this league is growing. And it's like, what else, what could be out there? I'm completely honest, it's like, there's that thing that's just like, what else is out there in the world? ⁓ But of course, I'm grounded by my values and knowing that I love where I'm at and I want to continue to push for this goal, not just to make playoffs, which we fell short of this year, but we've been there. But we want to make it to the final. That's the next step. This program has been to the first semifinals twice. We want to make it through that game and make it to the final and hopefully win a championship. I'm bought into that vision. I'm here and I'm happy to be here. speaker-1: you'd be a centerpiece of any team that makes it to a final in a championship. And I know that that's probably priority one for Atlanta to get you back there. just first, and I'm curious for some, you know, and this is this so interesting to me, because like, just for when you're when you're in a city, and when you when you kind of get acclimated, like I moved, for example, from East Coast to West Coast. And like, the first thing I try to do is kind of find my spots. Was it have you been able to find those spots, maybe where it has, you know, that Jamaican food or some of those? You know, those pockets where it feels a little bit more like home for you? Or, mean, we know your travel schedule, you're so busy, do you even get time to go do all that? speaker-0: Yes and no. My first season in Atlanta, so 2024? 2025, 2025. I had seen this Jamaican restaurant on Instagram, TikTok, one of those two. It's called Iremon Cafe and I went and I haven't looked for another Jamaican restaurant because it's so good. I took six of our team there this past season and they all loved it and I took some of our staff there and like... That's my spot and I'm craving Jamaican food. That's where I'm going. And I follow them on social media and I met the owner and I met his mom and they're both like born Jamaican. So that's cool. But that's my spot. That's my go-to restaurant. ⁓ But yeah, everywhere you go, there's like Publix has jerk chicken wings and they're actually jerk chicken wings, like stuff like that. It's just, and there's Jamaican food. There's Jamaican food at almost all Kroger's, but there's more in Atlanta. it's... speaker-1: Licks and and Kroger. Miss you know, I one of these days I need to do a tiers list of like the best grocery stores. I lived in New York for a little bit. Wegmans was a great go to but honestly Publix is Publix is up there man but I hear you too like once you find your spot. There's not really a huge need to go anywhere else but look we will we will definitely chat more about food spots for sure but I just want to get back to as well like now that you And I think it's great to being so transparent about yeah, this league has a lot of great opportunity and kind of looking at where else would be but also that I think it's undeniable the chemistry that you have with Leah and with Corey and then obviously with how great a relationship you all seem to have with Kayla as well, but just walk me through how good is it to reunite with with those people that I just mentioned and especially with with plan for for Kayla as well. speaker-0: Yeah, I, and again, on the point, like the league is growing and we're adding teams, 12 teams this next season. And that stuff is just super exciting. And you know, like, it's just so cool. And it's something that I still don't believe that I'm a part of. it's, that's just, it's crazy. Um, and it's like, Ooh, but what about this? What about this? California is cool. Columbus, like it's all like, Wow, like it's, I don't know. I could go on and on just about how each franchise, like we're so lucky to have franchises in the locations that we have them and the ones that we're adding because each of those cities is just so cool. speaker-1: I hear a possible furry visitor. speaker-0: Yep, but he's not in the mood. speaker-1: Okay, maybe later. He has time. He has time throughout this episode. ⁓ Please, please introduce us. speaker-0: This is Winston. speaker-1: Hello Winston, welcome to set 6. speaker-0: You're over there. There you go. speaker-1: He looks very either tired or hungry, but give us some characteristics of Winston. speaker-0: he is very vocal when he's ready to be, exhibit A. He's been sleeping this whole time, but I think he hears that I'm having a conversation and he wants, he needs to be involved. ⁓ but he's, he's a cuddle bug. He sleeps when we're not here and when we're here, he just won't like leave us alone. ⁓ and he loves catnip like any cat should. So yeah, that's when... speaker-1: How long have you had Winston and did he join you in Atlanta or was he with you before? speaker-0: He is originally my stepson, so he's my wife's cat before he's... He was my wife's son before we started dating, and so I inherited him gladly, and I was not a cat person. I was very anti-cat, and I'm still... I wouldn't say I'm a cat person, but I'm a Winston person. He's eight, nine, 10? He's getting up there. But I inherited him in 2020. speaker-1: that's the right answer. So it's a big step in a relationship whenever like the pet accepts you. feel like that's the number one. speaker-0: Yeah, two, but we're good. We're like this. speaker-1: So it's good to know that both Winston and yourself will still be part of the whole thing in Atlanta. maybe we'll have to see some more Winston content as well from you. I might ask you for that this next year as well. But I want to get back to what you were saying too with your favorite road trip around the league. mean, there are so many great ones to go to, but did you have a favorite stop whenever you're on the road and you go to a specific one of these teams where maybe you have some other spots and you have some other... favorite experiences throughout the league. speaker-0: For sure, for sure. And I'll answer that and then I'll get back to the reu, the question about reuniting with my peeps. Columbus was always good. My wife is in veterinary school at Ohio State. So I always got to see her and Winston when we came to Columbus. So that's always like gonna be my top. But San Diego, just to look at the ocean. It's like, yeah, that's, that's up there for sure. Indy's in a really good area. So like you can walk and get food and like my local peeps always come to Indy. So I don't know. There's a bunch of places, Orlando, great weather. Vegas was Vegas in 24, 25. I'm not, yeah. So I always loved going there too. I mean, yeah, Omaha always gets a good crowd. I could say something good about everywhere. That's the hard part. speaker-1: sure you could. think all good answers. Columbus always great. My brother went to Ohio State. So I was there a lot. I mean, I think some really underrated food there. San Diego is my favorite place on on planet Earth. So that's another great decision. And then now this next year, you get to maybe go check out LA a little bit and kind of few ways up the freeway. So really good choices there all around. speaker-0: Yeah, but back to ⁓ your point about reuniting with Leah and Cory and Kayla and honestly the whole staff and the organization, I mean administration, ⁓ we're just, they're just good people. And so, and I've been lucky enough to be surrounded by good people in every step of my volleyball journey. And that's something that I cherish more than wins and losses and more than play time and all that stuff, but they're just really good people and they truly care. ⁓ And sometimes it's easy as an athlete when you're not playing or when we're losing. We didn't have the most successful season to kind of forget all that stuff and just see the bad. ⁓ But when everything is said and done, I really do love them as people and I do enjoy being around them. And so that makes it easier to lose and easier to fall short of your goals, even though like that's not easy at all. But yeah, I mean, me and Corey, me and Leah, like we have great chemistry and we have a lot of fun on the court. And for me, that's the most important thing. I tell little girls, I'm like, if it's not fun, you're either doing it wrong or honestly volleyball might not be for you because it has to be fun. At the end of the day, it is a game. ⁓ and so, yeah, I'm just, just happy to continue growing. They also do a good job of like holding me accountable, helping me get better. They make me better. When I'm across the net from Leah, I become a better blocker and I have to move the ball more, stuff like that. When I'm hitting with Cory, closing the block across from me, it's not a very good suggestion. But when I'm walking beside her, she makes me better. So like stuff like that, I'm just excited to be with them again. And Kayla kind of took a chance on me after a year off from competing in 25. And ⁓ she has this vision for the player I can be and Bose joined the team and he's all in. And Bird is also just always like pumping me with like confidence. And so I want to play for them and I want to continue to grow and I want to buy into the vision they have for me too. speaker-1: I mean, you're one of the best players in this league that year off really looked like it helped you a ton. And just how beneficial was that to you? You're hitting the nail on the head with just how the mental part of the game is so important as well. What did that do for you to be able to step away and then come back and be at the top of your game still? speaker-0: For sure. That year, so to explain briefly, I finished my college career in December of 2023. Had to finish my degree through the spring. And so I didn't, ⁓ I showed up for training camp December of 2024. So it was literally 12 months, basically between when I had first compete, when I had last competed and our first game in Atlanta. it, looking back on it now, it almost felt like redshirting again. I redshirted in 2018 at the University of Louisville and it was the best decision I've ever made. ⁓ and I really, that year off, I was, I worked out pretty hard, focused a lot on like my cardio, vascular strength, just to be able to last longer in fast-paced games. And I spent a lot of time just like, not just keeping my touch, but like, okay, I need to get better back row. I dug a lot of balls. I dug a lot of balls because you have to be, you have to six rotations. There's no de-essing anymore. And in college, for most of my career, I was de-essed out. So I just focused on... every area in which I knew I was not where I wanted to be, which is kind of everywhere, but a little more on the ball control aspect, which is actually how I'm going to spend this off season two. And I would agree. I remember going to a Louisville practice, like maybe October, November of 2020. And we were, I was just hitting against a full six on the other side. And I remember as the drill was going on, I was winning and I was kind of like, this feels different. Like I feel like I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and I was. And I was at that point playing the best volleyball I'd ever played. I mean, show up training camp and I wasn't the best in the gym, but ⁓ I did make the most out of that year. And I really do think that year off did a lot, a lot for me. So. It was like Red Shirting 2.0 and again, I wouldn't have changed that. speaker-1: Tell me a little bit more about what you said you're going to be working on this off season. Because one of things I wanted to ask you is how you feel like your game has progressed from then until now. If we say that cardiovascular strength has progressed, maybe what else has progressed and what are you looking to fine tune maybe about your game? speaker-0: I truly feel that every aspect of my game this past season has improved. And year to year, week to week, month to month, ⁓ I just feel like a better player. And I can say now, I know I said that about last season, but I am now playing the best volleyball I've ever played. And I think that's how you want to feel every year, or at least that you're not going backwards. And I still have so much to learn, but I've learned a lot this year. And I think... I see my season as broken up into three parts. I was very, very focused on being a lights out attacker. Like, how can I be the alpha? And that's actually a vision that the coaching staff sold me on because I just, you know, I'm a team player. just, whatever the team needs, I want to do that. And I just want to be the best version of me. And so the first third of my season, I was focused on my consistent feet. faster tempo than I'm used to. And I'm not good at running fast. never have been. And so just how can I be consistent with my feet so I can adjust to the tempo? And that first third of the season was really just, okay, can I get my feet to the ball? Can I be explosive? Can I jump really high? That second chunk of the season was like, okay, I'm pretty consistent with my feet now and I'm hitting the ball really hard, but I need to move the ball a little better. Can I see the court? Where can I, what am I seeing on film in preparation for the game? How can I move the ball around and kind of expand my toolbox and make the defenders think a little more? And then like the very last third of my season... because I felt pretty solid in my attacking and I've always felt confident in my blocking. And so I wasn't too hyper-focused on it for most of the season, but that last chunk, was just like, independent shoulders, independent arms, I can upgrade these block moves. And I just focused on that. And so I, that's not how I planned it, but looking back, that's kind of like, okay, what am I working on right now? What's the thing that's gonna improve my game the most at this moment? And it was attacking for most of the season. And then in the end it was upgrading. my block and my very last touch of the season was maybe a solo block or like there's a big seam and I like whatever, but ⁓ and so to me that was kind of poetic. ⁓ but yeah. And then I am always, it's no secret, I'm always working on my ball control. I need to be better with my platform. In college, in practice, I would go to my knees to pass the serve with my hands before I ever used my platform. And we laughed, but it was funny, but that's what worked because like I'm just... I'm not the best, I'm not the most consistent, but that's what I'm working on and that's where I'll be putting most of my time in this offseason. ⁓ But again, it's everywhere. speaker-1: just get a kick out of watching at this level and then still hearing from elite level athletes that they want to work on things because I look at it and I'm like, can't even understand that there would be something to work on. But as we've perfectly illustrated, you are incredibly well-rounded and incredibly reliable. With the way that this roster is being constructed, you've got the players that we mentioned, Zoe Jarvis we saw is going to be a little barrow as well. There are some announcements that have not been official yet for who's going to join you on the roster, but that might have seen if we speak generally about it, what else do you need on this roster to help complement your game? And maybe again, speaking generally, how is the way this roster is being constructed going to help you and Leah and Corey and the rest of the squad? speaker-0: Volleyball, I said this earlier, but it's supposed to be fun. And this season, what we learned is we played our best when we were able to be like free, free-minded and just have fun, make an error, laugh a little, okay, how are we gonna fix this? And that was, we were our best when all 16, 18 of us, everyone on the staff was just in it having fun from start to finish. That's when we were our best. so... I know and I trust that the roster that our staff is constructing is one that has all the pieces technically, has the experience, has just different personalities and good humans. I trust that part. ⁓ What I hope for is that we can have fun. If we can be loose and we can challenge each other, but be receptive and we can like enjoy the hard and the easy and the good and the bad, so many good things are going to happen for us. And that's my hope, but I do trust, I mean, we've had these conversations with our staff throughout the season. And of course you have exit meetings and all that stuff and we've talked about it. We've talked about where we fell short this season. We've talked about maybe what could have contributed to that kind of stuff. And we've talked about what we hope for next season. And so I just, know that they're doing their best to put together the right group. And we had a great group this year. ⁓ Maybe one of my favorite teams I've ever been on. ⁓ We just struggled in hard moments and... we're gonna struggle in hard moments next year too. We just hopefully we can turn a little more of those like. speaker-1: I want you to put your your volleyball expert hat on if you will and maybe teach me something here because I'm gonna ask a little bit of a long-winded philosophical question so bear with me but just from my neutral observing and the way that I watched kind of the final and looking at the way Dallas won for example and talking to some of those athletes it seemed like being a chameleon in terms of team identity was the way that they won you know going from a huge offensive attack team to being able to switch up to being a big defense first team Are there multiple ways to get to the top in this league and are there different ingredients that you know that you need to have on your team in addition to like it sounds like having fun and challenging each other. But I guess what I'm asking is are there multiple ways to win in the way that Dallas kind of was that chameleon? Do you even agree with that assessment? Just hit me with your knowledge there. speaker-0: I do agree. think they were, Dallas was also a comedian in the sense that it was never just one person's night. And depending on who was needed, mean, Sophie lights out game. I was so thankful I was able to be at that game. And I was on the Dallas, the Dallas end line and Sophie just played, just lights out. She was not gonna let them lose. And that was Sophie's night and they were able to feed Sophie and to cover her and to play off of that. And many nights it was... and sometimes the middles took over and sometimes Nati and it was just, they were also chameleon in that sense and which is a great strength to have. I think with the parity in this league, everyone is so good, not just like every team, but every player is so good. And if you think about it, we are, taking the best, the top players from the top teams and just the best players in the country and we're putting them all on the same team. And so everyone's going to be good. And so I think... I love that analogy of the chameleon because, for example, Dallas was known throughout this season as such a defensive, well, it depends on the game, like you said, but like, Nazi, for example, super just defense, hard to the ball fall on that side. They were super scrappy. Indy also, when we played them, never let a ball hit the floor. So frustrating. Omaha, but there are also games where defense isn't working and you have to lean on something else. There are games where... that other team is going to shut your middles down and you have to figure out how to run it through the pins or vice versa. Maybe their middles are struggling and we have a double block on our pins every single time. Maybe it's serve, receive, and now we're out of system and we can't run the middle. And I think it just, you just have to be adaptable. You just have to, you have to be adaptable. Volleyball is, it's so cool in the way like, okay, well, you make an error, the other team's point automatically. Other sports, you know, that other team has to take a shot. Maybe they miss, maybe they make it, that kind of stuff. But also we come together at the end of every single point. And sometimes there's not anything set in the huddle and sometimes there's a lot set in the huddle. And in those moments, strategy can change. So it's like, you have this 30 second rally. And we might start the next rally with a completely different strategy. And it's so dynamic in that way. And so you have to be adaptable because you don't know what they're going to do. Game to game, different game plan. speaker-1: Who talks in that Atlanta huddle though? That's what I need to know. Is it always you? Is it always Leah? Who talks? speaker-0: feel like it's, for most of the season, I don't think it was me. I think I did grow into that more as the season went on, but I also, it's my second year pro. I'd never been in that kind of a leadership role at this level before. Leah talks a lot. We also had a lot of libero talk. It depended on the play. How did that play just end? Was it an offensive error? Is the setter saying, hey, like, I'm gonna put you in a better spot? But we had a lot of talk from a lot of different people, which again, I think is a strength. of the team that we had, but a strength of what we see across the league also. speaker-1: I know not necessarily maybe the season that you wanted in terms of wins and losses but just based off how you said you remembered that that final block I know that you have a great memory throughout the rest of the season and I'm curious if there is a match or a set that you think really encapsulated the identity of the Atlanta team that you want to carry into 2027 or maybe your own play that you want to carry into 2027 speaker-0: Wow. Well, for one, the very last game of the season for us was we swept Columbus in Columbus and we played. It was so fun. It was like we're throwing ourselves on the floor. It was an amazing game just start to finish and the way we battled when it was close. That's how I want us to play every game next season. But I think about there is a time, I think it was Dallas. where we maybe went five. speaker-1: You're a lot of five set Atlanta matches. felt like it was every week you all. speaker-0: Yeah, listen. But there was a game, I do, I really do think it was Dallas, but I wasn't playing at the time. Set four, PONN went on this like amazing serving run. We end up like tying the set, winning it in deuce. But like, any of those five, there was also a game where I was serving and it was like, we have to keep this serve if we want any chance of winning this game. We had one or two or three of those kind of like tight sets where we had to win that set to get a fighting chance. And I believe we lost both those games, but those sets where like everything was on the line and it was like, we make one error, we lose this set. Coming from behind, tying it, winning, induce, those kinds of sets. Man, I mean, if we could just be that dialed in for every single point of every game, which is really hard to do, like it's just gonna be great. speaker-1: I love it. love it. ⁓ I go to now zoom out just you mentioned the great cities and stops and the fact that this league is expanding with the team announcements that we've had to this point. The vibe have connected with the city of Atlanta. I feel like in a way that seems rare. Do you have advice to athletes and clubs in these new cities to really follow in the vibes footsteps and connect with their cities in the way that it feels like you all have. speaker-0: When I was at Louisville, I, maybe I talk about Louisville too much, but I mean, huge part of my journey. When I was at Louisville, we knew the fans by name. And not necessarily because we did a lot with them, but because in our home arena at L &N, they're so close to us. And then we do autographs and stuff, but like, you remember those faces, you talk to them after the game. And that's how I feel with the Vibe fans. And they're not as close to us in proximity in gas south as Louisville fans were. We don't play as many games, I guess, as we did in college. I mean, we're pretty close. But we know our fans, and we remember faces and we see them around. And what we do in Atlanta is we do a lot in the community. Some events that people might be like, why are you going to Girls on the Run? Why are you going to a food pantry after the season's over? Like stuff like that. And we do it to connect. of course, Marketing is like, ⁓ we need to get the word out. We need to tell people that there's a team. And yes, that's always part of it because third year of the league, like people still don't know. But why we do it. And for a lot of these events, we sign up for them. We do it to connect. And it's, I actually had a fan, we, and I, we did this thing at this coffee shop. It hasn't come out yet, so I'm not gonna say a lot. But two of our season ticket holders came and... What they were saying was, they were saying, feel like we just know you guys. You guys are always out in the community and that means so much to us. And we just feel like we know who we're supporting. And I immediately like told Admin, I was like, look, this is what they said. And it was kind of rewarding, fulfilling because that's exactly why we do what we do. And so we just, we're just trying to connect with the community with different groups. We've, they've gone, they went to a lot of clubs this season. Um, we did Q and A's. I went to a young, young professionals mixer. That was fun to kind of cosplay like normal working adult for once. But yeah, we just, we do it to connect. And once what I've learned in life is the people that I've connected with are the people that I want to support. And so if they can get to know us beyond kills and stats and serves and aces and all that stuff, they're going to want to follow us. People love a story and people have a good time and it's easier to have fun when you know the people you're with. speaker-1: As long as the cosplaying does not involve you going and getting a cubicle desk job somewhere anytime soon. We need a long time before that, please. speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, we have a long off season, so I'll be desking it for a little bit, but I'm good. speaker-1: ⁓ man, we got to have like the two versions of like either the Funko pops or the bobbleheads. It's like desk job Ico and athlete Ico at the same time. Yeah, that's That's perfect. That's perfect. ⁓ Before we do off season talk, I do want to, I need to ask you just about, mean, being there at awards and hearing your speech was awesome as we all expected, but specifically about being speaker-0: Season I go and off season I go. speaker-1: an inspiration and that seemed to be a theme of the speech as was the award, but what does it mean to you to be an inspiration as an athlete? And I'm curious if there are athletes that you've looked up to in your upbringing that have inspired you. speaker-0: I have, again, I said this earlier, I've been so fortunate to be around the people that I've been around and to learn from the people that I've learned from. And ⁓ there are so many people that have just touched my journey and kind of helped. I feel like everyone that I've, I picture my journey as very linear and everyone that I've passed along the way has kind of just nudged me along, right? And I'm just super, super grateful for that. And I could name... hundreds of people. If I start with my parents, they both played volleyball. They were both great athletes. ⁓ And so, of course, they're just my foundation. High school coach was coached by my dad, Mr. Anila Banks. He was coached by my dad in high school, which was a full circle moment. He was just so influential in my journey. I spent so much time with him. He also ended up being my club coach. And clubs different, but yes, he coached the club that I played for. And he was a national team coach, ⁓ one of the national team coaches for me too. just every step of my journey playing volleyball in Jamaica, he was there. And he and I, always, like, I always say the world is mine to take. And he always, anytime he texts me, he's like, good job. The journey continues. The world is yours to take. So shout out to Mystery Banks. ⁓ Anyone I played with at Louisville has in some way shaped me into the player that I've been, but I have to shout out Danny, who not only like, gave me the opportunity, but she has inspired me always just to be, to take up space as a woman in this sport ⁓ and to do things your way and to be different and to just be strong and like, independent, but in the healthiest way. Count on the people around you, but trust your gut. And then she trusted her gut and she brought me over from Jamaica. And so like, why can't I trust my gut and take a risk too? She won't agree that it was a risk, but it definitely was. Dan Meske, he was huge, I mean, everyone, Dan, Todd, Sarah, our director of ops, every trainer, every strength coach, I just am immensely grateful for them. And so what I said in my speech at MLV at the award ceremony was, I know the kind of person that has inspired me just by living genuinely, being strong, taking risks, pushing through hard moments, being kind, leading with love, like... being lifelong learners, I know those people that have inspired me and I know the qualities that they have that I want to embody and I just try to be that kind of person and if that means that I'm inspiring, then that's an honor. But it's never that you set out to be like, I am going to be the most inspiring person. It's never that, but for me it's just the people around me have done so much for me without even knowing that if I can make one person's day or if I can help one person through a hard time or through an injury or I coach in the off season, if I can provide a great college experience for just one player, then I'm kind of living my purpose or like fulfilling my purpose. So it's, for me, it's more about the kind of person that I want to be. And if the result is that it's inspiring, then I hope I'm doing something right. If the result is that I'm a terrible person, then I must change. speaker-1: It's not that result. can tell you that one. now you got to tell me what Coach Iko looks like in the off season. Is she the same fiery competitor that we see on the court in Atlanta? And after you get done with that, please get us up to date on what's going on in the off season edition, the off season Funko Pop for Iko. speaker-0: Yeah, Coach Echo is definitely just as fiery. She's just not allowed on the court. And so ⁓ she runs around the bench. speaker-1: Do you need a get back coach? Have you seen those, the ones that like pull people back on the sidelines when they get too close to the court? speaker-0: Yeah, I think for sure I need that. But I actually, there was a play once. It was a chase ball. My libero was going and I was kind of like following her. ⁓ But I was really too close to the play. I'm very thankful for the rest we have in the ASUN and none of them like yelled at me. ⁓ They might be a little more strict on me this year because it's going to be my second year. But I'm just as fiery. I cannot sit. I actually tried to do, you know, like coaches like track kills and stuff. I tried doing that our first game and I looked at my head coach and I said, I don't think I can, I can't do this. I can't sit. I need to be up. And I'm like sweating. Anyway, just as fiery to answer your question. Um, but I coach at Bellarmine University. It's in Louisville. It's like 10, 15 minutes from University of Louisville where I went to college. And so it's just, it's just home. I'm just happy to be in that city and to continue to give back to that city that has given me so much. And we have a great group of girls and they. They love the sport and so I just want to help them have a good experience and continue to help them grow and be for them what Danny and Dan and Todd were for me. Yeah. speaker-1: So I assume that that means you're back in Louisville for the off season for the most part, but is that, is that where you're kind of, you're staying and then when you're not coaching, what else, what else are you up to for throughout the off season? speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I guess people that aren't really in college volleyball or coaching probably don't know this, but coaching is like, I'm not going to say all summer, but June and July are really the recruiting months. The camps, then there's nationals. And so I'll be traveling. Right now I'm in Columbus, spending some time with my wife, but I actually go back to Louisville tomorrow. I have some camps and stuff recruiting this weekend into next week. But I'm really, I'll be in Louisville for most of the off season, most of the summer. Excuse me. I'm going to say that again. I'll be in Louisville for most of the summer, kind of in and out recruiting, maybe coming to Columbus to see Carol Anne. But once the end, once this end of July, I'm, we're in season. You know, girls start coming back to campus. We start preseason there, July, August. I don't actually know the start date this year. It's okay. I'll, I'll get it all down before it's too late. And then we're competing. I'm coaching until we report for training camp or I'm coaching until the season is done, then we report for training camp. So that's my off season and I'll be getting my workouts in. I'll be in practice with the girls. That's one of the good things about coaching. It's one of the reasons I was open to it more. Cause if you asked me my whole life, I'll tell you, no, I'm not going to coach. But I was like, okay, maybe I could work out. I would have a facility. I'd have a reason to practice. But I really did get into it because some people might remember this during COVID or there was this TikTok trend that where people were telling their horror stories about their college coaches and all the terrible things they said to them and how they made them feel and why they quit the sport and why they lost their love for the sport. And I'm watching these TikToks and I'm like, I had a great experience. Like, I can't make this TikTok. And I wasn't upset about that, obviously. But I was just thinking if I could be for someone that my coaches were for me, that would be a really cool thing to do. And so I was like, okay, maybe I'll get into coaching. So I'll be coaching. speaker-1: I mean, we were on completely different sides of the TikTok algorithm during COVID. Mine was like, can you do 20 pushups and pass it on to like 10 people to tag to go do that? So I wish I was on the Tell Horst. speaker-0: Yeah, I did that on a freedom, but there was a push-up challenge, there were a bunch of challenges in COVID. This was a little post-COVID, but it was kind of just one of those trends that just was circling. speaker-1: Yours is more inspirational. Mine was just like, we're all bored and need something to do. So that's, that's a lot better. I love that you have elite. mean, volleyball doesn't stop for you, which is just awesome. And I also think it's so cool when, I mean, for your, for your players, like when coach can jump into the drills and do them maybe better than you can, not even maybe can do them better than you can. Like it's gotta be a lot of pressure to get them to, to play to the top of their game. speaker-0: I'm gonna up. mean, what's cool though is they're like, I jump in, I get a kill and they're like, okay, bring it on. And it took a while to get there. I think the first couple of days it was like, holy crap, like why is she here? But I would, I'd get in and I would always make sure I was on the side opposite my libero. And she knew it and I was like, okay, just be ready. Cause I'm gonna hit this volley. And as a coach too, you like, you know who your players are and stuff. And my biggest fear is knocking someone out. ⁓ because we hit the ball pretty hard. But that also really, really improved my peripheral vision, my eye work and my ball control, which I noticed during the season. Because when I was playing with them in the fall, I'd have to kind of like peek and see, okay, who's over there, who's over there, whatever. ⁓ But yeah, they at this point, they're like, bring it on. I don't want you on my team because we're going to dig you. Or they kind of pick up on my tendencies and they like make an adjustment, which is really, really cool to see. And then sometimes I get a little complacent. And I try to bounce the ball and I get stuff blocked. And that's a reminder to me to be humble ⁓ and to play the game. So, I mean, they make me better too. So. speaker-1: I love it. Well, if we see you at any point during this season, know, checking your email or putting on, you know, doing the coach duties on the sidelines, we'll know now. So it's perfect. It's perfect. I go before we transition into our rapid fire questions for you, please tell me one activity, please any when you finally get some time to maybe just hang out with your wife or be in Columbus and do something that's chill and not volleyball related. What would it be? Are you a big going out to dinner person? Do you have kind of a spot in Columbus that you like to go or in Louisville that you like to go wherever it may be? speaker-0: We love trying new places. So, ⁓ yeah, we always try to go out to dinner. She's in clinicals, so she doesn't have a lot of time. But I told her, kind of as the season was ending, I was like, I don't care what we do, I need to go somewhere with, I just need to go to the trees. I need to go sit in the woods. ⁓ and so maybe we'll go fishing and kind of like try to be outside. I just need to be outside and do nothing. We're also gonna go to Nashville. So, we'll kind of get the best of both worlds, so. But I just need to be outside and kind of listen to birds and probably get bitten by mosquitoes and then reset and then I can go again. speaker-1: That sounds like the perfect way to spend an off season in between the coaching and the training as well. I could talk to you forever. It's already been more than 30 minutes. So the way that I'm going to wrap up here and make sure that I get you back to enjoying some, hopefully some free time is with some rapid fire questions. I mean, these are no pressure other than the fact that you cannot take too long to answer. It's got to be the first thing that comes to your mind. Okay. I think you're up to the challenge, but are you ready? All right. Perfect. All right. Perfect. Some of these are leisure activity focused. I mean, it's gonna have to be the first thing that comes to your mind. But alright, I go the rapid fire question first up, what is the last TV show or movie that you want? speaker-0: I'm watching snowfall right now. speaker-1: Got it. All right, Snowfall. Netflix, HBO, Hulu, perfect. Current hobby. speaker-0: Hulu. bullet journaling. speaker-1: bullet journaling. Okay, okay. What is your pet peeve? speaker-0: ⁓ other people's hair? I guess that's more of an egg. speaker-1: They give me both. speaker-0: Okay, yeah, other people's hair just like on me. speaker-1: Especially if you get into the huddle too and someone's whipping their ponytail around. That's gonna be bad. speaker-0: I've got a number of ponytails in my armpit. Let's check it out. speaker-1: What would be the last last time I when I talked to Tristan Savage, I called this the death row meal, which is sounded way too intense. The best way I've been rephrasing it is the last day on earth meal. What would your last day on earth meal be? speaker-0: Oh, that's hard. First thing that's coming to mind is stew peas. It's a Jamaican dish with like pig's tail, dumplings, red beans stewed down and you'd eat it over some white rice and probably a side of fried plantain. speaker-1: Who would you want to play you in the movie about your life? speaker-0: ⁓ no! I don't have an answer. ⁓ Olivia Pope is not her name. who- yeah, you guys know what I'm talking about. speaker-1: Okay, next one. What is the fictional world that you wish you could live in? speaker-0: ⁓ ooh, okay. It's more of just like a movie, but Swiss Family Robinson, they lived in a tree? Yeah. speaker-1: Like a big tree. speaker-0: It was a huge tree and it was like this huge tree house and they kind of lived out there or in Nims Island. speaker-1: I think those are both great answers. If you weren't a volleyball player, what would you be doing? You can't say coach. ⁓ speaker-0: I'd probably be like documentary film, photography, some sort of storytelling. speaker-1: Did I see you were a communications major in college? speaker-0: I, one of my majors, yeah, I did a lot of creative stuff, still do, on the side. speaker-1: Gotcha. We'll have to chat about your favorite camera and film style at some point. For sure. And finally, Aiko, what makes you happy? speaker-0: the people around me. feed a off of my interactions with other people. So, yeah. speaker-1: Love it. Well, you did very well with the rapid fire questions. You did fantastic. I think too, if I can just add one thing, I think it's really, it is back to the inspirational question. think it says a lot and even your final answer about how a lot of what seems like it gives you inspiration is the people immediately around you, which someone once somewhere said, you can tell a lot about the person by the people they surround themselves with. And I think, I think. you surround yourself, it sounds like, with just some amazing people and it sounds like you are giving back to some people who are very lucky to be surrounded by you in their orbit as well. just fantastic. Aiko, I don't want to take up any more of your time, but it has been such a pleasure to chat with you here on the Set Six podcast and welcome back to Atlanta. We are so happy to see you back there and doing your thing next season. But thank you for joining us. speaker-0: Thanks so much for having me Severin. This was fun. You've been awesome. And I'm, I can't wait to be back in the A. speaker-1: or thank you again to Iko for stopping by and chatting with us here on the Set Six podcast. I mentioned too, I'd always love when we get the candid answers and I think it's such a great one to hear that it wasn't a surefire bet to go back to Atlanta. I mean, we're not talking out of school here. I think all of the teams in this league are great and it's never bad to think, hey, maybe I wanna go test the waters. Ultimately, Atlanta is the right place that she needs to be. It's not a bad thing to say about any, I mean, Anywhere you're at. I I think, you you always want to make sure that you're in the right place and it's okay to be able to look in and test that, test that theory. It's a good way to help, I think, in life. Just make sure that you're where you want to be. Ultimately, Atlanta's where she needs to be and and wants to be and that's great. And I know we're so psyched to have her and Leah continuing to build up that core, that great core that we talked about that with the leadership of Coach Kayla. And I think it's gonna be great. As I said about Columbus earlier at the top of the show, Same thing, we want to see Atlanta back to their winning ways. And I meant what I said, I think any championship winning core is going to start with those two. they, you'd be hard pressed to find a better dynamic duo in this league than Leah Edmond and Iko Jones. So looking forward to it. And also just, it's so, I don't know how these, you gotta, there's that saying. They say this a lot for athletes who aren't able to play nearly as long as all of these athletes have in volleyball, but it's like you can love a sport and then the sport sometimes doesn't always love you back. Well, whatever the opposite of that is, when, is what Iko Jones is doing to be able to go straight into coaching in the off season. You know, there's all gas, no breaks when it comes to volleyball. So that's just so cool. But again, immense thanks to Iko and to the staff at Atlanta for allowing us to chat with her. We will, I think soon, be chatting with Leah Edmond as well. if you like more talk with the stars of Atlanta, Set Six Podcasts is here for you. So we'll have that coming up as well. I also know that we'll have ⁓ a conversation coming up with the new head coach ⁓ in Orlando, Francois Salvaini is going to be on our show as well. So looking forward to the episodes that we have in the future. But thank you to Iko once more. Okay, I'm gonna wrap up this show, which has already been a little bit of a long one. Sorry about that. But we gotta get you your roster news, you know? I'm here for you. That's why we do it. So, we'll just end with two fun segments today. We'll keep it brief. What I hope are fun segments, of course. But the best video that I saw this week, scrolling through social media. I always love to check in on what the other women's sports leagues are doing and see what kind of fun content. Maybe I can steal some things for what I might be doing when I'm away from this podcast. Some great ideas, potentially, that I might see. And one that I think I saw that I want to do the next time that we do a content day or immediate day is one that I saw with the Indiana Fever and the WNBA. They did a little bit like a combine, but it was like a party game combine. And I thought it was really neat. And it's one of those things. I don't know if any of you have seen the inner workings of a content day. There is sometimes a lot of sitting around and waiting, which is unfortunate. But at the same time, we on the on the back end are trying to do our best to hustle every everybody through at the same time also making sure that we're not missing anything and that we're getting everybody to where they need to be and always want to try to be as respectful of the athletes time as possible. But you can be respectful of their time and still have fun with it. And to me, that's what these are this little like kind of combined thing, which is that like a table as one of the athletes is trying to get through towards their next ⁓ their next station, they kind of stop by and go for it. But I don't know what kind of games you're thinking or come to mind that the it was like a dart throwing with little suction cups into into a square and throw all the darts and then run to all this is time. So you got to get through as fast as possible and do as well as possible. So you throw the darts and then you move over and then you do I'm missing one but one was like how well you can fold a shirt and then one was stacking cups up in like a pyramid and of course you had to hit all of them and make sure it was four on the bottom then three two one one was I don't even know the name of this game, but it's like where the ball is on the edge of a string, you got to whip it back up and into the, into the thing. And then I'm missing a couple, but you get the point. was like a obstacle course combine kind of thing. And the athlete finished it in like 30 seconds. I was like, ⁓ that's cool. We got to bring that over to our, over to our content days. So that's the best thing that I saw this week from the Indiana fever. Go check that out. And then last one I'm to give you. has nothing to do with volleyball or women's sports whatsoever. But what I'm watching, I went over to go see The Mandalorian and Grogu, which didn't have a lot of hype, you know, as for a Star Wars movie. And again, I'm not the biggest Star Wars nerd, but I've seen all of them. But I figure I'll give you my little Star Wars movie review here of, yeah, that was good. That was all right. You know, on my scale of ratings, one to 10, give it a f***. Who's average? I think the action's really good. speaker-0: five speaker-1: I think ⁓ if your kids are loving, see I get a lot of hate because I still say baby Yoda which you can't do, if your kids love Grogu and they love the whole Mandalorian ⁓ thing, I say thing but just because like every time you go into the toy aisle, you pass by it and like Target or something like that's all that's over there. So if your kids are into that, if you're into that, like this movie has got the cute factor for you. ⁓ for, if you're there for just, want to see like a mindless turn off your brain, John Wick movie kind of thing. I think that's got that for you. I thought the acting was okay. It was okay. Sigourney Weaver looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. ⁓ and that maybe she said, okay, I'll be in your movie, but only if I can fly an X-wing. So that seemed like that was, and I know she's a good actress, so I was surprised. ⁓ Also, feel like Pedro Pascal is like barely in this one. So if you're hoping to see him, you get maybe a scene. And this is I'm trying to be a spoiler free review as possible here, but also kind of felt like, ⁓ we're we're just making this movie because we can. So that's not really never. I just I remember Star Wars movies being such a big thing when I was a kid where it's like you had to go see it. You had to go see it. And then for me, the other day, I was like, huh, I think I think this is out. I'm just going to go go see it. Spend the end of my Memorial Day vacation just going over and doing that. So like I said, it's fine I don't know if I can give it a stirring of a review as I did for Obsession last week But again very different kind of movies one you could probably you know, take the whole family to the other one I mean, hey, maybe your whole family's into horror movies. What can I say to each their own? But yeah, I think this one's pretty safe for you and yours or you can wait for when it comes out on your streaming service of choice Whatever your podcast platform is choice. We podcast platform of choice is if I could finish with speaking English. ⁓ That is ⁓ we thank you for listening to us ⁓ and we appreciate you once again. Please like comment, subscribe, head over and comment on Facebook or on gosh on YouTube as I stumble my way towards the end so that we can give you those giveaways and start doing that. Thank you for checking in for the rosters. Again, like I said, we will continue to keep you updated on all of the information that we have. I will share whatever I am allowed to. as soon as I can, assuming I still have a job after all of the things that I shared with you here today. But until next time, everybody, thank you for listening to episode six of the Set Six podcast. I'm your host, Severn Lavinstein, and we'll catch you next