May 27, 2025 • 25 mins
Beach volleyball legend and three-time Olympic medalist April Ross joins Sarah to discuss her decision to retire at the end of last season, the success of NCAA beach volleyball, and her new role with USA Volleyball ahead of the 2028 LA Olympics. Plus, a R-E-M-I-N-D-E-R that anything can be sports.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where I'm recovering
from a Memorial Day weekend reunion.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
With all my Cornell besties.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is there anything better that belly laughs with friends who
have known you since your eyebrows were a disaster, your
taste in romantic partners was tragic.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And your liver was built to last.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's Tuesday, May twenty seventh, and on Today show, we're
skipping the need to know and getting straight to my
conversation with a beach volleyball legend. Three time Olympic medallist,
April ross I. Caught up with her a few weeks
ago to discuss her decision to retire at the end
of last season, the success of NCAA Beach Volleyball, and
her new role with USA Volleyball ahead of the twenty
twenty eight LA Olympics. That conversation's coming up right after this.
(00:43):
Joining US now she's one of the greatest beach volleyball
players of all time. A three time Olympic medalist, She's
got the whole collection, gold, silver, and bronze, A five
time AVP MVP. She was also a collegiate All American
and indoor volleyball leading USC to back to back national titles.
She was recently named the Head of Coaching for Beach
National Teams, responsible for supporting the professional development of Beach
national team coaches, enhancing their training, competition preparedness, and the
(01:06):
performance of American beach volleyball athletes on the international stage.
Mom to Baby Ross and Pop Rue. We own the
same reindeer Onesie and we partied in the USA at
a Miley Cyrus concert together. It's April Ross.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
What's up? April?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Hi? Yay?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I made it?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Technical difficulties, which, honestly, I blame you the least of
any guest we've ever had, because literally your office is
the beach. How can you be expected to have to
work with technology in a four wild place with a roof.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It's one of the challenges that we face every day.
You know, it's a hard life.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, we're going to talk about your transition to having
to be a real person who works more of a
real job, But I want to first talk about your retirement.
You officially retired last November at the end of the
AVP Beach season.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Was there a.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Specific moment when you realized it was time? Like, was
there one day where you were like, that's it, this
is going to be it.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, it was the first man I met the first
match when I came back after having a baby, so
that was well before my retirement as the first match
of the season and we get into it and you know,
my heart rate is through the roof, just because I
haven't had that adrenaline spike or I haven't been in
(02:18):
competition for I think like a year and a half
two years, and it was just so much stress on
my body and my mind and not enough Why there
wasn't I already. I just knew right away, like I
went to why why am I out here? Why am
I doing this? And it wasn't strong enough for me
(02:38):
to think, oh, this is so worth it. And I
kind of knew right then like Okay, this is this
is gonna be it. I just don't have it in
me anymore. And it was fun and I'm glad that
we did that last season. I really wanted to have
some closure for my career, play with Alex again, get
on the a VP and you know, come back after
having a kid. Was that was really important to me.
(03:00):
And I'm so happy with how Alex and I finished
the year, but like there was no part of me
when I got to the end that you know, where
I was like, oh, I'm so sad. It was like
this has been great and I'm so excited to be done.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Alex of course, Alex Kleinman, who is the teammate you
won gold with at the Tokyo Games, were you surprised
to feel that way? Like did you get ready for
that tournament thinking like, oh my god, I'm so excited
to come back after baby, this is going to be amazing,
and you were like, oh, whoa, this feels different.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah. I've been so used to being so competitive and
just wanting to win, and that's driven me for so long.
I don't think I realized how important just I mean,
and I can't say that like winning the gold was
like necessary, you know, but I think that quest for
gold was really, you know, what drove me for so
(03:53):
long and how good can I be? And I really
wanted to go to Tokyo. I was going to be
thirty eight or thirty nine. I just still felt like
I had more in me to prove and so that
was my driving force. And then after getting the gold,
it was you know kind of like okay, check and
then yeah, coming back, I just thought that I loved
(04:14):
winning so much and pushing myself so much that I
wasn't going to need that. But I you know, it
was just really obvious that I had nothing personal goal
wise to work for, you know, in the sport as
an athlete any longer. And it was just kind of
this you know, farewell tour, which was really fun. But
(04:35):
on my break, I realized like, oh, this is what
real life, This is what regular life is like, you know,
and I don't have to be crushing my body and
be dialed in three sixty five like all the time.
And it's really really nice, you know, And you get
to you get to that point where you're just working
(04:56):
so hard all the time you don't even think about it.
You're like, this is just my day to day, this
is what it takes. And then you stop and you
realize you don't have to do that, and it's hard
to get back there if you don't have a really strong.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Why Yeah, yeah, I mean all that makes so much sense.
Were the emotions of that final tournament knowing it was
your last? Were you able to play freely or was
it hard not to think about each moment being the
last like this is my last warm up, this is
my last first set, this is my last hug and
butt slap and huddle and all the things.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It was a little a little bit of both. You know,
we had a coach with us and we were getting
kind of tight because we wanted to do well, obviously,
especially in the Championships, in our last match, and he's like,
you guys just got to enjoy it. You gotta like
appreciate being out there with each other, and that kind
(05:48):
of switched our mindset a little bit, and we really
did enjoy it well at the same time, you know,
doing what we could to end on a high note.
And we hadn't really been satisfied with how we had
laid kind of the whole season. We weren't, you know,
obviously as sharp as when we were out there leading
up to Tokyo, but we did end up beating a
(06:09):
very good team in our last match together, so that
was that was awesome to end on that.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, you know, Wasserman and Mizzuno commissioned a varsity jacket
with patches like commemorating some of your greatest achievements. It
was actually made by a friend of mine, Emma McKee,
who is known as the Stitch God. She's based out
of here in Chicago. She's actually a super slice. She
listens to every show. So, hi, Emma, and that's who
they had make it.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
What did that mean to you?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
To have this thing that you can pass on that
literally visually marks all these amazing achievements that you've had.
I was.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I was so shocked when I saw that, because number one,
I've never had well, I've had Letterman jackets, but like
I never kept up with them. I didn't get all
the patches, and so like I've never worn them.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
We didn't do that in school. I was alway that
we didn't have that at my school.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah, we didn't. We kind of had it, we didn't,
you know, it wasn't really a big thing. And so
to get to the end of my career and then
have this jacket that just had it's like Letterman from
every single stage in my life, and yeah, it's amazing.
I almost feel like it'd be too much of a
flex to wear it anywhere, so I have to figure
(07:25):
out where I can wear it. But it's amazing and
I will pass it on, and yeah, I hope that
it's my family for a long time. It's it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
So I mentioned you one gold with Alex Climban in Tokyo.
It feels like you were pretty intentional about Okay, I
want to keep playing even though I've achieved the highest,
you know, the top of the mountain. I want to
come back after baby. You missed the Paris Games after
having your son? Was that intentional? Was your family planning
like if I missed the games, that's fine, or was
it like an oopsie, we timed this wrong?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
No, I mean it was I didn't know after Tokyo
if I wanted to start a family or not. And
you know, one thing led to another, and your you know,
post Olympics is always like a weird time and you
reevaluate your life, and after a couple of months it
was you know, it hit me really hard, like, oh, yeah,
(08:21):
I do want to start a family, so this is
priority number one. I didn't care what happened as far
as volleyball goes, and so thankfully, gratefully that happened. And
then you know the next thing is, well, let's you know,
Alex didn't know she wanted to come back. I had
to call her and convince her she.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Timed her baby at the same time, basically, right.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, she always knew that was her plan, so I
kind of like copied her a little bit. But yeah,
she was at peace being done, and but I called
her and I'm like, hey, what if we just, you know,
have one more season together. We didn't get to play
a lot after we won gold, and I think it'd
be really fun. So she jumped on board and it
was a little you know, she wasn't gonna go for Paris.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well, actually she.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Was a little bit on the fence after we started
again too, but it was just a wait and see
type of type of thing. And then once we came
back and I had that experience on the sand of like, Okay,
I know this isn't I don't have I don't have
the drive anymore that of what I know it takes
to get see Olympics. I just I just let it go.
(09:27):
I wasn't going to try. It didn't bother me. Yeah,
I really didn't even think about it that much. I
was just when it rolled around, I was like, I'm
so excited to just sit on my couch and watch
and share all the other teams on and it was great.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, so you're about a half year into retirement. One
of the things you mentioned was like, oh, I don't
have to beat my body up every day and be
aware of every little detail. That's the thing that we
most hear from athletes right after is oh, my gosh,
I have my own schedule, which is either a blessing
or a curse. But also like worrying everything you eat,
every workout, you do, everything you do for fun that
(10:04):
might injure you. What stands out to the most. What's
the biggest difference in your life after competition.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Honestly, the biggest difference is not worrying about how tired
I am, so like it was always a struggle, not
a struggle, but you know, a challenge and something I
focused on how do I recover faster than anyone and
how do I maintain my energy levels so that I
can compete at the best I can be? And now
(10:33):
it's like if I don't get a good night's sleep, eh,
who cares? You know, Like, I'll have some extra coffee
and it's totally fine. If you know, I can work
out five days, six days in a row if I
need to or want to, and if I'm tired, it
doesn't matter. And it's taken a lot of like stress
and anxiety away just on a day to day basis,
(10:54):
and that's my favorite thing. I'll stay up super late
and if I get five or six hours of sleep,
like it's okay. Yeah, but I'm still super dialed in
focused on my health and and try to, you know,
do things for my longevity every day. But it's more fun,
you know, because it's not it's not as necessary or
you know, I'm not, I don't have to do it
(11:16):
as much.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, So what is your relationship with training and exercise?
Because I'm also fascinated by the athletes that are like
I retired and I sat on my ass for several
months before I was like, I guess I'm gonna start moving.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
And then they're the ones that are like fit freaks.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It's just a part of life and always has been
and always will be to get up and thinking about
like what am I?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
How am I moving today? Which one are you?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I'm like the fitness freak type, but I've gone through
phases and my theory is like after college, there are
certain points in your career where you like hate working
out and if you've quit then or like, retire, then
you're gonna just want to sit on your sit on
your butt. Uh. I just got to a point where
it's such a part of my life and I realized
(12:00):
how beneficial it is for me mentally and physically. I
just feel so much better when I'm working out a
couple times a week that I have to do it,
and I love doing it, and honestly, it's yeah, it's
just as much for my mental health as my physical health.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
So, yeah, you also live on the beach in a
beautiful place. Yeah, I've actually, like I have friends who
live by yous too, So like I've been walking down
the beach and been like, hey, it's April High, April,
April's training, April's practicing, like and I'm like, oh, that's
her life.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
What a dream.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
But now, just to be able to walk out your
door and just go for a walk or exercise on
the beach is so cool.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah. I do get out and play volleyball for my
workout though now and again. Yeah, and I still love
volleyball like I love playing. And what I've learned, I
mean I kind of already knew this, but there is
literally no substitute for playing beach volleyball, like you burn
so many calori reason it's so hard and you don't
think about it because you're having fun. It's the best
(13:05):
workout you can do in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, well, you've retired from beach volleyball, but not from
volleyball itself and not from working.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So let's talk about your new job.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Paris Olympics was the first since the two thousand Sydney
Games without an American on the podium, so you are
sort of in charge of figuring out how to get
the Americans back on top.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Do you think that lack of US success in Paris
was tough luck? Was it an off year? Is there
something more at play?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think we have the talent to medal. I think
we had the talent to medal in Paris, and it
was surprising that we didn't. The unique thing about our
teams in Paris was that everyone was new, except for
Kelly Chang. It was her second time, and experience matters
(13:54):
and counts, and if you don't know what to expect
when you're going into a games, it can be overwhelming
and tough to deal with. And you know, I don't
know how those teams prepared. I obviously wasn't a part
of it, So that I think was just a little
bit of the issue. You know, Kerrie and Misty have retired.
(14:16):
You know, a lot of veteran players are not playing anymore,
and so we had a new crop of athletes going
in and they gained really valuable experience even though they
didn't get a medal, And the same athletes on both sides,
I mean it's only been a year are trending in
the direction of going again. We also have a lot
of athletes that are you know, contending for a spot
(14:39):
to get a spot as well, So there's a good
crop of athletes looking towards LA as well. And I
think should those teams go again, they'll have an even
better shot of meddling. So that experience piece is now
in there, and if I can add any more from
my own experience, that's what I'm going to be focused on.
(15:02):
And just yeah, I think there's some blind spots. You know,
I've been around the game for a long time, and
maybe there's some things that I can help these teams
with that you know, they've had the same set of
eyes on them for a while, and maybe I can
identify some performance gaps, but it was a little bit
a tough luck, I guess, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah, well, it definitely feels like there was this old
guard of like you mentioned Carrie and Misty, you and
your partners, there were these like long stretches where there
was dominance from the same couple athletes, and so now
it's going to be who emerges if someone does that
can kind of have the dynastic run that you all did.
Is there any extra pressure with the LA Games on
the horizon? It feels like there will be a lot
(15:42):
of attention because it's on home soil.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah. I mean the fact that we're in southern California,
not just the US, but southern California, which is just
such a hotbed of beach volleyballs where everybody lives and
everyone plays. There'll be a lot of eyes on us
and a lot of ex expectations. So I think there
will be some extra pressure and we've got to you know,
(16:06):
mitigate that, get on top of that. Starting now. You know,
it's a lot of mental training and you know, dealing
with pressure and stress, and we can train that. But yeah,
it's gonna be a big deal for LA twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
We have to take a quick break plenty more with
April right after this. You know, there's a lot of
players that start out playing indoor, they play in door
in college, and then they make the switch to beach.
Then there's players who kind of grew up on the
beach and get to know the game, go play in
door and come back. It does feel like, are there
(16:41):
more opportunities to play beach in college now and kind
of get on that path from the start. It feels
like there's more of that in the NCAA level now.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, the NCAA beach level program is thriving. And as
much as I love sc and alum and on, they
won four national titles in a row in beach volleyball
the last four years. They just finished this past weekend
at the Championship and TCU beat LMU in the finals,
(17:13):
and I think that was great for the sport, you know,
to have some parody and some competition. So I think
that's just going to encourage it to grow even more.
And the level of the athletes coming out of college
is so high now it's crazy. So the pipeline for
(17:33):
at least on the women's side, for beach volleyball is
well established and producing some really great athletes.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, the AVP was always a huge highlight of my weekends.
When I lived in LA I would just find out
which beach city they were playing at. I would drive
down and watch all the games. I still go when
it comes to Chicago or if I'm out in California
and it coincides. How's the AVP doing? Is it still
like the destination? Is there competition or is that still
(18:01):
the place if you play beach.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That you're playing when you're not competing internationally?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
ABEP is still our you know, domestic tour. We have
new ownership as of last year, and they're trying some
new things. We have the league now, so instead of
these big traditional events that you and I know and
you have frequented and you know, we're so fun, they're
(18:28):
having kind of franchises around the country. So interesting there
are there's a men's and a women's team for several
different cities. There's eight different cities and so they come
together four teams on a weekend and compete against each other.
So each city plays each other more of a traditional
league than we call it the league, you know, and
(18:50):
I think there's promise there. They have a partnership with
a couple different broadcasters, and it's really exciting. They played
a fifteen instead of twenty one and it's really fast paced,
high pressure. The only thing I would like to see
is for it to grow into including more teams. So
eight women's teams, eight men's teams doesn't leave a lot
(19:12):
of room for those athletes coming out of college to
break into the professional level. There's actually more opportunity international
right now, so you know, if you're new to the
pro levels, you're probably going and playing some futures, which
is like the third tier internationally on the World Tour,
to try and break into the challenger level and then
(19:33):
finally into the elite level, which is where you need
to be if you want to make the Olympics. So
hopefully ABP continues to grow. I think just still getting
their footing right now.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, that's interesting. I didn't realize they'd made the switch.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I've been so focused on the volleyball landscape indoors, and
before I let you go.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
I want to ask about that. What do you make
of that?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
The many opportunities for volleyball players now love pro volleyball,
the PVF athletes unlimited is there any part of you
that's like, Ooh, I wonder what a happened to me
if all of those had existed when I was coming
out of college.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, I'm kind of thinking there's so many opportunities to
play indoor now, Like what if I just made my
comeback for the on the innversy House. There's got to
be a spot for me somewhere. I mean, it's amazing
and we've said it for so long. Volleyball in the
United States is such a big sport for the junior
at the junior level and at the college level, for
(20:24):
females in general. Like it's it's huge, and we need
the opportunity to play in the United States professionally because
everyone goes overseas all the time. And I know, Love
did really well this year and it was fun to watch,
and they got some really good talent. It's just it's
hard when everyone does the same thing at the same time,
(20:47):
and it creates competition in the marketplace that we don't
necessarily need. I would love it if there was a
way for everyone to work together. You know, Kumba yats
going to happen, but maybe eventually, yeah, maybe eventually, you know,
I'd love to see it be I'm going to butcher this,
but like the different conferences they have in different sports,
(21:09):
you know, like love could be a conference, and.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Right like National versus American League.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, and then they come together in a championship.
I think that would be really cool. But I'm excited
for all those girls and for the athletes that get
to make money and compete in the United States. And
the level was so high. I had so much fun
watching it.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, it was really fun.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
And it's just I think going to continue to grow
as there's more publicity in marketing around it for folks
to get interested. Okay, last question, is vibes a part
of your vocabulary? My producers always saying vibes? Is that
something you say or do you stick with the good
old school volleyball.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I've never used the term vibes.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
All right, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
It's kind of growing on me. I think I might
recommend it with the youngsters. I think the youngsters like
the vibes.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I'm sure. I'm sure that's what they use. And now
it's in my brain. I'll for sure be using that
just unintentionally. I'll blame it on you. Guys.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yes, well, it's always great to catch up with you.
Congrats on the new gig, and we'll be checking in
to see how you're doing as we get ready for LA.
I can't believe twenty twenty eight is on the horizon.
Thanks so much, April.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, thanks for having me. You get to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
We have to take another break. S T C, K, A,
r U and D come on back.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Welcome back, slices. We love that you're listening, but we
want you to get in the game every day too.
So here's our good game play of the day. Watch
the script spelling be Is it a sporting event?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No? But does it feel like a sporting event? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's a parade of super cute and precocious middle schoolers
wowing us with their ability to do things that we
absolutely cannot, like spell the word absail or simatricus, and
the moments of sportsmanship.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
They will warm your heart.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I promise you could stream the preliminaries today, with semi
finals airing tomorrow night and finals on Thursday, both on Ion.
We'll link to the broadcast schedule in our show notes. Also, slices,
tell us what word you went out on as a kid.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Do you remember, because we do.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Alex's was argument and mine was aerieal I spelled the
end like the goddamn Mermaid, and I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I'm still pissed. PS.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
By the way, I was looking up scripts and here's
a script's fun fact. So in nineteen thirty, the winning
word at the Bee was fracas. In nineteen forty, therapy
nineteen seventy, croissant, nineteen eighty four, luge. Those are the days, y'all.
I would have been winning that thing. Unfortunately, things took
a turn around nineteen eighty seven with STAPHOLOCOXAI, and I've
(23:56):
been in awe of these smart little Bee winners ever since.
We'd love to hear from you, so hit us up
on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or leave
us a voicemail at eight seven two two four fifty seventy,
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review seriously to
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don't turn around, I'm you. I'm looking directly at you.
(24:18):
You have never left us a review yet, Please just go.
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interest in one racing, I am pumped to see what
the Academy can do to tell the stories of these
badass women. Pedal to the Medal, y'all. More docs about
women's sports. More coverage of women's sports, more storytelling about
women athletes. We love to see it. Now it's your turn,
rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all, See you tomorrow.
(25:18):
Good game April, Good game USA Volleyball for landing a
good one. You get in a bathing suit Weggie when
You're trying to jump up and crush a spike. Good
Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production
in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You could
find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our
(25:40):
producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers
are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm
Your host Sarah Spain
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where I'm recovering
from a Memorial Day weekend reunion.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
With all my Cornell besties.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is there anything better that belly laughs with friends who
have known you since your eyebrows were a disaster, your
taste in romantic partners was tragic.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And your liver was built to last.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's Tuesday, May twenty seventh, and on Today show, we're
skipping the need to know and getting straight to my
conversation with a beach volleyball legend. Three time Olympic medallist,
April ross I. Caught up with her a few weeks
ago to discuss her decision to retire at the end
of last season, the success of NCAA Beach Volleyball, and
her new role with USA Volleyball ahead of the twenty
twenty eight LA Olympics. That conversation's coming up right after this.
(00:43):
Joining US now she's one of the greatest beach volleyball
players of all time. A three time Olympic medalist, She's
got the whole collection, gold, silver, and bronze, A five
time AVP MVP. She was also a collegiate All American
and indoor volleyball leading USC to back to back national titles.
She was recently named the Head of Coaching for Beach
National Teams, responsible for supporting the professional development of Beach
national team coaches, enhancing their training, competition preparedness, and the
(01:06):
performance of American beach volleyball athletes on the international stage.
Mom to Baby Ross and Pop Rue. We own the
same reindeer Onesie and we partied in the USA at
a Miley Cyrus concert together. It's April Ross.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
What's up? April?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Hi? Yay?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I made it?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Technical difficulties, which, honestly, I blame you the least of
any guest we've ever had, because literally your office is
the beach. How can you be expected to have to
work with technology in a four wild place with a roof.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
It's one of the challenges that we face every day.
You know, it's a hard life.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, we're going to talk about your transition to having
to be a real person who works more of a
real job, But I want to first talk about your retirement.
You officially retired last November at the end of the
AVP Beach season.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Was there a.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Specific moment when you realized it was time? Like, was
there one day where you were like, that's it, this
is going to be it.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yes, it was the first man I met the first
match when I came back after having a baby, so
that was well before my retirement as the first match
of the season and we get into it and you know,
my heart rate is through the roof, just because I
haven't had that adrenaline spike or I haven't been in
(02:18):
competition for I think like a year and a half
two years, and it was just so much stress on
my body and my mind and not enough Why there
wasn't I already. I just knew right away, like I
went to why why am I out here? Why am
I doing this? And it wasn't strong enough for me
(02:38):
to think, oh, this is so worth it. And I
kind of knew right then like Okay, this is this
is gonna be it. I just don't have it in
me anymore. And it was fun and I'm glad that
we did that last season. I really wanted to have
some closure for my career, play with Alex again, get
on the a VP and you know, come back after
having a kid. Was that was really important to me.
(03:00):
And I'm so happy with how Alex and I finished
the year, but like there was no part of me
when I got to the end that you know, where
I was like, oh, I'm so sad. It was like
this has been great and I'm so excited to be done.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Alex of course, Alex Kleinman, who is the teammate you
won gold with at the Tokyo Games, were you surprised
to feel that way? Like did you get ready for
that tournament thinking like, oh my god, I'm so excited
to come back after baby, this is going to be amazing,
and you were like, oh, whoa, this feels different.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah. I've been so used to being so competitive and
just wanting to win, and that's driven me for so long.
I don't think I realized how important just I mean,
and I can't say that like winning the gold was
like necessary, you know, but I think that quest for
gold was really, you know, what drove me for so
(03:53):
long and how good can I be? And I really
wanted to go to Tokyo. I was going to be
thirty eight or thirty nine. I just still felt like
I had more in me to prove and so that
was my driving force. And then after getting the gold,
it was you know kind of like okay, check and
then yeah, coming back, I just thought that I loved
(04:14):
winning so much and pushing myself so much that I
wasn't going to need that. But I you know, it
was just really obvious that I had nothing personal goal
wise to work for, you know, in the sport as
an athlete any longer. And it was just kind of
this you know, farewell tour, which was really fun. But
(04:35):
on my break, I realized like, oh, this is what
real life, This is what regular life is like, you know,
and I don't have to be crushing my body and
be dialed in three sixty five like all the time.
And it's really really nice, you know, And you get
to you get to that point where you're just working
(04:56):
so hard all the time you don't even think about it.
You're like, this is just my day to day, this
is what it takes. And then you stop and you
realize you don't have to do that, and it's hard
to get back there if you don't have a really strong.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Why Yeah, yeah, I mean all that makes so much sense.
Were the emotions of that final tournament knowing it was
your last? Were you able to play freely or was
it hard not to think about each moment being the
last like this is my last warm up, this is
my last first set, this is my last hug and
butt slap and huddle and all the things.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It was a little a little bit of both. You know,
we had a coach with us and we were getting
kind of tight because we wanted to do well, obviously,
especially in the Championships, in our last match, and he's like,
you guys just got to enjoy it. You gotta like
appreciate being out there with each other, and that kind
(05:48):
of switched our mindset a little bit, and we really
did enjoy it well at the same time, you know,
doing what we could to end on a high note.
And we hadn't really been satisfied with how we had
laid kind of the whole season. We weren't, you know,
obviously as sharp as when we were out there leading
up to Tokyo, but we did end up beating a
(06:09):
very good team in our last match together, so that
was that was awesome to end on that.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, you know, Wasserman and Mizzuno commissioned a varsity jacket
with patches like commemorating some of your greatest achievements. It
was actually made by a friend of mine, Emma McKee,
who is known as the Stitch God. She's based out
of here in Chicago. She's actually a super slice. She
listens to every show. So, hi, Emma, and that's who
they had make it.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
What did that mean to you?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
To have this thing that you can pass on that
literally visually marks all these amazing achievements that you've had.
I was.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
I was so shocked when I saw that, because number one,
I've never had well, I've had Letterman jackets, but like
I never kept up with them. I didn't get all
the patches, and so like I've never worn them.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
We didn't do that in school. I was alway that
we didn't have that at my school.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah, we didn't. We kind of had it, we didn't,
you know, it wasn't really a big thing. And so
to get to the end of my career and then
have this jacket that just had it's like Letterman from
every single stage in my life, and yeah, it's amazing.
I almost feel like it'd be too much of a
flex to wear it anywhere, so I have to figure
(07:25):
out where I can wear it. But it's amazing and
I will pass it on, and yeah, I hope that
it's my family for a long time. It's it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
So I mentioned you one gold with Alex Climban in Tokyo.
It feels like you were pretty intentional about Okay, I
want to keep playing even though I've achieved the highest,
you know, the top of the mountain. I want to
come back after baby. You missed the Paris Games after
having your son? Was that intentional? Was your family planning
like if I missed the games, that's fine, or was
it like an oopsie, we timed this wrong?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
No, I mean it was I didn't know after Tokyo
if I wanted to start a family or not. And
you know, one thing led to another, and your you know,
post Olympics is always like a weird time and you
reevaluate your life, and after a couple of months it
was you know, it hit me really hard, like, oh, yeah,
(08:21):
I do want to start a family, so this is
priority number one. I didn't care what happened as far
as volleyball goes, and so thankfully, gratefully that happened. And
then you know the next thing is, well, let's you know,
Alex didn't know she wanted to come back. I had
to call her and convince her she.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Timed her baby at the same time, basically, right.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, she always knew that was her plan, so I
kind of like copied her a little bit. But yeah,
she was at peace being done, and but I called
her and I'm like, hey, what if we just, you know,
have one more season together. We didn't get to play
a lot after we won gold, and I think it'd
be really fun. So she jumped on board and it
was a little you know, she wasn't gonna go for Paris.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well, actually she.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Was a little bit on the fence after we started
again too, but it was just a wait and see
type of type of thing. And then once we came
back and I had that experience on the sand of like, Okay,
I know this isn't I don't have I don't have
the drive anymore that of what I know it takes
to get see Olympics. I just I just let it go.
(09:27):
I wasn't going to try. It didn't bother me. Yeah,
I really didn't even think about it that much. I
was just when it rolled around, I was like, I'm
so excited to just sit on my couch and watch
and share all the other teams on and it was great.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, so you're about a half year into retirement. One
of the things you mentioned was like, oh, I don't
have to beat my body up every day and be
aware of every little detail. That's the thing that we
most hear from athletes right after is oh, my gosh,
I have my own schedule, which is either a blessing
or a curse. But also like worrying everything you eat,
every workout, you do, everything you do for fun that
(10:04):
might injure you. What stands out to the most. What's
the biggest difference in your life after competition.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Honestly, the biggest difference is not worrying about how tired
I am, so like it was always a struggle, not
a struggle, but you know, a challenge and something I
focused on how do I recover faster than anyone and
how do I maintain my energy levels so that I
can compete at the best I can be? And now
(10:33):
it's like if I don't get a good night's sleep, eh,
who cares? You know, Like, I'll have some extra coffee
and it's totally fine. If you know, I can work
out five days, six days in a row if I
need to or want to, and if I'm tired, it
doesn't matter. And it's taken a lot of like stress
and anxiety away just on a day to day basis,
(10:54):
and that's my favorite thing. I'll stay up super late
and if I get five or six hours of sleep,
like it's okay. Yeah, but I'm still super dialed in
focused on my health and and try to, you know,
do things for my longevity every day. But it's more fun,
you know, because it's not it's not as necessary or
you know, I'm not, I don't have to do it
(11:16):
as much.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, So what is your relationship with training and exercise?
Because I'm also fascinated by the athletes that are like
I retired and I sat on my ass for several
months before I was like, I guess I'm gonna start moving.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
And then they're the ones that are like fit freaks.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It's just a part of life and always has been
and always will be to get up and thinking about
like what am I?
Speaker 2 (11:36):
How am I moving today? Which one are you?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I'm like the fitness freak type, but I've gone through
phases and my theory is like after college, there are
certain points in your career where you like hate working
out and if you've quit then or like, retire, then
you're gonna just want to sit on your sit on
your butt. Uh. I just got to a point where
it's such a part of my life and I realized
(12:00):
how beneficial it is for me mentally and physically. I
just feel so much better when I'm working out a
couple times a week that I have to do it,
and I love doing it, and honestly, it's yeah, it's
just as much for my mental health as my physical health.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
So, yeah, you also live on the beach in a
beautiful place. Yeah, I've actually, like I have friends who
live by yous too, So like I've been walking down
the beach and been like, hey, it's April High, April,
April's training, April's practicing, like and I'm like, oh, that's
her life.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
What a dream.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
But now, just to be able to walk out your
door and just go for a walk or exercise on
the beach is so cool.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah. I do get out and play volleyball for my
workout though now and again. Yeah, and I still love
volleyball like I love playing. And what I've learned, I
mean I kind of already knew this, but there is
literally no substitute for playing beach volleyball, like you burn
so many calori reason it's so hard and you don't
think about it because you're having fun. It's the best
(13:05):
workout you can do in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, well, you've retired from beach volleyball, but not from
volleyball itself and not from working.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
So let's talk about your new job.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Paris Olympics was the first since the two thousand Sydney
Games without an American on the podium, so you are
sort of in charge of figuring out how to get
the Americans back on top.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Do you think that lack of US success in Paris
was tough luck? Was it an off year? Is there
something more at play?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think we have the talent to medal. I think
we had the talent to medal in Paris, and it
was surprising that we didn't. The unique thing about our
teams in Paris was that everyone was new, except for
Kelly Chang. It was her second time, and experience matters
(13:54):
and counts, and if you don't know what to expect
when you're going into a games, it can be overwhelming
and tough to deal with. And you know, I don't
know how those teams prepared. I obviously wasn't a part
of it, So that I think was just a little
bit of the issue. You know, Kerrie and Misty have retired.
(14:16):
You know, a lot of veteran players are not playing anymore,
and so we had a new crop of athletes going
in and they gained really valuable experience even though they
didn't get a medal, And the same athletes on both sides,
I mean it's only been a year are trending in
the direction of going again. We also have a lot
of athletes that are you know, contending for a spot
(14:39):
to get a spot as well, So there's a good
crop of athletes looking towards LA as well. And I
think should those teams go again, they'll have an even
better shot of meddling. So that experience piece is now
in there, and if I can add any more from
my own experience, that's what I'm going to be focused on.
(15:02):
And just yeah, I think there's some blind spots. You know,
I've been around the game for a long time, and
maybe there's some things that I can help these teams
with that you know, they've had the same set of
eyes on them for a while, and maybe I can
identify some performance gaps, but it was a little bit
a tough luck, I guess, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah, well, it definitely feels like there was this old
guard of like you mentioned Carrie and Misty, you and
your partners, there were these like long stretches where there
was dominance from the same couple athletes, and so now
it's going to be who emerges if someone does that
can kind of have the dynastic run that you all did.
Is there any extra pressure with the LA Games on
the horizon? It feels like there will be a lot
(15:42):
of attention because it's on home soil.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah. I mean the fact that we're in southern California,
not just the US, but southern California, which is just
such a hotbed of beach volleyballs where everybody lives and
everyone plays. There'll be a lot of eyes on us
and a lot of ex expectations. So I think there
will be some extra pressure and we've got to you know,
(16:06):
mitigate that, get on top of that. Starting now. You know,
it's a lot of mental training and you know, dealing
with pressure and stress, and we can train that. But yeah,
it's gonna be a big deal for LA twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
We have to take a quick break plenty more with
April right after this. You know, there's a lot of
players that start out playing indoor, they play in door
in college, and then they make the switch to beach.
Then there's players who kind of grew up on the
beach and get to know the game, go play in
door and come back. It does feel like, are there
(16:41):
more opportunities to play beach in college now and kind
of get on that path from the start. It feels
like there's more of that in the NCAA level now.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, the NCAA beach level program is thriving. And as
much as I love sc and alum and on, they
won four national titles in a row in beach volleyball
the last four years. They just finished this past weekend
at the Championship and TCU beat LMU in the finals,
(17:13):
and I think that was great for the sport, you know,
to have some parody and some competition. So I think
that's just going to encourage it to grow even more.
And the level of the athletes coming out of college
is so high now it's crazy. So the pipeline for
(17:33):
at least on the women's side, for beach volleyball is
well established and producing some really great athletes.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, the AVP was always a huge highlight of my weekends.
When I lived in LA I would just find out
which beach city they were playing at. I would drive
down and watch all the games. I still go when
it comes to Chicago or if I'm out in California
and it coincides. How's the AVP doing? Is it still
like the destination? Is there competition or is that still
(18:01):
the place if you play beach.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That you're playing when you're not competing internationally?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
ABEP is still our you know, domestic tour. We have
new ownership as of last year, and they're trying some
new things. We have the league now, so instead of
these big traditional events that you and I know and
you have frequented and you know, we're so fun, they're
(18:28):
having kind of franchises around the country. So interesting there
are there's a men's and a women's team for several
different cities. There's eight different cities and so they come
together four teams on a weekend and compete against each other.
So each city plays each other more of a traditional
league than we call it the league, you know, and
(18:50):
I think there's promise there. They have a partnership with
a couple different broadcasters, and it's really exciting. They played
a fifteen instead of twenty one and it's really fast paced,
high pressure. The only thing I would like to see
is for it to grow into including more teams. So
eight women's teams, eight men's teams doesn't leave a lot
(19:12):
of room for those athletes coming out of college to
break into the professional level. There's actually more opportunity international
right now, so you know, if you're new to the
pro levels, you're probably going and playing some futures, which
is like the third tier internationally on the World Tour,
to try and break into the challenger level and then
(19:33):
finally into the elite level, which is where you need
to be if you want to make the Olympics. So
hopefully ABP continues to grow. I think just still getting
their footing right now.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, that's interesting. I didn't realize they'd made the switch.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I've been so focused on the volleyball landscape indoors, and
before I let you go.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
I want to ask about that. What do you make
of that?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
The many opportunities for volleyball players now love pro volleyball,
the PVF athletes unlimited is there any part of you
that's like, Ooh, I wonder what a happened to me
if all of those had existed when I was coming
out of college.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, I'm kind of thinking there's so many opportunities to
play indoor now, Like what if I just made my
comeback for the on the innversy House. There's got to
be a spot for me somewhere. I mean, it's amazing
and we've said it for so long. Volleyball in the
United States is such a big sport for the junior
at the junior level and at the college level, for
(20:24):
females in general. Like it's it's huge, and we need
the opportunity to play in the United States professionally because
everyone goes overseas all the time. And I know, Love
did really well this year and it was fun to watch,
and they got some really good talent. It's just it's
hard when everyone does the same thing at the same time,
(20:47):
and it creates competition in the marketplace that we don't
necessarily need. I would love it if there was a
way for everyone to work together. You know, Kumba yats
going to happen, but maybe eventually, yeah, maybe eventually, you know,
I'd love to see it be I'm going to butcher this,
but like the different conferences they have in different sports,
(21:09):
you know, like love could be a conference, and.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Right like National versus American League.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, yeah, and then they come together in a championship.
I think that would be really cool. But I'm excited
for all those girls and for the athletes that get
to make money and compete in the United States. And
the level was so high. I had so much fun
watching it.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, it was really fun.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
And it's just I think going to continue to grow
as there's more publicity in marketing around it for folks
to get interested. Okay, last question, is vibes a part
of your vocabulary? My producers always saying vibes? Is that
something you say or do you stick with the good
old school volleyball.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I've never used the term vibes.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
All right, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
It's kind of growing on me. I think I might
recommend it with the youngsters. I think the youngsters like
the vibes.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I'm sure. I'm sure that's what they use. And now
it's in my brain. I'll for sure be using that
just unintentionally. I'll blame it on you. Guys.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yes, well, it's always great to catch up with you.
Congrats on the new gig, and we'll be checking in
to see how you're doing as we get ready for LA.
I can't believe twenty twenty eight is on the horizon.
Thanks so much, April.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, thanks for having me. You get to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
We have to take another break. S T C, K, A,
r U and D come on back.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Welcome back, slices. We love that you're listening, but we
want you to get in the game every day too.
So here's our good game play of the day. Watch
the script spelling be Is it a sporting event?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No? But does it feel like a sporting event? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's a parade of super cute and precocious middle schoolers
wowing us with their ability to do things that we
absolutely cannot, like spell the word absail or simatricus, and
the moments of sportsmanship.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
They will warm your heart.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I promise you could stream the preliminaries today, with semi
finals airing tomorrow night and finals on Thursday, both on Ion.
We'll link to the broadcast schedule in our show notes. Also, slices,
tell us what word you went out on as a kid.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Do you remember, because we do.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Alex's was argument and mine was aerieal I spelled the
end like the goddamn Mermaid, and I'll never forget that.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I'm still pissed. PS.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
By the way, I was looking up scripts and here's
a script's fun fact. So in nineteen thirty, the winning
word at the Bee was fracas. In nineteen forty, therapy
nineteen seventy, croissant, nineteen eighty four, luge. Those are the days, y'all.
I would have been winning that thing. Unfortunately, things took
a turn around nineteen eighty seven with STAPHOLOCOXAI, and I've
(23:56):
been in awe of these smart little Bee winners ever since.
We'd love to hear from you, so hit us up
on email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com, or leave
us a voicemail at eight seven two two four fifty seventy,
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review seriously to
it right now, I'm looking at you, yep, yep, No,
don't turn around, I'm you. I'm looking directly at you.
(24:18):
You have never left us a review yet, Please just go.
It's real easy. Watch a Hello, Sunshine, docuseries about the
women of F one, rating two hundred thirty three out
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more equity and racing review.
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The Academy is all about the women who were heating
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badass women. Pedal to the Medal, y'all. More docs about
women's sports. More coverage of women's sports, more storytelling about
women athletes. We love to see it. Now it's your turn,
rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all, See you tomorrow.
(25:18):
Good game April, Good game USA Volleyball for landing a
good one. You get in a bathing suit Weggie when
You're trying to jump up and crush a spike. Good
Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production
in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You could
find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our
(25:40):
producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive producers
are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder.
Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Gianna Palmer. Our associate producer is Lucy Jones and I'm
Your host Sarah Spain
Host
Sarah Spain
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