Mark Burik (00:03.178)
Hey everybody and welcome to the Better at Beach podcast. My name is Mark Burrick. I am here with Brandon Joiner and Hagen Smith is joining us today. So what we are doing in a new direction, we have taken our online program and we're taking on a lot of master coaches. So people whose minds we really respect, who we want to learn from, who we think everybody else in our program can learn from. So this is gonna range from elite players.
hagen (00:29.137)
Thank you.
Mark Burik (00:32.718)
to trainers, psychologists, nutritionists, dieticians, and coaches. And we're gonna have them on a podcast on Monday. So this is what you're listening to. This is our live stream podcast on Monday. And then the following week for our online members at Better at Beach, if you wanna go to betteratbeach.com forward slash coaching, you could check that out. You get access to our complete library and then everybody gets to post their drills, their matches, their workouts, and questions 24 seven in our private community.
and get coaching from us and our staff. But now that's going to include a guest coach every week. So if you're currently listening, last week's episode we had Logan Weber. So that means that tomorrow and Wednesday he starts coaching and he's gonna bring us through a few of his matches. We're gonna do a video analysis of his match. We're gonna select a lottery member from our members for him to do a 20 minute analysis of their match. It's not gonna be you, Brandon.
hagen (01:30.877)
Thank you.
Mark Burik (01:32.57)
And then everybody else who submits video through our program is going to get a critique on their technique, strategy, decisions, and questions from all of these master coaches. So we're super excited for this, and we think it's gonna bring a ton of value to our members, but you guys get to also listen to this free on our podcast. So.
That's everything about our online world. We just came back from Houston, had a three day camp in Houston at Third Coast Volleyball and it was awesome. Thank you guys so much, Houston, for welcoming us. The coolest part was we had people who were definitely not from Houston. We had somebody from Northern California, we had somebody from Minnesota, we had somebody who was on a work trip from Israel had just happened to line up and they're like, couldn't believe.
that we were running a camp in the city that he was working in, so he signed up during that. And we also had somebody from Washington, D.C. So it's pretty cool that our three-day camps are getting people coming in from all over the place and visiting a new city and getting some built-in friends there. If you're a men's, sorry about that, guys. I don't know how to work my electronics. If you are a men's A or double A player in Hermosa Beach,
Brandon Joyner (02:29.308)
cool.
hagen (02:45.838)
Business.
Mark Burik (02:51.258)
on February 26th to 28th, we have a three-day men's camp. So if you guys want to come out to Hermosa. Sorry, 23rd to 25th. Thank you. Oh, you guys better sign up quick. And March 8th to 10th, we have a women's AAA three-day camp. So if you guys want to join us for some intense training, you're more than welcome. But.
Brandon Joyner (02:56.318)
23rd to the 25th.
Yeah, starting this Friday. Coming. And it's a fun crew. It's a fun crew. Yeah.
hagen (03:02.996)
Teamwork.
Mark Burik (03:21.174)
We gotta get to the show. So, Hagen Smith, welcome. And what's your favorite part about volleyball?
hagen (03:31.645)
Oh, I'd have to say how like you can't really hide in the competitiveness and just in each play you have to be involved. I know you can say that about a lot of sports, but for me I found that specifically beach is something that you know you really have to test yourself in all aspects of sport. You know the physicality, the mental side, your athleticism, and then your just your volleyball skill in general.
Mark Burik (04:01.314)
Hmm. If you were to describe yourself as like a stereotypical or archetypal, archetypical mental player, like emotionally, how would you describe your mental game? Would you say that you're like stoic? Are you warrior? Are you hype man? What happens in your head? Because it's pretty exciting to watch you. I've gotten to watch you pretty up close and I've also gotten to watch you from afar. So just as a fan.
I get fired up watching you. But I don't know what's going on in your head because sometimes people thought I was losing my mind in a match and I was like really calm on the inside but trying to show everybody else that I was excited. What do you think is your archetype mentally or emotionally?
hagen (04:40.872)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (04:47.233)
You know, I'd have to say it's been, it's changed quite a bit. And, uh, right now it's very much go with the flow. You know, it's because sometimes you're going to be in a rut. Sometimes you're going to be on top of the world. And if you have giant, you know, swaying of your, your mental state, that's going to just cause a lot of chaos in your head. So what I try to do a lot right now is.
recognize each, you know, if we're down, like say, okay, yes, we're in a bad situation. Am I going to hang out here or just, you know, let it happen and move and push through? So I think if I'd have to, you know, put it in a phrase more so go with the flow.
Mark Burik (05:37.442)
Hmm, not the answer I was expecting. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (05:39.678)
Thank you.
hagen (05:41.902)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (05:43.246)
You know, I think I kind of feel that from you. I, especially over the last couple of years, um, I got to train with you a decent amount during like the pandemic years. Um, but especially recently since you've been teaming up with Logan, I, I've mentioned it to him a few times that I really liked the way that I think at least I'm, I'm excited for this podcast to get to chat with you a little bit, but, um, the way I think you're viewing the game.
hagen (05:56.082)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (06:13.082)
not only the end point rallies, but also just like how, what the way you envision your season and how it affects you mentally. I think it's, I like to go with the flow description because that's what I feel right now for me.
Mark Burik (06:27.628)
Hmm.
hagen (06:27.981)
Yeah, I've, you know, when I first got into the sand, and I think in indoor as well, I'd say I was more warrior-esque, where I was super rah rah, super like, I wanna kill the other team loud, and just trying to, you know, crush everybody, put my foot on everybody's neck. And that can work, and that did work for me a little bit, but understanding, you know, I've been in the beach.
on the beach now since 2013. No, sorry, 2017. And there's, it's frankly, the warrior mindset is kind of exhausting if you have to fight the lows or if you're trying to be on the same page with your partner especially. It is a, like I said earlier, it's an individual.
sport in the sense of you can't hide, you always have to be there, but then you also have your partner that you need to, I'll go back to this, flow with and find stuff that works the best for both of you. And I think, especially as I've played with more and more people, I find myself being adaptive to them to try to put our best self forward.
Mark Burik (07:51.506)
That's something I've always thought where, you know, I'll go to like Casey Jennings, Nick Lucena, guys who you considered and looked at as almost brawlers, you know, who when I was watching I was like these guys just scream at their blockers, tell them what to do, don't hide their frustration at all, and then if you look at that as a model, I always thought the only way you can do that
hagen (08:03.782)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (08:20.498)
is if you are lights out in your game. Like, of course, Haydn can like throw his hands out and yell at somebody for an imperfect set because he's been doing it for 20 years. He's gone to Olympics. He's been second in our country for however many years. And of course, has got a lot of firsts. But if you're not one of the top three defenders where blockers are clamoring to play with you, I don't think if you're
hagen (08:24.013)
100%. Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (08:25.59)
Thank you.
hagen (08:33.992)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (08:50.45)
a nut job, you're getting a lot of partners. And it is tough for a lot of people to deal with emotion or fire. So as a as a midsize defender, I always think you always have to be a little bit maybe more of a chameleon to try to work with more people emotionally. And maybe I'm just putting that on little or midsize guys, instead of putting it on everybody like it is a partnership.
hagen (09:16.668)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (09:18.078)
And you have to figure out that there are some parts of you that just don't work. And some parts that don't work for everybody. You know, so.
hagen (09:27.101)
Yeah, 100%. I mean, like, maybe off base, but I've seen, I don't know if you've seen this or heard this, but Kobe was describing James Harden, how he played. James Harden is an amazing player, right? But he saw him in the way he played, not as a championship caliber player, because everything had to work through him and his certain style and like holding the ball, running down the clock.
And, you know, especially in basketball, there's four other guys on the floor. And if you can score a crap ton of points every game and be lights out and have your support players do what they need to do, maybe that works, but not necessarily. No, I don't, it hasn't worked for him. And, uh, that's just one example, but yeah, you know, some guys can take the, the rah rah, like if I was just, frankly, I love.
Brandon Joyner (10:18.026)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (10:24.513)
I do love being a little bit of a psycho sometimes. It is fun. But within the flow too, or within going away from that warrior-ness, I also think about how you're envisioned by, or you're seen by the fans. Not that I care that. Like I'd rather win than care what other people think, but I also want them to have a great experience.
Mark Burik (10:27.726)
Yeah, it's fun.
Brandon Joyner (10:30.971)
Sometimes you need it.
Mark Burik (10:53.966)
Hmm.
hagen (10:54.173)
And I think that putting myself in a more flowy state and having that interaction with fans, A, is good for me. It brings me back to understanding what I'm doing is super fun. It's a game, even though there is a lot of the line for me. And then it just, it makes the whole experience better for everybody.
Mark Burik (11:19.626)
B, could you not play with the clicky on the pen for the audio?
hagen (11:19.717)
benefited me too.
Mark Burik (11:27.362)
Somebody's snapping a pin. Snapping, snapping, snapping. You nervous? Ha ha ha. Do you think that an indoor player and a beach player have to be different personalities? How much of yourself as an indoor, I mean I know that you said you're maybe maturing or just evolving in a different way from when you were younger to right now, but.
hagen (11:28.242)
That was me.
Brandon Joyner (11:34.07)
Thank you.
hagen (11:34.208)
I got some little ticks in my ass.
Brandon Joyner (11:37.01)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (11:57.11)
Do you think that you're a different type of player if you play indoor versus if you play beach?
hagen (12:04.929)
Yes and no, you don't. Not a definitive answer, but I think you can take the same type of competitiveness or mindset into both. There are some, I've known some great indoor players that aren't like who you'd even think would be good beach players come to the beach and just can't hang at all and then vice versa, right?
Brandon Joyner (12:09.034)
I'm getting an A.
Mark Burik (12:09.613)
Yeah.
hagen (12:34.425)
within the wide range, there are some, but some ways to play that translate, but not others.
Mark Burik (12:45.334)
Do you think that we'd be wiped out? Do you think 6'2 and below guys would, if finances came back into beach, do you think we'd be extinct? You know, I mean, indoor, if you look at any outside, any person who's a high level right side opposite, to be under 6'5 currently is like short, unless you're a setter. I mean, we got what Mike got, right? But isn't he, is he 6'3 or 6'5?
hagen (13:08.634)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (13:13.189)
I guess 6-3.
Mark Burik (13:14.594)
63, okay, and sure, not a hitter. Do you think that if money came back into beach and it was significant, would we be extinct? Is there something else I can help with? My series just going on.
hagen (13:29.673)
I don't think, Siri doesn't think so. It'd definitely be harder, but.
Mark Burik (13:32.888)
Yeah.
hagen (13:38.889)
And I want to say no, I think it would still be, it would make it a lot more difficult, but there's still facets of the game that these indoor guys aren't necessarily. Like if you take like Engapath, right? He's an unreal volleyball player. He's got all the tools in his tool belt, but there's some guys that need that runway. And the sand just adds so much extra variability. And if you put them,
Mark Burik (13:40.046)
understand.
Mark Burik (13:46.638)
Mm.
hagen (14:08.753)
You know, if you go play in a Norseca in the Dominican where the sand is just jumpy as all get out, they'll do fine. But if you put them in Hermosa, it changes things quite a bit. So I think the deep sand is the equalizer.
Mark Burik (14:15.918)
Mm.
Mark Burik (14:23.262)
Yeah, but that's with... But you're talking about the beach experienced players versus people who haven't played there. Like, if Matt Anderson decided that he just wanted to be a beach player for the last 15 years, would he be dominating?
hagen (14:30.673)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (14:44.489)
You know, all signs point to yes, I guess. If that's what you want. I wanna say no for myself, you know. I think, yeah, it's, you just, you have to see them in the sand.
Brandon Joyner (14:49.774)
Thank you.
Mark Burik (14:50.531)
I'm sorry.
Mark Burik (14:59.998)
Yeah. And we'd still, you know, you'd still find, I think you would still find some of them, like, okay, you can say the same thing about NBA, right? But we still have a six, three Steph Curry who like makes it happen. You also kind of consider him a phenom. Like, you just have to be that much more excellent. And when I'm coaching people who are short and who like, can't spike, you just got to figure out your game.
So stop thinking about how much shorter you are, how much taller everybody else is, but what can you do well and what can you accentuate that is going to make you awesome, going to make you a threat. And if you just decide to blame height or stature or history or blame anything in your life, like forget it, you're hopeless anyway. The only way forward or to a better level is just to figure out what you can bring and do it at an awesome level.
hagen (15:48.369)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (15:56.682)
Thank you.
hagen (15:56.737)
Yeah. If that was the case, I think, yeah, the best would rise to the occasion. And we have some very talented beach players right now. And I would say that a lot of those players would still be some of the top players. And then if we want to go even deeper, we did bring those like very talented indoor players. Then we may see another rule change, because let's just let's
Hypothesize and say that these guys come in and they're just putting balls away every side out, right? That's not as a entertainment standpoint or from an entertainment standpoint That's not super exciting to watch. It's just you know, what like five second plays just back and forth side outside out I mean, that's why the game changed initially from side out to rally scoring and then from the bigger 30 by 30 court to the smaller court they wanted to you know
Mark Burik (16:26.228)
Oh, exciting.
hagen (16:55.513)
add more rallies and make the game more exciting, at least on the men's side.
Mark Burik (16:59.19)
What type of rule change would you put in to stop points from happening? Like a half court shot, a two point half court shot.
hagen (17:06.428)
10-point line or sorry not 10-point line, 10-foot line, something like that. If you want to attack you gotta put it back there.
Brandon Joyner (17:11.126)
I feel like reverse co-ed style. Yeah.
Mark Burik (17:13.362)
Revco, my favorite. Nothing better than hitting on a girls net. Woo.
hagen (17:19.217)
Jump-serving, you have to land behind the service line. You can't jump over. That was something they, even in the indoor, they were, you know, anchoring with. But.
Brandon Joyner (17:22.858)
Huh, I like that.
Mark Burik (17:28.919)
Hmm.
Mark Burik (17:33.955)
Okay. Hmm. All right. What do you think is the most important part of a practice?
hagen (17:38.697)
I think the goal of the practice going into it, and I watched a little bit of Logan's video from last week and he talked about how we're going into practices process oriented versus result oriented. So if you're just worried about, you know, let's say we're doing a hitting drill and we're trying to hit the last two feet of the court or be should say the last foot of the court. If you're worried just on just hitting that spot.
without focusing on what it takes to get there, you're not gonna get as high level of a practice as you want. So things that Logan and I have implemented this year is, and it depends on the practice. If we're doing a very competitive practice, we'll talk about focusing on one, maybe two very specific things that we wanna work on. Maybe we can go, all right, from a side out point of view, we wanna work on this. From defense.
or when we're serving, we want to work specific or we want to highlight this one specific thing. Because if you're going into practice, you're like, I need to work on the pass and then immediately have to work on the transition into my approach, then I have to work on my hit. It just, you know, it overloads your mind where you don't get quality reps at that one thing you're trying to focus on. So I think highlighting goals or highlighting specific things that you want to work on.
and making it more specific will help you, A, naturally, everything else will just fall into place. So if you have been working on, so this is what we found out, say week one we're working on just setting and passing, and week two we're working on swinging. We've seen that our passing and setting in week two has been better just because, you know, not because we're extra focused now after a week, but because we put that focus in.
and have let it develop naturally. So simplifying, getting a little more specific and not letting the extra static of everything else affect the task at hand.
Mark Burik (19:51.038)
Static's a good word for it. Yeah, there's always that nonsense that comes in. And as soon as you... And we did this at the camp too, you know, we're like, okay, everybody's working on something. Everybody's working on a very specific skill for so long. And then it becomes, okay, now it's time to play. And everybody's like, great, now I'm free. I don't have to worry about that thing that I've just been trying to build. And I'm like, nah, dude, what? Now's your only time to actually implement it.
Brandon Joyner (19:52.766)
Yeah.
Brandon Joyner (20:14.07)
Thank you.
Mark Burik (20:20.47)
Like you just spent three hours learning how to use a hammer. Now go use a hammer to build the house. Like don't just start running around, throwing a bunch of tools around.
hagen (20:20.764)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (20:27.64)
Right.
Brandon Joyner (20:31.443)
I get it.
hagen (20:31.485)
The first time I figured that out was at UCLA. I was working on my serve. And I had one of our coaches watch and dissect what I was doing. And it was a jump serve, so I was working on tossing, keeping on my right shoulder, kicking my right foot out so I get my, so I open my hips up, keeping that hip back, then initiating my swing first with my hip.
while getting the ball on my right side or on my right shoulder instead of cross or too far away. And that, in the time it takes to serve is just an overload of information you're trying to change. And so I was going back to him and I was asking him, oh, how was this, how was everything? How was it, how was my foot, how was my arm? And he said, you know what, let's just focus on one thing. Actually, I don't know if he said, let's focus on one thing or if it was my thing. I'll give.
I'll give Brad the credit right now, Brad Keller, awesome coach. But I dissected and I focused on, you know, I did five serves with, okay, I'm just working on getting that toss on my right, or that was my main focus. Just main focus kicking my right leg out, next, then next five, hip, next five, arm. And I found that kicking my right foot out was the thing for me in that situation. And now I've taken that. So if you're coming in,
Mark Burik (21:54.318)
What do you mean, kicking your right foot out?
hagen (21:58.193)
like in the end of your approach, boom boom, I come in straight ahead instead of kicking my toes out to get around so then, you know, getting the arm back, getting the hip back. So.
Brandon Joyner (22:07.551)
uh...
Mark Burik (22:11.426)
So you're saying that you're, if somebody's listening on a podcast, so you're saying that instead of turning your feet to the right as a right-handed hitter before you jump, you keep your toes straight.
hagen (22:20.521)
Uh-huh. That's that's what I'm
Brandon Joyner (22:21.562)
like a ski stopper.
hagen (22:25.105)
So I would tend to come in straight and just crunch on my head. So that didn't give me that extra torque from my full body. So for me, it was about kicking the toes out, planting the heel, having my foot angled this way, which would then get my whole body to come around, causing my right hip to be back, then allowing me to use that full torque and finish, you know, right hand.
Mark Burik (22:27.95)
Oh. Okay.
hagen (22:54.569)
A to left pocket landing right foot forward. Does that make sense?
Mark Burik (22:57.846)
Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. So making sure that you kind of had a diagonal takeoff and indoor with your feet. So your feet are faced slightly to the right when you take off. That puts your hip back so that you can chuck it forward. And you're basically doing close to a 180 to get your torque and then ish, you know, depending on how much you're throwing at it and rotating in the air. Do you do the same thing for beach? Would you teach the same thing for beach?
hagen (23:06.601)
Correct.
hagen (23:17.125)
Roughly, yes. Yeah, yeah.
hagen (23:26.065)
Yes, and no I want to do that more but I found You know be just it's less important to add a lot of power and more important at least in my mind at the moment To be fast. So if I'm playing on the right side and this is I Will get back to what we worked on this week mark where you're talking about getting my right arm back If I'm on the right side
I like being straight on because then I don't show anything. And if I wanna come across my body, boom, I come this way and it doesn't need to be a rip because I just wanna put it on the ground fast, not hard. But that only works because my right arm comes across this way. So it kind of mimics if my shoulder is back because of.
how the arm travels. But if I'm on the left side, yes, I wanna get that left foot in front, that right foot open, and have my arm and hip back so I can come through to generate a little bit more power from the left. Does that make sense?
Mark Burik (24:40.926)
Gotcha, so as a right side, essentially on takeoff, your feet are a little bit more next to each other. Toes are facing a little bit more straight if I'm hearing you right. And then as, or as a right side, and as a left side, that left foot just ends up a bit further forward so that you're almost more open to where the set's coming from, similar to how it would be more an indoor.
hagen (24:52.826)
Yes.
hagen (25:07.033)
Yeah, and that happens naturally based on, for me, line of approach. Because on the right side, we're coming in straight. I'm trying to come in straight as much as possible. And then on the left side, I'm coming in at that angle. So, if we're just looking, like if this is the net, and I'm on the right, I come in here. But if I'm on the left, I come like this. And so technically my feet are facing same body line, but then when I'm coming in to attack,
I have more, I'm not parallel to the net, I'm just a little bit at an angle.
Mark Burik (25:45.126)
Yeah, gotcha. I started playing with that as a left side. I didn't like my cut shot. I didn't like that I didn't feel like I could hit certain angles when I was hitting from the left side that I could easily hit on the right side. And I kept wondering what was going on. So then I decided that as a left side, I would approach more similar to a right side. I wanna get close to my center, but I would approach the ball straight on.
instead of at the angle. So setters still leave me inside. I'll still create that window. But then it left my right shoulder just a little bit closer to the net as opposed to back. And so when I'm hitting it, I felt like my arm and the ball were a little bit closer to the net. And then I could have a little bit more action on top of the ball so that my hard cross turned into kind of a wrist away. And I worked really hard to get a very good wrist away power. And
hagen (26:11.74)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (26:15.121)
Yeah.
hagen (26:39.036)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (26:39.726)
I really liked how that felt straightening out my approach a little bit more on the left side when I was doing it. Crap, I was taking a pretty extreme angle inside and then the only power I had was deep cross and cross body. But like I could not hit a sharp angle to save my life. And then when I straighten it out, I was able to do a low wrist away carbon. And I just really liked how it felt because instead of having my left shoulder a little bit closer to the net, I ended up.
a little more flattened out so my right shoulder was closer. That's what worked for me just because of my body type, the way I like to touch the ball. I'm not saying that that's a recommendation for everybody, but if you feel like you have different angles or different capabilities on the right and the left, you've got to find something to tweak.
hagen (27:28.009)
100%. Yeah, I recently have been thinking about that as well because, you know, like you know, Logan and I have been experimenting playing on both sides or playing either left or right. We're still not certain. We should probably figure that out. We have a Norseca qualifier on Thursday.
Brandon Joyner (27:29.269)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (27:44.855)
Yeah, a V idea.
hagen (27:47.537)
Or if we're both good enough on both sides, you know, that's, you know, either keep them guessing or just be comfortable from everywhere. That's what I like to go into it with. But I have on the left been thinking about, because I do feel comfortable, you know, like I said, being straight on. Um, and this would allow, or this swing would allow for a little bit, like anatomically for me easier. I haven't, I haven't done it yet, but in my
Brandon Joyner (27:49.11)
You're on the wrong one. Keep them guessing.
Mark Burik (28:13.53)
Mm.
hagen (28:17.413)
You know, my life up until now playing, I've been more on the boat with coming at that angle.
Mark Burik (28:26.254)
Mm. Yeah. Pretty standard. But it's... go ahead.
Brandon Joyner (28:31.143)
I think it's cool to hear. Because I think a lot of times one of the big keys that we give when we're talking about attacking is like pull your elbow back. I've been saying recently, which has worked a little bit, is act like you're breaking glass behind you. But it's also really cool, sometimes those types of body cues don't work necessarily. And I like what you're saying a lot
hagen (28:39.921)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (28:58.794)
manipulating your feet or your approach angle to make that drawback easier.
hagen (29:05.613)
Yeah, I think that's huge. And I found that out for myself and in coaching, especially kids, right? Because, yeah, they don't, a lot of these kids don't know how to use their body. And that's, they just never been taught or frankly, like how to, I remember a couple of years ago, I had a group and a group of 14 kids and I just had them squat as low as they could.
And I think they were, I can't remember if they're under 14 or under 12, but it was a mix up from fifth grade through eighth grade, I think. And I just had them squat and not a single kid squatted the same or loaded into the squat the same. And that's based on a number of factors, but also they've just never been taught how to go down. I remember even I had a teammate at UCLA who, you know.
top athlete, top volleyball player collegially in the country, could just his mobility through his hips was just so bad. He could not, as soon as he went into like a quarter squat to go any further, he had to bend that, like bend his back forward. But the kid could just spring and jump so well. And so I think like as a coach and like in this example, as a coach, it's understand to
It's important to understand the limitations at that moment of what certain athletes or what athletes can do based on what they have because, yes, I agree that there are, if you had just a perfect piece of clay that you could mold, you'd want to do it specific ways to be anatomically the best, right? But that's not always the case. If you're...
Now, if you get the opportunity to work with somebody over a long period of time, then you can break it down. But if you want them to be the best that they can be at that moment, and then depending on how long you get to work with them, break it down, it's up to you to try to figure that out. And like one thing for specifically getting the arm back, I had a kid try to like, I told him like, try to go pick your nose, right?
Brandon Joyner (31:16.7)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (31:33.541)
And so when he brought his arm back, he would like touch his nose and that kept it low enough. Cause I tried under the chin, he couldn't do it. I told him initially to bring it back and he would just keep it high like this. So like picking your nose was the perfect level for him to then get his elbow back and the whip action of the arm.
Mark Burik (31:35.067)
What?
Mark Burik (31:41.89)
Yeah!
Brandon Joyner (31:42.94)
Oh, okay.
Mark Burik (31:59.802)
Nice. I like little weird cues. It's so, yeah, right? It's so silly how much stuff works for people.
hagen (32:00.757)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (32:01.55)
I love that experimental Cool
hagen (32:07.237)
You never know. And you never know if they're like an auditory learner or visual learner or the other types of learners.
Brandon Joyner (32:12.331)
Yeah.
Thanks for watching!
Mark Burik (32:15.434)
Yeah. No, you know, I mean, as a coach, you need just a million things in your in your toolbox. And that's there are very good young coaches that can do it. You know, they're kids that are just 21, 22. They're just great with analogies. And we'll try. But then there are those coaches that never quite make it to an elite coaching level because they just keep repeating the same exact word and no one understands it. So they never get understood and no one no one moves beyond that. And if you grow as a coach and luckily
you know, me and Brandon definitely got to play long enough where we got to work with enough players and enough coaches, where we've got this massive tool belt of different cues that you can try. So it's, I get hammered on my, not drunk anymore. I get, you know, people make fun of me or ask questions on our Instagram and I'll give somebody a tip. And it's a video of me coaching one athlete in one moment.
hagen (33:14.535)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (33:14.686)
And people are like, oh, I was taught, blah, blah. And hey, this is a 30 second clip. I'm not teaching you. This is me teaching this person in this moment. So if I'm telling somebody, hey, try this for 30 seconds, only set with your hands, because their hands are rock solid during setting, it doesn't mean I'm telling people not to use your elbows or shoulders, right? It's just this person in this moment needed this one cue.
And later on, I might give them another cue. And you're always giving athletes opposite cues in order to get to the same place on any given court. And it's funny when social media doesn't recognize or remember that, and they often have to be reminded. So if you're listening, cut me a break. What are two, because, well, let's talk about, you've got a number of brands.
Brandon Joyner (34:00.914)
Oh
Mark Burik (34:10.758)
You've got King of the Beach, which is a family brand. You've got Pac Six. You're the director and owner of an indoor club. Are you in any other businesses? You into crypto? How's it going? Hey, but we're back, baby. We are back. I only had to wait it out like two and a half years and okay, we're back to neutral.
hagen (34:20.825)
Ha ha ha! Woo! Ha ha ha! Yeah, alright.
Brandon Joyner (34:20.949)
Hahaha
Brandon Joyner (34:26.422)
Thank you.
Brandon Joyner (34:31.658)
patience game.
hagen (34:34.405)
No, the big ones right now are King of the Beach and Pac Six. And so, you know, I did a little, I did, I was successful with some day trading, right around COVID. And then, yeah, the market did its thing. And, but no, the big ones are King of the Beach and Pac Six. And, you know, and then big time focus for me is on my own game and, you know, internationally in AVP.
Mark Burik (35:04.482)
How does King of the Beach play into that? Is it events? Is it partnerships? What's the future and current goals for King of the Beach? And then really want to go into if you're indoor kids after this, we'll go if you're telling your indoor kids to play beach or not. But first, King of the Beach, what are its goals, future goals, and what's your partner?
hagen (35:22.718)
There we go.
hagen (35:26.761)
Uh, King of the beach, you know, that are right now our, our biggest seller is the, the volleyball, right? The, um, the old school ball that, you know, is, is either a lot of, you see a lot of people playing, um, either recreational players or foreman players. And that's just, it's a model of the old ball or one of the first balls on tour. And it has the raised panels and the ridges.
And it technically plays more like, I'll say natural volleyball, but gives you better grip, gives you better shots. It's harder to really put pace on the ball just because it's a little bit heavier. And then, yeah, so that's our main one right now. We've been experimenting a lot with our clothing brand and trying to find.
Mark Burik (36:06.67)
Ha ha.
hagen (36:26.821)
you know, who, who has the best capabilities to, uh, you know, print and make and all that stuff. We've, we've gone through a couple of different providers that we've liked. We haven't liked, and then just, you know, the roller coaster of all that. And then, uh, we're heavily involved with, uh, you know, king of the court. Um, and so, you know, trying to, uh, build that relationship up as much as possible into.
Mark Burik (36:42.742)
Yup.
hagen (36:56.389)
You know, we'd love to have more King of the Court events in the US. And hopefully in the coming years we are able to.
Mark Burik (37:06.494)
King of the Beach is your brand for volleyball and potentially a future company that's taking over all volleyball apparel. You and Slunkz are either going to partner up or you're going to knock each other out. King of the Court is the international event where there's timed events and people are playing. Some people call it Paradise. Some people call it Side Out. Some people call it King and Queen of the Court.
hagen (37:16.842)
Yeah, right.
Brandon Joyner (37:18.38)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (37:36.418)
fun. You've played in two, three?
hagen (37:38.251)
the
hagen (37:41.725)
Five now? Doha, Miami, Hamburg, Netherlands, four. Four. So fun. They're just the atmosphere of the events. You know, the skybox is what they call them. And I've only played in one in the Netherlands last year, Rotterdam, which Roy Field, where the skybox.
Mark Burik (37:43.275)
Jesus.
hagen (38:09.053)
set up was their full skybox set up which was just on three sides, four or five levels up, just totally encased in basically private box seats and then one side had just normal bleachers. But it just is, it's crazy. It's full party atmosphere. All the players, you know, there's it's a little bit more laid back from the competitive side where
in the sense of we're not at each other's throats and there aren't points basically associated with the world tour or for an olympic birth but yeah that will
Mark Burik (38:49.03)
And we kind of consider it like a gift, right? It's almost like you got all the other tournaments and then somebody decided to put this on its Wilco, right? Somebody decided to put this cool event on that's quote unquote, not real volleyball, but it's just fun. There's money involved. So it almost feels like a bonus. You know, I got to play in, I think I only got to play in one, but
hagen (38:58.458)
Yes.
Mark Burik (39:14.962)
and there was money on the line and you're kind of taking it seriously, but also at the same point, I can't really lose here because there's no points that's gonna knock me out of the next tournament. I'm not worried about whether I'm gonna be in the qualifier or not. And so there's no lose and all fun and everything to gain. And it's a new style, so you're not expecting anybody to really take it seriously. But man, those are fun. And do you think that it could be Olympic event for volleyball?
hagen (39:21.905)
Yeah.
Mark Burik (39:45.463)
like that format.
hagen (39:45.509)
I'd love to see it. I'd love to see it. I think it'll be tough just because of how the Olympics add sports and No at the rate that they add sport, right but you know going back Alright We're just fighting for that TV time basically Because you know we have the space no, I think no one else is using that the beach court
Mark Burik (39:56.546)
Swimming's got 19 events, running's got 23 events, come on.
Brandon Joyner (40:04.552)
Thank you.
hagen (40:13.041)
But going back to like the seriousness, I do want to say that it is very, very high level volleyball. It's nowhere, I don't think anyone would think this, but it's nowhere near like a joke of any kind. I think like it's frankly right now, probably my favorite form of event because they treat us super well. All the athletes there, you know, are.
having a great time and it's amazing volleyball.
Brandon Joyner (40:48.214)
I think they just ran, didn't they just run an event in Tana Reef or however you say it. And it was like, It was like,
hagen (40:51.641)
in Tenerife, yeah. Yeah, they're malleable too. They're smart where, yeah, they're smart. They knew all the European and a lot of the international players are out there. Why not capitalize? And they did, let's call it like a little grassroots style event where they didn't have the sky boxes but they had, you know, they had as much as the setup that they could just bare bones in it. And it went super well.
Brandon Joyner (41:04.414)
Right.
Brandon Joyner (41:11.659)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (41:21.009)
You know, there was a great turnout. Um, I think it was a great opportunity to, for all these teams to have a competitive training environment on top of their just normal training camp. And, uh, yeah, I think they're working for and with the athletes, which is awesome to see.
Mark Burik (41:43.106)
For and with is nice. I think that's currently missing from the AVP, and I'll for sure say it out loud, but I keep seeing these quotes of this high-level players are saying how successful and what a great idea, and like anytime I talk to any player, it's yeah, hopeful, but we didn't hear anything about us. No one's involving us, and then.
Brandon Joyner (41:44.518)
Yes.
Mark Burik (42:10.058)
Yeah, of course you read in Kent Steffa stuff and it's like, well, somebody step up and be involved. And until players are actually going to demand to be in the conversation and take over or abstain completely, you can't complain. You've got to do something about it. And this season, you know, we'll see how it goes again, but they renamed every event into a different, I guess, cool name. And hopefully.
We'll be getting that fall series where it's a league. Not quite sure why they called it a league, but the top eight teams are gonna get into a series of events in the fall. And that'll be big for those top eight teams. And you and Logan should be 100% in there. We just gotta get the job done.
hagen (42:42.568)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (43:04.029)
Yeah, that's not where we'll blame our coach, right? No, I'm excited to see how that works and I'm excited to, you know, have these opportunities to play. And I think that on both like you are 100% correct and I've been talking to my dad about this, that we need to work together, ADP and the players and be on the same board and not... and, you know...
Mark Burik (43:06.538)
It's 100%. Okay.
Brandon Joyner (43:07.598)
We'll remember to pay a better op-edge.
hagen (43:32.817)
We, you can't have one without the other and we all want success because like I said, it's, you know, one is successful. The other, the, the other should be accessible, successful. So, you know, we're here. I've, for myself, I've made it known that I'm, I'm ready to do what it takes or whatever they need, um, to build this sport. And I think it starts, you know,
it's important that we work as a collective.
Mark Burik (44:04.142)
It does kind of stink though that you do have a bunch of athletes who if they decide to insert themselves and whichever side you want to blame for one of the demises of the AVP where the players didn't like the contract of Leonard Armato when he put it all together and they saw how much he was making versus how much they were making. And apparently there was, I wasn't there, but a big blow up of that situation.
don't know a thing about business. They're just seeing everything from the athlete standpoint. And the more we started running better at beach and actually understanding the inner workings of business, then later when I was in those player meetings, when we were having like Zoom meetings, I guess four and five years ago, and they're telling us about the changes, I actually had real questions to ask. And they didn't have decent answers. And I was the only player who was asking that because I was one of three players that
hagen (44:50.905)
I'm going to take a few minutes to get back to you.
Mark Burik (45:03.498)
had their own business at the time and could ask decent questions. So it's definitely not a, we need every player involved. Everyone should have a voice for sure, but a special few are gonna have to step up in a big way and hopefully in an intelligent way if there is to be a change. And part of what I thought Donald and Son did pretty well was
while he listened to the players, he stood his ground fiercely when some players decided to try to step up and change things because he thought he knew better. And I mean, he got out. Don't know if he won or lost on all those years, but there just has to be intelligence brought into the room and experience. And not every athlete has that. So it's not a place where everybody...
Should have an actual influential voice. They should have a voice but not necessarily an influential voice So there's very few players currently out there that I would trust to say Yeah, let's get you in the room and let's like be having you guys make decisions and being the actual Association union leader for the players It would take a special Individual who's seeing all ends of that and you know, one of the guys who I think would see all ends of that would be Travis
He's Travis Mayweather. I think he's smart. He might be too nice to be in that position, but he sees every angle of it. And Hagen, you'd have my vote.
hagen (46:41.833)
Yeah. Tough for Travis right now. I think he'd have to play if he's moving over to the coaching side. Now I agree. I think that it's important as a collective we work together. And yes, to have to hear everything and then be able to put it. There's no necessarily bad ideas. Maybe some better ways to say it. Or better.
Brandon Joyner (47:11.03)
or at least talk about them.
hagen (47:12.405)
better umbrellas to put it under, right? You know, I've had conversations with some people at the AVP, and I've made it known that I am ready to step up if necessary and ready to, I am ready to work with all the other players on tour to benefit everybody, right? I think I have, like I said, I've understood or I've gone...
Over the last couple of years, I've had my club and worked with King of the Beach and seen a little more of the business side of things. And then I have the wealth of knowledge that, you know, my dad was that player for a long time as a representative between, you know, AVP and the players and then the FIVB and the players. And, uh, you know, we've, we've had plenty of discussions on what's worked, what hasn't worked. Um,
you know, thinks he's done right, thinks he's done wrong. Yeah, and it's, I'm lucky to be able to have that wealth of information that I can go back to.
Brandon Joyner (48:23.908)
That's cool.
Mark Burik (48:24.202)
Well there you go, Hagan for president.
hagen (48:26.589)
Ha!
Brandon Joyner (48:26.842)
Yeah, yeah, my vote.
Mark Burik (48:30.93)
But first, we get to league. Now, okay, so let's shift gears a little bit back to indoor club to beach. So you've got an indoor club, Pac Six in Pacific Palisades. How many teams are running and do you mandate that your players play beach? Or do you wish you could?
hagen (48:33.262)
nepotism.
hagen (48:55.389)
I highly encourage that they play beach. I think at this age, it's just so important for the all-around volleyball athlete to play beach. It works out that through my dad and through my brother, we all have, or more so them right now, have beach clinics and camps for youth so I can steer them that way. Yeah. Like I said, the...
At my club, I try not to the best of my ability and with working with my coaches and then when I do get out there Make sure that you know, I don't want to stick the Frankly, I love to have one of these kids but the six Eighth grader in the middle just because he's you know, six Um and not have him pass and just do middle work. I think it's super important that they do everything I mean, let's take let's talk
A great example is Robbie Page, right? Seven foot one from Rochester, New York. Very easy to just have been like, oh yeah, you're the tallest guy by far out of anybody here, let's throw you in the middle. But he was very adamant himself about, you know, wanting to play outside and pass and play defense and do all other aspects of the game. And that benefited him super well. I mean, he took that talent to UCLA as a, I don't even know if he,
ever played or was put in the middle while he was there. I know he played a little bit opposite and then mainly outside and then he went on to play international as well. But yeah, main thing I like, I wanna make known or make sure that I implement or we implement as a club is the full volleyball player, the full volleyball athlete. And then I forgot the second part of the question.
Mark Burik (50:48.038)
With your beach history, knowledge, and wealth of indoor knowledge and experience, one of the pieces of advice that I give to most indoor coaches and it is put your kids into small groups. Like you don't have to, I don't think you have to play beach. I don't think that necessarily can make you better. However, if you just spent as much time as beach players did,
passing, setting, reading, and defending, and blocking, then you would be that better player. So do you need to play beach? No, you need to get more touches, and all of the different touches. It's just, you know, theoretically easier to walk out to the beach and get three players than it is to rent a church gym, and then again, find three or five buddies that'll do it with you and you can play inside. And plus it's more fun during the summer. So.
hagen (51:23.314)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (51:32.706)
beaches.
hagen (51:44.241)
100%. Yeah, and that's basically getting nitty gritty with it. It's hard to find gym time to play, to work on indoor stuff, getting it through these, into the kids' heads that you don't need six versus six to work on your game, even though they see indoor everywhere that they see it's like, oh, it's six versus six.
That's how it's supposed to be done. Beach, you know, it is two versus two. So from that, from the mindset of a kid, they see that they're getting a full game, I guess, I'll put it that way. And then, yeah, just gym space, the fact that it is at the beach and it's much more accessible and it's just...
in the summer, it's awesome. Today wouldn't be a good day for.
Mark Burik (52:46.414)
Do you, does your club, does your club do a lot of small group? Because that's my number one piece of advice for indoor coaches is stop playing six on six with your six on six teams. It's figure out a way to like break the court in half, put them in sections, do two on two, do three on three, do even triangle drills where every kid is passing, every kid is setting, but six kids waiting for one ball plus lines behind them.
You know, it's a nightmare. No. And you got like you got a 10 year old girl waiting for three minutes to get a touch. She gets one touch and then she got to wait another three minutes. It's like you're wasting time and you're wasting opportunity for repetitions. I think by playing six on six at young ages, you know, for me, I put quarterback sleeves.
hagen (53:16.641)
Yep. And they can't pay attention. It's not their fault. No.
Brandon Joyner (53:22.827)
Thank you.
hagen (53:30.428)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (53:43.102)
on my girls, I didn't spend more than 10 minutes teaching them rotations. I told them if they were an OH one and OH two and S or an M one. And then I said row one and they looked at their quarterback sleeve and they went there on the map and that was it. Oh, I mean, I know coaches who are wasting three hours trying to get their kids to memorize rotations and I go, I don't need to do this. I need you to pass and set for hours because even if you have no idea where you are on.
hagen (53:58.919)
I'm stealing the quarterback sleeve. I love that.
Brandon Joyner (54:01.354)
Thank you.
Mark Burik (54:12.782)
court. Like, at least you can control the ball when it comes to you. And that's what mattered to me at 14 years old and 15 years old. When we get to 15, 16, 17, and then they're getting competitive. All right, we'll do some more sixes. But for me, it was all about how can I maximize touches and spend as little time in a six on six environment as we could to play six on six.
hagen (54:34.361)
Yeah. And then for even when I was, I think my, my two years of four teams, so seventh and eighth grade when I was playing, I don't know if this was on purpose or just worked out that way, but I like to implement it now is always have either right back or right front be the setter and just, especially in the beginning of the year, just have everyone rotate. Everyone gets to play outside. Everyone gets to play middle.
everyone gets to play right side. That can work based on level that the kids are on your side of the net. And then at tournaments, you know, some of these kids nowadays are just animals and they've been playing forever and they're just giant. So it's tough to go and do that. Sometimes it's tough to play against those top teams, but usually it all filters through. But no, I am a fan of
as many touches as possible. And I, even at UCLA, when we would do our indoor practices, we had a lot of mini games that we implemented going through, you know, we'd get probably the like, like hour and a half of our three hour practice, maybe just the last hour of six on six work, like mainly, but we could, cause we were at that level. But before then, you know, we would do a lot of back court play. So three,
you know, three back row, yeah, back row threes. We did, for a long time, we would do short court, two touch, and you know, you could only, depending on what we're working on, the first touch had to be overhand and the second one underhand or only one arm, whatever. And then we would put another drill, we would put the antenna, or add an extra antenna and put it in the center of the court and just play skinny court, basically.
Mark Burik (56:03.31)
That grows trees. It's the best.
Brandon Joyner (56:04.994)
One that's easily my favorite.
Brandon Joyner (56:17.836)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (56:32.669)
Um, yeah. So like, I like, yeah, that, uh, that focus on maximizing touches is, is super important for the kids. I mean, even for us, right. We need to, we can't, it's a little bit, like I said, it's a little bit easier in beach, but sometimes you have to really dive into the nitty gritty of what you need to work on and not just the broad. Everything.
Mark Burik (56:58.862)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Joyner (56:59.328)
What position did you play, Hagen? Were you a setter?
hagen (57:02.057)
Uh, everything. But I did a setting and opposite mainly. I ran a 6-2 pretty much from 14s all the way through college. So yeah, we were the...
Brandon Joyner (57:04.522)
Yeah, that's good.
Mark Burik (57:15.906)
through college, UCLA was running a 6-2. Wow.
Brandon Joyner (57:15.99)
It's like.
hagen (57:18.693)
Heck yeah, my freshman and so I came in. My junior year of high school club, I played libero and I was not a fan. It did get me recruited to UCLA. And that was the only year I didn't play setter and opposite. Even though towards the latter half of that I did play, I think I sat in that junior year. But then freshman year, I played about a month of libero at UCLA. Then I moved to full-time setter.
Brandon Joyner (57:22.191)
lucky to have
hagen (57:47.741)
Sophomore year, full-time setter, I broke my hand about halfway through season. And then junior and senior year was, we ran the six-two, Mike Amon, myself.
Yeah, so it was very fun. It was awesome.
Brandon Joyner (58:00.118)
That's so fun. I can't really imagine.
Mark Burik (58:01.774)
I don't know that, yeah. I don't know how you guys play together.
hagen (58:05.637)
Yeah, and I wish we had a little more leeway with the freedom. We started off just kind of a little bit crazy. Just any time, if our back row setter dug the ball, instead of our libero going to take that second ball, our front row setter would take it. And so there would be, early on when we started doing it, we were getting real crazy.
Brandon Joyner (58:06.985)
That's cool.
hagen (58:32.617)
where we would just run one balls to ourselves or like backslides or like push the pace just between our two, just us two. And then I think we messed up like three times in a row and then our coach was like, all right, cut it for a little bit. Yeah. But I mean, it was very beneficial for us because we always had those three attackers in the front row. The big thing was the ability to pass four basically at all times, except for rotations two and five.
Brandon Joyner (58:36.662)
Thanks for watching!
Mark Burik (58:47.95)
and stop.
hagen (59:03.476)
And it just showed the servers a different look and created more seams but less space.
Mark Burik (59:11.707)
Okay, we're about an hour, so we're not gonna take a ton of your time, but we got another couple questions just so you guys know if you're listening, if you're watching. Today's Monday, February 19th, so next Tuesday and Wednesday, Hagen will be guest coaching for our members on betteratbeach.com, which means that all of them can submit from their courses that we give them, from their workout programs and training programs that we give them or...
just from their matches and practices, they all get to submit film all day, any day, and our staff takes care of them by giving them video analysis and their next step feedback for drills and for technical and strategical fixes. So currently, we have Logan Weber this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, and next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, Hagen will be our guest master coach. And after that, we will get him an interview on the beach and build the Hagen Smith.
Master Class, which will be available for purchase from him and from betteratbeach.com. So just be on the lookout for that because this interview is just a little teaser. Now last two questions for you, Hagen, before we run. What is one thing that you do currently in your beach volleyball game that you were told the opposite or differently in the past 10 or 15 years?
or that you think just runs rampant in advice that you discovered for yourself, uh-uh. I'm doing the opposite because that's what works for me.
hagen (01:00:48.493)
All right, so I'm at a little bit odds with my dad right now. And...
Mark Burik (01:00:52.911)
Uh, trauma.
Brandon Joyner (01:00:54.57)
It was a little family drama.
Mark Burik (01:00:56.396)
Ha ha!
hagen (01:00:56.749)
Yeah, right. And, you know, the what we're going back and forth about is like defensive strategy. And specifically, he is a proponent of a lot of show and take right, like, show them one thing. Show, you know, let it be open, then go make the move. I right now am in the boat of
There are so many players out there that A, never see the defender or B, are focused on blocker first and still not really working on the defender. And I find myself getting a little lost in my head and thinking, I'm doing what I've always known, right?
It does, I know who it works against and I know when it will work, but then there are just people who it just never works against and I don't understand why. And this is the argument that we've gone back and forth on, I'm just gonna stop doing this. I know you have to show them one thing. Like I feel like in certain situations, I'm parked in the angle and then I make a read off of that or they just hit it at me and it doesn't matter where I am. So that is.
That is my one thing that I'm tink will say it not necessarily fully against, but I do trust a lot of the stuff that my dad says. He has a decent enough track record, I think. But I'm at odds with.
Mark Burik (01:02:33.687)
Hahaha!
hagen (01:02:39.141)
a little bit, a good bit, a lot of it.
Mark Burik (01:02:42.438)
And exclusivity. I think the number one is going to be able to just being adaptable to every situation. And if there is a player that it's just your three matches in and a certain style hasn't worked once, you got to figure something else out that's either going to get you touches at least and then hopefully some digs. And there are some defenses. I mean, we played a couple of guys in Manhattan completely differently.
hagen (01:03:04.157)
Yes.
Mark Burik (01:03:11.87)
And I was telling Brandon this, I was like, you know, I had those thoughts as a player. It's just when we put Hagen in different positions, he made the digs, like made the digs every time. And that was the big difference in getting a third in Manhattan was that when you were in those different positions, playing different styles of defense, you made the plays. And.
hagen (01:03:12.156)
Oh yeah.
hagen (01:03:35.121)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (01:03:36.706)
part of what we're doing with Cody and Sean and Logan was why people would recruit you or why they would play with you. And it wasn't necessarily defense or offense or serving, but it was the fact that they called you a gamer. Just played when it's on the line, made the play. And that's pretty cool, I think, to get announced that by your peer. But the fact that we had to play in one tournament.
You know, within 45 minutes of each other, an hour of each other, completely different styles of volleyball. And just based on who we're playing, each of them worked for those matches at least. So I think being adaptable is going to be the answer, but then when you're playing that different style, you got to be able to do it. And if you're saying, I think what you were talking earlier, where different people have different capabilities, like, okay, this is, this is what you would have to do.
hagen (01:04:19.005)
Huge. Yeah.
hagen (01:04:28.914)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (01:04:32.594)
if I were able to work with you for three months. But because of where you are right now and because we need to win this match, I can't ask you to do this. You just gotta figure out what tools you have right now that make it available. So, I've got that funny story from, there's one of our guys who like will set, he plays with a bunch of other 50 year olds and he's a 50 year old and they're all under five eight and he'll set somebody perfect and he'll go, hit it! And it's like.
And then he screams at them, saying, what are you doing? Dude, he's never put his fingernails above the top of the net. I don't know what you're expecting him to do at 57 years old, but like, you need to expect a new style and he needs to have a new style and he's not gonna mash because this is the style that he has to play. But it was funny that you mentioned it. That was the only thing that I could think of with that guy is that if you're not at the level.
hagen (01:05:06.396)
Hehe
hagen (01:05:24.3)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Burik (01:05:29.258)
or just the capability or knowledge point. And we had this a little bit with Sean at practice where I was trying to get him to do something and he couldn't quite figure it out. And I wasn't saying the right things and he wasn't figuring out the right thing. So we got to touch back on that. But you have to be adaptable and able, you know, in order to be a true champion, in order to be super successful. So you can adapt.
hagen (01:05:50.13)
Mm-hmm.
hagen (01:05:55.425)
Abel's probably the hardest part. Abel's definitely the harder part of it because I think physically you can change what you do, but giving yourself.
hagen (01:06:11.505)
the ability to change, that's tough, especially after being ingrained, after training for, I've played volleyball my entire life, I've done it certain ways my entire life. Luckily, I have had this long period to then adapt. It didn't work for me right away. It took me years to understand I need to make changes. But yeah, the able part of that is probably the hardest part.
Brandon Joyner (01:06:15.072)
Thank you.
Mark Burik (01:06:38.615)
Well, you got it. So, looking forward to what you guys can do this year and appreciate you coming on and helping out next week with our members. It should be fun.
hagen (01:06:50.486)
Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm super excited.
Mark Burik (01:06:52.958)
Absolutely. Hey, if there's anybody who's looking to play for your indoor club, looking to hook up with King of the beach or just wants to connect with you, could you share best ways to do that? Instagram or websites or emails or anything like that.
hagen (01:07:07.141)
Yeah, I mean, I, if you can't find anything, the easiest way to get at me is probably my Instagram, which is haggis, H-A-G-G-E-U-S. And then Pac6VB.com is my indoor club. And then Kingofthebeach.com. All through there, you can find all of our stuff. And then, yeah, if probably the easiest is just reach straight out to me, you know, I'll leave you the right way.
Mark Burik (01:07:37.422)
Coolio. Thanks, Hagen. Appreciate your time, brother. Bye now.
Brandon Joyner (01:07:38.43)
Okay.
hagen (01:07:39.999)
Thanks guys.
Brandon Joyner (01:07:42.006)
Thanks buddy.
hagen (01:07:42.877)
Peace.
