January 18, 2025 • 52 mins
The Black Effect Presents... Naked with Cari Champion!
In this episode of Naked Sports, host Cari Champion discusses her recent NAACP Image Award nomination, the devastating impact of wildfires in California, and the journey of a professional volleyball player, highlighting the importance of women's sports and community support.
Haleigh Washington Two-Time Olympic Medalist and Founding Athlete of LOVE Volleyball shares her journey through the world of volleyball, emphasizing the importance of humility, teamwork, and the challenges professional athletes face. She discusses her experiences playing overseas, creating a new volleyball league, and the impact of the Olympic experience on her career. The conversation also touches on the need for greater visibility and support for women's sports and personal anecdotes that highlight her personality and passion for the game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host, Carrie Champion,
and as I record this message, it has been it's
been an interesting forty eight hours for me.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
We appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I always say this, We appreciate you for listening to
the podcast and really supporting us this week, your girl
and her team of amazing producers. We're able to be
nominated for an Image Award, an NAACP Image Award for
Outstanding Podcasts Art Sports Culture. We are up against Nightcap
(00:38):
with Shannon Sharp and Chadow Joe Sinko. Do not, I repeat,
vote for them, vote for us. We have to go
and vote on NAACP Image Awards dot net.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm posting it all on my feed. Please go vote
for me.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We're also up against another podcast called Two Mamas, Two
Funny Mamas. That's Sherry Shepherd and Kim Whitley. I believe
I'm saying that last name wrong, but please forgive me.
Then there is who else is in the category, another
fellow brand on the Black Effect Network, R and B Money.
That's what tank, But it doesn't matter. I want you
(01:12):
to go and vote for me. That's what I'm saying.
In general, I'm just being real selfish because this is
the first time and if I'm being honest with you,
I've seen in a long time a woman in this
in this space, in this sports space, be nominated for
a podcast and an Image Award. I think my girl
Jammel was nominated, but she wasn't living in a sports space.
(01:33):
She won twice, she won two Image Awards for her
podcast Unbothered, but that wasn't necessarily a sports space, and
so we need to support because it really means a
lot to me one of these few times where as
a woman in this world, we're being recognized, a black woman,
more specifically in this world of sports, you're being recognized
for your work ethic, not necessarily for you know, what
(01:56):
you look like. You know, all of that other stuff
is great, but true, truly, it was an honor just
to be put in this category with all these greats.
It means that the culture sees you. They understand how
hard we are trying to be representatives, at least on
this podcast of the culture and speak to issues that matter,
give a voice to the voiceless. And I think that
(02:20):
it was really important for us this season to rebrand Naked,
which is why it's Naked Sports. But I think the
reason why I truly wanted to rebrand it because there
were so many stories in the world of sports that
weren't being told from a different lens, and that would
be from a woman's lens, a black woman, more specifically,
my lens. And I'm just grateful that the NAACP Image
(02:43):
Awards took the time to acknowledge what we are doing here.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
It's one of those things where.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
You say, I'm just honored to be nominated, and I'm
truly just honored to be nominated. But that doesn't mean
I don't want you to go vote for me. Go
vote for me, little enginet could everybody else got two
in three nominations, so I mean you don't need to
vote for Shanna Sharp here. He got three your phone nominations.
He gonna win those other three of four. He don't
need to win this one, y'all. But I am very grateful.
(03:10):
So I got that news very funny on Monday, Monday morning,
this text really early from Charlemagne at say Concrats, and
we normally text each other back and forth about silly things,
and I didn't know what he was talking about, but
he was the first to tell me, and I was
really truly just honored and blown away. Really it really
was a good day. But later on that day, so
(03:33):
as the world changes so quickly, later on that day,
and I think we are all aware now that California
is dealing with some crazy wildfires southern California, and I
live in southern California, and I have a home in
southern California in the hills. And I wasn't so much
(03:55):
worried about my space because I didn't live in Pacific Palisades.
But as I was watching from New York City, I
was thinking, jeez, this looks extremely dangerous. And I have
had my fair share of wildfires. I've been there for
most because I'm born and raised, and I've seen what
(04:16):
the Santa Ana winds do, and I see how they
keep these fires in play, and I've seen the devastation.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
But this is different.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
These winds were and are currently even as we film
this podcast, are historically damaging in the sense that they
were ninety ninety five miles an hour, and you combine
that with fire. There's just no way. It was a
windstorm of fire, and I'm sure you all have seen
(04:43):
those images. But then it got particularly scary when it
started to for me get into neighborhoods with people that
I know, really close friends that I know. And it's
sad because I no. One of my best friends lost
(05:04):
her house. This morning. She sent me a text and
she was like, my house is gone. Last night, I
was on the phone. I was on the phone with
my other best friend and she was like, my cousin
lost both of her homes. She evacuated with her family,
and they didn't think that they were in danger. They
(05:24):
just they were a part of the evacuation warning. And
then their entire house burned down, their car, their belongings,
They really didn't take much. And then she had a
rental property that burned down as well. And so here
we are, and so the story now feels very and
I'm trying not to get emotional. The story now is
(05:47):
more about are your family and your friends safe? And
for me, I can't say that they are in my neighborhood.
They have created this neighborhood watch, a new neighborhood watch,
because we are in the warning zone.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And don't I don't think.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I would be I would be devastated, yes, if my
house burned down, but I think The more devastating issue
that I'm starting to deal with and even trying to comprehend,
is that when these people lose their homes there, they're
losing their American dream. They are losing something that they've built,
(06:28):
you know, from the ground up. And I do hear
the critics say, but these people have money. I don't
want to hear about Hollywood people with money. I don't
want to hear about a house on the beach burning down.
It has nothing to do with that. It has everything
to do with the place that you call home.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
You have a home. I have a home.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
There's a sense of stability there. There is a place
where you relax. You do all of these things because
it means everything to you in your home. And when
when you don't have a home burn to the ground,
ash is gone in an instant, you are displaced. Everything
(07:08):
about your life feels off and displaced, and we're watching
it in real time, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And to add to all of this.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Personally, my ninety four year old grandmother is in the
hospital and she is in one of these evacuation warning zones.
That particular hospital is in one of these warning zones.
So I'm thinking about the things that are going on
in my mind, and I haven't even lost my home.
I'm thinking, I hope they don't have to evacuate my grandmother.
I hope that she can still get her surgery. I hope,
(07:42):
I hope that that doesn't disturb her body.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
She's so delicate.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'm thinking of all the different things that are happening,
and then I'm feeling in an incredible amount of sadness
for the people who lost their homes in the neighborhoods
that I used to visit and travel in and call
my day to day that are no longer there. Restaurants,
grocery stores, vendors that I would see all gone, and
(08:08):
so it's scary. So the last few days, while I
started in this jovial day of being excited about our
nomination here for Naked Sports, you know, the last few
days have been hard to focus, hard to really keep
the main thing the main thing. But we still have
to work. I still have to work. I still had
(08:29):
to do my podcast, I still have to do the
things that pay the bills for the house that I
live in. But at the same time, you know, I'm
consumed with the coverage. I'm on the phone with family
members every five minutes, we're texting all the time, we
are we don't see what's next. The feeling of uncertainty
(08:54):
in these types of situations, it's horrific. And no one
wants to wake up to a text that says I
lost my home.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
No one does.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And I think that there are a lot of lessons
to be learned. If you're healthy, if you have your
family and your friends and they are safe, that's great.
Belongings can be replaced. But it is still incredibly difficult
to process what's happening in southern California right now. A
(09:31):
world that feels very familiar, or at least it did
feel familiar, feels very very isolated and scary. Apocalyptic is
the word that people have been using. These people leaving
their cars in the middle of the road, leaving because
they couldn't get out by car, they had to get
out by foot. And then you just see the cars
(09:53):
just sitting in the middle of the road being bulldozed
or and or burned down. The entire stretch of Pacific
Coast Highway just burnt. I mean, it really is devastating.
And there are organizations that are helping, and there are
people that are helping, and I know that you can
go online and you can look and see. I know
(10:15):
Airbnb is offering homes for people. I know two on
one if you're in California, that number is in Los Angeles.
More specifically is the number to help you. And I
know right now firefighters are trying to contain some of
these fires. Right now, they're about five or six and
they're trying to be contained. And my hope is that
(10:36):
we start to see some progress. I don't know who's
to blame. We can blame anybody when it's all said
and done, but right now people are trying to figure
out what's next. So as I sit here and do
this podcast, still grateful that it allows me to have
a space of expression, and I hope that you enjoy
(10:57):
our podcast today. But I had to take some time
out to talk about something that's truly devastating. And I'm
not gonna lie. I don't know if I also have
my home by the time we air this, but I
hope so. I think so we are in a warning zone,
(11:24):
but it looks like it's okay. So I'm gonna stay positive.
I'm gonna I'm going to adapt the same attitude that
I've seen people on television adapt who have lost everything.
If it is that is what it was supposed to be,
supposed to be. If it doesn't happen, great, I'm grateful.
I am sending grace, mercy and love to everyone who
(11:48):
is dealing with this.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Right now in real time. Be safe.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I'm sending so much love to my city, and I
think everyone who has called has reached out, who is
checked on me with checked on family and friends. So
with that being said, prayers up. Thank you all for
listening to the podcast. Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast
(12:16):
where we live at the intersection of sports, politics, and culture.
Our purpose reveal the common threads that bind them all.
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying to.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Get to for almost thirty years. From the stadiums where
athletes break barriers and set records. Kaylanquark broke the all
time single game assists record. This is crazy for rookies.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
To be doing.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
To the polls where history is written, and now we
have Kamala Harrison. It feels more like women are sort
of taken what they've always deserved, as opposed to waiting
on somebody to give them what they deserve.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines a light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Carrie Champion. Hey, family, So thank you
(13:19):
all for letting me share what I was feeling about
the California wild fires.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
This is a safe space.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I appreciate you, and I know a lot of you
have family and friends there who may have been affected
as you listen to this podcast. And my quick update
as I am recording this yet again, home is intact.
Things seem to be well and we're just praying for
those who lost their homes. But most importantly, everyone who
(13:47):
is housing challenged at this moment, we want to make
sure that they find some sort of resources. So please
be a part of the community in which the world
that we live in. Whatever you hear about fires, if
it can help someone, if it can perhaps maybe give
someone some hope, share that information and whatever way you
can do your small part. Nothing little is considered little
(14:10):
in times like these. Okay, now let's get to this
week's podcast. I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta
for the first serve of the new professional Volleyball league
indoor Professional Volleyball League League One Volleyball, or Love as
it's called. And I'm really excited because I said, Hey, yes,
(14:31):
I want to come down. I want to find a
player to interview, and I want to talk about this
new league women's sports is really at a beautiful intersection
in which everyone is interested and wants to invest. So
they set me down with one of the league's stars.
Her name is Haley Washington. And I'm smiling already because
(14:52):
Haley was extremely intelligent, funny and smart. And I was like,
this is it. This is how you get people to
pay attention to a new league. You bring someone along
who is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
How would I describe her?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
She has her own personality, She's very unapologetic. I asked
her who she felt as if she was similar to
in terms of another sport, personality, playing style, and she
said Dennis Rodman. But listen, Dennis Rodman was arguably one
of the best players. Even if he didn't score points,
he was in the game. He was making plays, he
(15:28):
was always very invaluable. It's the intangibles that had set
him apart. And Haley Washington has so many intangibles, one
of which is she is extremely funny. She made me
laugh and I key keyd and I loled, and I
invite you to do the same with us. Please enjoy
(15:48):
this edition of Naked Sports. Haley, what is the biggest
myth in volleyball?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm so glad you asked. The biggest myth is that
you hold your hands like you're praying.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
If there's one thing we can teach Americans about alley, weall,
it's hands are held like this.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Pancake, pancake, sausage, sausage, wrists kiss. That's how we want
to hold our hands. Please break your fingers. Stop doing that.
It makes you so angry.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I just because I see people that are like I
played volleyball in high school.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
And then they hang me with that, and I want
to drop kick them in the teeth. I'm just like,
just tell me, you don't play bolltall It's okay.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Pancake, pancake, sausage, sausage, sausage, sausage.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Risk. See, it's a game of lot. It's so beautiful.
It's a game of love. It's a games thumbs are hugging,
your wrists are kissing. It's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
See, I got it. Okay, I guess I'm ready to
play tonight. Do you get on favor?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I know, right? Introduce yourself for us. Up Hi, I'm.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Healy Washington, two time Olympic medalist, founding athlete for Love Bebe.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It's actually just loved.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
They're gonna hate that I said Love Bbe founding athlete
for Love, Penn State alumni and just a.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Lover of the game. So today's an important day.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And by that I mean this is the inaugural of
Love Volleyball. And I really appreciate you taking the time
just to be here to explain what this all is.
But I think we need a backstory because this is
the first of its kind. It is an original. It
is a professional volleyball league, and as we know in
women's sports, very few professional leagues get the attention that
they deserve. But I think something is different in terms
(17:20):
of how this will look. Talk to me about your
journey to being a professional volleyball player. When'd you start playing?
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, I started playing volleyball kind of at a later age.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
For a lot of volleyball athletes. I started when I
was twelve in middle school. A lot of volleyball players will.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Get their start at six, seven, eight years old, and
I was just a kid that was running out on
the mountains.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
And so originally I started playing volleyball when I was twelve.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
So it's just something I wanted to do after school
because middle school you.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Could start doing extracurricular activities. And truth be told, I
really wanted to play football.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I was a tomboy growing up. I really wanted to
be a football player. I was gonna be a great
wide receiver. And my dad looked at all six foot
three of me, seventy pounds wet, and it's like, you'll
die you get hit by playing football.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
You can't do that.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So my football career was dashed within seconds, and I
ended up going.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
To play volleyball, and I just fell in love with
it instantly. Why did you fall in love with it instantly?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I wish I had like a moment that stood out
that was why I fell in love with it, But
it really just it just made sense to me, Like
serving the ball over the net made sense to me,
and the footwork made sense to me, and it was
so easy for me to get the concept of the
game and why you would get competitive, and the energy
and the fire like it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Just from day one, I was in love with it.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'm curious because most people normally look at someone or
see someone. They can see someone who does what they
do or does something that they want to do, and
they follow in that trajectory. There was not one player
in your high school and your middle school on television
that you saw and said, like, what she's doing.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well. I had a neighbor who Whitney do boys, and
she played volleyball.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Shout out to Whitney. Shout out to Whitney, Shout out Whitney.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
But I would always want to go and play at
their house when I was like a little annoying ankle biter,
and they'd be like, no, Whitney has a volleyball game.
And I never had the concept of volleyball because I'd
only ever seen a volleyball court outside of our old
rec center and it was just an old sand pit
with a saggy net because there was always winter when
I was over there, and so I was like, volleyball
is people running around in the sand and they can't
(19:20):
touch the ball with their hands, so they play with
their head like. That was my concept of volleyball. So yeah,
I never really had a person that I followed. I
never really watched the game, and it wasn't until I
was at that tryout that I was like, Oh, this.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Is what volleyball is.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
It's past set hit, it's doing this footwork, it's transitioning,
it's constant movement.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And really after that, my dad started to take me
to volleyball games.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
We would watch the high schoolers play, and I started
to play club and got introduced to kind of the
more competitive side.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
But it was just it really was a love at
first sight. Wow, literally love at first sight. That's special.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I think that what's so interesting about where we are
in this world today specifically is about women's sports, and
we're amplifying it in so many different ways. I have
met so many different athletes who have said they wish
that they could play at home.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
They wish that they could.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Play in front of their family outside of when you
graduate from college that's it, or at the Olympics, for instance,
that's your opportunity to really play for home if you will.
Your journey started obviously early on, but when you got
to Penn State.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
What was that experience?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Like you knew that you were special, you knew you
had something set apart obviously recruited full scholarship, congratulations, No.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Debt, no debt, No, you have college debt. You don't
have no college debt. You have to pay for a book.
Well that was when I was. When I was growing up.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Actually, I decided that if I was going to go
to college, it was on a full right scholarship or
not at all. And so I was twelve years old
and having a little anxiety attack about my future, you know,
like most twelve year olds kid, of course, and I
made a list of everything I loved of like volleyball, basketball, track, choir, theater.
I played the trombone, so all these things that I
could potentially want to work towards getting a full right
(20:58):
scholarship for. And I ended up falling on volleyball and
worked my butt off to get a full right to
go to Penn State.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And the rest is kind of this history.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
The rest is history. Tell us about the history, because
you did make history. Why you were there yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Once or twice?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean Penn State was first of all, you said,
like I had gone to Penn State a fluorth scholarship.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I was special.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Let's establish I was not special because Penny Kicksie and
the teeth. Why do you think that it's a program
that's not supposed to be about me. It's a program
that's built around we. Like Russ was really big on
we win as a team. You are who you need
to be, and you can play great volleyball, and you
can be great, but it's not about you. And you
co go from being this kind of big fish in
(21:40):
a medium sized pond, like a good volleyball player in
Colorado to Penn State University that has this tradition of excellence,
this legacy of winning. I mean, they're one of the
few programs that has won four national championships back to
back to back.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
They had just won in twenty thirteen. They had so.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Many alumni that were Olympians, and like their program was
just historic and iconic. And so you get there and
you were humbled very quickly. And I didn't even go
there thinking that I could be great. I was just like,
you know, I'm just I'm glad I made it. I
got a full right scholarship.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
School is paid for, and I'm just here to work
hard and do the best that I can. But it
was grueling. It was a grueling four years.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Penn State volleyball was the hardest thing I've ever been
a part of in my career, hands down, and not
because it was.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Like a negative part. It was just it.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Russ Rose believed in forging you in the fire, and
that was what we did. We were forged in the
fire at Penn State, and it really I think made
me a mentally strong player and a mentally strong athlete.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Also helped you find your voice. Yeah, more or less,
Yan because you have it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So when you get there and you realize that you
are a smaller fish in a very big pond, how
do you adjust? What does that feel like in that
particular program?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
I mean, I think obviously you have to recognize the
things that are outside of your control.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I think for a freshman, I was still anidia. Let's stop,
I'm still an idiot freshman coming to campus.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I look at myself and try to see wisdom, but
I really just see an idiot freshman.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But you recognize the things that you can and can't control.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
And I was like, look, whether I get onto that
starting spot or not, I can't control that. And I
actually suffered a pretty devastating injury during pre season that
cost me the first part of the season, and I
just remember being like, well, there's nothing I can do.
If all I can do is get in, get my
rehab workout, try to be strong and work my butt off.
And I remember when I could finally play again, I
(23:30):
was playing on the B side, and I was like,
I don't care that I'm on the B side.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I'm gonna play my hardest. I'm gonna whoop A sides.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
But because so for those of us who don't know Volleywood, yes,
and when I say us, I mean me.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
What's the B side? Okay? So you have A side
and B side.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So you have your starting six that are on the
fourth that are going to play in the game, and
then you have your B side, which are the people
that are coming into be game changers. They tend to
be on the bench and they'll sub in to serve,
or they'll sub in if an athlete's injured, but they're
typically your bench players.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
If your A side is your starting side, and your
B side it's your backup bench players. Okay, so you're
on the B.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So I was on the B side because I had
been injured and I needed to earn my starting spot,
which I was absolutely necessary.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
But I was like, Okay, if I'm gonna be over here,
they're gonna have.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
To fight tooth and nail to shut me down because
I'm gonna whoop their butt because if they can beat me,
then they can probably beat the other athletes that they're
gonna face the competition. And I remember we had B
side whooped, but because we had also two men's practice
players and it was.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Me and I was yelling and shirping and talking smack
and what I shockgates.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
But I was, yeah, I was just shirping away. Happened
to good all the time, and we actually ended up
winning the drill. We won most of the drills that day,
and Russ at the end of practice always talked to
the team and he was like, you could have all
the energy you want, but just remember this, you're still
on B side. I was like, thank you, thank you
for the slight so humble bye, thank you, thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But the following day I was on each side. Really okay,
hold on, I just don't don't talk. Don't talk over.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That hell, so you you're on the b side.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's one practice.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
It was one practice, yeah, and then I'm sure if
you ask other girls are gonna be like it was
like a week and a half of practice.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Like but in my mind, in my memory, who's the
following day? Damn? Yeah? What that say to you?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So that I that energy goes a long way, because
I don't think I'm like this stellar attacker, like I
have one of the highest hitting percentages in Penn State history,
and like I have like a good hitting like I
was a great middle at the Tokyo Olympics and all
this stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
But like that doesn't matter. I think my personality is
kind of what makes me a.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Decent ish player because I'm loud and I'm obnoxious, and
I'm in your face and I'm screaming and I'm cussing
and I'm smacking butts and I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You're right, the fans love. It's You're what the game needs.
You are it.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
If you if you were to describe yourself folk for
folks who aren't familiar with volleyball, who would be your equivalent?
Someone would say you remind me Ofsessed and such in
the AMBA or the wn B or in soccer, who
would who would your personality remind people?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Okay, personality not going off to Las Vegas for three days,
but personality.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I'm gonna say Denis Rodman.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Uh huh that I want to be Rodman, so bat
and I know maybe a little like don't worry, don't
apologize about that, just say that on the court, Dennis Rodman,
his flared hair, his obnoxious style, like his just kind
of being loud and in your face, but also like
just a good support player.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Brodman would have games where you didn't score any points at all,
but he was in everywhere.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
I'm saying that was my motto for this past everything
was just do your job, Like you don't gotta be
the star, you don't got to score twenty points. You
gotta blah blah blah blah blah do your job. And
I did it with high energy. And so I think
Dennis Rodman, if I can say, that's a bold statement,
but I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Say it when we come back. Hayley shares more about
her playing style and what made her realize she was
built for this sport back in a moment, Hey, everybody,
welcome back to naked sports. So Haley is in the
middle of sharing a story and she talks about how
she found out that she was really a special player
(27:12):
without bragging. I use the word special one day during practice.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
When she was in college.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
One day of practice aside. The next day, you walk in,
you're on a side, and what do you say to yourself?
I say to myself, Okay, don't blow it, idiot.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
You know positive self talk. I'm a mentor, I'm a
role model. Sorry, just touched my mics.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Sorry, yeah, I have no I've pushed this mic around
twenty times.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Deal with it now. I'm kidding.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
But Noel, that aspect of a humility of like, okay,
yes I earned it, but let's not like just assume
that that's it.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Like you still got to do your job.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Do your job, idiot, and I wouldn't dare call you that.
But yeah, yeah, okay. So then you get in there,
you do your job.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And I work my butt off.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
I get I think, defensive player of the year something,
all big ten, oh, something like that.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And I love the humble brag. I don't know, I
just did. I'm not I don't know. I just say, yeah,
I'm just kidding. I'm joking. Cut cut that out in
stays in.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Don't take it out for goodser Okay, so you you
you literally show up and you show out and you
do your job.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
How's that season end?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
We got a national fiship Actually okay, but truth be told,
that was not a humble brag. Again, I just was
saying a fact. We won a national championship that season.
We had two starting freshmen, me and Ali Franti. And
it sounds like this great accomplishment, but I played like trash.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The NCAA tournament. Russ was even very kind enough to
tell me that. At the end of the tournament.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
He was like, hey, you played like garbage a tournament.
I said, thanks, Russ, appreciate you and I But the
thing is I didn't need to play great. It was
again because it's not about me, it's about leave. So
I did my job well enough. It's right that the
women around me could take care of business and they
could get the W and that's what we did.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I just did my job.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
The cydebar not even a cydebar, but actually, what I
am noticing as I listen to you talk and I've
said this about women in sports, obviously it builds your
self esteem and your confidence.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
That's something that there's much.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
More positivity about women who play sports than there is
about women who don't. And it's not a knock, it's
just what it is. But there is this thing about
women in general when we get into this world and
we live in the world, it's hard for us to
find our voice. It's hard for us to speak up
and raise our hands. You don't have that problem. But
what I love is that you have the humility mixed
with that, and that is a special that's a yes
and and it's an invaluable trait that you don't get
(29:33):
to see so much of. And it takes it separates
you from everyone else, it really does, and I think
that helps. As Russ has pointed out, you know, I
love your energy, but you do your job. But I'm
going to do my job well, and I'm going to
be everywhere, and I'm not trying to be the best,
but I'm going to be everywhere and do my job. Now,
when you have that same mentality, and I know in
twenty seventeen, you also went to the semi finals, right
(29:54):
you guys, guys A final semifinals, oh.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Reverse by Nebraska in twenty seventeen, I don't want to
talk about it. But Defense State just did that to
them this year, so it's fine. I guess we can
talk about it. It's fine we can't talk.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
We can talk about it the whole time that you're
playing in college. Do you think that there is a
life after in terms of playing professional volleyball?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I love this question.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I remember my sophomore year being in the locker room
and being asked, Hey, will you go pro? And that
was the first time it had ever been presented to me,
this idea of going pro. And I remember jokingly being like, pro,
my niece can barely handle college.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
There's no way I can handle pro.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
If I could go back and slap the sophomore year me,
shut up, look how far we can go? I would,
But I never really thought that I could play pro
let alone do USA.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I remember my senior.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Year being asked will you try out with the USA
gym and telling them I just don't really think I'm
a good enough blocker, I'm not offensive enough in front
of the ceter so I just I don't really think
it's gonna be for me. And that was just kind
of my mentality, was like I'm going to get through
college and I remember my senior year well, because I
really wanted to stay in academics, well, I wanted to
(30:58):
get why not go for pro? Yeah, one, it was
so far away, and like everybody that came back kind
of told me these horror stories of being overseas, being
isolated from your family.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
You're far away for a long period of time, we're
not really making big money. So I was like, this
doesn't sound fun. But I remember talking to Russ again,
Russ Rose, This guy influenced my whole life.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
I remember talking to Russ about going overseas because I
had this idea that, Okay, I'll go play pro for
two years, save up enough money to pay for a
little bit of my master's degree, and then I'll come
back and get my master's in philosophy, and then I
was going to be a critical race philosopher and then
a libraryan and I work in the Library of Congress.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
That was the dream.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Sounds exciting, Yeah, the volleyball's better so in the Library
of Congress, but volleyball.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Has been way more exciting. Yeah. But Russ actually pulled
me aside and he's like, if you're gonna do this
overseas thing, do it right.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
He's like, build yourself up, build a career, build a
name for yourself. Don't just shut it out after two years.
It's like, commit to it.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And I was like this Russ guy, Hi, I'm telling you, man,
he's a legend. He's a life coach. Don't let him
fall back into the pages of history. Guys. He is
a gangster and built the program.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
He coached Penn State forty three years, built volleyball at
that school.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
They want Russ rose Man.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
All right, yeah, so he says, do it right, do right?
You get those orders, then you think why not? I
do want to say this, Hey, you were going to
give up on a dream because it was far away.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
It wasn't a dream for you. Though it wasn't a dream.
I wonder is it a dream for others.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I you definitely think they don't want to do it
because they don't want to go overseas.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
I that's a fear of mine.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Or worse?
Speaker 3 (32:36):
People do follow their dream and they go overseas. And
I'm telling you it's not a glamorous life. We're very
spoiled in college sports here with our nice Some of
us have charter flights and if we don't have charter flights.
We at least why like domestic and it's comfortable, and
we have these.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Big, fancy locker rooms. And now there's underwater treadmills, a
programs and dining halls with lots of fancy food, and
we have ice bats and hot and we're.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Spoiled in college sports. And then you go overseas and
you're on a greyhound bus for six hours to go
to your next game. You get to a hotel where
you're sharing it, where you're sharing a room and they're
two twin sized beds, and the locker room that you
have is leaking, and you have to make sure that
you have all your stuff and your equipment because nobody
(33:22):
else is handling reefs like it's a culture shock, And
so you follow the stream to go overseason to play
pro and you're really fighting and fending for yourself and
it's not always like that. There are some definite good
teams that have great resources. So no Tino shade to
any of the international leagues. I was blessed at Italy.
I had some really great opportunities, some great resources.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Yeah, they're the side note. She she's been playing overseas
in Italy. Not a bad game, not a bad not
a bad game.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You like pasta? I do not like pasta too Corby,
it's too car baby. I gain weight like crazy. I
can't enjoy pasta. I can have the occasion is the pasta.
They're bad and like I feel like I know it's.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
So it's so good, like you can't get the problem
is you just you can't eat it all the time.
I like wine, though, okay's gun.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Let me tell you what I did learn overseas is
the wine. So there are presumably, and this is why
we are here today to talk about this professional league
that is state side. But there are presumably, and I
don't want to make up numbers, but there are many women,
maybe hundreds, maybe thousands of women who who gave up
the opportunity or perhaps thought about going overseas to play,
(34:27):
but they just didn't want to do it because of
what it required on them mentally and physically and personally.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
No holidays, no like no holidays with family, Thanksgiving, New Year?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
What's the seasons?
Speaker 3 (34:40):
So if you're a national team athlete, the season can
be anywhere from October till May. But if you're not
a national team athlete, if you're just coming out of
college or if you're not doing national team, they usually
ask for you around like August, so you'll be out
there August, September, October, November, December. Ten years, it's like
ten months. Wow, it's a little long season. And if
(35:01):
you're in a higher to your team, you have usually
Champions League and then you have Cup Italia and Super
Colpas and regular season, so you're playing two three games
a week.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
You're traveling constantly.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Your off day is really your travel day, so you're
also seeing everybody. You never get a chance to be
by yourself. It's how much money do you make? It's decent,
it's I think a crass am.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
I I'm gonna talk numbers. I in sports, don't.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
I hate that they don't talk noumb Yeah, my last
season name is two hundred and thirty thousand, which is
pretty high paying for a middle blocker. But I mean
there are girls that are making I mean there are
some pro girls that are making millions and like in endorsement, sponsorships,
but I think on average you're trying to make a
six figure contract. So League one was a downgrade from
two hundred and thirty thousand, but still six figures. I
(35:48):
think I'm making somewhere from like one twenty to one
to fifty, but I have to look.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
At my contract, I know how much of me. But yeah,
still six figures.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
And they offer decent money to most of the athletes,
as far as I know, may not always six figures,
especially for girls that are coming out of college or
for girls that are have less experience overseas or in
the pro world.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
But I mean it's decent. Pay the bills.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
So it's ten months overseas somewhere in the twos anywhere
upwards to perhaps seven figures in the millions.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
That's for the oh one percent, okay of athletes.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
That's for like done average.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah, on a I would say on average, if you're going,
if you're an American going overseas, on average, you're looking
at one hundred and twenty. I think, like the Olympic
American athletes like go overseas, we're in the six figures.
But if you're just an average college girl, I mean,
your starting salary is gonna be a twenty one.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So Russ gives you this advice and he says, do
it and do it right. How'd that work out for you.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
I think I went into overseas with a good mentality
of like just say yes, Like whatever opportunities present yourself
to them, say yes and work hard. And so it
worked out well because I played on this really low
level A two team my first season only.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
For a month and a half two months, because I
came in for a half season. We didn't make playoffs.
So I just kind of came in but made enough
of a.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Statement that I got on an A one team, the
last place team in A one, which, if you don't
know volleyball, most professional leagues overseas have like an A
one team and an A two or an A one
league in an A two league, okay.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
It's like our any like our NBA and the G League. Okay,
perfect equivalent. Ye yeah. And so I was on the
last place team in A one, but then I managed
to work my way up.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
To the fourth place team in A one, and then
I was in the top one or two teams for
the rest of my career.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
So you did it right? Did it right? As Russ suggested?
As Russ suggested, he's a very wise man, A wise man,
wise man.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
When we return, what does the future of professional volleyball
look like here in America, back in a moment, Welcome
back to naked sports. So just for contexts, I want
(38:01):
to remind you I am in Atlanta while doing this
interview and we are just hours away from the beginning
of making history and professional volleyball. Take a listen. I
want you to talk to me about when you heard
about this opportunity. There's been other professional volleyball league, so
there's been obviously Peach volleyball that people have tried to do,
(38:22):
and some of them have failed because there have been
issues with finance. Money is always the issue. There's always
the issue. Money is always the issue. And I want
to make this a negative.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
But when you were approached by Love, what were you thinking?
Is this real? Can I do this?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
And I know this has been in the works for
some years now, but what were your initial thoughts?
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, I think my initial thoughts were excitement because I
have been approached by a couple other leagues about how
they wanted to kind of run American Volleyball. So I've
been approached by AU which is another volleyball league that
we have here in the States, and it's super fun.
It looks like the girls that go and play and
that have a really great time, and again it's a
way to bring volleyball to America. So I love the
(39:03):
AU as a thing, and I had been approached by them, and.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
I didn't love kind of.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Their format though, like I just wanted to be a
regular volleyball league and they rotate teams every week, and
I was like, I'm not as excited about that. And
then I had been approached about another potential league that
was all all stars and it was only for a
couple of weekends and it was just like all start
showings and showcases, and.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I was like, I don't love that either. And so
when League one kind of came up to me, when
Love approached me, They're like, hey, we have this idea
for a league and it's just a regular old volleyball league,
but it's a grassroots movement. It's oriented in the community.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
We want to get youth athletes involved, youth sports involved.
I was like that I'm interested in because I think
that there's an untapped.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Market in youth sports here Stateside.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
I think that, like, youth sports are so big in America,
and we do a really good job of developing our
younger athletes, and so to tap into that market while
also funneling that excitement into a pro league and to
provide just a regular old pro league so exciting, and
so I was I was.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
On board from the jump. As soon as they presented
the idea. I was like, yes, I'm in Wow, And
I think.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
It was just it was kind of that mentality of yes,
and and then like what do I have to lose?
Like if it fails, whatever, at least I try. You
have the opportunity to still go play overseas. That's still
an option for you.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
For sure. This is a win win absolutely, Like there
was no.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Like Italy wasn't just gonna disappear off the face of
the earth because I did League One.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
And there are so many leagues in the world.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
There's France, there's Germany, there's Korea, there's Japan, there's turky like,
so it was never gone.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
So I was like, why not take the time to
invest in this.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Do you look at the w NBA and you see
what it? You know, it's inception right and where it
is now? Do you see that being the same vision
for love?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
I think yes, I think I okay, are to begin one.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
I don't love the comparison of are you gonna be
like the WNBA or are you gonna be like the
fair and WSL, because we're all different things, and I
think like they're all going to have I think what
makes volleyball funds the intimate environments. I think what makes
the WNBA fund is their big atmospheres, and so they
didn't always have a big atmosphere, and so.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Like those are things that are like growing into.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
So I think women's volleyball is going to have its
own kind of path, and I think the start of
the intimate atmosphere is going to be.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Kind of our What will set you up in pact
well far is that.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
Intimate atmosphere can feel like a lot of fun, whereas
sometimes in the WNBA that intimate atmosphere can feel a
little bit almost.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Energy sucking, at least in their inception.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I don't want to overstep I am, I want to
say anything rude, but I think that intimate atmosphere can.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Really be great for You're Jenna sa Qua.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah, what we like about going to a Love volleyball game.
So so as we record this podcast, Love's first serve
will be on ESPN plus who It's huge, right, I
think that's a huge start. I'm curious as to what
you think will make this first game different. You said
you want your own path, you don't want to be compared,
(42:00):
and that's very fair. I think that the comparisons are
also fair as well.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Definitely, I'm sorry if that came across this room.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
No, but I think they're fair because people what I
what I think when I say that is it started
off with fan fair.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
People are excited. It might have some growing pains as all.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
All it's do is yeah, but then then there comes
this moment where people understand it's its value and start
to appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That's the truth that I think.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yes, I absolutely agree, and I'm sorry, no, no, no go.
I think the WNBA has kicked but in kind of
paving the way for women's sports also, and so I
think like there's gonna be that growing pain time where's
where there's less engagement or maybe not as many people
are watching for sure, but the w NBA, just women's
sports in twenty twenty four have really kind of put
(42:50):
us on the map, have helped with getting more exposure.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Like the WNBA really came up for nothing.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
There really weren't meant there wasn't much excitement for women's
sports when it was in like when it had its
inaugural season and when it was first starting off, and
they really had to kind of like build from somewhat nothing.
And so I think that they have done a great
job kind of paving the way and getting people excited
about women's sports, and so I think that's maybe what
might make it easier for us to get people's attention,
(43:17):
to get people well, yeah, because I can't remember a
time where you get a professional women's league and they're like,
let's just put it on ESPN in any capacity. Yeah,
And you know, year to year, even the growth the
NCAA Championships from my understanding where forty one percent.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
From year to year, and that's huge.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
To actually tune in and see people are paying attention.
It's in the zeigeist if you will. I hate to
use that word.
Speaker 4 (43:39):
It is.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
It is just out there.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
But I'm interested in what you think the ceiling is
or is there no ceiling?
Speaker 2 (43:48):
What I think the ceiling is.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
What is the world that you could imagine in your
wildest dreams, in the world that you think will actually be.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
In my wildest dreams.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
I imagine every game is like the NCAA Championship.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
I know that's that's a.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Big dream, but I mean, if you can get fans
that excited for one game out of the year, I
don't see why you can't get them hyped for every game.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Kind of like that.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
And I mean I just went, like, I went to
a hockey game ABS played the Utah Hockey Club in
Salt Lake City, and I was like, this is so cool,
and it's so possible for women's, Like I think it's
possible for women's volleyball to be in those big arenas,
be in those spaces for people to be excited.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
We have to teach people how to be volleyball fans.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
We have to tell them it's okay to be loud,
okay to make noises, You're not going to scarce away.
That's so interesting that you say that, Well, it's just
because volleyball is like tennis, so they assume it's like
tennis or fighter and serve fighters.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
So interesting that you say you have to teach people
how to be fans. You have to teach people how
to understand the sport. You have to teach them, and
that is the onus, honestly is on the people who
know the sport and the people who play it.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Yeah, definitely. I'm just bringing you in and be like, hey,
come on, I don't know what we got to do.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
If it's I don't know, whatever it is, you're gonna
get you guys excited about this game.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
I do want to ask you a question about being
an Olympian and that's the ultimate goal. And I'll find
a way to put this bick and I want to
weave in the ultimate I think for mini athletes, no
matter who you are, even if you play professionally, the
goal is ultimately to represent your country. You have the
opportunity to do that in a major way. You want
a gold and you want a silver middle blocker. Talk
to me about those those experiences for you. What does
(45:26):
it feel like to actually take a sport. Because I
believe during the Olympics that's when bollyball gets more in
indefinitively and at the highest levels, and it's it's global
so people can pay attention and they understand the sport
in a different way. What does that feel like for you?
For sport they get so little attention states, I mean.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
The Olympics, you always get hype over sports that you
don't usually get to see because there's just less coverage
of it. Like track and field is one of the
most watched events, but outside of the Olympics, like unless
you're following an athlete on Instagram, you're not really seeing.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
What they're doing during a quad.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
And so I think you kind of sport even gymnastics, gymnastics,
track field, rugby, although rugby now is picking I think,
so it's huge.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yeah, but I just need.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
To be at that stage, to be at the Olympics
and like know that kind of the world is watching,
especially with the background of playing overseas.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Because internationally volleyball is big sport.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
Turkish fans, Brazilian fans, Italian fans.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
They're big.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
It's big over there, and so you kind of feel
all eyes on you in that moment, which is on
the one hand scary and intimidating, but on the other
hand still just volleyball. For it's the same size and
that's the same height. So all you have to do
is what my motto is, do your job.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Do you out there. I'm telling you, it's that's the
game of this podcast. Do your job, heys.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
Do your job.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
It's so easy to does not be bad at life.
Just do your job. Stop trying to be a start.
Just do your job.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
But yeah, okay, so I'm going to say this, and
this is just this is just my projection. I do
believe that this sport will do well, but it needs
it needs its characters, it needs it's it needs people
to correct.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
And I was like, you are illuminary.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
And I think that if people can understand who you are,
where you come from, and their personality is absolutely a one.
So I think that if you have more stars, people
can follow and be invested. I'm fully invested. I want
to I really am like, I'm in love with her.
I mean in a completely platonic way, but I'm like, I.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
Really want to know. I really like, I really don't
know what else is happening. Your favorite food? My favorite
food is rice. I know it sounds super boring, but
you can do so much with rice.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
You won't eat pasta, but you just like rice. I
love rice, jolo, ricela, rice, cilantro, lime rice. You just
make rice farmers risotto?
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Are you kidding me? Do you put meat in there?
Just rice? So if you were on an island, all
you need is rice. You do so much with rice.
You just find rice and spices. Rice is great. I
love favorite song right now, uh Dodger Blue by Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
Favorite artists right now, So some good artists right now
The Beaches their Canadian band.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
Okay, threw me off with that one. I'm sorry. I
appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (48:11):
All right.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Favorite dance right now? What's your celebration dance? Oh see,
I'm not like I just I.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Can't do that on this. You don't have it. No,
I don't know doing it. You can't do you like.
I'm not doing pe tequila in me or you pay
me for it. It's just not something favor drink ooh water,
stay hydrated. Actually of Pablo Mouse. Lacroix is Mike. I
(48:41):
love Lacroix, dude.
Speaker 3 (48:42):
But if we're speaking in the more like adult beverage beverage,
I love tequila. I did a tequila tasting when I
went to Disney World with my boyfriend and that was
fire on yeho tequila.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
That's it. That's all we're doing. A big fan of tequila.
Is your thing on your hell?
Speaker 3 (48:59):
Okay, I or a good mescal? Oh way, did I
take it back? I'm gonna be that pretentious a hole.
It's like a mexical. I love a smoky mescal.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Any any mix you just mescal rot like a mescal.
I'm just I don't love mixed drinks. I don't like
the sugar, so like a mescal Sunrise, that's easy.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
It was like orange juice, all sugar, just mexic. That's
real gangster favorite athlete.
Speaker 3 (49:30):
There's so many good ones to choose from.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
She Carrio Richardson some own biles. Katie thea Decy. I'm
gonna do o Katy the Decky right now. Why she's
a mermaid and I've always wanted to meet a mermaid.
Speaker 3 (49:44):
Dang yeah, okay, I'm gonna o Kay the Decky, and
I'm sticking about the mermaid thing.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
But she's your on thin ice, Katie do something cool
yet she wrote a book. She's just like he's so smart.
She loves Lacroy like I love lacor mean you.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
She's a ra okay crush. At the moment out of
the Driver, Oh yeah, I was like, uh h Adam
driver's pressure drivers So daddy.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Yeah, yeah, ay, your daddy.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
Why because he's uh, he's got that like Burley muscle,
but also like dorky kind of look oh or Leandre Earl.
She's one of the artists in the Beaches. Okay, all right,
there you go.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
And then when we get ready to get our mind
right before a game, what are we listening to?
Speaker 2 (50:29):
What's your What's your goal?
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Song? Either Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Hord Picture Show
or Plagues from the Prince of Egypt, both musicals.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Those musicals get you hype to play and they get me.
Have you heard Plagues? I know I have not a girl.
I need to get to it. You gotta get on that. Okay,
we'll play it in the podcast. Yeah, it's okay, play
Swee Transvestite. That's not for this kind of podcast. But hey,
but that's what that's that gets you right, Yeah, every
time you go out. Yeah, I played that entire Olympics
(51:04):
before every game. What yeah, in your mind locked in zone?
Speaker 3 (51:07):
Yeah, because it's like the slow build and there's this
one part in the Plague song at least where it
like really it just hits and you're, oh, we're.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Going I can't sing, so I'm not singing for you.
I was hoping. I'm like I'm quiet. I'm like, let
you do it. Maybe we'll get say yes, get.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
We're having some mescal for the game. Your favorite saying,
My favorite saying of one thing I.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Am certain is that I know nothing.
Speaker 3 (51:34):
Pancake, pancake, sausage, sausage, risky.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
It's love. It's love, man, Hayley, I love you. Thank
you for being here. This was so fun. It was great.
It's great goodness.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
I surely enjoyed that, young lady. We had a good time.
So huge thank you, though. Let me get these out
of the way. To Stephanie Martin of League one Volleyball
and everyone who made this possible. The first game was
a huge success. Follow along on their site, League one
Volleyball as they play through their inaugural season. Remember, here's
(52:07):
to everyone watching women's sports. I'll talk to you all
next week. Naked Sports written and executive produced by me
Kerry Champion, produced by Jock Vice Thomas, Sound designed and
mastered by Dwayne Crawford. Associate producer Ola Busayl Shabby. Naked
Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast network
in iHeartMedia
Hey, everybody, Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host, Carrie Champion,
and as I record this message, it has been it's
been an interesting forty eight hours for me.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
We appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I always say this, We appreciate you for listening to
the podcast and really supporting us this week, your girl
and her team of amazing producers. We're able to be
nominated for an Image Award, an NAACP Image Award for
Outstanding Podcasts Art Sports Culture. We are up against Nightcap
(00:38):
with Shannon Sharp and Chadow Joe Sinko. Do not, I repeat,
vote for them, vote for us. We have to go
and vote on NAACP Image Awards dot net.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm posting it all on my feed. Please go vote
for me.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We're also up against another podcast called Two Mamas, Two
Funny Mamas. That's Sherry Shepherd and Kim Whitley. I believe
I'm saying that last name wrong, but please forgive me.
Then there is who else is in the category, another
fellow brand on the Black Effect Network, R and B Money.
That's what tank, But it doesn't matter. I want you
(01:12):
to go and vote for me. That's what I'm saying.
In general, I'm just being real selfish because this is
the first time and if I'm being honest with you,
I've seen in a long time a woman in this
in this space, in this sports space, be nominated for
a podcast and an Image Award. I think my girl
Jammel was nominated, but she wasn't living in a sports space.
(01:33):
She won twice, she won two Image Awards for her
podcast Unbothered, but that wasn't necessarily a sports space, and
so we need to support because it really means a
lot to me one of these few times where as
a woman in this world, we're being recognized, a black woman,
more specifically in this world of sports, you're being recognized
for your work ethic, not necessarily for you know, what
(01:56):
you look like. You know, all of that other stuff
is great, but true, truly, it was an honor just
to be put in this category with all these greats.
It means that the culture sees you. They understand how
hard we are trying to be representatives, at least on
this podcast of the culture and speak to issues that matter,
give a voice to the voiceless. And I think that
(02:20):
it was really important for us this season to rebrand Naked,
which is why it's Naked Sports. But I think the
reason why I truly wanted to rebrand it because there
were so many stories in the world of sports that
weren't being told from a different lens, and that would
be from a woman's lens, a black woman, more specifically,
my lens. And I'm just grateful that the NAACP Image
(02:43):
Awards took the time to acknowledge what we are doing here.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
It's one of those things where.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
You say, I'm just honored to be nominated, and I'm
truly just honored to be nominated. But that doesn't mean
I don't want you to go vote for me. Go
vote for me, little enginet could everybody else got two
in three nominations, so I mean you don't need to
vote for Shanna Sharp here. He got three your phone nominations.
He gonna win those other three of four. He don't
need to win this one, y'all. But I am very grateful.
(03:10):
So I got that news very funny on Monday, Monday morning,
this text really early from Charlemagne at say Concrats, and
we normally text each other back and forth about silly things,
and I didn't know what he was talking about, but
he was the first to tell me, and I was
really truly just honored and blown away. Really it really
was a good day. But later on that day, so
(03:33):
as the world changes so quickly, later on that day,
and I think we are all aware now that California
is dealing with some crazy wildfires southern California, and I
live in southern California, and I have a home in
southern California in the hills. And I wasn't so much
(03:55):
worried about my space because I didn't live in Pacific Palisades.
But as I was watching from New York City, I
was thinking, jeez, this looks extremely dangerous. And I have
had my fair share of wildfires. I've been there for
most because I'm born and raised, and I've seen what
(04:16):
the Santa Ana winds do, and I see how they
keep these fires in play, and I've seen the devastation.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
But this is different.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
These winds were and are currently even as we film
this podcast, are historically damaging in the sense that they
were ninety ninety five miles an hour, and you combine
that with fire. There's just no way. It was a
windstorm of fire, and I'm sure you all have seen
(04:43):
those images. But then it got particularly scary when it
started to for me get into neighborhoods with people that
I know, really close friends that I know. And it's
sad because I no. One of my best friends lost
(05:04):
her house. This morning. She sent me a text and
she was like, my house is gone. Last night, I
was on the phone. I was on the phone with
my other best friend and she was like, my cousin
lost both of her homes. She evacuated with her family,
and they didn't think that they were in danger. They
(05:24):
just they were a part of the evacuation warning. And
then their entire house burned down, their car, their belongings,
They really didn't take much. And then she had a
rental property that burned down as well. And so here
we are, and so the story now feels very and
I'm trying not to get emotional. The story now is
(05:47):
more about are your family and your friends safe? And
for me, I can't say that they are in my neighborhood.
They have created this neighborhood watch, a new neighborhood watch,
because we are in the warning zone.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And don't I don't think.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I would be I would be devastated, yes, if my
house burned down, but I think The more devastating issue
that I'm starting to deal with and even trying to comprehend,
is that when these people lose their homes there, they're
losing their American dream. They are losing something that they've built,
(06:28):
you know, from the ground up. And I do hear
the critics say, but these people have money. I don't
want to hear about Hollywood people with money. I don't
want to hear about a house on the beach burning down.
It has nothing to do with that. It has everything
to do with the place that you call home.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
You have a home. I have a home.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
There's a sense of stability there. There is a place
where you relax. You do all of these things because
it means everything to you in your home. And when
when you don't have a home burn to the ground,
ash is gone in an instant, you are displaced. Everything
(07:08):
about your life feels off and displaced, and we're watching
it in real time, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And to add to all of this.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Personally, my ninety four year old grandmother is in the
hospital and she is in one of these evacuation warning zones.
That particular hospital is in one of these warning zones.
So I'm thinking about the things that are going on
in my mind, and I haven't even lost my home.
I'm thinking, I hope they don't have to evacuate my grandmother.
I hope that she can still get her surgery. I hope,
(07:42):
I hope that that doesn't disturb her body.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
She's so delicate.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'm thinking of all the different things that are happening,
and then I'm feeling in an incredible amount of sadness
for the people who lost their homes in the neighborhoods
that I used to visit and travel in and call
my day to day that are no longer there. Restaurants,
grocery stores, vendors that I would see all gone, and
(08:08):
so it's scary. So the last few days, while I
started in this jovial day of being excited about our
nomination here for Naked Sports, you know, the last few
days have been hard to focus, hard to really keep
the main thing the main thing. But we still have
to work. I still have to work. I still had
(08:29):
to do my podcast, I still have to do the
things that pay the bills for the house that I
live in. But at the same time, you know, I'm
consumed with the coverage. I'm on the phone with family
members every five minutes, we're texting all the time, we
are we don't see what's next. The feeling of uncertainty
(08:54):
in these types of situations, it's horrific. And no one
wants to wake up to a text that says I
lost my home.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
No one does.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
And I think that there are a lot of lessons
to be learned. If you're healthy, if you have your
family and your friends and they are safe, that's great.
Belongings can be replaced. But it is still incredibly difficult
to process what's happening in southern California right now. A
(09:31):
world that feels very familiar, or at least it did
feel familiar, feels very very isolated and scary. Apocalyptic is
the word that people have been using. These people leaving
their cars in the middle of the road, leaving because
they couldn't get out by car, they had to get
out by foot. And then you just see the cars
(09:53):
just sitting in the middle of the road being bulldozed
or and or burned down. The entire stretch of Pacific
Coast Highway just burnt. I mean, it really is devastating.
And there are organizations that are helping, and there are
people that are helping, and I know that you can
go online and you can look and see. I know
(10:15):
Airbnb is offering homes for people. I know two on
one if you're in California, that number is in Los Angeles.
More specifically is the number to help you. And I
know right now firefighters are trying to contain some of
these fires. Right now, they're about five or six and
they're trying to be contained. And my hope is that
(10:36):
we start to see some progress. I don't know who's
to blame. We can blame anybody when it's all said
and done, but right now people are trying to figure
out what's next. So as I sit here and do
this podcast, still grateful that it allows me to have
a space of expression, and I hope that you enjoy
(10:57):
our podcast today. But I had to take some time
out to talk about something that's truly devastating. And I'm
not gonna lie. I don't know if I also have
my home by the time we air this, but I
hope so. I think so we are in a warning zone,
(11:24):
but it looks like it's okay. So I'm gonna stay positive.
I'm gonna I'm going to adapt the same attitude that
I've seen people on television adapt who have lost everything.
If it is that is what it was supposed to be,
supposed to be. If it doesn't happen, great, I'm grateful.
I am sending grace, mercy and love to everyone who
(11:48):
is dealing with this.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Right now in real time. Be safe.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I'm sending so much love to my city, and I
think everyone who has called has reached out, who is
checked on me with checked on family and friends. So
with that being said, prayers up. Thank you all for
listening to the podcast. Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast
(12:16):
where we live at the intersection of sports, politics, and culture.
Our purpose reveal the common threads that bind them all.
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying to.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Get to for almost thirty years. From the stadiums where
athletes break barriers and set records. Kaylanquark broke the all
time single game assists record. This is crazy for rookies.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
To be doing.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
To the polls where history is written, and now we
have Kamala Harrison. It feels more like women are sort
of taken what they've always deserved, as opposed to waiting
on somebody to give them what they deserve.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines a light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Carrie Champion. Hey, family, So thank you
(13:19):
all for letting me share what I was feeling about
the California wild fires.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
This is a safe space.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I appreciate you, and I know a lot of you
have family and friends there who may have been affected
as you listen to this podcast. And my quick update
as I am recording this yet again, home is intact.
Things seem to be well and we're just praying for
those who lost their homes. But most importantly, everyone who
(13:47):
is housing challenged at this moment, we want to make
sure that they find some sort of resources. So please
be a part of the community in which the world
that we live in. Whatever you hear about fires, if
it can help someone, if it can perhaps maybe give
someone some hope, share that information and whatever way you
can do your small part. Nothing little is considered little
(14:10):
in times like these. Okay, now let's get to this
week's podcast. I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta
for the first serve of the new professional Volleyball league
indoor Professional Volleyball League League One Volleyball, or Love as
it's called. And I'm really excited because I said, Hey, yes,
(14:31):
I want to come down. I want to find a
player to interview, and I want to talk about this
new league women's sports is really at a beautiful intersection
in which everyone is interested and wants to invest. So
they set me down with one of the league's stars.
Her name is Haley Washington. And I'm smiling already because
(14:52):
Haley was extremely intelligent, funny and smart. And I was like,
this is it. This is how you get people to
pay attention to a new league. You bring someone along
who is.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
How would I describe her?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
She has her own personality, She's very unapologetic. I asked
her who she felt as if she was similar to
in terms of another sport, personality, playing style, and she
said Dennis Rodman. But listen, Dennis Rodman was arguably one
of the best players. Even if he didn't score points,
he was in the game. He was making plays, he
(15:28):
was always very invaluable. It's the intangibles that had set
him apart. And Haley Washington has so many intangibles, one
of which is she is extremely funny. She made me
laugh and I key keyd and I loled, and I
invite you to do the same with us. Please enjoy
(15:48):
this edition of Naked Sports. Haley, what is the biggest
myth in volleyball?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm so glad you asked. The biggest myth is that
you hold your hands like you're praying.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
If there's one thing we can teach Americans about alley, weall,
it's hands are held like this.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Pancake, pancake, sausage, sausage, wrists kiss. That's how we want
to hold our hands. Please break your fingers. Stop doing that.
It makes you so angry.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I just because I see people that are like I
played volleyball in high school.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
And then they hang me with that, and I want
to drop kick them in the teeth. I'm just like,
just tell me, you don't play bolltall It's okay.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Pancake, pancake, sausage, sausage, sausage, sausage.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Risk. See, it's a game of lot. It's so beautiful.
It's a game of love. It's a games thumbs are hugging,
your wrists are kissing. It's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
See, I got it. Okay, I guess I'm ready to
play tonight. Do you get on favor?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I know, right? Introduce yourself for us. Up Hi, I'm.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Healy Washington, two time Olympic medalist, founding athlete for Love Bebe.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It's actually just loved.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
They're gonna hate that I said Love Bbe founding athlete
for Love, Penn State alumni and just a.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Lover of the game. So today's an important day.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And by that I mean this is the inaugural of
Love Volleyball. And I really appreciate you taking the time
just to be here to explain what this all is.
But I think we need a backstory because this is
the first of its kind. It is an original. It
is a professional volleyball league, and as we know in
women's sports, very few professional leagues get the attention that
they deserve. But I think something is different in terms
(17:20):
of how this will look. Talk to me about your
journey to being a professional volleyball player. When'd you start playing?
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, I started playing volleyball kind of at a later age.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
For a lot of volleyball athletes. I started when I
was twelve in middle school. A lot of volleyball players will.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Get their start at six, seven, eight years old, and
I was just a kid that was running out on
the mountains.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
And so originally I started playing volleyball when I was twelve.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
So it's just something I wanted to do after school
because middle school you.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Could start doing extracurricular activities. And truth be told, I
really wanted to play football.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I was a tomboy growing up. I really wanted to
be a football player. I was gonna be a great
wide receiver. And my dad looked at all six foot
three of me, seventy pounds wet, and it's like, you'll
die you get hit by playing football.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
You can't do that.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So my football career was dashed within seconds, and I
ended up going.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
To play volleyball, and I just fell in love with
it instantly. Why did you fall in love with it instantly?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I wish I had like a moment that stood out
that was why I fell in love with it, But
it really just it just made sense to me, Like
serving the ball over the net made sense to me,
and the footwork made sense to me, and it was
so easy for me to get the concept of the
game and why you would get competitive, and the energy
and the fire like it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Just from day one, I was in love with it.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I'm curious because most people normally look at someone or
see someone. They can see someone who does what they
do or does something that they want to do, and
they follow in that trajectory. There was not one player
in your high school and your middle school on television
that you saw and said, like, what she's doing.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Well. I had a neighbor who Whitney do boys, and
she played volleyball.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Shout out to Whitney. Shout out to Whitney, Shout out Whitney.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
But I would always want to go and play at
their house when I was like a little annoying ankle biter,
and they'd be like, no, Whitney has a volleyball game.
And I never had the concept of volleyball because I'd
only ever seen a volleyball court outside of our old
rec center and it was just an old sand pit
with a saggy net because there was always winter when
I was over there, and so I was like, volleyball
is people running around in the sand and they can't
(19:20):
touch the ball with their hands, so they play with
their head like. That was my concept of volleyball. So yeah,
I never really had a person that I followed. I
never really watched the game, and it wasn't until I
was at that tryout that I was like, Oh, this.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Is what volleyball is.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
It's past set hit, it's doing this footwork, it's transitioning,
it's constant movement.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
And really after that, my dad started to take me
to volleyball games.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
We would watch the high schoolers play, and I started
to play club and got introduced to kind of the
more competitive side.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
But it was just it really was a love at
first sight. Wow, literally love at first sight. That's special.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
I think that what's so interesting about where we are
in this world today specifically is about women's sports, and
we're amplifying it in so many different ways. I have
met so many different athletes who have said they wish
that they could play at home.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
They wish that they could.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Play in front of their family outside of when you
graduate from college that's it, or at the Olympics, for instance,
that's your opportunity to really play for home if you will.
Your journey started obviously early on, but when you got
to Penn State.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
What was that experience?
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Like you knew that you were special, you knew you
had something set apart obviously recruited full scholarship, congratulations, No.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Debt, no debt, No, you have college debt. You don't
have no college debt. You have to pay for a book.
Well that was when I was. When I was growing up.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Actually, I decided that if I was going to go
to college, it was on a full right scholarship or
not at all. And so I was twelve years old
and having a little anxiety attack about my future, you know,
like most twelve year olds kid, of course, and I
made a list of everything I loved of like volleyball, basketball, track, choir, theater.
I played the trombone, so all these things that I
could potentially want to work towards getting a full right
(20:58):
scholarship for. And I ended up falling on volleyball and
worked my butt off to get a full right to
go to Penn State.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And the rest is kind of this history.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
The rest is history. Tell us about the history, because
you did make history. Why you were there yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Once or twice?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean Penn State was first of all, you said,
like I had gone to Penn State a fluorth scholarship.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I was special.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Let's establish I was not special because Penny Kicksie and
the teeth. Why do you think that it's a program
that's not supposed to be about me. It's a program
that's built around we. Like Russ was really big on
we win as a team. You are who you need
to be, and you can play great volleyball, and you
can be great, but it's not about you. And you
co go from being this kind of big fish in
(21:40):
a medium sized pond, like a good volleyball player in
Colorado to Penn State University that has this tradition of excellence,
this legacy of winning. I mean, they're one of the
few programs that has won four national championships back to
back to back.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
They had just won in twenty thirteen. They had so.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Many alumni that were Olympians, and like their program was
just historic and iconic. And so you get there and
you were humbled very quickly. And I didn't even go
there thinking that I could be great. I was just like,
you know, I'm just I'm glad I made it. I
got a full right scholarship.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
School is paid for, and I'm just here to work
hard and do the best that I can. But it
was grueling. It was a grueling four years.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Penn State volleyball was the hardest thing I've ever been
a part of in my career, hands down, and not
because it was.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Like a negative part. It was just it.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Russ Rose believed in forging you in the fire, and
that was what we did. We were forged in the
fire at Penn State, and it really I think made
me a mentally strong player and a mentally strong athlete.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Also helped you find your voice. Yeah, more or less,
Yan because you have it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So when you get there and you realize that you
are a smaller fish in a very big pond, how
do you adjust? What does that feel like in that
particular program?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
I mean, I think obviously you have to recognize the
things that are outside of your control.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
I think for a freshman, I was still anidia. Let's stop,
I'm still an idiot freshman coming to campus.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I look at myself and try to see wisdom, but
I really just see an idiot freshman.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
But you recognize the things that you can and can't control.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
And I was like, look, whether I get onto that
starting spot or not, I can't control that. And I
actually suffered a pretty devastating injury during pre season that
cost me the first part of the season, and I
just remember being like, well, there's nothing I can do.
If all I can do is get in, get my
rehab workout, try to be strong and work my butt off.
And I remember when I could finally play again, I
(23:30):
was playing on the B side, and I was like,
I don't care that I'm on the B side.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I'm gonna play my hardest. I'm gonna whoop A sides.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
But because so for those of us who don't know Volleywood, yes,
and when I say us, I mean me.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
What's the B side? Okay? So you have A side
and B side.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
So you have your starting six that are on the
fourth that are going to play in the game, and
then you have your B side, which are the people
that are coming into be game changers. They tend to
be on the bench and they'll sub in to serve,
or they'll sub in if an athlete's injured, but they're
typically your bench players.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
If your A side is your starting side, and your
B side it's your backup bench players. Okay, so you're
on the B.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
So I was on the B side because I had
been injured and I needed to earn my starting spot,
which I was absolutely necessary.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
But I was like, Okay, if I'm gonna be over here,
they're gonna have.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
To fight tooth and nail to shut me down because
I'm gonna whoop their butt because if they can beat me,
then they can probably beat the other athletes that they're
gonna face the competition. And I remember we had B
side whooped, but because we had also two men's practice
players and it was.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Me and I was yelling and shirping and talking smack
and what I shockgates.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
But I was, yeah, I was just shirping away. Happened
to good all the time, and we actually ended up
winning the drill. We won most of the drills that day,
and Russ at the end of practice always talked to
the team and he was like, you could have all
the energy you want, but just remember this, you're still
on B side. I was like, thank you, thank you
for the slight so humble bye, thank you, thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But the following day I was on each side. Really okay,
hold on, I just don't don't talk. Don't talk over.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
That hell, so you you're on the b side.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's one practice.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
It was one practice, yeah, and then I'm sure if
you ask other girls are gonna be like it was
like a week and a half of practice.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Like but in my mind, in my memory, who's the
following day? Damn? Yeah? What that say to you?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So that I that energy goes a long way, because
I don't think I'm like this stellar attacker, like I
have one of the highest hitting percentages in Penn State history,
and like I have like a good hitting like I
was a great middle at the Tokyo Olympics and all
this stuff.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
But like that doesn't matter. I think my personality is
kind of what makes me a.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Decent ish player because I'm loud and I'm obnoxious, and
I'm in your face and I'm screaming and I'm cussing
and I'm smacking butts and I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You're right, the fans love. It's You're what the game needs.
You are it.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
If you if you were to describe yourself folk for
folks who aren't familiar with volleyball, who would be your equivalent?
Someone would say you remind me Ofsessed and such in
the AMBA or the wn B or in soccer, who
would who would your personality remind people?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Okay, personality not going off to Las Vegas for three days,
but personality.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I'm gonna say Denis Rodman.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Uh huh that I want to be Rodman, so bat
and I know maybe a little like don't worry, don't
apologize about that, just say that on the court, Dennis Rodman,
his flared hair, his obnoxious style, like his just kind
of being loud and in your face, but also like
just a good support player.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Brodman would have games where you didn't score any points at all,
but he was in everywhere.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
I'm saying that was my motto for this past everything
was just do your job, Like you don't gotta be
the star, you don't got to score twenty points. You
gotta blah blah blah blah blah do your job. And
I did it with high energy. And so I think
Dennis Rodman, if I can say, that's a bold statement,
but I'm gonna.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Say it when we come back. Hayley shares more about
her playing style and what made her realize she was
built for this sport back in a moment, Hey, everybody,
welcome back to naked sports. So Haley is in the
middle of sharing a story and she talks about how
she found out that she was really a special player
(27:12):
without bragging. I use the word special one day during practice.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
When she was in college.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
One day of practice aside. The next day, you walk in,
you're on a side, and what do you say to yourself?
I say to myself, Okay, don't blow it, idiot.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
You know positive self talk. I'm a mentor, I'm a
role model. Sorry, just touched my mics.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Sorry, yeah, I have no I've pushed this mic around
twenty times.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Deal with it now. I'm kidding.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
But Noel, that aspect of a humility of like, okay,
yes I earned it, but let's not like just assume
that that's it.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Like you still got to do your job.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Do your job, idiot, and I wouldn't dare call you that.
But yeah, yeah, okay. So then you get in there,
you do your job.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
And I work my butt off.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
I get I think, defensive player of the year something,
all big ten, oh, something like that.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And I love the humble brag. I don't know, I
just did. I'm not I don't know. I just say, yeah,
I'm just kidding. I'm joking. Cut cut that out in
stays in.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Don't take it out for goodser Okay, so you you
you literally show up and you show out and you
do your job.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
How's that season end?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
We got a national fiship Actually okay, but truth be told,
that was not a humble brag. Again, I just was
saying a fact. We won a national championship that season.
We had two starting freshmen, me and Ali Franti. And
it sounds like this great accomplishment, but I played like trash.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The NCAA tournament. Russ was even very kind enough to
tell me that. At the end of the tournament.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
He was like, hey, you played like garbage a tournament.
I said, thanks, Russ, appreciate you and I But the
thing is I didn't need to play great. It was
again because it's not about me, it's about leave. So
I did my job well enough. It's right that the
women around me could take care of business and they
could get the W and that's what we did.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I just did my job.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
The cydebar not even a cydebar, but actually, what I
am noticing as I listen to you talk and I've
said this about women in sports, obviously it builds your
self esteem and your confidence.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
That's something that there's much.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
More positivity about women who play sports than there is
about women who don't. And it's not a knock, it's
just what it is. But there is this thing about
women in general when we get into this world and
we live in the world, it's hard for us to
find our voice. It's hard for us to speak up
and raise our hands. You don't have that problem. But
what I love is that you have the humility mixed
with that, and that is a special that's a yes
and and it's an invaluable trait that you don't get
(29:33):
to see so much of. And it takes it separates
you from everyone else, it really does, and I think
that helps. As Russ has pointed out, you know, I
love your energy, but you do your job. But I'm
going to do my job well, and I'm going to
be everywhere, and I'm not trying to be the best,
but I'm going to be everywhere and do my job. Now,
when you have that same mentality, and I know in
twenty seventeen, you also went to the semi finals, right
(29:54):
you guys, guys A final semifinals, oh.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Reverse by Nebraska in twenty seventeen, I don't want to
talk about it. But Defense State just did that to
them this year, so it's fine. I guess we can
talk about it. It's fine we can't talk.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
We can talk about it the whole time that you're
playing in college. Do you think that there is a
life after in terms of playing professional volleyball?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
I love this question.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
I remember my sophomore year being in the locker room
and being asked, Hey, will you go pro? And that
was the first time it had ever been presented to me,
this idea of going pro. And I remember jokingly being like, pro,
my niece can barely handle college.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
There's no way I can handle pro.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
If I could go back and slap the sophomore year me,
shut up, look how far we can go? I would,
But I never really thought that I could play pro
let alone do USA.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I remember my senior.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
Year being asked will you try out with the USA
gym and telling them I just don't really think I'm
a good enough blocker, I'm not offensive enough in front
of the ceter so I just I don't really think
it's gonna be for me. And that was just kind
of my mentality, was like I'm going to get through
college and I remember my senior year well, because I
really wanted to stay in academics, well, I wanted to
(30:58):
get why not go for pro? Yeah, one, it was
so far away, and like everybody that came back kind
of told me these horror stories of being overseas, being
isolated from your family.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
You're far away for a long period of time, we're
not really making big money. So I was like, this
doesn't sound fun. But I remember talking to Russ again,
Russ Rose, This guy influenced my whole life.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
I remember talking to Russ about going overseas because I
had this idea that, Okay, I'll go play pro for
two years, save up enough money to pay for a
little bit of my master's degree, and then I'll come
back and get my master's in philosophy, and then I
was going to be a critical race philosopher and then
a libraryan and I work in the Library of Congress.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
That was the dream.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Sounds exciting, Yeah, the volleyball's better so in the Library
of Congress, but volleyball.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Has been way more exciting. Yeah. But Russ actually pulled
me aside and he's like, if you're gonna do this
overseas thing, do it right.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
He's like, build yourself up, build a career, build a
name for yourself. Don't just shut it out after two years.
It's like, commit to it.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And I was like this Russ guy, Hi, I'm telling you, man,
he's a legend. He's a life coach. Don't let him
fall back into the pages of history. Guys. He is
a gangster and built the program.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
He coached Penn State forty three years, built volleyball at
that school.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
They want Russ rose Man.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
All right, yeah, so he says, do it right, do right?
You get those orders, then you think why not? I
do want to say this, Hey, you were going to
give up on a dream because it was far away.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
It wasn't a dream for you. Though it wasn't a dream.
I wonder is it a dream for others.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I you definitely think they don't want to do it
because they don't want to go overseas.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
I that's a fear of mine.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Or worse?
Speaker 3 (32:36):
People do follow their dream and they go overseas. And
I'm telling you it's not a glamorous life. We're very
spoiled in college sports here with our nice Some of
us have charter flights and if we don't have charter flights.
We at least why like domestic and it's comfortable, and
we have these.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Big, fancy locker rooms. And now there's underwater treadmills, a
programs and dining halls with lots of fancy food, and
we have ice bats and hot and we're.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Spoiled in college sports. And then you go overseas and
you're on a greyhound bus for six hours to go
to your next game. You get to a hotel where
you're sharing it, where you're sharing a room and they're
two twin sized beds, and the locker room that you
have is leaking, and you have to make sure that
you have all your stuff and your equipment because nobody
(33:22):
else is handling reefs like it's a culture shock, And
so you follow the stream to go overseason to play
pro and you're really fighting and fending for yourself and
it's not always like that. There are some definite good
teams that have great resources. So no Tino shade to
any of the international leagues. I was blessed at Italy.
I had some really great opportunities, some great resources.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Yeah, they're the side note. She she's been playing overseas
in Italy. Not a bad game, not a bad not
a bad game.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
You like pasta? I do not like pasta too Corby,
it's too car baby. I gain weight like crazy. I
can't enjoy pasta. I can have the occasion is the pasta.
They're bad and like I feel like I know it's.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
So it's so good, like you can't get the problem
is you just you can't eat it all the time.
I like wine, though, okay's gun.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Let me tell you what I did learn overseas is
the wine. So there are presumably, and this is why
we are here today to talk about this professional league
that is state side. But there are presumably, and I
don't want to make up numbers, but there are many women,
maybe hundreds, maybe thousands of women who who gave up
the opportunity or perhaps thought about going overseas to play,
(34:27):
but they just didn't want to do it because of
what it required on them mentally and physically and personally.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
No holidays, no like no holidays with family, Thanksgiving, New Year?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
What's the seasons?
Speaker 3 (34:40):
So if you're a national team athlete, the season can
be anywhere from October till May. But if you're not
a national team athlete, if you're just coming out of
college or if you're not doing national team, they usually
ask for you around like August, so you'll be out
there August, September, October, November, December. Ten years, it's like
ten months. Wow, it's a little long season. And if
(35:01):
you're in a higher to your team, you have usually
Champions League and then you have Cup Italia and Super
Colpas and regular season, so you're playing two three games
a week.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
You're traveling constantly.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Your off day is really your travel day, so you're
also seeing everybody. You never get a chance to be
by yourself. It's how much money do you make? It's decent,
it's I think a crass am.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
I I'm gonna talk numbers. I in sports, don't.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
I hate that they don't talk noumb Yeah, my last
season name is two hundred and thirty thousand, which is
pretty high paying for a middle blocker. But I mean
there are girls that are making I mean there are
some pro girls that are making millions and like in endorsement, sponsorships,
but I think on average you're trying to make a
six figure contract. So League one was a downgrade from
two hundred and thirty thousand, but still six figures. I
(35:48):
think I'm making somewhere from like one twenty to one
to fifty, but I have to look.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
At my contract, I know how much of me. But yeah,
still six figures.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
And they offer decent money to most of the athletes,
as far as I know, may not always six figures,
especially for girls that are coming out of college or
for girls that are have less experience overseas or in
the pro world.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
But I mean it's decent. Pay the bills.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
So it's ten months overseas somewhere in the twos anywhere
upwards to perhaps seven figures in the millions.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
That's for the oh one percent, okay of athletes.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
That's for like done average.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah, on a I would say on average, if you're going,
if you're an American going overseas, on average, you're looking
at one hundred and twenty. I think, like the Olympic
American athletes like go overseas, we're in the six figures.
But if you're just an average college girl, I mean,
your starting salary is gonna be a twenty one.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
So Russ gives you this advice and he says, do
it and do it right. How'd that work out for you.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
I think I went into overseas with a good mentality
of like just say yes, Like whatever opportunities present yourself
to them, say yes and work hard. And so it
worked out well because I played on this really low
level A two team my first season only.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
For a month and a half two months, because I
came in for a half season. We didn't make playoffs.
So I just kind of came in but made enough
of a.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
Statement that I got on an A one team, the
last place team in A one, which, if you don't
know volleyball, most professional leagues overseas have like an A
one team and an A two or an A one
league in an A two league, okay.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
It's like our any like our NBA and the G League. Okay,
perfect equivalent. Ye yeah. And so I was on the
last place team in A one, but then I managed
to work my way up.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
To the fourth place team in A one, and then
I was in the top one or two teams for
the rest of my career.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
So you did it right? Did it right? As Russ suggested?
As Russ suggested, he's a very wise man, A wise man,
wise man.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
When we return, what does the future of professional volleyball
look like here in America, back in a moment, Welcome
back to naked sports. So just for contexts, I want
(38:01):
to remind you I am in Atlanta while doing this
interview and we are just hours away from the beginning
of making history and professional volleyball. Take a listen. I
want you to talk to me about when you heard
about this opportunity. There's been other professional volleyball league, so
there's been obviously Peach volleyball that people have tried to do,
(38:22):
and some of them have failed because there have been
issues with finance. Money is always the issue. There's always
the issue. Money is always the issue. And I want
to make this a negative.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
But when you were approached by Love, what were you thinking?
Is this real? Can I do this?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
And I know this has been in the works for
some years now, but what were your initial thoughts?
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah, I think my initial thoughts were excitement because I
have been approached by a couple other leagues about how
they wanted to kind of run American Volleyball. So I've
been approached by AU which is another volleyball league that
we have here in the States, and it's super fun.
It looks like the girls that go and play and
that have a really great time, and again it's a
way to bring volleyball to America. So I love the
(39:03):
AU as a thing, and I had been approached by them, and.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
I didn't love kind of.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Their format though, like I just wanted to be a
regular volleyball league and they rotate teams every week, and
I was like, I'm not as excited about that. And
then I had been approached about another potential league that
was all all stars and it was only for a
couple of weekends and it was just like all start
showings and showcases, and.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I was like, I don't love that either. And so
when League one kind of came up to me, when
Love approached me, They're like, hey, we have this idea
for a league and it's just a regular old volleyball league,
but it's a grassroots movement. It's oriented in the community.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
We want to get youth athletes involved, youth sports involved.
I was like that I'm interested in because I think
that there's an untapped.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Market in youth sports here Stateside.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
I think that, like, youth sports are so big in America,
and we do a really good job of developing our
younger athletes, and so to tap into that market while
also funneling that excitement into a pro league and to
provide just a regular old pro league so exciting, and
so I was I was.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
On board from the jump. As soon as they presented
the idea. I was like, yes, I'm in Wow, And
I think.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
It was just it was kind of that mentality of yes,
and and then like what do I have to lose?
Like if it fails, whatever, at least I try. You
have the opportunity to still go play overseas. That's still
an option for you.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
For sure. This is a win win absolutely, Like there
was no.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Like Italy wasn't just gonna disappear off the face of
the earth because I did League One.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
And there are so many leagues in the world.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
There's France, there's Germany, there's Korea, there's Japan, there's turky like,
so it was never gone.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
So I was like, why not take the time to
invest in this.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Do you look at the w NBA and you see
what it? You know, it's inception right and where it
is now? Do you see that being the same vision
for love?
Speaker 2 (40:45):
I think yes, I think I okay, are to begin one.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
I don't love the comparison of are you gonna be
like the WNBA or are you gonna be like the
fair and WSL, because we're all different things, and I
think like they're all going to have I think what
makes volleyball funds the intimate environments. I think what makes
the WNBA fund is their big atmospheres, and so they
didn't always have a big atmosphere, and so.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Like those are things that are like growing into.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
So I think women's volleyball is going to have its
own kind of path, and I think the start of
the intimate atmosphere is going to be.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Kind of our What will set you up in pact
well far is that.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
Intimate atmosphere can feel like a lot of fun, whereas
sometimes in the WNBA that intimate atmosphere can feel a
little bit almost.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Energy sucking, at least in their inception.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I don't want to overstep I am, I want to
say anything rude, but I think that intimate atmosphere can.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Really be great for You're Jenna sa Qua.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah, what we like about going to a Love volleyball game.
So so as we record this podcast, Love's first serve
will be on ESPN plus who It's huge, right, I
think that's a huge start. I'm curious as to what
you think will make this first game different. You said
you want your own path, you don't want to be compared,
(42:00):
and that's very fair. I think that the comparisons are
also fair as well.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Definitely, I'm sorry if that came across this room.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
No, but I think they're fair because people what I
what I think when I say that is it started
off with fan fair.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
People are excited. It might have some growing pains as all.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
All it's do is yeah, but then then there comes
this moment where people understand it's its value and start
to appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
That's the truth that I think.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
Yes, I absolutely agree, and I'm sorry, no, no, no go.
I think the WNBA has kicked but in kind of
paving the way for women's sports also, and so I
think like there's gonna be that growing pain time where's
where there's less engagement or maybe not as many people
are watching for sure, but the w NBA, just women's
sports in twenty twenty four have really kind of put
(42:50):
us on the map, have helped with getting more exposure.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Like the WNBA really came up for nothing.
Speaker 3 (42:55):
There really weren't meant there wasn't much excitement for women's
sports when it was in like when it had its
inaugural season and when it was first starting off, and
they really had to kind of like build from somewhat nothing.
And so I think that they have done a great
job kind of paving the way and getting people excited
about women's sports, and so I think that's maybe what
might make it easier for us to get people's attention,
(43:17):
to get people well, yeah, because I can't remember a
time where you get a professional women's league and they're like,
let's just put it on ESPN in any capacity. Yeah,
And you know, year to year, even the growth the
NCAA Championships from my understanding where forty one percent.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
From year to year, and that's huge.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
To actually tune in and see people are paying attention.
It's in the zeigeist if you will. I hate to
use that word.
Speaker 4 (43:39):
It is.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
It is just out there.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
But I'm interested in what you think the ceiling is
or is there no ceiling?
Speaker 2 (43:48):
What I think the ceiling is.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
What is the world that you could imagine in your
wildest dreams, in the world that you think will actually be.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
In my wildest dreams.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
I imagine every game is like the NCAA Championship.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
I know that's that's a.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Big dream, but I mean, if you can get fans
that excited for one game out of the year, I
don't see why you can't get them hyped for every game.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Kind of like that.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
And I mean I just went, like, I went to
a hockey game ABS played the Utah Hockey Club in
Salt Lake City, and I was like, this is so cool,
and it's so possible for women's, Like I think it's
possible for women's volleyball to be in those big arenas,
be in those spaces for people to be excited.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
We have to teach people how to be volleyball fans.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
We have to tell them it's okay to be loud,
okay to make noises, You're not going to scarce away.
That's so interesting that you say that, Well, it's just
because volleyball is like tennis, so they assume it's like
tennis or fighter and serve fighters.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
So interesting that you say you have to teach people
how to be fans. You have to teach people how
to understand the sport. You have to teach them, and
that is the onus, honestly is on the people who
know the sport and the people who play it.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Yeah, definitely. I'm just bringing you in and be like, hey,
come on, I don't know what we got to do.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
If it's I don't know, whatever it is, you're gonna
get you guys excited about this game.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
I do want to ask you a question about being
an Olympian and that's the ultimate goal. And I'll find
a way to put this bick and I want to
weave in the ultimate I think for mini athletes, no
matter who you are, even if you play professionally, the
goal is ultimately to represent your country. You have the
opportunity to do that in a major way. You want
a gold and you want a silver middle blocker. Talk
to me about those those experiences for you. What does
(45:26):
it feel like to actually take a sport. Because I
believe during the Olympics that's when bollyball gets more in
indefinitively and at the highest levels, and it's it's global
so people can pay attention and they understand the sport
in a different way. What does that feel like for you?
For sport they get so little attention states, I mean.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
The Olympics, you always get hype over sports that you
don't usually get to see because there's just less coverage
of it. Like track and field is one of the
most watched events, but outside of the Olympics, like unless
you're following an athlete on Instagram, you're not really seeing.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
What they're doing during a quad.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
And so I think you kind of sport even gymnastics, gymnastics,
track field, rugby, although rugby now is picking I think,
so it's huge.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yeah, but I just need.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
To be at that stage, to be at the Olympics
and like know that kind of the world is watching,
especially with the background of playing overseas.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Because internationally volleyball is big sport.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
Turkish fans, Brazilian fans, Italian fans.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
They're big.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
It's big over there, and so you kind of feel
all eyes on you in that moment, which is on
the one hand scary and intimidating, but on the other
hand still just volleyball. For it's the same size and
that's the same height. So all you have to do
is what my motto is, do your job.
Speaker 2 (46:40):
Do you out there. I'm telling you, it's that's the
game of this podcast. Do your job, heys.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
Do your job.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
It's so easy to does not be bad at life.
Just do your job. Stop trying to be a start.
Just do your job.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
But yeah, okay, so I'm going to say this, and
this is just this is just my projection. I do
believe that this sport will do well, but it needs
it needs its characters, it needs it's it needs people
to correct.
Speaker 2 (47:06):
And I was like, you are illuminary.
Speaker 1 (47:08):
And I think that if people can understand who you are,
where you come from, and their personality is absolutely a one.
So I think that if you have more stars, people
can follow and be invested. I'm fully invested. I want
to I really am like, I'm in love with her.
I mean in a completely platonic way, but I'm like, I.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
Really want to know. I really like, I really don't
know what else is happening. Your favorite food? My favorite
food is rice. I know it sounds super boring, but
you can do so much with rice.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
You won't eat pasta, but you just like rice. I
love rice, jolo, ricela, rice, cilantro, lime rice. You just
make rice farmers risotto?
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Are you kidding me? Do you put meat in there?
Just rice? So if you were on an island, all
you need is rice. You do so much with rice.
You just find rice and spices. Rice is great. I
love favorite song right now, uh Dodger Blue by Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker 3 (48:02):
Favorite artists right now, So some good artists right now
The Beaches their Canadian band.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
Okay, threw me off with that one. I'm sorry. I
appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (48:11):
All right.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
Favorite dance right now? What's your celebration dance? Oh see,
I'm not like I just I.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Can't do that on this. You don't have it. No,
I don't know doing it. You can't do you like.
I'm not doing pe tequila in me or you pay
me for it. It's just not something favor drink ooh water,
stay hydrated. Actually of Pablo Mouse. Lacroix is Mike. I
(48:41):
love Lacroix, dude.
Speaker 3 (48:42):
But if we're speaking in the more like adult beverage beverage,
I love tequila. I did a tequila tasting when I
went to Disney World with my boyfriend and that was
fire on yeho tequila.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
That's it. That's all we're doing. A big fan of tequila.
Is your thing on your hell?
Speaker 3 (48:59):
Okay, I or a good mescal? Oh way, did I
take it back? I'm gonna be that pretentious a hole.
It's like a mexical. I love a smoky mescal.
Speaker 2 (49:11):
Any any mix you just mescal rot like a mescal.
I'm just I don't love mixed drinks. I don't like
the sugar, so like a mescal Sunrise, that's easy.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
It was like orange juice, all sugar, just mexic. That's
real gangster favorite athlete.
Speaker 3 (49:30):
There's so many good ones to choose from.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
She Carrio Richardson some own biles. Katie thea Decy. I'm
gonna do o Katy the Decky right now. Why she's
a mermaid and I've always wanted to meet a mermaid.
Speaker 3 (49:44):
Dang yeah, okay, I'm gonna o Kay the Decky, and
I'm sticking about the mermaid thing.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
But she's your on thin ice, Katie do something cool
yet she wrote a book. She's just like he's so smart.
She loves Lacroy like I love lacor mean you.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
She's a ra okay crush. At the moment out of
the Driver, Oh yeah, I was like, uh h Adam
driver's pressure drivers So daddy.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Yeah, yeah, ay, your daddy.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
Why because he's uh, he's got that like Burley muscle,
but also like dorky kind of look oh or Leandre Earl.
She's one of the artists in the Beaches. Okay, all right,
there you go.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
And then when we get ready to get our mind
right before a game, what are we listening to?
Speaker 2 (50:29):
What's your What's your goal?
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Song? Either Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Hord Picture Show
or Plagues from the Prince of Egypt, both musicals.
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Those musicals get you hype to play and they get me.
Have you heard Plagues? I know I have not a girl.
I need to get to it. You gotta get on that. Okay,
we'll play it in the podcast. Yeah, it's okay, play
Swee Transvestite. That's not for this kind of podcast. But hey,
but that's what that's that gets you right, Yeah, every
time you go out. Yeah, I played that entire Olympics
(51:04):
before every game. What yeah, in your mind locked in zone?
Speaker 3 (51:07):
Yeah, because it's like the slow build and there's this
one part in the Plague song at least where it
like really it just hits and you're, oh, we're.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Going I can't sing, so I'm not singing for you.
I was hoping. I'm like I'm quiet. I'm like, let
you do it. Maybe we'll get say yes, get.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
We're having some mescal for the game. Your favorite saying,
My favorite saying of one thing I.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Am certain is that I know nothing.
Speaker 3 (51:34):
Pancake, pancake, sausage, sausage, risky.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
It's love. It's love, man, Hayley, I love you. Thank
you for being here. This was so fun. It was great.
It's great goodness.
Speaker 1 (51:46):
I surely enjoyed that, young lady. We had a good time.
So huge thank you, though. Let me get these out
of the way. To Stephanie Martin of League one Volleyball
and everyone who made this possible. The first game was
a huge success. Follow along on their site, League one
Volleyball as they play through their inaugural season. Remember, here's
(52:07):
to everyone watching women's sports. I'll talk to you all
next week. Naked Sports written and executive produced by me
Kerry Champion, produced by Jock Vice Thomas, Sound designed and
mastered by Dwayne Crawford. Associate producer Ola Busayl Shabby. Naked
Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast network
in iHeartMedia
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
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