Coach Richter on Rebuilding for Year Two Volleyball

[00:00:09] Speaker A: And welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to in the Nest, emmaus athletic podcast. I'm your co host Shane, here with my swifty. Matthew tomlinson. Oh, you got so many text messages about being a Taylor. [00:00:25] Speaker B: I'm not even joking. The amount of people that texted me after you said back, I'm going to get you back. [00:00:31] Speaker A: I don't know how. I don't know what you can say about me, man. I'll be honest. I'll take it. I'll run with it, man. So many people is funny because so many people were coming up to I. [00:00:45] Speaker B: Was driving to Kansas and I'm like, man, Coach Pittman, the old volleyball coach, texted me and said, I always knew you were Swifty. I'm like, Shane, come on, man, come on. [00:00:54] Speaker A: I did tell, like, two people to text you and be like, I always knew you. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah, a group of students did it. I'm like, they're all probably sitting the same table doing this, but whatever. [00:01:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:03] Speaker B: Why can't because it's confirmed that Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift are a couple now. [00:01:08] Speaker A: I don't know if it's confirmed confirmed. [00:01:09] Speaker B: But his brother confirmed on their podcast. [00:01:11] Speaker A: No, his brother's like, kind of joking around a little. [00:01:13] Speaker B: No, he confirmed it later. Said he confirmed it. [00:01:16] Speaker A: I don't know if this is true. I don't trust don't. Literally. It's just all speculation. But, I mean, speaking of the NFL, nick Chubb. Tough injury. [00:01:30] Speaker B: I had my history of injuries here at Emmaus and I cannot watch injury videos. [00:01:38] Speaker A: No. [00:01:38] Speaker B: And I don't even want that injury. Pray for Nick Chubb because I don't know if he's ever going to play football again with a lot of people. [00:01:47] Speaker A: Have been saying that it wasn't like, what the loser? [00:01:53] Speaker B: It wasn't hamlin type injury, like where he died and got resuscitated. But I don't know. I get queasy when I see he dislocated his knee. [00:02:03] Speaker A: Definitely tore three of four at least three of the four ligaments. [00:02:07] Speaker B: But also I heard that he did the same kind of the same injury back in 2015 or something. [00:02:12] Speaker A: No, all he did in 2015 was tears, like MCL or okay, he didn't. [00:02:17] Speaker B: Dislocate his knee, but he tore things like that. [00:02:19] Speaker A: This one was bad. The leg is like, bending this way. [00:02:26] Speaker B: No, this is too much for you. [00:02:29] Speaker A: What? No, I'm just making like a little what is that? [00:02:33] Speaker B: Whatever. Yeah, but yeah, man, I feel for him, but triangle. [00:02:37] Speaker A: That's what it looks like, a triangle. [00:02:38] Speaker B: Yikes. [00:02:38] Speaker A: Either way. Yeah. That is tough. Injuries are always tough. So far we haven't really had any major injury like you said last week. [00:02:44] Speaker B: Praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord for Mrs. Iverson. [00:02:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:47] Speaker B: The real deal. And for Coach Reggie. [00:02:50] Speaker A: Seems like every game is getting more physical for us. [00:02:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:02:52] Speaker A: I mean, speaking of that and recapping, some of this past weekend, not a good weekend of sports unless your name is Caleb Ness. But who made nationals qualified for Caleb? Shout out Caleb my man student leader here at Emmaus. [00:03:06] Speaker B: But, yeah, definitely a tough week for Owen for this weekend. So this past week, I guess. Not this weekend, this past week, but. [00:03:13] Speaker A: Physical game, honestly, like physical for everyone, especially know, even cross country running and everything. I know Caleb talked to me afterwards, or I kind of talked to him. He didn't come running up to me like, here's my report, Shane. But you athletes should do that. You guys should just run up to. [00:03:28] Speaker B: Matt and there's plenty of them that do that, I guess. [00:03:31] Speaker A: So. [00:03:31] Speaker B: Hey, how'd I do in today's game? [00:03:33] Speaker A: Were you good? What kind of sport? [00:03:38] Speaker B: Right, well, I think it's funny because I was saying last week we were talking about how physical the crown game was and how that was kind of wake up call. But man, the game against Manhattan, wake up call for the freshman. Wake up call with how physical and even when I was a freshman, you're playing basketball many, many years ago, you think, oh, there's not a big jump. It doesn't matter what level of call, like at our level, one of the lower levels, the jump from high school to college is huge. And they definitely found that out very quickly, just the speed and the physicality. [00:04:15] Speaker A: And you were there, so you witnessed it. Did you go to any of the volleyball games? [00:04:20] Speaker B: I did, yeah. So I went down and traveled to Kansas and visited a couple Christian schools and some alumni Kansas Bible camp and then on the assemblies and then paired it up with going to the Friday night Manhattan game and then the Saturday volleyball games. [00:04:36] Speaker A: That's the cool thing about recruitment is that we don't shape our recruitment trips around the games. [00:04:43] Speaker B: But it's fun to pair them together. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Yeah, if you pair them together, it's really nice. But yeah. So back to soccer, I guess. [00:04:51] Speaker B: Let's kind of recap game. I mean, obviously Manhattan won. They were the conference champions last year for soccer. [00:04:58] Speaker A: So we knew it was a big. [00:04:59] Speaker B: Game going like we talked about. They are a talented team because they've played some very steep competition in the NCCAA. But yeah, it was interesting because this was the guy's first game on turf. [00:05:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:12] Speaker B: And for those of you don't know, playing soccer on turf versus grass, big difference. Huge difference. [00:05:18] Speaker A: The ball just like ball goes so fast. There's a reason they want short grass when playing soccer, so the ball doesn't get caught by the grass. But no matter where you play, typically, especially here in the collegiate level, every field is going to be different. Our field is with exactly, I'm not even including the size of field, but the grass is huge with turf. It's bouncy the ball bounces more. [00:05:48] Speaker B: I mean, you said a through ball and it's going to zip right through. [00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you. [00:05:55] Speaker B: But grass, you can have a great through ball and it eventually slows down. So you can catch up to the ball, but with turf you're not catching. [00:06:04] Speaker A: That if you're not used to it. If you haven't played on it for a while, then it's going to be really tough. Or if you're not really a seasoned team and we don't have a season. [00:06:11] Speaker B: Right. We are a very young team and yeah, that definitely showed on that part. Part that not many guys had played on turf. [00:06:18] Speaker A: That's tough. That's not the only thing we're blaming. It is a physical matchup. [00:06:23] Speaker B: Physical match. [00:06:25] Speaker A: Sometimes it looked like a football game, I'll be honest. But I mean, both teams were giving it to each other so it makes sense. [00:06:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's the thing. It wasn't one sided. We were just as physical as they were, but they were more physical. But it was encouraging to see. I would say that it was a very emotional game just with driving all the way down to Manhattan, which is 8 hours from Emmaus, but honestly it felt a little bit like last year when our guys went up to Marinathan lost and they kind of had like a self. Yes, I remember that moment where that kind of shifted the way the rest of the season. Shane, it was kind of eerily familiar to that. So I'm excited to see that. Learning from how this weekend goes, that's. [00:07:16] Speaker A: A good comparison to last year in Marine athlete because I remember them talking about that game. I remember the upperclassmen talking about how they had like an hour meeting or even longer, I don't know, but just a long meeting talking about guys, what. [00:07:30] Speaker B: Are we doing, what are we doing? [00:07:33] Speaker A: Who are was? You were there and we had a shout out, Coach Brown. [00:07:38] Speaker B: Oh, so great to see Coach Brown. It was fun because he asked Coach McHugh if he could talk to the team because Coach Brown and Coach McHugh coached against each other for many years when Coach McHugh was at Moody and Coach Brown was the coach here. And he asked Coach McHugh if he could address the team and talk to him after it. And he was just applauding the team and hey, like, you did really good, but, hey, this area, welcome to college soccer. It was really cool because Coach McHugh after the game said it's really nice when someone else says everything that you were going to say, but they say the same thing. And so I think it was really good for the team to hear that. It was really good to see him again and everything. [00:08:11] Speaker A: I would have loved to have Coach Brown and Coach McHugh coach together. I think it'd be a real dynamic. Coach crew. Nothing against you, Coach Eric or Coach Anthony. Yeah. I mean shoot. Yeah. You guys join the team as, uh I love what both of them bring to the team. How McHugh brings that professionalism, his knowledge and the same with Coach Brown. Of his knowledge. But a lot of something that he really focused on when he was a coach is pouring into the players. Not saying that's different from now, but just saying that's like something he really focused on. That was his main priority is that he's not making soccer players, not just soccer players, but men off the field, young leaders. So that's something that you can look back at the teams that Coach Brown has coached and see a lot of young men during their times here at Emmaus. There's a reason a lot of the guys on soccer team were student leaders and not just labeled or had a title, but leaders at Emmaus behind the scenes. [00:09:08] Speaker B: He never coached me, but he's always Coach Brown to me because exactly, that's how much I look up to him and how much poured into me. [00:09:13] Speaker A: That was everyone, right? [00:09:14] Speaker B: Literally like, yeah, he was Coach Brown. [00:09:16] Speaker A: Because always willing to invite people over to his house for early morning breakfast and everything. He's a amazing man. We love him. So shout out to Coach Brown. Yeah. [00:09:26] Speaker B: Emotional weekend with the loss, but this upcoming weekend is looking a lot better. So see how it goes. But yeah, we'll talk about that later. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it's tough. And then volleyball, all I can say is it's tough. [00:09:38] Speaker B: It's tough. [00:09:39] Speaker A: Physical matchup all weekend and then health. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Of course get healed from that. [00:09:45] Speaker A: We had a little kind of little bug going around the volleyball team. [00:09:49] Speaker B: Yeah, little like if it's 24 hours bug or something, head cold or whatever that's going around. [00:09:58] Speaker A: Friday's game. [00:09:59] Speaker B: Friday volleyball went down to Ozark and played at Ozark. And unfortunately Jenica wasn't able to play because she was feeling very sick and super unfortunate and we definitely really missed having her out there. I mean, top five defensive player in the nation right there. Girls did not play to the standard that they normally did. It was rough. Communication was off. But definitely one thing to say though, from how badly they played on Friday to the response they had the next day on Saturday and how well they played was amazing. [00:10:45] Speaker A: That's good. [00:10:45] Speaker B: Pre past year teams, even when I played basketball here you have a terrible game on Friday. ODS are you might have a terrible game on Saturday. [00:10:55] Speaker A: It's funny because remember when the first half of one game you had like what, like 30 points or something? And Stevie who's like the star player had like zero because they were face. [00:11:05] Speaker B: Guarding him and double teaming him and left me open. Then they switched to the second half. TV had 38 points and eight threes. But yeah, or even like last year in basketball, we played Manhattan home and the game was like tied. We were up eight. It was like 30 to 22. It was such a low scoring game and we were beating the number three team in the nation. But then second half rolled around and they finally figured it out. So it's really encouraging to see from how Friday's game went to Saturday's trimatch. They played Calvary. Oh, and by the way, Ozark was, like we said last week, ranked 10th in the nation. Calvary was ranked fifth in the nation. Dang and I know how we talked about last week sometimes you don't know the Coach's poll and we weren't really sure how good Calvary is, but they are so good. They are very good. So we played Calvary, the number five team nation, and then we played rematch against Spurgeon. Girls played very good against Calvary. But I mean, like I said, calvary is dominant. They just dominated. They ended up winning three to one. But the first set against them, they won the first set and it was like 25 23. And I think that if we had gotten that first set, I think we would have beaten them in four sets. I really think that we would because but yeah, we lost them four one. And then we played spurgeon. And it was funny because it was like flipped of what happened against them when we played them here because we were up two one, played very good. But also props to Spurgeon because they have like five seniors and four juniors on their team and we're mostly freshmen. And so they ended up winning in the fifth set, five or three to two. But it was fun because Rachel and I went and we surprised the girls and they were all excited and that's fun. There was a lot of Spurgeon fans, but for those that don't know, the Calvary gym is so small that one person can sound like the whole crowd. So I definitely probably had some Spurgeon parents that were like, who's this nut over here yelling the whole time? Because my voice just it wasn't me. [00:13:09] Speaker A: It was my two sons. [00:13:10] Speaker B: My two sons, my five year old and my one and a half year old. But yeah, so it was a tough weekend for volleyball. But on the bright side, like I said, the way that they came out on Saturday and played was super encouraging. [00:13:24] Speaker A: I think something you can look back at this weekend, and I love the point you made earlier with Marinatha's revelation last year, or our revelation against Marinatha last year is this was kind of a revelation weekend. Yes, it was a weekend where our soccer team and volleyball team really looked at where they stood in conference. [00:13:44] Speaker B: That's where you look at yourself in the mirror. Yeah, you're looking at yourself like, hey, this is where we're at. This is where the competition is. I mean, the Coaches Poll came out yesterday and we have for volleyball and we have three conference teams in the top ten in the nation. Boom. [00:14:02] Speaker A: We kind of see the competition level and what separates us from them. Right. We said that about the crown game. Crown is at a national championship level. Like, they can compete in the national championship at our level. [00:14:14] Speaker B: And d three. [00:14:15] Speaker A: Exactly. Probably not D three, but they do compete at D three. Either way, we kind of see what separates us from them. [00:14:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:26] Speaker A: We can walk away with optimism. Maybe it's a little blind and be like, okay, yeah, we don't play on turf. We play more together as a team. Soccer team can possibly win. Right. You can say the same with the Calvary game. Like you just said, we win that first know the tide shifts. Right. Spurgeon. If we had kind of coming off the high of winning against Calvary kind of falls into the Spurgeon matchup, maybe we win then in three sets, not two to one or not five sets. Yeah, exactly. So this weekend, really, I think it woke up the players in many ways for the soccer team. You could say the inexperience as well as where we stand in the conference, volleyball, where we stand in the conference, as well as honestly waking them up. I think every time you lose you should be woken up a little. Right? [00:15:15] Speaker B: Well, just knowing, because there are definitely times where it's like, oh, yeah, let's be honest, we're probably not going to win this game. [00:15:22] Speaker A: And I don't like that mentality. [00:15:23] Speaker B: I don't like it either. As a coach here, it's the worst. And honestly, I loved it, especially when I played that narrative of like, oh, yeah, we're not winning, but it's like, then you can play so much more free and have so much more fun because there's no expectations. But I think knowing, like you just said, that self looking of like, okay, our teams were owing four this weekend, but they just could have easily been four and o. Just as easily. Just as easily. Just as easily. [00:15:56] Speaker A: Everything is brighter on the other side. [00:15:59] Speaker B: Which is super encouraging because it is knowing we know the talent that our team has and where they could be. And so just knowing moving forward, it's there. [00:16:10] Speaker A: And we have the thing is, both. [00:16:13] Speaker B: Teams have already won. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And we have a freshman team on. [00:16:16] Speaker B: Both teams are so young. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Both are so young. And these are great lessons for them to learn early on. And the last thing we want is a bunch of cocky freshmen. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Right. [00:16:25] Speaker A: Then they're cocky for four years. That's terrible, right? [00:16:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:28] Speaker A: Unless they're super good. Then I guess you can't say nothing about that. But the Lord might humble them afterwards or off the field. But with that said, yeah, it was a fun weekend of athletics. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Even though the record didn't show, it was still a fun weekend. [00:16:43] Speaker A: So looking forward to that to see where all that goes, the clarity of both teams. But what I was trying to say earlier, moving to cross country, caleb Ness makes congratulations to Caleb, man. That's really awesome. He comes up to me after the game or not game, the race we run into each other at the coffee. [00:17:03] Speaker B: Scene, and he mentions literally, because he's running the race. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Okay, I'm not making puns, dude, I'm not about that. You're such a oh, my gosh. [00:17:16] Speaker B: So you ran up to him in the Coffee Bean? He ran up well, you guys missed earlier. [00:17:19] Speaker A: Right before we started, Matt was like, slapboxing me. I was sitting here just taking it. If you know a light, he doesn't love tap. It's like a full smack. You don't have brothers either? [00:17:31] Speaker B: No. Did you beat Sharon up? I never touched why ever. [00:17:36] Speaker A: That's why you're taking everything out on us. Caleb still kind of injured a little bit. [00:17:43] Speaker B: His knee is still but still qualified for Nationals on a bum knee. [00:17:46] Speaker A: So he was like, I can do better. [00:17:49] Speaker B: He definitely can. [00:17:50] Speaker A: He did barely qualify, apparently, for Nationals, but he made it right. And now that's kind of lifted off his shoulder for the rest of the season. And he can run freely, work on a couple of things, get healthy. [00:18:05] Speaker B: 34 50, I believe, is the time you need to qualify. And he ran 33 52. [00:18:10] Speaker A: Okay. [00:18:11] Speaker B: I believe. [00:18:12] Speaker A: Wow. [00:18:12] Speaker B: That's like pretty sure that's what it is. [00:18:14] Speaker A: Okay, yeah. Wait, 33 50? [00:18:16] Speaker B: I think so. [00:18:17] Speaker A: And he ran a 30 or 33. [00:18:18] Speaker B: 34 30 is what he needed, and he got it by 38 seconds. [00:18:23] Speaker A: That's awesome. [00:18:24] Speaker B: I believe. [00:18:24] Speaker A: So he counted. He got it right, buddy. So shout out to Caleb. [00:18:29] Speaker B: And then girls ran a six K times. Didn't like, if you look at it, you're like, man, they ran like 28 on a oh, it's six K. So I think the time I don't know what the equivalents are, but I don't think anyone ended up PR. But the girls are I think they are like eight minutes off of qualifying as a team. The thing that does kind of stink this year is the front runners are really good. So right now, Kate is 6th in the nation in speed, which is fabulous. Good job, Kate. But team wise right now, we went from last year being the top team to we're the bottom team. We're eight out of eight. So, teams, you need five runners to be a team. And so our time, we're just barely in 8th spot. [00:19:21] Speaker A: Okay. [00:19:21] Speaker B: So definitely knowing the times are going to go up coming forward, which will. [00:19:26] Speaker A: Be good, but yeah, well, we need more runners. [00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah, we do need more runners. [00:19:29] Speaker A: Right? So if you're a runner, country runner, come to Emmaus, right? [00:19:32] Speaker B: I'm looking at you, william coranda. [00:19:34] Speaker A: You know, I love how do I say this? The cross country runners work so hard, like, every every single one of them. [00:19:46] Speaker B: Because your training is literally running through. I think the pace is the hardest part. It is. You can tell I'm not a runner at all. [00:19:56] Speaker A: You're definitely not a runner. [00:19:58] Speaker B: Like I said, I was built for 94ft, but not either. The pace part, I know. Yeah, whatever. 3.1 but just keeping the pace of like, I feel like if I was a runner, I would just burn myself out in the first half mile. But knowing how they have to keep a pace, so it's like you stay consistent, but you don't burn yourself out. But once you see that finish line, then it's like, then you put into gear. [00:20:24] Speaker A: And what I'm getting at is a lot of the athletes come here in the fall and they're like, okay, let's start now. Cross country is like, oh, no, it's a year round. [00:20:32] Speaker B: No, just like, yeah, how many miles that people ran this summer? [00:20:35] Speaker A: It's crazy. Shout out to cross country and their grind and they finally had awesome. [00:20:42] Speaker B: A week break. They're not running this weekend. [00:20:45] Speaker A: That might help a lot after three. [00:20:47] Speaker B: Weeks in a row of races, injuries. [00:20:49] Speaker A: Soreness is going to help a lot. But something that we were talking earlier about is when we travel as a team. So I was a manager on soccer team for a while. You were basketball stud. So traveling as a team and going to Rivals home, playing on their home. [00:21:08] Speaker B: Court road trips are what makes on a sports team. [00:21:10] Speaker A: They're so fun, but yeah, they're fun. [00:21:13] Speaker B: They're bonding. [00:21:14] Speaker A: Messes with your mentality. [00:21:16] Speaker B: Shout out to the soccer team and volleyball team that had Mr. Cozen's class and had to go in dark assignment where they didn't have their phone for an eight hour. [00:21:24] Speaker A: That's awesome. [00:21:25] Speaker B: So I'm like, hey, that's awesome. They had all that time to be together. [00:21:29] Speaker A: Some of them probably dying, but yeah. Oh my goodness, for them, I didn't think about that. Honestly, that's awesome. [00:21:37] Speaker B: But sounds like they did a really good job of keeping each other accountable with that assignment and just like yeah. [00:21:43] Speaker A: So some context for you who might not know. We have a professor here who teaches a freshman level course, mr. Cozen, and every year he is notorious for having assignments going dark assignment. So it's where you can't use technology. [00:21:58] Speaker B: For five days, I believe. [00:21:59] Speaker A: Five days. So Thursday night to Tuesday morning. [00:22:02] Speaker B: Yeah, something like that. [00:22:03] Speaker A: Something like that. So they just got their phones back yesterday. [00:22:07] Speaker B: It's crazy how people I need to do that. But you can survive on no, you can't. [00:22:12] Speaker A: We can't, dude, we're admissions counselors. So they travel to none of that. Either way, though, the fellowship and the community that we can have and when we're away and we go on the other team's home field or home court, and the fans are welcoming. The fans are it's so encouraging. [00:22:30] Speaker B: Like having that being in the Christian institution atmosphere, like just having that. We're competitors. Sometimes we get heated because we compete, but if we can keep that and knowing we love each other and brothers and sisters in Christ because we're all on the same team, the Lord Jesus Christ team, but just knowing you can still have fun, we can still cheer for our team, but still being loving and caring. [00:22:54] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:22:55] Speaker B: Uplifting and not diminishing. [00:22:58] Speaker A: Yeah. In the game, things might get a little chippy. Some people might say things they regret. Some people might do things they regret. Right. But that's something I appreciated about Coach Brown, is he would always I remember one game we played as a team. We won, but it was extremely physical, and we did not glorify the Lord on the court, on the field. And Coach Brown yelled at the team. He was extremely discouraged, extremely upset with the character of the team that we had or our team and how we performed. And I think that resembles and embodies kind of us as Emmaus. And it's more important to have a testimony for the Lord on the field than it is to walk away with a win. [00:23:40] Speaker B: Of course you want to win competitive and have a win, but if what we're doing isn't glorifying the Lord or shining his light on us, then we're doing it wrong. [00:23:49] Speaker A: This is going to be a strong statement, but I don't know how I feel about an athlete at Emmaus who cares more about winning than helping another brother up from an opposing team. And I mean that physically, but also mean that spiritually. Like, if you're out there cursing at. [00:24:04] Speaker B: Someone, which is against our code of conduct for our athletics, that is who we are as athletics. [00:24:14] Speaker A: You're under that Emmaus Bible umbrella. Honestly, I don't want you here. [00:24:20] Speaker B: Yeah, well, even I was telling you beforehand when I competed, I was saying I have contacts, my phone of guys that I played against because being competitors but having that Christian fellowship and that Christian connection there are some guys I still talk to on a weekly basis or monthly basis and keep up with because I'm just so cool. Like, hey, we competed against each other. You called nine years ago, and here we are. [00:24:49] Speaker A: So many random people call you and talk to you or text you from in the past. I'm like, who is that? Oh, I played against them, like, nine years ago. Oh, wow. [00:24:56] Speaker B: Cool. [00:24:57] Speaker A: But it's just like what I said earlier is a strong statement of saying I wouldn't want you there. I want to say that's true. I wouldn't want them, but because I want our student athletes to be embodied, to represent represent Emma as well, but most importantly, represent Jesus, because no matter. [00:25:18] Speaker B: Where you go testimony, if you're a student athlete, you're under the microscope. Doesn't matter if you're at a Division One college, if you're at a Christian college, if you're at a community college, you are under the microscope of everything that you do is watch. And what are you doing, especially here? Are you being selfish or are you leading and uplifting others for the Lord? [00:25:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And as someone who's a fan of the Emmaus sports and watching, sometimes I'll get heated. I'm like, I wish I was in that game so I can tackle that know? But then I think about like, man, Shane, that's not, that's not stop it. So scared you're gonna hit me hard. That was light. That was nice. That was a nice one, man. [00:26:00] Speaker B: That being said, with traveling this weekend, so soccer is on the road. They play Ozark on Friday and then they play Calvary on Saturday. So it should be some couple of really good games this weekend for soccer. And like I said, cross country has the week off finally. And then volleyball is on the road. They go up to Moody and play or guess over to Moody and play Moody. And then they go all the way over to Michigan and go play Grace Christian on Saturday. [00:26:27] Speaker A: Fun weekend then for soccer guys to see where they stand with the rest of the competition in our conference home. [00:26:32] Speaker B: Games in two weeks. [00:26:34] Speaker A: So conference games for the soccer team, see where we stand outside of Manhattan. Big soccer games and then two regional games. Regional games for the volleyball team. Girls. And like we said earlier, and we don't want this to go to anyone's heads, or maybe this is blind optimism, but the girls, you look at our region, it's open, it's open, it's there. So it's going to be cool to see where we stand against Grace, who is an athletic school, have a lot of athletes. [00:27:00] Speaker B: And then I think they were ranked, they were top ten. I don't remember what the ranking is this week, but they're in the top ten. I think they're like 6th. [00:27:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And then Moody, who honestly has always been like our older sibling in sports, but recently we've gotten older and more. [00:27:15] Speaker B: Mature taking it back. [00:27:17] Speaker A: We've swung back at the little brother that's gotten taller. Exactly. But they still are the older brother, so we'll see how that game goes. But it's always fun playing Moody, that's for sure. And Calvary, I remember when we played Calvary, we would have worship with them before the game for soccer. But that's just fun. It's just a fun environment, playing against other Christian schools, having that, the like mindedness so it's such a blessing. [00:27:47] Speaker B: Like I always say with the former coach for Calvary University, Matt Sanders, we would always say, like, we're out here worshiping Jesus together because we know each other, we know each other's teams. And we're just out here as a group of great young men honoring the Lord, competing, having fun, worshiping the so. And it's so true, like you said. [00:28:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So that's it for Emmaus athletics, for the recap of last week, what's coming up this week. And we have an interview next with Coach Hannah of the volleyball team. So, Matt, you're going to be interviewing her. I hope that goes well. So good luck with that. Hopefully she doesn't smack you around like I do. But yeah, thanks for listening, guys. I'm a Scoochie out of here. Hannah's going to. Come on in. But also this is sponsored from my favorite coffee bean drink, the Ice Spiced Pumpkin Chai with Oat Milk. So if you guys love me, please get me one. [00:28:42] Speaker B: Pumpkin spice is back. [00:28:44] Speaker A: I told you, I'm basic for pumpkin spice. But at this moment we'll transition to the interview. But thank you for listening. [00:28:51] Speaker B: And we're here with the Emmaus women's head volleyball coach, Hannah Richter. How are you doing, Coach? [00:28:56] Speaker C: I'm great. Very tired, but I'm good. [00:28:59] Speaker B: Well, thanks for taking some time out of your day to sit down and talk to us about the volleyball season so far. [00:29:06] Speaker C: What do you want me to talk about? [00:29:08] Speaker B: What do you want to talk about? Well, first thing I want to talk to you about is the season so far. We talked a lot this past year about the hype coming in the season and man, it's really shown this talented group of girls, I mean, record of three and four, three wins. Like, how exciting. [00:29:26] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I feel like the hype, like, we have lived up to at least the hype that we built for ourselves within the program and just within the team. And Coach Meg and I, as coaches, we have a more solid group this year. Our recruiting class is great, not only skill wise, but they're just really bought in with our vision and the things that we're chasing and just being Christ centered and yeah, it's really shown. I think when we've been struggling, it's just been because we're young. It's not because we can't we have the ability, we're just young. So yeah, no, it's been really fun. [00:30:00] Speaker B: I think it's just been really cool to see, like you said, the girls that came in this freshman class, super talented, but just genuinely great girls that have really elevated the volleyball program and just school as a whole. [00:30:14] Speaker C: Yeah, they have great family support, too. And so it's been really fun to have more of a following and like a full program involvement from them and their parents and their siblings. So, yeah, it's definitely feeling more like a family, which is also kind of what we were going for. [00:30:33] Speaker B: How would you say going into last season, your first year as head coach to going into this year, your second year as head coach has kind of been different or some similarities or just your mindset behind that. [00:30:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, there wasn't as much of a scramble in the summer because I had more time to prepare. [00:30:50] Speaker B: Hey, Coach, you're going to be head coach here in a couple of weeks? [00:30:53] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I feel a lot more settled. I felt a little bit more confident. There definitely was the anxiety and just the worry of, oh, what if they get here and they don't like it, or what if they don't mesh? But I think that just came from all the girls that are here now that we brought in. We knew them for quite a while and they also knew our returning players. And so that made me feel really good. Definitely. With time comes more awareness, so I'm busier, but more organized. Coach Meg, like I said last year, is my ultimate buddy. That's my number one. [00:31:31] Speaker B: She's been huge for you. [00:31:32] Speaker C: She's the best. Nobody can take her. And I will make the bold claim that she is the best assistant in NACA Division Two volleyball. I'm going to put it out because I have no doubt in my mind. So, yeah, shout out Coach Meg even. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Better than when you were an assistant coach here. [00:31:50] Speaker C: For sure. No doubt. There is no doubt. Yeah, 100%. So, yeah, no, we're in a good spot. Trying to stay patient, right? [00:32:00] Speaker B: Like you said, right now, a young team. [00:32:03] Speaker C: Yeah. But I think the future is good as long as we focus on the right things. [00:32:08] Speaker B: Yes. How would you say expectations? Obviously, two different seasons you've come into between your first year or second year, and obviously, like we said, young team, but how would you say expectations are for in game or just like, knowing how we've seen this group of girls and they've done things that so far, like, what? Seven games in the season that I don't know if any other Emmaus volleyball team could have done. [00:32:35] Speaker C: Yeah. So last year when we briefly talked about it, the expectation was honestly just to stay alive and really reset the culture. And so the expectation this year is just to start chasing that competitiveness a little bit more. And I think at times where last year I wanted to try and be a little bit more sensitive because we had injury, we had low numbers, right. And we had more of a lack of ability. This year, I don't have to worry about that as much. And I think sometimes I have feared that I've been too tough on them, but they keep asking for it. They like the expectations, they like having objective goals. So, yeah, it's a really good spot as a coach to be in. It's very encouraging. It's how I was when I was a player, too. So it's kind of fun to feed into them in the way that I feel like is natural for me. [00:33:23] Speaker B: I'd say it's probably been easier, too, because you were a high level, high IQ volleyball player in college. And now this year, I mean, we have some very high IQ girls, some very talented girls. So I'm sure that's made things probably a lot easier. You can explain things in ways that you don't have to super dumb it down or just think that it clicks right them for them. [00:33:42] Speaker C: And it's been fun to dig into that IQ because we're not doing as much teaching of skill. We get to really talk about just who we are on the court and as a team and what we want to be about and how do we get there. And it's also been really fun that as we've been going on, the girls have been taking really good accountability of what we're doing on the court, too. If something isn't getting done, they're starting to become more apt to bring it up within themselves and starting to really rely on each other and not keep looking at the bench every time we lose a point. [00:34:14] Speaker A: What are you going to say? [00:34:15] Speaker C: I'm like, guys, if I've got something to say, I will say it. So, yeah, that's been really good. We've got our leadership council, we've been talking with them a lot just on. [00:34:26] Speaker B: Not the budy system, sorry. [00:34:29] Speaker C: Been talking with them a lot about yeah, just how to be encouraging for the team, but also just within the four of them because if we stay accountable to each other, it's just going to make everything better. It feels very healthy. It feels very healthy. [00:34:46] Speaker B: I've really noticed it's like you just said, they've taken the command in the court. You see Jenica talking with everyone, you see Lauren talking with everyone, you see Emma Stanley now that she's back, or Caitlin uplifting each other, and I think that's just been something really cool to see mean, it's not something mean, it should be expected, but we don't get that every year with all of our sports teams. And to see young players taking on that responsibility, that's just so encouraging to see where they can go from that. [00:35:16] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think I wasn't expecting it to be flowing this well, probably until into next year, which would be year three for me. But it started kind of in the end at the end of the season and towards the end, especially of the offseason last year. And yeah. So I think our returners have done a really good job of setting that expectation, and the newbies have followed that. And I mean, I love it. I love when I'm like stepping in practice during a game and I'm going to say something and one of them just takes the words out of my mouth. I'm like yay. I get to sit back and just kind of let them play, which I think is what games are for anyway. What are we going to teach them in the middle of the game, right? So, yeah, it's very fun. [00:35:56] Speaker B: Speaking of newbies, let's talk a little bit about these six freshmen, especially because we have four freshmen girls that are in the top ten national rankings. We have Jenica with Digs, we have Caitlin with kills, we have Michelle with assists, and we have Salah, number one blocker in the nation. Dog crazy. [00:36:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it's not what I expected, and I think where I've been struggling is I'm trying to retrain my habits after the past couple of years. [00:36:32] Speaker B: Because, like, past couple years we had no one in any of those. [00:36:34] Speaker C: Nobody. And even that first weekend we were at Manhattan, we beat Barclay. [00:36:39] Speaker B: It took me quite first win. [00:36:41] Speaker C: It was the first win and it just took me so long to process it because I'm like, okay, here I am back in the van getting ready to drive, and I'm, like, trying to make myself feel sad. And then I was like, Wait, but that's not what happened. Then I just got super emotional and I cried and we were going to the Chick fil A. It was a whole mess. But yeah, I mean, that's just really encouraging because not only, yes, it is the first time that's happened in a while, but the fact that they're freshmen and they're already making that statement. So, yeah, I mean, I'm really, really proud of them because with that just does there comes pressure with it. People know their name. But I think it's also been great that when we kind of make that announcement that they have that status at that time, the entire team is just so excited for them. There's not any controversy or moods or drama even yet. So I'm really thankful for that because, yeah, like you and I were just talking about before we got started, we need to set that standard for the team, for the program and try and encourage everybody to meet that. So that's just what's happening. [00:37:51] Speaker B: And it's just cool to see, like you said, the excitement for one another. Obviously, basketball or soccer can be a super self sport. I feel like for volleyball, it can be more difficult for it to be, like to see them just support one another and being like, hey, that's awesome that you've earned this, or you are in this area. And I think it's cool to see for the older girls like Anneli or an Emma or Lauren or like seeing the past couple years and seeing where we're at now, it's like, oh, man, it's a whole new you know, after. [00:38:25] Speaker C: That first weekend and I was emotional about the win. I just called those four out specifically and thanked them for sticking it out because for Lauren and know it was one year, know, with no wins. But I mean, Nellie and Emma, they went two full years winless and they stuck it out. They believed in the vision that we yeah, I mean, I think that's something that is really special to be acknowledged because I just don't think that everybody's going to do that. It takes a lot of work and a lot of intentionality from them. Say, I'm really proud of those guys. [00:39:00] Speaker B: It's really cool to see. So we're about, what, a third of the way through the season, so we have about two thirds of the season to go the heart of conference. You have two big regional games this weekend. So what's kind of your vision or what kind of your goals that you and Coach Megan have going forward after. [00:39:16] Speaker C: Experiencing these past couple you know, like I said, I think the moments that we've been like it's really just been because we're young. I think there's those intrinsic things that you as coaches just can't fix that you talk about and you kind of want to knock them in the head and be like, hello, come on now, come on, you can do it. But they just need to struggle a little bit to learn the value of those things and the reality of those situations with communication and just loving each other while in the court. And that's kind of what I told them after read on at Ozark on Friday. That was not Christ like behavior of us, and I think that's what really hurt us. So moving know we can be objective, but I think expectations going into these next few weeks, I just want them to play well. I want them to play solid. This year is for us, the year of the defense. We have a very interesting rotation, and. [00:40:12] Speaker B: I'm sitting there like, okay, it's a little crazy. [00:40:16] Speaker C: I love a triple middle, but this is next level for me. I don't know what I was thinking, but it's been working for us. It's the year of the defense. It's a great defensive rotation. [00:40:25] Speaker B: Our back row, it's great. [00:40:27] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness. It's reliable, it's consistent, and so as long as we can have that be level, good things usually come from that. So, yeah, I just wanted to play well. I wanted to have fun, have joy, play free. Because the fortunate place we're in right now is that we don't have a target on our back. [00:40:47] Speaker B: You can go into games and surprise. [00:40:49] Speaker C: I'm hoping that we can do enough that next year we do have a large red target. Maybe that's another two bold statement, but I don't know, I think it's fun to be chased a little bit because it shows that you are improving. So? [00:41:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:05] Speaker C: I don't know. This weekend with Moody, we had a good match with them. I think we revealed some of our own inner squad weaknesses that day. We've been working on that. But yeah, I mean, Grace is a great team. They're in the top ten. Both those teams are very well coached, and so I have a lot of respect for them. I think that regionally Grace is going to be a really tough opponent coming tournament time. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to. [00:41:35] Speaker B: See but like we said, it's new region, new environment, everyone's beatable. [00:41:39] Speaker C: Everybody's beatable. Yeah, I mean, it just depends on how you feel that day. And I think the girls think I'm kind of crazy. I keep saying like, well, it depends if we show up and want to play, and they're like, oh, coach, and I'm like, okay, seriously? Really? Because, yeah, I think we have the skill. We just got to keep fighting forward. [00:41:57] Speaker B: Speaking of next year, with a target on our back, talk a little bit about how you've been able because essentially this recruiting class, it was like, okay, we're going to look for talent. We're bringing girls that want to be here. But now that we have some very talented girls here, what's your guys'motto I mean, obviously you came back, you got to drink your coffee because you were traveling late, late night. [00:42:20] Speaker C: Lindsay, we got back last night at 12:15 a.m.. So yeah, we were in the Milwaukee area last night watching our first official. [00:42:29] Speaker B: Commit shout out, lindsay Mcelvine. Let's go. [00:42:33] Speaker C: Watching her last night, got to be with her and her parents for a little while in her home gym. So that was really yeah, you know, I think where this class was a little heavier on skill in general, it was a defensive skill, heavy class. And so next year, we're really looking for just those solid, consistent hitters. I think we're going to have another good group. [00:42:56] Speaker B: Boy, will we? [00:42:57] Speaker C: I think we'll have another good group. And I think the thing that Megan and I talk a lot about is we want girls that no matter what happens in their life, if something happens and they're not on the volleyball team, we want them to be great Emmaus students. And so the group we have this year, I think is really suitable for that. I think next year it's going to be the same thing. Looking at potentially a mix of freshmen and maybe transfers, I don't know. So we'll kind of see how it pans out. We've got our names, but, yeah, we love the recruiting process, too. Just building the relationships and pouring into them and also having our current players do that is really fun. So we like to establish that just like loving Christlike family culture early. [00:43:46] Speaker B: How would you say the difference is the message that you give to the recruits of, like, okay, this year, fresh slate. We don't know what's going to happen, but you can build upon this versus coming up this year like, hey, we're here. This is the excitement. You can be another piece that can take us back to that national championship contender level. How do you go about that or what's the process of yeah, I mean. [00:44:11] Speaker C: I definitely try in the recruiting process because everybody wants to know, oh, where do you see me on the court? What are my skills? What do I need to work on? And I think that stuff is very valuable, but at the end of the day, we can't guarantee what's going to happen because I think what I know as a coach I've been working towards with the recruiting is like making the gym competitive again and not just having the expectation that since I'm here, I'm going to play. You have to earn the right, and whoever's playing the best is going to be on the court. And I always tell the girls, too, with that, I will never take you off the court. If you're struggling, I will take you off the court for unchristlike behavior. And so I just talk more about culture and Megan does a great job with that as well. We really like to bounce off of each other because I very strongly believe just from my experience as a player and coaching before I came here, it does not matter how good you are if you can't get along and if you don't feel loved and supported, which is the job, I feel that just that great responsibility. Like these parents are dropping these kids off and saying, here you go, coach Hannah, take care of them, keep them safe, love them well. And I'm like, yeah, I mean, so it's really good. So that's kind of more what we try and talk about. [00:45:35] Speaker B: I love what you talked about last year when you talked about the three C's and keeping them in order. And since you talked about I bring that up to people all the time. And I just love how you articulated that. And you talk about that's, the culture that you want us to be, where christ is the top C, we always keep that. But we also want to be competitive and we also want to be committed. [00:45:59] Speaker C: Committed is the second one, man. The competitive, it's got to be last. It's just got to be last. And it's trying to inch back up and we got to keep pulling it. We got to but, yeah, I mean, it's also been really fun this year. I think the girls have done a really great job of organizing more devo times, more time together and yeah, just really keeping that good focus, which is what Megan and I wanted is for them to take that just personal responsibility upon themselves to do that because if it flows from within, it's going to be stronger. That's what we think. That's kind of what's being proven to happen right now, at least. [00:46:44] Speaker B: Well, coach, we are so excited about this year. It's hard to be excited, I mean, to focus on this year, but also knowing what's to come. But we are so excited for this year and just the program that you and coach Megan are building, is there anything that you want our viewers to know about? Anything that they might not know already or anything about anything? [00:47:05] Speaker C: I don't know about you or the. [00:47:06] Speaker B: Program open for you to use this platform to man, hey, I don't know. [00:47:12] Speaker C: Yeah, we love to support. I love when people ask me about the program and just what we're doing. It's definitely a passion to get to talk about. It's a privilege to get to be here. I feel like it's where god has me right now. So, yeah, keep coming out supporting, keep chatting us up about it. We love that. And I'll give reggie a shout I'll give reggie a shout out because after we won our first match, the girls got in the car and they were chanting know? So they're on the same there's there's not know, gnashing of teeth over the thought that going slow with our process because we want to do it right. So, yeah, we just appreciate all the support, all the love. [00:47:56] Speaker B: We have two big games up this coming weekend, then we have a stretch of home game. So make sure you guys keep following us on social media, keeping an eye out for when those games are, when they're live streamed, when they're here in person. But, Coach, we appreciate it. Thanks for taking time out of your day. And thank you for our interview. And we'll see you guys later. [00:48:19] Speaker C: You dam.