December 11, 2024 • 30 mins
After missing her grandfather’s funeral while playing overseas, Mariena Hayden was ready to come home. The outside hitter from Belle Plaine, Minnesota, had settled in with Greece’s ASP Thetis, but she couldn’t miss any more big moments. Luckily, League One Volleyball called with a roster spot four hours away from home with LOVB Madison. She jumped at the chance. Since, Mariena’s enjoyed life as a pro in the United States and getting to know her new city and teammates. Most importantly, she’s been home, celebrating Thanksgiving with family for the first time since high school. She recently caught up with host Tiffany Oshinsky in the latest episode of Serving Pancakes.
Topics include:
- Home for the Holidays
- Mariena and the Amazonians
- Training Camp at LOVB Madison
- Mariena’s start in volleyball
- Winning a state title with a torn ACL
- A collegiate career of shrinking shoes
- Getting convinced to go pro
- Coming home for LOVB and family
- Mariena’s top reads
and more!
Follow Mariena on Tiktok, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
Host: Tiffany Oshinsky
Senior Producer: Anya Alvarez
Executive Producers: Carrie Stett, Tamara Deike, and Lindsay Hoffman
Theme Music: Pancakes by Eric W. Mast, Jr.
Sound Designer: Daniel Gonzalez
Serving Pancakes is an iHeart Women's Sports Production, in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, I'm Tiffany Oshinsky, and this is Serving Pancakes with
League one Volleyball. The inaugural Love season is just around
the corner, so we're talking with some of the amazing
people in the league to introduce you to the players
on the court and coaches.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And others involved off the court.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Today's episode features Love Madison outside hitter Marina Hayden. Born
in Minnesota, Marina took her talents to the University of
Nevada Las Vegas, where she played an integral role in
leading the Rebels to two Mountain West Conference championships.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
She was also named the conference's.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
MVP, Best outside Hitter, best scorer, best server, and best spiker.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
She can just do it all.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
She's also played professionally in Greece and France and now
brings her talents back to the States to play in
Wisconsin for League One.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Marina, Welcome to Serving Pancakes. Thank you so much for
being here, Thanks for having me. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I gotta start with the current topic because the women's
NCAA Volleyball tournament is happening right now.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So have you been watching it at all?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yes, last night I watched the you and I and
Louisville game, and that had my heart rates so high
because I know, I mean, I know up two of
the girls that play at You and I because they're
from Minnesota, so it's kind of cool. But they gave
the one seat a run for their money. But yeah,
I've definitely been tuned in, and I'm rooting for a
Zoo now because that's where my old head coach down
solving coaches, and she brought them to the Sweet sixteen now,
(01:22):
so I'm rooted for her and hoping they end up
making a fun little run. And yeah, definitely been tuned in.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I was supposed to go to Penn State, so I'm
kind of cheering for Penn State, although I did a
bracket and I have pit Penn State in my finals
with pitt winning, even though I want Penn State to win.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, did you do a bracket.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I didn't do a bracket. I should have, but I did.
I have my own bracket in my head. Like each
game I watch, I'm like, Okay, I want these team
to win, and when they don't, I'm like, I like,
I liked upsets though, I like the little underdog stories.
So if it's an upset, not even like a six
and three Like those ones aren't. I mean, they're kind
of upset, so like the five and four, not really
that upset, but I like the one in eight if
(02:02):
they give him a run for their money, like you
and I did the Louisville But yeah, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I feel like, no matter what or no matter who
I want to win, I always root for the underdog.
So I'm like, I love upsets. It's so much fun
and once yeah it is, all right, well let's talk
about love now.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So how does it feel to be playing professionally in
the States.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It's so it feels so great and so surreal. I mean,
I get to go home for Thanksgiving this past week,
and I haven't been home for Thanksgiving and years, just
because in college we were always playing in the tournaments too,
so I was never really home for Thanksgiving. So I
think the last time I was home for Thanksgiving was
like my senior year of high school, honestly, so it's
been like a long time. I didn't get to come
home when I was in Greece because they don't celebrate
(02:45):
over there, so it's not really a holidayd like kids
go home for, so it's great to just get in
my car drift four hours and be at home and
spend a couple of days as family, and it was
it was really nice because I hadn't been able to
do that for a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So, yeah, did you get to have like a special
from the family because it was your first Thanksgiving forever?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No, my mom was just excited and had my bed
made up and my room in the house made up.
But my brother didn't even know it was coming home.
One of my best friends from high school, she teaches
at elementary school in our hometown, and she went up
to my brothers She's like, Aeronie excited for Marina to
come home today. And she's like, wait, she's coming home today.
And she's like, oh, no, did I ruin the surprise?
(03:25):
Were you gonna surprise him? I'm like, nob was it
gonna surprise him. I probably just told him a week
ago and he forgot. But he was thrown off and excited,
and I get a phone call and like, well, were
you coming home today? I'm like, yeah, oh nice. He's
all excited though. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Now, going back to League one, there's a lot of
women in the league who played overseas professionally, what have
you found for you to be the difference between professionally
and now being here in the States, besides being able
to be home for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Right, I think the biggest differences probably like the balance
of life and volley well, you know, they're very big
one us to have, like a balance between volleyball and
our own life. Overseas, it was a lot of volleyball,
and here it's like we're in the gym from nine
to one and then we're done for the day, you know.
So they want us to make sure we fill our
(04:12):
lives with our happiness and what makes us happy, and
then that will make us perform on the court. You know.
So as long as our mind is happy and we're
filling our cups to make us happy, we'll be able
to give that one hundred percent that we have on
the court. So I really enjoy that part of being
able to, you know, explore a little bit Madison and
do some different things. And we like to go trivia
(04:33):
on Wednesdays. Some of us like to go play trivia
at this little brewing thing, So we do that on
Wednesday nights and love that. This is just fun to
do something other than buyball, you know, get to know
your teammates a little bit more. But I'd say that's
probably one of the biggest differences, is the balance between
life and volleyball and not just volleyball bullyball.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Real quick, I got to ask what was your team name?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Amazonians? Because we kept walking into the brewing place and
the lady was like, jeszu, is there like a height
requirement to be on your guys' team? And we're like,
actually played volleyball here for Love on Madison. It's just
if you see somebody walk in, they're over six feet,
they're probably on our team.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So talking about, you know, getting to know your teammates
a lot better, did you know any of them personally
before you join Love Madison?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Not really, I didn't know any of them, like personally.
I obviously knew of a lot of them, but I
hadn't played again start played with any of them. So
it was kind of fun coming in and meeting people
and saying new faces.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Were there any players in particular that you were excited
to see that they were on your roster?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Of course, Lauren and any truths. I mean, when I
saw Lauren the first day, She's like, hey, Mom, Like
hy Lauren he sees this, but no, it's just cool
to you know those household names that now you're like
part of their team. It's kind of a surreal moment.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So can you talk about a typical day in your
preseason world right now? Like, I know you said that
you're not to one and then you get to enjoy
your life, But like, what do you do between the
hours of nine and when?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
What's a typical day at Love?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I'll start when I wake up. I wreck it up
around seven twenty because I like to have my coffee
a little breakfast. As I've gotten older, I've learned that
I'm not the type that can just roll and go.
I need to like wake up and let my body process.
So I get around seven twenty, drink some coffee, eat
some breakfast, leave the house around eight fifteen ish, get
to the gym around eight thirty, get some treatment, talk
(06:29):
to the girls a little bit, and then at nine
we have like optional passing, so the pastors will go
and get some extra passing reps in and then nine
thirty is when our practices start. So then that's when
everybody's kind of in there and we're doing our thing
from like nine thirty to eleven, eleven thirty, and then
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we have workouts after that.
But then on Tuesdays or Thursdays we'll have like film
(06:54):
or something, or we're just done for the day. Usually
Thursdays is like a team meeting, like serve and pass
type of day and recovery. So it's more like a
chill day to let our bodies kind of recover a
little bit. Yeah, that's kind of what my normal day
looks like.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That sounds so nice.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I mean, I would love to play volleyball and work
out and make out my life well. Love Madison head
coach Mat fear Bringer has been on the US men's
national team staff for both the Olympic bronze medals in
twenty sixteen and twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So how has he been like as a head coach.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
I've actually really enjoyed him a lot. He talks about
the his men's teams a lot, just like their their
systems they do and everything like that, and kind of
how we can incorporate it to us because we're running
some systems and different formats in practice that most of
us have never played volleyball like that before. But he's
really big on trusting your system and doing your system
really well, and if we do that, we'll be a
(07:48):
great team. So it's kind of nice learning something from
like a men's point of view. Or I mean, he's
so tall. I didn't realize how tall he was. And
he'll be like other than that, like tipping a ball,
but he'll just be like, I'm like throwing it. That's
like geez, that like jump a little bit. But no,
it's kind of cool just to see the different his
different philosophies on the men's game and the women's game
(08:09):
and how we can kind of tie those in together.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I feel like, you know, the men's game is so
powerful and strong, and the women's game, I feel like
there's so much the neesse. I mean, the men's game
has finesse too, but I feel like you see a
lot more longer rallies in the women's for like women's game.
What are the differences that he teaches, Like what does
he use from the men's side to bring to the
women's game.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
More so, just like blocking schemes and defensive schemes, so
like we're blocking, like committing to the outside, that would
determine like what defense we're in and like, if everything
is as it should be, we should get a digger.
We should play defense around it because you know, like
in the men's game, if you're not in the right
place at the right time, it's over. You know, like
(08:49):
they're going to get a kill. So like translating that
to women's like, if we're in the right place, because
our game is more finesse and a little slower, like
we'll be able to make it move from that or
just end up being in the right place because their
block is doing the right thing too, So I'll just
kind of float together cohesive. So it's starting to come
together piece by piece and practice and then like when
we scrimmage each other. So it's kind of cold, see,
(09:09):
but yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Now you're from Minnesota, You're used to the cold.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
But how I'm not sure if I'm used to it.
I just deal with.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It, you know about it?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, So, how has it been in Madison, Wisconsin?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
You know, it's like forty eight degrees outside today, so
it's actually really nice out This past week, it's been
like twenties and like in the teens, which is cold
because I mean being in Vegas and overseas in Greece.
Theren't really snow much, so I wasn't used to the snow,
I guess. But like coming back cam like I haven't
been back for a winter in a long time. Like
(09:47):
what am I gonna do? But thank goodness, I have
an automatic starter in my car, so like ten minutes
before I go to my car in the mornings, I
started up and then when I get in there, it's
it's ready to go. So I'm like, I'm even though
we only live like five minutes away from our festill
and like I'm not sitting in that cold for five minutes.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So well, So tell me about Minnesota. Tell me about
what it was like growing up in bell Plaine and
(10:22):
how you hung your love for volleyball, well ball playing.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
It's a small town. It's about an hour south of
the Twin Cities. Like it was like six thousand people
now it's about seven thousand, So it's a small small town.
When I was growing up, I did a lot of
sports like softball, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics. I tried. I became
too long for the bars. My body would like touch
the ground before it was supposed to, so I had
(10:46):
to give that up. I did dance. I did everything
that involved like moving, just because I like to be involved,
and volleyball just kind of stuck. I think it was
fifth grade is when I decided to try out for
like my town's JO. So it was like well playing
and I ended up playing with eighth graders when I
was in fifth grade, and my first position, I was
actually a setter. They needed a setter and I was
(11:07):
tall for my age and bigger, and I just needed
to put the ball where I needed to go. So
that was my first ever volleyball position, was a setter.
So that's just kind of how it blossomed from there.
I just kind of played, and then when I was sixteen,
I went to Northern Lights because my mom's like, you're
not going until you can drive. I'm like, fair enough,
I won't want to drive forty five minutes three times
a week either. But I played well playing joh and
(11:28):
then went to the Northern Lights when I was sixteen
and kind of took off from there.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's pretty cool. How important was your mom in your
volleyball career?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
She was pretty important. She pushed me a lot, and
I think instilled that driveing into me. She just always
wanted me to dream big and not give up on
my dreams, even being from a small town. And give
a lot of credit to her when it comes to
my hard work and my wanting to be great, because
she helped me a lot with that.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And who did you look up to when you first
started playing volleyball?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I really liked watching mike A. Hancock because I was
like a Penn State fan when I was younger too,
So like watching her play. And I got a picture
with her one time after one of their games at
the U. I they were like walking out to their
bus after the game, and I asked her for a
picture and she took a picture with me. So I
really liked watching Micah mainly because we're served because she
did that like crazy top spin, So I liked watching
(12:19):
her do that.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
How does it feel to be playing against Micah?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I think it's gonna be like full circle moment, Like
she probably doesn't even know who I am, but I
will see her. I'll be like starstruck, you know, just
because I've watched her since I was probably like twelve
years old, you know. So it's just kind of cool
to have that full circle moment and just see her
play in like real time.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You can be like I met you way back when and.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Need to think she wouldn't remember. But I met you
when you play Minnesota and here's us in a photo.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You should recreate it so that would.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Be cute bus years later or whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
There you go. Now.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I was reading about your a high school career a
bit and I saw that in the state championship you
tore your acel but stayed in the game.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah that is true. Yeah that did happen. I think
I might have tweaked at me and the other girl.
It was the game point and I went up to
hit and she went up to block, and we like
hit knees and I like went down and I stood
back up, and I think my adrenaline was just pumping
and I was feeling my knee. I'm like I'm fine,
I'm fine, Like I'm not leaving this floor. Told my setter,
(13:29):
I'm like, do not set me, Like I don't know
how this is gonna go. Don't set me. She's like, yeah,
I'm not gonna set you. So then she sets our
middle a slide, the center covers it, the middle sets me,
and I go up to hit it and I'm like,
don't land on my left leg? Do not land on
my left leg? And I naturally like lean this way
when I hit, so of course I land on my
left leg and you can just like see my knee
like buckle. And a bunch of people had videos of it,
(13:52):
so I have a video of it on my phone.
But we got the point and everybody erupted and I
turned my ACL yep, Oh.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
My gosh, were you like on the floor in pain celebrating.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Or I know, I think I blacked out because I
don't remember much of it, like I'll remember it is
like waking up or just like coming to it, and
like everybody surrounded me, and I'm like, oh my gosh.
It's kind of a bittersweet moment because everybody was like
cheering and they realized like I was on the floor
like screaming in pain, and they're like, oh.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
No, those also your school's first state championship, right yeah,
m hm.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Oh, and there you are just in pain from an aclchair.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
You can hear me like scream in the video too,
like throw up the whole arena, Like you can just
hear when land like ah and then it's over it. Yeah,
it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, wow, bittersweet for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, obviously you were an amazing high school player and
then you went to UNLV, But at what point did
you know that, like you could keep playing volleyball and
playing college.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Our head volleyball coach at the time she went played
at USD for a year and then went back to Minnesota,
but she was a due one volleyball play and it
was a seventh grade I played JV and got pulled
up to varsity towards the end. And then my eighth
grade years like when I started a varsity and I
think that's when something switched like in my brain, like Okay,
(15:11):
I might actually be kind of good at this sport,
or I might actually want to play this sport. And
then my uncle and my aunt live in Las Vegas,
and I went to a camp out there at UNL
be my eighth grade going into ninth grade year, and
that's when they offered me like a scholarship to play
for them. So that kind of made me think, like, huh,
I might kind of be good at this thing, maybe
I want to continue playing it. My mom's like, I
(15:33):
know you want to play volleyball, but like you don't
understand now, But like this full ride deal is it's
a big deal, Like if you're going to go somewhere,
you want to have your school paid for. And that's
what it was. And obviously I wanted to commit right
then and there, but she's like, my gosh, go on Vegas.
I'm like, but just kept my options open. And my
softomore year, I think that's when I committed there and
(15:56):
I had to call my head coach and tell her like, hey,
we won the state championship, but it's more MACL. But
I ended up making obviously a good recovery and being
able to come back from that. But I think it
was like my eighth grade going to ninth grade years
when I was like, yeah, this is something I want
to do.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So when you tore your ACL, were you nervous at
all that maybe like volleyball was over or did you
just become more determined to overcome it.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I didn't think I fully understood like how serious the
injury was. You know, you see acls and whatever. But
then I hadn't seen like very many stories of other
people tearing it. So I'm like, oh, I'm going to
make a comeback. But you didn't see stories like back
then of people like not making a comeback or not
getting their strength back more than you do now, just
for the social media and everything. So it just made
(16:41):
me like super determined. I went up to tree out
like three times a week once I was able to
start like doing my rehab and like was in a
really like intense rehab program and they made sure I
was ready to go. I didn't like my knee brace,
and the first time I started playing it didn't wear
my brace, and my doctor like found out about it,
and he's like, you put that brace back on, like
not allowed to play without that. The first year playing back,
(17:03):
coming back and playing, I'm like, okay, fine, because I
just hated like it felt kind of restricted. But I
was confident myself that was gonna make a comeback. And
it happened that I also played AAU and when I
was younger too, and one of my AU teammates tour
ACL too, so we're both at trio like doing the
rehab program together. So it's kind of nice having a
little buddy like going through that program.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Together to ACL friends together. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Now, when you went to UNLV, you were obviously an
amazing player. What was it like being a collegiate athlete
in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
It's weird knowing that I went to school like in
Las Vegas, because people go to Las Vegas for other
things than sports. So I didn't really feel like it
was a huge steal other than like you can go
to the strip and so many things to do and whatever.
But I liked the hotels and they had like cool
restaurants and cool little bars you could go to once
you got older. But that's all I knew. Like I
(17:59):
would never know like what a college town was like,
you know if I went to Madison or somewhere where
it's like a big college town like bars. We didn't
have like bars. It was like house parties like forty
five minutes away. You know. Like it was just a
totally different scene than like a normal college like experience.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
What about in the summer when you guys had to
get to college to you know, start training for the season.
Was it incredibly hot?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, it was like that's something you get used to too,
but like not really. I mean June July August, it's
like one hundred and five to like one fifteen. Like
every single day it was just like you walk outside
and it's just like hits you like a blow dryer,
you know, like it's just like I mean, it's dry heat,
it's not humid, but it's still hot. Yeah, but yeah
(18:43):
it was. It was very warm.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Oh man, I don't think I could handle that.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Like, my shoes would shrink, like my little slides we
got from school. They would shrink because they're like plastic
and if you leave them in the heat, they like shrink.
So like I had shoes that were like this small
because I left them in the back of my car
and the heat, so they like shrink.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Wow, that's crazy. I didn't realize that could happen.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I didn't either. They looked at my shoe and I'm like,
whose shoes are these? I'm like, they're mine and their
four sizes too small?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Wow? How many pairs of shoes did you have to
go through?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
A couple? I learned pretty like the first time. I'm like, yeah,
I'm not going to just prove some shoes again, so
let's not let's not forget some slides in my car.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So when you were at UNLV, at what point did
you decide, Hey, I can go pro.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
It was like in my mind when I was younger
that I didn't want to play volleyball. After college. I
was set on like going to law school and just
kind of continuing like volleyball. When volleyball was done, it
was done, so I didn't really know much about it.
And then Kirsty Jackson she came and she was an
assistant coach at UNLV, and she was just like, I
think you should really do this, and she kind of
(19:53):
helped me with paving away and helping me learn more
about it because I really was clue aside, no idea.
You don't really much about overseas when you're back here
unless you know anybody that's over there. So she helped
me a lot with that, and after my super senior season,
I was like, Okay, let's do this thing and ended
up going overseas, and that first overseas experience wasn't the
greatest and almost made me not want to keep playing,
(20:15):
but my mom was like, I don't want you to
base this whole experience off of five months in a
bad place, like it wants you to give it one
more full season. If you don't like it, you leave,
And then went to Greece, loved it and decided I
wanted to keep playing.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
What me do you ultimately decide France and Greece.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
France, well, I was coming off of my half season.
This team at France was good for like players that
I mean, they're a pretty high team in France or
had been in the past, and Kirsty knew the team
and thought it would be a good spot for me
to go to as my first season to just kind
of dit my foot in and get the hang of it.
So you don't really have much of us say, I mean,
you get a choice. I'm sure a couple of countries,
(20:55):
but coming in like in a half season, it's kind
of hard to really pick a place. So France just
seemed like a good, like safe country for me to
just kind of test the waters. So and then Greece,
I was like, what the heck, I want to go
to Greece. Yeah, So I went there and ended up
being there at the same team for two years, and
that was I really liked Greece a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Was there like a culture shock when you got to
these clubs, especially with the way that the US treats
college athletes.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, France for sure. I mean compared to like our
college weight room, our weight room in France was like
the size of my kitchen, you know, it was way
smaller and like the trainers and stuff. You didn't have
trainers I practice every day, So it was just like
a big like change, you know, like on road trips,
we didn't have like food waiting for us before we
left for games or something, you know, like in college.
(21:44):
Definitely a big shock. I mean, considering it's pro I
think they get some. I mean, I'm sure the bigger
teams they get all the good stuff, but like better
treatment in college than in pro were like body wise,
I guess and food wise. But now in Madison it
feels like, I mean again, you know, we have a
trainer every day that's willing to do treatment. We have
food in our locker rooms, we get food sometimes after
(22:06):
before practice, So it feels like I'm in not college again,
but it feels like we're getting the same type of treatment,
which is nice.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Was that a big reason to make you come back
to the States and play for League One or were
there other reasons behind that decision?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Mainly while I was over in Greece, I loved Greece.
I probably would have stayed there again if I didn't
get the opportunity to play here. But it was more so,
my grandpa passed last January and I wasn't able to
come home for that, So that kind of was like
a deal breaker for me to come home because me
and my grandma are super super tight. God forbid something
happens to her. But if something did happen to her
and I wouldn't be able to come home, I don't
(22:41):
think I'd forgive myself for it, you know, like if
I had to quit the team or terminate my contract
to be able to come home for that, I would.
So just made sense for me to come back home
because my people aren't getting younger and my siblings are
getting older, and it's it's hard missing out on those times,
especially Christmas. Didn't get to come home for Christmas the
past two years either, so there's just time and kind
(23:01):
of pass up that opportunity to do what I love
and be able to be around my family while doing it.
So that's kind of the main reason. Love my teammates,
loved the club in Greece, loved all my friends I met,
But it's time to come back home.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, I'm very scority to hear about your grandfather. I'm
glad that you're now able to be with your family.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Let's talk about your life off the court. What do
you like to do when you're not playing volleyball. What
are some of your other passions.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I've been trying to find some new passions. I love
to binge watch shows. Right now, I'm into Peaky Blinders.
I'm kind of late to it, but.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I've been watching it, watching Fabulous.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
It's really good. It's very good so far. I like
to go shopping. That's also a problem, but more so
like online shopping, Like I will just sit in like
scroll for hours, which is bad. I like trying new restaurants.
I like trying new food. I think that's why I
liked Overseas so much, especially Grace, Like the food was
just unreal. So it's nice to try different restaurants here.
(24:17):
I've always tried to, like learn how to crochet, but
like there's not an artsy bone in my body and
I don't think I could figure it out. And my
grandma knows how to crochet like wash cloths, and I'm like,
can you please teach me how to crochet like an animal?
She's like an animal. I don't know how to do that.
I'm like, well, you know, like the basic patterns of
like the wasp Bot. I'm sure I could figure it out,
but no, I just I'm open to different things. I
(24:39):
like trying new food, going to check out, like the
trivia place. I love to read. Forgot about that. Love
to read. I'm on my what series is it? Thrown
a Glass by Sarah J. Moss. I'm on the fifth book,
so I have two books left, and it's a pretty
big series that I've read. To all the book nerds
out there, I've read all the at Guitar ones. I
(25:01):
don't know if you've read or heard about those books.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Like, oh yeah, yeah, that was like a I remember
a lot of people were reading those books.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, I read those like when I was in Greece.
I like whipped those out in probably like two months,
and they're like pretty thick books. But now, like the
problem is I get obsessed and then like I can't
put it down, and then it like I finished the
book and I haven't started the fifth one ye because
I'm like I need a little reset before I don't
do anything else except for read. But yeah, I really
like to read, especially when I find a series I like.
(25:31):
I enjoy reading.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
So I saw in your love profile that your favorite
podcast is crime Junkie, right?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Is that true? Still very true?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
That's why I listened to my drives from home to
here four hours of Prime Junkie and I can't get
enough of it. Yes, for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I think all of my podcasts for the most part,
are either sports or crime.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
How did you get into your crime?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
My mother really the watch Lawn or Special Victims Unit
when I was younger. That's still like my favorite show.
I've watched every season, every episode. And I just like
crime because my major was criminal justice in college, so
I've kind of always liked crime in that stuff, which
is I mean, it's weird, but I like to listen
to it and trying to like figure it out. Like
(26:19):
I think my dream job would be like a forensic
analysis or like something like that with like hands on
crime stuff. But I think it And I was so
scared of that stuff when I was little, Like one
time our gas station got ropped like by our house,
and I had like an extremely panic attack and like
threw up and I was like I'm gonna die, Like
it was like really bad. But now I'm like I
(26:39):
love that stuff, like listening and researching and all that stuff.
It's just interesting how people can get away within years later.
Now that there's more like science behind it, there's starting
to come out, like the whole like Jacob Wederling thing,
I mean that was that was he was from Minnesota,
so that was like a huge case in our state.
(26:59):
And when that came out, that just like broke my
heart because you know, he killed him the first day
he took him, you know. So it's just like that
poor family. But like crime, I like all that jazz.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
So you said that you would love to be like
a forensic analyst. You said that you were going to
go to law school after college, but decided to keep
playing volleyball. Do you think that when you do eventually
hang up your knee paths that you are going to
continue down this criminal justice path or do you think
you're going to do something else more volleyball focused.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I think I'll go down the criminal justice path. I
don't want to go back to school since I've been
out of school for so long, and I don't want
to pay more money to go back to school. So
I would like to be a detective. That's like one
of my top ones, but I don't want to go
through the process of being a cop before that, just
because it scares me. There's another way to do it.
(27:50):
But yeah, I think I would want to go down
that route. For sure.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
You want to be like Murushka Hagerta and for you,
I mean, she's pretty much a badass.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
So oh yeah, life goals right there. Yeah, even if
I have to act to be her, I will. Maybe
I'll go down the acting route just so I can
be a detective.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Here you go, you can play a detective on TV.
Bring your passions altogether.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, do that?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I love it all right. Well, last question to wrap
the interview up.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
This is a question I like to ask all the
girls with love and the inaugural season about to be here.
What are you hoping to showcase this season for the fans,
for the media, for the public to know about you
and about the sport.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
I'm just excited to bring volleyball to the States and
inspire the younger girls that this is possible. You know,
I wish I had this type of platform available to
me when I was younger, you know, being able to
watch pro athletes still doing their thing, you know, I
mean we had college athletes to look up to, but
like knowing there's a place after college and still at
(28:57):
home and not have to go across the seat. Is
really inspiring to me because I would have loved that.
And I just hope that we can bring back a
league to the States and show fans that we love
volleyball and it's a great sport and we're competitive and
even though we're women, we like to compete and have
some fun. And I think it's awesome even that there's
(29:18):
some moms in our league that you can like have
kids and still be like a badass on the court
and like do your thing, you know. So I'm really
excited for the whole league just to come together because
all of us are so different and just show everybody
that you can you can do your thing here and
we can we can do it.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, great answer, I love that. Well, Marina, thank you
so much for taking.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
The time to speak with me. It was a pleasure
for having me. Yes, thank you. Serving Pancakes is an
iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball.
(29:57):
I'm your host Tiffany Oshinski. Any Olivarez is our senior producer.
Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike, and Lindsay Hoffman.
Our marketing lead is Jawara Parker. Sound editing and mixing
by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
By Eric W.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Mast Junior special thanks to Marina Hayden. Stay tuned for
another episode of Serving Pancakes.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Thanks for listening.
Hi, I'm Tiffany Oshinsky, and this is Serving Pancakes with
League one Volleyball. The inaugural Love season is just around
the corner, so we're talking with some of the amazing
people in the league to introduce you to the players
on the court and coaches.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And others involved off the court.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Today's episode features Love Madison outside hitter Marina Hayden. Born
in Minnesota, Marina took her talents to the University of
Nevada Las Vegas, where she played an integral role in
leading the Rebels to two Mountain West Conference championships.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
She was also named the conference's.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
MVP, Best outside Hitter, best scorer, best server, and best spiker.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
She can just do it all.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
She's also played professionally in Greece and France and now
brings her talents back to the States to play in
Wisconsin for League One.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Marina, Welcome to Serving Pancakes. Thank you so much for
being here, Thanks for having me. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I gotta start with the current topic because the women's
NCAA Volleyball tournament is happening right now.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So have you been watching it at all?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yes, last night I watched the you and I and
Louisville game, and that had my heart rates so high
because I know, I mean, I know up two of
the girls that play at You and I because they're
from Minnesota, so it's kind of cool. But they gave
the one seat a run for their money. But yeah,
I've definitely been tuned in, and I'm rooting for a
Zoo now because that's where my old head coach down
solving coaches, and she brought them to the Sweet sixteen now,
(01:22):
so I'm rooted for her and hoping they end up
making a fun little run. And yeah, definitely been tuned in.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I was supposed to go to Penn State, so I'm
kind of cheering for Penn State, although I did a
bracket and I have pit Penn State in my finals
with pitt winning, even though I want Penn State to win.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, did you do a bracket.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I didn't do a bracket. I should have, but I did.
I have my own bracket in my head. Like each
game I watch, I'm like, Okay, I want these team
to win, and when they don't, I'm like, I like,
I liked upsets though, I like the little underdog stories.
So if it's an upset, not even like a six
and three Like those ones aren't. I mean, they're kind
of upset, so like the five and four, not really
that upset, but I like the one in eight if
(02:02):
they give him a run for their money, like you
and I did the Louisville But yeah, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I feel like, no matter what or no matter who
I want to win, I always root for the underdog.
So I'm like, I love upsets. It's so much fun
and once yeah it is, all right, well let's talk
about love now.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So how does it feel to be playing professionally in
the States.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It's so it feels so great and so surreal. I mean,
I get to go home for Thanksgiving this past week,
and I haven't been home for Thanksgiving and years, just
because in college we were always playing in the tournaments too,
so I was never really home for Thanksgiving. So I
think the last time I was home for Thanksgiving was
like my senior year of high school, honestly, so it's
been like a long time. I didn't get to come
home when I was in Greece because they don't celebrate
(02:45):
over there, so it's not really a holidayd like kids
go home for, so it's great to just get in
my car drift four hours and be at home and
spend a couple of days as family, and it was
it was really nice because I hadn't been able to
do that for a long time.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So, yeah, did you get to have like a special
from the family because it was your first Thanksgiving forever?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
No, my mom was just excited and had my bed
made up and my room in the house made up.
But my brother didn't even know it was coming home.
One of my best friends from high school, she teaches
at elementary school in our hometown, and she went up
to my brothers She's like, Aeronie excited for Marina to
come home today. And she's like, wait, she's coming home today.
And she's like, oh, no, did I ruin the surprise?
(03:25):
Were you gonna surprise him? I'm like, nob was it
gonna surprise him. I probably just told him a week
ago and he forgot. But he was thrown off and excited,
and I get a phone call and like, well, were
you coming home today? I'm like, yeah, oh nice. He's
all excited though. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Now, going back to League one, there's a lot of
women in the league who played overseas professionally, what have
you found for you to be the difference between professionally
and now being here in the States, besides being able
to be home for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Right, I think the biggest differences probably like the balance
of life and volley well, you know, they're very big
one us to have, like a balance between volleyball and
our own life. Overseas, it was a lot of volleyball,
and here it's like we're in the gym from nine
to one and then we're done for the day, you know.
So they want us to make sure we fill our
(04:12):
lives with our happiness and what makes us happy, and
then that will make us perform on the court. You know.
So as long as our mind is happy and we're
filling our cups to make us happy, we'll be able
to give that one hundred percent that we have on
the court. So I really enjoy that part of being
able to, you know, explore a little bit Madison and
do some different things. And we like to go trivia
(04:33):
on Wednesdays. Some of us like to go play trivia
at this little brewing thing, So we do that on
Wednesday nights and love that. This is just fun to
do something other than buyball, you know, get to know
your teammates a little bit more. But I'd say that's
probably one of the biggest differences, is the balance between
life and volleyball and not just volleyball bullyball.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Real quick, I got to ask what was your team name?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Amazonians? Because we kept walking into the brewing place and
the lady was like, jeszu, is there like a height
requirement to be on your guys' team? And we're like,
actually played volleyball here for Love on Madison. It's just
if you see somebody walk in, they're over six feet,
they're probably on our team.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So talking about, you know, getting to know your teammates
a lot better, did you know any of them personally
before you join Love Madison?
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Not really, I didn't know any of them, like personally.
I obviously knew of a lot of them, but I
hadn't played again start played with any of them. So
it was kind of fun coming in and meeting people
and saying new faces.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Were there any players in particular that you were excited
to see that they were on your roster?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Of course, Lauren and any truths. I mean, when I
saw Lauren the first day, She's like, hey, Mom, Like
hy Lauren he sees this, but no, it's just cool
to you know those household names that now you're like
part of their team. It's kind of a surreal moment.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
So can you talk about a typical day in your
preseason world right now? Like, I know you said that
you're not to one and then you get to enjoy
your life, But like, what do you do between the
hours of nine and when?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
What's a typical day at Love?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I'll start when I wake up. I wreck it up
around seven twenty because I like to have my coffee
a little breakfast. As I've gotten older, I've learned that
I'm not the type that can just roll and go.
I need to like wake up and let my body process.
So I get around seven twenty, drink some coffee, eat
some breakfast, leave the house around eight fifteen ish, get
to the gym around eight thirty, get some treatment, talk
(06:29):
to the girls a little bit, and then at nine
we have like optional passing, so the pastors will go
and get some extra passing reps in and then nine
thirty is when our practices start. So then that's when
everybody's kind of in there and we're doing our thing
from like nine thirty to eleven, eleven thirty, and then
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we have workouts after that.
But then on Tuesdays or Thursdays we'll have like film
(06:54):
or something, or we're just done for the day. Usually
Thursdays is like a team meeting, like serve and pass
type of day and recovery. So it's more like a
chill day to let our bodies kind of recover a
little bit. Yeah, that's kind of what my normal day
looks like.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That sounds so nice.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I mean, I would love to play volleyball and work
out and make out my life well. Love Madison head
coach Mat fear Bringer has been on the US men's
national team staff for both the Olympic bronze medals in
twenty sixteen and twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So how has he been like as a head coach.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
I've actually really enjoyed him a lot. He talks about
the his men's teams a lot, just like their their
systems they do and everything like that, and kind of
how we can incorporate it to us because we're running
some systems and different formats in practice that most of
us have never played volleyball like that before. But he's
really big on trusting your system and doing your system
really well, and if we do that, we'll be a
(07:48):
great team. So it's kind of nice learning something from
like a men's point of view. Or I mean, he's
so tall. I didn't realize how tall he was. And
he'll be like other than that, like tipping a ball,
but he'll just be like, I'm like throwing it. That's
like geez, that like jump a little bit. But no,
it's kind of cool just to see the different his
different philosophies on the men's game and the women's game
(08:09):
and how we can kind of tie those in together.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I feel like, you know, the men's game is so
powerful and strong, and the women's game, I feel like
there's so much the neesse. I mean, the men's game
has finesse too, but I feel like you see a
lot more longer rallies in the women's for like women's game.
What are the differences that he teaches, Like what does
he use from the men's side to bring to the
women's game.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
More so, just like blocking schemes and defensive schemes, so
like we're blocking, like committing to the outside, that would
determine like what defense we're in and like, if everything
is as it should be, we should get a digger.
We should play defense around it because you know, like
in the men's game, if you're not in the right
place at the right time, it's over. You know, like
(08:49):
they're going to get a kill. So like translating that
to women's like, if we're in the right place, because
our game is more finesse and a little slower, like
we'll be able to make it move from that or
just end up being in the right place because their
block is doing the right thing too, So I'll just
kind of float together cohesive. So it's starting to come
together piece by piece and practice and then like when
we scrimmage each other. So it's kind of cold, see,
(09:09):
but yeah, that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Now you're from Minnesota, You're used to the cold.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
But how I'm not sure if I'm used to it.
I just deal with.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It, you know about it?
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, So, how has it been in Madison, Wisconsin?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
You know, it's like forty eight degrees outside today, so
it's actually really nice out This past week, it's been
like twenties and like in the teens, which is cold
because I mean being in Vegas and overseas in Greece.
Theren't really snow much, so I wasn't used to the snow,
I guess. But like coming back cam like I haven't
been back for a winter in a long time. Like
(09:47):
what am I gonna do? But thank goodness, I have
an automatic starter in my car, so like ten minutes
before I go to my car in the mornings, I
started up and then when I get in there, it's
it's ready to go. So I'm like, I'm even though
we only live like five minutes away from our festill
and like I'm not sitting in that cold for five minutes.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So well, So tell me about Minnesota. Tell me about
what it was like growing up in bell Plaine and
(10:22):
how you hung your love for volleyball, well ball playing.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
It's a small town. It's about an hour south of
the Twin Cities. Like it was like six thousand people
now it's about seven thousand, So it's a small small town.
When I was growing up, I did a lot of
sports like softball, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics. I tried. I became
too long for the bars. My body would like touch
the ground before it was supposed to, so I had
(10:46):
to give that up. I did dance. I did everything
that involved like moving, just because I like to be involved,
and volleyball just kind of stuck. I think it was
fifth grade is when I decided to try out for
like my town's JO. So it was like well playing
and I ended up playing with eighth graders when I
was in fifth grade, and my first position, I was
actually a setter. They needed a setter and I was
(11:07):
tall for my age and bigger, and I just needed
to put the ball where I needed to go. So
that was my first ever volleyball position, was a setter.
So that's just kind of how it blossomed from there.
I just kind of played, and then when I was sixteen,
I went to Northern Lights because my mom's like, you're
not going until you can drive. I'm like, fair enough,
I won't want to drive forty five minutes three times
a week either. But I played well playing joh and
(11:28):
then went to the Northern Lights when I was sixteen
and kind of took off from there.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
That's pretty cool. How important was your mom in your
volleyball career?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
She was pretty important. She pushed me a lot, and
I think instilled that driveing into me. She just always
wanted me to dream big and not give up on
my dreams, even being from a small town. And give
a lot of credit to her when it comes to
my hard work and my wanting to be great, because
she helped me a lot with that.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And who did you look up to when you first
started playing volleyball?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I really liked watching mike A. Hancock because I was
like a Penn State fan when I was younger too,
So like watching her play. And I got a picture
with her one time after one of their games at
the U. I they were like walking out to their
bus after the game, and I asked her for a
picture and she took a picture with me. So I
really liked watching Micah mainly because we're served because she
did that like crazy top spin, So I liked watching
(12:19):
her do that.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
How does it feel to be playing against Micah?
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I think it's gonna be like full circle moment, Like
she probably doesn't even know who I am, but I
will see her. I'll be like starstruck, you know, just
because I've watched her since I was probably like twelve
years old, you know. So it's just kind of cool
to have that full circle moment and just see her
play in like real time.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You can be like I met you way back when and.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Need to think she wouldn't remember. But I met you
when you play Minnesota and here's us in a photo.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You should recreate it so that would.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Be cute bus years later or whatever it was.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
There you go. Now.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I was reading about your a high school career a
bit and I saw that in the state championship you
tore your acel but stayed in the game.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yeah that is true. Yeah that did happen. I think
I might have tweaked at me and the other girl.
It was the game point and I went up to
hit and she went up to block, and we like
hit knees and I like went down and I stood
back up, and I think my adrenaline was just pumping
and I was feeling my knee. I'm like I'm fine,
I'm fine, Like I'm not leaving this floor. Told my setter,
(13:29):
I'm like, do not set me, Like I don't know
how this is gonna go. Don't set me. She's like, yeah,
I'm not gonna set you. So then she sets our
middle a slide, the center covers it, the middle sets me,
and I go up to hit it and I'm like,
don't land on my left leg? Do not land on
my left leg? And I naturally like lean this way
when I hit, so of course I land on my
left leg and you can just like see my knee
like buckle. And a bunch of people had videos of it,
(13:52):
so I have a video of it on my phone.
But we got the point and everybody erupted and I
turned my ACL yep, Oh.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
My gosh, were you like on the floor in pain celebrating.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Or I know, I think I blacked out because I
don't remember much of it, like I'll remember it is
like waking up or just like coming to it, and
like everybody surrounded me, and I'm like, oh my gosh.
It's kind of a bittersweet moment because everybody was like
cheering and they realized like I was on the floor
like screaming in pain, and they're like, oh.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
No, those also your school's first state championship, right yeah,
m hm.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Oh, and there you are just in pain from an aclchair.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
You can hear me like scream in the video too,
like throw up the whole arena, Like you can just
hear when land like ah and then it's over it. Yeah,
it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, wow, bittersweet for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
No, obviously you were an amazing high school player and
then you went to UNLV, But at what point did
you know that, like you could keep playing volleyball and
playing college.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Our head volleyball coach at the time she went played
at USD for a year and then went back to Minnesota,
but she was a due one volleyball play and it
was a seventh grade I played JV and got pulled
up to varsity towards the end. And then my eighth
grade years like when I started a varsity and I
think that's when something switched like in my brain, like Okay,
(15:11):
I might actually be kind of good at this sport,
or I might actually want to play this sport. And
then my uncle and my aunt live in Las Vegas,
and I went to a camp out there at UNL
be my eighth grade going into ninth grade year, and
that's when they offered me like a scholarship to play
for them. So that kind of made me think, like, huh,
I might kind of be good at this thing, maybe
I want to continue playing it. My mom's like, I
(15:33):
know you want to play volleyball, but like you don't
understand now, But like this full ride deal is it's
a big deal, Like if you're going to go somewhere,
you want to have your school paid for. And that's
what it was. And obviously I wanted to commit right
then and there, but she's like, my gosh, go on Vegas.
I'm like, but just kept my options open. And my
softomore year, I think that's when I committed there and
(15:56):
I had to call my head coach and tell her like, hey,
we won the state championship, but it's more MACL. But
I ended up making obviously a good recovery and being
able to come back from that. But I think it
was like my eighth grade going to ninth grade years
when I was like, yeah, this is something I want
to do.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So when you tore your ACL, were you nervous at
all that maybe like volleyball was over or did you
just become more determined to overcome it.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I didn't think I fully understood like how serious the
injury was. You know, you see acls and whatever. But
then I hadn't seen like very many stories of other
people tearing it. So I'm like, oh, I'm going to
make a comeback. But you didn't see stories like back
then of people like not making a comeback or not
getting their strength back more than you do now, just
for the social media and everything. So it just made
(16:41):
me like super determined. I went up to tree out
like three times a week once I was able to
start like doing my rehab and like was in a
really like intense rehab program and they made sure I
was ready to go. I didn't like my knee brace,
and the first time I started playing it didn't wear
my brace, and my doctor like found out about it,
and he's like, you put that brace back on, like
not allowed to play without that. The first year playing back,
(17:03):
coming back and playing, I'm like, okay, fine, because I
just hated like it felt kind of restricted. But I
was confident myself that was gonna make a comeback. And
it happened that I also played AAU and when I
was younger too, and one of my AU teammates tour
ACL too, so we're both at trio like doing the
rehab program together. So it's kind of nice having a
little buddy like going through that program.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Together to ACL friends together. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Now, when you went to UNLV, you were obviously an
amazing player. What was it like being a collegiate athlete
in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
It's weird knowing that I went to school like in
Las Vegas, because people go to Las Vegas for other
things than sports. So I didn't really feel like it
was a huge steal other than like you can go
to the strip and so many things to do and whatever.
But I liked the hotels and they had like cool
restaurants and cool little bars you could go to once
you got older. But that's all I knew. Like I
(17:59):
would never know like what a college town was like,
you know if I went to Madison or somewhere where
it's like a big college town like bars. We didn't
have like bars. It was like house parties like forty
five minutes away. You know. Like it was just a
totally different scene than like a normal college like experience.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
What about in the summer when you guys had to
get to college to you know, start training for the season.
Was it incredibly hot?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Yeah, it was like that's something you get used to too,
but like not really. I mean June July August, it's
like one hundred and five to like one fifteen. Like
every single day it was just like you walk outside
and it's just like hits you like a blow dryer,
you know, like it's just like I mean, it's dry heat,
it's not humid, but it's still hot. Yeah, but yeah
(18:43):
it was. It was very warm.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Oh man, I don't think I could handle that.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Like, my shoes would shrink, like my little slides we
got from school. They would shrink because they're like plastic
and if you leave them in the heat, they like shrink.
So like I had shoes that were like this small
because I left them in the back of my car
and the heat, so they like shrink.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Wow, that's crazy. I didn't realize that could happen.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I didn't either. They looked at my shoe and I'm like,
whose shoes are these? I'm like, they're mine and their
four sizes too small?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Wow? How many pairs of shoes did you have to
go through?
Speaker 3 (19:20):
A couple? I learned pretty like the first time. I'm like, yeah,
I'm not going to just prove some shoes again, so
let's not let's not forget some slides in my car.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So when you were at UNLV, at what point did
you decide, Hey, I can go pro.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
It was like in my mind when I was younger
that I didn't want to play volleyball. After college. I
was set on like going to law school and just
kind of continuing like volleyball. When volleyball was done, it
was done, so I didn't really know much about it.
And then Kirsty Jackson she came and she was an
assistant coach at UNLV, and she was just like, I
think you should really do this, and she kind of
(19:53):
helped me with paving away and helping me learn more
about it because I really was clue aside, no idea.
You don't really much about overseas when you're back here
unless you know anybody that's over there. So she helped
me a lot with that, and after my super senior season,
I was like, Okay, let's do this thing and ended
up going overseas, and that first overseas experience wasn't the
greatest and almost made me not want to keep playing,
(20:15):
but my mom was like, I don't want you to
base this whole experience off of five months in a
bad place, like it wants you to give it one
more full season. If you don't like it, you leave,
And then went to Greece, loved it and decided I
wanted to keep playing.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
What me do you ultimately decide France and Greece.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
France, well, I was coming off of my half season.
This team at France was good for like players that
I mean, they're a pretty high team in France or
had been in the past, and Kirsty knew the team
and thought it would be a good spot for me
to go to as my first season to just kind
of dit my foot in and get the hang of it.
So you don't really have much of us say, I mean,
you get a choice. I'm sure a couple of countries,
(20:55):
but coming in like in a half season, it's kind
of hard to really pick a place. So France just
seemed like a good, like safe country for me to
just kind of test the waters. So and then Greece,
I was like, what the heck, I want to go
to Greece. Yeah, So I went there and ended up
being there at the same team for two years, and
that was I really liked Greece a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Was there like a culture shock when you got to
these clubs, especially with the way that the US treats
college athletes.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, France for sure. I mean compared to like our
college weight room, our weight room in France was like
the size of my kitchen, you know, it was way
smaller and like the trainers and stuff. You didn't have
trainers I practice every day, So it was just like
a big like change, you know, like on road trips,
we didn't have like food waiting for us before we
left for games or something, you know, like in college.
(21:44):
Definitely a big shock. I mean, considering it's pro I
think they get some. I mean, I'm sure the bigger
teams they get all the good stuff, but like better
treatment in college than in pro were like body wise,
I guess and food wise. But now in Madison it
feels like, I mean again, you know, we have a
trainer every day that's willing to do treatment. We have
food in our locker rooms, we get food sometimes after
(22:06):
before practice, So it feels like I'm in not college again,
but it feels like we're getting the same type of treatment,
which is nice.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Was that a big reason to make you come back
to the States and play for League One or were
there other reasons behind that decision?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Mainly while I was over in Greece, I loved Greece.
I probably would have stayed there again if I didn't
get the opportunity to play here. But it was more so,
my grandpa passed last January and I wasn't able to
come home for that, So that kind of was like
a deal breaker for me to come home because me
and my grandma are super super tight. God forbid something
happens to her. But if something did happen to her
and I wouldn't be able to come home, I don't
(22:41):
think I'd forgive myself for it, you know, like if
I had to quit the team or terminate my contract
to be able to come home for that, I would.
So just made sense for me to come back home
because my people aren't getting younger and my siblings are
getting older, and it's it's hard missing out on those times,
especially Christmas. Didn't get to come home for Christmas the
past two years either, so there's just time and kind
(23:01):
of pass up that opportunity to do what I love
and be able to be around my family while doing it.
So that's kind of the main reason. Love my teammates,
loved the club in Greece, loved all my friends I met,
But it's time to come back home.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, I'm very scority to hear about your grandfather. I'm
glad that you're now able to be with your family.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Let's talk about your life off the court. What do
you like to do when you're not playing volleyball. What
are some of your other passions.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I've been trying to find some new passions. I love
to binge watch shows. Right now, I'm into Peaky Blinders.
I'm kind of late to it, but.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I've been watching it, watching Fabulous.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
It's really good. It's very good so far. I like
to go shopping. That's also a problem, but more so
like online shopping, Like I will just sit in like
scroll for hours, which is bad. I like trying new restaurants.
I like trying new food. I think that's why I
liked Overseas so much, especially Grace, Like the food was
just unreal. So it's nice to try different restaurants here.
(24:17):
I've always tried to, like learn how to crochet, but
like there's not an artsy bone in my body and
I don't think I could figure it out. And my
grandma knows how to crochet like wash cloths, and I'm like,
can you please teach me how to crochet like an animal?
She's like an animal. I don't know how to do that.
I'm like, well, you know, like the basic patterns of
like the wasp Bot. I'm sure I could figure it out,
but no, I just I'm open to different things. I
(24:39):
like trying new food, going to check out, like the
trivia place. I love to read. Forgot about that. Love
to read. I'm on my what series is it? Thrown
a Glass by Sarah J. Moss. I'm on the fifth book,
so I have two books left, and it's a pretty
big series that I've read. To all the book nerds
out there, I've read all the at Guitar ones. I
(25:01):
don't know if you've read or heard about those books.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Like, oh yeah, yeah, that was like a I remember
a lot of people were reading those books.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Yeah, I read those like when I was in Greece.
I like whipped those out in probably like two months,
and they're like pretty thick books. But now, like the
problem is I get obsessed and then like I can't
put it down, and then it like I finished the
book and I haven't started the fifth one ye because
I'm like I need a little reset before I don't
do anything else except for read. But yeah, I really
like to read, especially when I find a series I like.
(25:31):
I enjoy reading.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
So I saw in your love profile that your favorite
podcast is crime Junkie, right?
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Is that true? Still very true?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
That's why I listened to my drives from home to
here four hours of Prime Junkie and I can't get
enough of it. Yes, for sure.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I think all of my podcasts for the most part,
are either sports or crime.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
How did you get into your crime?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
My mother really the watch Lawn or Special Victims Unit
when I was younger. That's still like my favorite show.
I've watched every season, every episode. And I just like
crime because my major was criminal justice in college, so
I've kind of always liked crime in that stuff, which
is I mean, it's weird, but I like to listen
to it and trying to like figure it out. Like
(26:19):
I think my dream job would be like a forensic
analysis or like something like that with like hands on
crime stuff. But I think it And I was so
scared of that stuff when I was little, Like one
time our gas station got ropped like by our house,
and I had like an extremely panic attack and like
threw up and I was like I'm gonna die, Like
it was like really bad. But now I'm like I
(26:39):
love that stuff, like listening and researching and all that stuff.
It's just interesting how people can get away within years later.
Now that there's more like science behind it, there's starting
to come out, like the whole like Jacob Wederling thing,
I mean that was that was he was from Minnesota,
so that was like a huge case in our state.
(26:59):
And when that came out, that just like broke my
heart because you know, he killed him the first day
he took him, you know. So it's just like that
poor family. But like crime, I like all that jazz.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
So you said that you would love to be like
a forensic analyst. You said that you were going to
go to law school after college, but decided to keep
playing volleyball. Do you think that when you do eventually
hang up your knee paths that you are going to
continue down this criminal justice path or do you think
you're going to do something else more volleyball focused.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I think I'll go down the criminal justice path. I
don't want to go back to school since I've been
out of school for so long, and I don't want
to pay more money to go back to school. So
I would like to be a detective. That's like one
of my top ones, but I don't want to go
through the process of being a cop before that, just
because it scares me. There's another way to do it.
(27:50):
But yeah, I think I would want to go down
that route. For sure.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
You want to be like Murushka Hagerta and for you,
I mean, she's pretty much a badass.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
So oh yeah, life goals right there. Yeah, even if
I have to act to be her, I will. Maybe
I'll go down the acting route just so I can
be a detective.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Here you go, you can play a detective on TV.
Bring your passions altogether.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Yeah, do that?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I love it all right. Well, last question to wrap
the interview up.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
This is a question I like to ask all the
girls with love and the inaugural season about to be here.
What are you hoping to showcase this season for the fans,
for the media, for the public to know about you
and about the sport.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
I'm just excited to bring volleyball to the States and
inspire the younger girls that this is possible. You know,
I wish I had this type of platform available to
me when I was younger, you know, being able to
watch pro athletes still doing their thing, you know, I
mean we had college athletes to look up to, but
like knowing there's a place after college and still at
(28:57):
home and not have to go across the seat. Is
really inspiring to me because I would have loved that.
And I just hope that we can bring back a
league to the States and show fans that we love
volleyball and it's a great sport and we're competitive and
even though we're women, we like to compete and have
some fun. And I think it's awesome even that there's
(29:18):
some moms in our league that you can like have
kids and still be like a badass on the court
and like do your thing, you know. So I'm really
excited for the whole league just to come together because
all of us are so different and just show everybody
that you can you can do your thing here and
we can we can do it.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, great answer, I love that. Well, Marina, thank you
so much for taking.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
The time to speak with me. It was a pleasure
for having me. Yes, thank you. Serving Pancakes is an
iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball.
(29:57):
I'm your host Tiffany Oshinski. Any Olivarez is our senior producer.
Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradike, and Lindsay Hoffman.
Our marketing lead is Jawara Parker. Sound editing and mixing
by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
By Eric W.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Mast Junior special thanks to Marina Hayden. Stay tuned for
another episode of Serving Pancakes.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com