August 18, 2025 âą 40 mins
đ Owning the Journey: Olivia Foley on Recruiting, Resilience, and Real Advice
 Olivia Foleyâs story is one that many athletes and families can relate to. Before she became the NCAA Division III National Player of the Year and a three-time National Champion setter at Juniata College, she was just another high school athlete trying to figure out where she belonged.
In this episode of Significant Recruiting, Coach Matt and Olivia take a different look at recruiting than we have in past episodes. They discussed the realities of on-campus visits and the importance of recruits bringing their A-game to a visit with a heavy dose humility, as well as the importance for recruits to talk, listen and ask lots of questions...and much, much more. Â
But Olivia doesnât stop there. Her wisdom extends to parents, high school and club coaches, and even college coaches â offering honest insights from the athleteâs perspective on what truly matters in recruiting.
If youâre a recruit, a parent, or a coach, this episode is packed with practical advice and powerful reminders of how to keep the journey grounded in purpose and growth.
đ» Learn more about host Matt Rogers and find tools to guide your recruiting journey at coachmattrogers.com.
đ Be on the lookout for his new book, The Volleyball Recruitâs Journal, coming to Amazon before the end of August.
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
Listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and all your favorite podcast platforms.
Did you like what you heard and want more?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Just understanding that you as aplayer, you're there and you're
recruited there for a reason.
So don't change yourself all ofa sudden oh, I, I'm a middle,
but today I think i'm gonnapass.
That's not what you're therefor.
Welcome back to the SignificantRecruiting Podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
If you're just joining us, Iwanna encourage you to go back
and check out part one of myconversation with Olivia Foley,
the 2025 NCAA Division threevolleyball player of the year.
From Junior College, Because itlays the foundation for
everything we're diving intotoday.
(00:43):
In that first part, you heardOlivia talk directly to recruits
who are stepping on campus forthose all important visits.
She offered the kind of advicethat doesn't come from highlight
reels or fancy recruitingvideos, but from lived
experiences, grounded,thoughtful, and real.
And today in part two, wecontinue that conversation.
(01:04):
Olivia opens up about her ownpath to Junior outta college,
one that might sound familiar tomore athletes and families than
you'd expect.
It's a journey that wasn'talways linear, wasn't always
easy, but ultimately led herexactly where she was meant to
be.
Through her story, Oliviadelivers powerful advice, not
just for student athletes, butalso for parents, high school
(01:26):
and club coaches, and evencollege coaches, which I loved.
She reflects on what worked,what she'd do differently and
what truly matters most in therecruiting process.
It's honest, it's generous, andit's the kind of insight that
can change how you approach thisentire experience.
Before we jump into thatconversation, just a quick
reminder that my new book, theVolleyball Recruits Journal,
(01:48):
will be available before the endof August.
It's a practical tool forrecruits and families to stay
organized, intentional, andfocused throughout the
recruiting journey.
You can find updates and otherresources
over@coachmattrogers.com.
All right, let's get into it.
Here's part two of myconversation with Olivia Foley.
(02:10):
I had so much fun talking to youabout your playing experience
and we finished on a rolltalking about how hard it is to
overcome the injuries and themental fatigue and winning so
many games, the sets you did.
Let's talk a little bit aboutrecruiting.
I didn't talk to you about beinga setter, so I wanna start
there.
Mm-hmm.
(02:31):
What does being a setter mean toyou?
To me it feels, and it means tobe almost that wall of where you
can like bounce ideas off of.
It's just like the middlemanalmost, it's sort of like.
(02:51):
I've lived this tale my wholelife of being the middle child
between my siblings.
You hear one side and you'relike, okay, great.
And you hear the other side andyou're stuck in the middle
almost.
Yeah.
Of, and so in a setter it's, thepassers saying is that too close
to the net?
Is that not, close enough?
Where would you like it?
Like, I'm trying to get itbetter for you.
(03:11):
And so I take that feedback or Igive it and whatnot.
I'm telling them like, what agreat pass.
I messed up, and then I comefrom the hitter side and it's I
need that tighter.
I need that faster, I need adifferent pace, different
location.
And you're just being pulled intwo different directions, two
completely different directions.
So it was very hard and you haveto separate yourself almost
(03:33):
within your mind of I.
I'm gonna do great by thispasser.
Okay, I'm gonna do great bythis, hitter.
But also what I need to realizethat I need stuff from both of
them and able to do my jobsuccessfully.
I'm not able to take on all ofthe burden, say of both sides.
Whether, if it was say, a badpass or they hit the ball out
(03:55):
when it was a great set, butalso realizing.
I can do better in that manner,but also they can do better for
me.
So everybody's able to help eachother.
But it was hard for me torealize that as a center.
But it's a terrible, but Ithought a perfect job to be the
middleman.
I love it.
and I want to talk about this'cause this is so important for
high school and club volleyballplayers to hear.
(04:16):
'cause this is one of thebiggest things you gotta learn
when you get to college becausewhen you were a sophomore, you
had some great hitters you hadsome of those girls graduate and
you had freshmen came in ortransfers that would come in and
replace them.
Talk to me about that, thattransition where you're like,
man, I have this senior, we arelocked in.
We don't even need to talk.
Sometimes she just needs togimme a look and I know the ball
(04:38):
needs to be higher.
I need, I know it needs to bequicker, and then you quicker.
And then you got this personcoming in when you're rolling,
you're a national champion andyou got this person that you
don't have that with.
You don't have that connectionwith.
What's that like?
How do you teach them to getthere as a player?
Forget about the coaching.
What are some of the things thatyou're doing with those incoming
(04:59):
kids, especially those18-year-old freshmen?
Yeah.
I would get outta my head.
I would really watch them.
I would watch most of thehitters and see what they liked,
whether I was the one settingthem or if it was other
individuals on the team, settingthem just because.
I know what I give'em.
I don't know what other peoplegive them.
I don't know the feel of it.
So being able to watch that andsee their reactions we had a
(05:21):
quiet outside hitter on ourteam, and she was not one to be
very vocal, so you really had totune into her nonverbal cues.
And so I really did watch hernot stalk her but I would,
observe her and Of course, yeah.
And see like what she needed,what.
Was that a fake smile?
Was that a real smile?
Are is that exactly what youwanted?
(05:41):
Or are you at the end of theday, like a people pleaser?
There's so many people that justwanna say, yep, that was great,
that was my fault, and so on andso forth.
But I would have to go up to herand I would say, Hey, I need you
to tell me, was that good?
Was that bad?
It's a simple yes or no.
I don't need details.
It just made it more simple forher to be able to get her.
(06:02):
Constructive criticism out, if Ineed to change something, please
tell me.
And I would beg her.
I would be like, please tell meI'm terrible.
Please tell me I'm the worsteditor you ever had.
Like, just say something, butyeah, I was, it was pulling
teeth at the beginning and I waslike, at the end of the day if
you don't wanna say that wasgood, that was bad.
I need this changed.
I would tell her, gimme a thumbsup.
(06:24):
Gimme a thumbs down.
I don't need you to talk.
If you don't wanna talk, that'sfine.
Just give me some sort of cueand we could go from there.
You're a third base coach.
You're giving no signs and earsigns about, am I supposed to
steal here, coach, or whatexactly.
What advice would you give tosomebody coming into a program?
'cause all these freshmen, Ihave a number of'em that are
(06:45):
just starting practice for thefirst time as freshmen at
colleges right now.
What advice do you give them?
As they're getting there for thefirst time, and there's all
these girls that have beenthere.
They know the system.
They know the, they have thesmall talk, they have the inside
jokes.
What advice do you give'em?
Do it.
Go have lunch with them.
Go have breakfast with them.
(07:07):
Like it doesn't matter if it'sawkward the first few weeks, it
will be like no matter whoyou're around being a freshman.
But you need to get out there.
People need to understand, whoyou are.
Like how is your sense of humorwhat do you like to do outside
of the sport and whatnot.
Just be able to put yourself outthere and expose yourself to
(07:27):
different, like veryuncomfortable situations and
people will be able tounderstand you.
They'll be able to make thoseinside jokes with you and
they'll be able to really likeconnect with you in a sense
because.
For volleyball.
You were able to make thoseconnections off the court.
And so that's why you seeeverything come together on the
course because we were all greatfriends.
(07:48):
Not only were we togetherprobably at least half of the
day every single day withpractice conditioning lifts, so
you'd get tired of each other.
Of course you would, but youneed to find your friends and
your people within that, butalso understand that not
everyone's gonna be your friend.
Yeah.
And that's okay.
You're not gonna, likeeverybody, there's so many
(08:10):
personalities out there,especially on a team.
But expose yourself.
Say yes to those plans, even ifyou really don't wanna go out
and hang out with, say theseupperclassmen or other people in
your class and you don't wannago to lunch with them.
You wanna go to lunch byyourself?
Get out of your shell.
Stop being a loner.
Expose yourself to new peoplebecause it's only gonna help you
(08:32):
in the long run.
If you don't end up liking'em,then you'll know sooner rather
than later that this school'snot right for you and you'll be
able to transfer out.
So just expose yourself as muchas you can and don't say no.
But if you don't try, you'llnever know.
Exactly.
You're not gonna know if this isa good fit for you in one
semester.
You're not gonna know if it's agood fit for you in a year.
(08:52):
You gotta give it some time.
Let's say I'm an 8-year-old andI come to you,'cause I know
you're the senior, you're thecaptain.
I come to you and I go, Olivia,and I'm, I don't, I'm afraid to
tell you this, but I'm scaredoutta my mind.
I I don't feel like I'mconnecting with the girls.
I don't feel like I'm, I'mgetting where I want to be with
this team.
I do you handle that?
(09:13):
I would say essentially I wouldask more questions and
understand like.
Why are you scared?
Like what exactly is it talkingto them?
Is it just being around them?
Like there's different thingsand different layers of being
scared around different people.
'Cause of course everyone'sgonna give you a certain vibe.
But going off of that, justbeing like, okay do you want to
(09:35):
keep pursuing it?
Do you still want to keep tryingto get to know them?
Some people might not want to,and you'll have to respect their
decision for that too.
But if they were wanting to keeptrying to understand more people
on the team and get over thisfear, I would say, okay, you're
going with me.
We're gonna go here, or we'regonna go to lunch, or you're
gonna come to my room, or you'rejust gonna do things with me and
(09:56):
get more comfortable with me.
Just because, being a senior orcaptain as you explained, if I
were that in this scenario, Iwould obviously have a well
enough relationship witheverybody on the team.
To make that scenario morecomfortable for her.
Yeah.
And make that environment waymore comforting and welcoming
almost for her.
So I can sort of take her undermy wing if I need to.
(10:19):
Yeah.
It's what makes you a greatleader.
And the key to this is whenyou're new, is being honest,
being forthright with sharinghow you're feeling.
Right, right.
Yes.
And it's huge.
Most people just wanna hide awayin the room and not say
anything.
But if you're able to speak up,then you respect, say, me or
anybody on this team well enoughto voice your opinions, and that
(10:41):
will go both ways in the longrun.
Do you have really good friendsthat are non volleyball players
at Giata?
I do.
Not many, just because Giata isvery small and it's hard not.
To find people that are on thevolleyball team or I find other
people of different sportsteams.
But yeah, I have a good balance.
(11:02):
Is it hard finding people thatcan understand what you're going
through?
Yes.
And can what you're goingthrough?
Yes.
How important is it for you tohave that person or two that are
non volleyball players that youcan escape from and know that
they're gonna love you andrespect you and you have those
relationships?
Where you can almost remember,I'm a human being.
(11:23):
Yeah.
Is that important?
Oh, it's huge because you getsucked into this like vortex, on
a team.
Yeah.
And you're like, everybody atJuta or at any school that
you're at is having the sameproblems as I am, oh, this girl
and I didn't click.
Everybody must have that withher.
No.
Like the world is way muchbigger than you think it is.
Like as small as a school asthey junior it is.
(11:46):
There's so many different livesthat are, going on that you have
no idea that's going, that'shappening because you're so
sucked in and so focused onthat.
So get out, burst the bubble,and get out of that vortex.
Let's build on that because Ithink so many kids want to go to
where they're comfortable, theywant to go to that state school
where they're comfortable.
(12:06):
Well, let's not even talk sportsnow.
Let's just talk about going fromhigh school to college.
And they want to, I'm gonna goroom with my best friend from
high school.
How important it is to usecollege as a chance to redefine
yourself and get out of thatbubble and learn about other
cultures and other people, andmake friends that are from
(12:28):
California and Florida and maybeIndia or China or France.
How important is that to thatcollege career for you when you
look back?
Oh, it's so important.
College is your time to not onlyrediscover yourself, but
rediscover like who you are, sayin the friend realm, or in a
sister, or even a daughter sortof identity.
(12:49):
You're able to expand on that.
I see so many people from myhigh school go to the same
college and they room togetherand they're doing the same path.
Of say they get the same jobthere or they get the same
internship and you're justfunneling into similar
lifestyles rather than goingabroad or doing something out of
the ordinary.
Make your experience moreindividualistic and it will be
(13:13):
for you.
Like it, it just, it reallybothers me when people do the
same thing as their bestfriends.
'cause.
You can have more than one bestfriend or one friend in this
world, and you can do whateveryou want in this world, but you
are in charge of that.
And there's so many people thatgo abroad and it's just I could
(13:33):
never do that.
Say, oh, I'm not that inindependent.
But you could be, you justdidn't try, it's amazing how it
changes you when you Yes.
Make yourself get out of that.
And I hate to say it, I'm gonnaupset some people, but I'm bored
by those people.
I am too.
I'm bored by those people thathave never left home, that have
always done the same thing andonly hung out with the same
people.
They bore me and the people thathave traveled.
(13:58):
They, their humility is greater,their empathy is greater.
They can look at whatever you'vebeen dealing with in your life
and go, gosh that's rough.
I respect you for that.
And the ones that haven't arethe ones that don't seem to
respect others that are a littlebit different than them.
So I, I love that perspective.
And I love that you've got thatfrom your college experience
too.
All right.
I'm gonna take you back.
(14:19):
Alright.
Let's go back to your recruitingexperience.
What did you know aboutrecruiting?
When you started your recruitingjourney, do you remember?
Oh, that was a long time ago.
Honestly, I didn't really knowmuch.
I was really new to the wholeAAU club world.
I personally, I only played ayear of club.
(14:39):
Volleyball while people areplaying from when they're 10 or
11 and all the way up.
So I was like the newbie.
That was very old.
Mom and dads that are listeningand you club coaches and high
school coaches, you'relistening.
The national player of the yearplayed one year of club.
Okay, I want everybody to that.
It would've been, yeah, would'vebeen two.
(15:01):
But then COVID, so I got one anda half.
One and a half.
Okay.
But still.
Was it paramount to you playingin college?
Do you think if you wouldn'thave played club, you still
would've had a similarexperience?
If I never, if I did not playclub, I would never have made it
over there to ruralPennsylvania.
Okay.
So club helps you get found byCoach Pavlik?
(15:22):
Yes.
Okay.
Greatly.
Okay.
What do you wish she knew atthat point about recruiting?
I wish, you know now.
I wish I knew what I liked as aplayer more.
Like it's very different betweena male coach and a female coach.
I had both in high school, butfor volleyball only.
(15:43):
I ended with a female coach, butgrowing up.
I would have male coaches and Ididn't realize the difference
between that because these maleand female coaches, like they
were family friends, so I sawthem very comfortable
individuals to be around of.
But understanding that and whyyou want that was huge.
(16:04):
I wish I would've known that.
There's so many different layersto a female and male coach.
What.
What was the reason you chose afemale coach, and why are you
glad you did?
What are some of those thingsthat you're glad you had that
with?
With Heather?
Yeah.
I was glad that.
(16:24):
From a school, from let's,seven, eight hours away from my
hometown, a female presence wasreally what would've made me
more comfortable in thatenvironment.
So that's where I looked.
And then plus she was a setter,so it just, it was like the
perfect little duo that I foundin Heather.
And she was able to look at meas a whole person, just.
(16:45):
Maternal to paternal, feelings,attitudes.
Those are very different.
As much as they could be saidbeing similar, but they're so
different.
So I really saw the maternalside of Heather come through and
that's what really drew me in.
I was.
My club coach was a male and heknew Heather and not only played
(17:06):
but coached against Heather'shusband.
So it was like almost this wholelittle family ordeal and I just,
I sided with the female side ofit and that's where I was more
comfortable with.
Yeah.
So that was just for mepersonally.
And every, everybody'sdifferent, you've gotta under,
that's one of the greatquestions to ask yourself, where
am I most comfortable?
(17:27):
Where do I learn the best?
Did you have opportunities toplay higher than D three I did
not, but I also got into thegame very late but I did not
have any higher opportunities.
You don't have to give me anynames, but the portal kind of
took off early on in yourcareer.
Did anybody try and poach you?
No.
Okay.
(17:47):
I'm surprised by that.
I'm surprised there weren't someD twos that.
I didn't call your high schoolcoach or your club coach and see
if you'd be interested.
All right.
Yeah, but I got this randomoffer.
I mean, it wasn't particularlyrandom, but to play overseas
over in Germany.
(18:08):
But of course with COVID and Iwanted to take my fifth year I
was looked at as a senior when Iwas getting, approached by this
individual to play overseas.
But I was like, I'm gonna goback and I wanna do my fifth
year.
So it set me apart.
I was eventually after that tooold, that's not what they were
looking for.
So thank goodness I did, I wasable to get a third national
(18:29):
championship, but absolutely, itwas just, yeah, it was weird to
get that opportunity, overseas,but not really get anything,
like you said here to berecruited to play higher up.
I would think you could go playpro overseas right now.
Have you thought about that atall?
I have, but I've also been like,I think I'm ready to close that
(18:49):
door and I'm ready to get downwith school and start your life.
Go the next step.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Not live in a dorm or anapartment and no more cafeteria
food and yeah, no more of that.
No more swipes.
I'm done with the mores Swipes.
No more swipes.
Right.
All right.
Let's give some advice toparents that have a 16,
17-year-old that are goingthrough this recruiting process.
(19:12):
What would you tell them aboutthis journey?
Oh I would probably tell them tunderstand balance of taking
control of those meetings.
Whether it's your club coach orit's the club, recruiter right
there in the atmosphere.
Understand that you're a 16,17-year-old, maybe even younger,
(19:34):
is probably not gonna understandthe right question.
They don't know what questionsto ask at that age, and there's
nothing that's able to, teachthem to understand that.
And so.
Take control to a certain degreein that meeting.
Ask some questions that you knoware very important to you as a
parent, but also ask questionsthat you know for your kid.
I'm not even sure, if they're anantisocial individual, if
(19:57):
they're a very socialindividual, ask certain
questions about schools thatwould be either right up your
kids' alley or be souncomfortable that you couldn't
even imagine your kin there.
But keep an open mind, askquestions that your kid is able
to realize, wow, I, I shouldhave realized that I didn't even
think about that.
I'm so glad my mom or dad askedthat.
(20:18):
But also understand that's notyour meeting, that's not your
recruiting, that's not yourprocess.
That's your kids process.
So kind of give'em the toolslike you have your entire life.
Give'em the tools to go throughlife, but then at the end of the
day.
Sort of push'em off the edge, doit your own and we'll push you
in the pool and I hope you canfigure out how to swim.
We've given you enough tools.
(20:40):
Yeah.
I, when I was a college coach, Ialways seemed to like it when
parents would say, it's not ourdecision, it's our daughter's
decision, and now as I've gottenolder and I have my own kids and
I talk, I work with so manyfamilies that are going through
this, I'm a little concernedabout that because I'm like,
they're 17 years old, theyhaven't lived.
They have no idea what to ask.
(21:01):
They have no idea what's comingfor them.
You do, you've went throughthis.
You don't have to take controlof this per se, but you do have
to ask questions that they'renot gonna ask.
Right?
You need to get answers fromcoaches and financial aid and
admissions and the other playersthat your son or daughter don't
know to ask.
So I love that advice.
Okay.
Yeah go ahead.
(21:22):
Well, I was gonna say, like inmy recruiting meeting, my,
obviously I'm sure I'm fiveseven, I'm not your average, D
one setter or D two.
But my mom asked the questionlike, is she able to maybe move
out of that setter role andcould she be a libero?
Because they're looked at as thesecond prime setter on the
court.
Yeah.
My club coach Loy, he said, no,I don't think that would be a
(21:45):
good fit.
Like even if we worked on herdefense and she could be an
ideal ero, no, I think she needsto stay with setting.
And after that answer came out,my mom kind of sat back and let
me, let her control the meeting.
So it was just like that greatbalance right there of being
like, I didn't even realize,that there I could play a
different position, my heightcould come into play.
(22:05):
But also realizing that I needto figure out my decision by
myself.
Yeah.
I hate taking a kid away wholoves that position so good at
it and worked their whole lifeat it.
I hate having a coach say, well,we really like his setter, but
we need a ro.
Right.
Would you come in Andro?
Well now you're giving up apiece of what you love.
(22:26):
And maybe you've learned to loveBerro, but maybe you just,
maybe, that's where my heart is.
I wanna be the quarterback.
I want be that the pitcher.
I want the ball in my handsevery play.
I want to be the one that'sdetermining where this team
goes.
Yeah.
That's hard to let go of.
So that's really great advicefrom your club coach to say,
this is what you're great at.
Stick to it.
Don't let anybody Yeah.
Underscore that.
(22:46):
Yeah.
And he wasn't saying that Ican't do it.
He was saying that in my bestinterest it wouldn't be smart.
And I had to understand that hewasn't being mean, he wasn't
being rude saying I could be aterrible Le Barrel.
He was just saying that I wouldprevail as a setter.
Yeah.
And I talk about, I talk to kidsabout this all the time.
Let's find a coach that sees youthe way you see yourself.
Right.
(23:07):
That's so important.
And I would imagine Coach Pavliksaw you the way you saw
yourself.
Oh yeah.
Yes.
Talk.
Talk about that experience beingin the room for her the first
time, whether it's in her officeor over zoom, whatever it may
have been.
How did you know that she wasyour coach?
I think she came to one of mytournaments, my club
(23:29):
tournaments.
And she was like, okay, I'mgonna come watch you.
And I was like, perfect.
Like I was really fearful ofmeeting her, of course.
Who is it scared of meet acoach, but I was like, maybe.
Maybe she'll miss my gamebecause the games were running,
very fast that time.
And so I was like, perfect.
We'll just hurry up, we'll play,win or lose, whatever, and we'll
get out.
She won't see my game.
(23:50):
So she was there but not, shewasn't in the normal seating
area, so I was only lookingthere.
Mind you, there's an, balcony upthere and she's just watching
directly down on my court.
Yeah.
And so I was, my parents werelike, Hey, she's over there.
'cause she introduced herself tomy parents during the game.
And so I was like, do I have togo say hi?
Like you guys are, talk to her.
(24:10):
Do I need to go introducemyself?
Like it's I'm good.
I'm ready to just go home.
Oh, that was such a teenagerperspective.
Yeah.
And so this is the person you'regonna spend the next four years
of your life with.
You're like, do I have to go sayhi to her?
I know.
I was like, well, can you comewith me?
And they were like, no, we'll bewaiting for you over here.
And I was like, oh, okay.
So I walked up to her and I waslike, oh, it's nice to meet you
(24:32):
and you know this and that, andthank you for coming.
And just what you were taught tosay thank you for coming, blah,
blah, blah.
And she gave me criticism on mysex.
It wasn't like hey, when do youplay?
Tomorrow would love to see you.
And it was great seeing you,whatever it was when you're
setting, behind you make surethat your hips are square and
(24:52):
was giving me the thesetechniques and I was like, oh,
she's straight to business.
She's starting the be my coachright now, whether I decide that
she's becoming my college coachor not.
And I was like.
I respect that.
Like I respect that she wasready to jump in right into it
and she wasn't gonna tell methat I, that I was good enough
to play for her school there.
I was like, I need to get betterif I want her to continue to
(25:15):
recruit me.
You understand now that she'dalready fallen in love with you
and that was her way of tellingyou, yeah, I've already decided
what you're gonna be, and I'mgonna start right now to get you
there.
Yeah, I'm glad I realize thatnow, but in the moment I was
like, my God, is she just therudest thing ever?
Are you kidding me?
Like, why I tell kids this allthe time.
(25:36):
I go, what a coach iscriticizing you about your plan,
giving you, they've alreadystarted thinking about how
they're gonna coach you for thenext four years.
They've already envisioned whatyou're gonna be in four years.
'cause they know you're far froma finished product and they're
already thinking about what thatfinished product's gonna look
like.
Right.
Like my high school basketballcoach, he was like, when your
coach stops criticizing you,that's when you worry.
(25:59):
Yes.
That's when you worry.
They don't care enough orthey're not invested enough in
you to continue to do that.
And so I was like, well,recruiting, it's gonna be a
happy, joyful thing, woo.
She came and it was not joyful.
It was stomped on my spirits,but thank goodness she did.
It really opened my eyes tobeing like, I, I want that the
(26:20):
rest of my career.
That's right.
And as a college coach thereally great ones like Coach
Pavlik, they don't want youcoming to play for them.
No matter how much they believein you.
They don't want you to come playfor them if you're realizing
right away, oh, I don't wantthat.
Right.
Because that's just gonna be aproblem for them for the next
four years.
Exactly.
Right.
So they'd rather say, here's thetruth, here's how it's gonna be.
(26:44):
If you like it, let's keeptalking.
If you don't like it, we wishyou all the best, but this is
how Exactly, right?
Yes.
All right.
Let's talk about when recruitscome to visit.
Oh, yes.
Okay.
How big of a role do you andyour teammates play in helping
the coaching staff figure out ifthis is the right person?
(27:06):
Because I'm guessing in D threethey come and coaches sit in
their office and you guys playyou scrimmage and do some open
gym.
Yep.
Right?
Yeah.
What is that like for you inhelping coach, giving her advice
and the coaching staff adviceabout, we like this kid, not
sure about this one.
What's that look like?
(27:26):
Truthfully, I wasn't involvedthat much When recruits came,
they would.
Someone would come and a coachwould be like, who can go to
lunch?
And normally it was during primelunchtime, so a majority of us
of the team would go and we'dsay, hi, great to meet you.
Like we'd ask a certainquestions.
But for me personally, we wereable to understand on the team
(27:47):
that there was a handful ofindividuals that probably
shouldn't handle recruits.
Not that they weren't capable ofit, but just because they.
They wouldn't give'em the rightexperience, I guess you could
say.
And I was one of those peopleand I was fine with, I was fine
with that, but there was alsogreat individuals, whether it
was like that freshman classbefore, or it was all the way up
(28:09):
seniors they, there were rightpeople for the right job.
And that's where coaches tookthem.
And so coach would really talkto those people.
There was a core junior slashsenior class these past few
years that would be perfect forrecruits.
They, they would take'em totheir room and there would be
like six or seven of'em in thatgroup and it would just be
(28:30):
perfect.
Very welcoming, very veryinvolved outside of volleyball,
of course the recruits is gonnasee the gym, they're gonna see
the lifting, they're gonna seethe practice, but it's seeing
like the social life outside ofthat.
That's where.
People really drawn in becausejunior college is almost in the
middle of like nowhere, yeah.
So you need to tune into peoplethat are on campus.
(28:51):
So those group of people on theteam, they had a great social
life and there were a largenumber of them.
So they were able to grasp fromdifferent sports teams,
different clubs, differentactivities, and so that's where
the recruits went.
And we understood that somepeople weren't right for the
job.
How should a recruit approachthat visit where they know
(29:13):
they're gonna be with the teamand they're gonna, they're gonna
be, have their gear on andthey're gonna be playing and
they're gonna go to lunch.
How should a recruit approachthat whole perspective with.
Their heart on their sleeve,humility out the gate, honesty
out the gate, playing wise Hey,this speed is way too fast for
me.
Or, I don't know what you callcertain sets, or just being able
(29:36):
to be like, oh my gosh, Icompletely messed up.
I don't know what I wasthinking.
I'm not in the same level as youguys.
I'm not, able to move in thatfast manner and be able to be
like, okay, I need a higher set,or.
Can I serve or I don't serve?
Just understanding that you as aplayer, you're there and you're
recruited there for a reason.
So don't change yourself all ofa sudden oh, I, I'm a middle,
(30:00):
but today I think I'm just gonnaplay a little bit.
I'm gonna pass.
That's not what you're therefor.
You're just wasting your timeultimately.
And so understanding that thereps are.
Perfect, and they're very neededand necessary, but also
understand that if you're in thepractice, gym with us or you're
at lunch, make thoseconversations, even if it's in
the service line and it's twoseconds.
To some upperclassmen, you madesome sort of connection and you
(30:23):
made an effort.
So just be completely talkativeas much as you can.
But if that's not you, that'snot you.
Don't change who you are.
You're there for a reason.
Love it.
Great advice.
What questions would you advisea recruit to ask the girls on
the team when the coaches aren'taround?
What questions do you wish youwould've asked and do you think
all recruits should ask?
(30:45):
Yeah, I think how does an issueget resolved, whether it's on
the team or off the team, or onthe court?
On the court, on the court.
It's very easy to see the.
Resolution come about, but offthe court, like especially with
girls, like we are dramatic.
We are, we take everything tojust the fullest extent.
Myself included, of course I hadmy moments, we're very
(31:07):
emotional, so just.
How does that look?
How do you go through the rightchannels almost on a team to
resolve an issue?
Whether it has to do with thevolleyball or it has to do
something dumb like a boy.
Yeah.
How do you go around that andhow do you navigate that, I
think would be a great questionbecause Love it.
Love it.
Yeah.
Us girls that's gonna be in mynext book and I'm gonna quote
(31:29):
you on it.
Love it.
But I think that understanding,I mean, of course a normal
question would be like, how doesyour life look in volleyball?
Like, how does that schedule goabout?
But also like when you guys havea day off, what does that look
like?
What do you do?
What is still important to you?
Does it, is there anythingvolleyball related or if there's
(31:51):
not?
I would say probably mostcoaches do an individual
meeting.
That's what I was kind of usedto at Giata, but is it okay if
your meeting goes bad?
There's not always gonna be aperfect meeting.
There's all Americans on anyteam and you just imagine, oh,
their meeting goes perfectly.
Oh, Olivia, you're doing such agreat job.
(32:13):
Just keep doing, you sends youon your way out.
No, that, that's just not anideal meeting.
Ideal meeting will be withpositive reinforcement, but also
with that criticism of beinglike, you need to fix this and.
You should probably work on thislater on, so on and so forth.
So just how does that look Iguess, is what I would encourage
(32:33):
young athletes to ask is whathappens when things don't go
perfect?
I love, that's really greatadvice.
Do you wish you would've askedsome of those things when you
were going through yourrecruiting journey?
Oh yeah.
I definitely wish and likelooking back at, these
undefeated seasons, like we areso used to winning and so I wish
(32:56):
I would've asked, and Julianais, has a prestigious, record
well before you know my time ofjust being known to win.
So what does that look like whenyou guys don't win?
What happens when you lose?
What does that, bus ride look orwhat does the practice look like
the next day?
How do the coaches approachthat?
In a sense, it's very tough tohave Juliana with a losing
(33:17):
record.
So how does that look, say if itwere to happen, would we be able
to withstand all thatnegativity, all of that
gruesome, all the work you haveto put in to be, become the best
team in the country?
How does that look?
Yeah, and maybe a great questionfor a team that hasn't won like
Giata why haven't you guys wonmore?
Why haven't you guys successful?
(33:40):
As, as you want to be.
I love that.
Those are, it's a greatperspective.
All right.
Last piece of advice, and thisis, we've never done this on the
show.
I've never asked anybody thisquestion.
From a student athleteperspective, what advice do you
give college coaches aboutrecruiting?
What do you advise them toreally put some thought into as
they're dealing with studentathletes?
(34:02):
I would say set.
Healthy boundaries.
You of course wanna get veryclose and make great connections
with your players, both as aplayer and as a person, but also
understand that there is adivide between coach and player.
There will always be, no matterhow conversations may flow in a
(34:26):
sense of for example, with a biggroup of girls like.
Girls usually talk behind othergirls' backs.
I mean, it's just, it's likesecond nature for us, everybody
does it and you confront it oryou don't.
So understanding that.
If there is something that, saya coach does hear about, of some
(34:48):
sort of conflict on the team,being able to understand should
I step into this?
Should I control this or shouldI let them handle it?
Like I, I'm, they're at the endday, not our mothers.
They're not our fathers, andthey're not gonna hold her hand
when a girl doesn't like me onthe team, or so on and so forth.
So being able to step back andbe like, they're gonna handle
(35:09):
it.
I'm gonna set this boundary.
And I will step in once itstarts to affect the team in a
sense.
Yeah.
They're like your sisters,they're like your siblings.
You're gonna fight, you're gonnabe angry, gonna have arguments,
but who's gonna step up and bethe person that resolves?
It isn't gonna be the players.
Are they able to step up and bethat adult and be mature enough
(35:31):
to confront the otherindividual?
Or is there gonna have to besomeone else like a coach that
needs to stand in?
It's so funny, my wife and Iwere having a similar
conversation yesterday becauseshe's, my wife hates being
micromanaged.
She's been an executive, aprofessional for 30 years.
And she's got a boss that'slearning how to be a boss,
learning how to be a supervisor.
(35:52):
And she said to just say,listen, I will come to you when
I need you.
You don't need, you don't needto tell me how to do my job.
You don't have to tell me how todo this, but when I need you,
I'm gonna come to you.
And I think that's.
That's something, as us coaches,we need to do better.
We need to say, listen, I'm notgonna micromanage you.
I'm not gonna tell you what todo.
I'm, I don't want to have tocritique every set you make,
(36:14):
Olivia.
Okay.
But when you're struggling, Iexpect you to come to me and
say, coach, I'm struggling.
I'm frustrated.
I'm not connecting with my rightside.
I'm not connecting with mypastors.
I'm not my middle and I are justnot getting that quick set very
well, and I don't know why.
Okay.
It's important as for coachesthat we set that precedent early
(36:36):
and we repeat it saying, Hey, ifyou're struggling at home,
you're struggling in theclassroom, I need to hear about
it.
I'm only gonna micromanage youif I see Cs and Ds on your
report card.
I'm only gonna micromanage youwhen you're not talking, when
you're not communicating with usor your teammates, or your
attitude's not great.
Right.
That's fantastic advice.
(36:57):
It's something we all need tohear, not just as players, but
as coaches.
So it's great.
Ms.
Foley, you're a rockstar.
As great of a volleyball playeras you are.
You are an even better personand a better human being.
And I hope your teammates listento this and they all send me
emails about all the things Ishould have asked and all the
things that I missed that Idon't know about you.
(37:18):
But I wish you so well in yourfuture.
And like I told you when westarted, if there's anything I
can ever do to help you, I willdo it in a heartbeat.
And anybody that's lucky enoughto hire you or work with you
they're getting, a really greatperson for their team and
family, so thank you for doingthis today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate all you're doing.
I hope this helps somebodyreaches somebody on a level.
(37:38):
This is the podcast that.
Every parent that listens tothis will make their kid listen
to in the car and the next timethey drive.
So it was so good.
So many golden nuggets.
And I'm gonna have my daughterlisten to it'cause I think she
just needs to hear yourconfidence and how much you had
to overcome to get to thisperson that you are today.
So I love it.
(37:59):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
you just heard the end of atwo-part conversation with
Olivia Foley.
If you're a parent, a coach, oranyone trying to understand what
the heart of a champion lookslike and sounds like, look no
further than Olivia Foley, the2025 NCAA Division three
national player of the year.
(38:20):
She speaks with convict.
She completely understands herself-worth.
She knows who she wants to be,even when the world isn't
perfectly aligned with herthoughts or her fears.
Olivia is the perfect example ofhow a small liberal arts
education can shape not onlygreat athletes, but exceptional
people.
She's proof that character,purpose, and leadership can be
(38:42):
cultivated in environments wherethe individual still matters.
She's just so darn impressive.
If you miss part one, go backand give it a listen.
It's packed with wisdom forrecruits, families, and coaches
alike straight from someonewho's lived it.
And as always, you can find moretools and resources for your
recruitingjourney@coachmattrogers.com,
(39:03):
including updates on my upcomingbook, the Volleyball Recruits
Journal, which will be availablebefore the end of August.
Whether you're a recruit, aparent, or a coach, it's
designed to help you stayfocused, stay organized, and
stay grounded in what mattersmost.
Now, before we say goodbye, nextweek's podcast, they're big
ones, episode 100 is nextFriday.
(39:27):
And boy did I get lucky.
Joining me is a Mount Rushmorelevel coach, a national
treasure, a five time NCAAdivision one national champion
coach, you will not want to missit.
Make sure you'resubscribed@coachmattrogers.com
so you never miss an episode.
Until next time, stay focused,stay humble, and stay in the
(39:48):
fight.
Just understanding that you as aplayer, you're there and you're
recruited there for a reason.
So don't change yourself all ofa sudden oh, I, I'm a middle,
but today I think i'm gonnapass.
That's not what you're therefor.
Welcome back to the SignificantRecruiting Podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, Matt Rogers.
If you're just joining us, Iwanna encourage you to go back
and check out part one of myconversation with Olivia Foley,
the 2025 NCAA Division threevolleyball player of the year.
From Junior College, Because itlays the foundation for
everything we're diving intotoday.
(00:43):
In that first part, you heardOlivia talk directly to recruits
who are stepping on campus forthose all important visits.
She offered the kind of advicethat doesn't come from highlight
reels or fancy recruitingvideos, but from lived
experiences, grounded,thoughtful, and real.
And today in part two, wecontinue that conversation.
(01:04):
Olivia opens up about her ownpath to Junior outta college,
one that might sound familiar tomore athletes and families than
you'd expect.
It's a journey that wasn'talways linear, wasn't always
easy, but ultimately led herexactly where she was meant to
be.
Through her story, Oliviadelivers powerful advice, not
just for student athletes, butalso for parents, high school
(01:26):
and club coaches, and evencollege coaches, which I loved.
She reflects on what worked,what she'd do differently and
what truly matters most in therecruiting process.
It's honest, it's generous, andit's the kind of insight that
can change how you approach thisentire experience.
Before we jump into thatconversation, just a quick
reminder that my new book, theVolleyball Recruits Journal,
(01:48):
will be available before the endof August.
It's a practical tool forrecruits and families to stay
organized, intentional, andfocused throughout the
recruiting journey.
You can find updates and otherresources
over@coachmattrogers.com.
All right, let's get into it.
Here's part two of myconversation with Olivia Foley.
(02:10):
I had so much fun talking to youabout your playing experience
and we finished on a rolltalking about how hard it is to
overcome the injuries and themental fatigue and winning so
many games, the sets you did.
Let's talk a little bit aboutrecruiting.
I didn't talk to you about beinga setter, so I wanna start
there.
Mm-hmm.
(02:31):
What does being a setter mean toyou?
To me it feels, and it means tobe almost that wall of where you
can like bounce ideas off of.
It's just like the middlemanalmost, it's sort of like.
(02:51):
I've lived this tale my wholelife of being the middle child
between my siblings.
You hear one side and you'relike, okay, great.
And you hear the other side andyou're stuck in the middle
almost.
Yeah.
Of, and so in a setter it's, thepassers saying is that too close
to the net?
Is that not, close enough?
Where would you like it?
Like, I'm trying to get itbetter for you.
(03:11):
And so I take that feedback or Igive it and whatnot.
I'm telling them like, what agreat pass.
I messed up, and then I comefrom the hitter side and it's I
need that tighter.
I need that faster, I need adifferent pace, different
location.
And you're just being pulled intwo different directions, two
completely different directions.
So it was very hard and you haveto separate yourself almost
(03:33):
within your mind of I.
I'm gonna do great by thispasser.
Okay, I'm gonna do great bythis, hitter.
But also what I need to realizethat I need stuff from both of
them and able to do my jobsuccessfully.
I'm not able to take on all ofthe burden, say of both sides.
Whether, if it was say, a badpass or they hit the ball out
(03:55):
when it was a great set, butalso realizing.
I can do better in that manner,but also they can do better for
me.
So everybody's able to help eachother.
But it was hard for me torealize that as a center.
But it's a terrible, but Ithought a perfect job to be the
middleman.
I love it.
and I want to talk about this'cause this is so important for
high school and club volleyballplayers to hear.
(04:16):
'cause this is one of thebiggest things you gotta learn
when you get to college becausewhen you were a sophomore, you
had some great hitters you hadsome of those girls graduate and
you had freshmen came in ortransfers that would come in and
replace them.
Talk to me about that, thattransition where you're like,
man, I have this senior, we arelocked in.
We don't even need to talk.
Sometimes she just needs togimme a look and I know the ball
(04:38):
needs to be higher.
I need, I know it needs to bequicker, and then you quicker.
And then you got this personcoming in when you're rolling,
you're a national champion andyou got this person that you
don't have that with.
You don't have that connectionwith.
What's that like?
How do you teach them to getthere as a player?
Forget about the coaching.
What are some of the things thatyou're doing with those incoming
(04:59):
kids, especially those18-year-old freshmen?
Yeah.
I would get outta my head.
I would really watch them.
I would watch most of thehitters and see what they liked,
whether I was the one settingthem or if it was other
individuals on the team, settingthem just because.
I know what I give'em.
I don't know what other peoplegive them.
I don't know the feel of it.
So being able to watch that andsee their reactions we had a
(05:21):
quiet outside hitter on ourteam, and she was not one to be
very vocal, so you really had totune into her nonverbal cues.
And so I really did watch hernot stalk her but I would,
observe her and Of course, yeah.
And see like what she needed,what.
Was that a fake smile?
Was that a real smile?
Are is that exactly what youwanted?
(05:41):
Or are you at the end of theday, like a people pleaser?
There's so many people that justwanna say, yep, that was great,
that was my fault, and so on andso forth.
But I would have to go up to herand I would say, Hey, I need you
to tell me, was that good?
Was that bad?
It's a simple yes or no.
I don't need details.
It just made it more simple forher to be able to get her.
(06:02):
Constructive criticism out, if Ineed to change something, please
tell me.
And I would beg her.
I would be like, please tell meI'm terrible.
Please tell me I'm the worsteditor you ever had.
Like, just say something, butyeah, I was, it was pulling
teeth at the beginning and I waslike, at the end of the day if
you don't wanna say that wasgood, that was bad.
I need this changed.
I would tell her, gimme a thumbsup.
(06:24):
Gimme a thumbs down.
I don't need you to talk.
If you don't wanna talk, that'sfine.
Just give me some sort of cueand we could go from there.
You're a third base coach.
You're giving no signs and earsigns about, am I supposed to
steal here, coach, or whatexactly.
What advice would you give tosomebody coming into a program?
'cause all these freshmen, Ihave a number of'em that are
(06:45):
just starting practice for thefirst time as freshmen at
colleges right now.
What advice do you give them?
As they're getting there for thefirst time, and there's all
these girls that have beenthere.
They know the system.
They know the, they have thesmall talk, they have the inside
jokes.
What advice do you give'em?
Do it.
Go have lunch with them.
Go have breakfast with them.
(07:07):
Like it doesn't matter if it'sawkward the first few weeks, it
will be like no matter whoyou're around being a freshman.
But you need to get out there.
People need to understand, whoyou are.
Like how is your sense of humorwhat do you like to do outside
of the sport and whatnot.
Just be able to put yourself outthere and expose yourself to
(07:27):
different, like veryuncomfortable situations and
people will be able tounderstand you.
They'll be able to make thoseinside jokes with you and
they'll be able to really likeconnect with you in a sense
because.
For volleyball.
You were able to make thoseconnections off the court.
And so that's why you seeeverything come together on the
course because we were all greatfriends.
(07:48):
Not only were we togetherprobably at least half of the
day every single day withpractice conditioning lifts, so
you'd get tired of each other.
Of course you would, but youneed to find your friends and
your people within that, butalso understand that not
everyone's gonna be your friend.
Yeah.
And that's okay.
You're not gonna, likeeverybody, there's so many
(08:10):
personalities out there,especially on a team.
But expose yourself.
Say yes to those plans, even ifyou really don't wanna go out
and hang out with, say theseupperclassmen or other people in
your class and you don't wannago to lunch with them.
You wanna go to lunch byyourself?
Get out of your shell.
Stop being a loner.
Expose yourself to new peoplebecause it's only gonna help you
(08:32):
in the long run.
If you don't end up liking'em,then you'll know sooner rather
than later that this school'snot right for you and you'll be
able to transfer out.
So just expose yourself as muchas you can and don't say no.
But if you don't try, you'llnever know.
Exactly.
You're not gonna know if this isa good fit for you in one
semester.
You're not gonna know if it's agood fit for you in a year.
(08:52):
You gotta give it some time.
Let's say I'm an 8-year-old andI come to you,'cause I know
you're the senior, you're thecaptain.
I come to you and I go, Olivia,and I'm, I don't, I'm afraid to
tell you this, but I'm scaredoutta my mind.
I I don't feel like I'mconnecting with the girls.
I don't feel like I'm, I'mgetting where I want to be with
this team.
I do you handle that?
(09:13):
I would say essentially I wouldask more questions and
understand like.
Why are you scared?
Like what exactly is it talkingto them?
Is it just being around them?
Like there's different thingsand different layers of being
scared around different people.
'Cause of course everyone'sgonna give you a certain vibe.
But going off of that, justbeing like, okay do you want to
(09:35):
keep pursuing it?
Do you still want to keep tryingto get to know them?
Some people might not want to,and you'll have to respect their
decision for that too.
But if they were wanting to keeptrying to understand more people
on the team and get over thisfear, I would say, okay, you're
going with me.
We're gonna go here, or we'regonna go to lunch, or you're
gonna come to my room, or you'rejust gonna do things with me and
(09:56):
get more comfortable with me.
Just because, being a senior orcaptain as you explained, if I
were that in this scenario, Iwould obviously have a well
enough relationship witheverybody on the team.
To make that scenario morecomfortable for her.
Yeah.
And make that environment waymore comforting and welcoming
almost for her.
So I can sort of take her undermy wing if I need to.
(10:19):
Yeah.
It's what makes you a greatleader.
And the key to this is whenyou're new, is being honest,
being forthright with sharinghow you're feeling.
Right, right.
Yes.
And it's huge.
Most people just wanna hide awayin the room and not say
anything.
But if you're able to speak up,then you respect, say, me or
anybody on this team well enoughto voice your opinions, and that
(10:41):
will go both ways in the longrun.
Do you have really good friendsthat are non volleyball players
at Giata?
I do.
Not many, just because Giata isvery small and it's hard not.
To find people that are on thevolleyball team or I find other
people of different sportsteams.
But yeah, I have a good balance.
(11:02):
Is it hard finding people thatcan understand what you're going
through?
Yes.
And can what you're goingthrough?
Yes.
How important is it for you tohave that person or two that are
non volleyball players that youcan escape from and know that
they're gonna love you andrespect you and you have those
relationships?
Where you can almost remember,I'm a human being.
(11:23):
Yeah.
Is that important?
Oh, it's huge because you getsucked into this like vortex, on
a team.
Yeah.
And you're like, everybody atJuta or at any school that
you're at is having the sameproblems as I am, oh, this girl
and I didn't click.
Everybody must have that withher.
No.
Like the world is way muchbigger than you think it is.
Like as small as a school asthey junior it is.
(11:46):
There's so many different livesthat are, going on that you have
no idea that's going, that'shappening because you're so
sucked in and so focused onthat.
So get out, burst the bubble,and get out of that vortex.
Let's build on that because Ithink so many kids want to go to
where they're comfortable, theywant to go to that state school
where they're comfortable.
(12:06):
Well, let's not even talk sportsnow.
Let's just talk about going fromhigh school to college.
And they want to, I'm gonna goroom with my best friend from
high school.
How important it is to usecollege as a chance to redefine
yourself and get out of thatbubble and learn about other
cultures and other people, andmake friends that are from
(12:28):
California and Florida and maybeIndia or China or France.
How important is that to thatcollege career for you when you
look back?
Oh, it's so important.
College is your time to not onlyrediscover yourself, but
rediscover like who you are, sayin the friend realm, or in a
sister, or even a daughter sortof identity.
(12:49):
You're able to expand on that.
I see so many people from myhigh school go to the same
college and they room togetherand they're doing the same path.
Of say they get the same jobthere or they get the same
internship and you're justfunneling into similar
lifestyles rather than goingabroad or doing something out of
the ordinary.
Make your experience moreindividualistic and it will be
(13:13):
for you.
Like it, it just, it reallybothers me when people do the
same thing as their bestfriends.
'cause.
You can have more than one bestfriend or one friend in this
world, and you can do whateveryou want in this world, but you
are in charge of that.
And there's so many people thatgo abroad and it's just I could
(13:33):
never do that.
Say, oh, I'm not that inindependent.
But you could be, you justdidn't try, it's amazing how it
changes you when you Yes.
Make yourself get out of that.
And I hate to say it, I'm gonnaupset some people, but I'm bored
by those people.
I am too.
I'm bored by those people thathave never left home, that have
always done the same thing andonly hung out with the same
people.
They bore me and the people thathave traveled.
(13:58):
They, their humility is greater,their empathy is greater.
They can look at whatever you'vebeen dealing with in your life
and go, gosh that's rough.
I respect you for that.
And the ones that haven't arethe ones that don't seem to
respect others that are a littlebit different than them.
So I, I love that perspective.
And I love that you've got thatfrom your college experience
too.
All right.
I'm gonna take you back.
(14:19):
Alright.
Let's go back to your recruitingexperience.
What did you know aboutrecruiting?
When you started your recruitingjourney, do you remember?
Oh, that was a long time ago.
Honestly, I didn't really knowmuch.
I was really new to the wholeAAU club world.
I personally, I only played ayear of club.
(14:39):
Volleyball while people areplaying from when they're 10 or
11 and all the way up.
So I was like the newbie.
That was very old.
Mom and dads that are listeningand you club coaches and high
school coaches, you'relistening.
The national player of the yearplayed one year of club.
Okay, I want everybody to that.
It would've been, yeah, would'vebeen two.
(15:01):
But then COVID, so I got one anda half.
One and a half.
Okay.
But still.
Was it paramount to you playingin college?
Do you think if you wouldn'thave played club, you still
would've had a similarexperience?
If I never, if I did not playclub, I would never have made it
over there to ruralPennsylvania.
Okay.
So club helps you get found byCoach Pavlik?
(15:22):
Yes.
Okay.
Greatly.
Okay.
What do you wish she knew atthat point about recruiting?
I wish, you know now.
I wish I knew what I liked as aplayer more.
Like it's very different betweena male coach and a female coach.
I had both in high school, butfor volleyball only.
(15:43):
I ended with a female coach, butgrowing up.
I would have male coaches and Ididn't realize the difference
between that because these maleand female coaches, like they
were family friends, so I sawthem very comfortable
individuals to be around of.
But understanding that and whyyou want that was huge.
(16:04):
I wish I would've known that.
There's so many different layersto a female and male coach.
What.
What was the reason you chose afemale coach, and why are you
glad you did?
What are some of those thingsthat you're glad you had that
with?
With Heather?
Yeah.
I was glad that.
(16:24):
From a school, from let's,seven, eight hours away from my
hometown, a female presence wasreally what would've made me
more comfortable in thatenvironment.
So that's where I looked.
And then plus she was a setter,so it just, it was like the
perfect little duo that I foundin Heather.
And she was able to look at meas a whole person, just.
(16:45):
Maternal to paternal, feelings,attitudes.
Those are very different.
As much as they could be saidbeing similar, but they're so
different.
So I really saw the maternalside of Heather come through and
that's what really drew me in.
I was.
My club coach was a male and heknew Heather and not only played
(17:06):
but coached against Heather'shusband.
So it was like almost this wholelittle family ordeal and I just,
I sided with the female side ofit and that's where I was more
comfortable with.
Yeah.
So that was just for mepersonally.
And every, everybody'sdifferent, you've gotta under,
that's one of the greatquestions to ask yourself, where
am I most comfortable?
(17:27):
Where do I learn the best?
Did you have opportunities toplay higher than D three I did
not, but I also got into thegame very late but I did not
have any higher opportunities.
You don't have to give me anynames, but the portal kind of
took off early on in yourcareer.
Did anybody try and poach you?
No.
Okay.
(17:47):
I'm surprised by that.
I'm surprised there weren't someD twos that.
I didn't call your high schoolcoach or your club coach and see
if you'd be interested.
All right.
Yeah, but I got this randomoffer.
I mean, it wasn't particularlyrandom, but to play overseas
over in Germany.
(18:08):
But of course with COVID and Iwanted to take my fifth year I
was looked at as a senior when Iwas getting, approached by this
individual to play overseas.
But I was like, I'm gonna goback and I wanna do my fifth
year.
So it set me apart.
I was eventually after that tooold, that's not what they were
looking for.
So thank goodness I did, I wasable to get a third national
(18:29):
championship, but absolutely, itwas just, yeah, it was weird to
get that opportunity, overseas,but not really get anything,
like you said here to berecruited to play higher up.
I would think you could go playpro overseas right now.
Have you thought about that atall?
I have, but I've also been like,I think I'm ready to close that
(18:49):
door and I'm ready to get downwith school and start your life.
Go the next step.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Not live in a dorm or anapartment and no more cafeteria
food and yeah, no more of that.
No more swipes.
I'm done with the mores Swipes.
No more swipes.
Right.
All right.
Let's give some advice toparents that have a 16,
17-year-old that are goingthrough this recruiting process.
(19:12):
What would you tell them aboutthis journey?
Oh I would probably tell them tunderstand balance of taking
control of those meetings.
Whether it's your club coach orit's the club, recruiter right
there in the atmosphere.
Understand that you're a 16,17-year-old, maybe even younger,
(19:34):
is probably not gonna understandthe right question.
They don't know what questionsto ask at that age, and there's
nothing that's able to, teachthem to understand that.
And so.
Take control to a certain degreein that meeting.
Ask some questions that you knoware very important to you as a
parent, but also ask questionsthat you know for your kid.
I'm not even sure, if they're anantisocial individual, if
(19:57):
they're a very socialindividual, ask certain
questions about schools thatwould be either right up your
kids' alley or be souncomfortable that you couldn't
even imagine your kin there.
But keep an open mind, askquestions that your kid is able
to realize, wow, I, I shouldhave realized that I didn't even
think about that.
I'm so glad my mom or dad askedthat.
(20:18):
But also understand that's notyour meeting, that's not your
recruiting, that's not yourprocess.
That's your kids process.
So kind of give'em the toolslike you have your entire life.
Give'em the tools to go throughlife, but then at the end of the
day.
Sort of push'em off the edge, doit your own and we'll push you
in the pool and I hope you canfigure out how to swim.
We've given you enough tools.
(20:40):
Yeah.
I, when I was a college coach, Ialways seemed to like it when
parents would say, it's not ourdecision, it's our daughter's
decision, and now as I've gottenolder and I have my own kids and
I talk, I work with so manyfamilies that are going through
this, I'm a little concernedabout that because I'm like,
they're 17 years old, theyhaven't lived.
They have no idea what to ask.
(21:01):
They have no idea what's comingfor them.
You do, you've went throughthis.
You don't have to take controlof this per se, but you do have
to ask questions that they'renot gonna ask.
Right?
You need to get answers fromcoaches and financial aid and
admissions and the other playersthat your son or daughter don't
know to ask.
So I love that advice.
Okay.
Yeah go ahead.
(21:22):
Well, I was gonna say, like inmy recruiting meeting, my,
obviously I'm sure I'm fiveseven, I'm not your average, D
one setter or D two.
But my mom asked the questionlike, is she able to maybe move
out of that setter role andcould she be a libero?
Because they're looked at as thesecond prime setter on the
court.
Yeah.
My club coach Loy, he said, no,I don't think that would be a
(21:45):
good fit.
Like even if we worked on herdefense and she could be an
ideal ero, no, I think she needsto stay with setting.
And after that answer came out,my mom kind of sat back and let
me, let her control the meeting.
So it was just like that greatbalance right there of being
like, I didn't even realize,that there I could play a
different position, my heightcould come into play.
(22:05):
But also realizing that I needto figure out my decision by
myself.
Yeah.
I hate taking a kid away wholoves that position so good at
it and worked their whole lifeat it.
I hate having a coach say, well,we really like his setter, but
we need a ro.
Right.
Would you come in Andro?
Well now you're giving up apiece of what you love.
(22:26):
And maybe you've learned to loveBerro, but maybe you just,
maybe, that's where my heart is.
I wanna be the quarterback.
I want be that the pitcher.
I want the ball in my handsevery play.
I want to be the one that'sdetermining where this team
goes.
Yeah.
That's hard to let go of.
So that's really great advicefrom your club coach to say,
this is what you're great at.
Stick to it.
Don't let anybody Yeah.
Underscore that.
(22:46):
Yeah.
And he wasn't saying that Ican't do it.
He was saying that in my bestinterest it wouldn't be smart.
And I had to understand that hewasn't being mean, he wasn't
being rude saying I could be aterrible Le Barrel.
He was just saying that I wouldprevail as a setter.
Yeah.
And I talk about, I talk to kidsabout this all the time.
Let's find a coach that sees youthe way you see yourself.
Right.
(23:07):
That's so important.
And I would imagine Coach Pavliksaw you the way you saw
yourself.
Oh yeah.
Yes.
Talk.
Talk about that experience beingin the room for her the first
time, whether it's in her officeor over zoom, whatever it may
have been.
How did you know that she wasyour coach?
I think she came to one of mytournaments, my club
(23:29):
tournaments.
And she was like, okay, I'mgonna come watch you.
And I was like, perfect.
Like I was really fearful ofmeeting her, of course.
Who is it scared of meet acoach, but I was like, maybe.
Maybe she'll miss my gamebecause the games were running,
very fast that time.
And so I was like, perfect.
We'll just hurry up, we'll play,win or lose, whatever, and we'll
get out.
She won't see my game.
(23:50):
So she was there but not, shewasn't in the normal seating
area, so I was only lookingthere.
Mind you, there's an, balcony upthere and she's just watching
directly down on my court.
Yeah.
And so I was, my parents werelike, Hey, she's over there.
'cause she introduced herself tomy parents during the game.
And so I was like, do I have togo say hi?
Like you guys are, talk to her.
(24:10):
Do I need to go introducemyself?
Like it's I'm good.
I'm ready to just go home.
Oh, that was such a teenagerperspective.
Yeah.
And so this is the person you'regonna spend the next four years
of your life with.
You're like, do I have to go sayhi to her?
I know.
I was like, well, can you comewith me?
And they were like, no, we'll bewaiting for you over here.
And I was like, oh, okay.
So I walked up to her and I waslike, oh, it's nice to meet you
(24:32):
and you know this and that, andthank you for coming.
And just what you were taught tosay thank you for coming, blah,
blah, blah.
And she gave me criticism on mysex.
It wasn't like hey, when do youplay?
Tomorrow would love to see you.
And it was great seeing you,whatever it was when you're
setting, behind you make surethat your hips are square and
(24:52):
was giving me the thesetechniques and I was like, oh,
she's straight to business.
She's starting the be my coachright now, whether I decide that
she's becoming my college coachor not.
And I was like.
I respect that.
Like I respect that she wasready to jump in right into it
and she wasn't gonna tell methat I, that I was good enough
to play for her school there.
I was like, I need to get betterif I want her to continue to
(25:15):
recruit me.
You understand now that she'dalready fallen in love with you
and that was her way of tellingyou, yeah, I've already decided
what you're gonna be, and I'mgonna start right now to get you
there.
Yeah, I'm glad I realize thatnow, but in the moment I was
like, my God, is she just therudest thing ever?
Are you kidding me?
Like, why I tell kids this allthe time.
(25:36):
I go, what a coach iscriticizing you about your plan,
giving you, they've alreadystarted thinking about how
they're gonna coach you for thenext four years.
They've already envisioned whatyou're gonna be in four years.
'cause they know you're far froma finished product and they're
already thinking about what thatfinished product's gonna look
like.
Right.
Like my high school basketballcoach, he was like, when your
coach stops criticizing you,that's when you worry.
(25:59):
Yes.
That's when you worry.
They don't care enough orthey're not invested enough in
you to continue to do that.
And so I was like, well,recruiting, it's gonna be a
happy, joyful thing, woo.
She came and it was not joyful.
It was stomped on my spirits,but thank goodness she did.
It really opened my eyes tobeing like, I, I want that the
(26:20):
rest of my career.
That's right.
And as a college coach thereally great ones like Coach
Pavlik, they don't want youcoming to play for them.
No matter how much they believein you.
They don't want you to come playfor them if you're realizing
right away, oh, I don't wantthat.
Right.
Because that's just gonna be aproblem for them for the next
four years.
Exactly.
Right.
So they'd rather say, here's thetruth, here's how it's gonna be.
(26:44):
If you like it, let's keeptalking.
If you don't like it, we wishyou all the best, but this is
how Exactly, right?
Yes.
All right.
Let's talk about when recruitscome to visit.
Oh, yes.
Okay.
How big of a role do you andyour teammates play in helping
the coaching staff figure out ifthis is the right person?
(27:06):
Because I'm guessing in D threethey come and coaches sit in
their office and you guys playyou scrimmage and do some open
gym.
Yep.
Right?
Yeah.
What is that like for you inhelping coach, giving her advice
and the coaching staff adviceabout, we like this kid, not
sure about this one.
What's that look like?
(27:26):
Truthfully, I wasn't involvedthat much When recruits came,
they would.
Someone would come and a coachwould be like, who can go to
lunch?
And normally it was during primelunchtime, so a majority of us
of the team would go and we'dsay, hi, great to meet you.
Like we'd ask a certainquestions.
But for me personally, we wereable to understand on the team
(27:47):
that there was a handful ofindividuals that probably
shouldn't handle recruits.
Not that they weren't capable ofit, but just because they.
They wouldn't give'em the rightexperience, I guess you could
say.
And I was one of those peopleand I was fine with, I was fine
with that, but there was alsogreat individuals, whether it
was like that freshman classbefore, or it was all the way up
(28:09):
seniors they, there were rightpeople for the right job.
And that's where coaches tookthem.
And so coach would really talkto those people.
There was a core junior slashsenior class these past few
years that would be perfect forrecruits.
They, they would take'em totheir room and there would be
like six or seven of'em in thatgroup and it would just be
(28:30):
perfect.
Very welcoming, very veryinvolved outside of volleyball,
of course the recruits is gonnasee the gym, they're gonna see
the lifting, they're gonna seethe practice, but it's seeing
like the social life outside ofthat.
That's where.
People really drawn in becausejunior college is almost in the
middle of like nowhere, yeah.
So you need to tune into peoplethat are on campus.
(28:51):
So those group of people on theteam, they had a great social
life and there were a largenumber of them.
So they were able to grasp fromdifferent sports teams,
different clubs, differentactivities, and so that's where
the recruits went.
And we understood that somepeople weren't right for the
job.
How should a recruit approachthat visit where they know
(29:13):
they're gonna be with the teamand they're gonna, they're gonna
be, have their gear on andthey're gonna be playing and
they're gonna go to lunch.
How should a recruit approachthat whole perspective with.
Their heart on their sleeve,humility out the gate, honesty
out the gate, playing wise Hey,this speed is way too fast for
me.
Or, I don't know what you callcertain sets, or just being able
(29:36):
to be like, oh my gosh, Icompletely messed up.
I don't know what I wasthinking.
I'm not in the same level as youguys.
I'm not, able to move in thatfast manner and be able to be
like, okay, I need a higher set,or.
Can I serve or I don't serve?
Just understanding that you as aplayer, you're there and you're
recruited there for a reason.
So don't change yourself all ofa sudden oh, I, I'm a middle,
(30:00):
but today I think I'm just gonnaplay a little bit.
I'm gonna pass.
That's not what you're therefor.
You're just wasting your timeultimately.
And so understanding that thereps are.
Perfect, and they're very neededand necessary, but also
understand that if you're in thepractice, gym with us or you're
at lunch, make thoseconversations, even if it's in
the service line and it's twoseconds.
To some upperclassmen, you madesome sort of connection and you
(30:23):
made an effort.
So just be completely talkativeas much as you can.
But if that's not you, that'snot you.
Don't change who you are.
You're there for a reason.
Love it.
Great advice.
What questions would you advisea recruit to ask the girls on
the team when the coaches aren'taround?
What questions do you wish youwould've asked and do you think
all recruits should ask?
(30:45):
Yeah, I think how does an issueget resolved, whether it's on
the team or off the team, or onthe court?
On the court, on the court.
It's very easy to see the.
Resolution come about, but offthe court, like especially with
girls, like we are dramatic.
We are, we take everything tojust the fullest extent.
Myself included, of course I hadmy moments, we're very
(31:07):
emotional, so just.
How does that look?
How do you go through the rightchannels almost on a team to
resolve an issue?
Whether it has to do with thevolleyball or it has to do
something dumb like a boy.
Yeah.
How do you go around that andhow do you navigate that, I
think would be a great questionbecause Love it.
Love it.
Yeah.
Us girls that's gonna be in mynext book and I'm gonna quote
(31:29):
you on it.
Love it.
But I think that understanding,I mean, of course a normal
question would be like, how doesyour life look in volleyball?
Like, how does that schedule goabout?
But also like when you guys havea day off, what does that look
like?
What do you do?
What is still important to you?
Does it, is there anythingvolleyball related or if there's
(31:51):
not?
I would say probably mostcoaches do an individual
meeting.
That's what I was kind of usedto at Giata, but is it okay if
your meeting goes bad?
There's not always gonna be aperfect meeting.
There's all Americans on anyteam and you just imagine, oh,
their meeting goes perfectly.
Oh, Olivia, you're doing such agreat job.
(32:13):
Just keep doing, you sends youon your way out.
No, that, that's just not anideal meeting.
Ideal meeting will be withpositive reinforcement, but also
with that criticism of beinglike, you need to fix this and.
You should probably work on thislater on, so on and so forth.
So just how does that look Iguess, is what I would encourage
(32:33):
young athletes to ask is whathappens when things don't go
perfect?
I love, that's really greatadvice.
Do you wish you would've askedsome of those things when you
were going through yourrecruiting journey?
Oh yeah.
I definitely wish and likelooking back at, these
undefeated seasons, like we areso used to winning and so I wish
(32:56):
I would've asked, and Julianais, has a prestigious, record
well before you know my time ofjust being known to win.
So what does that look like whenyou guys don't win?
What happens when you lose?
What does that, bus ride look orwhat does the practice look like
the next day?
How do the coaches approachthat?
In a sense, it's very tough tohave Juliana with a losing
(33:17):
record.
So how does that look, say if itwere to happen, would we be able
to withstand all thatnegativity, all of that
gruesome, all the work you haveto put in to be, become the best
team in the country?
How does that look?
Yeah, and maybe a great questionfor a team that hasn't won like
Giata why haven't you guys wonmore?
Why haven't you guys successful?
(33:40):
As, as you want to be.
I love that.
Those are, it's a greatperspective.
All right.
Last piece of advice, and thisis, we've never done this on the
show.
I've never asked anybody thisquestion.
From a student athleteperspective, what advice do you
give college coaches aboutrecruiting?
What do you advise them toreally put some thought into as
they're dealing with studentathletes?
(34:02):
I would say set.
Healthy boundaries.
You of course wanna get veryclose and make great connections
with your players, both as aplayer and as a person, but also
understand that there is adivide between coach and player.
There will always be, no matterhow conversations may flow in a
(34:26):
sense of for example, with a biggroup of girls like.
Girls usually talk behind othergirls' backs.
I mean, it's just, it's likesecond nature for us, everybody
does it and you confront it oryou don't.
So understanding that.
If there is something that, saya coach does hear about, of some
(34:48):
sort of conflict on the team,being able to understand should
I step into this?
Should I control this or shouldI let them handle it?
Like I, I'm, they're at the endday, not our mothers.
They're not our fathers, andthey're not gonna hold her hand
when a girl doesn't like me onthe team, or so on and so forth.
So being able to step back andbe like, they're gonna handle
(35:09):
it.
I'm gonna set this boundary.
And I will step in once itstarts to affect the team in a
sense.
Yeah.
They're like your sisters,they're like your siblings.
You're gonna fight, you're gonnabe angry, gonna have arguments,
but who's gonna step up and bethe person that resolves?
It isn't gonna be the players.
Are they able to step up and bethat adult and be mature enough
(35:31):
to confront the otherindividual?
Or is there gonna have to besomeone else like a coach that
needs to stand in?
It's so funny, my wife and Iwere having a similar
conversation yesterday becauseshe's, my wife hates being
micromanaged.
She's been an executive, aprofessional for 30 years.
And she's got a boss that'slearning how to be a boss,
learning how to be a supervisor.
(35:52):
And she said to just say,listen, I will come to you when
I need you.
You don't need, you don't needto tell me how to do my job.
You don't have to tell me how todo this, but when I need you,
I'm gonna come to you.
And I think that's.
That's something, as us coaches,we need to do better.
We need to say, listen, I'm notgonna micromanage you.
I'm not gonna tell you what todo.
I'm, I don't want to have tocritique every set you make,
(36:14):
Olivia.
Okay.
But when you're struggling, Iexpect you to come to me and
say, coach, I'm struggling.
I'm frustrated.
I'm not connecting with my rightside.
I'm not connecting with mypastors.
I'm not my middle and I are justnot getting that quick set very
well, and I don't know why.
Okay.
It's important as for coachesthat we set that precedent early
(36:36):
and we repeat it saying, Hey, ifyou're struggling at home,
you're struggling in theclassroom, I need to hear about
it.
I'm only gonna micromanage youif I see Cs and Ds on your
report card.
I'm only gonna micromanage youwhen you're not talking, when
you're not communicating with usor your teammates, or your
attitude's not great.
Right.
That's fantastic advice.
(36:57):
It's something we all need tohear, not just as players, but
as coaches.
So it's great.
Ms.
Foley, you're a rockstar.
As great of a volleyball playeras you are.
You are an even better personand a better human being.
And I hope your teammates listento this and they all send me
emails about all the things Ishould have asked and all the
things that I missed that Idon't know about you.
(37:18):
But I wish you so well in yourfuture.
And like I told you when westarted, if there's anything I
can ever do to help you, I willdo it in a heartbeat.
And anybody that's lucky enoughto hire you or work with you
they're getting, a really greatperson for their team and
family, so thank you for doingthis today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate all you're doing.
I hope this helps somebodyreaches somebody on a level.
(37:38):
This is the podcast that.
Every parent that listens tothis will make their kid listen
to in the car and the next timethey drive.
So it was so good.
So many golden nuggets.
And I'm gonna have my daughterlisten to it'cause I think she
just needs to hear yourconfidence and how much you had
to overcome to get to thisperson that you are today.
So I love it.
(37:59):
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
you just heard the end of atwo-part conversation with
Olivia Foley.
If you're a parent, a coach, oranyone trying to understand what
the heart of a champion lookslike and sounds like, look no
further than Olivia Foley, the2025 NCAA Division three
national player of the year.
(38:20):
She speaks with convict.
She completely understands herself-worth.
She knows who she wants to be,even when the world isn't
perfectly aligned with herthoughts or her fears.
Olivia is the perfect example ofhow a small liberal arts
education can shape not onlygreat athletes, but exceptional
people.
She's proof that character,purpose, and leadership can be
(38:42):
cultivated in environments wherethe individual still matters.
She's just so darn impressive.
If you miss part one, go backand give it a listen.
It's packed with wisdom forrecruits, families, and coaches
alike straight from someonewho's lived it.
And as always, you can find moretools and resources for your
recruitingjourney@coachmattrogers.com,
(39:03):
including updates on my upcomingbook, the Volleyball Recruits
Journal, which will be availablebefore the end of August.
Whether you're a recruit, aparent, or a coach, it's
designed to help you stayfocused, stay organized, and
stay grounded in what mattersmost.
Now, before we say goodbye, nextweek's podcast, they're big
ones, episode 100 is nextFriday.
(39:27):
And boy did I get lucky.
Joining me is a Mount Rushmorelevel coach, a national
treasure, a five time NCAAdivision one national champion
coach, you will not want to missit.
Make sure you'resubscribed@coachmattrogers.com
so you never miss an episode.
Until next time, stay focused,stay humble, and stay in the
(39:48):
fight.
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