Latest / Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast / Episode 011 | MLV Free Agency and Way-Too-Early Playoff Predictions with Jenna Rosenthal
Transcript
- Mike Moline: What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the Set 6 podcast. This is episode 11, I believe. I'm Severin Lavenstein. This is the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. Please, before you listen to this one, please go listen to episode 10, where we were on the road from Iowa, which was an absolute blast. And we'll have more of that coming up at the end of July, which we're excited about, our trip to Wren. ⁓ this week we're talking to Our our very special guest, our set six correspondent and just our overall MVP. It's Jenna Rosenthal. And Jenna being at you know, also is a producer of this podcast. So with all of the great accolades, Jenna gets introduced up top before we read the news. Well, I thought my first intro was very generous, and this one is even more glowing. So thank you. It's good to be back. We're we're also gonna Yeah, hi it's great to see you again. And we're we're also gonna talk as well just a little bit ⁓ too about I mean, you put up ⁓ such a great camp. in Iowa with the Iowa Rise as well, which we want to mention. But it was so much fun to be on the road last week ⁓ and talk to those athletes and also just be part of that. And your entire start to finish running of that was just so much fun. Thank you. I'm huge amounts of credit to you and Mike and the rest of the team, plus our local camp coordinator Nick in Iowa. But it was a really amazing event and a really amazing opportunity to connect with youth athletes because the professional volleyball road can seem really long. And it's important to remember that we were there where those, you know, fourteen, fifteen year old girls were, you know, not all that long ago. Some longer than others, but we all came from the same place. It it was so cool to see just how genuinely enthusiastic all of the campers were as well. But then also just how much the athletes loved giving back and you could hear it in the interviews that we did ⁓ last week. So it was so much fun. ⁓ and yeah, the the other thing too that's so much fun is having you here for the the questions, the burning questions that our audience has. And ⁓ we wanna encourage everybody too as part of the mailbag that we're trying to ⁓ facilitate here to have more at towards the end. You know, when you submit those questions, we can bring Jenna on for those too, which ⁓ it's always great to have, you know, that expert perspective. ⁓ so please in the future, you know, any mailbag questions that you may submit for us, ⁓ we'll we can have Jenna answer, which we will do ⁓ as a little bit of a foreshadowing at the end here. But Jenna If I can go through the news with you and have you chime in on this, we'll do the news and then we'll launch into free agency, which is the the whole the whole point of this episode here is to talk a little bit more about free agency and a little bit more holistically about where we are now with all of these signings ⁓ in the books and some still still coming through. So if that sounds good, let's run through the news, which will be pretty quick and we'll start with Yeah, let's do it. We'll start with VNL. USA ranked number four in the world rankings right now. They were off this past week and we'll be back on for week three, I believe on July seventh is the start. ⁓ Stephanie Samedi with fifty nine points so far, the highest hitting efficiency on the US national team at four fifteen. I mean, she's been absolutely amazing, Jenna. That's huge. Making a huge statement for herself. Way to go, Steph. ⁓ I I'd wondered, you know, what she'd been up to in her career since she and I had overlapped briefly. ⁓ gosh. Probably ten years ago now on one of the junior national team trips. And it's so awesome to see her still absolutely dominating. And selfishly, I'm very, very excited to have her in our league. And so we can see more of her, you know, through the winter and into early spring. Me too. The US national team and the VNL is back in Osaka, Japan, July seventh through twelfth. It's the final week of the preliminary preliminary wow, say that right. Preliminary round play. And then ⁓ looks like, you know, if they Don't drop, I would say probably two, and even then it might still be okay that they'd be on to the final round, but obviously positioned very well for that. They swept out last week, yeah. And that's what puts them in that really, really comfortable position. I think only one loss so far, if I have that right. ⁓ but based on the first two weeks, ⁓ Jen, I'm expecting to see Morgan and Stephanie back for week three, just w the way they've been keeping that roster going, but we'll look out for it for week week three. Yeah, definitely. ⁓ insider sources say they'll be hitting the road on the third. So I would imagine we'll have con confirmed roster updates by then by USA volleyball. But I think you're right. With the way these rosters have been staying pretty consistent in this era of team USA. I think I think we're due for more of the same. Yeah, it seems like only really minor shifting around at the at the middle position and and maybe some of the some of the hitters. But yeah, we'll we'll keep an eye out for it. And then Jenna, I also I've been remiss in in not mentioning some of our other athletes that are competing for other teams and specifically wanted to shout out Pia Timmer last week for Germany versus Brazil, sixteen points, a three seventy one hitting percentage. Top score so far in VNL according to volleyball world. She has forty six kills, one block, two aces, averaging twelve kills per set. She's been been having a great I think she was only I may have this wrong, but I think she was only there for one week so far, but she's been great. Yeah, she missed out. She was not with the team week one. So her week two would have been her first week. moving into week three as her second appearance. So P has been doing P is my girl. We go back. We we played on Atlanta together. So I'm just really excited for her to continue to, you know, have that impact on a world stage. Like I I never made it to be an L myself. So I'm always endlessly jealous and endlessly supportive of those friends of mine who can continue to chase that dream and wear the uniform. You know, it's there's something special about that. You hear that a lot about how how special it is for everybody to put on the uniform. And it's so cool that that is ⁓ that still means a lot to everybody, whether it's their hundredth time or their, you know, first time. I think that's that's always so cool. Do we know who they have next on their slate? I don't know if I have Germany on my notes or not. I d I didn't pull it up before this, so I I will I will endeavor to find that really quickly if we keep talking. we'll keep stalling. I endeavor to make this more of a conversation instead of us interviewing at each other. No, of course. And and ⁓ while we while we look that up, just also the the C V Euroleague wanted to also mention ⁓ Lauren Bertelaci, our head coach for the Indie Ignite. ⁓ her Switzerland team, I believe now speaking of of websites that are tough to navigate, this is website awful. I couldn't tell if what I was reading was correct, but I'm gonna go with that they finished fifth with a five and one record, seventeen set wins to five losses, and I think that was a pretty darn good showing for Switzerland. ⁓ but yes, that is a difficult nav ⁓ difficult website to navigate for sure. But I do have answers. ⁓ Germany takes on ⁓ Czech See, I'm old now. Czechia, thank you. Because now at the ripe old age of thirty, I'm old enough to walk myself into Eastern European inappropriateness by saying Czech Republic. Checkia. They will be playing Czechia. ⁓ for week three. So I'm ex I'm I'm actually excited to see that one. That Checkia has been a really strong team and ⁓ I always enjoy watching their play style, so it'd be good to see how Germany and Czechia match up. Yeah, it looks like Czechia, Netherlands, ⁓ Serbia and Bulgaria is what I see for week three for Team Germany. All right, Jenna, let's move on to the signings that we had for this week. Dallas, Brianna Kadoku, ⁓ or Catecu, excuse me, ⁓ middle blocker, and ⁓ Iris Schulten, ⁓ opposite from the Netherlands, and then Minnesota signing a bunch of middle blockers. Kayla Hanl ⁓ Kayla Hainline. ⁓ Alicia Andrew and Hattie Bray, all middle blockers. ⁓ so Minnesota shoring up that that middle position. Yeah, no, good middles. I can talk about middles. no, I think that's a really interesting ⁓ crop of middles. And I think that he Pedro Coach Mendez has covered all of his bases in regards to middle philosophy in a way. Kayla Hanline is a veteran, very experienced ⁓ middle blocker. She She will have been pro for about nine years now. She and I are about the same age. We ⁓ paralleled each other for a good long while. ⁓ and so I'm really excited to see what her stable presence brings for the middle blocking. ⁓ you know, just so intelligent, so smart with the game. Hattie Bray is the second year pro out of Marquette. Again, I'll plug myself a little bit. And personally, in watching Hattie's game, I think she's a really, a really good example of a well-rounded middle. Now everyone likes to. bully middles for their inability to hit a highball secondary set, you know, bit of a one trick pony sometimes. But Hattie is a really, really well rounded athlete. ⁓ I believe at Merquette she was kind of thrown in wherever was needed. ⁓ a really versatile tool player. So I think that youthful exuberance, I don't know how you want to say it, that'll serve them well. And tell me one more remind me one more time ⁓ Alicia Andrew of Wisconsin, right? You got it. Yes. So six four tall girl. Yeah, I was gonna say the other two were six two and then she's six four, so yeah, she's the tallest of the three. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Also, I think people might round up to six two. Just saying they called me six six for years, I I very vehemently deny that. But ⁓ I haven't seen enough of Andrew's game just yet. She signed to Atlanta late last season. And so I'm kind of excited to see it's like a little trifecta, right? Does wisdom, youthful vigor, or straight height Which which of those wins? It's I feel like it's rock, paper, scissors in a way. And I have not been able to establish height beats speed beats nope, nope, speed'll beat height. Wisdom beats speed. I don't know. Always some combination of the three is probably always good, but certainly. And of course they're not one dimensional players, my goodness. Of course. Jenna, is there anything to read into the fact that they waited this long to sign all of their middle blockers kind of in a in a row? And not all of them, obviously, but this this many that look to be their their starting caliber middle blockers? You know, that's a really good question, honestly. ⁓ again, insider trading information. I know of at least one, if not two of those players that had been signed ⁓ much earlier on than the announcement. I think everyone needs to remember that sometimes these signings and these announcements are not the timing is not correlated. ⁓ yeah. So ⁓ I believe Kayla Hanline had appeared for MLB Minnesota at a camp ⁓ earlier on this summer and some of our eagle eyed aficionados on a as yet unnamed volleyball forum that I think all of you are very aware of had noticed and were already speculating speculating about Kayla Hanline. ⁓ I don't know, man. Marketing's crazy. That's all I can say. They get paid more than we do. I saw we have a Reddit thread now, which for me, regardless of what is said in the Reddit thread, means that, you know, that's that's you've made it. So I I love it. Whatever forums, official or unofficial, that are out there, always great. Always great. No, Reddit's great. I asked Reddit for that's one of my before the rise of Chat GPT, I confess guilty. ⁓ I would go and ask Reddit all these things. Always the Reddit threads. Jenna, we're gonna dive more into the specifics of ⁓ the teams and and we're gonna that's gonna be the the primary focus of the rest of this episode. However, ⁓ this was a piece of news I left to the side last week because I specifically wanted your take explanation on it. ⁓ me as a as a NARP is it doesn't always work well when I try to to describe all of the various different nuances, especially of new rules in the NCAA. So what I'm talking about is the five for five rule that was ⁓ recently passed through, which everybody has a lot of questions about how that's going to affect MLV players and future MLV players, but obviously, you know, we're keeping an eye on it. Just the the brief overview, it'll grant all Division I athletes five years to complete to complete five seasons. This is according to CBS Sports, by the way. ⁓ gone are medical redshirt years and traditional red shirt rules. And everyone will be granted five years of eligibility to be completed within the five years of high school graduation or an athlete's nineteenth birthday, whichever comes first. Jenna, before I let you go, to me, this really feels like a rule that is meant for NCAA football and basketball. And it's unfortunately going to affect a lot of the other sports because it is an an overarching big sweeping rule. Yeah, I I honestly I think you're right. And realistically, I think a lot of rules that affect volleyball from the NCAA come from college and basketball. ⁓ For example, I remember ⁓ at Marquette I would host recruits. You know, that's what you do. You host recruits and they give you a little bit of spending money to, you know, buy your recruit Starbucks and something from the dining hall, nothing crazy. But we always had to sign a form that promised that we did not take the recruit to a strip club. Now I don't know about you, but ⁓ Not what I think of with Marquette. No, no, Marquette girls, and ⁓ I'm gonna speak really broadly here. I d don't think most volleyball high school girl recruits want to go to a strip club on their college visit. So but yeah, like you said, I think it's it's a basketball and football thing. ⁓ I think we all heard about that Georgia quarterback that somehow turned twenty six his junior year. ⁓ but long story short, What this means is it's theoretically a simplification of your college of eligibility. No matter what, you're gonna get five years, and whatever happens to you within those five years, that's on you. I think there's some certain ex exceptions for religious missions or compulsory military service. But ⁓ for example, I redshirted a season and then I proceeded to start four years at Marquette. Now, I would not have gotten an extra year because I already did all of my business within five years. Now, had I just been a normal freshman, started started freshman year, sophomore, junior, senior year with these new rules, I could then have the option to play an additional fifth year. Realistically, it's it's basically giving a extra year to a lot of ⁓ NCAA athletes. Now, the interesting thing is, I think for your average Division I player who doesn't necessarily think she's gonna go pro, because again, in this bubble, Going pro has become the norm. And I think we need to remind ourselves that no, not everyone from D1 goes pro, and that's okay. A lot of people go get their degrees, move on with their lives. ⁓ so certain athletes may not choose to stay. But let me tell you, if you're making a lot of NIL money and likely to go pro, this becomes a business proposition. Is it better for me to stay in college and make my Boku bucks off of NIL or Do we strike it out in the real professional world where that funding's a lot more questionable and a lot, you know. Sorry everyone, that's the unfortunate truth of the matter is we're not gonna be able to compete with, you know, lopsided NIL compensation. I mean, you see it's the same in football, right? You know, there's college quarterbacks making more on than their rookie contracts. Yeah, ⁓ totally. And and ⁓ you know, it's it's It it depends on on the on the signings for sure. But I I I wanted to skip down to ⁓ a ma our mailbag question for this week was from at Janis Vell, if I'm saying that right, who said any word on NCAA's five for five rule and how it will affect the draft in November, and if it's if there is no draft, how will that affect the draft pick Grand Rapids traded to ⁓ to Omaha? I think a lot of people, speaking broadly, are thinking about the MLV draft and how this new five for five rule will affect potential draft picks or new players from college into the MLV. So it it changes who's available really. ⁓ like it mentions GR's trade. They traded Omaha number one first round draft pick. And now I'm not sure if I can think everyone would assume that everyone's number one draft pick might be Harper Murray, Andy Jackson, anybody of that golden trio from ⁓ Nebraska. But with five for five, are they leaving the Cornhuskers? I I don't think so. They need another they they want another that's such a tightly knit, iconic group. I can't imagine them leaving a team any earlier. So yeah, you still have your draft pick. We will still be having a draft. It just changes who's available. This crop of graduating seniors essentially maybe got in ha cut in half. There's still gonna be available people, but it might not be who Omaha was gambling on in the first place. Yeah, I mean, Jenna, if I can give like some of my opinion. I just sometimes, you know, I I get what they're trying to do and I respect the fact that they're that the NCAA is trying to fix this problem. I just I don't always love these big overarching, you know, be all, end all you know, things scenarios that don't fit all scenarios. And I mean to it brings the problem right back to NIL, which has been a huge problem ⁓ for to some people. And obviously th there's the whole other side of the coin where it's These athletes should be able to make what they what they deserve. And it and I think some of the NIL for volleyball specifically has been great. So that in and of itself is a problem for my argument here because I think a lot of times NIL is what causes the problem. I mean, it it it's you're for those incoming freshmen who believed that they would have a spot to play, they now I mean maybe this is gonna initiate more transfers. This is gonna completely screw up what some people think was gonna be their role with their with their team. And then, you know, transfers in and of itself was a whole other problem. We're like, gosh, how many, how many schools are these kids gonna play for? And then eventually maybe you you try to transfer, make getting yourself to a better situation and you end up putting yourself in a worse situation. And then from there, you get moved down that depth chart because that four year starter is just signing up for another year. I think this might be a short term problem and a long term. benefit once everybody finally figures out once the current cycle moves through and then maybe more freshmen just automatically assume, hey, we're we're gonna take a red shirt year and and play five years no matter what. Redshirt yeah. And then it's still the same pseudo red shirt year. So if I went through right now, my freshman year it wouldn't have been a red shirt year. It just would have been the year I sat on the bench. You know, rectify that with my ego all you want. Whatever. Well, another thing too is records, career kill records, career block records. Some of those are gonna have an asterisk behind it if you're able to go for five years to set those records. ⁓ my contentious hot take was I was always slightly annoyed at the first ever five year all American. I'm like with the COVID stuff. I'm like, well, by definition, that can't necessarily happen again. So what are we saying here? Like it's still an amazing achievement. I'm pleased, I'm not taking f away from anybody's achievement. And I'm always gonna say, get your money, sis. You know, get that bag, girl. Do whatever you need to do. but it's you're right, it opens up a lot of can of worms and I feel sorry for some of these people that got caught in the crossfire just because they happen to be this age during this transition period. I do too. And you know, my other and I'll leave it at this personally here, but just with my my other take on this is the the athletes that were that were playing until twenty-six or that were that were playing, you know, pretty late and taking those sixth and seventh years. I mean, first of all, I think a lot of those had to do with extra COVID years that you got, which now I believe most people have aged out of that. But even if you even if you had the the athletes that were tw you know, twenty six and and pushing the the late twenties, those athletes likely didn't have the great pro scen pro scenarios to go to, whether we're talking football, basketball, you know, volleyball, rowing, whatever it may be, like usually there was a reason why those athletes were going to be playing for most of their career in college and probably didn't have an another great option to go to afterwards. I mean, just think about it. Well, you're gonna hurt your pro stock if you you're starting in your late twenties when you had, you know, your what a lot of people consider to be your prime years playing pro that you're still spending in college. Well, okay, one more caveat though, for the from all the negative nellying we've did, have we always I feel like it's very easy to say that everyone has lost the plot of a student athlete, right? So maybe an assumed five year stint in college is going to give you a little more flexibility to maybe pursue a degree that you might want to. I guess that's another open secret, because you can't always study what you want. ⁓ you're what ⁓ is a quote it's a quote from someone. You aren't getting paid to play school. You're getting paid to play basketball. I guess that's an old I I remember that it was ⁓ we we didn't come here to play school, which I think was ⁓ the Ohio State quarterback. Which is ⁓ so good. Producer Mike is gonna chime in really quickly with with the full the full complete quote. But no, I think we've done a good job of bouncing back and forth either either side of the fence here and and probably upsetting either each side of NCAA favorites. But be that as it may, let's let's leave both sides. Yeah, exactly. Let's leave five for five there at the moment and get to the the meat of the issue here, which is it it's not an issue. It's what we want to talk about. It's the teams that have have made a bunch of great signings. And we want to talk more about those signings in depth. So last time, Jenna, we talked a lot about Atlanta, Omaha, Indy, Dallas. This time we have a full new slate of free agency signings and news to get to. And let's start with NorCal. I want to start with NorCal. We for the the overarching question I want to ask you is what are the advantages to having this much of your team signed ⁓ as early when you're a new team? I mean, we saw them put out the full graphic. Of of their squad, which I thought was great. And and more specifically, I am curious about how Timmer, Czech, and Landfair are gonna do all together on one team. Yeah, no, that's I'm excited about that. ⁓ so having your team announced and standing behind your 12 player announcement is I feel like that is really, really good for team cohesion, team chemistry, and you can already start building this sense of You know, you're already in in the trenches together in a sense, even though we're training, you know, very differently over the summer. As we mentioned, Pia Timmers off with Team Germany doing amazing things. Whereas, you know, some of these other athletes are back at home taking time to, you know, to rehab, to train on their own or just having that mental space, that mental break. But for the team to come out and say that th these are this is our group, I think that's that's really exciting. That's really big and ⁓ eliminates some of the uncertainty maybe that comes with training camp and roster decisions, but who's to say? I'm sure the marketing team is very happy to have a cohesive list of people who's ready to ⁓ to go out and say these are this is our team. But I think it's fun to have Ali Czech and Taylor Lanfair reunited together. It's more corn husker power. And ⁓ I think that's a really strong front row, right? I I like Tim run the outside, Lanfra on the outside, AliCek ⁓ holding down the opposite, though. Please, by all means, prove me wrong with, you know, some stunning inner team competition. ⁓ Yeah, I mean that's all we can say right now until we see more of them in action. Pia Timmer is the main one we get to see with the NL. ⁓ what's your take on that? Yeah, I thought it was a an evenly evenly spaced out group. I I'm I wanna see Lanfair in in more of a a starter role, I I guess I wanna say. And you know, she was great with Indy. I I just feel like, you know, sometimes got overshadowed by, you know, the the the the big three and everybody that we're talking about in India on a daily basis. But we know how great ⁓ Lanfair is. I'm curious to to watch Allie Check in a pro setting. I didn't get to watch her a lot in Puerto Rico. ⁓ and and I I hope that she can kind of sees the opportunity by the reins, which I think that she she will. And then we know that Pia Timur is good. And and again, maybe once again similar situation might have gotten overshadowed by ⁓ Iiko and Leah when she was in Atlanta. So I I all three of them I want to see in starter roles, I guess is my was my takeaway. Yeah. I mean that's why I'm so excited about all these expansion teams, right? Is because there's a lot of really wonderful players. And unfortunately sometimes if you get, you know, a little gummed up in the depth chart. It's no knock on you. It's just a mark of, you know, how much other talent is on your team. And, you know, these girls know it. These girls understand their value. And so maybe that's why they wanted to seek new opportunities, which is totally awesome. And now we could see what it might have looked like to have them with more of an active role. But it's deciding. I wanna know who the coach is. I was gonna say we're expecting an announcement Let's see, today is July first for us. I think the ⁓ next week is when we're expecting an announcement coming soon. That's great. I missed that memo. At what what I've heard. There we go. I beat you with inside sources. That's not usual. So love that. I'm very protective of my inside source stats. Well, we're we're gonna we're gonna help you out with that because the next team we want to talk about is Grand Rapids, which you know very well from last year. First off, what what is Coach Garlic like? I I really liked Mike. Mike is typically the block and defense coach, you know, in the previous organization where Kathy George was the head coach. so Mike took a big role on ⁓ defensive coordinating, scouting reports, ⁓ making sure front row, back row integrates together. But he's got a really nice, steady, even presence. ⁓ I think that's important, you know, through the ups and downs of a season. So I'm really excited to see him, you know, take take the reins fully. And ⁓ he was involved in a lot of the day to the day. activities with the team. So it feels like a very natural continuation for him for Kathy to put her trust in him to carry the team to the next level. Were you surprised to see Kathy George ⁓ step up to the front office and and kind of g give this transition over to to Mike? I'll say yes and no, because she was I I was only on the team a short while, but I noticed how well regarded Kathy was in Michigan in the Michigan volleyball space. I swear anywhere we went, Seemed like she knew everyone. She was very gregarious, very open, so dedicated to growing the sport of volleyball. So that seems like a natural fit for her as well. But at the same time, you know, coach has been coaching for decades now. It's hard to imagine her anywhere but the sidelines, especially going out to Grand Rapids next year. Where's she gonna sit? She's sitting in the little suite. Does she sit on the bench still? It's probably not on the bench anymore. ⁓ you know, three feet behind and to the left. w wherever she will be, we we know that it'll be it'll be front and center in in in a VIP spot no matter what. And surprisingly fashion shockingly fashionable. I was gonna say, you know, Mike has has got to step it up with his suits now. They've gotta be I'm I'm thinking like the Craig Sager nineties like, you know, kind of suits. Like just really, really flamboyant to be able to to be able to match the all the gr the great ⁓ style that Kathy George had. But no, even if a nice thing about Marquette only winning one basketball championship in nineteen seventy seven is there is a lot of pictures. Of men in really fashionable 70s suits, giant collars, just crazy patterns. I'm like, hell yeah. Looks like that was a great time to be alive. Or we could go opposite. I mean, my friends and I always have fun when we're playing the the college football video game because you can change the style of your coach. So sometimes you know, we'll we'll choose a guy that has a full like suit on and bow tie, and then you can go complete opposite with like jorts and cutoffs. So I mean No, that's terrible. The options out there. The options out there. ⁓ to more serious talk about Grand Rapids. Jenna, based on your inside info of the twenty six team and just being part of that group, how will the additions that Grand Rapids has has made so far help the team just from that that perspective of being on the inside? I'm really excited to see the ⁓ experience that Maddie Bug brings to this team. Yeah, she's it she did I I remember admiring her for a long time. She's about a year older than me. ⁓ she sat in Stuttgart ⁓ before I got there. made a name for herself. She's Canegliano for a while. That is just so cool. ⁓ so I'm really glad we can have her on our MLV courts this year. And I think that was really gonna help continue to bring out the best in Carly Snyder, Paige Briggs. ⁓ another big question, there was a lot of injury issues, unfortunately, with Viappos in Grand Rapids this year. So Seeing how that continues ⁓ to develop is going to be really interesting. Tell me more about ⁓ Jai Sen. For all of us that you know know our volleyball history, ⁓ Thailand and their Fab 5, parentheses six, you know, absolutely dominated volleyball for two dec a decade at least. ⁓ so that so that particular group of athletes came to prominence in 2000 blank. Fill in my notes here, but that was angered by Nutsara Tomcom. Now, if we remember, Nutsara Tomcom. played in San Diego Mojo seas season one. And, you know, she really set the tone for this really dominant tie team with her mix of ball control, deception on the play, and her ability to really lead her offense. And, you know, the world over was so impressed with Mitsara Tom Khan. Now who comes next after that? The natural successor has been Shampoo Gudapard, who we've seen playing for the Orlando Valkyries. And there's some interviews you can see where Shampu is just so, you know, honored to be learning from and playing alongside her idol Nutsara, that that really felt like a bat ⁓ you know, a baton, you know, the torch was passed for this really characteristic Thai volleyball strategy. And as time has gone on, we see ⁓ Jison really doing a fantastic job in VNL this year, as she's now Champu's backup in a way. Those Champu and Jysen are. ⁓ you know, they're filling that same tandem role that Nootsara and Champu did once upon a time. It it's a lineage of phenomenal tie setting. I ⁓ I'm just floored that they're on the same team. That is going to be interesting to say the least. Do you think they've got ⁓ trade trade value in there? Can I say that? Is that too high? That would be you know, that would be really cool, es especially kind of as this season gets going and you hit a midpoint and somebody wants to just make a make a change, you know. I mean heck I'm just thinking about Omaha last year and and the change that they made that pushed them all the way to to the the final. I you know, that could be cool. I didn't think about that. And I agree with you. I think between Bug and Jyson, like that's not necessarily from my limited knowledge, a very clear like who's gonna be the starter and I hope to see that that either becomes a a very even split or that that is really solved during training camp. It's definitely something that I will want to ask Grand Rapids when I get out there is, you know, some how how they make their decisions on the setters. ⁓ but I I'm very excited to see that, especially, you know, to to be able to to to have that connection with with PBR and to see that kind of progress throughout the season. I mean, you've got to you've got to have that consistent presence, obviously that's stating the obvious, but I'll be so curious to see who it is that that brings that. So I'm I'm very excited. Hundred percent. It's it's kinda like what we were saying before, right? It's both of them deserve to be setting their own teams in their own right. And now it's like this super tandem pair. You know, why wouldn't you c continue to stack your deck with all the best that you can get hands down? But from an outside observing perspective, somebody get my tea, somebody get my popcorn. Depth is always good. Let's let's keep spinning around the league before we get to some some specific questions. ⁓ Jenna, we'll keep this one brief since we already talked a little bit about Minnesota, but I guess The the it's a lot of ads with international experience. It's a really good team that looks just on paper. My burning question for you is what is the potential reason that this wouldn't be as good as we think it will be? And I'll s I'll even I will just say I because I look at the the team on paper in Minnesota and I say that is a very strong team with international experience that, you know, assuming that they tie everything together and can play well together, looks like a very intimidating team across the net. What would be a reason maybe that they wouldn't be as good as I I would be expecting them to be. Well, I mean, that's ⁓ that's a great question, right? And I betcha the supernovas are asking themselves the same question as to, you know, their mid season bumps. You know, good on paper is one thing, but somehow finding a way to unite these players and belief in a system, 'cause sixes volleyball is really heavily based on systems. It's it's really easy some people think it's really easy for a dominant player to completely take over. And lead the charge. And gosh, I I hope Stephanie Samity can be that person. But with how balanced our teams are, how strong defense is across the league, it's really gonna come down to honestly, not just the setting, but making sure we're able to set up our hitters to be maximally effective, distributing that ball. I'm sure if I was a setter, I'd set Steph Samity all day, be like, boop, boop, boop, cheat code, Steph Samity. ⁓ no, in trouble, Steph Samity. ⁓ and that eventually gets somewhat easy to pick up on. So continuing to utilize the entire offense as a system instead of relying on, you know, star players. But we have such strong anchors. I'm really excited to see ⁓ Iri Miyavi in there, ⁓ straight out of Japan, ⁓ returning old former golden gopher. She's strong on the opposite, so maybe like I said, we're stacked. We're stacked. I'm so mad. I want to see both of them, but the way things are. Let's let's go to Columbus again really quickly. We had to cut a whole section of us talking about Columbus because they hadn't signed anybody by episode eight, ⁓ officially at least. Everyone's announced. We have not announced things. Now we can talk about them. And we were talking, you know, prepping for this show, and you had a great kind of question, which I have a specific answer for, and I feel like this is where we might disagree. But the question being, who is the star player now for Columbus? Yeah, like who wants to step in and fill that? I because I would that's I remember what I was saying before. I was saying that role is kind of wide open at the moment, just with the huge rebuild that the Fury's doing. So if you're a hotshot young gun, you think you're that girl, sign yourself over to Columbus and, you know, make that your team. So who who would you have put in that setting now that we know who's been publicly signed? I understand that I'm talking to a middle blocker and that this is a losing argument for me, but I don't see why it can't be Reagan Pittman Nelson. I just I we've seen what she does in this league. She's one of the best that we have. I know that she plays a position. I don't care. To me, it's her. And like if I go in and I'm I'm gonna choose like, hey, who do I wanna talk to today about the team? Who do I know is going to to step up and and and fill whatever, you know, void may be on a given night, I think it's gonna be her. And I understand they're not the middles are not the the top scoring options. I get that. I know, but I don't care. I think it's her. Okay, okay. Actually, you know what now? So if we're going off the score sheet, I a thousand, thousand, thousand percent agree with you. Regan is such a complete player, such a mature player, such a phenomenal leader. you need to interview her and her stand-tall volleyball on this podcast in a future episode. But again, it's it's not on that stat sheet, right? She is gonna be that core of the defense. It's a lot easier to get digs when your friendly neighborhood neighborhood middle blocker is getting all these touches for you. But Unfortunately, with the way volleyball is, I feel like a lot of times that huge banner marquee player is going to be your outside hitter it or your opposite. It's that player you can throw up a Hail Mary ball to and know that they're gonna absolutely crush it, deflate the ball on the floor, and find those points even in difficult situations. So as much as I wish it to be the case, especially as a middle myself. Sometimes I think that that stereotypical role ends up being a pin hitter. Even though deep down I think you're right that a middle can a thousand percent be the glue, the heartbeat of a team, especially a mature leader like Pittman Nelson. And they've added they've added ⁓ Caitlin Hoard too, is you know, next to Reagan as as well, potentially. And ⁓ you know, I just you know, maybe maybe it could be Anna Dixon at at opposite. ⁓ you know, maybe it could be Ava Martin outside. I thought that was a great signing as well. But I just again I I think you can set the middles a little bit more if you're not as confident early on about your your your pin hitters. And then again, that's nothing that's nothing against them. But you know, obviously when you're coming from last year and the way they that they scored to this year, you know, maybe you get the middles involved a little bit. Well, see, and that's the thing too. I'm always, always, always gonna say set the middles more. A hundred percent. Hands down. What should we do with this free ball? Set the middle every time. Always set the middle. ⁓ and I suppose that goes back. Now I've contradicted myself, right? Because I was just telling you that in Min in Minneapolis, I want to see them have a more sophisticated offense than just spamming the Steph Sanity button, right? And so in that case, you know, maybe Columb I I want Columbus to have a really balanced, really fluid offense as well. So maybe you don't have that big dog because you don't know who's getting set at any given time. The middles are always such a threat. And because you're so wrapped up in stopping the middle, you're leaving wide open lanes for your pin hitters. So there I am. I'm a giant bottle of contradictions here. Hey, that to me that means I I win the argument. So I don't know. ⁓ wait, that's right. You're supposed to be arguing. No, it's okay. what what we need to do now. More argument. What we need to do next. We tell our people. Yeah, no, no. We gotta have our fan we gotta have our comment section sounding off. ⁓ Jenna, what we do need to do is provide some comfort for DC and LA fans who haven't really had any announcements so far. And I guess what I want to start with is Will expansion teams be at a disadvantage? And and I would like to give my answer before I give you the question. I say no because of Dallas. And I feel like that's just a proof positive of no, they'll be totally fine. But I do understand if a DC fan and an LA fan is out there like, gosh, I haven't seen anybody signed yet. And a bunch of stars are already in a bunch of different places. And what is my get my team gonna look like? No, and like I like we were saying before, signed does not mean announced. Signed does not mean announced. It's gonna be fine with my super secret spreadsheet of secrets. I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. We got we got seven signings. Although I don't know if that's encouraging or not. We have seven signs. There are players signed. It's it's gonna be okay. ⁓ I think you can get really excited with some experienced players in here ⁓ anchoring us at a pivotal position. ⁓ you've got a really, really physical player that you will remember from this season. In at a physical position as I continue to be as ambiguous as possible. You've also got a really fun ka firecracker, good friend of mine associate. Yes, there is a per there are here. We'll give him a puzzle, right? I have been on a roster. Jenna Rosenthal's been on a roster, training camp or otherwise, with one, two, three of these people. I love this. This is like a a puzzle for people to figure out. That's great. Yeah. If you're so involved, go right ahead. We can continue our Easter egg dropping. I don't think we'll be as good as Taylor Swift with Easter eggs. But no, I I think I think it's ⁓ just purely based on what what you saw Dallas do and I think as well with I mean that's that's why we're asking these questions about NorCal and Minnesota is I think we started last season saying, you know, ⁓ like if they make the playoffs, that's great. And then by the end of the season with the absolute tear that they went on, I think it was winning eight in a row or or eight out of nine. I can't remember what it what it was at that point, but you know, especially it's it's how well you turn it on late in the season, given all the parity that we have in this league. And I think that even if they s if they struggle a little bit at the beginning, DC and LA. Not that I'm expecting them to. I think both those rosters will be fine. ⁓ but I don't necessarily think that you're behind the eight ball because you're an expansion team. No, not at all. Certainly not being an expansion team. Indy made it to the playoffs their first year. ⁓ that was great. Dallas went all the way this year. By definition, everyone is it was an expansion team season one. again, just I can't emphasize enough that there is a difference between the court staff and the front office staff. And however front office needs to handle, you know, there's there's so many things that, you know, behind the curtain, contracts to be signed, this approval, that that approval. It's all it's all inter you know, all interweaved. Just because we haven't seen movement on some fronts doesn't mean that there's not movement on the back. It's kind of like a duck. A swan on the lake. It's all sweet and then quiet up top, but then there's the little feet on the bottom going a middle million miles an hour. Let let me skim let me skim the LA secrets list. While you skim the L. L. A is ready to rock and roll, dude. I I'm telling you, I keep saying it, but I I really like that LA roster and and I'm curious how I I've I've already heard some internally some some people probably don't totally feel as as Let's say let's a as high on it as I do, but based on what I know about everybody on that roster, I'm excited about it. So a hundred percent. Plus Alicia Glass Childress on there. ⁓ that in in and of itself, the fact that that she's their their coach, I I have tons of faith in that team. I feel like she's a proven example of she can make two plus two equal five. Okay, that's that's another great saying. Yeah. Love that. No, I think that's the point of, you know, synergy in teams. It's, you know. Everyone always says, ⁓ you gotta make other people around you better. And it's so true, but it's so easy to just dismiss it as woo-woo. Maybe it's the engineer inside of me, but there's certain people that can make two plus two equal five. I I've for more two plus two equal five, we need your perspective. And I wanna move on just while we have time still to what I've labeled questions for Jenna, where maybe your your insight will make two plus two equal five for us. The first one is. Any big remaining team needs that stand out to you and then hypothetically looking forward to an MLV draft, where can those needs be addressed really? Looking, I think Omaha looks to pick up a big outside in this draft, just based on where they're at right now, ⁓ injecting some talent, skimming through Orlando. I think they've actually got a pretty solid contingent here. Looks like they still might be nope, they Marley duh Marley Monzeray holding it down, et cetera. I think they've got a pretty strong complement. I think their draft approach is maybe taking a look at the best pieces available that complement what they already have going on. ⁓ I like their pins. I like the talent they're returning at the middle. ⁓ this might just be a, you know, filling out and strengthening. ⁓ it's not an immediate need situation per se. Yeah, and looking at this ⁓ as yet unspecified Washington, DC roster, ⁓ I'd also look for them to make another pin pickup on an immediate impact player. But like we talked about with five for five, those immediate impact pin players, I don't know if they're going to be available. So that's why I anticipate maybe some more trading on some of these teams that accidentally, accidentally or cleverly loaded up on some of these really talented, established players. So There's a lot to play for, but a lot of these teams I think are really solid, really complete, and will simply be looking for some supplemental pieces to support what they already have on court. And of course I'm always ready for some rookie to come out and surprise us, make their name. Who's the next Mimi Collier? Let's see it. Which team would you say if you had to if you're giving out Jenna's grades, which team has has had the best free agency in your mind so far? I'm really, really excited to see Minneapolis. I think they've really, really assembled an insanely strong roster starting from scratch. Whatever Pedro Mendez is selling, people are buying. And I can't wait to see how that turns out to the floor. Combination of experience, both domestic and international experience, as well as some really exciting rookies who are really, I think, primed to make an impact on this league. Yeah. I I can't disagree with you very much there. I I really like what Minnesota's done. I think that's a really, really solid choice. It would be my choice probably too. and and with that, I want to go this next question was so good. This came from producer Mike. ⁓ so let's say hypothetically with these new teams, we've got a six team playoff next year. I heard some rumblings. Maybe that will be what it is. I'll be excited for that if that is true. Let's run with that. Let's say it's a six team playoff. Based on free agency, you're are way too early predictions. I'm going to give my opinion here too. Who are the six teams Way too early predictions in in that playoff. You first. Okay. I'm gonna name one, then you can name one, and then we'll see if we get there. Okay. I'm gonna go for the easy one. I'm putting Indian. Easy one. Minnesota. Yes. I wanna see Grand Rapids. Omaha. Yeah, easy one. Los Angeles. Atlanta. You had me my exact same list if you had Atlanta. I do. I do. I do. I really do. They've made some good upgrades, but I wanna I wanna see a little more than we saw last year, I think. And I'm sure they do too. And who who's instead? Because we have the same list i instead of Atlanta. I'm biased. I'm ready for the new Columbus theory. Okay. Okay. I would argue that are so based on what we just talked about, we know Atlanta can score and our questions about Columbus is are they gonna be able to score? Yeah. Yeah, but it's something new, right? It's a little different. That that's my hot button take. ⁓ well, okay. True. And as long as I'm talking about Fight me on it. Fight me on it. No, it's like I said, it's something new. It's something that people haven't seen before, right? Atlanta and Leah Edmond have formed a dynasty, but have we out has a lot of people seen that already? With with Columbus, you don't know what you're going to expect just yet. I I hear you. I liked what Atlanta had starting down the stretch, and then I think eventually we started seeing, you know, Grand Rapids and Orlando take over. ⁓ before eventually it was San Diego who who swooped in and took the final spot. I just I like the con and it's for the same reason that you're saying Columbus, that I'm saying Atlanta. I like the continuity. I was going to choose Orlando, but I sort of feel the similar thing of I don't know just with adding Monster, who's fantastic, i i if that scoring attack is gonna look different enough for Orlando to be able to push over the hump from Where they were last season. Again, that is no shade to Orlando. I absolutely love that team. And I think they have as good of a chance to be right in it at the end. I look at all of these teams and I say, well, okay, very simply, I think two of the best scorers that we have in this league, Ico Jones and Leah Edmund, I simply cannot bet against them. And I and I hear you. I think that is the other side of the net argument of teams have seen it, and that's going to be your challenge to stop it. But again, too, we've had the pleasure of being able to talk to both of them so far. Leah Edmonds coming up, by the way, in a couple of weeks, which everyone will be able to hear. But I they have the confidence for it. And I also know that, you know, when we were talking to Iko and she was saying, you know, she she took a look around the league, but knows that Atlanta it was the right place to be for her. I just I don't know. I I look at the teams that were on the cusp last year and I have the most confidence in Atlanta. You know, I I I hear what you're coming from. I really do. And Atlanta really did have the stuff. I just think they were plagued with injuries. Here's the thread of that middle coming back again. Not huge on the score sheet, but they had a lot of injuries and issues down the stretch. Our rising star from season two, Corey Lewis, ha was kind of nursing an injury for a long time and she wasn't necessarily able to make as big of an impact in season three. So I am not knocking Leon Iiko's pin abilities, non whatsoever. It just becomes everything else in the middle, literally and figuratively, if it can add enough of a complexion to get the job done at this professional level. And I mean, we'll have to see as those signings continue to develop and how Coach Banworth can leverage her her insane talent. You have the talent. We got it. We just have to figure out how to get it on the floor into an effective way. I like This more entertaining. And then also agreeable. So I'm just like, yeah, you're right. It's fine. I'll get I'll get more. We'll work on that. We have time. We have time. But I think that's the other thing too is, you know, with with the injuries, maybe they get better injury luck. I felt like I I've said this before. I said this to Iko. I felt like every match I watch went five last year from Atlanta. I I just I I look at if it's down to the two and I hope You know, I I'll be happy in any scenario, honestly. But I just look at it being one or two little tweaks for Atlanta versus it's gonna be tough to go from from bottom to top with Columbus. I would be really excited to see it because I think this league frankly is better when Columbus is is better. And I I'm always happy to see that too. So ⁓ I mean I'm putting one in for chaos, maybe. Unleash the theory, unleash the chaos. Well, one thing I we we've talked a little bit about the the international signings today. Which ⁓ what what has been a b a big ⁓ a cool point to see, honestly, throughout this this off season. Is MLV becoming more attractive to international players maybe than it's been in the past? It just it I think we're at like three times more ⁓ international players than than we've seen from from previous iterations. If the answer is yes, why do you think that is? Say yeah, definitely It's hard to take a a leap of faith in a new venture, ⁓ especially when other parts of the world are not as familiar with the product. With volleyball contracts being year to year, each year matters. You need to go and you need to play somewhere, make an impact so that you can sign a contract next year. And if people are unfamiliar with the United States League, it'd be like, what level is that? Is that ⁓ yeah, you did really good in MLV, but what does that mean? But here as we go into season four, I think our level of play has proven itself. And I think it's a much more enticing prospect to come and play here, as well as ⁓ American sports or something different. And I do think to a certain extent you wanna be a part of that. You wanna experience it at least once. I mean, that's what my thought was when I went to Europe. So that hey, we we have to do this at least once, like what an adventure. 'Cause in the end it is more than just a job. It's it is your life. So yeah, I think we're steadily becoming more, more and more attractive. And I think we'll continue to be able to showcase some really impressive foreign talent that'll really challenge our local gals to keep, you know, pursuing the best. As a player and in the positions that you've been in before, what makes a league attractive to a player? Like I and it's been so fun to ask these athletes that we've talked to here on set six about You know, what those conversations were like when they're talking to coaches in front office. And you know, I I'm imagining this is not so much of a straightforward answer of like it's A, it's B, it's C. You know, for some people it's gonna be close to home. But I'm trying to eliminate that and be like, look, ⁓ for you, what do you want from a league that's like, okay, this is what I see and this makes me want to sign? As a pro athlete, you have a limited amount of time to make a certain amount of money. You're never gonna get away from that. That being said The close second consideration is going to be level of play. Because as an athlete, you need to be constantly challenging yourself to continue to grow, both as an athlete, your own self, as well as your stock value continuing to rise. there are differing levels of leagues abroad, and some of them offer a lot of money, but with a slightly lower level. So you take the money now, but what is your ability to earn in the future because you have not been showcasing your skills against top talent? So I think continuing to consider, you know, a proper paycheck and the ability to compete against a quality level of competition has to be first and foremost in people's minds. And then of course you get into the ⁓ the more intrinsic intrinsic things, like I mentioned, you know, it's an American adventure. It's your chance to, you know, experience something new, go on a grand adventure. I said adventure so many times. Because in the end, isn't life an adventure? It is, but ⁓ Those are the first a couple things that come to my mind. As well as, you know, you have to make sure the team environment is appropriate. The training and travel schedule isn't too intensive, though. The sheer logistics of the United States will always make that a little bit more challenging. ⁓ United States coast to coast is a little bit Germany ⁓ different than Germany from France to Poland, so there is that. But No, it makes a lot of sense. It's a lot of the it's a lot of the internal ⁓ questions that I I from a non athlete perspective I've always been curious of of where what takes the hierarchy and that makes that makes a lot of sense. ⁓ Jenna w we've we've almost been talking for an hour. So we we we've done the full the full spin around ⁓ the major league volleyball offseason to this point yet again. But ⁓ just curious any f any final thoughts before we wrap it up with just you know f overall thoughts on free agency and maybe as as we go forward here ⁓ into into July. I mean I feel like we covered a lot A lot I mean, we we like I said, we yapped for a good long while about free agency. ⁓ I was gonna take the time to throw one more mailbag question at you that I had seen. Who are you, Severin? Who is Severn Lavinstein? And why is he talking about volleyball? What's your b someone was asking about your background. And I figure you gotta tell the good people. You do such a good job of telling them about me and telling them about all of our guests, but there's severin' blurb. Go. Yeah. Well, I mean, ⁓ who am I is is always the eternal question, right? ⁓ no, ⁓ who I am is is someone who just loves volleyball. I mean, ⁓ was fortunate to spend ⁓ the last three years in change with with the US national team, ⁓ which is a lot of fun, you know, and and got to was so fortunate to be able to go to to Paris and and work closely with the athletes and ⁓ this sport is is just so much fun and it's it's so It's been so great along my my journey. Like I I started out in in local news as a sports ⁓ broadcast reporter, covered high school volleyball in in Texas among with man you know, many other sports. And when it was time to find something else, ⁓ USA volleyball was a was a pathway for me. And then from there over to here and and ⁓ that is if you're looking for who I am, I'm someone who just loves ⁓ this sport for what it's been able to for the opportunities it's offered me. And then hopefully it's a symbiotic relationship where I can ⁓ Bring more access from our amazing league for the fans. It's really all that I'm trying to do and and ⁓ you know, share hopefully my love and the fans' love of the sport, ⁓ you know, with everybody and sort of my my background definitely is not the the hardened, you know, volleyball vet who played and in and was doing the club scene at at five. But hopefully I think there's some room for people like me as well who fell in love with the sport maybe a little bit later and ⁓ You know, 'cause I think I think every even if we're not talking about volleyball, I think every sport needs the hardcores and also the people maybe who have a different perspective where it's being able to connect to different different aspects of it, if that makes a lot of sense. ⁓ so hopefully that answers your question. Beyond that I'm a dork and a nerd and and a guy who who loves as much of his ⁓ you know, his comic books and movie marathons as the next person. So ⁓ No, I mean I think that's great. If that's how I would sum it up. Perfect. No. And I think I think almost you're our ideal demographic for this this league, right? People who found the sport later in life who may not have played themselves, but have realized that we're doing something really, really exciting here. You know, and the game's really, really exciting. First time I ever peppered was in front of Karts Curei. And do you know how much pressure that is? That's not necessarily my favorite favorite memory. I was a little embarrassed, but ⁓ that was that was something that happened. That is hardcore. Way to lock in, dude. Talk about a job interview. Good God. We went back and forth maybe about four times. I didn't pepper with him, but he was watching. And, you know, hey, having a little bit of a back and forth was a win for me. So still please don't put me in front of a a serving machine. That won't work well for me. You know what? That is actually a segment if we ever get stuck somewhere with a serving machine. I would love to do an producer mic with a ball machine. I would love to do kind of like going around it and and you get you get the elite athlete and then you get the narp. And how how does it How much skill is it really to be able to do everything that they do? I think it's a good base point at some points. Set six on location spin-off episode. There we go. But yeah, so sorry if that's not the full answer of of who I am, but it's not about me. It's about connecting to to to you know our fans to this league. And that is that is the point. That's the point of set six, and that's what we're we keep doing with bringing you on, Jenna, as well. But you're not getting you're not escaping. ⁓ you're not leaving here without ⁓ being part of our outros that usually have nothing to do with volleyball. So as we As we close it out, I mean, with this point in the weekend, ⁓ but if anybody is listening next week, they already know wha how fourth of July has been. But I mean, I gotta start with what are your fourth plans? Okay, so we've got not one, but two boat plans. Very excited. We were gracio at Major League Volleyball, we were graciously given off for Friday, which for legal reasons, this is a joke. But because we were given off Friday, I feel the need to take off Thursday afternoon. To feel special. Cause I can't just take off when I'm giving off, right? You gotta you gotta feel a little a little exciting. But no, ⁓ here in the I may have also booked at tea time an hour early, so I'm slightly there with you. Perfect. No, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We're gonna take the boat out on the river in Milwaukee, maybe go out on Lake Michigan a little bit. ⁓ Summerfest is happening in Milwaukee right now, so it's a three week long festival that is about ten minutes from my house in downtown Milwaukee. So we'll be going down there to catch What band? I don't know. I'm just there for the vibes. And putting the pieces together on Sunday, 'cause that sounds like that's gonna be quite a lot. What about you? What what do cool kids do in California? Cool kids I wouldn't know. But what I'm doing is we're we're going down to ⁓ Newport Beach and we're gonna ⁓ going around to a couple of house parties and then ending on the beach with ⁓ where they put out the fireworks there, which is cool. ⁓ because as I just told you about my my background, I have always been traveling around the road with our national team the every time I've been in California. So I had not ever really I haven't experienced the Fourth of July in California so far. So I'm excited for that. I've heard the beach area and whether it's Newport or Huntington is the best place to be. So I'm excited for that. You know what? We're gonna have to make sure we pour one out for our girls Morgan and Stephanie, who will be on their way to Japan. Hey, I'm sure every person I've ever heard who travels for leisure to Japan has always told me it's the greatest place to be. So I'm sure they're gonna be just fine. Well I love Japan. I went I I went once and it was really cool. They'll have a great time but I still need to. I'm talking about 200, 250. God bless America. God bless our troops. And gentlemen, stop your engines. ⁓ my God. Jenna, this was a a question actually from you a couple episodes ago that I wanted to save for ⁓ when you came on here for this episode. Walkout songs. I don't think they really work in volleyball, but if we had them, if we could do that, I feel like if you could if you'd slow down the intros and we just started ever the whole festivities a little bit earlier, we did individual walkouts, you'd only probably get a section of it. But what would your walkout song be if we could do them in b in MLV? So the problem is, I think this walkout song is going to expose me as a raging narcissist and psycho biatch. I always loved the guitar intro to No One Like You by the Scorpions. Okay. Which is really bold. Just the guitar intro. But like if if we only get a section, is it just the guitar intro? ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Have the no one like you part implied. Because I know classic like that. I'm gonna go from silly to serious. This is from ⁓ when we were in Iowa and and I also have one more slightly serious question about Iowa before we completely end it. But what what you know when I was talking to the different athletes, it seems like everybody had a different approach to the offseason. When you were in the the midpoint of your playing days, what did you do in the off season? Did you just not touch a volleyball? Was there like something where it's like, I need two months of just no volleyball whatsoever? How did you approach an off season? So this dives into sports psychology. ⁓ not necessarily. But I was really, really, really wound around the axle when I played. And I do I I do believe that did not serve me as well as it should have. So I took ⁓ maybe a couple of weeks off tops. And then immediately was right back into really heavy training. I did not have a ton of access to gyms. I creeped around Marquette when I could, because I live in Milwaukee still. And I usually overcompensated by lots of physical training, weightlifting, conditioning, things like that. Did that ultimately lead to the injuries that ended my career? Quite possibly. However, I have since discovered that there are certain ⁓ you with jumping athletes, you need to maintain a certain amount of load on your joints and your ligaments to prevent injury. And so it's a toss up. I didn't for everybody. Yeah, exactly. It really is different based on how you're wired. And realistically, if I could do it now, I would scientifically find the bare minimum to keep my body humming along in good order and learning to take a break. Because the minute I tried less at volleyball I actually found better success. But that can be a whole podcast topic of things I wish I would have known when I was twenty, but wouldn't have listened to anyway because I was twenty. Hey, that's something we'll ⁓ we'll ask you for next time when we when we bring you back on. But the the last one for here before we before we wrap it up is I wanted to give you more ⁓ opportunity to talk about Iowa and just i if there were just the the overall ⁓ reaction to that that camp again and just if anybody was looking to to host their own or like how how what our plan is for the future. You are the the leader of our of our real camp initiative here. So please, you know, just ⁓ please give ⁓ plug the just the amazing work that you did, but also ⁓ any potential future plans as well for any of our audience who might be in positions to to facilitate another one. We ⁓ that was a really, really, really fun experience. And we were really honored to be able to bring that connection to Major League Volleyball to the Iowa Rise volleyball club. Now, when we're talking like this, we can speak a little more plainly. ⁓ if you want to bring our traveling roadshow, ⁓ aka you know, me, Sav with the gang, and a select group of the major pr major league volleyball athletes to your company. And what plea what is officially called the MLV Summer Series, by the way, not to cut you off, but I just wanted to give it the official name. Yes, you're right. The ⁓ God, you're right. Playing the traveling road show. Have some confidence, Rosenthal. Stand up for what you believe in. ⁓ no. If you want to bring the MLV Summer Series to your camp, to your club, we are really, really excited about this work and we really want to make pro volleyball feel a lot more reachable and not just abstract. our athletes love giving back, love the opportunity to interact with motivated kids, kids who get it. And if you're listening to this and you you you know if that's your club or not. So long story short, please don't hesitate to send us a message, honestly on Instagram. It'll get to me one way or the other. And I'm really happy to discuss how we can come out and bring that extra level of major to your club. ⁓ yeah, bringing because of course, because if you're a coach, right, you you tell your girls time and time again, ⁓ my God, stay off the net. Square to your hitter. Be stopped on defense. I'm sure you've told your athletes that a thousand times. I guarantee I'm speaking to you directly now, club director. Look, I'm making eye contact into my camera. You've told them that one thousand times. And I've been told these things one thousand times. But the minute somebody else comes by, whether it's a player that they admire or just a pro athlete in general, and they tell them to stay off the net, square to the hitter, stop on ⁓ They'll do it in a heartbeat, of course. Sometimes it just takes that different perspective for the kids to get it. And I mean, it's fun. We're having fun. ⁓ really fast anecdote. ⁓ Nick, our local operator in Iowa, ⁓ he was talking about a one of his younger athletes who was entertaining some division two offers for a while, division two, division three. And she had kind of lost that spark for volleyball. She thought, she's like, Well, you know. Maybe I'm just gonna go to school, I'm just gonna be a nar. It's it's been a great ride. I'm seventeen. It's all right, hang up the shoes. But apparently something changed in her after she came to camp because she went and she she's a setter. She took her ball out to the backyard to her setting hoops and went at it for two hours. Like that spark was back. I I don't know what Hannah Puka said to her or what she did, but But that girl found her love for volleyball again and honestly that one anecdote makes the whole trip worth it. I think that's a perfect place to to first off, to to plug the can the can't for the future and the summer series for the future, but also, ⁓ I mean, doesn't get much better than that as a as an ending point. Jenna, I mean, such a pleasure to have you back on the podcast. We know it won't be the last time. We always appreciate the work that you do behind the scenes and it's also awesome to have you in in front of the scenes or are on the scenes or in front of the camera for this as well. Yeah, in the trenches, exactly. ⁓ but thank you for joining us ⁓ on this week's episode. It was fun. Yeah, thanks, Severn. Happy to be here. Next week, everybody, we will talk to Ally Czech, the new ⁓ the new signing for NorCal. Super excited. It's a great conversation. I've seen it because I was part of it and it's good. ⁓ so that's coming your way next week. But thank you for listening to this episode of the Set Six podcast on whatever platform you choose to listen to. We appreciate you being here. Until next time, she's Jenna Rosenthal. I'm Severn Lavenstein, and thank you for listening to Set Six.